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Writers: Miriah, Devin
Date Posted: 14th February 2021

Characters: Ninaine, D'ren
Description: D'ren and Ninaine meet and decide to get acquainted.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 8, day 12 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Kapera, N'call, Teseada

Ninaine

After a long day, Ninaine didn't immediately return to her weyr;
instead, she decided to take some quiet time for herself and take a
walk around the weyr to get much needed exercise. Without the regular
drills and fighting Thread, she didn't have as much opportunity to
keep fit and the last thing she wanted to do was keep the baby weight
that still seemed to settle on her hips. Despite the chill of the
evening air, a brisk walk seemed far better than just returning to her
quiet, empty weyr.

She walked across the flat of what was considered the Weyrbowl and
looked up towards the cliffs that surrounded the round lake harbor. A
good hike up an easy trail might do and after that, a good long soak
in her bathing chamber. So, buttoning her jacket firmly around her,
she began to walk with purpose.

D'ren squinted at the woman. She was familiar and it took him a moment
to realize she was from Dragonsfall. He'd seen her around and Menanth
had even chased her green. He remembered her dragon had been injured
and she was on the weyrlingstaff. After a slight hesitation, he
gathered his courage and went over to greet her. "Hello. You're from
Dragonsfall, right?"

Ninaine stopped and turned, brows rising. When he approached, her
brows shot up as she studied his face and blinked, trying to recall
him. Then her face relaxed. "Oh...Yes. You're from Dragonsfall too. I
recognize your face, I think." She shifted on her feet, hoping he
wasn't going to ask her to get him in to see Kapera this evening.
"Uhm...Hi?"

"I'm D'ren, of bronze Menanth. I only wanted to say hello and welcome
you to Barrier Lake." He offered his hand.

"Oh. Well, thank you, D'ren." She took his hand in greeting. "It's
nice to really meet you." Ninaine looked at the path she was about to
take. "I was just going for an evening walk to stretch my legs." She
paused. "Would you like to join me? I know it's cold, but I need the
exercise."

D'ren immediately thought of other things he could be doing and just
as quickly realized those would be excuses. Why not go for a walk?
Conversations could be just as distracting as work. "I'd like that."
He chuckled. "This is nothing compared to Dragonsfall."

"No, it's really not." Ninaine agreed. "But at least it's a bit
warmer." She began to walk up the trail. "When did you transfer here?
Was it for the golds rising?" Every other bronzerider seemed to have
transferred around the same time or shortly after the goldriders
arrived.

"I did transfer before the Rising, but I didn't come here for that.
I'm kind of pathetically unambitious for a bronzerider." He smiled. "I
wanted to help build the Weyr."

Her brows quirked upwards. Was there such a thing as an unambitious
bronzerider? She'd never heard of one who didn't want leadership, but
she couldn't exactly tell him she didn't believe him. She'd heard of
nearly every bronzerider at Barrier Lake already and many came to
court Kapera's favor...except him, apparently. She hadn't known he was
here, so there was probably some truth to that. "That's an admirable
thing to do. What wing are you in?"

"I'm in Ash. Are you in the Weyrling staff?" He hoped that wasn't a
painful question.

Ninaine waved her hand from side to side in answer. "Kind of, but not
really. I help as needed. Mainly with holdbred Candidates who aren't
adjusting well and a few classes. I help Kapera, Teseada, and Jayzine
more, to be honest. There's not been an issue with any Candidates yet,
to be honest. I don't think there's a name or actual position for what
I do."

"Oh, that's interesting. Do you like the work?"

She tilted her head at him and her lips lifted slightly. "No, it's
really not that interesting, but it keeps me busy. And even better,
I'm not some kind of burden to the Weyr." Ninaine studied him as they
walked. "You really don't talk to a lot of people, do you?"

"A burden? You would never be a burden. Putting everything else aside,
you fought Thread, and even if you can't do that right now, you've
more than earned everything the Weyr can give you." It was awful to
think that riders with injured dragons, or who were injured
themselves, might think that way.

Her brows rose; she'd been called just that. No craft, no real
knowledge, nothing to offer except the fact that she was organized.
"With a new Weyr, everyone needs to contribute," She reminded him. "I
couldn't come here until I proved that I could. Otherwise I would have
had to stay at Dragonsfall and I didn't want that."

"What made you want to come to Barrier Lake?" he asked, sidestepping
the rest of it for now.

As they climbed the steadily steeper path, Ninaine answered. "N'call.
He's the father of my children. He was," she quickly corrected
herself," ...is...my Weyrmate. I wanted to join him. "

D'ren frowned at the slip up. He knew who N'call was, but he'd thought
the bronzerider was weyrmated to Teseada. "Well, I'm glad you were
able to make it. I know things are different at the Weyr, but I still
think family is important."

"So am I. He's much happier with his children here." Ninaine paused
just for a moment in her steps, speaking softly. "Things are very
different at the Weyr." She shook her head and continued to walk,
forcing a brighter smile on her face. "But it all works out. Family
_is_ important."

"Were you Holdbred then? Or Hallbred?" D'ren noted that she'd said
_N'call_ was happier.

"I'm from Amber Hills Hold." Her lips quirked. "But I haven't been
back since I Impressed."

"Not even to see your family?" He couldn't keep the surprise from his voice.

She didn't look at him as her legs worked to reach a higher elevation.
"My mother is very proper. I Impressed a green when there was a gold
on the Sands. I was disowned." Her smile didn't hold much humor in it.
"I guess you didn't hear about that. It was quite a scene at the
Hatching feast. People talked about it for sevendays after." Her
behavior after with Luneth kept them talking, but she hadn't realized
that until later. "But it's fine. I've adapted."

"Oh that's awful. I'm so sorry." Sometimes male green and blueriders
were disowned, but it was rare for women unless they'd run off to the
Weyr against their family's wishes. Even then it was about the _Weyr_
and not so much the color of their dragon. "I'm glad you were able to
make a family at the Weyr."

She tried not to think of it too much; the dissolution of her
relationship with her mother had long been accepted, especially since
her mother's attempt to get her daughter sent to the hold and the
insult to Luneth. Instead, Ninaine kept the polite lift of her mouth
that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thank you. So am I." She continued
walking and remembered her own duty to polite conversation. "I do hope
you're enjoying your time here at Barrier Lake and you find it more
suitable than Dragonsfall for you. Have you settled well?"

"I think so." He looked ahead of them, his gaze distant. "I hope this
can be _home_ and not simply the place I live. And part of that is
connecting with people. So maybe we can help each other make this
place feel a little more. . .homey."

She'd only recently become more sociable and that had taken a great
deal of effort; she missed T'lat and J'lor and the other people she'd
become acquainted to. Honestly, she thought, she hadn't made too much
of an effort here yet since she was still struggling to settle
herself. She nodded. "Perhaps we can. I've been trying to bury myself
in work, to be honest."

D'ren chuckled. "Me too."

Looking over at him, Ninaine cracked another smile. "What would make
this place more homey for you?"

"Friends," he said with a wistful smile. Friends that he didn't drift
away from, like he did far too often.

Her smile gentled in sudden understanding, especially of the
wistfulness. "I think that would make things better for me too. I miss
mine and it's so hard for me to make any, especially if they knew me a
few turns ago."

Now that he was thinking about it, he was pretty sure he'd heard a few
rumors about her, but he didn't want to mention that. "We all grow and
change, right? Well, most of us anyway," he added lightly. "Unless you
were mean to people, I'm not going to judge you on your mistakes."

Her lower lip pursed slightly. "I wasn't exactly _mean_ but I wasn't
exactly welcoming either," she admitted. "I'm still working on that."

"You've been friendly enough to me, so I'd say you're making progress."

"A turn ago, I would have probably ignored or avoided you." Ninaine
gave a rueful smile. "Or ran you off somehow. So yes, I suppose that
is progress."

"Well, I'm trying to make progress myself. I tend to close myself off.
Not in a cold way, exactly, I just sort of . . .get lost in my own
shadows." D'ren absently kicked at a pebble.

She tilted her head. "You're very unlike any bronzerider I've ever
met." Most of them, including N'call, had a sense of arrogant
self-assurance and confidence that D'ren seemed to outwardly lack.
Ninaine paused for thought, 'hmm'ing slightly as she considered the
man. "We both need friends." The idea that came to her wasn't
something she would have said a turn ago. "So, why don't we try eating
dinner together once or twice a sevenday? Just as friends?"

A smile broke through his gloomy expression, lighting up his face.
"I'd really like that."

There was an answering smile from Ninaine. "I think I would too. Maybe
we can help each other make this place feel like home."

Last updated on the March 4th 2021

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