Stone Skipping (QD20)

[Allegra]

“I know, but it takes skill to work in a team. Not everyone works well with others,” Allegra said. “And you still have to know what you’re doing to contribute. It takes everyone contributing their skills to make the team successful. I think that work is just as worthy of gratitude as the team’s effort.” She smiled at him again. Her father was always talking about the importance of the individual’s contribution to a team effort. She wanted to pass that on. And she wanted to make him smile.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that,” she said, looking a little sheepish. She wrapped a few strands of stray hair around her finger. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to seem insensitive. I’ll ask Master Ja’ryns the next time I see him and he doesn’t seem busy--” She stopped mid sentence, her eyes unfocusing as Dulcith spoke to her. “Oh! They’ve sent Weyrwoman Valencia and Saleemath to Southern! For her health. Weyrwoman Ariana has agreed to be Senior. What do you think that means for the Weyrleadership?” She couldn’t imagine Or’west not being Weyrleader.

“Every turn, huh? I’ll have to remember that so I can avoid the kitchens next time,” Allegra said ruefully. “Yes, my dragon is Dulcith. That’s so kind of you to remember! I don’t know how much help she’ll be though. She is more interested in how much they’ll enhance her looks. She’s already calling them her ‘entourage’.” She laughed lightly, and then her expression softened. “I know he’s attached to me. But I want him to meet my friends and be comfortable with them too.” She continued to hold her hand out, the offer to touch him still open.

[Altair]

He met Allegra's words about teamwork with a stoic expression and in the end, a single nod, he absorbed what she said without comment save a "yes, it takes everyone." Altair watched Allegra's expressions and the way she twirled her hair. That gesture caused him to grip the edge of his shirt with three fingers and twist it, and fresh nerves ran through him, an awkward but oddly pleasant sensation. He didn't know what it was, didn't understand it save that her hair twirling made him want to smile. Any semblance of a smile faded when her eyes glazed over, he knew what occurred there and pangs of sadness and jealousy etched his heart to see her interact with her Dulcith. His lost brown's clutch mate. They'd stood on the sands together and she still had her dragon.

When she looked up again, he looked away from her and down to the ground. The news of the Weyrwoman's departure caused him to look at her in the face again with surprise and shock written on his features. His eyes widened both due to the news and that she asked his opinion on such an important matter. Spoke to him and asked him to speculate. "Oh? They did?" replied Altair. "I... I don't know w - w- hat will happen. Weyrleader Or'west is still in charge, probably. Right? He... he still won the Flight even if the queen isn't here anymore. Maybe... maybe Ariana and h... her Syn - Syndoreth will be the Weyrwoman now? That... that... they are the only gold we have." Unnamed dread filled him. His heart sank at the prospect of being reduced to only one gold dragon, but there was always the possibility her Syndoreth would lay a gold. But what if something dreadful happened to them too?

Allegra's words caused his eyes to slide down toward the proffered blue baby again. Again, he did not move to take it, only looked at the fussing creature before him. The wild gold fire-lizard and her nest felt a trivial matter to him now, but he obliged Allegra because she spoke softly to him and treated him with kindness and as an equal. And he really liked the thing she did with her hair. "Oh, yes, every Turn since they brought me to White Sands. She's reliable but you never know when she'll be there. That's why the fireplace she favors is never lit for long. In case she returns to lay another clutch there." Then, after some heartbeats passed enough that his next words wert an after thought to the whole, Altair lifted his eyes in slow increments to Allegra's fair features. "I - I - we're friends?"

[Allegra]

Allegra cocked her head to one side as she considered Altair’s words. “Oh! You’re right,” she said after a moment. “Leadership won’t change until the next Senior Queen flight. And with Synodreth on the sands, that won’t be for a while!” She looked relieved. “Yes, Syndoreth is our only queen, but it's not like anything bad happened to Saleemath. She just had to leave for a while. I’m sure she’ll be back.” She gave him her most reassuring smile. “But that would be wild if Syndoreth did have a gold on the sands!”

“Well, sure we are!” Allegra answered in an upbeat tone at first. “At least, I’d like to be. But only if you’re okay with it. I wouldn’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable doing.” She hadn’t missed Altair’s expression as she refocused after speaking with her dragon, for all he tried to hide it. But she didn’t blame him. What happened to him, it hadn’t been fair. But she knew unfair things happened all the time. She pulled her hand back so she wasn’t making him feel pressured. She smiled at him again, this time her expression was hopeful. “Do you want to be friends?”

The blue firelizard, his talons still wrapped around Allegra’s slender fingers, chirped then crooned curiously. Then, from her hip can an answering chirp.

[Altair]

He'd heard of others who took bets on which dragon should come from which egg, how many of which color, if there was to be a queen, and so on. Her words made his attention stray. He jerked his gaze from Allegra and looked beyond her, over her head and past her shoulder, way across the Weyrbowl toward the Hatching Sands. Somewhere beyond his vision, beyond the stones, there was Syndoreth, brooding over her eggs as so many had brooded on their clutches before her. He'd heard that the Queen mother separated their daughter queens from the rest of the eggs, but there'd been no queen hatched in White Sands since Altair lived at the Weyr.

At her sudden exclamation, Altair looked back to Allegra and found himself looking into her eyes. His own eyes widened when their gaze met whereupon he found his fingers tightening around his shirt again was quick to look away and cleared his throat. Pleasure shivered through him to hear the relief in her voice that his reassurances caused. He'd done that. The words she spoke caused her to smile. "I - I hope she has one too. It would it be exciting."

Altair returned her smile and continued to do so until Allegra's words and tone faltered. Her doubt caused him to doubt. Brought the nerves back. "I don't - no, I mu- mu mean. I don't... yes, yes, I'm not..." Altair took a step forward. He had no idea he'd done so until he already closed the distance and stood so close to Allegra he saw the tiny flecks of green within the pooled brown that made her eyes bright and fluid. Altair felt his heart pound faster in his chest, faster and faster till he thought it might burst and spill all over the place. He looked away from her. Looked anywhere but her eyes. It was too much to look into them. Then, in an uncharacteristic moment, he blurted out: "Yes, I want to be friends!" In the next instant, he took a backward step from her and he looked ready to flee once more.

[Allegra]

Allegra smiled warmly as Altair met her eyes. She was a very direct person in general, and didn’t mind making eye contact. There were times when she preferred it. She nodded when he agreed with her about Syndoreth and her clutch.

Her smile didn’t fade as he seemed to have trouble getting his words out. She didn’t try to push him to answer. She’d had friends back home who were very shy like he seemed to be, and she understood they just needed the time to find the words they were looking for. She started to stroke the little blue--she really needed to figure out a name for him other than ‘blue’ when Altair was suddenly next to her. Her hazel eyes widened in surprise, and she flinched slightly at the sudden-ness of his movement. She didn’t look away, craning her head up slightly to meet his dark blue eyes. To look away meant weakness to her, and she would never admit that.

“I was hoping you'd say that,” Allegra replied, her smile returning when he finally answered. The blue flit squawked a protest at Altair's suddenly loud words, and was followed by another muffled squawk from her hip. The fur lined bag that hung there started to move. Allegra silently shushed both hatchlings, and stroked the blue behind his wings to calm him. “Now that that's settled, we can start doing friend things."

[Altair]

Altair smiled. Allegra smiled so he smiled. Something inside Altair made him want to look at her longer. And yet, he could not hold her gaze. Too many Turns weighed on him. Unspoken discipline for not knowing his "place" lingered still. None did that here. Not to drudges, and not to Candidates or apprentices. And he, he was no longer a drudge. Never again. Yet, he could not look another in the eye for too long. Not yet. Maybe never. Maybe... The noises from the bag drew Altair's attention and gave him a reason to look away yet he did not comment on the sound and stayed silent whilst she shushed the creatures.

Friend. It seemed a foreign word. Though he spoke it, it seemed a foreign word. Was Rokai his friend? Were the other Candidates? This moment with Allegra stood as a definitive bridge between the question and the answer. Long buried memories of his childhood mentor rose. Feragina spoke to him from the past as she bid him maintain his composure to ease his stutter and prove to others he was not a dimglow. Altair remembered. "Focus." She told him. "Be calm and focus on your breath. Speak slowly so the syllables come out the right way."

His heart pounded in his head but he continued to smile and did not run away. Really could not for the sprint away from the Weyrlakes cost him and now his knee and ankle pained him in radiating throbs. Altair instead shifted his weight off his bad leg. He drew a breath and focused on the words he spoke so they might come out with perfect fluidity. Like her eyes. Altair renewed his smile. "Friend things? What kind of things?"

[Allegra]

Though Allegra tried, the hatchlings wouldn’t quiet. The blue became fussy and the bag at her hip kept moving. “Alright, fine,” she said with a bit of exasperation in her voice. She put the blue back up on her shoulder and then pulled the brown out of her bag. “Sorry,” she apologized to Altair. “He wanted to see what was going on.” She held the brown in her hand and stroked him at his wing joints. The brown stretched out his wings in appreciation.

“All sorts of things,” Allegra said with a shrug. “We can do things we like together, or we can find new things. We can share meal times, or help each other with studying or work.” She started rattling off general things they could do, hoping one would interest Altair and they could narrow it down from there. Then she noticed him shifting his weight. “Friends look out for each other too,” she added. “Do you need to sit down? We don’t have to stand here talking if you’re not comfortable.”

[Altair]

Friends look out for each other. More than anything else Allegra said, Altair pondered the implications of that statement. He shifted his weight to the other side, and then back to his "good" side. Altair opened his mouth to protest her question, he shouldn't show weakness or he might.... but he closed his mouth, and managed to keep his smile affixed in place. The healer within him knew the only way to make his leg feel better was to rest for a time. Afterwards, they could do the other things she mentioned. Or perhaps she'd grow tired of him then. Perhaps not. Perhaps she, like Rokai, had a genuine interest in his well fare and this conversation was not due to mere politeness. Some part of him wanted to believe. The other, the lesser part, clung to doubt and Turns of training.

Yet, t'was with a nod and an increased smile that he replied. He only hoped that his gesture and expression outweighed his stammered words. "Y - yes, I should s... sit. Are you... " His gaze drifted toward the fussy fire-lizard hatchlings, and then back to Allegra's fair features. "... d - do you wwww... ant to go to the D...d - dining Hall and eat lunch? Wuh - w - " Altair took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "We can ffff - ind food for your f - fflits there too."

[Allegra]

The baby flits didn’t understand a lot yet. But they did know ‘eat’. The moment Altair said the word, the blue sat up and squawked, flapping his small wings. The brown joined his brother, demanding the ‘eats.’

“I think that settles things,” Allegra laughed lightly. “Lunch it is! I must admit to feeling a little hungry myself, and I don’t think it's because of them. Cleaning out the Junior Weyrling barracks really stirred up my appetite! Shall we?” She smiled and motioned in the direction of the dining hall. She considered holding out her arm to help him, but then thought better of it. Altair wasn’t some Old Uncle tottering about. She wouldn’t wound his pride like that. He had been running when she nearly literally ran into him. Perhaps the sprint had hurt him. "I wonder what they'll have prepared for lunch today?"