Skating Around the Issue

Writers: Corrin, Duskdog, Sia
Date Posted: 11th March 2026

Characters: Varethos, Sybana, Zaphare
Description: Varethos and Sybana skate around a delicate issue
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 9 of Turn 12
Notes: Sanvi posed with permission by Yvonne.
Reading Order: “A Better Way” One, Two, Three then “A Proposition,” lead into this post.
Mentioned: Sanvi, Halia, M'rhas
References: "The Dragons Will Play" by Heather

Varethos

Sybana

Zaphare

It was a fine afternoon, the first after over a sevenday of snow and clouds.

Sybana was out skating on the upper lake with what seemed like half of Dragonsfall when she noticed He was trying to get her attention. Varethos. He waved at her from the banks last time she looped around, and she had pretended not to see. Generally men didn’t fluster her, but this was different. Three days ago she had asked Zaphare to talk Varethos into being her First in preparation for mating flights. Had Zaph done it? Was that why he was here now?

Honestly she had thought--hoped--Zaphare would quietly handle everything and would just tell Sybana a time and place to show up. Talking about it was the last thing she wanted.

** Galgi. Tell Zollarth that Varethos is at the lake. I think he's trying to talk to me… Why is he trying to talk to me? **

There was a pause as Zollarth (apparently) conferred with his rider. Either he had forgotten all about this, or -- more likely -- hadn’t paid much attention in the first place. }:He needs to talk because… something about “enthusiastic consent”...?:{ He paused again, evidently receiving instruction or clarification. }:It’s important to him. Or something.:{

Sybana didn't have time to decide what to do. It was only a coincidence that Varethos and his friends had arrived while Sybana was out, and he nearly forgot to take the covers off his skates in his hurry to ditch his friends and catch up with her (his gear, abandoned for M'rhas to lug across the lake). The clumsiness had mostly passed by the time he caught up, easily moving to loop an arm around hers. "Hello!" He said brightly.

She nearly stumbled, startled more by his familiarity than his rapid approach. They weren’t exactly close. Zaphare had told her from the start to keep her distance and honestly she’d Impressed too quickly to really get to know any of the other candidates. Now they were arm in arm and close enough she could see his freckles.

“Hello,” she echoed, a touch breathless. From the skating.

"You are an elusive woman." He continued in the same cheerful air. A gentle push on his skates and a firm grip on her arm sent them gliding past a group of increasingly rowdy children. "You know, I don't have a fancy weyr, but I _do_ have my own quarters in the Lower Caverns. I could host." It was a bachelor pad just down the hall from his mother, but it was much better than sharing with three brothers at his fathers' or crashing on his mom's couch.

Nervous as she was, that surprised a laugh from Sybana. She had been wondering how he’d dare broach the topic of Everything while they were in such a public space. She hadn’t expected him to be clever. “That’s kind, but really-- I’m the very opposite of elusive.” She waved blithely at the two guards that stood just off the ice, watching her. “It can be quite tedious for me to move through the Lower Caverns and I’d hate to disturb your neighbors. It’ll be much more comfortable to Play Cards at Zaphare’s. Zollarth can pick me up, and no one worries when I’m there.”

"Oh, please. Rhalen knows the last nefarious thing I did was finger paint on his rug. I was three, to be clear." Varethos said, and turned slightly to wave at one of the guards, who awkwardly waved back. "No one would worry with me, either. But you _are_ right, Zaph's is better for cards. She has good snacks and the room to entertain. I thought you and I might meet up first. I don't play cards that often and it'd help to have a refresher of the rules. Zaphare cheats."

Maybe he wasn’t so clever. Or just very Weyr. What was a metaphor for: ‘You beautiful idiot. You’re a man. People may not worry, but they _will_ talk if I go to your quarters, in a way they won’t talk if I go to a woman’s?’ Sybana wasn’t sure. But there were other issues. “A refresher? Zaphare said you were quite good at cards. The best really. And-- and what do you mean she cheats?”

Varethos' smile was sickenly genuine at the news. "Did she? Well, I'm _flattered_. Now if I criticize her I'll sound just awful, won't I?" And it was harder for him to keep up a metaphor while also giving specifics. "Sometimes she swaps which cards are wild so she has a better hand. She's not going to like it when I start taking notes before the game."

The metaphor _was_ growing a little cumbersome. Sybana’s grasp of the _actual_ subject at hand was not sophisticated enough to really decode if ‘wilds’ meant anything in particular, but she got the gist that Varethos thought Zaphare changed the rules on him and she felt obligated to defend her friend. “She was nothing but patient and kind when-- when she was teaching me. Really, Varethos--”

She broke off to greet Halia and Sanvi skating by. Sanvi waggled her eyebrows in a way that had Sybana blushing. “Really,” she said, once the other girls were out of earshot. “I don’t want to complicate things. I know Zaph talked to you. I asked her to. I just want everything exactly as she said. It will be easier that way and-- and if you’re worried I _don’t_ want to play--play cards--with you, I promise you I do.”

Varethos offered the girls a little wave as well, oblivious. "Well, unfortunately, I'm a complicated man. I'm not worried about _wanting_ to play. I like Zaphare, but sometimes she gets carried away. And jealous. Usually that adds a bit of fun to the game, but I don't want either of us to accidentally cross a boundary. Are you ok if Zaphare tries to play your cards for you?"

Sybana was silent for a long moment, ostensibly concentrating on the ice under them. Finally, quietly, she admitted “I hoped she might.”

She didn't look at Varethos. “I’m not very experienced with dragonpoker. It's… difficult for me. Zaphare knows that, she's from the holds too. She helps me not overthink things. I know it's--” Wrong. Unnatural. Depraved. “--unusual. I understand if you'd rather she didn't intrude. I shouldn't have assumed.”

Varethos was equally quiet, studying Sybana's profile and nearly stumbled when someone sailed past too close. "Hey. I'm not from the holds, but most of my father's extended family don't acknowledge me. I get it a little. But it's _your_ hand you get dealt, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable. Or be an accomplice to that. Dragonpoker is supposed to be fun."

“So everyone keeps telling me,” Sybana said, turning on him a rueful, wistful smile. “And I would like that to be true. It… has been, so far. That's why I want Zaphare there. She’s been teaching me, I trust her and-- Oh!”

Someone shoved her from the left. She spun wildly into Varethos, grabbing his chest, his coat-- and dragging him down to the ice in a spectacularly slow fall as she ultimately lost her footing. Halia and Sanvi, (who had skated a speedy circuit to manage this), streaked away laughing. “Kiiiss!”

Somewhere nearby, a cluster of dragons made a sound that was surprisingly similar to a cheer. A small dark blue dragon pushed his way through them, edging closer to the ice and craning his neck out as far as he could.

Varethos was a solid enough skater, but his gallant effort to keep Sybana upright sent him tumbling down after her. He twisted just enough to avoid crushing her, pain spiking up the one wrist that tried to cushion his fall. He closed his eyes briefly with the long-suffering air of a man whose friends had just proven exactly how little dignity he possessed.

(And, really, if it had been any other girl and any other conversation, he might've thanked his friends for such an easy set-up.)

Instead, he pushed himself up to his knees and called after their retreating backs, "Nice try, ladies!"

They were busy highfiving.

He offered his hands to Sybana and helped her back to her feet. "Well, that's probably all I can say using that metaphor. Are you all right?"

“Yes.” Steadying herself with Varethos' support, Sybana brushed the snow from her skirt. She seemed no worse for the wear, just a bit cross if the look she sent the greenriders was any indication, and a bit flustered. That is-- her cheeks were pink from the cold and the conversation.

“So, will you come?” she asked, wrestling down her pride. This was altogether turning out to be more complex than expected. She never dreamed it would be so hard to get a man in her bed. “Please.”

Varethos considered her a moment longer. "Yes, as long as you don't mind that I'll be just as chatty. I need to hear an enthusiastic yes or it's just not worth it. I haven't had to sit through that many lectures to be disrespectful."

"Vare! C'mon, are you gonna play or not?" The shout carried clean across the ice. A cluster of skaters had gathered near the far bank, two of them already dragging a pair of rough wooden posts onto the cleared stretch. One of them waved a stick in the air impatiently.

Varethos pushed backwards a few inches on his skates. "I should go before they decide to replace me. I'll see you later?"

At a loss for words, and honestly a little bewildered by everything that had happened, Sybana just nodded-- before remembering his comment about enthusiasm and managing a hasty: “Yes.”

Varethos smiled. "That's what I'm talking about." And with that he skated back towards his friends, still gently rubbing the wrist he'd fallen on. He, at least, felt much better about this arrangement.

Last updated on the April 1st 2026

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Skating Around the Issue