Melancholy Melodies

Writers: Halyonix, Len
Date Posted: 11th September 2024

Characters: J'nne, I'serin
Description: Two former River Buff bronzes share a glass of wine and conversation
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 19 of Turn 11

I'serin

Notes:
Mentioned: Rhoslyn, L'val
~~~~~~

I'serin did not normally spend his evenings with someone a decade his junior. But two things caused him to gravitate once again towards J'nne, who was idling playing some stringed instrument off alone in the Dining Hall. The first was that J'nne rode bronze. I'serin remembered what it was like to be chosen as one of the select metallic few, to be young and suddenly thrust into a great many expectations because of that dragon.

And secondly, the ruins of River Bluff Weyr lay between them. I'serin's survivor guilt would always bring him back into the orbits of those who had fled that tragedy, creating a bond of trauma between them all as they sought new homes. Even Turns later.

He approached the table, wine bottle and two glasses in hand, smiling softly out of the left side of his mouth in quiet greeting, waiting for J'nne to look up so that he could offer company.

It was late, but J’nne was still quietly playing the violin, trying to remember the childhood tune his mother used to sing to him. How did the refrain go again? He was about to launch into what he thought it was when he felt a presence close to him. Looking up from the strings of his instrument he saw I’serin and what he had put on the table.

Playing a quick little ‘and that’s all folks’ type of refrain, he smiled and put the violin down. “Hello I’serin. How is Aluneth flying?” He nodded at the choice of wine, his grin saying he approved.

"As fine as ever," I'serin said as he slid into the opposite seat and uncorked the wine. "And Tribeth?" he asked as he poured.

“Oh, he’s good,” J’nne placed his violin in its case and took the offered glass of wine. “I still can’t quite believe that he didn’t mean to chose someone else,” he joked. “There were plenty of good young men at that Hatching.”

I'serin's soft smile was knowing. "They always choose who is meant to be chosen, though it is always hard to see why." He swirled his glass, sniffed, then sipped. "He's not still growing, is he?" he inquired.

J’nne took a sip and mulled the question over. “He is, thinking about it. I think he’s as tall as he’s going to be, but he’s still filling in that frame and losing the baby fat.” Tribeth had had a lot of baby fat to lose, having been by far the chubbiest dragon in his hatching. “He’s not going to be the biggest bronze Pern has ever seen, to be honest. He’s never going to challenge Aluneth in size,” he teased.

"There are plenty of others to do so," I'serin said with a light chuckle. Aluneth had enough ambitions for the both of them and I'serin would not encourage them any more than he already did. He took a sip of wine, then nodded his chin towards the violin. "What were you working on just now?" he asked.

“My mother used to sing a little song to put me to bed with. I was trying to remember exactly how it went.” He gave I’serin a rather sad smile. “I guess I’m just feeling a little melancholy tonight.”

"My mother had the same she would do for me," I'serin admitted. Though not nearly as trained as J'nne, the older bronzerider could still hold a tune. He sang a few, quiet lines of a calming song about good dreams but stopped before it could draw attention to them. He did not want to be asked to perform the whole song in front of others. "Any particular reason for your melancholy?" he asked when he was done.

J’nne recognised the song. “That’s an old River’s Buff tune, really old.” He gave the other bronzerider a sad smile. “Maybe that’s the reason for my melancholy, River’s Buff. It’s only a few days until that anniversary.” I’serin was also a River’s Buff survivor, J’nne didn't need to spell out the pain that all of them carried around this time of the turn. “I guess I was just thinking about simpler times, happy times.” He looked away and blinked back any sadness. “I don’t have that same ability to forget things like Jaylene and J’zen.”

"Or our dragons," I'serin commiserated. What he wouldn't give sometimes for a dragon's ability to forget. It would certainly help on nights when the nightmares about River Bluff shook him awake. He let out a slow, resigned sigh. "There are things that will always be sad events. Moments that will never lose that category. But they need not blindside us in our day-to-day. At least...that is what the mindhealers have told me.”

“I think I’ve been to the same mindhealers, or they all just say the same things.” J’nne snorted, thinking about some of the things they had said. “But they do help. And times heals all.” Another thought came to the younger bronzerider, making him start to smile a bit. “At least here there’s no Rhoslyn.” The older Weyrwoman had tried several times to make the moves on J’nne. Having also been on the receiving end of a few of those attempts, I'serin raised his glass.

"At least there is that," he agreed as he took a sip. "The Weyrwomen do a fine job running things here." After the catastrophe of River Bluff, coming to somewhere stable was a blessing, a respite. Perhaps one day it would feel like home. "Do you miss it? River Bluff?" I'serin asked as he put down his glass.

“I do.” In a flash, J’nne thought about his life there, about Uetia and him before she had chosen someone else. “I do, things were simpler back then, but then, I didn’t have Tribeth there.” No, his bronze was Dragonsfall born. “They offered Jaylene the wingthird role for L’val’s wing just after the disaster so we all left for the constant cold and blizzards.” J’nne said the last bit with a joking smile, though as long as he lived here, he’d never get used to the cold. “What about you, do you miss it?”

"Some parts of it, yes," he admitted readily. But which parts were hard to articulate nowadays. He missed the familiar of it but even as he thought that, Dragonsfall itself was beginning to feel familiar. At River Bluff, he had always been his Wingleader father's son, not a bronzerider in his own right. Here...well, he was still a bronzerider but there was less of a shadow. "But things are always simpler 'back then', before adulthood finds us, I feel. The silver lining can definitely be said about you finding Tribeth here."

“It’s funny, I spent so many turns resisting Rhoslyn trying to force me to Stand, and then once she’d left snd I’d lost my home, only then did I Stand…and there was my lifemate.” J’nne smiled tenderly, remembering those first few moments when his life changed. He laughed and gave I’serin a conspiratorial look. “She’d kill me if she ever found out.”

I'serin's mouth quirked in a wry smile. "It is always interesting to see how such unexpected things pan out." He took another sip. "How are your sister and brother doing?" he asked.

“Crazy as always. J’zen is always convinced his newest conquest is ‘the one’ and Jaylene is always up to her eyeballs in paperwork. I don’t think she knows she does it, but she’s always somehow super busy this time of the turn. It somehow always happens that there’s a few new wingmates that need some extra training, or a candidate needs help finding his lifemate in another Weyr or a litter of felines needs to be fostered. You get the picture.” J’nne swirled his wine glass and watched the way the wine moved and left legs in the glass, showing its quality. “How are your family?”

The mention of Jaylene brought an appreciative smile to I'serin's face. "She works hard for her rank," he praised quietly. Another sip. "She deserves it." His smile shifted at the mention of felines. He really should get one but he didn't think Aluneth would appreciate sharing a weyr with one.

But the mention of his own family soured that feeling. Because he did not want to talk about his charismatic and beloved overbearing father, I'serin focused instead on his brother and his mother. "A'soren is considering a transfer to another Weyr so that he can pursue his dreams of being a Wingsecond. My mother continues to love her Healercraft here and constantly regales me with stories about her patients. Some of them get into the most interesting medical predicaments."

“I bet they keep her busy here, we seem to get a lot more injuries due to the weather and the cold.” Things seemed safer back at River’s Buff or perhaps that was him just not paying as much attention as he didn’t have a dragon. It was getting late and he sniffled a yawn and looked into his empty glass.

"That we do," I'serin agreed. He noted J'nne's yawn. His mouth quirked in a knowing smile. "It indeed grows late in the hours," he said, rising. "And practice comes early in the morning. Thank you again for the company, J'nne. I hope we can converse again soon."

Last updated on the September 21st 2024

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Melancholy Melodies