Son of Master harper Jenn and a quickly-vanishing brown rider, Cicero spent most of his youth in Dawnlight Hold, and when the Kshau Protectorate moved to Alskyr (after he became a Journeyman harper), he went along with it but remembered clearly where he had been and why the changes had occured. His studies abruptly changed to include a new world's history, but he managed to dig out his homeworld's as well from the musty-dusty records rooms of Dawnlight.
In his last year as a senior Apprentice Harper, he was searched and given the opportunity to appear on the sands at Blackstone weyr. He did not Impress then. His harper duties come in the form of 'spin control' for certain Holders who hired him recently to keep suspicion away from them during a particularly bad tithe season. Tiring of this quickly, and eager to stand on the Sands again, he took up the quest to go to a weyr once the word was spread of the need for candidates.
With a good record of promptness and a strong willpower, Cicero has found that most search dragons, as well as their riders, like him. He has endeared himself to both the bards and the riders, in this way.
Cicero would love to ride a big strapping Brown -- something quite like himself with a barrel of a body and looks to die for!
Not that Cicero didn't do either of those, on occasion, but he was concerned that he'd been searched so long ago, and not bonded to a proper dragon! When would the time come? After all, it wouldn't be long before he'd be too old for a dragon to choose, and he'd have lost that whole side of his bloodline. It wouldn't go to waste.
He looked at H'lis again, and raised his dark eyebrow.
"Yes, you're right, Cicero," the bronze rider, leader of Blackstone weyr-turned-caer said. "Absolutely. Now... You've obviously been sneaking around the records room in the Peak, haven't you?"
"Who hasn't?" Cicero jibed, but the smile on his full lips was replaced by a frown when it appeared that H'lis was serious, the peak's records chamber wasn't a place to be trifled in, and certainly wasn't meant to be public knowledge. "Ah. Well, I'm a records keeper, myself, so ... going there was a privelege. I did notice that there are lots of search engines on and ... well, there is supposed to be a clutch at one of the larger weyrs, Tripaldi. But, not their normal sands. It's a special hush-hush event." The dark skinned man grinned with a conspiratorial glimmer.
"I had heard as much," H'lis muttered. That somewhat deflated Cicero, he thought he was being a bit more clever or at least interesting than all that. H'lis made some kind of note on a paper, and looked at the dark man sitting opposite him. H'lis nodded, his pale hair and static-colored eyes made him almost completely the physical opposite of Cicero. But he liked the young man, quite a bit. "We can arrange transport to their weyr, if you want to go. I'll send you a note recommending you, if you need it."
"I do. And... There would be others coming with me, wouldn't there? I mean, there are lots of people who are stuck like me, waiting."
"Yessss... Dragon riders children who won't be riding unless they bond at the old world. I remain unconvinced that it's all for the best." H'lis didn't explain whether he meant moving to Alskyr, or sending the candidates to the old world.
It didn't matter much to Cicero. He'd be able to gather the couple of people he most thought would benefit going along... Abalone and Thaia -- daughters of W'ick the blue rider. Both of them had at one point or another been the object of desire for this young man, but both also had their own close ties.
Cicero picked up his note book and bowed to H'lis as he left the office. Right after leaving, of course, the grin on his face threatened to burst. "Goin' to a weyr... Goin' to bond..." He chanted to himself on his way to his den.
***
Cicero looked at the waves, and thought about how he'd always wanted to soar over them. A dragon was so much better than a horse, or a cart or ... Anything. Certainly even walking beside a dragon was more fulfilling than just walking. Cicero absently fiddled with the booklet that he always brought with him, and glanced through his notes.
He'd kept close note of the star patterns here, on Alskyr, since they moved. The stars were bright, stunning. And, best of all, uninterrupted by a big baleful red smirch that spat aggressive crap down onto the planet every few weeks. He knew there were dangers on this world too, any place had them, really. If it wasn't the ants, it was the plants that spored acidic and caustic stuff at the air. But there were worlds where dragons fought against other dragons, where people and dragons were at odds, all manner of things were possible out in the big Nexus.
And Cicero planned on visiting as many of those worlds as he could. Taking notes about the weather, how things changed when it was bad or good, crop patterns, all those things he took into account here on Alskyr as well as reading up on the old world. He wondered if people - human people anyway - were just "like that" everywhere they went, in the universe, or if there was something about a world that made differences. If the dragons had to eat lots of meat, would they consume humans? If they were not telepathic, like the Alskyran and old world dragons, would they learn languages or just be beasts?
There were so many things that Cicero wanted to learn. With a dragon who might share those interests, he knew he would possibly chronicle 'the Nexus', and not just 'the weyr' or 'the Isle'.
He could be known everywhere. That thought comforted him - where it could terrify others.
***
Cicero draped his strong arms over the tall slender women's shoulders. "Ahhh, my two favorite candidates!" He said, cheerfully. "Have I got news for you!"
Thaia was hesitant. "Candidates? Well, sitting around here we're not. Don't joke around like that, Cicero. It's not funny."
"It is when you talk like that," Cicero said, stealing a kiss before the woman could snap at him again.
"What do you mean, Cicero?" Abalone asked, more quiet than her sister and having stood several times at Blackstone and not bonded. The last time was the same as when Cicero stood, and she took it quite hard.
"I mean, that there is a clutch waiting at Tripaldi, on the old world, with a number of beautiful eggs that I'm sure will hatch for us. All of us."
"So," Thaia said, unsure, "now you're a search rider without a dragon?"
"Nope," Cicero said, grinning, "just a good recordskeeper. I keep all things dragon in this little book," he swiped it below the girls' noses, and then flipped it open. It was a medium sized hand-bound book, all written in his clean, comfortable script. He jogged it to a page which showed search records, and attendance at clutches at Blackstone followed it.
"Right there," he pointed.
"I can read," Thaia said, darkly. "Move your chubby hand, Cero..." She growled and Abalone was able to see her own name on the page as well. There were dozens of others, too.
"What about them?" She asked, pointing with her painted nail down the page.
"They don't deserve to come with me," Cicero gloated, and got Thaia's elbow in his ribcage for it.
"We are 'ever' so priveleged, then," Thaia said, but finally her gaze softened and she threw her arms around the big man. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear. Abalone took his elbow and kissed him on the cheek, there were gleaming tears in her eyes.
"I hoped to find a clutch to stand at... that wouldn't refuse me again." She whispered.
"Then this time is yours," Cicero said, holding her chin. "Never give up. It's always possible that you'll find your dragon, we just have to know where to look!"
"I hope you bond well," Thaia interrupted them, "I heard your father was a brown rider, wasn't he?"
"I heard your mother was a beautiful model," Cicero joked, and both were obviously true.
They headed out, with an escort of two dragons -- one carrying the trio, and the other carrying their belongings, off to Tripaldi!
NEXT
