I'm Still Here

Writers: Suzee, AL
Date Posted: 28th July 2015

Characters: Cyradis, Meledei
Description: A meeting between goldriders.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 26 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik, T'nom, D'hol, Z'ku, Kielya

Cyradis

It was afternoon on another sunny day at Dolphin Cove and Cyradis had
had some refreshments brought into her office for a late afternoon
snack, when she heard the tap on the door. "Come in," she called and
took a couple of pieces of fruit onto her small plate before turning
to go back to her desk.

"Hi Cyradis." Meledei balanced a stack of parchment in one arm while
she used the other to flip the door closed behind her. Once she
crossed over to the Weyrwoman's desk, the stack was gently placed in a
clear spot. "Brought you some records that need your signature." As
her gaze fell across the fruit, her eyebrows quirked up briefly. Had
the Weyrwoman been expecting someone, or did she just have it to
herself? Meledei let her gaze drift back to the older goldrider. "I
can take them back when you're done if you just let Elleth know."
She would most likely have to file them away anyway.

"Hello Meledei," she replied with a smile. "Thank you," she added and
slid into her chair to pull the first of the stack in front of her.
"Want some," she asked, indicating the fruit with her chin. "Feel free
to grab a plate."

A half grin slipped over the girl's features. "You sure? I don't
want to deny you or any visitors food meant for you or them."
Although Meledei appreciated the gesture, she didn't want to take
something that was meant for someone else.

"Don't worry please," she smiled. "They always send me too much so
you'd be helping." She chuckled. "So, how was your flight?" She knew
they were sometimes good and sometimes not. But unlike greenriders,
you couldn't just walk away from the winners. The dragons and riders
tended to feel a bit possessive and she knew that, like herself,
Meledei was of a different mindset than most goldriders.

"It was good, and nice to find someone familiar in my bed." All of
the men whose dragons had caught her Elleth had been friends, which
certainly gave evidence to the idea that familiarity played some part
in whom a dragon would choose. "And he's quite excited."

Cyadis grinned. "That is always good to see. I hope it stays that
way." She chuckled at some of her own memories. "It is always better
when the winner is a friend."

"On that, we both agree." Fortunately, all of them had been friendly
faces, for which Meledei was grateful. She plopped into a seat across
from Cyradis then bit off a chunk of orange fruit. She proceeded to
chew on it thoughtfully, swallowed, then asked, "Have you ever found
yourself with someone you_didn't_ ever want chosen?"

"Oh my goodness, yes," she shook her head. "It was like a nightmare. I
had to squelch my feelings for months so Panitath wouldn't think I was
upset with her. It was a big mess."

"What happened?" While she knew she was probably prying, Meledei was
also quite curious. She wasn't sure how she would handle having
someone with whom she wasn't on good terms - like T'nom. Fortunately,
he wouldn't be a concern, but Z'ku was always in the running whenever
Elleth flew. How would she have handled having him when she had come
to her senses? Honestly, the idea of Z'ku winning didn't really
bother her, she'd be more concerned about_his_ reaction.

"D'hol," she said. It was really no secret that they had been at odds
since his coming to Dolphin Cove. "You know he almost won Panitath's
last flight?"

"Oh. Yeah, I remember that, but he didn't actually succeed."
However, that didn't mean he hadn't in the past. Meledei munched on a
bit of fruit, then dared to voice her thoughts. "What happened
between you two to foster such animosity?"

"Well it wasn't one of my proudest moments," she said thoughtfully.
She hadn't really told the story here at Dolphin Cove other than to
her Weyrmate but there was no real reason to hide it. Other than her
pride. "D'hol was something when he was younger," she half smiled. "He
won one of my flights and even though I was weyrmated we began a
rather heated affair."

"I see." Meledei didn't approve of that. Even though she'd never
been weyrmated, she had been cheated on and knew first hand what that
felt like. She refrained from commenting or even allowing her face to
show any sort of emotion in relation to that bit of news. "So what
happened? Now you guys are at each others necks."

It was a long and tortuous story and didn't paint her in a great
light. In fact she regretted her behavior but only hindsight was
perfect. "Well it boils down to the fact that he tried to force me to
choose between him and N'lon." She shook her head and closed her eyes
for a moment. "I chose the father of my children, he left before I
knew anything about... Kielya."

"Ah." If she had been asked by the goldrider, Meledei would have been
honest and stated that she shouldn't have started an affair in the
first place. Why get Weyrmated, or for holders, married, if you
weren't going to be true to the one you made a promise to? "But you
never told him about Kielya?"

"Truthfully, I didn't know who the father was until after she was
born, and by then he was gone. N'lon always treated her as his own and
he never held it against me. At least until he became Weyrleader and
then it all changed. Long story short, I came here to see if I could
help Janani never thinking that the senior position would fall into my
lap.

And it had, a change that had left a bitter taste in N'vanik's and her
mouths. Thus far, though, Cyradis had proved more stable. "Well, it
did and here you are. And you're still here." Which said a lot.

Cyradis couldn't help the chuckle. "Yes," she agreed. "I am."

Last updated on the July 29th 2015

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I'm Still Here