** Prior Information slightly altered for current use ** *=newer

(( Also note that while Kalkin is extremely 'out' in the Weyr and everywhere else these days, his story on this world directly reflects his original Body Dancing self. Some events have been glossed over a bit, but the story below is approximately in order. ))

Name: Kalkin
Rank: Master Healer (weyr injuries), Journeyman Tinker, Interrogator, Rider
Sex: Male
Age: 66 (55 at Impression, is immortal via Nexus travel)
Relatives: Parents both killed, Sengihr (father) and Inilla (mother), older half-brother Pyotr (mother's son), older half-brother Ilya (father's son, fostered after Sengihr's death); Son Marten (with harper Lucinda), and other children scattered (pre and post current age); he has lovers among the ranks (including Engell?) and there is a possibility of children with at least two of the women (Daverin and Brinna), his name has been changed to protect him.

Dragon: Blue Sixth

Hair: Raven black, to back with widows peak, very straight
Skin: Darkly olive that becomes golden tan, no scars nor markings
Eyes: stunning vibrant blue, narrow
Height/Build: 6'3"/190, all muscle, very lean and muscular but not bulky
Other Features: face is long and dramatic, handsome, high cheeks and strong nose, heavily lined face; has long, dark nails on both fingers and toes. Usually found wearing violet robes and silken pants, rarely wears shoes. Looks good in nearly anything.
Voice: deep and resonant, highly expressive. Can whisper or shout with equal force. Often refuses to use abbreviated speech (I would instead of I'd), and often seems to have a strangely dark hint of anger or fear to his voice.

Skills: Healer Skills -- specializing in internal injuries, bone setting, skin disorders and nerves. Other Skills -- he is versed in hand to hand combat, and is extremely fast with reflexes which are enhanced by experimentation from his old Master healer. He has a very strong sex drive, and is barely able to control it, however he has taken sex play to an art. He is highly literate, but has been taught only by his Master. He has also been taught many lies, including that Fire Lizards are annoyances only, Dragons are dangerous and aggressive toward people and should be avoided, and that Harpers spread nothing but lies. He is slowly re-learning many things about the people around him and the world as it really is.

*Physically he's able to perform feats which normal people can't do, lifting heavy things and breaking unbreakable things. He is fast, remarkably so, and his reflexes are a mirror of his moods (fast, to the point and often deadly). His fingers are more nimble than a fire lizards and can get into just as many places. He is highly adept at healing arts, everything from child birthing and pre natal care to surgical techniques. He can diagnose an injury better than a disease, however. His abilities have been twisted over time to reflect the needs of the Hold: he is the primary inflictor of pain for Engell's interrogation and threat center. Anything someone else might fix he can inflict in a matter of moments, and many things that even their on-site surgeon Galen can't fix... He truly enjoys doing this job as well. On the other side, he's brilliant in every sense of the word, and can fix machinery. He has physically been to the Aivas site, but was not allowed access to the parts department ... yet. He will be, if Engell has anything to say about it. He will be able to not only understand the computers there, but to make his own in a matter of months. Kalkin is also quite adept at obscenely interesting sex play. Just ask him.

Emotional/Mental Description: Kalkin is pretty much insane. This is NOT a good time to talk about him. Really, never is a good time. He is passionate, dangerous, oversexed, quick witted, and unnaturally intelligent. All of these things have come with the side effects of his old Master's work on him, and he really won't tell you anything more...

History: that, my curious friends, is completely need-to-know. And you do "not" need to know. Suffice to say that his presence around Pern has been felt, and his part in Alabaster's work is now covert because he must be kept safe.

Pets/Hobbies/Posessions: He does "not" have pets in the normal sense (a bad idea given his predisposition for surgical procedures...) but he does have two fire lizards (blue Echo and bronze Courage) which he acquired under a different name in a different time and place, and a little grey fire lizard came into Kalkin's life recently, on a trip around Pern, when visiting Sapphire Weyr. Though Courage and Echo occasionally ply for treats, this little guy is quite a trickster! His name is Tsuki, an ancient word for Moon, since he is quite like moonlight when he darts around stealing food...

After a long stint at a very secure Weyr known as Windtoss, Vanya Sengihr, Master Healer (and Weyrhealer) made a terrible mistake -- killing his old Master, due to years of abuse at his hands. Though his motives were purely instinctual, his actions proved more than the councils of weyr, craft or Hold might allow.

So he was to be removed from the Weyr. This not only terrified him, but left him in a frenzied, nearly lunatic state. Even those people who could defend his actions were forced to admit that he could no longer be trusted as a weyr healer, or perhaps as a healer at all.

He was brought into another time and place, though still in the South. Vanya wandered alone -- his two fire lizards moving themselves into another weyr waiting for him to return. Finally, he learned of his whereabouts -- and his temporal location.

He had been moved to a time barely after colonization of Pern! There were far fewer dragons in the world, and therefore far less chance for him to be ruined by their painful mental communication -- speech which had been known to send him into catatonia or epileptic fits.

Brutally, he survived in the wilderness. Until he reached a weyr, young and fresh. He knew it, from historical documents, as Darkshade Weyr. One of the first, and one which so far as he knew did not make it into his time in the Fifth Pass. He had no reason to think that these people would know of him, but in case any future links survived he did not want to be known as the healer who murdered his master. So he changed his name along the way, and began calling himself Kalkin. Very few people know his old name.

There at Darkshade, completely unexpectedly, he found himself attending one of their first Clutches. And equally unexpectedly, he Impressed!

Painfully, with more damage being done when he attempted to drive out the mind which he now shared, Kalkin strove to learn about how best to deal with being a 'rider'. The clutch was small, as were the dragons, as they were from the early history of their kind. Sixth was one of the smallest in the clutch, but he was kind and learned quickly that the merest touch of his mind would throw his bond mate into a painful seizure.

Sixth learned how to use his vocalizations much more than other dragons. Using trills and bugles, soft notes and sustained bellows, as well as slapping his tail on the ground or stamping with his feet, Sixth and Kalkin were able to establish a new language, which did not involve any mental contact.

Once Sixth grew old enough to learn to fly, however Kalkin had another problem. He was not only rather old (around 56 by that time) but he was terrified of heights and had motion sickness almost immediately. They discovered that Kalkin could in fact cling on to the dragon but barely anything else, and certainly never wanted to fly any higher than necessary.

But in this manner, they learned. Then, came betweening. That was their ruination for the moment. Kalkin's need to get home, or to a place which was safe, drove a picture into Sixth's mind. They disappeared from Darkshade and flew into the far future, and reached a new South, an area where several volcanoes had erupted during their absence, where the coast line had changed dramatically... In other words, a place neither could possibly recognize.

They spent a while at a weyr known as Cloudpeak, but then discovered how to read star charts. The only problem now was where and when to go, and how much it hurt Kalkin's brain to be in mental contact with Sixth still, to get the coordinates.

They bounced around several times, until landing finally in the current Pass, where Courage and Echo were reunited with their long lost owner. This is where Kalkin met up with Lexan, Engell and many others such as Raanatani and the Kshau families.

Sixth is not kept with the rest of the dragons in the weyr. If he were, many dragons would probably belittle him or demand to know who his rider was. For this reason he is kept near another small Hold, Raanatani's Fosterling hold by name, and is visited regularly. When he flies, it is often assumed that he is merely a weyrling due to his diminiutave size. (He is less than a third the size of a normal Blue dragon.) (( This obviously changes over time. ))

***

"He seems just fine, Vanya," the woman tending this small blue dragon said.

"Don't call me that, love," the tall, old man replied. "Please? Very few people know my name and I'd like to keep it that way..."

Raanatani rolled her big green eyes and snuggled up to her slender companion. "But if I don't call you that, our daughter's name doesn't make any sense..." She grinned.

Kalkin sighed and decided to let her have her way. That was the easiest thing, anyway, since the woman had that way with both her fosterling charges, as well as any man she would meet. He fluffed his fingers through her voluminous curled hair, and kissed her forehead.

"I only ask because, well, recently he's been sending me some very odd... feelings."

"Feelings are good, love," Tani reminded him.

"But from Sixth any feeling still hurts a lot." He tapped his forehead and winced when Sixth gave another unconscious apology for his actions.

After all this time, rider mine, I am so sorry. Can you forgive me?

"I'll forgive you when you start using our speech again, Sixth," Kalkin grunted.

Tani only laughed, "I can't understand him, when he makes all those little noises and squeeks, Kalkin," she nudged him. "So he speaks to me the right way for a dragon. I know it's not your way, but it works just fine for everyone else."

"Everyone else should be so lucky..." Kalkin breathed. "But the reason I am here at all, is to ask why he is sending me these odd things."

The white, was the small dragon's response.

"The white." Kalkin repeated, holding back the headache he knew he would get later. "What about it? The white what?"

The white dragon, Kalkin, she's going to rise soon and I wish to be with her when she does.

That was very nearly too much for the man's sensitive and bruised brain to handle.

He leaned heavily on Raanatani, and she sensed that he would best be put on a soft chair. There was no such thing in the hollowed out hillside where Sixth was kept. So Tani carefully placed her hand around Kalkin's waist, and began walking him closer to the cothold. Sixth followed, uneasily.

He let off a series of whoops and quiet noises, very complex. Speech, between the rider and the dragon. Tani shook her head and wondered what Kalkin had heard, since all she got out of it was a slightly deaf ear.

"I will be fine, Sixth, you know I will be... When have you seen this white? Where?... Tell Tani, will you?" Kalkin pleaded, and the dragon complied with his desire. Into 'Master' Mother Raanatani's mind, the dragon beamed thoughts.

I have seen her flying, when I go out and exersize. She is small, like me, only her skin is the color of ... that white stuff you people like so much that comes out of your tasty bovines.

"Milk?" Asked Tani, and Kalkin immediately wondered what had been said.

Milk! That is it! Her wings are wide and she flies with the style of any golden queen! Mother Tani, please tell him I must fly her! I have ... never! We have never been near anyone who would allow it! A tiny blue like myself would never have a chance with even a small Gold, and all the greens we know ... are not friendly to me...

"Oh, that's a shame!" Tani said.

Now that his head was only throbbing mildly, Kalkin gave the woman a look of curiosity, and she explained word for word what the dragon had told her.

Kalkin looked away slowly, a sort of bemused worry on his face. "That... rather explains a lot about my behavior lately..."

Tani snorted a laugh. "Oh, you've been rather randy too?"

"Have I ever been known not to be?" He grinned back at her.

I must fly her, Sixth boldly bespoke. She is at Seasparkul weyr, and that is not far from here. It borders the Protectorate.

With a wince, Kalkin reached to his small dragon's neck and scratched it. "All right, all right... I suppose... I must be there as well, is that right?"

"A dragon without a rider would be very unseemly, Kalkin," Tani scolded him.

"I am not a rider, Raanatani," he reminded her, "I am a healer. Who happens to have Impressed a tiny dragon."

Then you will be proud of me and see me fly her! Sixth happily bespoke and then took to the air with a fierce joy.

***

"This is outrageous! I can't afford to have you out there like ... like that!" Engell was furious. Kalkin stood with his head lowered, eyes averted, as he had been taught many years before... By a different and far more demanding lord.

"Engell, he must rise. You forget that just because he looks like a weyrling does not mean that he is a weyrling. Sixth is..." Kalkin raised his eyebrows when he realized, "more than ten turns old now. And he has never risen in a flight, purely because he has not been around greens who have allowed it. It is, I must add, remarkably frustrating."

"Is that why you act the way you do around the women of my Weyrhold?" Engell shot back. Then, his stance and eyes softened. "Kalkin, there will be a disaster if this little dragon of yours actually does fly this white. And a white!" He said with an amount of disgust, "Aren't they supposed to be sickly, weak things?"

"Apparently not this one," Kalkin said, hazarding a look into Engell's light blue eyes. "He might not be able to do it anyway, Engell, there will surely be competition. From faster, larger blues. Perhaps even browns."

With that, Engell sighed and sat back down. He'd come from his seat in a fury, but realized that Kalkin was only asking because his dragon was so desperate to participate.

"This will... tax my resources for keeping the dragon -- and you -- a secret, Kalkin. Remember that."

"I will not forget, you will not allow it. I..." he sighed, "I will owe you greatly for it if you could keep it more secret."

"If he does fly her that story will change," Engell warned. "If he does... I cannot possibly keep people from asking about it. And you. And what will we tell them then?"

Kalkin looked to the floor, the ceiling, and then back at his Lord Holder. "Tell them the truth, Engell. I am quite tired of lying."

He turned to leave, and went to go find a good place to tell Sixth that they were going to Seasparkul.

***

The young Omona started awake as her White Creamith leapt off her ledge and into the air with no warning. It was 4 o' clock in the morning, for goodness sake! But only a few minutes later the weyr was alive with activity.

Blue Samath, who had come from another weyr for Satineths flight, bugled loudly and the newly matured Blue Charismath looked about not knowing what to do.
As Creamith took flight after poshly looking over her suitors, another blue appeared. It was VERY, VERY small and there was no rider in sight. Everyone was too caught in the mating throes to notice the absence of a rider.

Charismath was not experienced enough in flights. He was not confident enough and quickly landed on the ground with his head bowed. Samath was close behind her but Creamith veered away. She bugled loudly in triumph but suddenly the tiny blue had her gripped tight! She struggled only a little then gave up and drifted to the ground. The crowd dispersed as Creamith and Sixth landed, and Omona was seen leaving with a man at least 40 Turns. But nobody suspected that this was the rider..

Kalkin blinked at the rough-hewn celing of the weyr, and wondered why his head didn't hurt. Sixth had been absolutely exhultant when he'd flown Creamith. It was tremendous relief that he had won, Kalkin wasn't sure how he would have taken loss.

He looked at the young woman laying beside him, grinning softly in her sleep. He had no idea what time of day or night it could be, after the brief but startlingly satisfying flight he could hardly tell his own thoughts from Sixth's.

"There will be hell to pay for this," he whispered to himself, "but I will stay here until this is over..."

(( there was, in fact, hell to pay. But it meant that Kalkin was also much more happy, Sixth much more visible, and their contact with others encouraged Engell to actually allow them to mingle more. ))

***

After the hatching at Dawn Sisters Weyr, Kalkin wandered around happily. His daughter with the lovely Lady Raanatani, Vrtanya, had impressed a blue dragon, the first of this type of bond at Dawn Sisters! He was tremendously proud of her -- and he would stop in constantly at their barrack to make sure that she was doing things "right".

"You could stop interrupting her," the weyrling master C'gall told him. "She's doing fine. I thought that you were a healer."

"I am," Kalkin said, turning his eyes to watch the man. "But I happen to have a little complication called Sixth."

They walked toward the ledges, watching the cleanup of the Sands. The shells would become brittle and were always a problem for subsequent clutches. The sands had to be raked thoroughly. Weyrbrats abounded, helping out. Though they did not impress, and some might never, they were always eager to get close to the dragons they so adored.

Kalkin wondered why he felt so elated about it all.

Then he realized he had a pounding headache.

"Sixth," he sighed, "get out of my head... You are really making it hard for me to stand up..."

The weyrling master glanced at the tall, older man. "You haven't quite gotten the hang of bespeaking --" he started, but then Kalkin shook his head and waved his long hand.

"No... But if I have one very bad failing it is that my bond to the dragon is painful at its very best. Devastating at its worst. And I've been through both."

While they watched, however, Sixth was outside looking at other sights. He was joined by several other dragons, mostly browns and a bronze or two.

They looked at the Queen, Gillith, in admiration. The biggest bronze spoke up.

She will be rising, and I shall catch her.

You will not, I shall, thought another, but he was not entirely convinced of his ability.

Sixth listened to them bicker, and then he caught sight of another, much smaller but more beautiful (in his eyes anyway) green dragon. She was pacing angrily on her ledge, back and forth. Her rider could barely be seen behind her, looking quite fretful.

Kalkin, she will -- she is going to Fly and I will be here! This is wonderful! I think her rider is pretty, you will like her!

***

On their observation ledge, Kalkin winced and held his fingers to his head, before leaning heavily on the wall nearby. C'gall moved to his side and with concern, was about to call for a healer -- that thought cut short by his brown dragon announcing that he too would be at least making the attempt to fly this green -- Weltrith was her name. Hatched at Dawn Sisters, not long before, the green was.

"You -- you've been bespoken by your dragon?" C'gall realized, "that's what that was? It makes you--"

"It is... remarkably annoying..." Kalkin uttered, his voice low and eyes red with blood. "He is very excited about this. I don't quite know what to say."

They looked at the dragons outside, as the green took to the air Kalkin squinted and nodded. "I can see why he would want to fly her. She's strong, healthy."

"Yours is the... that tiny blue? He's barely a Weyrling!" C'gall exclaimed.

"He is hardly a weyrling, C'gall. He is almost twelve turns old. I Impressed when I was more than fifty five..." Kalkin took in a deep breath, remembering that excrutiatingly beautiful event with a wince. Sixth was in the air, following closely as he dared. The green seemed to taunt the males behind her.

"You would think that she would just choose one of them," Kalkin muttered. "It isn't like he has much of a chance against those browns... Or ... is that a bronze? After a green!" Kalkin shook his head. His little ever-present flitter Echo chittered and came out from Kalkin's vest. The tiny blue cheeped in fear as he saw his human's reddened eyes. Kalkin ran his nail over Echo's nose and calmed him with a cooing sound.

"At least he wasn't trying for that queen," Kalkin said, as he saw Alora entering the area to watch the Flight as well. "I mean, he doesn't weigh even as much as one of Gillith's wing sails."

She is fast, but I am faster! Sixth thought to himself. He had to fly her! She was pretty close but -- she dropped from his grasp before he could get a good hold. Her swift dodging of the browns made him think twice. She was not as strong as the browns -- but he wasn't even a third of their size!

The tiny blue dragon didn't dare think things like that! With Kalkin on the ground only half-able to encourage him, Sixth did his best to swoop below the great wings of the bronze in the Flight, and then around one of the blues. He beat his wings into a frenzy, climbing higher and higher. He could wait for the opportunity....Wait for the larger dragons to tire... And finally Weltrith would be his!

Well, she wasn't. The crafty green chose another in that flight. It was just as well, the girl impressed to the green would never have considered bedding an 'old man' like Kalkin. At that, he smirked. There would always be others. Little Sixth was getting quite good at his flights.

***

"How do you think he got lost there in the first place?" Kalkin asked a weary-looking Engell. "I mean, following Sixth anywhere is... not the best of plans. Especially not for a lad who is in the Currier wing! I thought he would have known better!'

Engell snorted out a chuckle around his wine glass. "I would have thought that too, Kalkin, but he's never been the most dependably clear thinker I've sired."

The pair of men sat on the ledge of Sixth's new weyr. It was new to Sixth because he was allowed to remain in Alabaster's weyr caverns with the other dragons. They'd gotten used to him, by now. As a presence, the little blue dragon was hardly a blip on the mental radar of the larger dragons -- and every dragon here was larger than he. Except the weyrlings, perhaps. Even some of them...

Sixth lounged and then turned over to look at his rider, and Lord Holder Engell.

Why do you not tell him? Asked Sixth, in his little chirping-sing-song way. Not mentally, he'd let slip a little of the feeling of the question, but not the words. Those would hurt his rider!

"Tell him what?" Kalkin asked, only half aware that he was speaking aloud. The pinging headache which always accompanied his dragon's thoughts was tinged with a familiar feeling. "Ah. Yes, that."

"What is it, now..." Engell groaned.

"Well... While we were at -- will be at -- Falas Weyr, there was another dragon who caught Sixth's eye. Rising, of course, sometime soon. After K'yles gold."

"She's not his yet, Kalkin," warned Engell. "And... so which green is this, or does it matter? Does he have a chance?"

"A chance at getting me out of here for another two turns?" Kalkin raised his eyebrow and smirked. "I do not know. She was healthy but not actually glowing yet. All the other blues and browns around were getting anxious, though."

Phaysath, thought Sixth, dreamily. Kalkin fought the urge to shatter his wine glass compulsively. The dragon issued a series of chittered apologies.

"You know," Engell said, "It's almost like he IS speaking."

"He is, I assure you," Kalkin said. "You just have not taken the time to learn his language yet."

Pausing, head tilted, Lord Holder Engell leaned back and said, "I wonder if you could talk to the ship fish in their language, Sixth."

"That would require going near the water, Engell," Kalkin said, drearily. "And I am not doing that." He aimed a bold, angry look at Sixth, who was just about to get up and find out if he *could*."

Kalkin has lived a long time - much longer than his claim of "around eighty" years. Like his Nexus counteparts, including Baeris, Kalkin enjoys a certain kind of immortality - but as he and many of his other dopplegangers across reality would claim, it is immortality at the cost of a horrific life.

Whether his life continued to be "horrific" after the Protectorate left the "old world", is debatable. Since Alabaster's move to the isle of Paniya on Alskyr, Kalkin has spent time both there and in the Nexus with Baeris at the Healing Den. It is the one place that Sixth is absolutely certain to reach when he's needed.

Here is a lovely image of Sixth's hatching - brought to us by Neishai! I only wish there were sounds that could possibly match his creeling and later his speech!

Kalkin wanted to strangle the idiot who asked for this machine to be in working order by next week. He lay with his shoulders pressed into uncomfortably gritty cement below a framework of half-rusted metal. The dust from the rusted spots occasionally drifted down onto his face and he couldn't exactly take his grease-covered hands and wipe it out of his eyes, now could he?

Outside, a chirpy song came into the machine shop. Kalkin's blue dragon Sixth said, "I think you should take a break! I want to fly and you could use something to drink. You are making me thirsty."

"Ever so sorry," Kalkin grunted as he tightened down a bolt under the framework of the machine, "but this piece of garbage isn't getting any closer to done with me goofing off."

"You do not have to goof off to take a break," Sixth said, his whistling words sounding to others like the chirping of birds or dolphin speech. Because Kalkin's brain had been irrevocably burnt in the process of making him "more than perfectly human", he could hardly stand to have a telepathic contact from the dragon - and thus many years before they had to develop a better way of communicating. When Sixth spoke now, he could be heard forming long strings of chirp-whistle-meep noises, which only Kalkin seemed to understand. Otherwise, when Sixth was excited or forgot to do so, Kalkin would suffer anything from a migrane-powerful headache, to nosebleeds and small hemorages, to complete catatonia - all due to the interferance of one extremely dangerous (and extremely dead, in the Old World universe) mad scientist.

Sixth wasn't happy that Kalkin wanted to do nothing but work on this nasty-smelling device. He was not certain what it would do, once his rider finished putting it back together. If that happened - the way Kalkin was swearing and the mood coming off him (the mental contact worked just fine the other direction of course, Sixth was always privy to his rider's emotions and commands, even if Kalkin could not properly form words to do it in his mind) it looked as though the device was never going to be more than a rusted pile of components.

"I still think you should take a break," Sixth whistled. He did something unusual then - he aimed a purposeful thought at his rider which placed a painful gnawing headache into Kalkin's forebrain.

"You did that on purpose," Kalkin groaned, sliding out from under the machine and trying to avoid putting his dirty hands up to his head. Not that his hair wasn't already a hopeless mess. His long black hair was kept back in a tail at that moment, but it was still almost waist length now, and was tinged with the smelly rust and sticky stuff that he was working on.

Sixth denied any wrongdoing by chirping something cute and suggesting that Kalkin start getting himself cleaned up. "We have places to be, you know!"

Kalkin stopped, and leaned against the wall. His dragon was laying under a small fruit tree near the work shop, he was so tiny compared to most other dragons that he could almost tether to a horse post. That thought made Kalkin grin, and it brought Sixth to his feet.

"You would never do such a thing to me! You do not even like it when ... oh wait, you DO like it when you are tied up to things. My mistake." The dragon smirked, and rustled his wings over his back. "We do so have a place to be. Tehndarinth and I have been asking around for something to do, and I know you will like this thing to do. We can all go."

Kalkin's eyebrow lifted up, "And what is it that you think we all could enjoy, now eh?"

Sixth indicated Tehndarinth and Engell, who started to approach. "We will go get drunk! I know you like doing that because it always takes a lot more alcohol to get you fuzzy around the brain and I like watching other dragon's riders when they are falling over themselves."

"That's.... pretty funny, actually," Kalkin muttered, with a grin. He looked at his 'employer' Engell. There was so much more to him than met the eye - always more. Kalkin had learned over his travels (accidentally teleporting to another dimension or time, because flying on Sixth was like riding a river rapids while blindfolded) that there were also many versions of Engell, and they usually had some kind of relationship with his own counterparts. At least that was consistant. Of course, there were always down sides. This one, he'd never found someone to replace his wife - and he would never agree to 'have' Kalkin as his acknowledged partner. Even though they had in fact shared more than just intellectual or 'friendly' company in the past, there was never a time that Kalkin wanted to intrude on Engell's privacy.

Sixth told him that Tehn thought he was lonely and wanted some company - and who better than the person who'd been with him through so many things?

"Of course, who better?" Kalkin said to himself as they approached. He still had three things under the carriage of the broken flying machine to fix, so he slid himself back under it to finish off today's work.

***

Read Engell's current critter page for the "what happens next" part!

***

When Kalkin had been fully cleaned up and dried off, he considered walking out to the waiting dragons and Engell buck naked - but he knew that wouldn't exactly fly. So he chose to put on something nice and complimentary to Engell's grey and charcoal - a long-sleeved black shirt with equally black jeans, no shoes. He rarely wore shoes. He left the corridor where his lush apartments were, and ran into someone else on the way out.

"Daverin... Brianna," He said, looking at the dyed-redhead and the real-redhead in turn.

"Where'ya goin'?" Asked Brianna, bobbing on her toes and making both Kalkin and Daverin glance down at her rather boingy breasts.

"I do not know yet," Kalkin announced, placing his arms over their shoulders - he was quite a lot taller than either woman and he liked how they framed his dark self. "But if you want to come along, I am certain that our Lord Rider Engell won't mind some company. Perhaps take a bit of my attention off him, as he would want."

"Ooh, attention? I can give you attention," Daverin snickered. Brianna giggled and pinched her girlfriend from around Kalkin's back. The trio walked back to the entrance of Alabaster's dragon glade, and saw Engell talking to Tehndarinth and Sixth.

"Oh, we need dragons - should we get dressed up too?" Brianna asked.

"You look perfect the way you are, my dear," Kalkin assured the curly-haired blue-rider, "but yes, you will need your dragons for this. I do not think that Tehndarinth and Sixth can carry all four of us."

Giggling again, Brianna summoned her blue as Daverin mentally whistled for her green Askabeth to show up.

"This ought to be fun, where are we going?" Daverin asked, as they neared Engell and the silver-marked white Tehn.

"Ah, you brought cohorts," Engell said, with a sigh that told Kalkin he would be far more relaxed now - around the girls, they were always more friendly. And it was true that the four of them felt more love and adoration together, than apart.

"I did, you do not mind, that's good," Kalkin said. "So, where is it we're going?"

Engell said, "there is a place called Lantessama Isle, it's a nexus world, so we can get there and back without losing any time here. Sixth told me about how you were trying to fix that thing you're working on."

"What is it, anyway?" Asked Daverin, Askabeth peering over the wall into the work room too. "I bet I could fix it."

"I bet you could. In fact," Kalkin said, "I may hire you to do so, if I screw it up any more than I have already. It is a flying machine of some kind, and you know how I adore flight."

Sixth chirped loudly, protesting, but they soon all mounted up their respective dragons, and followed Tehndarinth away to Lantessama Isle!

***

Read Daverin and Brianna's page!

***

Then, come to the DRINKS BAR!

***

Bewildered by Engell's cryptic remark that his flitters had brought him something too, from DouPas, Kalkin went back to his own part of the Alabaster lair. Normally a nice quiet den, it was currently filled with squawking, riotous, colorful flitters and drinks dragons.

Normally unable to control or even command his dragons and flitters mentally, this time, it was too much for the healer.

ENOUGH! his mind bellowed, and though he'd just given himself a huge headache, they all stopped making any noises and sat - stunned - looking around.

"That's right, kids," Kalkin said. "I've been practicing. Now, look. What is going on here?"

Sixth chirped in his sing-song language, "they brought you something. You were out while it hatched, isn't it beautiful?" Sixth moved his wing aside, and as the rest of the noisy flitters scampered into their nooks and hollows, Kalkin saw an elegant looking winged creature that was almost - but not quite - like Engell's ...

"Bat weasel?" Kalkin asked, and Sixth nodded.

"Well. That's new." Kalkin said. He reached his hand down and the softly furred creature nuzzled him. "He or she?"

"She," Sixth told him.

"Then, Slick? Is that a good name for you?" Kalkin asked. The weasel-bat stood up on her hind legs, and nearly fell backwards, regained her posture, and flapped her little wings.

"Yes, that's it all right..." Kalkin said. "Guys - girls," he said to the couple drinks dragonets, "meet Slick. Don't you dare chase her."

***

"Do you need me to untie anyone's insides today?" Kalkin asked brightly at Engell's door. The white-haired man looked up somewhat tiredly, and blinked. "Because there's a flight, and I would like to attend it. Remember when I had to ask if I could go outside?" The dark-skinned Kalkin grinned and had a somewhat manic look on him.

"... Is there any reason you even bother to ask? You're just going to get lost and find your way back via the Den." Engell sighed, "it's a good thing Baeris puts up with you. She should pin a map to your shirt."

"You should talk," Kalkin said, and then sat on his boss' desk. "Why not come along?"

"Why? Because the last time I did that you ... Never mind!"

"He's cute, and his dragon's green, Tehn would be able to compete. Sixth is fast but Tehn's young."

Before Engell could say anything, Kalkin was leaning over the paperwork on the desk, still grinning madly. "Come on, broaden your horizons. Try something new."

Engell could hardly even move. It wasn't rage inside his head, it was sheer embarrassment. Even though there were no other people in the room (albeit an unusually high number of their flitters and drinks dragons, there was a flock of them watching) he blushed strongly and tried to speak. Nothing came out, he sputtered for a moment, and finally forced out, "go! Get! Leave! Fly! Have fun! But leave me out of it!"

Kalkin laughed and put the papers back in their place on the desk, before slipping out of the room. "Sixth and I thank you from the bottoms of our very deep and very horny hearts."

Engell sat back and stared at the door, which was still slightly open, and watched as the train of flying creatures they both had followed out after.

***

"Now, look, Sixth," Kalkin said, the blue trying to concentrate, "this is Pern, the old world. It's the middle of nowhere, and it'll be cold. Do not - and I mean not - drop me over the ocean."

We get to fly over an ocean! Sixth tittered, his voice musically cheerful.

"And there will be people there, they might not approve. Let's try and be ... normal." Even that sounded hard to do, according to the healer-slash-interrogator-slash-engineer. He could do many things. But normal activities were rarely among them...

Her name is Akaneth, Sixth announced, I know where to look for her. Dragonhope Weyr. Thread is falling there, you know.

"Thread..." Kalkin shook his head, "it's been so long since I thought about that stuff. We really should do something about it. Blowing up that planet would be a start."

Wouldn't that just spread Thread everywhere in space? That would be bad... Sixth tooted and hummed.

"You are right. Let's go," Kalkin mounted up the tiny dragon, wearing his 'cold weather' gear and keeping a small amount of clothing and other goods in a satchel behind him. Even if they didn't win the flight, he reasoned, S'xon and he had some catching up to do. He'd been there once or twice, or perhaps it was that Saxxon knew him from another world. Or two. It didn't matter. They could be brothers anyway, tall dark and handsome brothers.

Giggling, they arrived to Dragonhope without a hitch. The green Firestone-born dragoness they were to chase was already present, and Kalkin commended Sixth on his ability to come in over land, instead of water. Once Kalkin dropped from the dragon's back, though, he sped back into the air and joined a number of the local dragons in their play above the grey cold ocean waves.

Kalkin prowled around the grounds, and finally met up with the local healer, Virin, S'xon's daughter. Now that would be a fun ride, he thought. He was perhaps the only person alive who could survive her...

"Here for the flights," Kalkin said, dropping his satchel down near the desk of her office and startling her, "so I figured I would make myself of some use. If you need me."

"We always 'need' you," Virin said with a bit less of that caustic edge than others might have gotten. Maybe it was because he did look like her father. Or because she'd often thought the same thing about him? "I've heard the flights are backing up. Get signed in, and then come along. We had a runner roll on someone, yesterday, and I want you to help straighten their bones back up..."

***

** this is newish, because retconning the vanishing of numerous places...**

Sixth didn't understand what happened, one moment they were gearing up to fly a mating chase, and the next... there was nothing? Though Dragonhope was certainly still there, the green was not, and that flight never really happened at all. He came home, a little dejected, but more experienced.

Sixth sang his pretty little muttering-to-himself song, as Kalkin read over some of the latest reports of Alabaster's earnings. Though they were not officially a Caer here on Paniya, nor a Weyr, their dragons still performed a ton of duties for local inhabitants. Everything from search and rescue to heavy lifting, construction and currier work. They often helped fishermen out on the open ocean, Kalkin shuddered to think about that duty.

It is not for you, or me, but I do like fish, my friend. Sixth sang from below in the courtyard. He and Tehndarinth were playing a strange little dragon game, the rules of which involved overturning stones and sending themselves Between whenever they were about to be run out by someone from the hold. They vanished and reappeared frequently, it was making some folks dizzy watching them.

When they returned after a longer stint in the Nexus than before, Sixth excitedly left off with the game and flew up to the ledge overlooking the courtyard, where he knew Tehn often sat watching his bond in the big office there.

"Kalkin, why's your beast watching me like this?" Engell yelled, knowing perfectly well that Kalkin was just outside the office and could have heard a whisper equally adeptly.

"Because he thinks he's found something of great importance. Ignore him. He'll go away." Came the reply. But even Engell knew that the older man's face had a smile on it. Eventually Kalkin came walking into the spacious office and scratched at Sixth's nose through the open window.

"Well, what is it?" Asked the dark skinned man.

There is a flight, you remember Isla? It is there I wish to fly.

"But..."

No, no, it's okay! They're back. Fore, they are in their future. It is all right. And the flight is for small dragons, like me! The tiny blue shifted around on the ledge, nervous like a school child. Excited, he flared his wings and almost fell off the ledge.

The blue dragon gave a trilling purr, and Engell watched as his interrogator and this musical blue had a strangely one-sided conversation. He didn't understand a 'word' of the sounds that Sixth made, every once in a while Engell tried to translate it but he always wound up cheating and asking his own silvered-white flurry dragon Tehndarinth what had been said. In this case, Tehn announced that he was not officially interested in going, this was meant to be a more traditional flight. Frenzy.

At Falas. Kalkin's smile grew wider, "then I will get packing, if there are no pressing engagements on my schedule?" He looked at Engell, who shrugged and waved his white hand.

"There is something else we'll be throwing in together," Engell said, "but it will wait until you get back. That will give you incentive to come back in one piece this time."

Sixth flew off from the ledge, and went to chat excitedly with his dragon friends and anyone else who wanted to listen. They were going to a frenzy on the old world, where other little-sized dragons would be welcome! ((I don't think that got run, or it was one that he did not get accepted to?))

** (somewhat new, just to get it out there)

Over time, and great deliberation, Kalkin began to habit the Healing Den. He'd first gone there, as usual, by accident. Sixth followed Dulath wherever she went for a time, and that would be to the Den. As Baeris and Kalkin began searching up the other Sangers, they'd been together for some time, but once a good dozen of them had been settled wherever or whenever they were to be ... he just didn't leave.

So after that point, any visits to Alskyr or other such worlds were done in a nebulous 'time after' for Kalkin. A time, after he'd become effectively immortal due to the Den's interference. He lets other people do most of the navigation, but does help out for healing and other things when requested by those folks in Alabaster. But for now, Kalkin resides full time in the Healing Den as their resident Scientist, Comma, Mad. Because one of them isn't enough...

(( Old Vanya information, pre-Kalkin days ))

History: that's for later. For a glimpse into both the future and the past, read the "Scary Story" (not up).

Pets: originally, Kalkin was not interested in having any pets, but he likes felines, and recently he was given two fire lizard eggs. They both hatched into beautiful healthy flits, first was Blue Echo, named for his coloration (being an echo of Kalkin's eyes). Next was Bronze Courage, a joke of a name because he came from his egg for food only with great prodding. Both of them love to rest on either shoulder, and Echo gives off Kalkin's current emotions true to his name, and does so loudly. Courage is more likely to fly to someone else's shoulder and play, but he always comes back.

Goals: Wants to continue gaining a grip on real life, with the help of others in the Weyr. He also wants to have more children, as Marten is not anywhere near him at the time, and unlike how his demeanor might show, he does love being a father. Another goal: to see his old Master dead dead dead.

Current Events: from his diligent work at the Weyr, Kalkin had been awarded his Weyrhealer status. As such, he is responsible for the care and welfare of every inhabitant -- and he takes this work quite seriously. He and several others killed a pack of "weyr-wolves", huge canines which had come to the Weyr after the recent flood. (these things were at his original Weyr, long dust)

The master Healer barely looks up to you, on entering his infirmary. His, he claims it and it is obvious that he will not take anything less than perfection from anyone in it. Yet there is an air of compassion about him, even through the visible arrogance -- or is it just vanity? -- that can be sensed by even the most brief of visits.

He narrows his brilliant blue eyes, and nods to you.

"You would like a tour of the rooms? Certainly. Some other time." He waves a long hand at the room, and you see three Threadscored riders, a Dolphineer with her leg in a bandage, and a small child bundled up and sniffling. "As you can see, we have some business already so I am afraid that the niceties of a tour must happen either at another time, or with another guide." He turns to get back to grinding a mash of herbs into a paste. Then, just as you give off a huff of disgust at the rudeness of his tone, he turns with his face softer.

"If you become injured, you will become my patient. Place yourself in that possition before judging me harshly..."

Then, from the rafters of the room, a bronze fire lizard swoops down. He lands near Kalkin, chirps once, and Kalkin scratches him on the shoulder. "Courage, you will take this to the girl in the blanket. Right there, you can't miss her."

The large flit grasps the object which Kalkin hands him: what looks like a candy treat. Worried that the doctor might be in need of a dentist for the girl, you then realize that the herbal paste he'd been crushing he just folded into a sugary treat from the kitchen, to make the little girl's medicine go down easier.

You watch him, from behind, as he watches the fire lizard. It descends to the girl, who at first is surprised, afraid, and then gleeful. Courage plays with her short, messy hair, while she eagerly chews up the medicine.

Then you notice another small face, looking at you, only it's from Kalkin's shoulder. Under the fan of hair which falls to his mid back, a tiny blue fire lizard face emerges, and stares back at you until you leave.