He nodded as she gave her summary. “That’s good. I hope you did tell her it’s not her fault. This was just the excuse A’ver needed to knock me out of the position. He might have done it before, but Ruella was there to manage him.” He sat down on his rear and bent his legs, propping his arms up and craning his neck back to keep her face visible. “She needs to stop pestering the rankers, she’s going to gain a bad reputation before she ever leaves the class. Graduation is not far off, and after that she’ll have Phinth’s first flight. She’ll need someone to catch her green who won’t treat her badly.”
He ran a hand down one bare shin in front of him. “It’s not easy to be a blue rider and a weyrlingmaster. It was hard to fight my way into that spot, easy to lose, and Valoth can only do so much. He’s a blue. Blues and greens just aren’t authorative. They’re emotional, they don’t take initiative the way the bigger dragons do, and they’re more prone to confusion. It’s a struggle every time a class has panicking dragons or riders, it’s hard to keep everyone-weyrlings and Valoth-together and running smoothly in drills and fall.” He let his forehead rest against her knee. “I worked hard, Valoth tries more than I would have given his color credit for. But we have to call on golds and bronzes and the wingseconds’ browns to help us and it doesn’t come across as professional. Lyrra will make no progress or friends by throwing herself into the fire.”
Though he did feel better, K’rin was suddenly tired. Finally being able to tell someone about what had been running through his head was a huge relief. And he didn’t say anything untrue. He knew he and Valoth had a lot going against them, and he understood his position as second. Preferred it, really, because he did need a bigger color there to manage the dragons more efficiently. He just wished he had a weyrlingmaster and a Weyrleader who cared about the future of the Weyr.