A Proposition

Writers: Sia, Duskdog
Date Posted: 11th October 2025

Characters: Varethos, Zaphare
Description: Zaphare asks Varethos for a big favour
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 6 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Sybana
Follows "A Better Way"

Varethos

Zaphare

Zaphare didn’t actually mind the cold as much as some people did. She would never admit it -- or even think about it hard enough to pinpoint exactly what made it tolerable for her -- but the truth was, there were simple pleasures in it. The coziness of bundling up all warm. The excuse to wear cute knit hats and scarves. The visible puff of breath whenever she exhaled out in the frigid air. The soft crunch of snow beneath her boots.

She was wearing her very cutest hat and scarf, actually: a set in cornflower blue, nowhere close to Zollarth’s color but closer to her other favorite color (the one she’d had before Impressing). She looked good, she _felt_ good after spending time yesterday enjoying herself with Sybana, and she had an exciting mission on her to-do list.

She spied the familiar back of Varethos’ coat ahead of her, trekking his way through the snow between the Candidate Barracks and the Dining Hall, and rushed to catch up with him. The snow was still knee-deep in some parts of the Bowl even now a few days after the blizzard that had left it, but this was a mushy half-snowy and somewhat icy path now, tromped down by dozens and dozens of winter boots. That didn’t mean it was _easy_ to traverse, particularly for someone of her stature with shorter legs who was also trying to hurry after someone much taller, while having to pick and choose where she stepped.

And so she was a little out of breath -- that cold breath that she liked, puffing from her lips -- when she caught up to Varethos, grasping him by the elbow as she came up beside him. “Hey, how about we go someplace warm?” she asked, with no preamble, her cheeks and nose rosy from the cold and her brown eyes twinkling with mischief.

Varethos was heading back from the dining cavern, too many books tucked under one arm, when he heard the thump-thump- thump of someone trying to hurry up behind him. He'd expected someone to rush past him, an insane rider doing laps in the snow or another candidate rushing to be back in the warm. Varethos' only plans were to study, and he wasn't all that keen on trying to do that in the barracks. Not that he would get any studying done with Zaphare, but she was fun and a great distraction from old and repeated treatises on the Charter.

"I was going somewhere warm." Varethos deadpanned, though his easy smile showed he was only teasing. "I expect you mean somewhere _private_, too? Can Zollarth rescue us from this misery?" That was a little pleading on his part but, well, he didn't have a dragon nor a way to get around the snow drifts.

“Well, _yeah_,” she said, with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll even put on some tea or something, if you’re really _that_ cold. I can warm you up, but I don’t want to touch something cold, either.”

She had already called for Zollarth, and he grumbled, but winged down to land in the snow, eyeing them both with what might have been a glare, if dragons could manage a glare. Still, he was gracious enough to offer a foreleg (if for no reason other than getting out of the snow faster), and they were on their way up to her weyrledge soon enough.

“He can handle the cold of /between/,” she said, as they climbed down, “but he can’t stand the feel of snow on his little feetsies.”

}:I wouldn’t be cold if I had a scarf,:{ he grumbled, eyeing hers.

“Also, he’s mad he doesn’t have a scarf of his own yet, and has convinced himself that he’s cold without it.”

"Maybe he would be warm if you gave him a scarf." Varethos said in mock seriousness, though he did give the blue a polite scratch before heading inside after Zaphare. Fianwyth had a similar fascination with hats and would try to steal toques off their heads. It was hard to wrangle anything back from the dragons once they got it in their head (or their mouth, for that matter).

"Are you actually making tea? Or have you changed your mind about warming up my frigid hands?"

She turned around abruptly, eyeing him up and down speculatively with clear interest, biting her lower lip. But then… “I’ll make tea. But only because I _actually_ brought you up here to ask you for a favor, and if I warm you up myself I might forget. Or say it stupid-wrong because my head’s not in it.”

Varethos blinked. He supposed there was a first time for everything, he just didn't think that time was now. "All right." He said slowly, pulling off his coat and sinking onto a chair at the small table. "What do you have in mind?"

She busied herself with the tea-making for a moment, trying to actually put some thought into how she wanted to approach it. Normally she’d just say it, but this wasn’t for her (okay, maybe a little…), it was for Sybana, and if he said no, what then? So she tried to think of ways to be more tactful about it. Or explain it better.

Every way she considered just sounded stupid in her head.

“I need you to sleep with Sybana,” she blurted out finally, good intentions trampled by impatience.

Varethos tilted his head, a confused frown starting to pull at the corners of his mouth. It could've been a joke, maybe, but he could see Zaphare was thinking hard about it. "Uh…you _need_ me to? Have you considered talking to Sybana about this?"

“Three steps ahead of you, buddy,” she said, poking him gently in the forehead. “She _knows_, and she’s even the one who wanted me to ask you. Because she’s embarrassed to ask for herself.” She leaned against the table -- nothing to do now but wait for the water to boil. “Look, she’s just… you know… a _lady_. In the Hold sense. Not like _me_ -- she’s a for-real lady. And she’s got these hang-ups about sex. She just wants to be prepared before Galgaith rises, and she asked me to help her out. And you’re the only guy I could really think of who wouldn’t screw it all up for her. Like, it has to be _good_, so she’s not nervous about it when the time comes, you know? And you’ve been so trainable.”

"I beg your pardon." Varethos said incredulously, "You were having sex in a barn before we met, I'm not the one that needed training!" He paused for a moment. That wasn't the point of the conversation. "I'm flattered, I think, but why not offer to do it yourself? It's not like you don't have all the accoutrements. You've been so trainable with them."

“I _did_ do it myself,” she smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. “But I’m not a _guy_. She needs a guy. I won’t be there when Galgaith flies.”

She wrinkled her nose, as if mildly irritated by that fact.

"And you wouldn't be jealous?" Varethos asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

Her response was immediate -- _way_ too quick. “Pfft, no! Why would I be? We’re not married or whatever. I don’t care what you do. Or what she does. Don’t flatter yourself.” She paused. “Besides… you’ll need my weyr, so it’s not like I’ll be somewhere else.”

That was too much to unpack all at once. The entire conversation was, really. It was so much that all he could do was stare at her. "And...I need your weyr because…."

“Becauuuuse you’ll need someplace private, hello? Sybana is already embarrassed enough as it is. She’s terrified somebody’s going to find out.”

"So she'd rather have people think she's spending the night with you than with a man?" Varethos asked, still baffled.

“No, silly, nobody will know she’s here. At least not overnight. I mean, where would you take her -- to the harper… whateveritis?”

"She has her own weyr?"

“Yeah but that would make it super obvious. She doesn’t want it to be super obvious.” She sighed, turning away for a moment at the whistle of the teapot to move it aside. “Come on, she’s trying to overcome her upbringing, or whatever. She wants to make sure she’s ready for Galgaith’s flight, and you’re like… the most okay-est guy I know.”

"Gee, thank you." Varethos said dryly. "So say that this roundabout attempt at flattery gets me to say yes. What are you doing while we're… doing that? Waiting outside with cookies? Learning to knit? Perched on a chair like a wherry?"

Halfway through handing him a cup of tea, she pulled it back from him. “Maybe I’m helping, jackass. How about that? I can be helpful. _Ugh_, I can’t believe you need to be convinced about this! You’re a _guy_! She’s a hot girl. _I’m_ a hot girl and I’m gonna be _right there_. What’s not to want?”

"I'm not some practice mannequin, Zaphare.You're asking for me a pretty big favor and you've insulted me three times _so far_." Varethos said, irritated. "You can answer my questions nicely or you can find someone else to do it. I'm sure lots of _guys_ would be happy to help."

She put the teacup down hard -- not hard enough to break it, but enough to slosh a little tea out -- and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him measuringly. Her annoyance, and desire to stay annoyed, warred with a stubborn little voice in the back of her head that insisted that _maybe_ she hadn’t actually been very tactful about this, and _maybe_ she _was_ being a little insulting. To someone she didn’t really want to be mean to, no less.

Ugh, she hated giving in.

She exhaled heavily through her nose. “...Fine. I’m sorry for being… whatever I was being. Impatient? I don’t know. A little mean. I’m sorry I was mean.” She drummed her fingers against her still-crossed arms, trying to think. “I’m asking you because I trust you not to muck it up. You’re good at it, and you’re not a selfish bastard who’ll just take advantage of the chance without actually caring whether she enjoys it or not, and I _think_ you can do it without blabbing about it later to all your buddies, because it’s really, _really_ important to her that nobody find out she’s doing this. I don’t know if it’s just her fancy holder-lady hang-ups about sex, or if it’s… you know… the shame of having to ask for help at all, I guess? So I trust you not to tell. And we’ll use my weyr because it’s more discreet than hers, so long as Galgi isn’t hanging out on the ledge. I asked if she wanted me to be there, and she said yes. What am I going to do? Well, I think she just wants me to be there, but honestly I think I can get away with more than that. I mean, we’ve already done it, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. But it depends on her. I _could_ just supervise.”

Her eyes glittered with obvious excitement at the thought.

Even with the apology, Varethos felt a little dizzy trying to keep up. But at least she was trying, even if it didn't quite calm the irritation building in his chest. He didn’t blame Zaphare for wanting to help. He'd heard 'the greens and the blues' talk from his dad once when he finally caught on that he was seeing someone, and a couple times since he'd become a Weyrlingmaster. The thought of trying to alleviate the nervousness about something so important was admirable. Liking the thought didn't mean he was going to be an automatic yes, though, and the thought that Zaphare might see what she can 'get away with' made him frown.

"Well, maybe." Varethos finally said, "I want to talk to Sybana before anyone gets too comfortable. Getting some experience ahead of time is encouraged, so I get where she's coming from, and I like you, but you're practically salivating over trying to make it a group activity."

“Well, of course I am. Who wouldn’t be?” The way he said it made her pause, though. “...I mean… right?” She shook her head rather than continue with the uncomfortable realization that she might be alone in that thought. “Well, either way, yeah, talk to her! She might be embarrassed, but it’d be good if you talked.”

"I will." Varethos said a little firmer this time. "And you won't push your luck, all right? Not everyone likes surprises, especially not that kind. If she's anxious about being with _one_ person, two is not going to help. Consent needs to be enthusiastic." Ugh, he sounded like his father.

Her mouth opened to protest (“who wouldn’t be enthusiastic??”) but the thought of Sybana’s anxiety over this, and determination to overcome it, came to her again. He was probably right. She wouldn’t. Something about “enthusiastic consent” tweaked at the memory of Cabren in the back of her head, and…

No, she didn’t want to think about that too hard.

“Yeah, I get it.” She crossed her arms stubbornly, but the gesture somehow shifted into hugging herself, instead. “I’ll be good, I promise. I don’t want Sybana to change her mind about being friends with me or whatever.”

Varethos rubbed a hand across his face, feeling some of his irritation bleed out with the gesture. "Good. Thank you. I'm happy to talk about it with her. Can we talk about something else now? You made tea and it's getting cold."

Not the best segue, but better than sitting awkwardly after getting propositioned.

Zaphare released a breath that she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. He hadn’t said no, and he hadn’t kicked her out (wait it was _her_ weyr…) so all in all, this wasn’t the worst outcome. “Yeah, we can do that.”

She put a little extra sweetener in his tea, though, just to be sure.

Last updated on the March 11th 2026

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A Proposition