Promise Me Just This One Thing
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: Duskdog
Date Posted: 3rd May 2025
Characters: Chandrany, Farangen
Description: When doubt creeps in, Chandrany tries to extract a promise from Farangen.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 6 of Turn 12
The beach wasn’t even sunny that afternoon.
It was the kind of day where the air felt too heavy to waste indoors, even though the clouds promised rain, and the ocean churned like it was thinking about a fight. Chandrany dragged Farangen out anyway. She said she needed the space to think.
He figured she meant she needed someone to complain at until she felt better, but today he didn’t mind being that person. Much.
They found a spot halfway between the Weyr and the rocky outcrop by the pier, just two friends sinking into the damp, salt-sticky sand, not bothering to pretend they had anything important to do. Chandrany picked at a broken shell with her fingernails. Farangen leaned back, arms folded behind his head, watching the thick, low sky roll over itself.
She was quiet long enough that he almost drifted off.
“I’ve been thinking…” she began suddenly, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the silvery stormclouds rolling in over the ocean.
“Oh no, do you need some fellis for that headache?”
“Shut up, I’m serious!” She elbowed him. “It’s about _us_.”
His smile faded, and he bit his tongue to keep from saying “oh no” again, this time sincerely. He knew from experience that it would start a fight, and he didn’t want to fight with her right now. Or anymore. They had been friends since they were children. Just friends. It felt so nice and natural when they were _just friends_, just joking around like two people who have known each other forever, who already have everything they want out of their relationship. They could laugh about almost anything. But then, sometimes, when she was feeling insecure, there was _us_.
“Okay, let me hear it,” he said instead, as diplomatically as he could muster, trying to keep the same casual tone.
He could tell he failed by the sideways look she gave him, but apparently she chose not to call him on it.
“What if, in five turns, if neither of us have Impressed… we weyrmate?”
Farangen flopped back on the sand, covering his eyes with one forearm, and groaned. “Shards, Chan, what does weyrmating have to do with whether or not we Impress?”
Her eyes immediately lit up -- he couldn’t see it because his face was still covered, but he could imagine it -- and she shoved his shoulder. “You didn’t say no!”
“It’s not… you know…” He groaned. “You know I have to dissect the logic -- it’s not the kind of thing you can just immediately… ugh.” He lifted his arm and turned his head just enough to peer at her. “Did you _want_ me to just say ‘no’ without considering it first?”
Chandrany made a face at him. “Well obviously not. But I think it means something that you didn’t just immediately reject it. Even if I know your ‘logic’ was just you trying to come up with an argument against it.”
“I don’t think it needs an argument. I don’t think I should have to give you reasons why not, I think _you_ need to give reasons _why_.”
“Why? Well why not?”
Farangen shook a finger at her. “Nuh uh. Not playing this game. You have to convince me. Give me the sales pitch. Let me hear whatever weird little trundlebugs crawled in your brain and gave you this idea.”
“Wow.” Chandrany blew hair out of her face in irritation. She hated when he was like this -- so patronizing to her, as if her ideas and feelings were something she needed to be talked out of, the way you’d talk to a toddler when you needed to convince them to put down a knife before they hurt themselves. To her, the logic of it was obvious. Or the feeling, at least. What feels good is usually what makes sense. He never agreed with that.
“Okay, big brain, since you need to be hand-held to a conclusion.” It was petty, but she _felt_ like being petty. “In five turns, we’ll both have aged out. And we’ll have had a couple of turns to deal with that and figure out what we’re doing with the rest of our lives. What then? You’ll be a journeyman healer by then, I guess. And I’ll be… you know… doing something also important. But wouldn’t we want something more? No dragon, but… a family maybe? And… I just think we’d be happier than most people. You know, if we tried being a couple when we’re older. Being _together_,” she finished, too fiercely, like she was _daring_ him to disagree.
Farangen stared up at the heavy clouds. “Maybe,” he said, voice so flat it didn’t sound like agreement at all.
Chandrany scoffed under her breath, sharp and bitter. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight, as if she could make herself smaller, harder, something he couldn’t touch.
“You’re such a coward sometimes,” she muttered. “You can’t commit to _anything_.”
Farangen didn’t look at her.
“Five turns,” she insisted after a moment, when he didn’t respond. This time it sounded less like a proposal and more like a promise.
Farangen pressed his palms against his eyes, like he could rub away the ache behind them.
“Five turns,” he repeated with a hollow sigh, feeling the first fat raindrops fall onto his face.
Last updated on the May 12th 2025