Enough of Being Somber

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 21st January 2019

Characters: C'rin, Riveenata
Description: C'rin and Riveenata catch up and gossip.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 4 of Turn 9

C'rin

Riveenata had enjoyed the nice weather on her sweepride. And now that
the rest of the day, she had no further obligations, she decided she
was going to go take a walk along the beach. The texture and color of
the sand had slowly become more familiar to her over the intervening
half-Turn, and she was enjoying the feeling of it running through her
bare toes. She was still within sight of the Weyr when she caught
sight of a familiar figure.

"C'rin!" she called, waving at him.

"Riveenata!" the brown rider called back with a smile and wave.

C'rin altered his course a little and parted ways with the two
wingmates he'd been throwing ball with near the surf.

"Where've you been lately?" he asked, hooking an arm around her
shoulders as he joined her on her walk.

"I've been trying to earn more marks by doing some package and
messenger duty," she said. It had gottne her out of the Weyr a bit for
exploring, and also given her a little time on her own to try to
corral some of her thoughts.

"Well, you've been missed at the beach bonfires." C'rin gave her
shoulder a little squeeze. "What are you going to spend those extra
marks on?" he asked.

She reached up and touched her ears. "I was thinking about getting
some nice jewelry at a Gather. Not just some sample pieces my brother
turns out when he's practicing techniques or when he's cutting a stone
and it's flawed so he has to do something with the usable bits."

"You can make any piece of jewelry look good, Riv, even if they are
sample pieces." C'rin had also been saving his money on the side,
although he hadn't quite decided on what he would purchase yet.

She smiled and blushed a little. "Thanks. What about you, what have
you been doing?"

"Trying to catch up on my harpering some in my free time." C'rin's
fingers were still tender from where he'd been working with his gitar
again. "And then running around like a headless wherry as Dasveth has
decided to chase any female in the Weyr that rises. He'll probably be
trying to fly after the golds too the next time they rise." He shook
his head.

She laughed. "He is a brown dragon, they try that sometimes. Maybe
he'll get lucky and catch Santhiath." She was young and her first
flight might well be won by a brown.

C'rin made a face, "No, thank you. When I think winning gold flights
two words come to mind- bossy and responsibility." The brownrider much
preferred the no-strings-attached feeling of a green flight.

"Is there responsibility involved after?" she pondered.

"Yeah, you know, with the clutch and all of that and having to be
around the goldrider during that whole thing." C'rin just didn't like
the thought of it.

"Oh, I didn't think about that part. In that case, I won't wish him
success," she teased.

"How have your flights been? Successful?" C'rin asked as they came
upon a large piece of sun bleached driftwood.

"Savith keeps choosing bronzes," she said, with a small laugh. "The
last few have been F'lin, R'nar, and now K'lvin."

She poked at the driftwood with her foot as she said the last name,
maybe over-focusing on staring at it.

C'rin thought about that for a moment, "You know I hadn't even noticed
that trend. I wonder if she'll choose bronze again next time?"

"That's what I wonder. It's odd, I always assumed blues had a much
better chance because of size and agility. Or browns, since they're
the happy medium." She nudged him gently with an elbow and smiled.

"I know they always say the dragons decide, but sometimes feelings
filter into it, right? I thought that influenced her picking Seneth,
but I don't know about the other ones."

C'rin put hand to his chest, "Ouch, I'm wounded." He grinned and
bumped her shoulder to let her know he was teasing. "I was a little
surprised to see Xmrenth in the chase, I didn't know what K'lvin's
retirement entailed."

"I'll sway her towards Dasveth next time, I really will try. But
Seneth was one of the first dragons outside her clutch she really got
to know, so that was probably biasing," she said.

There was a moment of hesitation before she said, "Well, he can't fly
Fall or active duties because they're worried about his heart, but I
guess the short term increases of private time aren't as bad as a
whole multi-candlemark fight."

"Well you know it's not like we have to wait for her to rise," C'rin
flashed a winning smile.

"Of course not, but it's just, the rising just adds some extra spice
to things, doesn't it?" That rush of heat, of almost mindlessness,
nothing was quite like it.

She liked C'rin's smile, and his company, and she did enjoy bantering
with him. So she added, "And maybe we can sway her for next time."

"Flights do add something to it," he agreed. "But there is something
to be said for already being agreeable to the winner beforehand."

"Absolutely," she said. "So is there any other girl you'd like to wake
up beside?"

"I wouldn't mind winning one of Rondera's flights, but she's a little
intimidating. Her family _breeds_ Weyrleaders and Weyrlingsmasters and
perfect dragonriders, apparently." C'rin laughed.

"Tell me about it. That's a challenge, when you're interested in
someone with intimidating relatives." She thought of F'lin's
grandmother, former Weyrwoman Tsaera.

"Definitely," C'rin agreed. "I guess I'd just like to wake up beside
someone and have things just feel... easy and comfortable, you know?"

Easy. Comfortable. Like it was natural to be there, and not awkward at
all. All things that it would be good for one to have in a flight
partner, or any bed partner, really. Of course Riveenata's mind
drifted right back on to that most recent flight and waking up with
K'lvin. Had it been easy and comfortable? Spending time around him,
playing games, and talking, had always seemed that way. He'd become
excellent company and a friend.

Waking up with him...well the first time, it'd been flightlust again,
the way things had just _sparked_ between them. That had been easy,
for a certain definition. Waking up the second time, well. They'd been
polite, they hadn't been too stiff and formal about it...it was a
flight and it made sense to thank your partner if it was good...

She blinked over at C'rin when she realized she'd lost what was going
on. Had he said something? "Huh?"

There was an amused expression on the brownrider's face, "You okay?
You looked like you were a million miles away over there." C'rin felt
he knew Riveenata pretty well, they had been very close right after
River Bluff fell, but today she seemed different in a way that he
couldn't quite put his finger on.

"I'm just a little distracted today, thinking about a lot of things. I
can't even blame it on talking to Savith," she said, kicking at the
sand again.

"Anything I can help with?" he asked genuinely.

"I don't think so," she said with a shake of her head. "Do you ever
have one of those days where you just keep wondering about if things
were a little different? I feel a bit...stagnant, here, I suppose."

"I had those days a lot when we first came to Dolphin Cove, less now
though," C'rin replied. "It's easy to wonder 'what if' something else
had happened and caused different outcomes in our lives, or I guess
you could look at it as, are things meant to happen in a certain way
to lead our lives in certain directions?" Those were the things
harpers often wrote about in poems and songs.

She'd hoped to get out of the Queen's Wing there, and instead stayed
in the same wing here. She'd hoped to be one of K'lvin's, actually. It
made her wonder if she'd flown under him in his wing, would that have
made the flight more awkward.. if he'd been her Wingleader, though,
would they have ever really become friends? That thought left an
unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm sure all of us wonder if what happened to River Bluff was meant
to. It sure changed a lot." There had been deaths, there'd been
injuries, people scattered all over.

"It did," C'rin agreed, glancing sideways at Riveenata. "Allright,
enough somber reflection. Let's go grab a drink and enjoy some music
or something."

"Sounds good to me," she said. Drinks, music. Maybe they'd spend the
night together if she could just cheer up and be interesting...

Last updated on the February 3rd 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Enough of Being Somber