Everything He Says Is True

Writers: Anika, Devin
Date Posted: 21st March 2015

Characters: A'dryn, Ch'vin, B'rhayn
Description: A'dryn encounters both a bully and an advocate.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 12, day 12 of Turn 7

When A'dryn saw who was in the bathing cavern he froze and considered
leaving. Maybe he could just skip having a bath today...

Rather watery, nondescript blue eyes immediately filled with distain
upon seeing A'dryn but there was also a rather gleeful glint and a
sardonic smile on the other weyrling's face at having the opportunity
to needle the other rider. Ch'vin had Impressed brown as any proper
Holder ought and had a very low opinion of someone from a Hold
Impressing green. It was one thing for the Weyrbred who were raised
with perversion, but altogether another for A'dryn. Even his own
parents had spurned him.

"Come to get your jolly's by watching decent folk bathe, man lover?
Don't get any ideas, I Impressed a proper color."

A'dryn dropped his gaze to the floor. "I wasn't going to look." In
fact, he desperately tried _not_ to look when he was here.

"Sure you weren't," Ch'vin replied nastily. "As long as you're here,
fetch that jar of sweetsand for me. I'm not getting out to get it and
giving you a show."

A flare of anger rose inside him. He wasn't a servant. He was of the
Blood! But if he did get the jar, maybe Ch'vin would leave him alone
for a little while and he'd be able to take a bath. A'dryn got the
sweetsand and held it out to Ch'vin, making sure not to look at him
directly.

Accepting the sweetsand with an arrogant sneer, Ch'vin set it down and
scooped up a handful, purposefully turning from A'dryn to lather the
sand onto his upper body. He then ducked under the water to rinse.
"Make sure you go all the way to the far end, I don't want you close
to me," the brownrider insisted, knowing the water circulation was
poor in the area he was indicating with his pointed finger. He knew
of A'dryn's rank and, where he was the son of a simple herdsman, it
gave him a scintillating sense of power to boss the other weyrling
around.

"I don't want to be close to you, either," A'dryn muttered as he walked away.

For some reason A'dryn's response annoyed the red-headed weyrling.
Who did he think he was anyway? The other weyrling might be of the
blood but it was he, Ch'vin, who had impressed brown. A'dryn was the
one whose inner perversion had been revealed, which got him to
thinking. "So, your parents seemed surprised at the Hatching -
unhappily so of course. Did you run away to the Weyr so that they
wouldn't find out? Maybe got too cozy with a stableboy and got
caught? Had to runaway to the Weyr to hide?"

A'dryn whirled, painfully ashamed but also angry. "I _never_ did
anything improper!"

}:What is wrong mine?:{

**Someone is saying rude things to me. Don't worry about it.** He
tried to shield her from his emotions.

"There's an old harper's ballad, isn't there, about the man that
protests too much?" Ch'vin asked, his lips quirking. A'dryn's strong
reaction had given him such a jolt of satisfaction.

}:I don't understand. Why do you seek to upset Nalarith's?:{ Bonrhath
wanted to know. }:I like Nalarith. She is kind and encouraging.:{

**He is a perversion.**

}:No. Nalarith would not have chosen him if it were so.:{

**I can't explain it to you now. When you are older I will.**

}:You should stop.:{ The young brown said wisely. He loved his rider,
but Ch'vin had much to learn and still harbored many bad feelings from
his previous home. Bonrhath sent calming thoughts of love and
acceptance to his lifemate.

"I don't deny what I am. I know I'm unnatural. I chose to Stand
because at least I could be _useful_ as a rider." A'dryn held up a
mental wall between him and Nalarith. "I know my life isn't worth
anything otherwise."

"That is the biggest pile of dragon dung I've heard in turns," a tenor
voice scoffed from the entrance. B'rhayn hadn't gotten to know A'dryn
well as a candidate and he regretted that now. Perhaps if he had
befriended the other young man when they were candidates, he could
have talked some sense into him. He hated to hear the self loathing
in the other weyrling's voice. "Nalarith chose you _because_ of who
you are and the potential she sees in you. She sees your worth and
value. Trust your dragon, man."

"No one asked _your_ opinion bluerider," Ch'vin snapped haughtily.

"Lucky you. I've offered it up for free," B'rhayn replied with a
smile before laying his things down and preparing to enter the water.

A'dryn was both relieved and ashamed to have someone defending him.
More proof that he wasn't a real man. No, he needed rescuing like a
woman in a harper tale. Then there was the other problem that B'rhayn
was quite good looking and they were going to be naked in the same
room and there were things A'dryn absolutely _could not_ think about
as a junior weyrling. Walking to the farthest bath, he told himself to
calm down. He just had to wash quickly and get out of here.

"I'm leaving," Ch'vin stated darkly.

"Oh, then you won't be needing this," B'rhayn picked up the pottery
jar of sweetsand and went to set it within reach of A'dryn.

"Hey!" Ch'vin objected.

"Yes?"

"Nothing," Ch'vin recanted, coming out of the water and grabbing his
towel in a huff, and hastily taking his leave.

B'rhayn shook his head and entered the water, not so close as to make
A'dryn any more uncomfortable, but not too far removed either. He
completely submerged his muscular form and resurfaced shaking the
water from his sun lightened hair. "Don't let Ch'vin get under your
skin. Guy's got issues. Not to mention he's a runner's arse."

A'dryn couldn't look at him for a number of reasons. "Everything he
says is true, though."

"Not by a long shot! Look, I understand that you're Holdbred, I was
too." B'rhayn reached for some sweetsand and started scrubbing. He
thought he might be a turn or two older than A'dryn but he was pretty
sure they had some things in common from an upbringing standpoint. "I
think we can take pride in where we came from, but also admit that not
everything we were taught is good and true. Some of it, much of it,
deserves to be left behind. It's a known fact tht dragon's do not
choose handicapped or defective riders so there is absolutely
_nothing_ about you that isn't as it should be. Trust what your
dragon says about you. She knows you better than anyone alive ever
has."

"I can't believe that..." A'dryn swallowed and forced himself to say
it. "That liking men is _right_." He started washing himself, wanting
to get out of there as soon as he could. "But I know I was born to be
her rider. Dragons... follow different rules."

"Indeed they do. As dragonmen must, too. Holders go hide behind
stone walls when Thread falls. There's nothing wrong or cowardly
about that. In fact it's the smart thing to do. Dragonmen fly out to
meet Thread and destroy it. There has to be a shift in thinking, to
go from hiding to fighting. Of course our dragons make that possible.
They also make other shifts of thinking possible. Things that are
right for the Hold aren't right for the Weyr. You _were_ meant to be
her rider, just keep focusing on that," B'rhayn suggested before
dipping under the water for one last rinse.

A'dryn had wished -- so hard it hurt sometimes -- that his attraction
to men would go away. That he'd wake up one day and be normal. But now
that he had Nalarith, he knew he wouldn't give her up for anything.
Not even to be normal.

Last updated on the April 8th 2015

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Everything He Says Is True