Between the Lines

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 5th December 2017

Characters: Kapera, J'nus
Description: The people who love you know what you're saying, even if you don't actually say it.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 13 of Turn 9

Kapera

Kapera sat on Riyanth's ledge, swinging her feet and looking up at the night sky. Because it was a warm summer night, it was the perfect temperature to spend the night outside, and Kapera thought that were she in a better mood she would have found much more enjoyment in it. But instead she was feeling unsettled by all of the old memories that had been dredged up over the course of the month. Memories of Dragonsfall, of Windswept Islands. Of being sick. Of being ambitious, and then of being heartbroken, and spending months floundering as she tried to figure out who she was and wanted to be.

}:You should not be brooding. You should find something else to do,:{ Riyanth suggested.

**I just got back to my weyr,** the goldrider responded. She was changed now, she'd have to get dressed again. She could just sit and wallow...

Riyanth had other ideas. }:Kopth, is your rider busy?:{ she inquired.

}:No.: Would you like us to come to your ledge, Riyanth?:{ If the gold dragon wanted him, then Kopth was happy to oblige.

}:My rider is having a number of bad thoughts and I think your rider should come. He makes mine feel better,:{ the gold agreed.

She began to shift on her ledge over to one side so there would be room for Kopth. }:You should have drinks sent up for you and Kopth's rider.:{

Kapera started. **What?**

}:He and his rider are coming by. Then you will have company and not have to leave.:{

Kapera had been bonded with her lifemate long enough to know that the gold's mind was made up and that this was happening. So she went to order some juice and cookies, and slip a loose robe over her shift, before J'nus arrived.

It wasn't long before Kopth swooped up to Riyanth's ledge. He landed gracefully and paused long enough for J'nus to dismount before curling up to the larger golden queen, his eyes whirling with admiration and contentment. J'nus kissed Kapera on the cheek in greeting. "Thank you for the invitation. It's been a while."

"It has, hasn't it? It's not for lack of With Panitath grounded to tend to her clutch, we've been busy. Wing drills, disciplining riders, managing Riyanth's jealousy over the gold egg... I hope you were actually awake and that they didn't wake you up," she said, watching as Riyanth moved her head to lay it against Kopth's hide.

J'nus turned to look at Riyanth. Kapera might say that it was her dragon's jealousy she had to manage, but he knew her well enough to know that Kapera had to be envious as well. "She'll lay a gold egg soon enough, I'm sure. And then you'll both go stir-crazy on the Sands. You know it's coming."

"Shards, you're right - if I think she doesn't let me leave now...I'd be a smelly mess by the end of it because she'd not even let me free to bathe!" That was an unappealing image, going to her own Hatching unkempt after she hadn't bathed for sevendays.

}:You would have to be presentable. But not go too far,:{ the gold amended.

Kapera led J'nus into the weyr and pointed at her table. "Juice and tea and cookies," she said. "Because I need to wind down after the day I was having."

J'nus eyed the cookies, then gave into temptation and plucked one from the plate. "What happened?"

The goldrider sat on a couch and poured herself a glass of juice. "I went to check in on a rider I'd grounded up at the watch post. River Bluff refugee, promising on hides, but she was distracted and caused injuries. She seemed to have a hard time unpacking her grief, kept saying she didn't deserve to be upset. I like her, so I told her a story about Dragonsfall."

She must have liked the greenrider. Kapera didn't usually talk about her past. "Which story?"

"I tried to empathize with how she was feeling about losing River Bluff, so I told her about retiring away from it. What it's like to miss a place because you fall in love with it as you live there. About how I even now sometimes wake up, just missing my old Weyr, a certain storage room, a particular view from just the right spot on the Weyr-rim..." Kapera went quiet, thinking about it.

"Funny, I never missed Windswept Islands like that. I Impressed there, I started being a rider there, but I don't miss its shape in the way I've missed Dragonsfall."

"I miss the snow. Isn't that odd?" J'nus shook his head. "I hated snow when I was a kid. It mucked up the wagon wheels and made travel a misery. But I liked the cold days at Dragonsfall."

"I miss it as well. But the nice thing about not living there is we could go see it and then escape it back here to warm up. Though being snowed in lead to some creative ways to amuse."

"I remember that too." J'nus ran a light line with his finger up Kapera's arm. "I met you at Dragonsfall Weyr." For all the trouble and heartache she caused, getting involved with Kapera was not something that he regretted.

"I'd say you're my favorite thing about Dragonsfall and I'm glad we're in the same Weyr again. Given that I'm terrible about keeping in touch when we're not." There was a full honesty in her tone.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." It came out a little more sarcastic than he'd meant it to-- her silences did hurt. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her to distract her. "I'll take that as a compliment. Dragonsfall's a good place to be."

She let the kiss stay gentle rather than moving to heating it up, and lingered in his arms after it broke. "I doubt they'd ever sent me back just in case my lungs locked up again. But would you ever go back, or are you happy here?"

J'nus blinked, surprised. A slow grin spread across his face. It wasn't really a declaration or commitment from the goldrider, but it was _something_. "Kapera, all you'd have to do is ask. I'd follow you."

She hadn't expected him to say that and she was pleased. "Maybe I should have invited you To Windswept Islands, but it's boring there and I never wanted to stay," she said. "If the Weyrleaders ever wanted to send me somewhere else for some reason... I'd tell you where as soon as I knew."

"Good. It takes time to get transfer papers in." The bronzerider kissed her again, just because he could. "Anywhere you wouldn't want to go?"

She considered it. "I would like to stay South and not deal with seasonal reversal. So nowhere North. Here in the South, I think Vista Point seems boring. Dolphin Cove is the prettiest tropical Weyr."

"I'd agree with that. The only place I'd not want to go to would be River Bluff... but that's not an issue any longer." J'nus shook his head. It was a tragedy what had happened there, but it had also erased a lot of bad memories for him. "I'm happy enough here."

"It might be fun to go see all of the other Weyrs at their next hatchings, and look to see what they have as if we were thinking about it. Just as an exercise in imagination." There was no harm in a game like that surely.

"I do love how beautiful it is here. And working with the Leaders has been good, though sometimes..." her voice trailed off.

"Sometimes?" J'nus prompted.

"I think about the last 5 Turns and how I've lived in 3 Weyrs and held different positions. Sometimes I just look to the future and wonder if I'll still be here in 5 Turns, as Cyradis' Second. Will she have stepped down, or will they send me somewhere else to freshen up the bloodline?"

J'nus sighed. "Who knows, maybe the Pass will be over in five Turns and Cyradis will be Lady Weyrholder instead of Weyrwoman. We'll go back to the way things were before."

"I would love it for the Pass to end, and to not have to worry about losing friends to it. Then we can figure out what else to do with our lives. Maybe not even live in the Weyr full time, I heard some riders lived as roaming messengers. Although did they let golds do that? They rose less then but they still needed to be flown."

She knew J'nus understood being a rider Before much better than she did. She'd been Searched when the other Weyrs were re-opening due to the queens rising more and the dragon population exploding. She had known she'd be facing Thread. And had been selfishly glad to Impress gold and have to fight with a flamethrower in a lower wing and not have as much risk as the other colors.

"The golds stayed at the Weyrs, but there were a lot less than there are now." J'nus shook his head. "Honestly, I think the biggest issue will be finding enough for the wingriders to do. There's so many more of them now. People who are bored get into trouble. But that's a problem for future us."

Would they both make it to the end of the Pass? She was younger and in a less dangerous position. If she wasn't injured or sick, she would be. J'nus was older and flew in a higher wing. If he were clever and quick he'd be fine. She had to believe it. A shudder ran through her and her hand tightened against his skin. "It's just nice to think about other problems for a bit. Like what to do with ourselves then, as opposed to now."

The bronzerider shook his head. Kapera might find thinking about the future comforting, but there were too many unknowns for J'nus. "Well, I won't be doing what I did before the Pass, I can tell you that much."

"I don't know much about you from then. You're happier flying Fall, being a big hero?" she teased gently, wondering if he'd open up.

He snorted. "Let's just say that it's safer."

"You're mysterious sometimes," she said, shaking her head. "I don't know who you were before all of this, but I love who you are now."

Did she just say that she loved him? Impossible. "You," J'nus said, bopping her lightly on the nose, "are full of compliments tonight. What's brought this on?"

"I told you, talking with the greenrider reminded me of Dragonsfall. I've lost a lot in five Turns - I lost my position as Weyrwoman, I had to worry about my health, Riyanth got hurt and I had to worry about her." The goldrider sighed deeply. "I spend a lot of time brooding about the past, the what-I've-done and the what-might-have-been. I need to remember the things I do have now that are good. And us together again at the same Weyr? You're one of the best things in my life."

The bronzerider couldn't help the slow, satisfied grin that spread across his face. He leaned in and kissed her, taking his time in order to show her how much he'd appreciated what she'd said. After a long moment he leaned back, surprised that he was out of breath, like he was some sort of green teenager instead of a man with over fifty Turns under his belt. "Let me stay tonight."

The surge of positive emotions from her rider had Riyanth croon on the ledge and shift to be pressed more against Kopth.

The kiss was warm and heating and Kapera wanted it to go on forever. When it stopped, she felt flushed and dizzy with both arousal and a depth of emotion she didn't expect. J'nus was moving back and she leaned forward to press their foreheads together.

"Yes," she said in a hoarse voice. "I'd like that."

Last updated on the December 10th 2017

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Between the Lines