Disgraceful

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 13th October 2025

Characters: N'vanik, Z'kim, Gavis, Marela
Description: A holder is less than pleased about N'vanik's public display with Z'kim.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 15 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: I'serin
Comes between "You Are Not Alone" and "Unrestrained"

N'vanik

Z'kim

"Disgraceful," Gavis muttered, almost but not quite under his breath, his eyes following the Weyrleader and his partner as they swayed together to the harpers' music. Though he'd been warned about what to expect at the Weyr, there was something unseemly in the way their bodies pressed so closely together. It was one thing for blue and greenriders to behave like that - though not in the middle of a public celebration - but a bronzerider?

He reached for the wine jug and refilled his glass, then took a generous swig as the music slowed, and the pair gazed into each others' eyes like the characters in a silly romance. And then it happened, and the wine turned sour in his throat.

"Look at that!" He nudged his wife. "Did you see? What kind of an example is that to set for our son?"

Marela glanced at him, irritated. She was doing her best to comfort the boy - it had been his first Hatching, and he was bitterly disappointed not to Impress - and she wished her husband would give the complaining a rest for five minutes, so she spoke without thinking. "I don't know, Gavis. Why don't you go and ask him if it bothers you so much?"

The holder flushed. It was hot and noisy and after several glasses of wine his wits felt a little hazy, and then he heard someone from a group of green and blueriders at the next table stifle a giggle and that was the last straw. He drained his glass and slammed it down on the table. "All right - I will!" He pushed his chair back and before his aghast wife could stop him, began to weave his way through the crowd, searching for the Weyrleader.

N'vanik still had a little smile on his face after his conversation with I'serin. Tonight sure was full of surprises. He and Z'kim headed over to one of the beverage tables and he took a long swallow of a fruity rum drink, the liquid cool and refreshing.

By the time Gavis tracked the pair down - after losing them in the crowd several times, and a detour to mop his sweating brow and refresh his dry throat - he'd had time to consider the wisdom of what he was doing. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a good idea to confront a bronzerider at a Hatching?

If he went back now, though, he'd look ridiculous, and those riders at the next table would laugh at him, in front of his wife and son. And then, when he saw them - bold as you like, laughing and drinking together as if nothing had happened - before he knew it, he was striding towards them, the anger rising up within him. "Weyrleader!"

Most of N'vanik's attention was still on Z'kim, laughing at a joke he'd made and giving the greenrider a warm smile. "Yeah?" he said as he half-turned toward Gavis.

"I - I want to complain!" His outrage at the sight of them together was so great that he all but stammered over his words. "I came here with my family, my wife and young son. I was assured it would be suitable!"

The Weyrleader's smile faded. "It's perfectly suitable."

"Nik--"

"No, I want to hear it." N'vanik took Z'kim's hand. He wasn't going to let Z'kim pull him away from this confrontation, too.

"You call that kind of dancing suitable? For a bronzerider?" the holder demanded. "My wife and I didn't know where to look!" Actually he had a nagging feeling that his wife had been looking a little too much, but he wasn't going to admit that.

"For a _bronzerider_?" N'vanik repeated, the dangerous edge in his voice growing. "Was it the dancing or who I was with?"

"Both!" Gavis blustered, too riled up to pay attention to the Weyrleader's manner. "I don't know whether this was meant to be a provocation or some kind of tasteless joke, but I was told bronze and brownriders don't _do_ that sort of thing. I'd hardly have let my son come here if I thought otherwise."

"Well _I_ do 'that sort of thing' and there's nothing wrong with it." N'vanik had spent Turns defending green and blueriders from holder prejudice, but it was different when those comments were being directed at _him_. Deeper. "I decided to stop playing and let everyone know Z'kim is my lover." He almost stumbled over the word. They knew what they were to each other, but had he ever actually said that out loud?

Hearing that made Z'kim feel . . . something, and he quickly pushed it down. "Friends with benefits. Very, very good benefits." He lifted his glass in a mock toast. He'd tried to prevent N'vanik from getting into a heated argument earlier, because it was one thing rile up the holders, but getting into a _fight_ with one . . . On the other hand, N'vanik was the Weyrleader, he knew what he was doing, so if he wanted to push things, that was his decision. Besides, it seemed like he needed to get it out of his system.

The holder's lip curled in disgust. "Well, what you do in your own place is your business, but you ought to have warned us. There's plenty of respectable people who'd think twice about allowing Searchriders into their holds if they knew what could come of it. I certainly won't be letting my boy stay here."

N'vanik snorted incredulously. "Did you just learn about green and blueriders liking men too?"

"Of course not, but my son wouldn't be one of _those_." Gavis glanced at Z'kim with narrowed eyes. "And he certainly wouldn't be putting on such a lewd display in public!"

N'vanik growled, and a roar echoed from outside as Loseth felt his rider's anger. "Don't you dare look down on him like that. Your son would be lucky to be half the man Z'kim is."

"I should think not. A greenrider?" Gavis was distantly aware of the roar, and a faint nagging sense that what he was doing might be unwise, but his blood was up now, his temper roused by the heat and the wine and the shameless behavior he'd witnessed. They didn't even trouble to hide it. "He's hardly a man at all."

N'vanik started to pull his hand away and Z'kim gripped it tighter. "Nik, don't." Not yet, at least. The Weyrleader punching a holder would definitely look bad, but if a holder tried to assault a dragonrider . . . Z'kim looked Gavis up and down. "Maybe I can teach your wife a thing or two about what a real man can do."

The blood roared in the holder's ears and he lurched forward. "Keep my wife's name out of your filthy mouth, you - unnatural - "

"Gavis!" A woman pushed her way through the gathering crowd and clutched her husband's arm, holding him back. "Remember where you are! We're guests here," she hissed. "I'm so sorry, dragonriders. My husband has overindulged himself."

"He's been very honest about what he thinks of me," N'vanik growled. "And my friend." Socking a holder in the mouth would cause problems, but in the moment it would feel _so_ good.

"He needs to apologize to the Weyrleader," Z'kim said.

"I'll be Thread-scored before I apologize to a..." Gavis yelped at a sharp kick to his ankle.

"Of course." Marela gave them both a rather desperate look, as if she could tell that wasn't going to happen. "Perhaps tomorrow, when he's recovered? For now, please accept my apologies on his behalf."

N'vanik gave the man a feral grin. "A Thread scoring can be arranged."

"You haven't done us any wrong and owe us no apology, ma'am," Z'kim said. "But if your husband is that inebriated, perhaps you should stay the night." He glanced up at N'vanik with a sly grin.

"Yeah. I insist," the Weyrleader said. "We'll find you a room, and then tomorrow you can give us a full, sincere apology before you go home." Not that N'vanik ever wanted to see this man again.

"What? We're not staying all night in this...this den of depravity! What will our neighbors think?"

"You should have thought of that before you downed the best part of a jug of wine." The holder woman's mouth tightened, as if she'd plenty more to say, but didn't want to scold him in front of the dragonriders. "Thank you, Weyrleader, greenrider, that's very understanding of you. If you'll excuse us? I think my husband needs to get some air."

"Don't forget to bring him by tomorrow to make his apologies," Z'kim said in a falsely sweet voice. "Not too early, though. We'll still be in bed." He ran a hand up N'vanik's chest.

It surprised a laugh out of the Weyrleader. Z'kim really was terrible.

Marela's eyes widened and her lips twitched as though she was suppressing a shocked giggle of her own, but she managed to keep it in and nodded. "Until tomorrow, then, and our compliments on the Hatching. Good evening." With a quick curtsey, she hustled Gavis away, though not before he managed a last slurred "Disgraceful!"

Last updated on the October 28th 2025

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Disgraceful