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 Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:22 pm
The once wingleader and the young greenrider arrived outside the weyrleader's ledge. T'nus dismounted and offered Lavi a hand down. Xenith was cooling off in the Bay; Azimuth had offered to give them both a ride up. Once he had deposited them on the ledge, he planned to join her.
Before he left, T'nus turned to his dragon. Would you-
Tell the other Fort transfers to meet us here? I have.
And-
Show them the location of the weyr? Already done.
T'nus laughed to himself. Azimuth knew him too well. "Well, enjoy you swim in the lake." he said.
It's not a lake here, it's a Bay. Azimuth informed him before taking off. He sounded quite amused by the novelty.
Meanwhile, Lavi waited awkwardly by the entrance, not daring to go in alone. Be strong, my Lavi. her dragon encouraged her from below. You'll get along fine.
Lavi put on a brave smile. Don't you worry about me. I have T'nus with me, after all. By then, T'nus had joined her by the entrance and she put her arm through his. Xenith snorted.
Yes that chatty thing should make enough noise for the both of you.
While they were talking, T'nus rapped on the inside wall with his left hand -his right was still in a sling from the injury he'd done himself in threadfall- and called out. "Hullo? Weyrleader? It's your transfers here, checking in."
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:31 pm
Shardit all, he'd completely forgotten about the transfers! Shards and shells, they were already here? He'd asked Fort for aid. After losing close to half of their fighting forces and their Weyrwoman, Ista's wings were doing poorly. It wasn't that those remaining weren't flying well or putting in enough effort, it was a matter of numbers.
Ista was a small Weyr as it was, only being able to take up to two hundred riders at a time. Having lost so many, put the entire Weyr at a disadvantage. He ran a hand through messy, blond hair and went to greet the transfers. He studied T'nus, and then Lavi, before he smiled. "Weyrleader T'rel, of bronze Zelith," he introduced himself. "I don't recognize either of you," he added. "Is it just the two of you?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:03 pm
The two riders came in and saluted. While she completed the gesture, politeness required that she look the weyrleader in the face, but the moment it was over, Lavi dropped her eyes to the floor. T'nus, on the other hand, had the arguably good and arguably bad habit of staring people straight in the eye as he talked to them.
He listened to the weyrleader. The 'just' stung a little. Fort was hardly doing well itself. With their wings down nearly 40%, a handful of riders was all they could spare right now, and Ista wasn't the only Weyr asking! But even just one or two riders, when they brought new perspectives, new experiences, and expertise, could make a huge difference to a fighting wing. Any good wingleader knew that. He almost felt like mentioning it.
Instead, T'nus introduced himself; "T'nus, rider of Azimuth. And this is Lavinia of the lovely green Xenith." he added for her.
"Lavi." she corrected automatically. When she realized, she gasped and continued in a small voice. "I mean.. That is.. E-everyone calls me that." Only her parents and T'nus, who had met her before impression, still forgot.
T'nus smiled. He put an arm around her shoulders and gave her an affectionate nudge. "Lavi here was the finest student our weyrling master ever saw." he boasted for her.
Lavi covered her face, going red. "T'nus! D-don't exaggerate.." she muttered modestly.
"And our wing has never lost a rider." he continued, unconcerned.
"There are one or two others that came with us, all fine wingriders." he answered. He paused and leaned back, fixing T'rel with a thoughtful look. "You understand, Fort is hardly in a position to give away riders.." he said slowly.
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 3:45 pm
T'rel seemed to realize he'd offended T'nus. He gave an apologetic expression. "I apologize," he said. "I was told otherwise." He'd known Fort had been affected by Thread, but hadn't expected it to be in that bad of shape. "I sent some Weyrlings in exchange," he added. "A brown, some blues, a green." Ista was a small Weyr; and while they needed all the fighting pairs they could get, their Weyrling barracks weren't suited for the large number of weyrlings they had. "Senior Weyrlings. They'll be fighting in a five, six, sevendays, I assume."
He paused, and brown eyes veered away from T'nus and focused on Lavi. "Lavi, then," he said with a smile. "Nice to meet you. And you, T'nus," he added, studying the bronzerider once more. Never lost a rider? He frowned. His wing had lost riders. Most people credited that to his inexperience; he'd only been wingleader a turn before Zelith had flown Rath. "Impressive," he said with a nod. "I believe every rider makes a difference to the wing. I take everyone's opinion into account." He paused, and glanced around. "Do you want some klah?" he asked.
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:20 pm
The moment T'rel acted apologetic, T'nus backed off a little. Despite how easy going he was, he was quick to make snap decision about people when first meeting them. Fortunately, he realized that his first opinions of someone were often wrong.
He hand't realized how his boast before might hurt, if T'rel had lost riders to Thread. He shouldn't have said anything. He was too quick to assume that people were attacking him. From feeling threatened, to feeling foolish, T'nus's mood had not improved, but perhaps his opinion of the weyrleader had. That was, until the young man's gaze fell on Lavi...
T'nus took his arm from her shoulder and casually looped it around Lavi's waist, protectively. Lavi, however, took this as him trying to encourage her, and swelled with affection. While the weyrleader's back was turned (although they never hid their relationship, they tried to be subtle about it around their superiors), she briefly snuggled against his shoulder lovingly. T'nus, still a little grumpy and possessive, was half hoping that the weyrleader would see.
Even so, Lavi's silent assurance of her feelings for him put T'nus in a much better mood, so that he was able to smile as he answered, "No, I'm fine, thank you. Lavi?" he asked her softly. She shook her head. "I think we're both alright."
T'nus regarded the weyrleader curiously. He was not the man T'nus imagine when he thought of Ista's weyleader, but he didn't ask what he was itching to say, 'aren't you rather young to be a weyrleader?' He knew T'rel must have heard it too many times before. And who could help becoming a weyrleader? In the end, the dragons decide. Instead, he search for something to change the topic. "I hear you had a hatching here recently? It went well, I hope?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:52 pm
T'rel saw the interaction between the two as he turned to fetch klah from the corner of his eye. He took a sharp breath, and kept his gaze from them. He remembered when he and Ky't used to do that. The very same thing. They'd been together since they'd been apprentices at the Harperhall. Superiors had often chastised them for being so affectionate--candidates and Weyrlings weren't supposed to be romantically involved, because it might harm their chances to Impress, or damage their growing dragon's minds. He looked pained as he turned back to them. "No klah then?" he said, forcing a pinched sort of smile.
"Yes, Amarath clutched. Tanasha's gold. We had causalities." Even his voice sounded pinched. His responses were short, almost to the point of being rude. "The hatching went well." There had been several hatchlings betweening, but he didn't feel like mentioning that. Fort probably had never had a hatchling between, either.
They'd probably never lost their Weyrwoman after their junior weyrwoman's gold has risen to clutch. "I'll have Z'iv show you to your weyrs, then," he paused, and glanced up at T'nus, meeting the other bronzerider's eyes. "Or since you are so clearly weyrmates, would you prefer one of our larger weyrs? We lost many riders during Threadfall, so we have a large number of unused ones. We weren't prepared. We were feasting in celebration of Rath's--" his words seemed to get caught in his throat. "first clutch. Thread hit our Weyr. Half my wing was lost. My weyrmate, my Weyrwoman, was lost." He paused, and expression darkening, crossed his arms. "I asked for aid only in our most dire need. I'm grateful you volunteered to come. Thank you."
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:22 pm
Standing shoulder to shoulder, it was hard to keep a smile off of his face. He blamed Lavi. She did this thing when she was feeling nervous where she would lean into him. When they were younger and they would walk side by side, people often wondered why they would move in a diagonal. Lavi, although distant in conversation, instinctively moved closer to people, while T'nus, without even realizing it, naturally moved away. The result was that they would start off walking one way, and end up half was across the bowl before they got there!
Fond memories or not, ticklish or not, his face fell when he heard the news about the hatching.
"Casualties? Injured candidates, or.." he stopped himself before he said the alternative, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking it.
"How sad." Lavi whispered, taking the words right out of his mouth.
"How strange a situation, that requires both condolences and congratulations." T'nus noted. He nodded towards the weyrleader, and his eyes showed both.
They nodded when T'rel mentioned they would be shown to their weyrs, and were about to leave when he continued talking. Unfortunately, much of his heart-wrenching tale was lost on them when he mentioned their relationship.
Lavi's face went bright red and she took a small step away from T'nus. His arm dropped from her side and he ran a hand through his dark hair in annoyance. Oh, for Faranth's sake, was this really the time or the place to be discussing personal matters?
"W-w-we're n-not w-weyrmates exactly." Lavi stammered, though she didn't deny they were involved.
"We've never shared living quarters before." T'nus clarified. Not that he hadn't suggested it, but Lavi always held back. He couldn't tell if it was because he felt stronger for her than she did for him, or because she was afraid that they would be face criticism for their relationship, or just because she had too little self esteem to believe that anyone would want to be with her.
T'nus considered them weyrmates, but they had never been so official with it. After all, a long term relationship between a bronze and a greenrider was hardly the norm.
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Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:02 am
"Both," T'rel said shortly. "The gold nearly betweened." He shrugged and set eyes on Lavi once more. There was no interest there, no desire in those hurt, brown orbs. She was quiet. Quiet like Ky't. He felt he could trust her, more than T'nus. "Fortunately, a suitable girl was found in the stands." He paused and shrugged. "I heard Fort had a queen transfer," he said. "Perhaps they'll be having a clutch of their own."
His expression softened slightly. Perhaps the riders of Fort Weyr didn't know all that had gone on at Ista. It had always been Ky't that'd managed the communication between the two Weyrs. Now that she was gone... Perhaps there had been no news.
"Not Weyrmates?" The idealistic young Weyrleader seemed genuinely surprised. Why ever not? Bronzeriders commonly fell in love with greenriders. At least in Ista, when the bronzeriders weren't off drinking and sleeping with every girl they could get their hands on. That took a certain maturity, T'rel thought, to be able to overcome that sort of thing. "Why not?" he asked, curious. Always a harper; always looking for gossip and news. "Ky't and I weyrmated right after graduating."
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Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:15 am
"In the Stands? Well!" he said, quite surprised. He knew he was a bad person for being just a little bit happy. He thought about the sweet little queen candidate they'd brought along with them from Ista. Maybe their girl would stand a better chance. She seemed like the type to be content with anything, but even so, he hoped she Impressed to something impressive.
And just what is so impressive about a gold? Azimuth asked, clearly echoing the sentiments of Xenith.
The two were so inexplicably linked, that T'nus often felt she was in his head as much as Azimuth.
But back the matter of their relationship. Against such a blunt and obvious question, T'nus didn't have any answers. He held up his arms slightly then let them fall with a sigh.
"Well, we work together, for one. We were afraid it might appear like a conflict of interests. And also-"
"T'nus," Lavi said softly, in a voice that was barely above a whisper, yet had the power to silence him anyway. "M-maybe it's time."
The thought of having to answer about or introduce their relationship terrified her. It was so much easier when they pretended it wasn't a big thing, and people were able to politely ignore them. That was the main reason for her wanting to keep separate living quarters, she was afraid of questions. But she realized that that was dishonest of her, and hurting T'nus. She thought, maybe, she could be brave. After all, she'd have him with her.
"Time? You mean... Yes?" Lavi smiled and nodded mutely. Momentarily overcome, T'nus grabbed her by the waist and spun her around happily. It was only after he put her down that he remember the weyrleader was still here. Oh, right. Why were they discussing this in here?
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Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:21 pm
"Congratulations," T'rel said, nodding to the both of them. "One of our senior Weyrlings is going to show you around the Weyr. I had Zelith send for him." The sooner they they left his weyr, the better. He was positively relieved when R'yn came running in, nearly bumping into T'nus.
"Shards, sorry!" the small boy apologized quickly. "You must be the transfers. Zelith asked Gereth to ask me to show you around the Weyr. If you'll follow me, then..." Though the boy looked rather young to be a dragonrider, there was a certain maturity about his stance, even if not his actions. "I'm R'yn, of bronze Gereth," he seemed to have remembered his manners at last. "Anyway, let's go. There's plenty to see."
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Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:04 pm
Does this mean I have to live with that noisy bronze permanently? Xelith said, since everything seemed to be decided.
If you don't want to, then..
I didn't say that! Xelith cut in, bashfully.
"Ah, bye then, weyrleader!" T'nus said to T'rel's dismissal. He'd hoped they could talk more extensively about their positions here, was the weyrleader upset with them, somehow? Well, he was in too much of a good mood himself to indulge the bad moods of others. He and Lavi saluted again and turned the leave. T'nus said over his shoulder, "I suppose we can talk about wing assignments, after I get this damn cast off my arm."
He took a step back from the young weyrling, putting a hand on his shoulder. Lack of formality was never something T'nus was concerned about. "Not a problem!" he said, more amused than annoyed. T'nus smiled. The boy seemed smart for a weyrling. He was looking forward to seeing what Ista's young ones could do. They were teh furture of dragon riding, after all. "Nice to meet you R'yn, we're T'nus and Lavi. Hopefully you can guess which is which."
T'nus rubbed his hands together eagerly at the mention of a tour. "Excellent!" He couldn't wait to see their new home.
"I hear there's a Bay instead of a Lake here!" Lavi chimed in.
"Say, have you met Cami yet? I should introduce you. She could use someone her age to show her around..." he started chatting as the three of them left.
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