Having Words

Writers: Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 7th April 2019

Characters: Cyradis, Ma'din, Wylra, Wylra
Description: A old friend of D'hol's comes to check on matters
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 25 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: D'hol, Kielya, Dheymin (NPC), Jeyme, Y'gel (not by name)
Occurs during D'hol's surgery

Cyradis

Ma'din

---

Voices filtered into the Sands from outside.

"She doesn't even know you. Shards, I don't even know you. Why the
feck did I even bring you here? You can't just bloody well barge
into..."

"Because Saibra told you to. You might have your sire's cheekbones and
fine bottom, but you didn't inherit his brains. Keep your voice down.
There's a broody queen on the Sands."

"Now listen here, you crazy old bat...OW! Shaffit!"

"It'll be your head next time, boy. You're next of kin, so go be one
and sit in that infirmary like you ought."

"Now you just fecking listen here...OW! Blast it all!"

"Get with you." There was a silence, then a short huff as an aged
woman wearing well-worn riding leathers and a shock of near pure
white, short hair quietly entered the Sands, leaning heavily on a
cane. She held back out of respect for Panitath, but her blue eyes
were sharp as they sought, then found Cyradis.

Cyradis was trying not to smile as she watched the older woman come
down the ramp. "Carefully," she held out a hand then got up to walk
toward the woman. Panitath's eyes were whirling white and yellow,
edging into orange. "The eggs are only a few days laid."

Leaning on her cane, the older woman glanced at the gold and carefully
bowed, but kept her weight on her cane. "Excuse me for intruding,
Panitath. I only need to have a few words with your rider. I have no
interest in your eggs today." She stood straight, turning to face
Cyradis. She studied the other woman, her fingers drumming against the
knob of her cane. "Helping that other gold with Yumath, I wager. And
you'd be Cyradis, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, we are," she said. "But he's holding steady and calm for the
moment." She wasn't quite sure who the woman was but didn't usually
stand on ceremony with elders. "That's right," she nodded. "I'm
Cyradis." She turned to the girl who'd been seated next to her. "I
think I heard Ma'din out there, why don't you go see if he'll show you
Aznith?"

Kielya nodded and began to scamper toward the ramp.

"I'm Wylra, rider of Girlath of Dragonsfall." The moment her eyes fell
on Kielya, there was a flash of visible grief mingled with wistfulness
in the older eyes. Her voice was soft. "And that would be Kielya, I'm
sure." She tore her gaze away and took a breath before steadying
herself. "Ma'din's on his way to the infirmary. He's the eldest boy,
so he should be there. Just in case." She waited until Kielya had left
before she tilted her head and spoke very softly. "I knew something
had happened when Girlath didn't keen yesterday. I know better than
you, I think, how stubborn and proud D'hol is. He didn't want that
surgery. So why is it happening?"

Cyradis' eyes softened and then watered a bit. "Kielya and Dehymin
happened. Maybe Jeyme and I helped a little. He relented and agreed to
the surgery for them." There was no bitterness in her next words. "But
you already knew what he was planning." It was just a statement.

"I knew the day the Healer told him it was bad. I knew the day the
pain got so bad that he finally went to the Healer. D'hol and I...we
have a long history and we've been friends since he was just a boy. I
was there when he Impressed that bronze of his. My Girlath was the
first green that Yumath ever caught. I taught that boy most of what he
knows in the furs." She paused and her lip curled. "You're welcome."
She moved to sit on a bench and looked up at Cyradis, tapping her cane
on the stone walkway. "You used his children against him." Her lips
thinned. "Faranth, girl, do you know how cruel that was?"

She smiled through the woman's monologue. But her own eyes hardened
slightly at her accusation "He didn't have all the facts and refused
to listen. So, weyrwoman." she lifted her chin. "You can do with that
what you wish."

"He often refuses to listen to good sense. Men do that when they least
need to" Wylra readily agreed and met the hardened eyes without a
twitch of an eyelid. "But you likely didn't have all the facts either,
_Weyrwoman_." She rested both hands on the knob of her cane and
sighed. "D'hol was in his late thirties when you met him and as I know
him, you probably don't know much more than that he was from
Dragonsfall before he went North. He had a life before you, Cyradis,
one he doesn't talk about much, especially if it's personal. Why do
you think that is?"

"Wylra, I think this conversation would be quite profitable at another
time." She closed her eyes and visibly calmed herself. "But right now
I have to make sure Yumath doesn't leave us without D'hol. I must use
all my concentration to keep Panitath calm and centered while she and
Riyanth maintain that control. He is strong very strong. It sounds
like you wish to give me a lesson in his history and I am open to
that. Just not now. Can we agree to that?"

"Perhaps we can. You have those golds keep a tight grip on him, girl."
She rose, grimacing just a little. "But if he dies on that table,
Cyradis, Weyrwoman or not, you, Jeyme and I will have much more
unpleasant words, for all the good that it'll do. " She sighed deeply,
looking troubled. "I'm going to the infirmary. I don't like not
knowing or waiting for word."

Cyradis' lips quirked. "No need Wylra, one of his healers is a
dragonrider. We'll know as soon as he does. Here is more comfortable."
She nodded toward the place she'd been sitting. "Just have yours talk
to Aughashyth and he'll tell her as soon as there is news."

"I would if I could. But my Girlath's bones don't take well to much
flying these days. Aznith brought me." She sighed and looked at
Cyradis plainly. "And I don't know how much I like you, so I might not
be the company you'd like if you're needing your concentration. If
your girls can't keep Yumath from going /between/, well...someone's
going to give him the mercy draught, and by the First Egg, it'll be
someone who loves him, not some Healer who's cut on him. Ma'din can't
do it," Her own eyes visibly watered at the thought. "I did it for my
first weyrmate and I can do it for him."

"Oh but Wylra, I love him too, and he wants to go out on Yumath." If
she could admit it to him last night she could admit it to the older
woman today. "I tell you what," she gave a watery smile of her own.
"You can ask him when he wakes up."

"Do you?" Wylra studied her, tapping her cane as she thought. "I
wonder." She took a breath. "Well, you concentrate then. You
concentrate as hard as you can to help those golds from letting Yumath
fly."

"I will," she promised.

Last updated on the April 12th 2019

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Having Words