The Making Up

Writers: AmajoS, Estelle
Date Posted: 24th March 2019

Characters: Benna, L'keri
Description: After their argument, L'keri and Benna have some more talking to do.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 2 of Turn 9
Notes: Directly follows 'The Argument'

L'keri

Benna paced back and forth in her weyr, working off the anger still
coursing through her. She cursed under her breath as she did so,
"Stupid, childish, sharding, shell-cracked..." She was mad.

}:Why are you so angry?:{ Henerath asked, concern coloring both her
tone and her eyes as she watched her rider. It wasn't the first time
Benna had been this angry of course, she did have a temper, but that
didn't mean the dragon liked it when her rider was this upset.

"Because L'keri is an idiot," she snapped.

}:What did he do?:{ The green asked. Asking her rider questions was
one of the quickest ways to cool down her temper. It forced the girl
to think though the issue for one thing, and for another it gave her
time. Benna never held her anger for very long after the initial
blow-up.

"He was acting like a child who couldn't do what he wanted," Benna
groused. She stopped pacing and stood with her arms folded. "Acting
like it was the end of the world because he had to eat different food
than he was used to. Like people are out to get him and just want to
make him miserable for the fun of it."

}:Why can't he eat what he wants?:{

"The weyrhealer put him on a diet. Said he was eating and drinking too
much, that he was out of shape and had gained too much weight." Her
tone was nearly normal now and she was merely frowning.

}:He got mad about it?:{

"Yes!" She threw her arms up in exasperation.

}:Why?:{

"Because he's a child?" But then she sighed and walked over to her
dragon's couch and sat next to the green, leaning back into her warm
side. "I don't know. It doesn't make much sense to me." She didn't
understand why L'keri was so dead-set against following the
weyrhealer's orders. Why he seemed to be taking the whole thing so
personally.

}:Did you ask him why?:{ The green asked, nuzzling her rider gently on
the arm.

Benna reached up and scratched along Henerath's eye ridges, "Well,
sort of." But had she? Really? She'd laughed at him and teased him and
then got mad when he'd reacted. But had she actually, seriously asked?
No. She hadn't. Nor had she discussed it with him, she'd only thrown
accusations. "Ugh, Henny, I'm terrible."

}:No you aren't,:{ Henerath protested, puffing a warm breath at Benna's
face.

"Will you find out from Rhalith if L'keri is in his weyr or still in
the Dining Cavern?"

**

L'keri was in his weyr. He had stormed in, a bottle of wine swinging
from one hand, slammed it down on a low table and slumped on the couch
next to it, contemplating his next move.

**Stupid. Stupid. Idiot! The boy was right. Every time things start to
get better, I ruin it. I'm no good. I might as well...** He reached for
the bottle.

Across the weyr, Rhalith raised his head, his eyes glowing yellow-white
with alarm in the dark. He heard Benna's parting words echoing in his
rider's mind, over and over.

}:You would not do that?:{ he asked. }:You would not go away and leave me?:{

Something in his dragon's voice cut to the brownrider's heart. Leaving
the bottle behind, he went over to Rhalith and reached up to him,
caressing behind the eye-ridges. **Oh, no. Never! I won't leave you, I
promise. I'm just - I'm not good with...** He should have learned from
the past, never given anyone the right to care about how he lived, stuck
to strictly one-night affairs. He should go back to the dining cavern
now and find someone. But he didn't move. Just now, the thought was too
depressing.

Rhalith curled his neck around his rider, nudging him to sit on the
couch beside him. His wordless love filled L'keri, and he leaned against
the soft hide, feeling the gentle rise and fall of the dragon's
breathing in time with his own.

It was after they'd been sitting together in the dark for a while that
Henerath's question came. Rhalith blinked slowly, and answered. }:We are
here, in our weyr.:{

She didn't bother with the straps for the short flight to his weyr.
She supposed she could have gone around the long way on foot, but
honestly she wanted to go quickly. Before she lost her nerve. And
having her dragon there would, hopefully, lend her some extra courage.
She was now more angry with herself than she had been with L'keri and
embarrassed to face him. She shouldn't have lost her temper and she
most definitely shouldn't have said some of the things she did. Some
of them, maybe, yes. But not the -way- she had those either.
All-in-all, she'd made a mess of things. She only hoped not so bad of
one that it couldn't be fixed.

When they landed on the ledge, Benna slipped off Henerath with the
ease of turns of practice and, after a moment of hesitation, cleared
her throat. "L'keri?"

He had heard the dragon landing, and wondered if Rhalith had called for
one of his wingmates. What he hadn't expected was her voice. Suddenly,
he didn't know how to react. Had she come to tell him she didn't want to
see him any more?

He stood and rested his hand lightly on Rhalith for a moment, then went
out onto the ledge. "I'm here."

She twisted her fingers together and kept her eyes on the ground for a
moment, gathering her courage. When he stepped out, she looked up and
saw him. He looked, well, she didn't know. She'd never seen him
looking like that and she hated it. Was he looking like that because
of her? She felt even more wretched and took a step forward. She
opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry."

L'keri hadn't known what he was going to say to undo the damage he'd
done when he walked out into the cold night air. When he saw her looking
so unhappy, though, and knew that it was his fault, there was only one
thing he could say. What he hadn't expected was to hear her saying the
exact same words at the same time.

"But - it was me who..." He realised they were speaking over each other
again and hesitated. "I was..."

Eventually Rhalith intervened, speaking to Henerath. }:My rider is
sorry. He says he hurt yours, and he wishes he could take it back.:{

Henerath replied to Rhalith, }:Mine is sorry as well. She thinks she
hurt yours too.:{ She then passed the message along to her rider, with a
touch of exasperation.

Benna raised her hand, in a 'wait a minute' gesture and then said, "Why
are you sorry, L'keri? I'm the one who was awful to you."

"But you weren't," he replied, confused. "I was being an idiot. It's
true, I don't take care of my health like I should. I just..." He
stopped, struggling to admit even to himself why he spent night after
late, drink-fuelled night trying to prove he was the same cocksure and
charming man he'd once been. "Well, it's not fair on Rhalith, and you
were right to tell me so."

"But I wasn't right in the way I said it, that was horrible. And I
wasn't right in the way I made fun either. Or in the way I didn't even
ask why it bothered you so much. Forgive me?" She stepped forward and
reached her hand out toward him.

He took her hand and stepped in closer, drawing her to him, hardly
daring to believe that he might have another chance. "Of course. There's
nothing to forgive. I deserved it. But - can you forgive me?"

"Of course," she echoed. She stepped closer as well, allowing him to
pull her in, and hugged him with her free arm. She was glad they had
made up. She'd grown more attached to the brownrider than she'd
realized. He'd started out as just a fun friend to spend time with
but, he'd quickly become more. How much more, she wasn't sure yet. The
lines weren't so well defined in a Weyr as they had been in her
childhood. She didn't want to make the mistakes of her early turns in
the Weyr and begin demanding more than he was willing to give. But...
She decided to shelf that line of thought for now.

"You don't have to answer," she said after a moment, "but why does the
idea of being on a diet bother you so much? Is it just that you don't
like not being able to eat what you want?" She wanted to get to the
bottom of the issue in a way she hadn't before when she'd just teased
him about it. She looked him the eye, hoping he saw that she was being
sincere.

"That's part of it. I do like to eat well," L'keri admitted. Now that he
realised he hadn't completely ruined things with Benna, his spirits
lifted and he realised he was still rather hungry. He'd even have eaten
the salad if he'd still had it. But it was more than that, and he
struggled to define it. "I suppose...it's who I am. Big appetites, loud
parties, crazy drunken stunts. It's _me_ and I don't like people trying
to turn me into someone I'm not."

Benna nodded thoughtfully. She could see that, she supposed. Though it
seemed an odd thing to wrap up a sense of self in. He was a grown man,
older than her even, trying to cling to behavior even her younger
brothers had outgrown. She couldn't say that though or they'd just
fight again. Plus, she actually liked the slightly childish, playful
side of him. She didn't want him to change, not completely. How to put
it so that he saw that it was ok to let go of the more destructive
habits though? That he didn't have to -change- to grow. She didn't
know.

"Well," she said after a moment, "the Weyrhealer just wants you to get
in shape right? So, if you do that, you'll probably be let off the
diet, don't you think? We could work on it together. A little extra
exercise along with your diet, ought to speed things along, don't you
think?"

"You would exercise with me?" L'keri thought about that, and a slow
smile began to spread over his face. Like Benna, he rarely stayed angry
for long and his roguish nature was starting to reassert itself. "What
kind of exercise?" He had a few ideas...

"Oh, we could get up early in the morning for extra running for
example," Benna knew exactly where his mind had gone and couldn't help
but tease. She was quite pleased, both that he was receptive to the idea
enough to joke and just with where his mind had gone.

"I could give that a try." His hand slid lower down her back as he
murmured in her ear. "And afterwards, we could go back to my weyr, for a
long soak in that private bathing room of mine..."

"Mmmm," she responded to the feel of his breath tickling along her ear
the way she always did. "You know," she said after a moment, in a
whispered tone, "we've had our first real fight. We need to make-up
properly after that." She reached out, wrapping her arms around his
neck and pulling him in for a kiss.

He returned the kiss with all the passion and desire and relief that
he hadn't broken another relationship beyond repair, after all. It had
taken the realisation that he'd hurt her and the prospect of losing
what they'd shared to realise that there was more to it than the easy
friendship of casual lovers. How much more, he wasn't sure yet. She
was young, and she surely deserved better than a man like him.

But she was here with him, and that was all that mattered for now.
Their lips parted for a moment and he smiled. "I agree. And I think we
need to start that 'exercise' program right away..."

Benna laughed softly as she retook his hand, leading him toward his bed.

Last updated on the April 4th 2019

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The Making Up