Name: Adam Coii-Kurasawa
Gender: Male
Age: (22 at search)
Origin: Kshau Protectorate / Dawnlight/Blackstone, RXI Space Station in canon, Blackstone Weyr
Family: Mother Yuki, Father Kazu; sister Bashina and others; eventual partner Eve Kurasawa and child Caine Kurasawa-Coii, probably others
Other Relations: Clone Adama Coii; dragon-based pairing with Gidrah for the Dragonhope Weyr You Walk Into clutch
Height: 6'1"?
Build: Strong torso and broad shoulders, very upright
Hair: Blackbottomed deep red, fluffy and full, kept to nape of neck or just touching shoulders, but usually as shown with a jaunty forelock
Eyes: 'cold brown', almost orange, very narrow, usually in thought; heavy epicanthal fold
Appearance: yellow tan skin, face is very high-cheekboned and heart shaped with a jaw line to die for; Purple caste

Adam and Bashina are the oldest children of Kazu and Yuki Coii. With several younger siblings they have learned to share responsibilities while also maintaining their own interests. Kazu is a healer, specializing in bone and joint ailments (he's a great chiropractor!), while Yuki is adept in architectural masonry.

Adam is the oldest, at 22 years. He is a keenly intelligent young man, and has a strong sense of healing arts. He is an apprentice medical technician, and his steady hands and sharp eyes aid him greatly in his chosen field.

Bashina is a still-blossoming 19 year old, with her eye purely on dragon riding. Their parents strongly support this, even though only one or two of their distant relatives have ever ridden. She has been trained with weapons such as the staff and crossbow, but by far her best abilities lay in her swift physical fighting moves.

They have lived among the Blackstone dens for generations. Almost every Coii family member has been searched, but few have ever actually stood upon sands, and even fewer have bonded a dragon.

This pair of siblings are certainly not the last hope of the Coii family, but they may be the best!

Adam toyed with the thread in his fingers, and wished that the other healers would give him the chance to demonstrate his skills. He knew that this wounded man before them would scar horribly. While it was not uncommon for dragon riders to sport scars showing their battles -- perhaps this scar might not be the one most wanted.

It would be an embarrassment. A scar gotten from fighting menaces on dragon back was one thing. Something gained in honor or a combat with a superior foe. This... this was a tree branch that fell from the weight of snow upon it, and lodged itself in this poor drunken rider's shoulder. It would not impede his movement once healed, but the scar... Could not be explained by any normal "honorable" means.

"Sirs," Adam flatly said, "it is time my practice and training was put to good use."

"Ah, by the stars not another butcher to come after me!" Wailed the rider. Adam gazed at him with cold brown eyes. He did not bother to brush the red-dyed feather of hair from them as he looked down upon the patient.

"I suppose your many lady friends will be told of your valiant efforts staving off the ravages of... a tree, then." Adam said, pointedly staring at the wound.

"I'd rather have that then ... some more of these blasted rippers playing with my skin! And I've heard of you, taking your training from that crazy blue rider. A shame to both dragon riders and healers, he is!"

Adam abruptly dropped his mask of healer's calm. He moved in close to the rider and snarled a low, "if you mention my master healer with such disrespect again I shall make sure that no wound you ever sustain gets a proper healer's attention, is that clear?"

Stunned, the man pressed with difficulty into the pillows behind him, and clutched the sides of his cot. He nodded, and clenched his teeth while Adam delicately patched the shoulder wound together. The tear in the skin was ragged, edged in different directions from the splintering of the branch. When Adam was finished, the wound was detectable as a star-shaped pattern, carefully placed together not with the haphazard stitching that one of the inexperienced low-level medics could do, but with a fine thread that barely showed through his leather-brown skin.

"When that heals, you will barely be able to see it. Keep it clean, as they say." Adam stood and indicated his peers, and then turned to leave. He paused at the entrance to the healing chambers. "And remember what I said about master Kalkin. He's a far better healer than he is a dragon rider, true, but he's a far better man than most I've ever met, and surely better than you could hope to be. I'll have to pass along to him that his reputation has been spread."

The Blackbottom-haired youth let the door creak shut behind him, and when he was out of earshot one of the older medics muttered, "he learned too many things from that crazy bastard Kalkin. Should learn to keep his moods to himself." General mutterings of agreement came from the others, who then tended to bandaging the rider's shoulder.

"Arrrgh," Bashina growled, grimacing at the same time as her training partner shoved a large mace down onto her staff. They remained in a locked stance for more than twenty seconds, before the weapons master called them off. With great relief on both faces, they took their weapons down from each other's throats, stood away from one another, and bowed with respect.

"You are showing promise, Jeelea," said the master trainer. He turned to Bashina. "And you, my dear, you could have had him on his kees in the first moments of the fight. Why did you hesitate and give him the advantage?"

"With respect master Imahr," the pink-topped blackbottomed girl replied, "I gave him the chance to fight with me. I have watched him spar in the past, and I wanted to let him fight, rather than merely be defeated."

"You mean you let me in?" Stammered the younger boy. "You did not! I don't belive you'd let me win!"

"I was not letting you win," Bashina said, calmly, her hand still carefully wrapped around the middle of her staff. "I let you start the fight. You could have beaten me too, if master Imahr had not called it off. I know my strengths, and I know when I'd be beaten. You're still going to be stronger than me, and you know it."

That seemed to cool the simmering boy's mood. With a passive face the old weapon master announced the students could return to their dens or break for whatever other duties awaited them. He called Bashina aside, before she left.

"That was impressive, Jeelea would be very angry with you."

"There was no need to let him be. He's strong and he's a talented fighter, but he lacks the experience he needs to win properly. I'd rather have him show off what strength he does have, than to have him on his rear end and angry with me later."

"Again, wise of you to do so." Imahr nodded. "You will make a good guard, Bashina. You have the sense in you that few others do."

She almost blushed, but then smiled and bowed instead. "I thank you master, your training has always proven important to me, I only hope to live up to your expectations."

His old gnarled hand pressed onto her bowed head, and he could almost have been said to chuckle. He cleared his throat and lifted Bashina's chin to look at the entrance to the training den. Her brother stood in it, and if his face betrayed anything to either of them, it was anger.

"Looks like something's annoyed Adam again. I'll take care of it, sir. Thank you again. I'll be here in the morning."

Master Imahr nodded and watched as one of his prize students left with her overly-sensitive brother. He might have made an equally impressive fighter, but his talent lay in his hands, not in his feet. Bashina got the more physical end of her parents' genes...

"Whenever they say anything I just..."

"You get mad. You ought to learn to control your temper. They do have a point," Bashina said as she soothed her brother's wounded pride as well as took her strong fingers to his tense shoulders. "You do seem to be rather idolizing the man, and he's ... not really seen as a good person, Adam. You know that."

He stewed quietly, but Bashina felt his skin go warm below her hands. She was not entirely sure that he didn't already share too much of himself with the old mysterious healer-turned-rider. No one shared anything with him without being a bit... damaged in the process.

"I worry about you," Bashina said, a hush to her voice.

"Why? He's a good instructor. He's tough on apprentices, and he's willing to teach where others won't. I've learned things about healing that no instructor here could ever teach."

"Because the teachings are forbidden. Because he learned them under--"

"It doesn't matter about that," Adam snapped, and stood up abruptly. Bashina backed away, her hands preparing for a battle which she dreaded.

"No... no, that's not --" Adam said, sensing that his sister would be able to kick his sorry ass two ways to the wind if he got stupidly physical with her. "I ... I want to be a medic. I will learn from whomever I see can teach me. And it isn't as if the other healers don't respect his abilities."

"Or yours," Bashina reminded him. "You're more than talented enough. You should keep your practice more professional now. Anyone would be proud to be mended by you."

"Tell that to the idiot drunkard brown rider this morning!" Adam snarled. He was livid but kept his fists at his sides. He turned away from Bashina. He didn't like her seeing him like this. Controlling his temper had never been one of Adam's strong points, unlike his meeker young brother Aram. He felt Bashina's fingers on his shoulder again, and wanted to run rather than allow her to soothe him again.

But he remained silent. "Adam, your skills will heal them, whether they thank you or not. You should spend more time with master Imahr. He could help you concentrate." Bashina told her brother with care. "He has always been a calming influence on me. And remember how I was always hot-headed with mother?"

Adam finally nodded. They went to the bathing chambers and used the communal area to soak their troubles away. It was while they were there that a number of sweaty riders came in bearing the smell of ash from their dragons' firey breath.

"And it wasn't bad enough that there were three injured, there were so many near-misses this time I swear I've never seen such bad luck."

"Worth telling the flight masters about, I think," said another gruffly as they disrobed in the private areas around the edge of the pools. The trio of riders remained in their portion of the baths, as Adam and Bashina listened in.

"If we had the old flight master it'd be another story," said the third, "he'd have them new riders whipped up right. But now we've got to put up with a trainer not even been up more than me!"

"Then you do it, you're so brave," replied one of the others. They grumbled more than they laughed.

"If there were injuries, why wasn't I called?" Adam whispered, trying to keep his voice from echoing through the chambers to the riders.

Bashina shook her head, and shrugged. "You'd been on your shift all morning. And there are many healers here."

They both froze in the warm waters when the other voice nearby said, "and that blasted searcher. How could anyone ride a black dragon out into the evening and not expect to get hit? A black dragon!" He made a dissatisfied noise.

"I was under the impression that Blackstone Weyr was a far more relaxed place than most," Said a voice none had heard before. It was loud, confident, almost angry.

It was the search rider, of course. This mysterious rider whose black dragon apparently had been involved in one of the "near misses" that the disgruntled rider had spoken of. He seemed easier going than his voice might imply, and the riders grumbled a bit of an apology.

It wasn't much of one, but enough to keep the search rider out of their area. He wandered through to the other side, where Bashina and Adam had climbed out of the steaming waters and were towling off.

The pair had rarely given much thought to modesty. No one in their family minded being around the others when they were bathing or bounding around in the sun buck-naked. They didn't make a big guff about it, so they hoped that others wouldn't either.

Such was not to be the case when the search rider turned the stone hall corner and almost ran himself into Bashina's behind. He yelped and scampered backwards, slipping into the wall and almost bumping his head on the towel ledge.

"Ah! Sorry! Ma'am, sir... um, sorry..." He soon simply devolved into his typical self. Bashina looked at the man and thought he was somewhat attractive, though he had a scar on his face which drew attention to itself.

"It's quite all right," Adam said, finally covering himself with his trousers and throwing his sister the cover of his towel. "Accidents happen."

"This is a happy one," muttered the man, and even Bashina had to stifle a giggle. The man got a strange look on his face, one which told both siblings he was mentally speaking to his dragon. "Really, Del?"

Finally, as the siblings had dried their hair and put on their clothing again, much more relaxed than they had arrived, the rider stood (rubbing the back of his head) and watched them.

"Well, I was going to be taking a long soak, here, but my dragon Delduwath tells me he'd like to sniff at you a bit. For a search."

He struck out his hand, and took Adam's first and then Bashina's. "J'ril, search rider for Tiynarea weyr. Strong young kids like you should be standing on sands, not sitting around waiting for everything to happen..."

So the pair were dragged out into the chill night air, into the broad torch-lit courtyard. They could barely make out a black dragon's shape. Del's. The dragon eagerly approached them and took long whifs of their hair, their hands...

"He says you'd be good for our sands, if you can be spared." J'ril announced.

Bashina glanced at her brother, and with a grin on his face he replied for both of them.

"I think we can be spared. I'll make the arrangements."

(rider-coii2x3.html) -- Bashina's dragons not here they will be on her page

The weyr was a friendly place, and of course Bashina got along with people right away. Adam wasn't so lucky. He wasn't exactly fighting, and wasn't exactly running, from the group who he tried best getting in with.

The healers of the weyr didn't much trust his odd way of looking at wounds, or breaks, or even scalds. They were eager to slap a layer of numbweed on it, and be done with it. Adam was likely to examine why a wound existed, correct the damage, and then try to correct the problem.

Bashina wound up soothing his own wounds when he came back to their den truly hurt that he wasn't going to be allowed to a healer's conference with the locals.

"They're just tossing around the same ideas," he fumed. "It's not like there is anything new going on -- what's that sound?" He asked, and Bashina had stopped rubbing her brother's shoulders.

"It's... eerie. Well, we've heard that before. It's a hatching."

It took a moment before they both realized, late at night and in a foreign place, that the hatching they'd been searched for, was going on below them!

Soon enough, the riders brought the candidates all to the sands, but it was almost half too late! Several of the eggs had broken open already!

Six of the eggs were shattered and being stomped on by the young wet dragons. Several impressed to the candidates who rushed up to them, and then one, a beautiful bronze, waddled around to the candidates. It only took him one look at Adam to decide this was the bond for him.

He stood on his hind legs, unsteady, and then toppled backwards onto his wings. Squwaking and wriggling, the large bronze dragonet was helped to his feet immediately.

"Clooneath, be careful!" Adam said.

I will learn, won't I? I must, because I do not want to disappoint you!

The last two already-awake dragons were a pair of twin greens, who strolled around to the girls. Bashina watched them sit down in front of her and a girl named Ruinta.

"Nath, you could have waited for me," Bashina told the one sitting in front of her.

Well, I would have but you were ever so late! I mean, where were you!?

Laughing, they left the sands to find their brothers.

A bronze, Bashina smiled as she realized that the dragon walking with more confidence than ability next to her brother was a bronze! How fine is that!

I do not know, Bashina, how fine IS it?

Bashina giggled at Nath as she struggled around her first kill.

Do not laugh! This is much harder than I thought to ... to eat!

The green dug into her meal with more energy when she realized that it wasn't all that different from when she'd get her big slab of fresh-killed beast, provided to her by the weyr. This had been a good day, she flew strongly in classes and then made her own kill down near the river.

I am a good huntress, don't you think?

"I do think! I'm very proud of you, and it's a good thing you're here near the water. I want you cleaned up before I touch you! You're all bloody!"

--

Meanwhile, up in the air, a young bronze dragon flew with his wide wings getting stronger with every day he went up. Clooneath soared well, but he climbed best, and loved to dive.

It was while he was on the ground that his clumsiness started showing! Adam didn't dare let Clooneath hunt just yet, even though most of the browns in the clutch were doing so already.

I want to. My sister and yours are enjoying their meal.

"Your sister," Adam laughed. "But she's also a quick-handed green. You..."

Do not say it! I am not a clumsy dragon! Look how well I fly!

"You fly great, Cloo, but ... it's the LANDINGS I worry about!" Adam laughed.

I know you are not laughing at me, I am not all that bad. You are mocking me because I must practice other things. Things I am not so good at.

Adam gulped, and nodded, patting the neck of his beautiful and wise Bronze.

"You're right... We both need practice at some things. So... How about that buck down there?"

Clooneath bellowed and spread his wings. Though he'd had a rough start, his flight skills were strong. His sister's were obviously of the quick type, being a green had its advantages!

I still believe I can catch her.

"But neither of us want you to do that, Cloone, you're clutch mates, and so are my sister and I!" Adam chuckled. "So just practice chasing her, and don't actually succeed."

The bronze looked at his rider like he was insane.

But if I can, why shouldn't I?

Adam leveled a clear look right back at him, "Because I said so."

Clooneath grumbled again, but did as he was asked. The bronze was neither the biggest nor the smallest dragon that either sibling had ever seen, he wasn't in the same league as H'lis and his gigantic bronze Synesth, but Clooneath was one of the bigger bronzes at Tiynarea. This fact was constantly coming up, when others would say something about them.

"That big lummox of yours..." "That giant clutz!" "Why can't you get him to use those big paws to do something constructive?"

Why can't they leave him be? He's just a young dragon still. Adam thought. But it was still true, though he was large, he'd always been a bit on the ... clumsy side.

They were bound for the Protectorate again, and while Nath was the better flier, Clooneath did have a good eye for distance and landscapes. Adam and Clooneath knew better than to think that they'd be of much use as wing leaders here on the old world.

But back home?

He was a healer, and the scroll said that he'd be a great addition to the Touch of Life wing, at the Protectorate's new digs. There was always a need for dragons who had healing riders.

That was the light of his day, when they got their transfer papers back to the Protectorate. They'd both been accepted quickly, by wings which would put them to their best use.

And what was even better? Adam knew that Kalkin was on that Healer's wing!

Nath crept up to Bashina and woke her gently. It is time for us to go. Clooneath says so. You are packed already!

Groggily, Bashina woke from her late slumber. It was early morning, but they had been packing and she was really quite tired. "It's a good thing Adam knows where we're going... I don't think I could send us anywhere but back to my dreams..."

Adam in the other room laughed, and came out with Nath's riding gear. The dragon was actually nimble enough to put it on herself, but she needed Bashina to properly tighten it down so that the human part of the pair could ride in comfort.

"So this is it, then? We're off?" Bashina asked, and Adam nodded once.

"Your assignment is a good one," Adam commented on her badge for the Home Guard wing. It remained close to the leaders of the caer, she was both bodyguard and currier, guard and trainer. It would definitely be a good ride when they got back!