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Of course, being from outside of the Weyr, L'nik knew that dragonriders were received.....very formally. And those who had come to Western from High Reaches were also.....very formal. "The riders of Western believe that we earn our merit by our duty, not by our dragon," he grabbed one of Hessianth's headknobs and pulled the brown's head into his side before roughing rubbing his hand along the side of his face. The brown practically melted at the affection. "I've not yet to fly or do anything besides impress a dragon to be worthy of too much formality, so please - don't worry about it."

Hessianth leaned his shoulder into his rider. You only have the best dragon of them all! That's worthy of some respect! he puffed his chest out boldly, as if to emphasize this. Then you'll have no problem backing that up to prove when we're not both bound to the ground, L'nik challenged. Hessianth chewed on the thought while L'nik continued.

"Nobody will fault you for being polite, just...dragon hide heirarchy is very nonexistent here." Except for poor Sheyoth, or as she sometimes saw herself; the golden mouthpiece of the Weyr.

Hessianth had returned to splashing in the waves - or rather following after some crab-like creature found in the shallows, nudging it with a foot and then quickly retracting it with a honk of indignation when it clacked it's pincers at him.

"Yeah, he's almost ready to fly already. We're supposedly going to have those lessons on this beach here in a few weeks."

Oh. Oh dear.

"There was a time when it was believed that only Bronzes could fly a Gold. There was also a time when Pern was down to a single Gold and her esteem was...deserved in such a sense." L'nik had never thought too hard about the thought that dragons had been that close to extinction. "That has since been disproven, but many of the world still believe the rarer Metallics deserve more of our respect."

Hessianth continued to snap after the crustacean, seemingly because Soui had just told him not to. It wasn't appreciating it.

"You know, the first time I flew I was so little, but having a dragon of my own has been nothing like even interacting the way I did with my mother's bonded my whole life, so I know it's going to be different." Was he excited? Well, Hessianth certainly was.

"I wouldn't know how we stand compared to other places. I've lived in Western my entire life," L'nik explained, looking away from Soui to watch Hessianth as he swatted at the pincered critter he'd found in the sand. If it pinches your face, I have to have a healer look at it, he reminded, making the dragon's eyes whirl yellow and orange as he lifted his head and snorted, shaking out his bulk and moving to run through the tide instead.

It hadn't been that interesting anyways.

"I don't think I've met either of them. I'll admit despite living here for 20 turns I uh...don't know every face," a lot came and went, others transferred, and then there was the small epidemic that had taken several almost 8 turns before. But that wasn't his business to talk about that.

Soui's startled cry caused Hessianth to suddenly reel around in alarm, honking as he came bounding back, eyes whirling with orange and red as he looked down upon the offensive little creature that he'd been so curious about a moment before. He bellowed loudly at it before swiping it with one clawed foot to send it flying into deeper waters. For good measure, the brown trumpetted in the same direction before snorting.

He seemed content after that, nudging his head up against Soui's chest with a comforting rumble.

You're going to get your head stroked that way, L'nik pointed out, causing the brown to pull his neck back like someone who had just had cold fingers touch the back of it. There's no need for that, he let his rider know as he stepped back. L'nik grabbed the brown's head for his own rub-down instead. "He won't let you touch his head, but he wouldn't mind if you wanted to pat his back or something."

Hessianth seemed content with the state of affairs, now that the offending sea-crawler was out of arm's reach. It would be better off scuttling about where it didn't pinch people, anyways! Still, the shoulder pat was nice, the brown leaning into it just enough to show appreciation without toppling the girl over.

"Do you need to get that looked at? That's a pretty ugly color," L'nik asked, looking at Soui's finger with a frown. Maybe it would just be a bruise, but he wasn't a healer. For all he knew, that could be the color of a finger that was going to fall off immediately. He doubted it, but...

L'nik looked at Hessianth, who seemed to huff slightly, but agree to whatever silent exchange was had before the young man scooped up Soui to lift her up onto the brown's neck. Hessianth had leaned down compliantly, straightening up once the young healer was settled and turned to start the walk back himself as his rider retrieved her shoes.

"We'll at least walk you there," L'nik said once he'd caught up and Hessianth, seemingly amused by watching his rider run, also jogged a few steps to leave him behind - though the amount of love surging through their bond left no question that the brown would never actually abandon his rider.