The Right Impression (3/3)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Corrin, Duskdog
Date Posted: 1st November 2024
Series: From Hold to Weyr
Characters: Sybana, Zaphare
Description: New to the weyr, Sybana meets Zaphare who offers a bracing new perspective on everything from other candidates, to relationships, to Impression. They make a pact for the upcoming hatching.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 8 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Corowal, Corofel, Faldrimme (not by name)
“It sounds like maybe you had a rough experience with a boy being exactly like boys almost always are?”
“Oh, it was awful,” Sybana said, leaning forward to confide in her strange new friend. “I thought we had an Understanding. It would have been a fabulous match. Everyone seemed for it, but then at Turn’s End he was caught making love* to this Amber Hills hussy" she turned out to be the niece of Lord Zathris, so now he’ll be marrying _her_, of course, and everything has been for _nothing_.” She angrily stabbed a slice of tuber. “It was all over the paper too. Utterly humiliating. I did everything right.” She ate the tuber. “And I’m prettier too.”
“They always go for the girl who’s willing to put out,” Zaphare said wisely, as if she herself were not exactly that type of girl. She could imagine herself breaking up some arranged marriage and not being the least bit sorry about it. “Look at it this way: you’re probably better off without him. If he can’t even keep it in his pants this early on, he’d probably be one of those husbands who keeps a girl or two on the side. You seem nice, you deserve better than that. Shells, maybe you deserve a gold dragon. Wouldn’t _that_ be the best revenge? There’s no way he wouldn’t hear about it if you Impressed.”
“That _would_ be a fabulous revenge,” Sybana admitted with a growing smile. It was sharper this time. “And you may be right about him. His father was a notorious philanderer, Lord Corowal, you know. I had expected better from his son, but I suppose the redfruit doesn’t fall far from the tree…” That briefly made her think of the nasty tabloids again and she quickly changed the subject. “Do you want the gold yourself?”
Zaphare blinked -- she hadn’t expected the boy in question to be a Lord Holder’s son. Cornwall, was that his name? Whatever. But that meant her new friend was probably some sort of fancypants, herself. Nicer than Nosarre at least. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to it. But I’d take any. I don’t expect I’ll Impress, but if I do, any color will do. How about you? I mean, I know you want the gold, but what if a green chooses you? You’d be okay with that, right?”
“Honestly, I don’t want a green,” Sybana glanced cautiously at Zaphare, gauging her reaction. “Everyone’s been warning me about it, but honestly I don’t want to fight the leading edge of Thread or anything like that. I don’t _want_ a green. Surely that counts for something right? If I were a baby dragon I wouldn’t want someone who doesn’t want me.”
“You’d think, right? But apparently the babies don’t much care what you want.” Zaphare shrugged again. “That’s what they say, anyway. But maybe it influences them a little. Better to know your mind, either way, I guess. Just be prepared, though.” She considered Sybana, uncharacteristically thoughtful for a moment. “Have you got the sort of parents who would disown you over it?”
Sybana glanced down, “I’m… not sure. They love me. They love me a lot. But I have an uncle who was a dragonrider, a bluerider, and I never got the sense they were very pleased with that. He’s not disowned at least. He’s back with them now, dragonless…” She trailed off on that sobering thought, before meeting Zaphare’s gaze with an impish smile and a plan. “I’ll just have to prepare the best I can, I suppose. Stand next to me at the hatching. If I don’t want a green and you do, surely they’ll go to you!”
Zaphare laughed. “I don’t know if that’s how it works, but shard it, it can’t hurt, can it? May as well have a plan. If I can seduce your unwanted green dragon, I’ll do it. As a favor to you, of course.”
Last updated on the November 9th 2024
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