Logs:Virtues of Growth
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| RL Date: 5 May, 2015 |
| Who: Keysi, Neianth |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Snippets of month-by-month interactions between the weyrling girl and dragonet that provide insight into key moments of change |
| When: Day 18, Month 8, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Edyis/Mentions, K'del/Mentions |
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| Month 1: Virtue of Respect Respect towards oneself, one's master and all beings. It is the foundation.
"Yes. It was." Pressure asserts itself upon her mind as Neianth insists on the reason for her answer, for her actions. Stern grey eyes stare into slowly whirling facets that reflect back at her. She projects but one thing to the dragonet: You. « Do you always blame others for your actions? » His commanding mind wraps her own in his weighty presence, and within it she finds herself unable to find anger towards his question. He waits against her reluctance to respond; his silence, a powerful thing. "No one else has ever affected me the way you do." Is her tested, bitten response. The only reply from her brown is a shimmering freshwater pool, suddenly still of its ripples to give prominence to a reflection oh so clear- he is but an echo of herself. "I know." Keysi closes her eyes. "I could barely control my temper before you came along." « And, how did you do that? » "Practice." « As is necessary for everything. » Neianth presses, the intensity of his being bearing down on her in stark contrast to his exceptionally diminutive physical self. « Continue to seek disrespect if you wish- it is not only that one who is important. We will struggle for it. » Keysi doesn't award his truths with anything further, but as his mind quiets of collected words and remains as just his encompassing, heavy presence, she's left to lay awake. To think. Her frustration eventually gives way to a simmering annoyance which, in turn, slowly wanes into tumultuous self-reflection. Month 2: Virtue of Humility Real humility is a sign of strength, authentic confidence, and courage.
« You are not pleased with your marks? » The brown, now about a foot longer than she is tall but still so young for a dragon, lay stretched out on the dragon infirmary floor. For no necessity of injury are they here, but rather for studying purposes. Or, more accurately, for the comfort of the familiar. "I am." Keysi allows, the parchment of her collected grades lay on the floor beside one of Neianth's nigh-black-hewn paws. The scroll is kept from rerolling itself by the weight of an ornate hand-and-ahalf dagger; a piece of weaponry no apprentice themselves could afford. The brown, unsated by this answer, pushes her with his presence, weighing against her in just the right way. "We are better, Nei, but we are not the best." A rumble of disapproval meets her assessment, curled at the end with a hiss. "If I learned anything from my time traveling, it should have been that even the best need to practice the basics." Keysi slides the dagger from its sheath, watching the gleaming half-distorted mirror that the blade becomes as she holds it higher. The month had gone by with Keysi being frustrated, but wholly unlike the month prior. No longer did she seem vexed by Neianth's persistence and intensity. No, they were learning each other just fine. It was the boredom of the lessons. Blocking? She'd been doing so since she was five turns old. Writing? She wrote medical records when sleep had all but won. Impatience blazed within them both. These were all lessons she thought herself too good for. She wasn't. "One day we'll miss something important." She takes her gently curling, long brown hair in one hand, the dagger in her other with a keen, practiced grip upon it. The cold blunt side touches her neck, the edge against locks pulled tight. "And I won't let us fail because of me." If she didn't say it she thought it, and Neianth was privy to it: we're not above what Quinlys is teaching us. She holds her breath. Closes her eyes. The dagger slices away with ease, the blade sharpened to find no resistance. Her flowing hair- the only thing that gave her hardened-beyond-her-years self a hint of feminism- falls into her lap with the grace of fallen feathers, yet the heaviness of loss. The deed done, she stares down at the dark brown ringlets with dagger still hovering, some tumbling away in the draft of the open draconic entrance. It is utterly symbolic. The cutting of hair may not be painful, but swallowing her pride surely is. « We will do better. » Month 3: Virtue of Trust Confidence in one's master and one's own capacity.
A muffled yell of her own making wakes her. The diminutive brown had already shifted from his couch, his head beside her head even before the final vocalization woke her from nightmares made muddled, hazy, difficult to remember by the weyrling brown's persuasion. « You do not face your fears. You do not ask me for help. Why? » Keysi breathes slowly, staring at the slowly churning facets of the eyes of her dragon. Her answer is simple, but strained, "You protect the ones you care for." « Silence is as much a lie as words themselves. » "You are not ready." « You are not ready. » His rich baritone echoes in answer, but presses with no direct questions and no invasion between their minds. It must be her decision. Keysi's guilt flushes in prominence between their bond, but meets no sympathy. Only a silent but present, surrounding consciousness that's not all unlike a brick wall. She closes her eyes again, but this time it's with intention to visualize. No amount of words could give justice to what she's tried to hide even from Neianth. Their intense bond has had this one flaw, these secrets which she thought were only hers to bare. Her hesitation brings about only the simplest of urging, « I have felt your dreams. » You know. The thought, though to herself, is met immediately with- « I know. » Assurance and rebounding reassurance. As much as Neianth lives by tough love, in this he does what is needed. Closed eyes give way to images, to feelings, to fears. Images of a man cheating the wrong people. Of young Keysi being chased, hunted, cornered in the night with men towering over her with weapons glinting by firelight. Of fighting, of blood, of survival. The Healer Hall a safe house, not entirely safe from shadowed faces still coming calling. Then the Weyr surrounded by snowy peaks, safest until the walls collapsed upon her. It felt as though hours had passed. As Key's pulls herself from those memories she'd hid from herself more than anyone, she summarizes with her most regretful admittance, "I cannot even tell them about you." « Protect them all with your silence if you must, but I will protect you. Never doubt me again. » Month 4: Virtue of Loyalty Unconditional devotion.
"... What? No!" The surprise of Neianth's request sends Keysi reeling enough that her volume escalates. A quick glance around to ensure nobody heard her exclamation it is followed by a narrowed glance in the shadowed brown's direction. Neianth chuffs in draconic laughter, tilting his head to angle a faceted eye to watch his rider in his amusement, « You do not wish to join His in his weyr? » Be quiet. Keysi tugs on one of the riding straps a little harder than necessary, though the lean dragon remains unphased. There's a difference between being loyal and being infatuated. Just drop it. « You are loyal to Akluseth's, yet you do not stumble over yourself around her. » It is different. He's authority. It's not quite the word she wants, and despite her hesitation over using it, Neianth takes it in the literal. « You mean the loyalty to authority you do not have for your wingleader? » Temporary wingleader. « I do not see a difference. » K'del gave me a goals to work towards. He saved my life. R'van is.... « Cadejoth's took down the rock wall? » Well, no, that was- « You need not trust him to respect him, you need not be loyal to him to fulfill your duty to him, to the Weyr. And to Cadejoth's. » But he's insufferable. Keysi steps up onto an outstretched blackened forepaw of Neianth, holds his sharpened, black-smudged neck ridges and pulls herself up into onto her dragon. An empowering feeling, as new as it is, to feel his muscles move beneath her, his night-touched wings spreading behind her. Only testing the safety and fit of their flight straps just yet, the ache between them to be airborne remains not yet fulfilled. « As may be our future wingleader. You do not get to choose. » Beyond his turns in wisdom, Neianth's rich baritone cascades in its ever present ripples between their minds. We'll do our duty. Is the eventual agreement laced with fierce, deep-set resolve. But everything else is earned. |
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Comments
K'del (06:12, 28 May 2015 (EDT)) said...
I just have to say: I am loving these snippets of Keysi and Neianth. It's so much fun to see how they grow and change! <3
R'van (11:02, 28 May 2015 (EDT)) said...
I love this, and seeing how their relationship is changing over time, to each other, the people around them, and the Weyr. Such a neat insight!
Roz (14:30, 28 May 2015 (EDT)) said...
I like this a lot, especially month 4! Neianth is hilarious, and I love how he complements Keys. :D
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