Let's Start Now

Writers: Emma, Len
Date Posted: 9th November 2011

Characters: Teseada, G'wen, S'vin, Catrien, Daran
Description: Daran and Teseada have to face the truth of their relationship
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 11 of Turn 6
Notes: Follows 'The First Blooding'

Teseada

Daran ducked his head as he walked towards the infirmary. The ladies
in the Dinning Hall had said that the object of his search had gone to
sit with her friend that had been so badly scored yesterday. The
young harper felt truly bad at the news of that, as the last time he
had been in the company of the green weyrling, the end result had been
terrible.

He wished he could erase every cruel, prejudice word he had shouted at
the boy, that day at the Hatching when he had found out his love
wasn't just a humble apprentice Technician but the woman second in
command at this bloody Weyr. His mind drifted back even as his feet
propelled him forward...

--flashback--

"Go shove yourself /between/ you nasty...you bigoted arse!" G'wen may
have been tiny but he wasn't going to just stand the verbal abuse from
Daran. He planted his hands on his hips and glared at the great big
jerk. Daran, for his part, was uninterested in a fight. He just
wanted to confront Tes about her deception.

The harper had been fuming throughout the entire hatching, itching to
get his hands on Tes. How could she have done this to him? Calling
G'wen--and S'vin--a pervert was the least of his worries.

"Feck off, you faggot! I've got more important things to do than to
stand here and fight you!" He pushed past the greenrider and his
astonished friend and ran down the stairs. As soon as he got to
Tes...boy was he going to tell her a thing or two! How dare she do
this to him? What was he, just a bit of fun for the weyrwoman? A
joke?!

S'vin watched him plow down the steps, hoping to Faranth he slip and
fall on one of them. When he didn't he shook himself and grabbed the
still furious G'wen and tore after the harper. If that tosser got to
poor Teseada before them...

**Kadeth! Stop him!**

The blue gracefully glided over the grounds and landed just in front
of the harper. Neath wasn't so graceful and all but sat on him for
good measure.

"Don't you_dare_ ruin her big day! Isn't it bad enough you've ruined
our's?" S'vin grabbed Daran's arm as he stopped before him. He could
only spare a quick glance at the worried pixie face of Catrien, her
new lifemate standing at her side, before he turned back to the
redfaced harper. How long had the three of them been waiting for this
wonderful day to arrive for her, only to have this lout ruin it all?

Daran, hobbling on the foot that Neath had sat on, glared from the
bluerider to the green weyrling to the pretty girl with her baby
dragonet at her side. "You don't understand--"

"Oh no, it's_you_that doesn't understand!" G'wen ducked around
S'vin's elbow and jabbed his finger in Daran's chest. "_She_didn't
tell you because she just wanted a nice normal life, for once! Are
you going to tell me you would have reacted the same had you known she
was a gold rider? Would you?!"

"I...uh..." He deflated in the face of that argument. "But you still
don't understand..."

"Oh, we understand all too well. The sooner you crawl back into
whatever sad little hold you came from the better! For Tes and for
all of us!"

--fadeout--

Daran shuddered, thinking of what had befallen the feisty little
greenrider. Well, if he was as brave as he had shown that day of the
hatching, Daran had no fear that he wouldn't survive. Though the
riders talking in the Dinning Hall had said it was a terrible wound.
How would that affect Tes? His heart felt like it was going to
break,_why_did he say all those horrible words to her? To all of
them?

He all but ran into the infirmary, stopping only once when he saw the
state the beautiful green of G'wen's was in. Where once her hide
had been a glowing green, like a autumn sun setting on the forest, now
it was nothing but a dull grey with only the faintest trace of green
left. She sat, feline-like, and ignored everything around her,
including him.

The healer just inside the door directed him to where the injured from
yesterday's Fall were laying. When he came to G'wen's bed, he
understood the state of Neath. The boy looked awful. The score was
hidden from view, covered by the boy's shirt and thick blankets and a
couple of fire lizards that were laying against his back. He was
laying on his side, unconscious, and in the chair beside the bed was Tes.

Teseada had been there for what felt like a whole day. G'wen, well he was
like a much younger brother to her with them having grown up as weyrbrats
together. She'd never thought that this would happen to him, not with Neath
so proud and strong watching for him. Onnyth was keeping a mental ear open
for the smaller dragon, trying to keep her strong for G'wen, not that it was
easy.

When she looked up, she saw the harper, the one who had been _her_ harper
coming in. She couldn't leave G'wen, not when he was so ill, but she wasn't
sure she wanted to even see him, let alone speak to him. Not after the
fight they had had, the words he'd used, and with what G'wen and S'vin had
said - there was no doubt it was over; no doubt at all in her mind that he
hadn't ever wanted to see her again.

~*~ flashback ~*~

Teseada had finished with her duties at the hatching feast, greeting the new
riders and their families and was speaking to the Lord of Opal Cove as she
realised that Onnyth was passing her a message from Neath.

"My apologies," she said. "I'm afraid I'm wanted elsewhere Lord Alendren.
Please give my best regards to your Lady and family."

The message was somewhat garbled, but it didn't take much to find G'wen, and
from the look on his face, something was clearly not right, to say the
least.

He all but ran into her arms and hugged her tightly before standing
back and giving her a little shake. "I_told_you to be honest with
Daran, did I not?"

"Shut up, G'wen, now's not the time for a scolding." S'vin stepped up
and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders. "Okay missy, your
harper boy knows all about you and is on the rampage, so head's up.
We're not trying to spoil your big day but you need to know in case he
tries to make a scene."

Her face said it all. "What did he say?" she asked after a moment, trying to
get herself together.

G'wen rolled his eyes to the sky as S'vin said, "oh honey, he's one
pissed off harper." His look matched G'wen's.

"I don't know whether to find him now and try to talk, or, or what."
Teseada looked around to see if she could spot Daran.

"No, don't." G'wen looked up at her. "This is your day, go enjoy
yourself and forget him for a moment."

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure!"

--fadeout--

"Daran," she said softly. "G'wen's sleeping finally, or I think he is."

He leaned down, feeling and no doubt looking guilty. "How is he?" he
asked softly.

"I don't know, the healers are worried about him, so worried."

"He doesn't look good," he said with a heavy sigh. "If I could only
take back all those horrible words I spat at him..."

"I don't think that's important right now," Teseada said, her eyes fixed on
the greenrider. "I just want him to get through this."

"Yes." He sighed again and leaned down to gently touch the
greenrider's hair. "It's funny...all us Holder-types, all we can
think about is what green and blue riders get up to in the bedroom and
never once do we stop to think about what they do to save all of us.
And at what price. We're arses, each and every one of us."

Tempting as it was to reply with something that agreed with the last
statement, Teseada knew it wasn't the time or place. "I hope he's going to
be okay."

"Me too." He sat down on the floor so he was lower than Teseada.
"Tes...all those words I said..."

--flashback--

"How could you?!"

Daran had finally found Tes, a day after the hatching. Those two
faggots had managed to keep her away from him on the day of the
Hatching but now they were in class and he had finally gotten his
chance to confront her on each and every dirty little game she had
played on him. He had marched up to her weyr and come face to face
just as she was leaving. Just as well, as the last thing he wanted
was to have to face that huge dragon of her's.

"I beg your pardon?" she said.

Great, so the game playing was to be carried out even though he had
been clued in. He was raised not to hit women...but he was sorely
tempted. "You know what," he managed to say through gritted teeth.

"Not here," she said after a moment, "Maybe we should do this in private."
Daran looked like he was ready to make a scene, and neither of them needed
that.

"Lead the way." He stood to one side and indicated with a sweep of
his arm for her to walk before him. The sooner they got this over
with, the better.

It took moments for them to reach the perceived safety of her weyr. "Daran,
I'm sorry for not telling you," she began. "But if you'd just let me
explain."

"What do you mean 'I'm sorry'?! Tes!! I trusted you! Shards, I told
you I loved you!" How he wished he could take that back. "So what
sort of game were you playing with that little faggot of your's?
Let's feck up the new guy's mind? Or something even dirtier?"

"How could you think that!" she hurled at him. "All the time people look at
me, and it isn't me that they see. They see Onnyth, these knots I wear, and
I feel like I'm just a figurehead. Nobody ever wants to know anything other
than a goldrider. Bronzeriders just want me in their bed. Do you know they
even bet on who could be there first to seduce me? Do you? Do you know what
that's like?"

"Funny enough, I do!"

That last statement was not what she expected him to say. "I wasn't lying
when I said I was falling in love with you," she said softly. "I meant that,
I just wanted to be normal for once, to have someone like me for who I am
and not what I am."

"But yet you didn't trust the judgement of the boy you claimed to be
falling for. Of all the conceded, snotty things to say. The sun
doesn't shine out your gold riding arse, you know. All you
dragonriders..and you all wonder why the rest of us hate you so much.
I'm surprised all of you can move in this place with all the bloated
egos about." He drew himself up and stared hard at the girl. "No,
you go play with a new boy. This one's been hurt enough by you and
your nasty little games. Good-bye!"

"Daran, please! Just let me explain," she had to try one more time. "I love
you."

"What's there to explain?! You used me, plain enough. Now get off me
woman, I've had enough!" At that he walked out the door and out of
her life, or so he thought.

--fadeout--

Looking at her now, his heart ached. He should have been there when
G'wen was hurt. He should have been there for a lad who he understood
now had tried to tell him what was going on. He should have been
there for the woman that he--even now--loved.

He should have been there.

"Tes...I..."

"What?" the tone of her voice was curt, he'd hurt her deeply when he walked
away that night.

"I don't blame you if you hate my guts..but I_am_sorry for what I
said. It was just, at the time, it really felt like you had just
played me for a fool." He looked at her with hurt eyes, not even sure
if she_hadn't_done just that.

"All I wanted was something normal, where I could be me, without the
pressures of being a goldrider." She finally met his eyes, wondering if the
hurt in them matched her own pain. "Everyone told me I should have told you,
but I just didn't know how."

He nodded at that. "I just wish you had trusted me enough to say
something. It wouldn't have made any difference to me if you had been
on gold, on green or just what you had told me, an apprentice. I
love_you_not your title."

"Would you stay here with me for a while? With G'wen I mean, we can talk it
out while we're here. And he won't be alone."

"Of course."

She smiled at the Harper. "Thanks Daran, I know G'wen will appreciate it."

"More like he'd jump up and punch me if I knew I was here." He sighed
and looked at the sleeping weyrling, feeling terrible for all the
cruel words he had called him. "If he gets through this, I swear I'll
wash his green every day of the sevenday."

"Be careful what you say, Neath and Onnyth are probably listening."

"Hey, I never said I'd wash Onnyth, just Neath. She's much smaller."
His voice took on its more usual light tone.

"Onnyth's more likely to remember that though, and she can make her presence
felt."

"As long as her rider tries to forgive a great big arse of a harper."

"We can work on that," she said, trying to meet his eyes. "I want to, if you
do."

"I do." He reached out to touch her hand.

She took his hand, suddenly feeling more hopeful about the future. "Lets
start now."

Last updated on the December 5th 2011

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