Unexpected Friendship

Writers: Eimi, Suzee
Date Posted: 7th September 2012

Characters: K'ale, J'nev
Description: K'ale and J'nev renew their acquaintance...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 3 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: U'kaiah, Aileyan, G'wen

K'ale

K'ale pulled Imalkyth's straps off and the big brown trotted into the
water of the cavern lake for a bath after the Fall. He pulled off his
flying leathers to drop on the pile of straps and bent to wash his
face in the tepid lake waters. A candidate came running with the
tools and and offer of help. Other riders were arriving so he took the
bucket and accepted the offer. Then it was only a matter of waiting
for his lifemate to come back to the shore.

Riding a bronze, J'nev had recruited two candidates into helping him
once Ankioth had enjoyed a moment to relax in the waters. They sat a
ways off as he did a bit of scrubbing in the lake as well. "Another
Fall survived, eh?" he said, squinting over at the rider who stood not
far from him on the beach. J'nev splashed another handful over his
head. It felt so sharding good after being squeezed under a riding cap
for several candlemarks.

"Yeah," K'ale nodded with a smile. He always felt the let up of
pressure after a Fall and almost felt like jumping in the water with
his brown. He threw an admiring look at Ankioth. Whatever might be
whispered about J'nev he obviously cared for his lifemate and that was
alright in his book. "He's looking very good."

J'nev looked over his shoulder at the bronze with a proud smile. "I
take care of him, and he takes care of me." Who needed friends or
family when you had a dragon watching your back? Only they could be
trusted not to turn around and stab you in it. "How's Imalkyth flying?
Have you both adjusted to life in the Wings?"

"We're getting there," he smiled. "It's not easy. But then if it were,
anyone could do it."

"True." The bronzerider splashed one more handful of water on his face
before standing up to his full height and stretching. "Shards, I need a
massage. Or a drink. I'm not sure which." Or a woman, he thought to
himself, though he wasn't sure he wouldn't rather fly a second Fall than
deal with the tangles of Thread they usually caught him up in.

K'ale stretched his back before rising to meet Imalkyth as he emerged
from the lake. His pecan brown hide gleamed with water. "I know what
you mean." He thought about a nice ale when they got done. "Hey," he
said with a smile. "Wanna go get a drink after this?"

J'nev only took a moment to think about his answer. "Yeah, all right.
Meet you in the Dinning Cavern then?"

---

K'ale leaned back with his chair on two legs, something his foster
mother had always scolded him about. "This was a great idea J'nev." He
lifted his third mug to the bronze rider.

"Yeah," J'nev said with a lazy smile before sipping a bit of froth off
the top. "Better than sitting at home, that's for sharding sure." He
was feeling loose in body and in tongue. Leaning forward a bit he
asked, "So has your brown started chasing yet?"

"Sure is," he agreed with a grin. "Yes," he replied to the question
about flights. Though his first success had been quite a mixed
blessing. He'd won a couple of flights and appeared at least a little
bit choosy about which green's he went after.

"Caught any?" J'nev asked, not knowing the brownriders record.

"Some," he said. "The second one wasn't too bad, but she was a little
long in the tooth for my taste." He grimaced slightly.

Some, huh? J'nev's bronze had only caught a couple so far. How was
K'ale, barely out of weyrlinghood, beating him in that score? "Long in
the tooth, eh?" he grumbled before taking another sip. "Well," he wiped
the drops from his lip with the back of his sleeve, "mine caught
Aileyan's once. Beat U'kaiah _and_ G'nir's bronzes to do it, too."

"Oh nice one," K'ale grinned admiringly. He lifted his empty mug and
wiggled it at one of the servers who came with a pitcher to refill
glasses. He knew that had to have tweaked U'kaiah. His relationship
with the greenrider was fairly well known.

"Yeah, that was fun to wake up to, let me tell you." J'nev gave a nod
to the boy as he topped of his glass. "But, you know, since she was
U'kaiah's and all, I decided not to try for anything past the Flight. I
was tempted, though." Of course, that was a bold-faced lie, but he
doubted K'ale would ever ask for details from a Wingleader's lover.

"I'm sure," he nodded. "It was probably a good idea." K'ale wasn't
aggressive with the girls but anyone with an eye could see that
Aileyan was beautiful. "I sure wouldn't mind winning one of her
flights." His gaze rested with approval on J'nev. The guy was more fun
than some people gave him credit for. He honestly didn't understand
why anyone had warned him away from the bronzrider.

J'nev felt a little better that at least the mention of that name had
impressed K'ale a bit. He wanted to be taken seriously as a
bronzerider, though he didn't really like all the other aspects that
seemed to go along with it. From time to time he didn't mind indulging
a woman's fantasy of laying a young bronzerider, but it always left a
bad taste in his mouth afterwards, and reinforced the idea that women in
a Weyr only thought of one thing. Most men for that matter as well. It
seemed to always prove a safe topic for conversation, though Turns ago,
he would have felt shame for doing so. He would have felt shame for a
lot of things he did. Deep down, it festered inside him. The time he
felt proud of anything was when sitting atop his dragon as he flamed
Thread to chardust. But what could he do? He was chosen to this life,
and there was no use fighting that. And Ankioth loved him, despite the
fact he was the worst version of himself.

"Who was the long-tooth then?" he asked his companion, keeping on the
topic.

"Festla," was all he said. The woman was older than his own mother and
still seemed to want to run after all the young male riders. She'd
been quite happy with her green's choice of Imalkyth, but K'ale had
extracting himself faster from her bed than G'wen's.

"I don't know her." Which wasn't surprising. J'nev didn't usually go
for that sort of woman. "I bet it was a bit of a shock. How did you
get away?"

"I just pulled on my trousers, thanked her nicely, and walked out the
door while she was still talking." He shook his head laughing. "You,
my friend, were a lucky man to catch such a nice young one." He held
out his mug to clink with J'nev's. The drink was making him feel
expansive and happy with the world.

"I was," J'nev agreed, this time nakedly honest. "If I am so lucky
again, U'kaiah be damed /between/. I'll not let her go twice." He
could still see her skin glowing in the dim light. So soft. So
sharding beautiful it took his breath away even to think of it.

"Ha," laughed K'ale. "You'd be a fool otherwise." He nodded at the
bronzerider. "Don't they say if you catch em once you have a better
chance the next time?"

"U'kaiah caught her the next time," J'nev all but growled. "But Ankioth
will not give up." A sudden thought occurred to him, and the darkness
left his eyes for a moment. "You better take your words to heart,
K'ale. You may yet find yourself in 'Long-tooth's' clutches."

"Oh Faranth!" He exclaimed.

The bronzerider threw his head back at the thought, laughter pouring out
from the depths of him. It felt good to let go like that. It felt like
being alive.

Last updated on the September 24th 2012

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