Prompting Part XXIV

[sherlockbbc_fic]

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Fill: Who tries, Does (9/?)

[anonymous]

J’ohn had been in Fort Weyr for three days before he had his first real introduction to Sh’lock, rider of Bronze Hamith. He, like his brother, was descended from a long line of Weyrleaders, and rumour had it that his lineage went right back to the rider of Faranth, the most famous queen dragon ever to fly through the skies of Pern. J’ohn wasn’t sure that he credited that, but he would give it to the pair of them, that there was no one like them anywhere else on Pern.

J’ohn was roused from his bed by Maryth, though she wouldn’t say what was the matter, just that she wanted him to come to her. Now, please.

He threw on some clothes and went. You didn’t ignore your dragon when she called you, not if you had any sense.

She was standing by the lake alone, the other dragons being gone on training manoeuvres, staring at a man who stood in front of her.

“Look,” the man was saying, “I don’t know why you’re being so difficult about this.”

“Shards!” J’ohn muttered, hurrying the last few metres. “What in the egg is going on here?” The man whirled on him.

“I presume you’re the rider. Your dragon is refusing to take part in a simple experiment.”

“You want to experiment on Maryth.”

“Yes, and she is refusing.”

He wishes to ride me, Maryth said. No one rides me but J’ohn. She said the last not to J’ohn himself but… to the other rider.

“You can hear her?” he asked. The man rolled his eyes.

“Obviously.”

“That’s amazing,” J’ohn said, blinking in astonishment. The man looked a little startled, before he went on.

“Now tell her to help me.”

“No,” J’ohn said, smothering his awe at being in the presence of someone who, like Moreta and Torene, two of the most famous Weyrwomen Pern had ever had, could hear and talk to all dragons.

“What?” the man asked, looking completely shocked by the refusal.

“No, you can’t ride Maryth,” J’ohn said.

“I need smaller subject,” the man said. “Hamith is too large to be of use.”

J’ohn paused for a moment and then looked towards the south where a large bronze dragon was sunning itself.

“Hamith?” he said slowly. “You’re… You’re Sh’lock. M’croft’s brother.”

“Yes. Honestly! Must you state the obvious? In order to get the results I need, I need a smaller, lighter dragon. Yours is perfect. Let me ride her.”

“No,” J’ohn said again.

“No?”

“No.”

“This is vitally important. I need to be able to…”

“Maryth’s not well, she’s not supposed to be flying yet, and when she is well enough to fly, no one’s going to fly her but me. Shards! You’re weyrbred, you should know better than to try and fly someone else’s dragon - especially without asking.”

“No time! You weren’t available.”

“You’re unbelievable… I’m only going to say this one more time. You. Cannot. Ride. Maryth.”

Sh’lock threw up his hands in frustration.

“Honestly, are you so mired in the fusty, hidebound ideas of tradition that you’d stand in the way of true progress. The results I get from this test might be essential in providing a far less dangerous method of fighting Thread.”

“You’re serious.”

“Of course I’m serious!” Sh’lock began to explain something about the interaction of the spores with wind and agenothree, a lot of things that J’ohn did not understand at all.

I can fly, Maryth said. Hamith says that this experiment really will help, and that his rider is very bad at explaining.

Sh’lock continued, clearly too involved with his rant to notice Maryth’s comment. “Why am I even bothering to explain this to you? You’re even more of an idiot than-”

“I’ll do it,” J’ohn said.

“What?” Sh’lock stopped, stared at him, eyes narrowing in assessment.

“You only need results, right. I’ll get them for you,” J’ohn said. “Just let me get my harness.”

“I’ll need you to do exactly what I say, when I say it.”

“Well, you can talk to Maryth, right? You tell her, she tells me. That’s practically instant communication.”

“Well…” Sh’lock seemed torn.

“I’m not letting you ride her, but I’ll ride her for you. That’s my only offer.”

“Fine.”

*