Post by Felina on Aug 14, 2008 16:46:50 GMT -5
It was only the entrance to the weyr, true, but even from there A'tair could sense the majesty of the place, the sheer beauty of it. It also probably helped that he was clinging to a rock face nearly thirty meters off the ground, enabling him to really get the view. His dark hair was pulled back with a thin leather band today, and for a change it didn't make him look girly. Again, though, that could just have been the location. It was hard not to look manly while hanging to a few small handholds in the side of a valley. Hah, valley. Here, at least, it was more like cliff. He hadn't the slightest idea how he planned on getting down, but for the moment, that didn't really matter, because Rukbat, just beginning to slip behind the horizon, was absolutely breathtaking.
Happily he clambered up a little farther to a narrow ledge, where he could sit somewhat comfortably and watch day turn to night. Perhaps he wouldn't come down at all tonight. Shadows lengthened, and idly he picked up a loose stone and tossed it at the ground far below. There was nothing wrong with being out in the open air, and he'd brought some food- just bread and cheese, along with the obligatory water- in case he was stranded against his will. Of course, he hadn't thought he might be stranded by choice, but whatever. He could go back, he simply didn't want to.
There were fewer painful memories out here. Fewer reminders of what could have been, of what surely should have become his life. He remembered briefly what the Weyrleader had asked of him, before he ever had become a Rider, before Tris, before everything had shattered to pieces while still being the most jubilant moments of his life.
“What about your personal relationships? Will you be willing to sacrifice those for your dragon, your Weyr? It is your dragon’s choice that matters, and you cannot sabotage a Flight if you disagree with your dragon. You must also commit the time necessary to training and taking care of your dragon, at the possible expense of personal relationships. Could you do that?”
He'd answered all wrong, A'tair knew that now. So close he had come to forfeiting his candidacy, and yet if there was the chance to do it all over again, would he change a word of it? Likely not. Lost in thought, he stared out into the darkening horizon, not seeing any of it through the haze of memories.
There was only one thing that he absolutely could not understand. He would never do anything to harm Corenne. He would never have changed his loyalties, no matter what happened. Though of one mind, he and Tristiath had separate hearts, and the dragon's choice did not necessarily have to be his own. Why, then, had her loyalties so abruptly shifted?
Happily he clambered up a little farther to a narrow ledge, where he could sit somewhat comfortably and watch day turn to night. Perhaps he wouldn't come down at all tonight. Shadows lengthened, and idly he picked up a loose stone and tossed it at the ground far below. There was nothing wrong with being out in the open air, and he'd brought some food- just bread and cheese, along with the obligatory water- in case he was stranded against his will. Of course, he hadn't thought he might be stranded by choice, but whatever. He could go back, he simply didn't want to.
There were fewer painful memories out here. Fewer reminders of what could have been, of what surely should have become his life. He remembered briefly what the Weyrleader had asked of him, before he ever had become a Rider, before Tris, before everything had shattered to pieces while still being the most jubilant moments of his life.
“What about your personal relationships? Will you be willing to sacrifice those for your dragon, your Weyr? It is your dragon’s choice that matters, and you cannot sabotage a Flight if you disagree with your dragon. You must also commit the time necessary to training and taking care of your dragon, at the possible expense of personal relationships. Could you do that?”
He'd answered all wrong, A'tair knew that now. So close he had come to forfeiting his candidacy, and yet if there was the chance to do it all over again, would he change a word of it? Likely not. Lost in thought, he stared out into the darkening horizon, not seeing any of it through the haze of memories.
There was only one thing that he absolutely could not understand. He would never do anything to harm Corenne. He would never have changed his loyalties, no matter what happened. Though of one mind, he and Tristiath had separate hearts, and the dragon's choice did not necessarily have to be his own. Why, then, had her loyalties so abruptly shifted?