Under the Twinkling Sky [Nine]

[Dragon]

Graduation was just around the corner, and Cyan and Cyask had finally settled on their future squad. Pavane. They were going into Pavane. It would suit them both, working reconnaissance and search-and-rescue. They were also inclined toward exploration, yes, but Mazurka - the other squad they'd heavily considered - required too much in the way of mapmaking, aka paperwork. No, Pavane would be the squad for them.

They outside their lodge, both stretching for the night, when Cyask spotted Thornsk, his head raising slightly as he zeroed in on her. His mother was a little larger than he was, simply patterned but carrying faint scars earned in her turns of service.

Go ahead, if you want to have a chat, Cyan sent, smiling slightly at his wher. The two of them were a very good match, and they had Thornsk to thank for that. She'd seen something in him when she'd decided he should be the one to have Cyask's egg.

Cyask gave a soft, almost grumbly trill, stretched a final time, and padded off towards Thornsk. Dusk was rapidly turning the sky dark and releasing a twinkling of stars. The blue was quiet for a moment, considering his words as he always did, before deciding simply on, Good evening.

[nineofswords]

It was early, but Thornsk liked to rise early occasionally to go for a walk. It was good for her to stretch her legs. While she could only really use three of them, it still did her good to go for a walk first thing in the evening to loosen up her joints and muscles before a busy night. She was doing a few customary laps around the Weyrbowl when she was approached by blue Cyask.

Evening, Cyask, she said warmly. Trust you well? You and handler? He treat you well? He had struck her as an intelligent sort, someone that would suit her clever son. Neither of them would've been willing to suffer fools easily, but mothers were not infallible, and they occasionally got things wrong. She was pleased at a chance to check in on him so she could see how her choice had been received.

She circled him once, looking him over. You eating enough? Look little skinny. Should eat, yes? Important for energy. No one was too old for her to encourage to eat or sleep more, especially not when they had come from an egg she had brooded.

[Dragon]

Cyask shifted a little, ducking his head. We are well, he mumbled, clear and unusually eloquent for a wher. He treats me properly. We are well-matched.

He was nearly grown now, only an inch and a half shy of five feet at the shoulder, larger than middling although still fairly average-sized for a blue. Cyask found himself stretching for every fraction of an inch of height as his mother circled him to inspect him. I've been eating, Cyask complained, sounding far more adolescent for once instead of his usual old seafarer demeanor. I made my first kill nine months ago. I know how to hunt, and Cyan is a good handler.

It was a little strange. Cyask was used to being treated as an equal partner by Cyan, if one that got fussed over from time to time. They had a very even relationship, similar as they were in attitude and goals. But Thornsk ... somehow she made him feel vaguely unfinished.