Queyukyth

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Darkling Dawn
Abri

Queyukyth

I'm Queyukyth, he had announced, apologizing to his brown clutchmate. I'll be around.

And he kept that promise - of course. Easy-going joker he might be, but he was trustworthy, and pretty proud of his reputation for it. Didn't he have a right to be? Wasn't he everyone's neighbor, everyone's friend? You must know the one - the person who's always there with a hand when you need one, the one you find yourself telling everything to - but then you step back and realize you don't really know them. It's not that they're secretive, because you can feel that they'd tell you anything you asked - but, What's there to talk about?

Queyukyth was like that. It wasn't that he was trying to be noble or that he had low self-esteem - he just found other people interesting, and with so many people at Abri, with something always going on, why bother being introspective? Life was a show that should be enjoyed - and he meant to. Maybe sometime he'd find something that needed doing - but for now, he was quite content to be a spectator.

It didn't bother him, really, that he'd never bonded. Bonding would mean that he'd have to choose, and he wasn't good at things like that. Why choose just one rider? He didn't think he could. It wasn't that the candidates presented to him hadn't been good enough - more a case of the opposite problem. None of them were wrong; none could be eliminated, and so he couldn't choose, and didn't, and didn't plan on it. Why did he need to?

After all, he was quite content to be everyone's friend.

Something on your mind, Chiara? Queyukyth asked, looking down at the rider who sat near him on the shore, trailing bare feet through the warm water of the lake. Her own gold was farther out, almost submerged in deeper waters; he didn't really care for swimming, himself, preferring to sun himself on the warm rocks. He did like being warm - and verdigrised copper scales absorbed as much heat as the sun would pour into them.

The young woman glanced up at him, pushing short, dark waves out of her eyes. "Actually, there is, Queyu. Did you see that boy D'ari brought into Abri a couple weeks ago?"

Short, dark hair, about twelve? he guessed, thinking, and she nodded with a smile for his memory - rather undraconically, Queyukyth didn't forget things he'd seen.

"Yes, that's the one. He wasn't here long - not even a day - not many people ever saw him."

He cocked his head, green eyes whirling. Is that a good thing?

"Hmm... probably, considering the trouble he caused in the few hours before we shipped him off to Darkling Dawn. He was a runaway who said he wanted to be a dragonrider - and I guess he's going to get his way, because we found out it was easier just not to argue." Chiara looked up at him, grinning wrily. "It was actually pretty embarrassing - an eleven-year old fooled I don't know how many adults - riders!"

And this, I suspect, is the real reason you haven't told anyone - like Angeoria?

She chuckled at that. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I mean... can you picture what she'd look like if I told her that? What she'd say?"

Nope - I've never given her a reason to be mad at me, he couldn't resist teasing.

"Come off it, Queyu, you think I have? You think I want to?" She smacked his mottled side lightly, but they both knew she didn't mean it.

It appears, he said, after a moment, that you have a problem - or rather, Darkling Dawn does.

Chiara smiled up at him. When he laughed at her, she crossed her arms and pretended to sulk. "That was my 'I think you owe me a favor look'. Am I really that bad?"

Horrible, he agreed, solemnly. She stared at him for a moment, and then began to laugh.

"Okay, if you really refuse to take a hint..."

... You want me to go babysit at Darkling Dawn. Really, Chi, isn't there anyone else?

She grinned. "You don't mean that. You love kids, I know you do. And if you can keep an eye on Kysyto, I'm sure they'll be grateful enough to let you attend the hatching..."

In fact, they did better. Queyukyth learned, after talking with anyone who was willing to hold a conversation, that some of the dragons hatched from the three green clutches on the sands were expected to go unbonded, as he had - Darkling Dawn wasn't known, to put it euphemistically, for having a surplus of candidates. What did surprise him was the fact that other dragon-homes were invited to host and care for the unbonded hatchlings - but he wasn't so surprised that he couldn't ask to be one of the caretakers, should the need arise. He found the idea of gaining companions without the restraints of bonding intriguing - and, as Chiara had observed, he was well suited to caring for the young.

Besides - what better way to keep an eye on Kysyto than from the sands themselves?