The Ups and Downs of Friendship

Writers: Heather, Yvonne
Date Posted: 10th September 2019

Characters: Saidrene, Alina
Description: Saidrene and Alina catch up, although Saidrene has difficulty swallowing some of Alina's news.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 2 of Turn 9
Notes: Late due to Yvonne's LOA's
Mentioned: J'ackt, Jerinne, K'ran

Saidrene

Alina

It had been hard to pin down a time to visit Saidrene, what with her night shifts and everything else that was going on in her friend's life. Alina hurried to Saidrene's weyr as soon as Imairth told her that Ashareth said that it was all right. She knocked, a bit nervously. The ring on her finger winked in the light from the glows.

Saidrene had almost thought about having Ashareth pass along an excuse to Imarith, saying that she was too busy, or already asleep, but Alina was her best friend. If she ruined their friendship who would she have left at Dolphin Cove? Although unintentional, J'ackt and Alina become weyrmates had successfully eliminated her two closest companions.

"What have I told you about knocking?" Saidrene said as she opened the door, feigning a lightheartedness she didn't feel. "Just come in, remember?"

"I know, I know!" Alina pushed her way in, grinning like she was going to split in two. "I think J'ackt already told you but--" she held up her hand.

The greenrider's eyebrows shot up with genuine surprise. A ring? He got her a ring? "Wow, Alina, that's so... Great."

"I was-- it was _such_ a surprise! I..." Alina's smile faded a little. "I thought you already knew?"

"I saw J'ackt earlier this evening so I knew you had moved in with him but he didn't mention the ring." It seemed like such a Holder custom, and she knew how J'ackt felt about holders.... Well, all of them except Alina, apparently.

Alina couldn't help but smile again. "It's rather nice, isn't it?"

Saidrene swallowed down the irrational jealousy that threatened to overwhelm her as she looked down at the ring. How had someone as prickly and standoff-ish as Alina managed to find a weyrmate, and yet all the men in her life found her good for nothing but a good time between the furs. "It is very nice," she flashed a bright smile before whirling and retreating further into the weyr. "Sit," she called over her shoulder, "I'll make us tea." Anything so that she could have a moment to gather her composure and put her mask back into place.

"Thanks!" Alina chose the most comfortable of Saidrene's two chairs and spent a moment admiring the ring on her finger with a smile on her face. "It all feels a bit fast, you know? But also not fast at all. I mean, a few sevendays ago I couldn't have imagined... this. And I say it was a surprise, but J'ackt actually showed me the ring earlier this month."

"A bit fast? You two have been skirting around each other for the last couple of Turns, haven't you?" Saidrene pointed out, trying to keep the bitterness from her tone as she turned and brought tea over.

Alina shrugged. "I guess..." Something in Saidrene's voice made her pause and look at her friend. "I just... I also don't want this to change things, either. Between you and me."

"Nothing will change between you and me," Saidrene swore, able to say the words more sincerely. "I am very happy for you Alina, honest."

The other greenrider relaxed into her chair. She hadn't realized she'd been to tense. "I'm very glad to hear that. You're one of the few people I actually _like_ here."

Saidrene flapped a hand. "Of course you do, what's not to like?" She winked, her natural dry humor showing through.

Alina's lips quirked. "Maybe, but don't get a fat head about it."

With the air between them feeling less tense, Saidrene took the hot kettle from the warmer and dunked a teabag in it to steep. "Have you told Elana yet?"

"Oh no. No, no no." Alina paused and looked away. "In time... and it's hard, right now. She doesn't want me visiting her while she's still finding her feet at Emerald Falls Hold. I'll write to her."

Saidrene tilted her head with an eyebrow arched. "Why doesn't she want you to visit?"

"Isn't it obvious?" When Saidrene didn't answer, Alina sighed. "Because I'm a dragonrider. People make... assumptions about people like us. And Elana and I are twins. We're the _same_. I mean, we're not, but people will think that we are." She hesitated. "It's different in Holds. If you don't come from a wealthy family or a family with influence, there's not a lot of options for women. My father is a farmer in the middle of nowhere and is definitely _not_ wealthy. So for Elana, securing a good marriage is important if she doesn't want to go back to the cothold, but at the end of the day all she really has to offer is her reputation."

"Hm, 'people like us,'" Saidrene stroked her chin thoughtfully, an impish grin curving the corners of her mouth. "You mean, Thread-fighting, butt-kicking, seductresses like you and me?"

Alina laughed, flattered in spite of herself. "I think that's entirely you!"

"You might not be a seductress," Saidrene reasoned, "but you are definitely a Threadfighter and kicker of butts. I heard what you did to Jerinne."

"That woman is garbage." Alina huffed softly and looked away. "I hope she rots in the mines for the rest of her short life."

"She is, and hopefully she will," the other greenrider murmured. "Well, back to Elana, hopefully she will have luck at Emerald Falls." Saidrene couldn't imagine the thought that one's entire success in life hinged on the person that they married. It was another reason she counted herself lucky to have been born at the Weyr.

"Me too," Alina said quietly. Then she smiled. "But enough about that. Has K'ran finally forgiven you?"

Saidrene exhaled a sigh. "I believe so, but it's complicated. It's not that he doesn't want me, necessarily, or so he says," she added, "but he is so caught up on the right and wrong of the issue. Since he's my Wingleader and everything."

Privately Alina wondered if thinking about right and wrong was something that Saidrene should do a little more of as well, but she wisely kept her tongue. "You could always transfer to my Wing. That would solve it!"

The greenrider shrugged, giving her friend a half-hearted smile. "Yeah, we'll see."

"And what is it you said? About being a Thread-fighting, butt-kicking seductress?" Alina poked Saidrene with her toe. "It's _his_ problem if he doesn't see that about you."

No one had seen that about her, Saidrene thought, and that was the real problem. "Yeah, I suppose you are right. Thanks for coming by, Alina."

Alina smiled. "What are friends for?"

Last updated on the September 11th 2019

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The Ups and Downs of Friendship