Depraved

Writers: Devin, Halyonix
Date Posted: 4th November 2025
Series: Bronze and Blue Entwined

Characters: K'mai, Amonir, Jare
Description: K'mai argues with holders making rude comments about N'vanik and takes things a little too far.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 14 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: L'keri, M'sar, L'val, Q'vettan, N'vanik, I'serin, N'dhavi (not by name), Hesbia (not by name), Yvase (not by name), Q'helias (not by name)

K'mai

K'mai kissed his dance partner -- an old friend from River Bluff -- and they parted ways, K'mai heading for a refreshment table to get a drink and take a break. Hatchings were great, even this one where he kept having to defend L'keri and Rhalith and the small clutch size.

Only fifteen eggs, but they all seemed healthy and there had been a bronze and two browns among them. Shockingly, half of them had Impressed to former holdless, and there was plenty of gossip about that. The bronze had gone to a young holdless man who looked on the edge of aging out. Mesarian, to K'mai's surprise, had gotten a _brown_, and he'd cheered loudly for him. A holdless girl had Impressed a blue, proving the dragons really _were_ choosing differently. The Wing had roared with approval when L'val's daughter Impressed, and K'mai had given a hearty cheer for Q'vettan's son, too.

They weren't skimping on the wine quality, even for the youngest Queen's Hatching, and K'mai sipped it appreciatively. Then he froze when he heard the nearby conversation.

"Heard what happened at the Dolphin Cove one? There was a _bronzerider_ kissing on another man."

"But I thought the ones that rode bronze were attracted to women!"

"Apparently not. Despicable, right? Nothing proper about the Weyr nowadays. No wonder they keep taking our kids on Search. None of them are making babies on their own anymore!"

K'mai knew that he shouldn't make trouble, but if they were saying that about N'vanik, they'd talk about I'serin the same way. He stepped up to the holders, gripping his glass a little too tightly. "Weyrleaders deserve our respect. You shouldn't be talking about him that way." He managed to keep his voice neutral. Mostly.

The holders took a look at K'mai's knots. While one of them had the grace to look a little sheepish at being caught, the other scoffed lightly and said, "I don't need to give them any respect. I just need them to keep the sky Thread-free and keep their questionable practices to themselves. They should be more mindful of their visitors. I don't want to see that. Or have to explain it to my kids."

"It's no harder to explain than a man kissing a woman." To K'mai it seemed much harder to explain to a child why they weren't allowed to like certain people.

"A man and a woman is how it's _supposed_ to be," the holder said with a sharpness edging his tone. His friend placed a placating hand on his arm but it was shrugged off. "Might be easy for you, growing up in that iniquity, but that's not how it's supposed to be. It used to be that we could trust the Weyrleaders to at least understand that. But not anymore it seems."

"You holders and your backwards ideas. Stuffing everyone into boxes and making each other miserable." K'mai tried to see other perspectives, but sometimes it was just too hard. "I'd feel sorry for you if you weren't ruining people's lives."

The holder sputtered angrily. "Us? Ruining people's lives? _You_ folk are the ones doing that! With your, your...green flights and orgies and men kissing men! _That's_ ruination! Not the traditions that've kept Pern going for generations."

"_We've_ kept Pern going for generations, fighting and dying up there." K'mai waved his free hand toward the sky. "Flights and orgies and kissing men are some of the _best_ things in life."

The other man shuddered, an easily understood visceral response to K'mai's words. "Disgusting," he muttered. "Absolutely disgusting. And you call yourself a man."

K'mai rolled his eyes. "Oh that old insult. Why did you even come here if you're going to be mean about blues and greens?"

Now, the other man, the one who had been abashed before, said, "Amonir, let's go. It's not wise to upset a rider."

Amonir shrugged him off. "I'm not scared of them. I'm not going to be scared of them. They're only as big as their dragons," he said with a sharp look at his friend before returning to look back at K'mai. One finger poked K'mai in the chest. "You think you're the heroes! You're just a bunch of degenerates! That's what you are!"

K'mai stared down at the finger. "I don't understand it. I never did. Why does it matter who I kiss, or who a bronzerider kisses?"

"Because the bronzeriders at least had decency to them! A decency we could respect! Now they're just as depraved as you!"

Depraved. Holders had called K'mai that more than a few times, but he thought of this man saying that to I'serin. If someone had seen that kiss to K'mai's hand at the Dolphin Cove Hatching and understood what it meant, or if I'serin finally got the courage to make their relationship public. His sweet, insecure I'serin. How terrible it would make the bronzerider feel. How his shock and hurt would melt into a distant expression as he closed himself off. "He's _not_!" Anger rushed through him and K'mai was only partly aware of throwing his drink on the man. Red wine splashed all over Amonir's face and tunic.

The holder let out a surprised gasp. And then, at full volume, yelled, "YOU THREW A DRINK AT ME!"

As Amonir moved to shove K'mai, his friend grabbed him and hauled him a few steps back. "Don't! Don't, Amonir, don't! Don't fight with a dragonrider, it'll go badly for us!"

Sebeth was pulled out of a conversation with a visiting dragon by his rider's distress. }:What is wrong?:{

**I'm ok. Someone said something mean,** he replied distractedly.

K'mai was not a violent man, but something dangerous pulsed inside him. "You should leave," he told Amonir. "And think about what you say about riders in the future."

Both men said, "We will," but one of them said it with deferrence and the other said it as a threat.

Last updated on the November 28th 2025

[Prev: Some Things Change...] Series: Bronze and Blue Entwined [Next: Discipline]

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Depraved