L'thor and green Raith's weyr

[TawnyAngel]

Around half a turn after D’los’ death...

The morning air was warm already but a gentle breeze kept it pleasant, and promised to prevent the day from becoming too stifling. He sat on the ledge, legs dangling into the void, and sipped contentedly at his cup of klah as he watched the sun rise. It was... well, it was a sunrise; lovely of course, he always enjoyed them, but he’d never been the sort to sigh and wax poetic about such things. D’los had been like that and this morning, for the first time, he could think about his weyrmate without pain. It was a beautiful morning, promising to be a beautiful day and today he would try to think of it poetically. It was orange and it was gold and it was red, and there would never be another one quite like it.

“Morning,” yawned a sleepy voice from behind him, and a moment later V’kain sat down beside him. “You’re up early even for you,” he commented as he sipped his klah.

L’thor smile over at his friend and shrugged. “Yes, I felt like watching the sun come up today. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He was a little glad that he had though; V’kain’s company was always welcome and today he felt especially like being around people he cared about.

V’kain stifled another yawn and shook his head. “Not at all, don’t worry about it... Any particular reason you wanted to watch this morning?”

“Well yes,” L’thor smirked and took another sip of Klah, “it’s my birthing day; I’m twenty five now. I like to watch the sun rise on my birthing day when I can.” He’d done it every year since he’d been about six turns old, but of course this was the first turn V’kain had lived with him so he didn’t know that... Last turn, and for eight turns before that he had watched with D’los. He wouldn’t do that ever again, but it was alright. He wasn’t alone by any stretch of the imagination, and this morning he felt perfectly like himself again. Life went on, and he planned to go with it rather than tormenting himself with longings for the past.

“Oh! It is?” V’kain gaped like a fish before smacking his hand against his forehead. “Shards; it is and everything! I completely forgot... I’ll go out with Xerrineth to Ista Hold later and find you a nice present, I swear.”

“How kind of you,” L’thor chuckled, “but you needn’t get me anything fancy; I consider it a present that you hauled your lazy backside out of bed to come and sit with me in the first place.” V’kain would get him something nice though, he was like that; hardly ever spent a mark on himself but loved to treat his friends at the slightest opportunity.

V’kain grinned at his good-natured jibe and clapped him companionably on the shoulder. “Okay, so this can be your birthing day gift, and whatever I get you can be an apology gift for forgetting to get you a gift, okay?”

L’thor smiled over at his friend and gave the slightest of nods. “If you say so Kain, if you say so.” Silence fell between them then, and L’thor turned his face back to the warmth of the rising sun. “I think it’s time to let him go, don’t you Raith?” he asked of his dragon as he let out a soft sigh of contentment.

On her ledge the green dragon stirred slightly and opened one contentedly blue eye. “Yes,” she said softly, “I think it is time. Today will always be a good day in the turn for a glorious new beginning.”

L’thor’s smile softened a little at the subtle compliment and raised his mug to the sun. “To the future,” “hail and farewell, my beloved.”  

[TawnyAngel]

Returning from the Veyes fiasco...

The stairs had tired him more than he liked to admit and as Raith had told him that V'kain was already in, L'thor paused just outside their weyr to catch his breath. He might still be not quite well, but he intended to hide that as much as possible, for V’kain’s peace of mind as much as for his own vanity. Once he judged that he looked fairly casual again, he climbed the last of the steps and tried to effect a saunter. It didn't work very well; he was too stiff for the act to work, and so he gave it up as he entered the comfortable cavern.

He had only taken one step inside when he froze. It was... it was... "It's clean!"

V'kain, who had been bent over some harness at the table, leapt to his feet and hurried across the room to embrace him. "Thor!"

L'thor sighed happily and returned the hug. He was grateful that his friend wasn't putting his usual bone-crunching force behind it; he doubted his ribs would take it just yet. "Hello there Kain, did you get someone in to do this?" He’d been expecting to have to spend a sevenday at least trying to get the place straight again, but no dirty cups or clothes lay around, the hearth was swept and the rugs looked as though they’d been recently beaten. Wonderful; he could just fall into bed without feeling the itch to get up and tidy.

The stocky man stepped back with a grin and shook his head. "No, this was all me. I wanted it to be nice for when you got back, figured you'd be tired and not wanting to pick up after me. I've missed you," he added with one of those heart-meltingly warm and gentle smiles of his, "it's not been the same without you and your comments about life... Come sit down, I'll get you some wine. You look awful."

Oh bugger. Well, he had known it. Hollow faced, pale-skinned, thin, hair lacking its usual luster. He was a fool, and he knew it. Fighting fights that mattered was all well and good, but when it was clear you couldn’t win there was something to be said for backing down. He never did though, thanks to that mad temper of his, that rage he just couldn’t control when it got past a certain point. He had to try, that was his trouble; always had to try no matter what. He couldn’t have let Havel carry on with that awful belt. His hand had been forced. Much as it caused him pain, got him into trouble, he was glad to be the sort of person who wouldn’t stand by and watch an innocent injured.

“Thanks,” he said eventually with a weary smile to his friend as he moved over to the table and eased himself down into a chair with a grimace. Showing Veyes around had taxed muscles that had wasted over the last four sevendays. He was going to be stiff as stone tomorrow, but it had been worth it to make the lad feel even a little more comfortable here.

“So,” V’kain found a skin of wine and two cups, which he carried over to the table, “what happened to you? I was only told that you’d been hurt while Searching a candidate and I...” the dark man looked down at the scarred tabletop, “I was scared for you... I didn’t know how bad you were and... and... I thought you might not... I thought... Yea.”

Moved by the misery in his friend’s voice, L’thor reached across the table to take his hands and give them a squeeze. Dear V’kain. “Hey, you didn’t really think I’d just up and die on you, did you?” Poor V’kain. He was such a... such a sweet person, such a soft person. He hated to think of anyone being unhappy or hurt, and when it was one of his friends... “Come on, pour us wine and I’ll tell you how I got myself into trouble. Again.” The first anniversary of D’los’ death... He supposed he should have expected something stupid of himself on that day. Shards. The way he’d acted towards Veyes at first... He regretted that more than he could say, but he didn’t feel able to explain himself to the lad. He didn’t know Veyes well enough to share things like that yet. Maybe one day... Shards. If only he could fly through time and stop himself being such an intolerant fool in the first place. First impressions didn’t go away so easily.

V’kain looked up again and smiled slightly, squeezing the thin man’s hands in return before releasing them to open the wine and pour. “Alright, go on then Thor.”

Taking his wine, L’thor lent back in his chair and sighed. It was good to be home. “Right then. Where to begin...”