I Want to Fight!

Writers: Aaron, Miriah
Date Posted: 27th February 2020

Characters: Aviday, T'ner
Description: Aviday vents about her status to T'ner.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 26 of Turn 10

Aviday

Aviday sat on the boulder, feet hanging over the side and shoulders
slumped. Hugging herself, she wiped at her eyes and watched as
Kobeth fluttered through the water in a merry chase with another young
blue. Kobeth was lucky, she thought, as she watched her green turn
coy eyes to her playmate, distracting him before she sent waves of
water with a swing of her tail.

Lehystrath turned just in time to take the full brunt of the wave to the face.

}:Ow. Ow. Ow. Time out. Water in my eyes. Ow.:{ He blinked furiously
for a few moments and then dashed after Kobeth again. }:Time in!:{

T'ner shook his head at Leh and chuckled. He pulled his feet out of
the sand when he noticed Aviday's forlorn demeanor and climbed up onto
the boulder.

"It's a beautiful day. What's eatin' ya?" he asked.

Aviday glanced at T'ner and gave a little shrug, not smiling but
keeping her gaze on Kobeth. "Nuthin'." Her heels began to beat a
pattern against the boulder as she idly kicked them out and in.
"Kobeth really likes playing with Lehystrath." Her eyes followed the
pair and as Kobeth pounced on the bigger blue, only a flicker of a
smile lifted the corners of her lips.

}: Gotcha! :{ Kobeth ignored the fact that perhaps they were too grown
for pouncing games, the splashing of them was far too enjoyable. }:
No time outs! You're mine now! You'll never escape my mighty
splashes! :{

"Lehystrath is having a good time, too." T'ner smiled. It was good to
see him having fun and acting like a little dragonet again. He grew up
too fast. Just like Resser, but faster.

}:Oh, no, I've been captured!:{ said Lehystrath dramatically.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" T'ner suspected it was the
usual story – Aviday was down on herself about her womanly figure, or
lack thereof. But he considered her like a sister and wanted to be
sure she had someone to talk to if she needed it.

"So's she. I guess she's gonna have plenty of time to play. " She
kicked out, a frown on her face. "Since we're not going in the
fighting wings after we graduate. We have to stay with the new
weyrlings." She hugged herself tighter. "It's not fair, T'ner. We're
training so hard, but because I won't be sixteen when we graduate, I
have to stay back. "

}: You're it! :{ Kobeth leaped away from her companion, diving under
the water and out of sight.

}:I'll catch you this time!:{ Lehystrath promised, speeding after her.

Ah, good. T'ner was relieved that this was what was bothering Aviday
instead of the other.

"I can imagine it won't be easy to be left behind," he said. "How much
longer until you're old enough?" He could not remember when her
nameday was, if he ever knew, but he was fairly sure it would be a
full Turn and more before she was sixteen.

"I'll be fifteen in month five. So it'll be a whole turn before I can
join the wings. You guys will get to be up there really fighting
Thread and me and Kobeth will be stuck with the weyrlings. It's
just..." Her fists clenched. "It's not fair! We're ready. We've even
got to do the Blooding coming up. All we'll be doing is ferrying
firestone during Falls and watching other weyrlings get ready while
we're stuck behind! You guys get to really graduate and we've worked
just as hard!"

The top of Kobeth's head emerged from the deep end of the lake,
eyeing Lehystrath, then ducked down again. There was a ripple of
water as she swam below and the moment the blue paused, she gripped
his tail under the water and tugged.

"A Turn won't be that long," said T'ner. "Some of us might even be...
you know, some of us might not even make it that long. People die up
there." He did not like the idea of someone as young as Aviday having
to face that, so he was sympathetic to the rules.

"You're ready," he agreed. "But a Turn won't be that long."

Lehystrath squeaked in surprised and then whipped around to try to tag Kobeth.

}: You made a flit noise!:{ Kobeth's gleeful tease was unmuffled as
she ducked back under the water, but this time, she allowed herself to
be caught. Blowing bubbles as she lifted her head from the water, the
green rubbed her chin along his neck.

}:Oh, hello,:{ said Lehystrath. He was a bit surprised, but he let
himself enjoy the moment. It was always nice to get snuggles. They
distracted him enough to make him forget the indignity of being
accused of making flit noises. He moved closer to her. The water was
not the best place for snuggles, but Lehystrath never turned them
down.

"A turn seems like forever!" Aviday turned to look at T'ner. "And
don't say things like that. You'll make it. Lehystrath is fast and
he's clever. I know people die up there. People die from getting sick.
People die. But if I'm not up there, it doesn't seem very fair to
anyone else either. I could maybe save them or something. Char thread
that's coming their way. Just because I'll only be fifteen doesn't
mean I can't do it. A turn shouldn't make that much difference!"

"It will be over before you know it," said T'ner. He was much less
worried about dying himself – he was practically invincible, after
all, and Lehystrath was the fastest and cleverest – and more worried
about Aviday.

She snorted again, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe for you it
won't. You'll get to be a real rider."

"I'd trade you if I could. I would love a chance to get some good work
done in the smithy," said T'ner. "Do you have a craft you could work
on? What do the other young riders do while they wait?"

"No you wouldn't." Aviday shook her head. "Like I said, we work and
help with the newest weyrlings. We ferry firestone to riders during
Thread, but we don't fight and we don't craft. Shards, some of the
newest weyrlings might even be in the fighting wings before I am!" Her
face flushed as she threw up her hands. "it's just...not fair. I
wanted to fight, T'ner. A whole turn of not being a weyrling, but not
being a real rider. A nothing."

"You'll have a whole life of fighting," said T'ner. "Someday, there'll
be a day where you've been fighting longer than you ever lived before
you started."

T'ner almost blew his own mind. When he was, what, 40? he would have
lived at the weyr with Ayressa and Lehystrath longer than he had lived
at the hold. Resser would be older than T'ner was then. He would
probably be a rider himself by then.

}:Everything always moves forward. When that day comes, you will not
remember this one:{

Aviday sighed, looking over at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I
just hate waiting." She finally smiled a little. "But one day, just
you wait, I'll be the best greenrider in the Weyr. I promise you
that."

"I believe it," said T'ner. He smiled and offered a hand to help
Aviday down. "You want to grab something to eat? I'm starving."

Taking his hand, Aviday hopped down. "You better believe it." She
brushed off her trousers and legs and nodded, her own stomach feeling
empty. After venting to him, she felt better, if still frustrated. At
least it wasn't curdling deep inside her any more. "Yeah, I'm pretty
hungry too. You wanna sit with me when we eat?"

"Of course!" T'ner chuckled. He would hardly leave a friend to sit by
herself after inviting her to eat.

Last updated on the May 31st 2020

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I Want to Fight!