Zaphare's New Best Friend

Writers: Duskdog, Sia
Date Posted: 8th April 2025

Characters: Zaphare, Aydhara
Description: Zaphare makes a new best friend whether she likes it or not
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 5 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: N'kevyn, Aydhan, Sybana (not by name), T'lonas, Kadira (not by name), Naradis (not by name)

Zaphare

Aydhara

Getting N'kevyn to take her to Dragonsfall was easy. Aydhara wasn't entirely sure what friends he was planning to visit and actually didn't want to know. Maybe there weren't any friends and Avicath had just bullied him into giving directions. Yes, she liked that.

The train of thought didn't last long, though, as Aydhara casually meandered closer to the weyrling barracks and spotted her target. "You!" She declared loudly as she approached. "How did you manage to Impress a blue?"

Zaphare had just been minding her own business (or actually minding everyone else’s business, as she’d been positioned in a great place to overhear a couple of other juicy conversations), so it took her a few seconds to realize that someone was speaking to her, specifically.

“Uh, by being better than everybody else,” she replied with a scoff. “ _Obviously_. How did you manage to look in the mirror this morning with a face like that?”

"_Please_." Aydhara said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm hot and you know it. _I'm_ better than everyone else and I don't have one yet, so it can't be that. What else are you doing? Did you also sneak a sausage out to the hatching sands? I'm not above bribes."

“Do I _look_ like somebody who would have to bribe a dragon?” Zaphare got up and strode over, looking Aydhara up and down. She _was_ pretty cute, though of course she wasn’t going to make that allowance for a stranger whose intentions were still unknown. “All I had to do was show up.” She shrugged. “Not my fault it apparently isn’t working for you.”

Aydhara huffed. "That's what they all say!" She exclaimed. "And it can't be that either, because I would have definitely Impressed by then. Have you tried asking him?"

“Asking Zollarth? Well, yeah. He just acts confused. Like why _wouldn’t_ he pick me? Why _would_ he want anybody else? And I can’t argue with that logic.” She could, actually. She wondered, deep-down, herself -- but that also wasn’t something she was going to discuss with a random stranger. Or anybody else. “Do you have a name? Or am I just supposed to call you ‘that bitch’?”

"Wow, rude. Some people call me that, but I mostly go by Aydhara. Maybe I should transfer here. Maybe Chioneth's eggs are more likely to have a blue look at girls. There's double the blueriders here. Surely that doubles my chances, right?"

Zaphare shrugged again. “Maybe? Look, Aydhara, I don’t know what to tell you. I Impressed the world’s greatest blue dragon. If you want the world’s second-greatest, you’ll just have to keep trying. What is that crap they always say? ‘Maybe your dragon just hasn’t shelled yet’? Maybe that’s true. Look inside yourself, young apprentice, or whatever.”

"If I wanted that kind of advice I'd go to my Mom." Aydhara said and made a face like she'd rather not. "Are you sure you didn't do anything differently? This is important, my entire life is at stake here."

“Well…” Zaphare considered. “I’ve got one pearl of wisdom I could give, I guess. But it’s gonna cost you.”

Aydhara perked up, though her eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. "Cost me what? I'm just a candidate. My marks come from my dad, who takes them from my mom."

“_Lucky_. My parents never gave me shite. Sounds pretty rich to me. But I’ll be nice, just because you seem pretty desperate. You got a sixteenth-mark?”

"As rich as any dragonrider. I'm not getting paid." She reached into her pocket, "I have two thirty-twos."

Zaphare’s eyes widened slightly, greedily. She hadn’t expected this to actually work. At the back of her mind, Zollarth stirred in his sleep, reveling in the sensation, too. “Okay, hand ‘em over.”

"What am I getting for my marks?" Aydhara asked. Her hand closed over them.

“I told you! Wisdom! Some advice you can take with you into the next Hatching! And maybe to your grave, I dunno, you do what you want with knowledge once you get it.” She vaguely recalled some harper saying something like that to her at some point when she definitely wasn’t paying enough attention to learn anything of substance. “Do you want it or not?”

Aydhara hesitated a moment, but held out the marks. "All right, what's your wisdom?"

Zaphare snatched them quickly, shoving them into her pouch. “‘A fool and her marks are soon parted.’”

Aydhara made a face. "Rude! Well, now that you're feeling superior, you might as well let me see your dragon. Are you still in the weyrling barracks?"

Zaphare patted her marks pouch smugly. “Yeah. I ought to charge you extra to see him, though. He’s sort of twitching awake right now… I could ask him to come out, I guess.”

"You oughta, but you won't. Don't alienate your adoring fan, especially since we're going to be in a special club together one day."

“Boy, you’ve got some balls, don’t you?” Zaphare asked, unable to keep herself from bursting out laughing. “Alright, fine. But if you say anything that upsets him, we’ll both bite you. I’m not even bluffing. I’ll take a piece out of your ear.”

}:You want to show us off?:{ Zollarth asked, awake enough to gather what she was about to ask him. }:Very well. You _should_ make her give us things, though.:{

After a moment, the sleek midnight-blue dragon emerged from the barracks, rubbing up against Zaphare’s side (and nearly knocking her over) as he came up to sniff curiously at Aydhara.

“This is Zollarth,” Zaphare said, unable to keep the pride from her voice. “Zollarth, this is Aydhara, some bitch who’s jealous of us.”

Zollarth snorted.

"Don't threaten me with a good time, your weyrlingmasters wouldn't like that." Aydhara said with a grin. She expertly held her hand out for Zollarth to sniff. "I am jealous. My dragon is still in his egg, or something dumb like that. I hope he'll be as handsome as you, sweet boy."

The idea of Zollarth being “sweet” was _almost_ funny enough to overwhelm the swell of pride that abruptly surged from the blue, overtaking them both. _Almost_. They both puffed up in identical fashion.

“If you’re lucky, he’ll be a close second,” Zaphare said.

"I'm willing to share the first place spot." Aydhara said to Zaphare. Then, to Zollarth, "You like the ladies, buddy? Tell us your secrets. How do I get a blue to like me, too?" She wasn't expecting an answer, and grinned at Zaphare as she reached up to scritch along his deep blue neck.

That sounded fair enough to Zaphare. She grinned. “He says keep scritching like that and it’s a good start.” She paused. “He also says to keep giving him things. Your marks are going in the ‘buy Zollarth a necklace’ fund.”

"Well heck, if I'd known it was for Zollarth's necklace fund I would have just given him the marks." Aydhara said. "Leather dyed a deep blue that could just attach right to your harness, hey buddy? You could pay for that in no time, once he's big enough for you both to fly and do odd jobs." She said with the confidence of a teenager who has never worked before.

Zaphare snorted. “I doubt it. But whatever. ‘Til then I’ll keep scraping marks from suckers when I can.”

"I should tell my Dad." Aydhara said, though the tone was thoughtful and not accusatory. "He's been trying to bribe his dragon with new straps if he loses weight, but it's not working very well."

“A fat dragon? Wow.” Zaphare ran an affectionate hand down Zollarth’s neck. “That’s not something _we_ have to worry about. The necklace would never fit.”

"You know how some dragons are, they just don't stop eating if food is presented." Aydhara said fondly. "His belly looks like a middle-aged feline's when he walks. I don't think he's as popular with the greens as he thinks he is. Zollarth doesn't need to worry about that, though, he's such a handsome young man."

“Whoa, hey, if you’re trying to seduce him away, it’s not gonna work,” Zaphare warned, but grinned. “Maybe try sweet-talking the blues next Hatching. Might work for you.”

"I've been _trying_!" Aydhara exclaimed. "But you'll need to start sweet-talking him if you don't want me stealing him away. Isn't that right, buddy?"

Zollarth made a pleased rumble, almost like a purr.

“Oh, he's not going to shut up about this until he forgets,” Zaphare said, rolling her eyes. “He's spoiled now and it's not even my fault.”

Curled up back by the barracks opening, Domorth kept both eyes on them, his unnerving focus belying the casual flick of his tail.

“I should probably get my boy back to the barracks,” she added reluctantly. “They keep an eye out. There was an incident with the last blue girl or something -- I don't know, I wasn't paying attention.” She shrugged. “Plus we have a gold.”

"I know all about that! One of Weyrwoman Cyradis' kids snuck a ride to have it out with Kadira over getting a blue. There's a travel advisory now. My Dad made me swear not to fistfight you over Zollarth. I would _never_." She would, but she wanted to be Zaphare's friend more. She did follow Zaphare's gaze to Domorth, frowning a little at her fun being upset. A Weyrlingmaster's dragon, probably. Rude. "Well, is it ok if I visit again sometime? And then, once Zollarth is allowed to /between/, you should come visit me at Barrier Lake. We have a girl bluerider there too. We'll start a club."

“When we can /between/, we’re going to go _everywhere_,” Zaphare said confidently. “Maybe we _will_ stop by. And yeah, you can visit if you want. It’ll be easier when we have our own weyr.”

}:Tell her to bring me something,:{ Zollarth put in.

“He says to bring him something.”

"Of course. More marks for the necklace fund, right Zollarth?" Aydhara said with a grin, "I'll go find my Dad, I guess. Enjoy lessons or whatever you're doing. And _definitely_ stop by Barrier Lake. It's easier for me to sneak booze there."

Zaphare’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? Expect us as soon as we can, then.”

Last updated on the April 15th 2025

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Zaphare's New Best Friend