The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

find a little dragon butting him that he had had to be urged by T’gellan—the Weyrleader—and the Weyrlingmaster to accept the Impression. Not that he could have resisted much longer, not with Gadareth so upset that he wasn’t immediately accepted by his choice of partner.
    Even three years on, at fifteen, T’lion stayed out of K’din’s way as much as possible. Which was easier now that K’din was with a fighting wing and could sneer that T’lion had Turns yet before he, as a bronze rider, would be
useful
to the Weyr that housed and nurtured him.
    T’lion was very grateful to T’gellan, the Weyrleader, and his weyrmate, Mirrim, green Path’s rider, because they never once made the youngster feel unacceptable.
    “The dragon chooses,” T’gellan had said at the time, and often at other Impressions, shaking his head ruefully at dragon choice. Then he’d congratulated the stunned family on having
two
such worthy sons.
    Since T’lion could not be included in a fighting Weyr until he was sixteen, T’gellan used the bronze pair as messengers, giving them plenty of practice in finding coordinates all over what was settled of the Southern Continent as well as the major and minor Holds and Halls in the North. T’lion took pride in being a conscientious messenger and was infallibly courteous to his passengers, never once mentioning the behavior of some of them who found going
between
frightening or unnerving. Or those who tried toorder him about as if he were a drudge. No dragon
ever
chose a drudge personality. Of course, his being so young made some adults feel as if they had to patronize him …
him!
A dragonrider!
    There are some of the fins
, Gadareth said, adroitly interrupting T’lion’s less than amiable thoughts. And, knowing his rider’s wish before T’lion could even think it, the bronze glided down toward the pod.
    Being up high gave T’lion a superb view of the pod, of their sinuous bodies leaping and plunging in the water. It was sort of like the formation of fighting wings going against Thread, T’lion thought. Only he’d heard that shipfish—no, dolphins—
liked
Thread. They’d been seen by dragonriders, swarming with other types of marine life, actually following the leading edge of Thread across the ocean.
    “Less for us to flame, boy,” bronze rider V’line had remarked.
    However, being airborne made it a little difficult for T’lion to speak to the dolphins, even though Gadareth was agreeable to flying just above the surface, being careful not to plunge a wing into the water and off-balance himself.
    Then a dolphin heaved itself up out of the water, momentarily on a level with dragon and rider, eyeing them as it reached the top of its jump before sliding gracefully back into the water.
    The surprise was enough to make Gadareth veer, catching his wing tip in the water. He struggled to recover his balance, tipping T’lion dangerously against his riding straps.
    “Squeeeeeeh! Squeeeh! Carrrrrrrerfullllll!”
    There was no doubting the shout from several dolphinsas Gadareth righted himself and kept a reasonable distance above the waves. Two more dolphins launched themselves up, each eyeing dragon and rider.
    Recovering from the fright, T’lion responded to their scrutiny with an enthusiastic wave, trying to keep his eyes on them as they cued up and down. Then Gadareth caught the rhythm of the dolphins’ maneuver: dipping down as he saw a dolphin nose appear, he arched up and over with the acrobat.
    This is fun!
the dragon said, his eyes whirling with green and blue.
    “Funnnhn! Funnnhnn! Gaym! Pullay gaym!” the dolphins cried as they leaped up and over.
    Did they hear me?
Gadareth asked his astonished rider.
    Getting any dolphin to answer that question was beyond the physical constraints of their present maneuvering, though T’lion shouted as loud as he could at each dolphin arching past him.
    “I’ll have to ask Master Alemi, Gaddie,” T’lion told his dragon. “Maybe