Motivation [Open]

[Dragon]

The fact of the matter was that, for all his flaws, no one pushed V'geta harder than V'geta. The sky was just starting to lighten; Saiyath was still lounging on his ledge, catching the earliest rays of sunlight. V'geta had already made his way down to the training fields, where he was warming up with a brisk - and punishing - run around the perimeter.

He had to keep himself in top form, and that meant that he could never stop training for what was to come - and who knew what that would be? The Interval War had still been ongoing when he was born, although he'd still been a child when armistice had been declared, and now Thread threatened Pern again. It would be illogical for the Weyrs to come again to open conflict while Thread fell, but logic did not always factor into human decisions.

And so V'geta pushed himself. To be strong and powerful, in defense of Pern and his Weyr ... and for his own glory. He had been constantly overlooked in Benden because of Saiyath's failure to catch a Queen; as a result, he had dedicated himself to Semaca. He would see his glory here, one way or another.

But for now, he ran, and he trained, and he pushed himself to be his best. He would be the best without question.

[Fel]

V'geta wasn't the only one up early to train.

Kaladin was ignoring at least some of the advice of the Healers and would have been running around the field if he could. Instead he was hobbling, trying to keep his balance on the uneven ground. He'd never realized before just how important having two feet was. Or two knees. But using his crutches would have been admitting defeat, and Kaladin was not the sort of man who admitted defeat.

Don't forget to clean off the new leg after, or the Healers are going to notice it's got mud on it, Cravellath commented. She didn't particularly like the idea of going behind the Healers' backs; they knew what they were doing. But her rider was stubborn, and besides. Technically they weren't in their chain of command, so it was probably okay. She just didn't want to get into trouble.

Kaladin shrugged, doggedly continuing on his path around the field. If he just kept moving...

He glanced up at the sound of other footsteps, running around the field. Running. He could swear they were doing it just to taunt him sometimes. He'd come out early specifically to avoid other people showing off what he couldn't manage to do yet. And then he saw the knots. Bronze knots. Because of course it had to be a bronzerider coming to lord over him.

"Do you have to train right here?" he asked, a bit more grumpily than he even intended. His stump ached from the effort of walking, and it was making him crabby. The existence of a bronzerider only made things worse.

I doubt he's doing it on purpose, Kal.

I don't care. He's still here. That's what matters.

Cravellath, watching from her perch on a nearby rock, sighed.

[Dragon]

With a flat look for the black-haired dark-eyed man, V'geta pointed out, "I'm training. These are the training fields."

He didn't have any idea why the other man would be snappish about him using the training fields. This was what they were there for. Maybe the fellow was used to having early mornings to himself.

If he was, well, wah. He could whine and moan all he wanted; V'geta wasn't going to let up on his intense personal routine just because some annoying little greenrider wanted to cry about it. It was important to keep himself in peak condition at all times.

[Fel]

"I never said it wasn't. I asked if you have to be here," Kaladin said brusquely. Of course a bronzerider would think he was just entitled to every bit of space possible in the Weyr, even at Semaca where their rank allegedly didn't matter. Allegedly. Everyone knew it still counted.

"Besides, I'm also training."

He crossed his arms, not willing to admit that he also needed a bit of a break himself. Something as simple as walking around a field shouldn't be so difficult!

[Dragon]

"Tch." V'geta glared at the greenrider. Did he have to be here? What was that supposed to mean? Dragonriders were supposed to keep themselves in shape.

He sneered when he was told the other man was also training. "No one's stopping you."

V'geta, on the other hand, was having his training interfered with. He had a tight schedule, and needed to use his time wisely, not on the grousing of a greenrider.

[Fel]

"You're hogging the path."

The perfectly wide path. But Kaladin wasn't in the best of moods, and he wanted to snap at someone. The bronzerider simply happened to be in his line of sight. And also happened to deserve rudeness, given that he was a bronzerider. They all deserved little courtesy. Did people Impress bronze because they were inherently selfish, or did they just become that way because of the dragons? And did it really matter given that the end result was the same?

He shifted his weight slightly, keeping a grimace off his face just to avoid letting someone with that sort of dragon see it. He couldn't decide if walking or standing was more difficult.

"Besides, you have plenty of opportunity to train with the rest of your wing. Let those of us trying to get fit to return to duty use the field when it's empty."