Little Yamoth was incredibly naughty. He teased the other hatchlings, he stole food from an unsuspecting weyrling's plate, he made silly noises in class and pointed innocently to another poor beast. And he did it well.

It was nearing the end of class on this particular day, and he had been very good all afternoon. He kept glancing at N'lan and looking sweet and innocent, but his young rider knew that look of mischief in the bronze's eye. It swirled just so.

No, the young man said for the hundredth time. No trouble today.

And Yamoth stuck out his tongue and sulked, scratching invisible patterns on the stone floor and only paying minimal attention. They were learning about something to do with payments for riders and the bronze really wasn't interested. Why did he have to be there anyway? He'd much rather be out and about, getting into his own trouble instead of stuck in here and not allowed to have any fun. He sulked a little harder.

N'lan looked at the baby and resisted the urge to give him all the freedom he wanted right then. It would be funny. But the last time that happened, he was mucking out the Barracks for a sevenday. Not worth it, somehow. Yamoth was the coolest dragon in the world, as far as N'lan was concerned. Simply Impressing him had been the biggest adventure of his life, and so living with this amazing creature, so full of personality and jazz and energy, was beyond cool. When they lay together at night - Yamoth was still small enough to share his bed, but only just - and spoke silently of everything and nothing, he felt so complete.

How much longer? Yamoth asked, looking at his rider with big green-yellow eyes.

Not much.

How much?

N'lan chuckled softly. Do you want it to the second?

It'd be nice, if that's not too hard. He was totally serious.

Silly beast.

Yamoth didn't quite understand what was so silly about that, but he let it pass. Not much is better than a lot, he supposed.

It turned out that 'Not much' was only a few more minutes. The new weyrlings rose and left with their friends and their respective lifemates and N'lan and Yamoth, who were sitting in the back row, followed suit.

"Happy now?" the young rider asked, grinning as the little bronze let out a great sigh and wiggled every muscle on his body as if he'd had to sit stone-frozen all afternoon.

Oh, yes. I hate sitting still! How do you do it all the time?

N'lan shrugged, still smiling. "You'll get used to it, 'Moth."

Yamoth shrugged, not concerned with whether he did or not. What now? Please tell me we have free time!

Pausing and stringing the bronze along for a long moment, N'lan finally said with a great heaving sigh, "We've got free time."

YAHOO!

Have you ever seen a dragon scream 'Yahoo'? Not only did he scream the word in his head, but he made an odd bugling sort of sound that resembled the onomatopoeic form. It was quite funny, actually.

N'lan, it seemed, agreed. "Yahoo, 'Moth!?"

Yamoth looked up, wondering what was wrong with that. So?

"Nothing, 'Moth. Continue."

And he did.