What Stays

Writers: Duskdog
Date Posted: 31st October 2025

Characters: Rhynnan, Myara
Description: Just a romantic night in.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 12, day 11 of Turn 12
Notes: Note: Directly after “What Holds Still”
Warning: PG-17 just to be safe, crude language and some suggestive behavior that fades to black

Rhynnan had to admit that this was _exactly_ what she’d needed.

The water in the bathing pool was warm, her weyrmate’s body was soft behind her, and the fingers working sweetsand into her scalp were just the right combination of gentle and firm. The grime and sweat of early afternoon drills, followed by the grime and sweat of Calixith’s mating flight, swirled away into the water, and Rhynnan melted a little bit more with every touch.

“Ugh, your hair’s always so _nice_ when it’s clean,” Myara commented with an envious sigh, running her fingers through the short locks. “So soft and silky.”

It was an old complaint. They’d spent most of their relationship being jealous of one another’s bodies, in fact: Myara loved Rhynnan’s petite, athletic form and soft, straight hair, and Rhynnan adored Myara’s ample curves and wild curls. Just to remind her, Rhynnan leaned back against her and wriggled, as if burrowing back into a pile of comfy pillows.

Myara gave her hair a very gentle tug in response. “Yes, yes, I know, you think I’m cozy. Scoot back up a little and lean your hair back into the water so I can rinse.”

Rhynnan complied, uncharacteristically unable to muster a reply as she half-floated with her eyes closed, letting the other woman’s fingers work the soap from her hair. She was back in that place again -- the out-of-focus, not-quite-here place from the moments after the mating flight -- only this time, it was a fully-relaxed and happy and sleepy place, not an uncomfortable, unsettling one. The freedom to take whatever willing lover you wanted here at the Weyr was something she didn’t take for granted any more than other weyrfolk did. It just so happened that the only lover she wanted was right _here_.

The thought made her giddy, still half-sleepy but now half-silly, too. She flipped over in the water abruptly, advancing on Myara all at once, pushing her gently back against the side of the pool with one hand on either side of her.

“I thought you were falling asleep!” Myara protested, but she didn’t sound particularly upset.

“I was. But then I remembered that my weyrmate is here.” Rhynnan surged up against her, skin pressed to skin underneath the water, and captured her lips in a fierce, deep kiss. She let her hands wander up into Myara’s curls, still dry near her scalp because she hadn’t submerged any deeper than mid-chest yet, and felt Myara’s arms circle her waist. “And conveniently naked, too,” she added once they’d parted -- still close enough to feel each other’s breath -- waggling her eyebrows.

“I will never understand how you can be both a complete sap and grossly horny at the same time. Just when I think you’re taking me to the heights of a storybook romance, you say something that makes it feel more like cheap smut.”

“You mean like how you’re my one-and-only, the woman I want to wake up beside every morning forever, and raise children with, and grow old together? But also, how I want to bend you over the edge of this pool and smack that beautiful ass?”

“Sto-oop!” Myara laughed, tilting her head back as she did so.

Rhynnan took advantage, diving in on a spot on the side of her neck like a hungry dragon onto a herdbeast. “_Chomp_.”

“Oh Faranth, you did not just actually say ‘chomp’.” Her laugh this time was fluttery, and her hands moved up Rhynnan’s back, nails scratching lightly.

“Chwwmmp,” Rhynnan confirmed, muffled by the soft flesh she was busy worrying with lips and tongue and gentle but insistent teeth.

“Mmm, we’ve sunk below the smut now. I don’t even know what this is anymore.”

Rhynnan paused, taking a moment to brush her lips over the blossoming red spot she’d just left behind at the base of her lover’s throat. “I can stop if you want…”

Myara sighed, tilting her head to expose more of her neck, closing her eyes. “Don’t you dare.”

~* fade to black *~

Later, Rhynnan lay contentedly on her belly on their bed, cheek resting on her crossed arms, floating again in sleepy contentment as her weyrmate’s hands kneaded her back and shoulders. “Can’t believe you still have enough energy for this…” she murmured.

“I decided this is what I was going to do today, and shard it, this is what I’m going to do,” Myara replied stubbornly, but then bent down to place a kiss between her shoulderblades. “You might have worn me out, love, but I also didn’t have drills _or_ a mating flight ahead of time.”

Rhynnan yawned. “You say that like your own work is easy. I couldn’t rush around all day like that.”

“They’re different kinds of hard,” she allowed, pressing another gentle kiss and then pulling away, lest _someone_ get ideas again. “Now shush and let me love you.”

There would never be a place more warm and cozy and happy than their own bed -- no matter where they made it -- as far as Rhynnan was concerned.

Last updated on the November 2nd 2025

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What Stays