Nice Things

Writers: Iluva, Steel
Date Posted: 2nd August 2026

Characters: A'yan, A'garyn
Description: Nhaliviath and Talarcheth do not become best friends, and probably not their riders either
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 20 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Ibranth

A'garyn

Nhaliviath arched her neck proudly, eyed Talarcheth with one scintillating eye. }:You are in my spot.:{ the green said primly.

A’yan, for his part, winced. “Nhaliviath, no.” he tried, but the green snorted. }:I am allowed to have nice things! :{

But Talarcheth was not about to give up _his_ spot. He was warm and comfortable with his tail still curled loosely around him, even as one eye peeled open, unhurried, incurious. Nhaliviath and her rider being there conjured an agitated yellow, though perhaps it was because they were obstructing his sun. Rather than say anything, however, he just sent a mental prod to A'garyn.

Across the field and breathing hard, A'garyn dragged in a few long breaths and turned around. He was spending a lot of his down time being active, not eager to be cooped up in a space that didn’t quite feel like his. His brows drew a hard line at the pair near his dragon, looking expectant on the one hand and almost in pain on the other. Frowning, he wiped sweat from his forehead as he approached.

“What do you want?” he asked A’yan, arms akimbo.

A'yan, for his part, coloured a little redder, and ducked his head. “Ah… sorry.” He blurted. “Nhaliviath is feeling stubborn.”

}:Don't apologize to them!:{ Nhaliviath snorted. }:That is _my_ spot!:{ She eyed Talarcheth. }:If you will not give me the spot, then move over and share!:{

“_Nhaliviath_!” A'yan scolded.

The bronze didn't budge. His other eye opened now and he stared blithely at her. }:Have you thought about just asking nicely?:{

“Okay,” A’garyn allowed, unaware of the particulars of Nhaliviath's plight, but having pieced together enough he gave a small nod. “Well, that's a defining feature of this clutch. She's not going to convince him to move,” he said somewhat dismissively. “Or whatever else she wants.”

}: _Would_ you move, if I asked politely?:{ Nhaliviath wanted to know. Her tail flicked in slow sweeps behind her. }:Mine says I am worthy of Nice Things.:{

“I…” A’yan started, then stopped. Tried again. “She is… very opinionated.” He agreed. “Darling, let Talarcheth alone if he is annoyed, please. We musn’t be irritating.”

Nhaliviath snorted her opinion of that as well.

}:Well, your current approach hasn't gotten you anywhere, has it? Try it and see.:{ Talarcheth's eyes whirled with a hint of challenge, but otherwise he lay as languidly as before. A little more languid than A'garyn thought he would be, given how preferred company did not yet include feisty greens. Given the quiet bite hovering in his otherwise perfectly patient tone.

One wing adjusted over his back. }:I'm not inclined to give you an answer to a question that hasn’t been asked.:{

Nhaliviath arched her neck proudly, and kept her gaze locked on Talarcheth. }:A polite dragon would simply give me the desired spot.:{ she sniffed.}:Mine!! Do something!:{

A'yan glanced at her, then back at A'garyn. **I'm not exactly sure _what_ I can do, Nhali.** he thought at her, and then offered A'garyn an apologetic sort of shrug. “I… I'm not inclined to get into a quarrel.”

“You're not-- but they are,” A'garyn muttered. Talarcheth thrived on the battle of wills, the galvanizing friction of minds. The bronze’s tail-tip twitching in consideration showed exactly that-- still patient, increasingly amused.

}:A worthy dragon has both the intelligence and humility to simply _ask_.:{ Talarcheth countered.

“Might be better to take her somewhere else for a while, if you can.” A’garyn shot A’yan a sidelong look. “He won't be there all day.”

A’yan’s smile turned a little bit strained. “.. Perhaps.” He allowed. “I can try to coax her away to go eat, but Ibranth is over there.” he said lightly. “I believe it would wind up similarly.”

The other weyrling made a low noise of agreement. He would rather just resume his jog at this point, but he knew better than to leave just yet. A'yan did not seem galvanized, in fact it was clearly, painfully, difficult for him, but A'garyn wasn't about to force Talarcheth out of it to appease the green. “Alright, well.” His hand raked through his gritty dark curls, thinking. “They might work it out themselves.”

To that, Talarcheth tilted his head ever so slightly, talons flexing in warm dirt. }:Move, Nhaliviath. Please. You're blocking the sun.:{

“... Nhali?” A’yan asked, and looked at her.

The green lifted her head and made a show of rustling her wings, before sinking down to sit neatly, though her tailtip still twitched slowly. }:I will wait.:{ the green huffed, in a pique but no longer advancing.

A’yan’s expression creased. “I don’t think she’ll start anything.” He told A’garyn. “I… I can stay here with her.” he added in offer.

Talarcheth's eyes fizzed with mild disdain. He settled his chin on his forelegs, a hammer's hit in its abruptness, staring at her like she had instigated something she still had no idea she couldn’t win. Or, rather, that he was refusing to let it happen.

“She's just going to sit?” There was no real objection from A’garyn, though he couldn't help but frown. A'yan was hardly a threat here. Their dragons weren’t hurling venomous remarks, and there was no hissing, growling, stomping, yelling, or trying to draw ichor, either. That, admittedly, was a surprise. More quietly, something else-- a certain ledge he often thought about meant it could be good for Talarcheth to be around an opinionated green who did not yield so easily.

With a firm, nudging reminder to his dragon to _behave_, he was content enough to leave it at that. He went back across the field, using the end of his shirt to mop the rest of the sweat from his face.

But no more than a dragonlength away he stopped.

Turned back.

A short distance from their stalemated dragons, A'garyn motioned to his classmate. “A'yan.” His brows had knitted again. “Come here a sec.”

A'yan hesitated, only a moment longer, and glanced at Nhaliviath. But her attention was wholly on Talarcheth, and so he swallowed and trotted over toward A'garyn, offering another cheery sort of smile. “Yes?” He asked.

A'garyn's arms folded across his chest. “Do you have little siblings? Cousins?”

“I have one little sibling.” A'yan offered readily. “Seven elder siblings. Two sisters and four brothers, all together.” He added. “If I may… do you have any siblings?”

“No,” A’garyn said after a pause, the word carrying a shadow of reproach. “Just me.” He dropped his arms but, looking at A'yan, skinny and strained and uncertain, he let the bile in his throat subside, knowing it had been just a question.

“... That must have been nice.” A'yan said, finally, when the other didn’t continue. “I, ah… is that all?”

“No, that's not--” A'garyn scrubbed a hand back through his hair again, trying to find the thread again before A'yan's question yanked it out of his hands. Talarcheth sent nothing more than a low pulse of his attention-- not concern, not amusement, but watching, feeling, the way he so often did around the things A'garyn kept inside. “Look. I didn’t ask to chitchat about our families.” He forced an exhale, trying to feel like he was on solid ground again. “Eight siblings is a lot. That's a lot of practice, is what I mean. People who want their way and don't care if it's a good idea.” A brow arched in the direction of their dragons, intractably stubborn and each convinced of their own superiority. “They act like children, but they’re going to be the size of a ship soon.”

A'yan winced internally. “I..” he started. Stopped. “Nhaliviath is not… aggressive. I apologize if we've disturbed the pair of you. Nhali is simply outspoken, that's all. I wasn't intending personal conversation.” He added, hastily. “It's only… you did ask.”

Nhaliviath snorted again. }:Talarcheth's will not bite you, Mine. Stand taller.:{

“I don't care that you asked me that. That's not what I'm saying.” A'garyn glared, his voice firm, if with less edge than he wanted to look at right now. “I'm saying-- look, you've got seven siblings. You've heard ‘no’ from your family before, right? Probably more than a few times. It didn't stop you from loving them, did it?”

His gaze sliced away. To the green, still in her huff, thinking how -- with some distant and dark spark of regret -- there was more potential for real hostility in his dragon than A'yan's. “And I'm not saying Nhaliviath's aggressive. But if she's that strong-willed, what is it when it's not food or sunbathing spots? I don't know. ‘Cause if you don't put your foot down, I don't know what it looks like when she wants something dangerous and you need her to listen the first time. That's all.”

A'yan winced, again, and breathed out slowly. “I'm… not very good at being… assertive.” He said finally, carefully, offered a self deprecating sort of smile. “I won't bore you with the details. But… thank you for the caution.” He added. He'd add it to the list of things he was already working extra on.

“I don't mean fight her. Nhaliviath can stay there for however long she wants.” A'garyn ignored the hot flare of indignation suspended between their minds.

If he didn't already know how parts of the world worked, what it was like to be driven relentlessly to the edge, stripped bare, A'garyn might've felt more guilt for the way A'yan winced. It sat somewhere in the murk, twisting and sliding away. Only none of that changed facts. The weight of what had already happened and what lay ahead was imprinted on his words. “But _you_ have to decide what that actually is. You already pushed back at me, so you can do it.”

A’yan took another slow breath of his own, gaze flickering from A’garyn down to his own hands and then back toward Nhaliviath, bright and shining and so utterly _certain_, confident in herself and utterly assured of her own place in the world, and by extension A’yan’s.

“I’m trying to be stronger.” He allowed, half awkward and more honestly than he usually meant. “I… would not allow others to get hurt through her actions.”

“Hope not,” the other weyrling replied. “But we don't always get to decide that.” Everything about that sentence had its own bizarre discomfort. A’garyn sighed. “That's why you need to be firm and hold now. Takes time.”

A’yan nodded, slowly, once more. “I hear you.” He repeated, and then took a half step back. “I… apologize for taking you away from… whatever you were doing. I won’t distract you further. And, if I may… thank you. I know I’m hardly the most impressive in our class.” He added, with a ghost of a smile, attempting to slide back into the mask of careless cheer.

A'garyn stared back at him.

“I doubt she thinks that.” His lips twitched faintly in a not-quite-smile of their own. “The only easy part about Talarcheth is lessons. Everywhere else it's us butting heads.”

The stakes were rising. The field above loomed closer with each sevenday. All that A'garyn had ever seen and knew and thought still didn't reach that far. And he argued with his dragon more than he liked. “Don't thank me,” he said as he passed A’yan, as perturbed by the apology as the self-deprecation, the supposed need for them. “And don't be sorry.”

Last updated on the October 28th 2026

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Nice Things