Libations and Congratulations (2/2)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Corrin, Shawna
Date Posted: 11th March 2025
Characters: Zariah, T'gyrlan
Description: Zariah and T'gyrlan discuss their ambitions?
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 1, day 9 of Turn 12
Later, she sprawled across the head of his bed, absent-mindedly running her fingers through his hair. “What’s your next goal? Well, I suppose Wingleader, but after that? Do you think Hanassath is up for catching a gold?”
T’gyrlan, still catching his breath, tilted his head into her touch, letting his eyes slip shut for a moment as her fingers traced slow, lazy circles against his scalp. It was an easy, familiar thing-- a wordless intimacy that he savored.
At her question his expression sharpened out of the haze of pleasure and his gaze flickered towards the weyr ledge, as though he could see the dragon in question through several feet of stone. “We’ve had a lot to overcome, but Hanassath has gotten stronger by the day. The healers are amazed at his progress… He’s strong. He’s determined, we both are. I know he could do it, if things continue this way.”
He was holding Zariah tightly now, as though catching the gold himself. When he finally noticed he loosened his grasp, brushing a kiss to her forehead in apology as he continued to speak no less intensely, “Honestly, I’d be happy to be a wingleader again, to get my knots back and really show this place what we can do. I’d like to make up for… for the accident and those grounded Turns.”
Zariah’s first instinct was to tense, but she resisted, and a moment later the squeeze loosened. “I don’t think anyone is holding what happened against you,” or at least not anyone who really mattered. “Try not to burn yourself out trying to make up for something that wasn’t your fault, alright?” Pushing herself up on one elbow, she touched his face, “No one needs that, and no one can be at their best all the time.”
T’gyrlan turned into her touch, his jaw tightening for a moment before he exhaled and forced himself to let go of the tension coiled in his chest. She wasn’t wrong. He _knew_ she wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean he could just set everything aside.
“I hear you,” he murmured, lifting a hand to catch hers against his cheek, pressing a kiss to her palm. “But it’s hard. I never want to go back to the boy I was in the Interval. A frivolous nothing. I _like_ to push. I always want to be better…”
He shifted, rolling onto his side to face her more fully. “But I’ll try not to drive myself into the ground, or beat myself up _too_ much. For Hanassath. And you.”
“I think you bronzeriders have the tougher lot in life,” Zariah said, “so many expectations.” Her smile went a little sad, “Do you ever just get to be content?”
“It’s so much easier as a greenrider; no one really expects much. Shards, my weyrlingmaster barely cared if we could properly read,” she chuckled.
His lips quirked into a faint smirk as he followed her to a lighter mood. “Says the greenrider who became the world’s first ‘book dragon,’” he teased. “Don’t tell me you’re content with the ordinary. That you don’t strive.”
“But it’s a good thing I’m no greenrider,” he continued. “I rather like how we met.”
She laughed, “I don’t do the book deliveries because I’m looking to be unique. I do it to afford books.” Flopping back onto the bed, Zariah stared at the ceiling, “The books never get messy, so I don’t have to give Relsath an extra bath like I do after some cargo work, and a book has never once groped me. They’re the most polite and clean transport work I’ve ever found.”
He looked amused, but also like he didn’t entirely believe her.
Turning on her side, she looked at him, “I’m not going to complain about how we met, but a girl does like to be wooed from time to time.” This was, presumably, not that time, though, because she pulled him down for a kiss. “Almost as much as they like being caught.”
It was a long kiss.
“I’ll move things around. We’re due another meadow excursion.”
Last updated on the March 27th 2025