Bonder at Starburst Weyr
The soft spoken man smiled at them when the time came to run down to the hatching sands. They would get their chance, he promised them!
The first egg to hatch was a green, a nice fighting dragon! Then a brown, bronze and another green hatched. It was when the first blue of the Gold-White clutch hatched that Tabo perked up. He felt something... Dizzying him.
The blue picked up one foot and then the other, but then he seemed to forget that his hindquarters needed to work at the same time, and he fell to his belly. At last, he found his feet, made them walk, and strode up to the boys. He promptly tripped over Tabo's feet.
Oh! Sorry Tabo! I am Setsanith.
"You know that I'm not angry at you!" Tabo said. Mentally, he felt how truly apologetic the little blue was, and in fact... he could sense the hunger, elation and fear in the candidates as well as the other hatchlings. This was the first time that his empathy truly woke in him. He was almost overwhelmed. But there was a clear voice among the others: Setsanith. He smiled, picked the blue up, and took him to their new den.
"Some of you will bond yourselves, too," he said, and for some reason he glanced across three faces in particular, though they were too young to bond yet he just knew they would be the right type to bond. "So everyone must do their part to keep the weyrs and dens clean, and to help the riders when they've come back from battle."
His calm voice entranced the young group, and finally they were called back to their dens by the busy head woman. "You spoil them," she commented. Tabo laughed.
"Someone should - they're priveleged enough to live in a weyr, they should know its benefits. And besides, three of them are sure to bond someday."
The way that he said it made the woman pause. "So... you're a searcher then, are you?" She ticked her tongue and said, "I'll alert the weyrwoman, she'll know what to do with you."
"A... a searcher? Me? Well I --"
You are, Tabo, I know it too. They are young but I think one of the girls will be a gold rider for certain. She has everything it takes inside her. Setsanith insisted.
Beaming with pride, Tabo scratched Setsanith's neck and eagerly wondered what he would find in the future - for this weyr or for the Kshau Protectorate when he returned!
As search riders. There was always a grin on Tabo's face when he thought about it. At last, his abilities with people and emotions could be used to his advantage. Not just in a classroom.
When he arrived to Blackstone, over the beautiful peak and smallish sub-island near Paniya, Tabo had Setsanith announce them, and they lowered down to the landing flat near the top of the caer-weyr.
There were a number of people waiting for them, A'rd and his blue Trelerth among them.
"You bonded well, Tabo - and Trel says you're searching now?" The pale yellow skinned man said. "There's something else we would like to you tend to, as well..."
Tabo perked up. "What would that be?" Setsanith shifted around and saw a pack of young children staring wide-eyed and grinning.
"That'd be weyrling training. Actually... Pre-candidate training. We've... Well, Hollis and some others have decided that in order to keep Blackstone going, we will take the kids as they're searched - not just when there's a clutch for them. They will get used to the weyr, the dragons, and the work. But you, you've got teaching experience. I don't. And," he smiled slyly, "you're coming off your weyrlinghood fresh. I've been riding this beast for quite a while, I've almost forgotten what it's like to have been searched."
They took the job, of course!
