One Thing Led to Another

Writers: Aaron, Sia
Date Posted: 24th May 2026

Characters: H'lem, M'thos
Description: H’lem admits a horrible mistake to his father slash weyrlingmaster.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 1, day 9 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Aegaryn, K’valas, M’rhas, M’sar, Tannock, T’lonas, T’mhas, Zaphare

M'thos

H’lem had not meant to let things get so out of hand. Or. Well. _Into_ hand, he supposed. It had been so long since he had really spent any time with Tannock. And it was Turn’s End! The temptation had been too great. They had let things go too far.

At first, H’lem thought he would simply… get away with it. Mactallath seemed mostly unbothered, and he could not stand the idea of getting Tannock into trouble or worse, disappointing Tannock’s father-- never mind the fact that Tannock’s father was H’lem’s Weyrlingmaster. But with each passing day, H’lem’s guilt grew. And the guilt _did_ bother Mactallath.

Finally, after a week, H’lem could no longer stand Mactallath’s disgruntled grunts. Or his dissighled sighs. He had to tell someone.

“Dad…? I… I did something bad.” Oh, shells. Here it came.

M'thos looked up from the supplies he was sorting. "The bar is so low these days, buddy, between your brothers and your classmates. I'm sure it wasn't bad."

H’lem danced from foot to foot and shook his hands as though trying to wake them after spending the whole night sleeping on them.

“Well… I… Tannock and I hadn't really seen each other very much since I Impressed,” H’lem began. And then he spent a few seconds trying to catch his breath as it seemed to be trying to run away from him.

And then the tears came.

Mactallath hummed anxiously. He did not like whatever all this was, and he was not at all sure what it was.

“We were just talking at first. And then, you know, we… well, we kept getting a little closer to each other, and, well, I know it’s not really against the rules to hold hands, exactly.” The words kept coming faster and faster, as if they, too, were sprinting to outrun the sob chasing behind them.

“We didn't mean to get so carried away, I swear. But one thing led to another, and, and…” And then the sobs caught up, and H’lem was a blubbering mess.

Mactallath brushed heavily against his mind, and H’lem leaned his own mental presence back into his. But the brown’s eyes whirled fearful yellow.

For a moment M'thos looked concerned. M'rhas had been stressful enough as a weyrling, and H'lem was about the same age and growing just as fast, and he didn't have any holdless in the class to be bad influences. Between M'sar harassing candidates and K'valas and Aegaryn jumping away from each other like kids expecting a chaperone, he was certain his hair was becoming more grey than blond.

"Lem, buddy." He finally said, gesturing him to sit and moving the class supplies off to the side. "Take some deep breaths. You're all right. Mactallath is probably more upset because you've worked yourself up so much."

H’lem sat and took a moment to try to compose himself. M’thos was right. Mactallath had not been particularly upset before, but he was now. H’lem sniffled and began to hiccup.

Mactallath sent images to H’lem of the two of them happy together, of H’lem taking care of him, an unbroken string from when Mactallath had hatched until now. Not memories of specific experiences, really, just the things Mac knew they had done out of habit and out of feeling, and from rummaging through H’lem’s own memories for the corresponding sights and sounds and smells.

Last, he pushed forward his feelings of confusion and worry at why his rider was crying. H'lem got his meaning. He was showing him that he had no idea what H’lem was even upset about. He could not remember whatever it was ever even happening.

“Tannock and I,” he said finally. “We. We.” Fire and ash, it was so hard to say it. “We…” He whispered sharply, “We _hugged_.” Then he continued normally, “And not just a quick little hug. I held him for a long time. It was at Turn’s End. I just missed him so much, and Mac was asleep, and I didn't think-- I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry.”

"Oh, for Faranth's-" M'thos couldn't help the incredulous smile. "Lem, that's not what we mean when we say relationships aren't allowed. You can hug people. You can hold their hands. You especially don't need to be angsting over it for a sevenday." His eyes unfocused briefly as he checked with Fianwyth, and he was back again. "Mac is only upset because you've worked yourself up into a panic. If you hadn't, he wouldn't have even noticed."

H’lem was gobsmacked, to say the least. All of this was just because of his own worrying? His eyes tracked back and forth as he thought through it all, tried to fully grasp the entirety of what this meant and all of the anxiety he had heaped onto himself.

“Then…” He paused again and thought for just a moment more. “We could hug again?”

"As long as your pants stay on." M'thos said lightly. He considered explaining further, but didn't think that H'lem might be the one to try and skirt around that explanation. "Many weyrlings have had strong, intimate relationships before they Impress, and continuing those while the dragonet is young can cause problems in their growth. The bond is so new and so are all the feelings being shared, and very strong ones can cause the dragonet to react unpredictably. The holdless weyrlings are especially struggling to understand that we have rules after millenia of raising young dragons, and not because I specifically want to give them grief, so I think we've been harder on this class than we should be. But even then-- the rules themselves are just a guiding point for us. Some dragonets handle strong emotions better than others, so what Mactallath is fine with will be different than any other dragon in the class. It's important to recognize _why_ he's upset, not just that he is. Does that make sense?"

“He… he doesn't usually use that many words,” said H’lem. “So, sometimes it's hard to really understand what he's trying to tell me. Most of the time I get him; it’s like we just click, and I know exactly what he means just with a word or two and… pictures and feelings. But I guess I kinda got in my own head about this instead of getting in his.”

"He's still communicating with you." M'thos said gently. "But you're right about being too much in your own head. You can always 'hear' or 'feel' or however you want to describe your connection. You need to recognize when it's you getting upset, or if it's him. You're getting older and you're going to be experiencing a lot of firsts, and that comes with high emotions. Hopefully Mactallath will be old enough and mature enough to keep you steady, but you'll always need to listen to him."

H’lem nodded. That all made sense. And now that he had calmed down, Mactallath seemed content as well. Mostly. There was also a bit of a feeling there that H’lem interpreted as the shake of his head along with a, ‘you silly wherry.’

“You’re… not going to tell Weyrlingmaster T’lonas about this, are you?” H’lem winced at the possibility. He really wanted Tannock’s dad to like him.

M'thos patted H'lem's shoulder. "No, bud, I think we can keep this talk between ourselves, can't we?"

H’lem breathed a sigh of relief and nodded intensely.

“Yes, sir.” Well. Now that he had him there… “Are you and Dad doing anything for dinner?”

"We're having dinner with you, aren't we?" M'thos asked with a smile. "Our weyr, this evening? It's T'mhas' turn, so of course that means he's pretending he's cooked whatever he can charm out of the dining hall. If you get there early enough you might be able to catch him in the act."

H’lem perked up and smiled brightly.

“I'll be there as soon as I can!” Then he paused for a moment as he worked up the courage. “Could we maybe invite Tannock?”

"You can invite anyone you like." M'thos said, a little baffled that he even thought to ask permission after the time Varethos brought [Zaphare] without any forewarning.

H’lem would have to ask him right away to make sure he did not make other plans!

“We’ll see you this evening! Thanks, Dad.” H’lem gave M’thos a quick hug and then scampered off.

M'thos watched the kid high-tail it out of the weyrling barracks, leaning gently against the doorframe of his office. Once he was completely certain that the kid was well out of earshot, he pushed off from the doorframe and sauntered down the hall. "Oh, T'lonas…!"

Last updated on the June 4th 2026

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One Thing Led to Another