Look For Helpers

Writers: Devin, Halyonix, Yvonne
Date Posted: 31st January 2025

Characters: F'lin, D'ren, Br'elt, C'lest
Description: F'lin and his friends find something to do after the Completion Ceremony
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 2, day 8 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Lenala, Kapera, D'hol

Br'elt

Last night had started so good and ended so horribly. Menanth's grief had nearly brought D'ren to his knees and he spent a long time in a shocked daze as Barrier Lake Weyr reeled with the death of their Senior Queen.

Yet another tragedy. Yet another day where D'ren sat there feeling helpless and hurt. I'ster's death in Fall, so many other friends and wingmates lost to Thread, the earthquake at River Bluff that had buried Lenala and her gold beneath the rubble.

Then he saw a young greenrider, her face ashen, swaying on her feet. He went to guide her to a chair and murmured gentle words of comfort as he rubbed her shoulder. He could let grief swallow him again or he could do _something_. He filled glasses of water and passed them out. He scooped up crying children and handed them to parents and creche workers. He helped those lost in panic to sit and breathe.

It wasn't much, he wasn't doing anything big or heroic, but it felt _good_. He felt _useful_.

So the next day he headed for F'lin's weyr to see what else he could help with.

It took a while for the other bronzerider to answer, and when he did it was clear that F'lin hadn't slept. Or changed. He managed a smile when he saw D'ren. "Hey. How you doing?"

"You okay?" D'ren asked with concern. "Obviously none of us are, but . . ."

The Wingsecond shrugged a shoulder. The movement sent a whiff of alcohol D'ren's way. "At least it wasn't the whole Weyr this time, right? Look for the silver linings. I heard that once."

D'ren certainly couldn't judge. He'd dealt with tragedies and bad days by hiding in his weyr, usually without quite so much drinking, but still. "I wanted to see if there's anything I can help with. I want to _do_ something."

Guilt was a sobering emotion. F'lin sighed and held the door open for D'ren to come in and wished that his friend had left him alone to deal with the fallout of Riyanth's death in his own way, but once the question had been asked he couldn't undo it. He was Wingsecond in the Weyrleader's Wing and his whole job was telling people what to do. It didn't matter that his limbs were lead and his thoughts thick and slow. "I need to wash up. You might as well keep me company."

The other bronzerider nodded. F'lin looked broken, and D'ren had been there often enough himself. "If you need some time . . ."

"It's fine. Like I said, I could probably use the company." He looked down as a small, feline shape darted between his and D'ren's legs and disappeared into the darkness of his weyr. "Shards. Although I guess there's two of you now. Make yourself at home." He followed the feline inside and left the door open for D'ren. Unselfconsciously F'lin stripped and threw his Gather clothes onto his bed before heading into the small adjoining chamber that held his bathing pool. "Have you had any breakfast? I can have someone bring you something."

"That would be nice. I uh, sort of wanted to avoid the dining hall," D'ren said guiltily. He looked around to see if he could coax the feline out.

"That's understandable." He'd been doing the same thing, although F'lin was coming to the unpleasant realization that it was far later in the morning than he'd thought and he was far drunker than he should be. Hopefully D'ren hadn't noticed. "Actually, can you find someone to bring us breakfast while I bathe? There's a pull by the door that goes to the Lower Caverns. Someone should answer and you can tell them."

"Okay." It was easier to ask for food to be brought up when it was for both of them instead of just himself. D'ren asked for two plates with klah and juice.

Sooner than expected, a male voice called, "Breakfast!" Even though it was lacking its usual cheery tone (and Br'elt looked a bit worse for wear that morning), it was still clearly their levelheaded brownrider transfer who showed up with more plates than had been ordered and a wraith-like male greenrider in tow. "This is my bestie, C'lest. I figured we'd check in on everyone in the Wing today because...I mean, we could all use it. I brought food."

"Oh, thank you B'relt. Nice to meet you, C'lest." D'ren took the plates from the brownrider and set them on the table. He felt a flicker of unease at the unexpected company and fought down the old urge to go hide away somewhere. D'ren wanted to help, and the more the merrier, right? They'd all have to work together to support Barrier Lake.

C'lest just nodded. By the red rimming his eyes, he hadn't slept and had spent the night crying. He sat down at the table and watched everyone else quietly. Br'elt rubbed his shoulder comfortingly at one point but his focus was on D'ren. "Is F'lin up?" he asked.

"He's getting cleaned up. He should be out shortly."

To that, Br'elt nodded. "Have you eaten?" he asked. With nothing more to really focus on, Br'elt was doing his best to take care of others.

F'lin came out of the bathing chamber and paused when he saw Br'elt, C'lest and the sudden arrival of breakfast. **I am too drunk for this many people, this quickly.** He motioned at the plates. "Wow, that was fast. The Kitchens must have been up all... night." He grimaced.

"I think we're all running on a lack of sleep," D'ren said gently. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he saw the food. He sat down and took one of the plates, his stomach making an eager rumble.

F'lin found a pair of pants and a brown tunic in his wardrobe and pulled them on. "D'ren, did you find that feline?"

"I got distracted ordering food," D'ren said around a bite.

"Feline?" Br'elt asked curiously. Now that everyone else was eating, the brownrider dug into a plate himself.

"Some stupid feline keeps sneaking into my weyr. It came in this morning with D'ren." F'lin grabbed a plate for himself, his stomach suddenly growling. "D'ren came by to see if there was anything he could do to help with... you know. I..." he sighed and took a bite of toast to help organize his thoughts. They were all looking at him, but then, he was the one with the knots. "The weyrleaders are meeting to discuss what to do next this morning. Pretty much every guard we have is on high alert right now. The guests from last night have been taken home. Right now... I think the best thing that any of us can do is carry on as normally as we can, until we hear otherwise. Drills today are already cancelled because of the Completion Ceremony, but they'll be held tomorrow just so that we have a sense of routine. Until then... D'ren, B'relt, you're going to come with me to visit each of the riders in Ash Wing today... like you all did for me this morning. C'lest, you're welcome to come as well if you like, or I can contact your Wingthird and see if I can pair you up with them. I don't want anyone to feel like they've been forgotten today."

D'ren nodded as he kept eating. It was a good plan, similar to what he was doing last night. Checking on people, focusing on their needs.

"I'm down with that," Br'elt said immediately, willing to be put to work helping in any way he could. After a minute, quiet C'lest nodded his own head, which made Br'elt reach over and squeeze the greenrider's hand. "It's our Wing, our Weyr. We'll take care of it however we can," he added with dogged determination.

"I can't be everywhere I need to be," F'lin said softly. "Report back to me. Tell me what the Weyr needs and I'll make it happen. I can't help if I don't know what needs doing, and my knots should be useful for _something_."

D'ren swallowed and took a sip of klah. "We can split up the Wing list."

"That's a good idea. Three ways. It'll make the work quick and if F'lin gets called away to handle something bigger, we can just take his share and add that to our report," Br'elt suggested.

"Thank you." F'lin's stomach rumbled again and he smiled. It felt creaky and undeserved after the previous night, but it was genuine. "And thank you for breakfast. And for knocking on my door."

Last updated on the February 24th 2025

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