Cultural Differences

Writers: Corrin, Devin
Date Posted: 24th March 2025

Characters: K'mai, Sybana
Description: K'mai and Sybana continue their conversation
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 20 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Corofel, I'serin, Tsaera
Follows "Curiosity"

K'mai

Sybana

Galgaith was happily occupied near the waterfall, playing on the
pebbled shore and interrogating Sebeth about where the water went. She
would inevitably tire soon, as dragonets did, but for now Sybana found
herself free to indulge in a rare moment of conversation that wasn’t
accompanied by a lesson or feeding or the pull of the little gold’s
needs.

She was still a bit unsure what to make of K’mai, with his flashing
grin and blunt questions, but they had made a deal, and she meant to
honor it.

“Well, my family did come to the Hatching. They wouldn’t have missed
it, not for the world. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brothers so
pleased. They’ve always had high hopes for me… I was glad I could live
up to them.” She smiled at the memory, a real smile, one that
momentarily warmed her elegant facade into something quite young and
sweet.

"I'm glad they're happy for you." K'mai couldn't help wondering if
they would have been so pleased if she'd Impressed a green instead.
But she looked so happy he quickly shoved that thought away.

"My turn now," said Sybana, lifting her chin as she cast an appraising
gaze over the dragonrider. Remembering what she had found to be an
earlier impertinence, she turned the question back at him with a
slight tease in her tone: "Do you get along with your family, K'mai?"
But she got two questions for his one. "And is it true that weyrfolk
don't marry at all? That seems so... messy."

"Yes, I do get along with my family." They were scattered now, after
the River Bluff disaster. "And yes, we don't marry. We weyrmate, which
is a whole lot easier. If you feel like getting serious with someone,
you can just move in. And then if you find out you aren't compatible,
or change your mind, you just move out."

It sounded so simple when he said it, but Sybana couldn’t quite
imagine a life without the structure of marriage--without the joint
expectations, the security, the duty. Just moving in with someone and
then... moving out? Yes, that sounded messy indeed.

K'mai considered what to ask her next. "What were you going to do, if
you hadn't been Searched?"

"I nearly wasn't," she laughed, bright and brittle. The circumstances
of her arrival at the weyr was still a sore subject, even though the
gamble had paid off. Her pride had never been so stung. "Standing was
not my first choice, not even for a gold egg. I was always meant to
marry, to run a hold. I wanted to-- and I nearly did. Things were
being arranged with a great lord. There was an Understanding. We dined
together at the high table on Turns End in front of all his hold, and
you'd think that would have been that, but he was found later that
very night kissing another woman."

Dimly she wondered if the Printer Hall's scandal sheet made it as far
as the weyr. If it did, the lord in question would hardly be a
mystery. Not that it mattered. Sybana laughed again, forced and
fragile with hurt, her tone cuttingly wry, "I suppose He would have
approved of the weyr's version of commitment. He certainly moved on as
soon as it suited him."

A lord kissing a woman that he wasn't married to sounded _very_
familiar . . . ah, wasn't that Emerald Falls? But Sybana probably
didn't want to hear that the gossip had traveled all the way to
Dragonsfall. "I'm very sorry that happened to you. If he wanted to
kiss someone else he should've told you he didn't want to be
exclusive."

"I-- It's--" Sybana blinked, mental gears clashing over K'mai's
weyr-ish take on the matter. "In the Holds, men like him should at
least _pretend_ to be exclusive. That's the entire point. It's about
decency and duty and restraint! If he was having second thoughts, he
should have gone through the proper channels and with discretion. He
should have had the basic civility to _wait_ instead of causing a
public scandal and disrespecting me and my family and everything we
stood to build together!"

She had gotten heated enough that Galgaith looked over, cocking her
head inquiringly, and Sybana broke off abruptly to reassure her and
send her back to her play. When her gaze refocused on K'mai, the
previous heat was gone. She just looked a bit sad and vulnerable.
"Enough of that. Tell me something about yourself. Something personal
too." Tit for tat.

Sebeth crooned at the little gold and then splashed in the waterfall,
trying to amuse her.

K'mai frowned. He hadn't intended to upset her, but he supposed he
owed her something painful from his own past. "I was weyrmated once.
It was an awful mistake and it ruined our friendship."

Galgaith was placated, as was Sybana.

“I'm sorry to hear that," she said gently. "And a little surprised.
Honestly, you talked about how much easier weyrmating was, so I
assumed you never have trouble in that respect. That you'd never
really been... entangled."

She glanced him over again, reassessing some things. "What happened?"

"The main problem was we didn't communicate as well as we should have.
We were young and we made assumptions about what weyrmating meant
instead of being clear with each other." It had been many Turns ago,
but he still felt the sting of guilt. "I suppose I was a little like
your lord. I kept sleeping with other people. But it's different here,
and since we didn't make any promises to be exclusive outside flights,
I thought it would be fine."

Sybana listened quietly, not quite understanding, but not yet
condemning. She knew the weyrs were different -- though she was still
learning exactly how -- and he _had_ been a good sport to share this
with her. He seemed sorry too, which counted for something.

“Why did you weyrmate at all, if you had no intention of being
exclusive?” she asked curiously. “Is that the norm at the weyr? What
did you want from it?"

"I just . . ." He sighed. "I cared for her a lot and we were spending
so much time together, I thought living together would be nice. Fun."
And it had been, for a little while. "Weyrmating means what you want
it to mean, which is why communication is so important."

"Fun," Sybana echoed in disbelief and disapproval. "How different the
weyr is. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone marrying for _fun_."
That seemed so thoughtless and frivolous to her. No wonder it didn't
last.

"Well, what were you going to marry for? Did you love him?"

"Of course not, we'd only known each other for a couple of months,”
she explained with exemplary patience.

“But we got along well enough and love would have come in due course.
That's usually how it works.” Sybana spoke with the confidence of one
who thought she had it all figured out. “In the holds, there's a great
deal to think about besides Love and Fun. Those are nice of course,
but there are alliances and inheritances and a duty to one's family
and dependents. It would be the height of selfishness if I just
married for love.”

"I don't understand how holders can get married when they don't even
_like_ each other. That sounds awful," K'mai said. "Duty and alliances
. . . that seems like getting married to make _other_ people happy.
Why do that to yourself?"

"Because that’s what life _is_," she stressed. "No one lives in a
bubble, K’mai. Everything we do affects someone else. Especially when
you’re born into a bloodline of any note. A marriage isn’t just two
people deciding to share a life, or their quarters, or whatever it is
in the weyr. It’s land and trade agreements and the stability of every
man, woman and child that looks to that hold. It’s not a burden. It’s
an _honor_.”

“It’s also not as cold as you make it sound.” And indeed, she spoke of
the whole thing with a certain impassioned reverence. “A good match is
well chosen, based on compatibility and shared goals. Affection grows,
respect is earned, and love comes. That’s how it was for my father and
my brother when they wed. That’s how it’d have been for me, if Corofel
had even an _ounce_ of discipline.”

She caught herself as she slipped into anger again and, with a guilty
look towards Galgaith, took a calming breath.

K'mai held up his hands, "Hey, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get you all
riled up." He, too, looked over at the weyrling gold. He didn't need
the Weyrlingmaster scolding him . . . or I'serin. Despite the
situation, the corner of his mouth turned up. "You'll make a good
Weyrwoman, someday."

Galgaith, busy with the waterfall and Sebeth, didn't seem to have
noticed anything amiss.

Sybana glanced back at the bluerider, brow arched. "Even though I keep
losing my temper?"

"I poked at a sore spot." K'mai shrugged. "But you're passionate, and
you think about other people before yourself."

"I-- thank you. Really." She pressed his shoulder lightly, a fleeting
touch to emphasize her gratitude. "I do try to. And I've hoped it
meant I might suit, but hearing it from a dragonrider means a great
deal."

Especially after she failed so miserably at the last thing she thought
she was meant for.

"Obviously we just met and I don't know you all that well, but you
remind me a little of Tsaera," K'mai said. "Not the temper part,
though," he added with a chuckle.

"The Weyrwoman's Second?" asked Sybana, interest piqued. "Do you know her well?"

"Not _really_ well, but she was Weyrwoman at River Bluff for Turns,
and I have a lot of respect for her." She'd also been incredibly kind
to him recently, when the death of the Senior Queen at Barrier Lake
brought up memories of River Bluff's destruction.

Sybana had been about the press for more--she was curious to learn
about the woman she would be studying under--but a tinge of drowsiness
touched her thoughts. It wasn’t hers.

Galgaith was tiring.

Sybana glanced over at her dragonet, who had, at last, ceased her
ceaseless questioning of Sebeth and was instead swaying slightly where
she stood, head dipping lower with each passing breath.

"I'd love to hear more about her, and River Bluff, sometime, but I
should get Galgi back to the barracks before she nods off into the
water." She shook her head fondly at the little dragonet, who was
stubbornly fighting to stay awake and, in retrospect, must have been
for some time. "Thank you for the conversation, K'mai. It was good to
meet you and Sebeth."

Sebeth rumbled softly, his eyes whirling happily as he watched
Galgaith. "He was happy to spend time with her," K'mai said. "And it
was a pleasure meeting you, Sybana."

Last updated on the March 26th 2025

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Cultural Differences