Weyrling Essay, Lan Tries To Write

Literally burning the midnight oil, Ers’lan was thankful of his seclusion at the back of the barracks, where the glow of a softly lit candle provided enough light by which he could work. The punishment from V’dim was to write an essay on the reasons why having control over his dragon was important. For much of the night he brooded over the concept. He could not stop thinking that he and his lifemate were equals and that maybe other riders had treated their lifemates differently. As equals, the word control could not fit into the equation.

Not only that, but Ers’lan knew he was terrible at writing. Briana had started teaching him how to read and write during candidacy. It had not been that long since candidacy. He could not be expected to write an essay. He didn’t even really understand the concept behind an essay, let alone know the format of one. This made him worry that he may never be able to get out of this punishment. He had thought once or twice about having Briana write it for him only to chide himself for the notion, as Zhaoth had also agreed it would be like cheating.

Zhaoth was fast asleep, yet there was a constant wash of silken river in Lan’s mind, the presence of his dragon growing to a familiar addition of his own thoughts. His gaze often grazed over the sleeping rangy hulk of his dragon, watching thoughtfully as dragon ribcage expanded and contracted with each draw and expulsion of air. Fingers twitched as he hovered his writing utensil over the ink blot which had grown each and every time he wanted to start writing something, stalled by his own thoughts over exactly what to say. This time was different. He believed he had the solution well in hand now and while his writing would reflect the level of a grade school student, a short blurb full of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and chicken scratch lettering, he would attempt it.

I have |Not has been scratched out| decided not to mention the subject of control in this writing, |a line through except| expect for the reason to dispute it. I have learned that being connected with my dragon is a profoaund thing. We are a team, a patnership that is equal. We both matter. We each have a say in what the other is doing. We be both Captains and be sailing on the same ship. I will advise him to stay if he wants to go when he shouldn’t, but I will not control him like a man would do with a canine. I talked to him. He |there is a bunch of scratches as he tries to spell ‘understand’ but can’t quite get it right| undstan that he needs me and me needs him. We work only together now. If I have a good reason not to do something, I no do it. If I have a good reason for him not to do something, he no do it. He is a good dragon. We just need to talk before he goes. Work as a team. End.

"There. Finished. I will rewrite it to fix the blotches of ink and scratched out ink," Ers'lan murmurs to himself, recopying his work onto another leaf of paper, this time without so many scratched out words. The letters are all wonky and big, not at all pretty to look at. But that is what happens when someone is just learning to write. Only a few months ago, he wouldn't even be able to write as much as he did! So he looks proudly at it, smirking to himself before turning down the lamp for the evening.

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