Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey.
Throwing herself down at the bed she had been given in the Weyrling Barracks, Malin leaned back to let her head rest at the pillow. After everything that had happened, she doubted that she had ever been as tired as she was now and so she almost fell asleep there and then.
But after a couple of moments, she forced herself to sit back up, even such a small effort causing her to utter a deep sigh. Sleeping with all her clothes on wouldn't leave her particulary comfortable in the morning.
"Better get undressed.." she mumbled to herself, glancing over at the girls who sat at one of the beds almost in the other end of the room. Used to sharing a room with several others, Malin was glad that there had been a gold egg in the clutch, although she hardly knew Talina...
Whether they ended up as friends or not, she doubted that she would have been able to sleep very well with no other people in the room. Ruth's presence might have helped of-course, but as close as she already felt to the dragonet, he couldn't entirely replace human company.
With a smile, she looked over at the pale form sleeping at the couch right next to the bed that was hers. Such a uproar his hatching had caused, a girl Impressing a fighting dragon was quite out of the ordinary. Likely many times so when the dragon had such an…unusual color.
She was glad that the Weyrwoman and the Weyrleader had handled it as well as they had, as they had pointed out; that she had Impressed Ruth was at least preferable to what might have happened. It could have been worse, the boy from Ruatha, Jaxom, could have Impressed the small white dragonet.
While she had little knowledge about Lord Holder politics, Malin had her doubts about that they would have allowed the boy to remain the Lord Holder to be of Ruatha as a dragonrider. That again would probably have caused no end of trouble when it came to find another suitable Lord Holder for Ruatha.
Even so, the Weyrleaders talk with her had left her rather exhausted. Faced with one such as Lessa, there had been several times when she had been on the brink of fleeing the room. They had been quite throughout in questioning her and making sure that she understood the responsibility and danger that lay ahead of her.
Still.., Malin shuddered when she thought about it, she couldnt have avoided hearing some of the riders whispering about that Ruth's color might indicate that he would never survive to adulthood. There had been no other white dragons hatched before as far as anyone knew, and it was hard to tell if anything was wrong with him. Ruth seemed healthy certainly, but it was impossible to say if he might suddenly fall ill or simply die without warning.
The thought made her shudder.
Malin reached out to stroke the eye-ridges of the dragonet, silently noticed that Talina had entered the room and already gotten into bed. Having forgotten just how tired she was for a short while, and just seeing someone laying down made her yawn.
No, it was about time that she went to bed herself, undoubtely it would be a long day tomorrow. But still it wasnt easy to tear her gaze away from the dragonet, he seemed healthy enough of-course and he had eaten a lot, so perhaps he was stronger than anyone would believe?
Quickly standing up to close the glow baskets, Malin hurried back to her bed once that task was finished and then it took her only a moment to get off the blouse and the skirt she had worn for the Hatching Feast.
"Good night Ruth" she whispered, smiling as the dragonet chirped in his sleep, so tiny he looked when laying at that couch.. It was improbable that he would become a proper sized dragon, but hopefully he would grown larger than he was now.
Being Ruth's rider was not going to be easy, not only because of his color, but the fact that she was a girl was sure to give her trouble from some people. Trying to find a comfortable position in the unfamiliar bed, she sighed, trying to push the worries out of her mind. It would be a long day tomorrow, and she did really need to get a rest.
Sometime not so long after that thought, Malin fell asleep..