Logs:Eighteen
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| RL Date: 1 September, 2015 |
| Who: Dee, Taeliyth |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Niahvth's Seniorship flight is cause for reflection in other parts of the world. |
| Where: Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 17, Month 9, Turn 38 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Hattie/Mentions, Irianke/Mentions, Lilah/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Back-dated! |
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| Dee found out on her eighteenth turnday. Niahvth has risen and claimed Seniorship of High Reaches Weyr. It hit like a fist to the gut, worse even than the missed blocks in self-defense that meant she knew now what that actually felt like. It made her feel cold all over, even in the heat of the late autumn day. It was one more piece that made today feel all wrong. Her first turnday away from home. Her first turnday not spent on the beaches and with Jem. Jem was here, of course. She would see him, but she wasn't even sure he'd remember the date, with the intensity of weyrlinghood all around them. « Dahlia, » Taeliyth's Wood surrounded her, the world fading away with the closing of her eyes. « It's going to be okay. » Taeliyth wasn't like Dee. She didn't Believe in things the way Dee did. But this, this, she Believed and that strength flowed through the deep roots that the gold had always had within her, that connected her to this place, their home. Dee gulped air that didn't fit with the comforting earthy damp filling her senses. She wished it did; she wished she could surround herself with the jungle of Southern, could pick her way through the brush searching for plants, as she had once long ago. "That's going to be us," the words sunk like stones to the pit of her stomach in the wake of Taeliyth's tacit agreement. She'd known it already, but it felt strange to say it like that, here in a space that held only the secrets she and Taeliyth kept from one another. The room echoed, Taeliyth's bulk not yet large enough to block the sound as much as it could. There was a barrenness here. The cream made Taeliyth and Dee feel it keenly. "I can paint it for you," Dee's offer was as tentative as the subject change was abrupt. It wasn't that Dee didn't offer to do things for Taeliyth, she did, she knew she did, but not usually in so many words. Theirs was a sharing of feeling more than words more times than not. They spoke more, now, to one another, now that they both faced the same reality; it was something too large for either of them to face individually. Taeliyth was quiet; her mind was silent but for the wind. There were never natural creatures in her Wood, Dee had noticed. No avians or felines. The only sounds that were animalistic were also unnatural; the memory of those few times such secrets had been shared made Dee shiver. The sudden change in Taeliyth's mind presence might have been in reaction to Dee's discomfort and for that possibility Dee felt sorry, but she didn't ever regret moments like this: beauty bloomed. It always began a small, vibrant vine curling its way in the fore, the Wood fading in contrast to the light that seemed to focus on the growing thing. Leaves sprouted, buds followed and then-- Dee's breath caught, as it always did, when the flower bloomed and grew, petals adding until it was impossibly full. Today, she knew this was for her, this dahlia. Her body knew before she did that she was crying, one hand rising to brush away the bother of tears to her cheeks. "Taeliyth," was barely more than a whisper and choked at that. « You are supposed to receive gifts on your turnday, not offer gifts yourself, » Taeliyth's answer was quiet. And yet, « I would be grateful if you would paint the wall for me, Dee. » Dee's heart was too full for words. She managed to press her lips together, to nod, to smile. Then impulse took her the steps that conscious thought never would have, to the gold, to fling arms around her neck, to press herself bodily to her lifemate. Taeliyth tensed and for a moment the terror of rejection threatened to shatter this moment, then the gold bent her head to touch her nose to the top of her rider's head, letting her breath disturb Dee's short locks. « You should grow your hair out again, » seemed offhanded but was probably said for the desired response, which she got in Dee's startled laugh. "Yeah?" « Yeah. You miss it. Your hair. Even if this is easy and it takes up less time. You should be able to make time for your hair in the very least. » Taeliyth observed with a certain tenderness to the wuffle given those short locks before the dragon withdrew. Dee knew the moment had passed when Taeliyth added, « You should write Irianke to congratulate her. » "Should I ask Hattie to look at the letter before I send it?" Dee wondered as she stepped back to the table that held her simple breakfast. The gold was silent, wind once again the only rustle in their shared mindscape. « Hattie will support you. Support us. She wants us to succeed, for herself, for her Weyr. But, Dee, » Taeliyth's words came carefully but firmly, « it's okay to be you. If you try to be Hattie, it will only end in misery for us. Hattie doesn't want you for her puppet, so find a way to do these things Dee's way. Learn from her wisdom, learn from Hattie's way, but do it Dee's way. » The words awed her, made her fearful and amazed all at once. Hadn't this been what Dee had been struggling with since Lilah's vanishing and the increasing awareness that she was not anywhere to be found? Even if she hadn't wanted to be found, she would have been by now, if she could be, wouldn't she? Dee shook her head free of thoughts that had no purpose, that did no good. The reality was what it was now, and if Eliyaveith appeared in the sky tomorrow, glowing and leading the males in chase to claim the Seniorship, that would be the relief of tomorrow. Until then-- unless that happened-- Dee had to deal with life this way, but her way. It was the best turnday gift Taeliyth could have given her; her support of Dee, of Dahlia, of whoever it was that Dee needed to be in concert with also being Fort's next Senior. "I'll write her," Dee answered with a smile for her gold. "Will you look at it once I have?" held uncertainty; it was more than asking her to look at the letter, it was asking Taeliyth to be Taeliyth with Dee, whoever that would prove to be. « Of course, what is a lifemate for? » |
Comments
Faryn (21:14, 12 September 2015 (PDT)) said...
This makes me fuzzy. I'm happy to see these two getting closer to reasonable, healthy dragon-rider relationships, even if they never reach anything but understanding.
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