He had been fostered in Dawnlight with his sister Alexis until she too was searched and impressed. When she was gone from their little foster family, he was put to work out in the Hold's chambers, keeping the peace among the squabbling rabble rousers.
A large young man, Kelavin presents a problem for the Hold. He will impress, but he's already gotten quite close to the current Lord Holders. He is trusted by them, and perhaps with good reason. He does not intend to betray any of their secrets to anyone he doubts, and he seems to know those people as soon as he sees them. Kelavin is actually a very intelligent, and fairly literate boy, but his attitude of rush-in-and-solve-at-any-cost is a bit much for his peers.
Kelavin bragged to his friends, but there was an air of seriousness to his words. He hadn't been there when Thread fell abruptly, he had been inside talking to one of the Harpers about his continuing lessons. Bitterly, it seemed, he recalled how the shutters were slammed closed, and everyone inside hoped for the best.
It was too abrupt a Fall to rely on the Dragonriders, even the Protectorate riders were taken by surprise this time. Kelavin promised himself that if he was ever anywhere, he'd have a dragon ready below him and firestone about to be stoked.
He had no desire to ride a bizarre dragon. Or one which was too small to do much good in a long Fall. He had always imagined himself on a big bronze, suitable for mating and fighting thread like the best Harpers stories told. How brave one must be to ride at all! And how strong for a bronze... He breathed out, slowly.
If he impressed at all, he would count himself among the lucky ones. His family had a good record for such things, but he was long behind in his sister's tracks. He had no real illusions about what he might do on dragon back -- he could very well find out that he had no love of heights, for instance!
Kelavin laughed at that, he'd been on dragonback several times and knew better than that. He had been studying up on leather working, straps and harnesses for dragons, and that sort of thing. Those were the things that worried him most. What if they became brittle at the wrong moment? What if?
Well, he resolved, there would be no what if for him. He would keep the harness well-oiled, examined at every turn. He would make sure that any dragon -- green or bronze -- would get the finest attention he could give them. For what was a dragonrider without a confident, healthy dragon!
At last, when he had finished his dinner and bid his friends their farewells, Kelavin tried to sleep. He found that his dreams were turbulant, harsh. The confusion of Thread falling out of sequence truly bothered him, but what was worse about his dreams this night was that they all involved him having a dragon, losing it, falling, and getting scored even before the jolt of landing on hard ground woke him again.
In a kind of sweat, he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. His diligence must carry through even in dreams. He concentrated. All the lessons he'd been wheedling out of the Harpers had definitely paid off, for he could remember many patterns of falls, most of the drills that he knew the weyrling master at Andromeda would be putting the new rider pairs thought. But even though he knew them and wanted more...
He was still not Impressed. And until he was, he would never know just how grand or poor a rider he would be.
You would be perfect. Just like you are perfect for me. Fortalezath bespoke woozily.
"But I am afraid that she may have been right, Fort. Why would she say such a thing if it weren't obvious? I mean, she's the weyrwoman after all."
Fortalezeth raised his bronze head and his eyes whirled a worried golden shade. Do not doubt yourself, my friend. You have everything I have.
"And now I have you too," Ke'vin smiled, laughing at his doubts.
Ke'vin laughed, and smacked the bronze hide of his beautiful Fortalezeth. "I have him to thank!"
"Well, we're going to get more thanks soon--" panted Beao', their wing leader. "Thread falls just over the north ridges. Let's go!"
Situate yourself in the left shoulder of the wing, Fort! That's where we're supposed to be.
I will do good at this, Ke'vin. All of these big dragons with me, too. I can already feel their confidence!
