A Promise and a Secret

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 20th November 2015

Characters: Lanniya, F'lin
Description: F'lin makes a promise he'll probably regret.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 3 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: K'sedel, Pierka, K'ale, Z'ku, D'lorn, Rhosyn

Lanniya

Even weyrlings had to eat sometimes... even though it was usually fairly well scheduled. It surprised F'lin to see Lanniya sitting by herself in the dining cavern so late, though. He'd been working into the dark to finish up hidework for K'sedel - and perhaps a little more
than was strictly necessary - until his rumbling stomach drove him to the kitchens for a pre-bed time snack. He hesitated, then carried his plate of cold sausages, bread and redfruit over to where the young goldrider sat. "Hi, Lanniya. Mind if I join you?"

She looked up from her notes, her eyes looking surprisingly tired as she put aside the charts she was studying. "Oh, F'lin. Hello. Please sit." She gestured at the seat across from her before folding up the charts and tucking them away.

The purple smudges beneath her eyes stood out against pale skin. F'lin hesitated. "You know, you're also perfectly within your rights to tell me to go away if you don't want company."

"No, no, it's perfectly okay. I always like company." She gave him a smile, and though the merry glint in her eyes was still there, it was dimmed. She took a sip of klah, grimaced at the taste and put it aside. "And I wouldn't tell a friend to go away, anyways."

"Hey! We're friends now?" The bronzerider sat and set down his tray. "Thanks for the promotion!"

She gave a soft laugh. "I thought we were." She took another sip of the bitter klah and with a nose wrinkle, set it back down. "If you don't want to be, well..." Her voice trailed off playfully, "then I'll just tell Anaeryth and she can scold your bronze."

"Because every good friendship is based on making my dragon feel bad," F'lin said seriously. "So, what problem have the Weyrlingmasters set you that's keeping you at the klah?"

She waved a hand at him with a snort. "You know I'd do nothing of the kind." Her eyes remained warm even as she looked back down at the hides beside her. "It's nothing much. Just charts and stuff for betweening."

"Yeah? Where to?" He reached for one of the charts. "Maybe I can help, and you can go to bed a little earlier."

She grabbed at the chart, her face flushing a little. "It's nothing, really. It's just..uhm..." She didn't know what to tell him. The charts were of coastlines and oceans and they were a few Turns old. "Just oceans...that sort of thing."

He arched an eyebrow, wondering why she was so reluctant to keep hold of the chart. "I come from fisherfolk. I was reading tide charts before I could walk."

She chewed on her lower lip, glancing down at the chart. Her face was just a little redder, but if he knew more about oceans and the coasts than she did, maybe he could help her get a little bit more oriented. Lanniya let go of the chart, took a breath and then spread out the chart in front of him. It was a tide chart from five Turns previous that had detailed descriptions of the coastlines.

F'lin glanced at the chart, then up at Lanniya. Everyone knew her story; that she was raised by her grandparents because her parents had died in a storm. A suspicious knot formed in his stomach. "This is a little out of date. Why this chart?"

She shifted on her seat just a little, trying to figure out something to tell him that wouldn't let him pinpoint exactly what she planned. "I was just looking to see how much things had changed." It was the truth...sort of. She glanced down at her own hides, her fingers tracing over the rough outline of her parents' planned trip. She could
/between/ to the coast and follow the route, snatch up her parents, and all before the storm hit. They'd never found any bodies except for Pierka's. There had to be a reason for it.

She had to have taken the class on timing. F'lin sighed. "More than you'd think, Lanniya. And much more than you can see in just a chart."

She didn't realize that he had made the correct assumption about where her mind was going. Her attention was focused on the chart, not his face. "Well, I can study them more." She didn't _have_ to be in the gardens and she could use what free time she had to do it. "It's
important to me." She looked up. "I mean...the learning and all."

"Have you ever been to this coast?" F'lin asked.

She nodded. "Sure. There's a small cothold right..." She pointed at the chart. "here. It's pretty much just an outpost for Traders and they have a dock for ships to pick up goods. It was one of my grandparent's stops on our route."

"If you know the coast, then you know that the coast always changes. If this is somewhere you want to go, then you need an up to date chart. Because you can't go back." No matter how much you wanted to.

She looked up at him and stared at him for a moment before she cleared her throat. He was a bronzerider. So that meant he had to know ; she simply wasn't good at being untruthful and she floundered for a moment before blurting out a little. "But you can. If it's done right." She flushed and looked down at the chart, her voice soft and more than a little pained. "And if it's important."

**I am so over my head.** F'lin studied the girl in front of him, and she looked more like a girl than ever. And he had no idea what to do. The hope in her voice, the hurt... it echoed how he had felt. Still felt. "How come?"

Lanniya's voice was still soft. "They never found their bodies." She sucked in her lower lip, staring at the chart. The cheery demeanor that she always seemed to wrap around her faltered. "There has to be a reason for it. And...if I could get them, my grandparents would be
so happy. They still miss my mother. And maybe...maybe if I brought them home, Pierka would..." She wiped at her eyes, trying to hide the tears that were appearing before they spilled, "...maybe she would remember them. And me. That's even more important than just me seeing them."

She swallowed hard and looked back at the chart, her face firming with sudden determination. "I'm going to save them. I have to."

"That's a lot of maybes." The bronzerider sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "My da died in the hurricane that damaged Topaz Sea Hold a few turns back. His ship went down... somewhere. They never found his body either. My ma hated my grandma for not doing more. She still does. And I thought, once... I thought I could fix it too."

Lanniya looked at him, her eyes showing her sympathy, but there was also determination. "I'm going to. I have to." Her mouth was beginning to set in a stubborn, almost willful defiance.

"What happens if something goes wrong?" F'lin asked quietly. "You and Anaeryth aren't expendable."

She looked away and her chin lifted. "We'll be fine. Anaeryth is very smart. Nothing will happen to us." She spoke with the confidence of youth, the sense that it wouldn't happen to them. She turned back to him. "And I can get help." D'lorn? No, she'd not really spoke to him
since that disastrous evening. K'ale? He was a brownrider. Maybe he didn't know. Maybe Z'ku. He'd do it for Pierka, surely. He loved her.

"Anaeryth is confident, but every dragon is confident-- right until something goes wrong. It's not as easy as going /between/." He shook his head, knowing that nothing he said right now was going to change her mind. Nothing would have changed his back when he was on the other
side of the table, studying out-of-date charts. "Look. Whatever you do, don't even think about doing this alone. Talk to Rhosyn. And you're still a weyrling. Even after you graduate, you'll be too green to /time/ into a hurricane. But that's the thing. You have _time_."

Lanniya turned her head to look at F'lin, searching his face before looking back down at the charts. She was being forced to think outside of her initial impulse, which was to rush towards what she wanted and get it done. He had a good point. It wasn't as though she didn't have time. "Maybe you're right. I need experience." It was difficult for her to pull back on her impulse and it showed. "I can't risk her or me. I have time."

"That's right. You do. And friends. Like me!" He leaned back in his seat, relieved that she'd said that she'd wait.

She latched on to that. "So you'd help me?" She stared at him, blue eyes hopeful.

**Flame it!** If he said that he'd help her, he'd be encouraging this madness. If he said that he wouldn't, she'd go back to hiding her secret and who knows what would happen to her. Every choice was a bad choice. What was worse-- if he didn't manage her properly, they'd lose
a gold dragon. And if he pawned off the responsibility on someone else, he'd lose her trust-- and Lanniya would probably go and do something stupid anyway. F'lin leaned forward again and hoped to Faranth that he was doing the right thing. "I will help you be as safe as I can manage. I know this is important to you."

A wide smile broke through her face and she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you. Thank you." She kissed his cheek several times before hugging him again.

"Hey! You're welcome." F'lin hugged her back, smiling at the touch of her lips on his cheek in spite of himself. She was pretty adorable when she was happy. "We're friends, right? So promise me you won't do anything without telling me first, all right?"

She pulled back, letting him go with an eager nod. "I promise. " She had help. Her parents would be saved. Maybe not immediately, but she'd be able to.

And F'lin felt terrible about it.

Last updated on the November 30th 2015

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A Promise and a Secret