Weyrledge Picnic (2/3)

Writers: Aaron, Avery
Date Posted: 7th February 2019

Characters: A'vel, Brennault
Description: A'vel and Brennault have a weyrledge picnic.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 13 of Turn 9

A'vel tapped his drink against the runners'. "So I hope you like the
view. My weyr isn't the highest, and it's a little small, but I do
like getting to see some of what's going on out there."

"The view is fantastic from where I'm sitting," said Brennault, sure
to look into A'vel's eyes as he did. "And it looks like you've got
more space than I do, but also I don't live with a dragon." He
chuckled.

A'vel thought to himself that Brennault's eyes were really pretty.
"Well, you should see the weyrs for the bronzeriders, I hear those are
huge and nice and some of them get their own bathing pools and
everything."

"I haven't met any bronzeriders yet – at least, not befriended them to
the point of being invited up to their weyrs." Brennault thought it
was unlikely that R'fal would be inviting him up alone, but he rode
brown, at least. He wondered if weyrlings could get the good weyrs.

"But I suppose that would be easier than Impressing a bronze for
myself." Brennault chuckled at the idea. It did seem a rather remote
possibility. "Do you have any bronzerider friends?"

"My favorite clutchmate, R'nar," A'vel replied immediately. "We didn't
expect to get along so well but now we're close buddies."

"That's awesome!" said Brennault. "I love it when that happens. It
seems like those are the relationships that last the longest. Or are
the easiest to pick back up after some time away." It warmed
Brennault's heart to hear it. The weyr, more than any hold, was full
of people who were from elsewhere, so it might have been easy to get
lost without any friends. It was good to see A'vel had his.

"Being clutchmates is an unbreakable bond. Even the ones I don't like,
we're tied because it was such an intense experience. Maybe it's like
having siblings, I don't know," he said. "I really appreciate having
R'nar around to talk to, though it's a little awkward sometimes when
our dragons pay a lot of attention to each other..."

"There's nothing like having that kind of bond," said Brennault,
nodding. There was a similar, but no doubt much less intense,
camaraderie among runners who shared the experience of life on the
road.

Brennault tilted his head curiously at the last bit, though.

"What's so awkward about siblings being close?" he wondered.

"Oh I don't have any actual siblings so I don't know," A'vel said.
Then he realized Brennault meant about the dragons. He turned pink
again.

"So Iorath caught Tsogath last time and...I guess it's okay for
dragons, but they're from the same clutch so they're siblings and then
they shared a flight." He knew dragons didn't think about the kinship
thing like the riders did, but it was still awkward!

"And I mean R'nar and I don't see each other that way, so," he added.

It took a moment more for everything to click in Brennault's head, but
when it finally came together, he let out a drawn out, "Ohhhh," of
dawning comprehension.

"I guess I still forget to consider the mating flight part. Even
though I'm pretty sure I've seen a few greens go up, now that you
mention it. So, things are OK between you and R'nar, then? Even with
the flight?" Brennault tried to read A'vel's tone for whether he was
disappointed or not, but he did not know him all that well yet. And,
of course, he had said they did not see each other that way and not
that R'nar did not see him that way.

"I think they're okay, we just haven't talked about it. It's just,
weird, you know? Dragons will get caught by siblings or their sires
and they don't see a problem."

"Well, they're different in some ways from us, yeah?" said Brennault.
It seemed an obvious sort of thing. Dragons were a different kind of
creature all together – of course, they would be different in some
ways from humans. "If they don't think it's weird, I guess it's not
weird."

Brennault ate quietly for a moment and then dared to ask, "What's it
like for you when she flies to mate?" It seemed a little frightening
to be put into that situation without having much say in it.

What a personal question! He never would have thought to ask it of a
dragonrider before Impressing - and if he had thought to, and if he'd
thought about actually paying attention to it more during the classes
about flights, where they'd had live riders there to ask, then he
would have actually been better prepared.

"You've wanted to...to do things with people before. And done things,"
A'vel started. Brennault seemed experienced, he didn't know in what
roles, but he'd done something before so he would get the basics.

"It's like suddenly all of you is just pure want. Your body is the
most stiff it's ever been in your entire life and you just ache to do
things. I thought it was going to be frightening and that my body
would do these things without me and I wouldn't want it and I'd be
screaming inside and fighting it and thinking, 'no, not him, not
this'," he confessed. To cover his discomfort, he started carefully
picking apart a sandwich while he talked, and as he spoke he flushed
from 'lightly pink' to 'deeply red'.

For a moment, Brennault worried that he had overstepped again, and he
wished that he had phrased his question differently. A'vel was
adorable with the blush on his cheeks, but it was not Brennault's
intention to make him uncomfortable. But then A'vel continued.

"But it's not just your body, it's your mind. Tsogath and I really
become one, not like we are now where we're connected and I know her
thoughts, but we're just. She needs to fly and be mated, her whole
mind is consumed by it, and so my mind is too. I don't see the riders
around me, I just hee the dragons chasing her, and when she's claimed
it's..."

He went silent, looking for the word, and settled on, "Glorious."

He gave Brennault a moment to think about that, and then added, "So
the catcher takes her in the sky. His rider and I get things done on
the ground to mirror them, because we have to. And it's overwhelming
and intense and honestly I don't know how we manage it. And then you
doze off for a bit usually and you wake up and go, 'oh, Faranth, who
was it?'."

Brennault's worry slowly melted away from the moment A'vel said,
'Glorious.' He was thrilled that A'vel had managed to see to the heart
of what he was really wondering, and it was a great relief to know
that the experience was far from terrifying and traumatic. Glorious,
instead. He could get used to glorious. Brennault nodded along to
A'vel's explanation.

Because the follow-ups was something he'd wondered about, A'vel went into
a little more detail. "I've heard if it's a bluerider and you like
them you might go again, but the bronzes and browns don't stick around
for guys. They would for girls. And so it's awkward when you know they
don't really like you like that, they don't like _men_, and they
just...did stuff with you because they had to. I worry they'll find it
and me repulsive."

"I don't see how anyone could find you repulsive," said Brennault.
"You're a poet. That was absolutely beautiful." He chuckled. "I think
I could just listen to you talk for hours." He smiled warmly and took
another drink of his wine.

Last updated on the February 26th 2019

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Weyrledge Picnic (2/3)