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It was to no surprise that the boys were abuzz after their first touching. Meigth had felt their whirring and churning minds a mile away and had informed his rider with amusement of the storm that was to come - though not if he was to be expecting them both at once, or seperately.

Kahbrohm hadn't wanted to get his hopes up, but he had and he wanted to be so certain about the whole thing. He wasn't sure what it was about that egg that had stirred up all of his feelings, but it had. It was like nothing one could ever dream of - and it had only made him walk all the quicker towards N'ori's weyr to inform the bronzerider of the day's festivities.

That Dehka was tagging along was of minor consequence.


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Never in his wildest dreams had Dehka imagined that the Touching would feel so perfect. Quite a few eggs had set his heart racing, but even if the dragons within weren't meant for him, he just knew that they would become stalwart defenders of their home. He was having to hustle a little to keep up with Kahbrohm's pace, tagging behind his brother even as his thoughts continued to whirl. N'ori's stories, highly cherished and adored as they were, hadn't been able to compare to the sensation of young minds touching his own.

Few things would, he reasoned.

He assumed by Kahbrohm's eagerness to meet their father that he'd also found the experience to be thrilling. Maybe he'd also found some eggs that he was secretly hoping would belong to him. No. If anything, he'd be certain of it, and it left Dehka wondering if he'd manage to be so lucky.


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Meigth settled on his ledge, though he was sending fond thoughts elsewhere for a moment, quietly counting down. 3....2.....1... The door crashed open as Kahbrohm, never a fan of quiet entrances, came storming in. N'ori had become quite used to the clatter - or perhaps had enabled it - and seemed unbothered. "Well! I take it you had a good time?" he asked, looking between both of his sons and already finding a seat to listen to all of their thoughts on it.

Kahbrohm was practically bursting. "The big red and gold one in the back has to be for me. I can feel it," he certainly wouldn't be the only one making such a boast that day, but everybody who wasn't him was wrong.


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N'ori was greeted with a beam that lit up the boy's whole face before he turned to do the same to Meigth, practically radiating with excitement. "Yes!" Came the chirp before he hushed to let Kahbrohm speak... and startled a little. That egg? He'd touched it too, of course, but it had been... He chewed his lower lip, torn between thoughtfulness and a tinge of anxiety. It hadn't been an egg that had filled him with warmth and comfort, and he'd leave it at that. But maybe it would be a good match for Kahbrohm? It was impossible to tell. Dehka didn't dare mention that it might be best not to get one's hopes up. How could he, when he was filled with the same feverish longing that one of those dragonets would choose him to be theirs?

"I liked so many of them," The boy admitted after a moment. "But the big pink one with the swirls in Fianth's clutch... It's going to be a really good dragon. Their rider will be lucky to have such a partner." He knew that without a doubt.


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That they were both so abuzz was thrilling. A hatching would be good for both of them, maybe eye opening on some fronts. Meigth rumbled contently on his ledge as both boys shared their immediate thoughts. The clutches reflect their mothers and in some ways, they reflect both boys he told N'ori privately. So it was amusing that each had a favorite within the clutch of a queen that so well reflected them. To the boys, however, he shared a very different notion; Big ones then! Though my egg was not the largest of my siblings, so perhaps that isn't as important, hmm?

The big pink one - Kahbrohm's expression twisted darkly and it was clear he had an opinion about it. It had regarded him like he was covered in sharp barbs that it needed to reel back from, and he'd not exactly been impressed with that. "Hopefully it finds someone with a spine, then," he stated sharply, "because right now it doesn't have one." It wasn't a statement made out of malice - in fact, it could be said Kahbrohm didn't care about most things enough to actually have malice towards them, but it was perhaps crueler than it needed to be.


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"I didn't even think about the size," Dehka admitted. "But you're right." Meigth was the best dragon on all of Pern as far as he was concerned. It didn't matter that he hadn't come from the biggest egg, or wasn't the biggest bronze. He could have been any color at all and Dehka's opinion wouldn't have wavered a bit.

His heart immediately leapt into his throat at the cutting comment, his stomach clenching as though he'd unexpectedly been plunged in ice. It was unfair to judge the dragon before it even hatched, and it certainly hadn't been spineless! Maybe that was why he reacted without thinking. "That's not true," Dehka said quietly. "It has a lot to live up to. It's understandable that it's a little unsure of itself." He could feel anxiety threatening to claw its way up his chest, but he kept his feet firmly grounded, forcing himself to study Kahbrohm's face. Somehow, just listening to his brother talk about the egg like that... it wasn't right.



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"A perfect match feels better than speculation, no matter the color," N'ori confirmed, though some would have frowned at his audacity to say so when he had impressed bronze and therefore had a certain amount of status handed to him. He would have gone on, but the tension in the room had changed immediately with Kahbrohm's words, causing N'ori to frown disapprovingly. "Kahbrohm," was all he got out before Dehka spoke up. Meigth pulled his rider in with a mental tug. Let him do it he said firmly and it was with some hesitation that N'ori allowed his lifemate to be right.

Of course Dehka was already up in arms to defend someone he half-knew from his biting comments. Sure, he wanted it to be his and shards, Kahbrohm would have likely subjugated anybody who dared to fight him on his own chosen, but from Dehka? From him, it was rich. He couldn't even get the words out with any confidence. "Say it like you mean it," Kahbrohm said, his voice turning into a growl of frustration, "unless you don't." It was always his bro- Dehka that pulled out the worst in him immediately, and things like this were why. Sure, the dragon wasn't born yet, but it wasn't like he'd made his comment to it.


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His eyes widened briefly, lips parting with surprise at the suddenly savage tone. As quickly as it came, his expression changed: his eyes narrowed slightly, his teeth gritting not out of aggression, but as though to bite down on his immediate instinct to back down and avoid the conflict. "It isn't spineless." He said more loudly than before, clenching his fists to keep his hands from trembling. "Just because it didn't have to lash out and upset people--" He bit back the comment, exhaling roughly before he tried to moderate what he was going to say. "It's going to be a great dragon."

Why did Kahbrohm have to be like this? Frustration bloomed in the back of his head. He didn't understand it. His brother was going to be an amazing dragonrider one day. Why did he have to be so mean sometimes?


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N'ori, I said let him Meigth reminded his lifemate as the man stirred. He had a bad habit of trying to get into the middle of things and Meigth was going to keep that in check right now.

Oh! Dehka almost had his baby teeth in with that one! Yet something about that self control - balancing his fear of conflict against an actual desire to put him in his place just grated at the edges of Kahbrohm's nerves. How dare he. "Instead it shrank down and cowed," Kahbrohm didn't snap, but his voice kept that growling sharp edge it always did when he was pushing his weight around. The fact he had to with someone like Dehka was infuriating. "So, it will need someone with a spine to keep it from buckling."


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"Or maybe it just knew you'd think it was weak, so it didn't bother!" The sound of his own voice ringing through the weyr was a little startling. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs, and some of his fear was bleeding away into a real anger that he rarely, if ever felt. "What would you know about that, anyway?! You've always been strong, Kah! But not everyone starts out that way! That doesn't make it any less of a dragon than the one you like so much!"

He felt like he was going to be sick, blood roaring through his ears until everything sounded strangely muted and fuzzy. How did Kah know it needed someone with a spine? The dragon knew, not them, not the Weyrlingmaster, not even the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader. It would choose what it wanted and needed.


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That slowly boiling courage that Dehka had was so infuriating. What had he ever done to deserve it? "Not everybody is made out of circumstances that just bloom them into somebody with strength, Dehka," Kahbrohm's own voice raised up, as if it had been threatened by Dehka's volume and had to put it back into a place beneath him. "Some of us made a decision and grabbed it with our own two hands and held onto it until it didn't fight us anymore," his fingers curled like he was grasping something putting up resistance as he spoke.

Am I allowed to butt in now? N'ori asked and Meigth rumbled. Not yet. This is better than a brawl out in the Weyrbowl.

"I am not going to just pat someone on the back for being indecisive under the banner of potential. Either they have seized it, or they have not." He would not be overshadowed by anybody with a potential for greatness. He would not allow what seed others saw planted in those who would not grab and hold it to make him lesser.


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He shook his head with disbelief, almost unable to comprehend. "What are you saying? Everyone has the chance to grow. Everyone. Just because you think you have everything figured out--doesn't mean you really do," There. He said it, and for once, he didn't immediately wish he could swallow the words back down. "What happens if you're left standing on the sands, Kah?" His voice had grown softer, but no less firm. "Does that suddenly make your potential worth less?" It didn't. Of course it didn't. Couldn't his brother see that?

"You don't have to pat anyone on the back," He tried not to let the words grate out. "But that doesn't mean you have to be a jerk, either. Because one of those indecisive people might just grow up to be someone who helps lead the Weyr someday. That doesn't mean that their decisions, when they make them, are somehow less than yours." He believed that whole-heartedly.


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"Then hide behind those words. Hide behind them just like everybody else does," Kahbrohm snapped, "say your chances will come to you, or to anybody else so they don't have to make the decision to do it themselves. It's so convenient to not have to motivate knowing someday something will make you change and it won't have to be your own self." He wasn't going to let the idea of having 'potential' make him complacent.

Had N'ori not been right there, it already would have devolved into a fist fight. "I don't think I want to have someone who can't be decisive in charge of keeping my neck safe. Sounds like a surefire way to get everybody they're responsible for killed."


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"That's not what I'm saying!" Dehka was trying to keep himself from shouting, feeling his nails bite into the meat of his palms as he did so. "How does it make anyone less if they're motivated to change from an obstacle or challenge?! Why is that so bad?" Why was he being so deliberately stubborn about this?! He couldn't really think it was true... could he? Dehka was not a boy prone to violence, but had Kahbrohm come at him in that moment... well, he wouldn't have run.

Frustrated, he found himself grinding his teeth and glaring, not even sure how to respond to his brother anymore.


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There was a tension stewing between them, and N'ori had quite enough of that; "You have both been given a solid foundation to find yourselves from - or so I would like to think. Whether it was found easily or you still have yet to test your options, footing is crucial first." It was perhaps the most neutral stand he could have taken, but Kahbrohm still looked unhappy. So before he could protest, N'ori interjected again; "What a dragon is unhatched is not for you to know, and it may be different when hatched - especially towards you."

It felt more like N'ori was siding with Dehka, but Kahbrohm knew he wasn't wrong in his own opinions. So, he left his anger to settle and boil. "I chose my strength and I won't have it looked down upon as something I just have."


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When N'ori spoke, Dehka could feel his shoulders threatening to slump. He'd all but forgotten where they were--and who was listening to them. A solid foundation? He wasn't so sure about that, but he suddenly felt too worn out to care. His head snapped up again at that last quip, and yet again, Dehka decided he wouldn't let it pass. "Then stop looking down on everyone else who's different for a change." He knew he sounded sullen and hated it, biting his tongue and forcing himself to look away. He shouldn't continue this. It wasn't doing either of them any good.


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"Enough," N'ori silenced the room before Kahbrohm could reignite his desire to fight with Dehka, giving both of his son's a firm look. "Now. Is anybody still excited enough to want to talk about the touching with Dad still?"

Kahbrohm's hands were shaking and all of his own excitement had all but been eaten away by the shouting match that had broken out. "No. I'm not," he all but growled, not even looking to either N'ori or Dehka as he left, as though he hadn't been the one to shred down his brother's excitement.


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He didn't quite jump at the rarely heard crack of command from their father, but he did withdraw into himself with embarrassment and shame. Kahbrohm left without a backwards glance, and the guilt threatened to choke him. He could have just kept quiet. If he'd held his tongue and let the remarks pass, none of this would have happened.

But it wouldn't have been right.

The lump in his throat became a very real one, and Dehka stared at his feet to better hide the way his eyes had started to burn and sting.


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One heavy hand came to rest on Dehka's shoulder, giving it a firm, though affectionate, squeeze. "If you didn't say anything, it would repeat endlessly," and while N'ori was fully able to end their fights - if only because both boys loved him so - it would not have had the same bite. And Meigth was firm in making sure it didn't appear that his lifemate was picking sides. "Keep your chin up - I'm proud of you for pushing back," though that left him in the position to talk to Kahbrohm about the initial act of pushing at all.


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The boy wordlessly melted inside his father's side, leaning on him as though to take both his strength and confidence. Pushing back hadn't felt like anything to be proud of. He felt shaky and sick, like he'd been running for miles without rest. But he couldn't just sit there and let Kahbrohm talk about the egg like that, like it wasn't going to be good enough just on its own. It would be. He knew it deep down. It would be something amazing, and the whole Weyr would realize it.