It's An Important Day

Writers: Aaron, Heather
Date Posted: 16th January 2020

Characters: T'ner, Ayressa
Description: T'ner finds Ayressa to celebrate his promotion to Senior Weyrling
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 2 of Turn 10

It felt as though this day would never come. And once it finally had, it felt as though the work day would never end. But sure as the world kept turning, the hour finally came, and T'ner set foot into the quarters he shared with Ayressa and Resser on a full time basis only before he had Impressed. They felt a little more like home now. He would be a little sad to leave them. Their first home away from home. But Lehystrath could not fit inside.

"I'm home," said T'ner as he closed the door. Oh, it would be another difficult wait until Resser's bedtime, but he was happy to see his son, too.

"In here," Ayressa called, head bent over a piece of cloth, nimble fingers bent to the task of practicing the stitches that had been assigned to her. She needed to have at least ten rows of these perfect little stitches done and turned into her journeyman by the next morning.

As T'ner walked into the next room, he remembered that Resser had been in the creche since Ayressa started working. The memory was a funny thing, but until he walked through the door, he had been expecting the boy to be there. He was all at once excited not to have to wait until he was asleep and anxious to go pick him up to bring him home to see him.

T'ner smiled warmly and took a seat to watch. He waited, not wanting to interrupt the work. It was often difficult to get started again with work when one was interrupted.

"What's up?" she asked, head still bent over her work.

T'ner chuckled to himself and wondered for a moment whether Ayressa would appreciate the bawdy answer while she was working. If he put her in a sour mood, it was bound to ruin his most imminent plans.

"Do you remember what today is?" he asked instead, smiling from ear to ear.

Ayressa glanced up at her weyrmate, slightly puzzled, but clearly getting the feeling that he had some sort of expectations. "Um... No?"

"Oh." Perhaps Ayressa had not missed that aspect of their relationship as much as T'ner had. His smile faded, but not completely. "Sorry. I just thought... Anyway, we've been promoted to senior. My class. So I can stay the night. And so can you. With me."

If she had not been thinking about this, then who knew how she was going to feel about moving in with him. Maybe she preferred to have quarters she could reach more easily. There was no reason they could not go on having two places to sleep together. He supposed.

"Oh!" Ayressa smiled, a quick flash of teeth. "Is it that time? I've just been so busy, between Resser and the craft."

"No, of course. I completely understand." T'ner did not understand. He surely must have been at least as busy as she had with Leh and training. And tonight had been all he could think of for how long? But he forced himself to keep smiling. The craft was very important to Ayressa, and he was going to respect that. He had promised he would.

"I've missed you," he said with a hopeful tone.

"I've missed you too," she said, setting her needlework aside. It wasn't that she had not missed him but while he had been gone learning to be a dragonrider, she had been busy learning to be... a free woman. A woman who could focus on her craft and what she wanted, rather than just a husband and a child. It wasn't that she didn't love T'ner still, she did, but she had come to have her own daily routines.

T'ner's smile returned a bit more in truth. It was nice to hear that, even if it might have just been to appease him...

"Is there anything I can help with while you finish up your work?" he asked. "Dinner? Picking up Resser?"

"Tonight's Resser's night with his foster mother," she replied with a shake of her head. "Dinner would be nice, I can finish this later," Ayressa set her needlework aside, knowing that she would have to wake up extra early in the morning to finish it.

"Right. Right." It still seemed odd to T'ner that there would be nights Resser did not come home. But then, he would have his routines now, too. T'ner would see him soon enough. He stood and said, "Would you like me to bring something back from the dining hall? Or do we have enough here for me to whip something up?"

"Why don't we go to your weyr?" she suggested. "I would like to see it."

T'ner perked up with considerable excitement. "I'd love to show you! I picked one as close to the ground as I could." He probably reminded her of that nearly as often as the subject of his weyr came up. "I want you to feel as at home there as here. Do you want to climb up or fly up?" he asked.

Ayressa's eyes lit up. "I want to fly, of course!"

T'ner beamed back at her and then offered his hand to her.

"Then we'll fly!" he said.

**Meet us here,** T'ner said to Lehystrath, showing him an image of the bowl exit closest to their quarters.

}:I like her. You should have thought of bringing her to me instead of leaving me alone in our weyr.:{

**I really should have.**

Ayressa put her hand into T'ner's, a smile of anticipation on her face as they made their way out to the bowl where Lehystrath was winging down to them. She was amazed, again, at his size and power, and that this beautiful creature was bound to her weyrmate. "Good afternoon, Lehystrath."

The blue bowed to Ayressa, his eyes whirling blue and green.

"He says it's a better one now," said T'ner, grinning from ear to ear. "I'll climb up and then pull you up after, alright?"

Lehystrath laid down onto the ground to make himself as low as he could. Once Ayressa had made it up, T'ner put his arms snugly around her.

"We won't be going far or very high. Nothing to worry about. Ready?"

Lehystrath stood, getting his feet back beneath himself.

Ayressa settled back against T'ner, trusting him and Lehystrath to deliver her safely to T'ner's weyr. It was still weird to think that she might soon be living with a dragonrider. If someone had told her that when she was a little girl she would have thought it impossible.

Lehystrath lifted into the air and in a few moments, resettled onto their ledge. He lowered himself again to allow them to get down, but not quite all the way onto his belly as before. T'ner carefully slid down and then offered a hand up to help Ayressa down.

She slid down Lehystrath's side, looping her arms around T'ner's neck as she did. "You're so lucky, you get to fly any time you want. That must be amazing."

"I'm lucky for a lot of reasons," T'ner answered, gazing into Ayressa's eyes. "Not the least amazing of which is in my arms right now." He leaned in to kiss her.

Ayressa ardently returned T'ner's kiss, knowing now that she finally could.

T'ner sighed happily, running a hand through Ayressa's hair. Perhaps he was being a bit dramatic earlier to have been so worried.

}:Perhaps? Take her inside so I can get to my couch without knocking you over.:{

"Can I show you inside?" T'ner asked breathlessly once he finally broke the kiss long enough to speak.

"You'd better," she said against his lips.

T'ner chuckled mischievously as he tugged Ayressa inside and toward the bedroom at the back. He gave an abbreviated, quick tour as he passed –

"And that's Leh's couch." Lehystrath laid down on it as soon as they made it beyond. T'ner continued the kiss.

"This is my cupboard..." Kiss.

"And this is the bed." He grinned from ear to ear and sat down, pulling Ayressa along with him as he did.

}:And you were worried you wouldn't be enjoying each other's company tonight.:{

**Only for a moment.**

Last updated on the January 18th 2020

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

It's An Important Day