As the Sun Sets [open]

[Coal]

Had his life turned out differently, M’ton would likely have been more of a morning person. In his youth he had always been up early to go out in his father’s little fishing boat to bring in the morning catch, and even when he could have stayed in bed he would usually get up with the sun. All that had changed, however, when he’d Impressed a nocturnal dragon, and had perforce been all but forced to adopt a semi-nocturnal existence himself. It was now mid-evening, and yet M’ton had only been awake a few candlemark. Kreedath had not yet so much as stirred, but M’ton was in the habit of getting up before his dragon so that he might enjoy a few candlemarks of sunlight and the company of the day-folk, as he jokingly called them, before his duties for the day began.

Having gotten up that afternoon he’d left weyrmate and dragon both to get some lunch-breakfast before meeting up with some friends to play a few game of dice, betting sweetmeats in place of marks, before heading out to the weyrbowl to enjoy the evening sun. That was where he was now, furry chest bare as usual, quietly reading as he waited for the rest of the nocturnal riders and their dragons to begin preparing for night drills. M’ton might be the wingletmaster, but that didn’t excuse him from drills when he wasn’t actively teaching, and as there weren’t currently any winglets in the Weyr, that was all the time.

So engrossed was he in his book, however, that he didn’t notice Rukbat beginning to sink toward the horizon, and he only barely registered the increase in his dragon’s mental activity as the sail woke. Kreedath did not need his assistant as he readied himself for the night ahead. As a warm, still dusk settled over the weyrbowl the dragon spread his wings and swooped down from his ledge to land beside his rider. <Dear M’ton, good evening.> The dragon greeted in his quiet way, drawing an affectionate smile from the bear tailed man. As Kreedath settled down M’ton shuffled so that his brown furred back rested against the dragon’s forequarters. <You’ve been reading without me.> The sail chided gently, and with another grin M’ton began filling him in on the novel’s story. They still had a good candlemark or so before they would have to get ready, and M’ton couldn’t be happier than to be spending it with his dear dragon.

[catnip]

Typically the brown rider didn't mingle much with the nocturnals, and their riders, but since he had had to make a trip to the kitchens, for his newly hatched firelizard who had woken up ravenous, he had decided that perhaps he should mingle some. It would please his dragon, and if he was lucky, the little green currently nibbling on his ear would fall back asleep.

He glanced around, and noticed one of the sail dragons lounging next to his rider, one of the wingletmasters if F'nell had it correctly, and the brown rider moved closer towards them. It seemed that they had been reading, and F'nell almost turned to walk away, but he found that his curiousity was peaked.

"What are you reading?" he asked. "It sounds interesting." He hadn't meant to be eavesdropping, but sometimes there was no way to avoid it.

[Coal]

M’ton had not expected to be spoken to, nor had he been paying much attention to his surroundings, engrossed in his book as he was, and so he was rather taken by surprise when someone spoke to him. ”Hmm?” he asked automatically, looking up to see who had seen him, then smiled when he saw a fellow rider. ”Oh, hello,” he greeted, recognition dawning in his dark brown eyes, ”F’nell, isn’t it? Brown… Krith?” M’ton did his best to remember the names and dragons of as many of the riders as he could, and he had all of the queens, princes down, though he was still sometimes a little uncertain about the other ranks.

<Yes, Krith.> Kreedath assured him; the sail seemed to know the names of the other dragons in the Weyr instinctively. Currently he was looking out over the weyrbowl, scanning it in the fading light, the sinking sun picking out the iridescent silvery markings on his head.

M’ton nodded to himself then looked back at F’nell. “It’s just a novel.” He said in answer to the brownrider’s question, ”It’s about a greenrider whose dragon laid a clutch after a flight. Rather silly really, but me and Kreedath have a soft spot for the author.” He gave a self-deprecating smile while the dragon in question swung his head around so that he was peering directly at F’nell through gently swirling eyes.

[catnip]

"That's right. And you're M'ton, which makes this handsome fellow Kreedath." He didn't pay attention to many of the riders, just ones that he felt were important, wingleaders, queen riders, wingletmasters, things like that.

"That does sound a bit silly." It wasn't a very realistic scenario, knowing what he did about green riders, but he supposed that the point of stories. To think about possibilities that wouldn't actually happen in real life. Thankfully. He wouldn't want to imagine the sorts of drama they'd have if certain green riders, or any of the non queen females even, had a clutch. It'd certainly cause a bit of problems. "What are some of their other books about?"

He was always looking for new and interesting things to do in his leisure time, and while the premise of the story that the Sail rider was currently reading might be a bit silly, it might be something for him to look into.

[Coal]

M’ton grinned in response to F’nell recognising him and his dragon. It had never really sunk in that being a wingletmaster made him anything like important, important to winglets yes, but otherwise, why should a fully-fledged rider know him any better than the next rider, especially when they were usually awake at opposite times of day? He also didn’t always realise how distinctive he looked, with his heavily furred appearance, and so he took the fact that the brownrider recognised him as a complement. Kreedath was less surprised, but he did swing his head around so that he was looking directly at F’nell through an analytical eye. After a moment he gave a blink of greeting before turning back to M’ton.

The sailrider smiled again when M’ton agreed that the story sounded rather silly, giving a slightly rueful shrug. In answer to the other man’s question, he looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. ”Well he’s done a whole set of them actually. The original ones were about a great rose weyrleader, but then he did a few about the weyrleader’s son, who’s a bronze wingleader, and these stories are about his daughter.” He sighed contentedly, still smiling. ”They’re only for light reading,” he continued, ”But good for light reading”

<Stop making excuses, M’ton.> Kreedath chided silently to his rider, <You like them and there’s nothing wrong with that.> Before Kreedath could say any more, however, he was distracted by the appearance of two flits, a green and a blue, who squabbled playfully over a scrap of meat as they landed on the sail’s back and curled up.

M’ton, ignoring his dragon’s reproach, glanced up at the flits with an affectionate smile before turning back to F’nell and raising his eyebrows. ”Do you read at all?” He asked curiously

[catnip]

Well, those sounded fairly interesting, and it seemed that, unlike his first impression, that the green rider protaganist was female. Huh. Well, that would cause a little less drama than a clutch hatched by a female/male pair.

The sounds of other firelizards roused the almost asleep hatching, and she was up and off of his shoulder, flying over towards them, chirping a greeting.

"I read some," the brown rider answered, "mostly adventure stories. My favorites are about a Lion tailed Sailor and his adventures against a band of exiles on the sea. " Admittedly, they were kid stories, but they were still rather enjoyable, and since the older man had been so willing to share what he was reading, he saw no reason not to share back.

[Coal]

The green and blue firelizards playing on Kreedath’s back had not noticed the little hatchling on F’nell’s shoulder, caught up in their game as they were, but when she took off their heads both snapped up at once. The green, Jen, rumbled grumpily, putting back her head in irritation, but the pale blue Mist answered the hatchling’s chirped greeting with one of his own and took off to join her, fluttering about her gently but being careful not to buffet her with his wings. Mist was a friendly and gentle creature, and Jen was not antisocial, but she was a quiet creature and didn’t much like noisy hatchlings. She’d only put up with Mist when he was young because, as M’ton had had to reminded her constantly, the blue was her own son.

Kreedath watched their antics with quiet amusement as his rider continued his conversation. M’ton was presently lost in thought, stroking his thick, braided beard as he considered F’nell’s description of a book he was currently reading. ”Hmm…” He said after a moment, ”You know that sounds familiar, but there a lot of books about adventurers… perhaps I read it as a lad. D’you know who wrote it?” M’ton was always on the lookout for a good book, and even adventure stories weren’t his usual favourites, there was no harm in hearing about a good writer. Sometimes M’ton liked to imagine that he could write a book, bit whenever he tried he only managed a chapter or so before he ran out of things to say. He supposed it would probably take years of harper training to be able to produce a good work.

[catnip]

The light green trilled happily at the blue that had joined her in the air, and she darted away from him, and then glanced back. It appeared that the young one wanted to play, and wasn't sure if the older firelizard would be willing to play or not.

F'nell grinned at his little one's antics. He really would have to figure out a name for her eventually, but right now, nothing had come to mind.

Who wrote it? The brown rider thought for a moment, trying to remember. It started with a... oh what was it? Oh, that's right! "They're written by Perleko. It's part of a whole series, and it's likely that you did read them as a boy. That's the age group that they're written for." He wasn't ashamed of reading kid's stories. Not at all.

Maybe he should name her after one of the characters in the story. Hmm. "Are those your firelizards?"