Making Requests

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 25th October 2020

Characters: K'lvin, Rasme, Irrkali
Description: K'lvin does everything he can to avoid sitting in the waiting room.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 19 of Turn 10

Rasme

K'lvin couldn't just sit in the waiting room while they waited for
Riveenata to wake up. Sitting there, with her disapproving family, would
wreak havoc on his mental state as his brain thought of all the ways
Riveenata could die. He couldn't do it. He couldn't face the possibility
of losing another person that he loved.

To distract himself, the Barrier Lake Weyrlingmaster sought out Rasme in
the Dragon Infirmary. He had heard of her by reputation only, and he had
seen her at a few Weyr Hatchings at different Weyrs across the Turns. It
wasn't hard to find the retired goldrider as she was busy barking at
some apprentices when K'lvin entered the infirmary.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Rasme swiveled, spearing the
newcomer with her solitary, striking blue eye. "Can I help you,
bronzerider?" Her eye traveled down to his Barrier Lake insignia.

"K'lvin," he said, offering his hand. "I came to ask you about
Riveenata's accident."

Rasme took the calloused hand and gave it a firm shake. "Riveenata," she
said the name a little distantly as she tried to place it. "Ah, Savith's
rider? The green we pulled from the lake."

"Yes, that's the one."

"Are you family? I can't really discuss the information with just
anyone," she pointed out.

"Um, well," K'lvin didn't really know how to explain their connection.
They weren't weyrmates, Riveenata had made that clear when she had
turned down his invitation, but they weren't _nothing_ to one another
either. Calling her his "girlfriend" sounded juvenile for a man of his
age, even though that was closer to the truth. "We're involved," he
settled for saying.

Rasme studied the bronzerider's face for a moment, and K'lvin was
surprised to see there was no judgment from the goldrider on the
difference between K'lvin and Riveenata's ages. Little did K'lvin know
that Rasme had no room to judge such things since she was involved with
a bluerier twenty turns her junior.

"Ah, 'involved'," she said knowingly. "I suppose I can tell you then.
Come, walk with me."

The woman gave the order with an air that said she was used to being
obeyed, so K'lvin obliged and followed behind her, studying the tight,
golden braid in which she wore her thick hair.

"I was in the Weyrbowl helping attend to wounded dragons and riders as
they came in from 'fall," Rasme explained as they walked. That was one
of the only positives about being retired from Threadfall, she was an
experienced extra pair of hands on the ground.

"Piketh alerted me that a green was incoming, and when I looked up,
Savith broke out of the air about there," Rasme pointed to a space in
the air just above the lake. "She came in too low, too fast, and smashed
into the water, with her rider on her neckridge." The goldrider still
remembered the way adrenaline had spiked through her body at the sight,
and the way she had raced toward the shoreline with some healers
trailing behind her as Piketh dove into the lake.

"Piketh brought them out," her voice softened a little with recollection
as she saw the way her lifemate had carried the brunt of the smaller
dragon, swimming the pair out of the water and onto the shore.

Rasme turned to K'lvin. "Your greenrider was unconscious. We worked on
her first. We ripped her down from Savith's neckridge, cleared her
airway, made sure she was breathing. Her shoulder and chest were...."
Rasme shook her head, the gaze in her blue eye softening as she looked
at K'lvin. "They were bad, bronzerider. Very. And being in the water
made the possibility of infection much worse. The healers rushed her to
the infirmary then, so I am not sure what become of her afterwards. I
remained behind with Savith, to check her for injury, while Piketh held
her here."

K'lvin swallowed past the lump in his throat that had developed as he
imagined the story that Rasme was telling. For the first time he truly
regretted following K'ran to Barrier Lake. If he had been here....

}:Nothing would be different.:{ Xmrenth told him firmly.

That was true, but at least if he still lived at Dolphin Cove, if he was
still just some retired bronzerider, he could spend his time at her
bedside, waiting for her to wake. As it was, he had duties and
responsibilities back at Barrier Lake that could not be ignored,
especially with Riyanth being so egg heavy.

"Thank you, Lady Rasme, for telling me."

Rasme waved off the title. "What are the healers saying about her?"

"She's had surgery. It's touch and go. She hasn't woken yet. That's what
we're waiting on." K'lvin said, turning to look back at the Weyr. He
couldn't stay, he had to go back to Barrier Lake, but his heart was
lying inside Dolphin Cove's infirmary.

"I wish you luck." Rasme said sincerely.

"Thank you, truly." K'lvin said as he left the goldrider. He had one
more person he needed to see before he left Dolphin Cove - the other
grenerider in his life.

--

"Irrkali?" he called, stepping into the woman's weyr.

"K'lvin! How good to see you," she called, stepping out from behind the
partition that separated the sleeping area from the living area. Her
hair was flowing down around her shoulders, wet, and she was clad in a
loose skirt and a simple, almost threadbare, top. Clearly having just
come out of the bathing areas. "What brings you here?"

"It's Riveenata," he said without preamble. "She was injured in 'fall
today. She's unconscious in the infirmary right now. Things... things
aren't good." The bronzerider rushed on before Irrkali could speak,
afraid that if she offered any words of comfort at this moment that his
mask might slip. "I can't stay until she wakes up, I have to be back at
Barrier Lake.... I was hoping I might count on you to keep updated on
how she is and let me know."

"Oh, K'lvin," she said. "Of course I will. Jeath can listen to Savith as
though she's a weyrling and will reach out to Xmrenth whenever she
needs to."

"Thanks I - " he broke off, unable to keep from asking the one thing
that had been plaguing his mind. "Have you seen C'rin with Riveenata a
lot?"

"I don't keep track of where everyone in the Weyr goes, but I have kept
track of your greenrider sometimes. I know the former River Bluff riders
stick together and that sometimes they are together on picnics and other
outings with a group. If they stay together after that..."

Her eyes half-closed as she communed with Jeath, and she grimaced
slightly, wondering whether to tell him. Honesty won out, and she added,
"He won her flight not a sevenday ago."

K'lvin wasn't normally affected by the outcome of flights, they were
flights after all, but the news of C'rin winning Riveenata's was like a
punch to the gut. Another thing that could have been prevented if he
lived at Dolphin Cove. Perhaps her friendship, he called it that because
he could not stomach the thought of her in a relationship with someone
else, was one of the factors that had made her reject his invitation to
weyrmate. While he had been living at Barrier Lake, trying to find
purpose in his life once again, had Riveenata been falling in love with
someone else at Dolphin Cove?

"Thank you, for telling me, Irrkali. I..." he trailed off, shoving his
fingers through his hair. "I have to get back to Barrier Lake."

"It's only just dusk here, it can't be so late there," she said. "Are
you sure you don't want to sit and breathe for a few minutes first?"

"No." K'lvin shook his head. "I would feel better being back at Barrier
Lake, where I can work. Riveenata's family and C'rin are in the waiting
room, I am sure they'd prefer I wasn't here."

"How did you find out?"

"Thereenata came and told me but..." the bronzerider shook his head. "I
don't know that it means anything, other than courtesy. The last time I
was here I asked Riveenata to be my weyrmate and she said no. I think
maybe the right dragonrider is down there with her family."

"Maybe she wants you there, because she knows her daughter's heart.
Riveenata's a younger woman, she may not know her own desires yet.
Weyrmating, moving, they're big choices. And now that she's injured,
she'll have to reconsider everything she had been considering before,"
Irrkali pointed out.

"Perhaps," he agreed. "Just let me know when she wakes, will you?"

"Of course," she said. "Whatever I know, I'll tell you."

"Thank you," he pressed a kiss to her cheek before turning and walking
to her weyrledge, where Xmrenth waited to carry him back to Barrier
Lake.

Last updated on the October 27th 2020

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Making Requests