Shoezveioth's hide was warm and soft to the touch as Olih finished adjusting the riding straps, double-checking them to make sure they were secure. Even so, Olih could tell the tiny dragon was nervous. I hope you are quite sure what you are doing, my rider, the night sun dragon dragon said rather grumpily.
"Don't worry so much, this is just practice. I'm not going to be in any signifigant danger, Shoez." Olih gave his dragon a reassuring pat on his shoulder before vaunting onto his back.
It's Shoezveioth, he grumbled in reply. Are you secure?
Olih grinned. He just couldn't resist teasing him. "Hundred percent. Let's try this." He took a deep breath and told Shoezveioth, Okay, lend me your eyes.
Even though he was expecting it, he still jumped a little when his non-functional eyes suddenly "opened," though he knew it was all in his head--literally, since it was Shoezveioth's eyes he was looking through. He didn't remember much of what human vision was like since he was so young when he lost it, but he had no doubt that dragons saw things quite differently. The further away objects were, the easier they were to see, rather than the reverse, and apparently the colors were off as well, but it was certainly better than nothing. When Shoezveioth craned his neck to look around, Olih could see that the Weyrleader was already in the air.
With another mental command, Shoezveioth spread his wings and leapt into the air. Once they were high enough, they found Atreyuth soaring lazily in circles and Olih signaled to his rider that they were ready to start. Brightly colored strings trailed down from the bronze's path, and they went to work. It wasn't that much like fighting Thread, Olih had to admit, but it was the most practical method for training.
Fortunately, Shoezveioth needed little help to do his duty, darting and spinning to flame each string as quickly as possible, and Olih was almost superfluous. He had to admit this was probably a good thing as well. His own disability had made it necessary for them to use completely different tactics than most fighting pairs, and despite Shoezveioth's misgivings, he had proven to be quite capable of tracking and destroying the pseudo-Thread on his own, as long as he didn't panic or get hit, which would be the biggest problem in Threadfall. But none of the strings hit the ground, and they were finished far more quickly than Olih had expected, so he thought they had reason to be proud. He could also focus on things that Shoezveioth might miss...such as M'rix signaling for them to land.
The night sun quickly backwinged and landed on the ground beside the much larger bronze Atreyuth. Shoezveioth closed his eyes and Olih's world went black again. He climbed down from the dragon's back, keeping one arm slung over the neck both for balance and reassurance. "Well?" he asked M'rix. "How did we do?"
There was a pause before the Weyrleader answered. "I think you need more practice." Olih's heart sank, before M'rix continued wryly, "but then, don't we all? I'll still want to keep an eye on you for awhile, so show up with the rest of the wing for training and we'll see how you do in a real Threadfall."
Olih grinned, so happy that he'd succeeded that he wasn't even bothered by M'rix's slightly disbelieving tone as he muttered, "A blind rider fighting Thread...who'd have thought?"

He had just finished giving Shoezveioth a quick bath when a series of heavy footfalls alerted him to someone's approach. He waited for them to say something.
The person cleared their throat awkwardly before speaking. "Olih, rider of Shoezveioth?"
He turned to face where he assumed the person was. "Yes, that's me."
"Ah." There was another pause before they continued, sounding a little embarrassed, "I though dragonriding men shortened their names...?"
"My name's already two syllables long. It's shorter than some riders', why would I make it any shorter?" he replied impatiently.
"Of course. I am Harper Tarlos, I've been assigned to Sedona Weyr until further notice." Oh, him. Olih had heard plenty about Lord Tuan's brother. He tended to take offense at anything strange, and Olih had plenty strange about him, from his night sun-colored dragon to his Terran-styled clothes and sunglasses covering his eyes.
Olih heard Shoezveioth climb out of the lake and walk over to him, no doubt curious about the harper. The dragon's hide was still damp, but that didn't stop Olih from leaning against him; it wouldn't do any harm to his jacket, or his denim jeans. He smiled at Tarlos--or at least assumed he was. The harper had made no indication that he was off, so he felt he was close enough. "What can I do for you?"
"I thought it would be prudent to meet the dragonriders when I am able, since I am going to be here for awhile. And I couldn't help but notice--your dragon is very...unique, is it not?" He sounded less enthusiastic about it and more annoyed.
"Yes, he is," Olih replied, not so subtly emphasizing the pronoun. "Though he's far from the only night."
"Night?"
Olih was so used to the people at Darkling Dawn, who took dragons of any color in stride, he forgot that some people knew of little more than the traditional five colors. He lightly slapped the hide of the dragon he was leaning against. "See how the color darkens the closer it is to the tail? That colouration is called a night. They're actually fairly common."
"Mmhmm." The man's voice sounded puzzled as well as annoyed. "What's the difference between sun and gold? It looks the same to me."
"I'm really not the person to ask," Olih replied dryly, tipping his sunglasses so the harper could see his unfocused and obviously blind eyes.
He thought the man nearly choked in surprise, and Olih heard Shoezveioth snicker unkindly.