A Mother's Bias

Writers: Halyonix
Date Posted: 16th April 2025

Characters: Vaile, Sherivan, Shera, Miravaile
Description: Vaile meets a Holdless parent
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 5, day 11 of Turn 12

"Looooooook! Look at this rock! It's _red_!

"Why is it so red? Is it bleeding?"

"Nooo silly, rocks don't bleed. They're _rocks_."

Shera's face scrunched up as she tried to figure out why some things were red, why some things bled, and what was the Venn diagram between them all. She was bent down in a stretch of pebbles near the big waterfall of the Weyr with her new friend Miravaile, who _lived_ there. This big place, with so many things to explore, was her _home_! And she never went hungry, or scared because of Threadfall, or cold because of the weather, even though it was cold outside right now but they were warm because someone had given Shera a real coat to bundle up in so she and Miravaile could go explore. Well, with her father in tow, of course.

Sherivan was standing a little bit away, his hands in his pockets, watching the two girls. It should have brought him calm, seeing Shera happily playing with someone her own age, but it just added to his unsettled feeling that this was all wrong. Not that being Holdless was right but he had gotten used to it.

"Daddy, look! This rock is--"

Everything was interrupted as a dark shadow abruptly covered them all. Shera let out a terrified squeal as a dragon landed with a thump really, really close. "Miravaile!" a sharp feminine voice said.

"Hi Ma! Hi Liranth!" Miravaile greeted, unfazed by their arrival. Or their expressions. "Ma! This is Shera! She's my new friend!"

Astride Liranth, Vaile took in the situation. The creche fostermother had said that Miravaile had escaped notice again. Weyrbrats were always doing this but no one ever worried because who was going to hurt them in the Weyr? Usually, the answer was no one. Except that there were some forty or more Holdless that had taken up temporary residence in the Weyr and _they_...they could easily hurt someone. Some of them already had. And here was her daughter, wandering around with one of them.

Sherivan rushed forward to protect Shera. "Can't you land your dragon further away? Be careful!" he shouted at Vaile.

Liranth let out an indignant snort, tossing her head. "Liranth would never hurt someone," Vaile replied coldly. She slid down her dragon's flank, intending to collect her daughter and leave. "Let's go, Mira. You're not to be wandering out alone anymore."

"But...but...she's my friend!" Mira protested, twisting away. "She didn't have friends at her old home and I told her that we could be friends!"

Vaile scowled. How was she to explain the greater danger to her daughter that these Holdless possessed? How did one teach a child how to trust but also be wary? To be friendly but also on guard? Miravaile was _five_. How was she to even begin understanding that sort of balance?

"Come on, Shera. Let's go," Sherivan said to his own daughter.

"But...I can't pet the dragon?" Shera asked wistfully. "I got to pet the last one."

"Not this one. She's not a nice dragon," Sherivan said in that tone that tried to excuse Vaile from having to interact at all with them but only incensed Vaile further.

"She _is_ a nice dragon. She's just...protective. Like me," the greenrider said. She struggled to see the situation from another viewpoint -- just two little girls who had no idea about the complexities and cruelties of the world around them, who wanted to just play together. She clenched her fists. "Why? Why are you Holdless?" she ground out.

Sherivan became instantly guarded. Then regretful. "My mate. She...angered the wrong Lady Holder. For...for an affair with her son." It was a triple treachery in Sherivan's mind and after they had been cast out, he had done his best to shield Shera from the consequences. It was honestly for the best that her mother had left them.

Vaile was no fool to believe blindly but she still extended some grace. "And why didn't you try to go back to a Hold? Barren caves are no place for a child."

Sherivan scowled. "You think I didn't try? No one would take us! Once Holdless, always Holdless."

Vaile was quiet for a long moment, considering. Miravaile tugged at her hand. "Can I please play with Shera now? I just want to show her the rocks I found."

Liranth rumbled softly, mirroring her rider's caution but also willingness to try. "For now," Vaile answered her daughter. "Under supervision." She'd talk to Mira later about not wandering around alone anymore. Not until the Holdless were gone. She lifted her chin to look at Sherivan. "You can tell me more of your story while they play."

"Weirdest way to demand to get to know someone but okay," he answered. If it didn't get them immediately crushed by a dragon or kicked out, sure. He'd tell her what she wanted to know. The greenrider was right in that the caves were no place for a little girl but Sherivan wasn't sure the Weyr was either.

Crisis averted in the girls' mind, they went back to sorting through the rocks, while their parents hovered awkwardly nearby in the shadow of a guarding green dragon.

Last updated on the April 25th 2025

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A Mother's Bias