Another One Left Behind

Writers: Aaron, Devin, Halyonix
Date Posted: 20th April 2026

Characters: Tirraze, Saedyna, Oriene
Description: Oriene finds out that another of her friends has Impressed
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 1, day 9 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Cirina, Aydhara, L'leb, C'rin, Thayde

Oriene

Notes:
~*~

Oriene recognized the two dragons that appeared over the Hall with a grin. She loved that her friends were making more time to come see her -- it made her still feel connected to the Weyr while she was furthering her studies. She was slowly taking Master Thayde's advice to heart. It sounded like a good plan, especially since it had a backup plan. She planned on telling her friends her decision today.

After quickly finishing up her task, she ran over to greet the trio.

Avarith bugled a greeting as she landed. Saedyna slid down with a grin and took a few running steps to greet her friend with a hug. "Oriene! How are you doing?"

"Better now that all of you are here!" Oriene answered with a beaming sunny grin.

Tirraze had been itching to tell Oriene ever since she had heard. And now, she had teed her up perfectly to mention it! It was meant to be.

"All minus one! Did you hear about Cirina?" By her tone and expression as she ran to join them, it was clearly good news.

Curious confusion flicked across Oriene's face. "No. What happened? Where is she?"

Saedyna put a hand to her mouth, guilt making her flush warm. "Oh no, we forgot to tell you. She Impressed!"

The effect was instantaneous. Oriene's expression turned both shocked and bereft. "She...Impressed?" Dolphin Cove didn't have eggs on the Sands yet! How had she Impressed then? "Where?"

"In the Stands at _Barrier Lake_ of all places! And guess what. She Impressed a _blue_!" Tirraze was thrilled to see the number of her fellow lady blueriders increasing with each Hatching, but especially for that number to include one of her friends.

A blue. Another of her friends on a blue dragon. Why? It didn't make sense! The dragons' choices were changing and yet none of them had chosen Oriene. "Wh-Why was she at Barrier Lake?" she asked dumbly. That didn't make sense either.

"She went to see her friend Aydhara Impress," Saedyna said. "Well, _hopefully_ Impress. And she did! They're clutchmates! So at least Cirina won't be all alone out there."

"That wishy-washy guy she was dating for half a second ended up there, too, if you can believe it." Tirraze shook her head. "Guy seems like a stalker at this point."

Oriene had heard of Aydhara too and knowing that someone _else_ had Impressed when she hadn't... She shook her head, trying to dislodge the resentment and confusion she felt. "C'rin? Was that his name?" she asked, focusing instead on the guy and not how everyone else in her friends group was getting a dragon except her.

"No, no, I mean the one Cirina was dating," said Tirraze. "Lebo or whatever his name was. He ran off back to the islands when she dumped him, but then he's somehow in her weyrling class at an entirely different Weyr? You can't make this stuff up."

"She still can't beat our class drama," Saedyna said with a little smile.

"Which was way more entertaining to hear about than anything we dolphineers are doing," Oriene said. She honestly felt like her apprentice class was a lot of studying. "At least the dolphins are fun to play with. Like water dragons! Sort of. Speaking of, they were asking about Riamorth the other day. They remembered his name. Well, mostly. They call him Ria." She smiled as she imitated the dolphins by saying, "Riiiiiiaaaaaaa."

Tirraze laughed joyfully.

"Oh, my goodness, that is the best thing in the world, hang on..." Her eyes unfocused for a second as she told Riamorth about the dolphins remembering his name, and he promptly set about trying to make dolphin noises aloud.

"He loves them," she said.

"That's _so_ adorable!" Saedyna said.

Avarith gave the blue a slightly exasperated look.

"I bet we could teach them Avarith's name too," Oriene offered. "Ava is an easy nickname."

"Oh, that would be so cute! She'd love that," Saedyna said.

That sounded like a far better use of their time besides talking about yet another friend who had Impressed a dragon. "Let's go down to the dock. Then Riamorth and Avarith can swim and we can talk to the dolphins," Oriene suggested.

Riamorth danced excitedly at the suggestion of swimming, unable to contain himself any further. He did, however, maintain the presence of mind necessary to avoid bowling anyone over.

"That sounds perfect!" said Tirraze.

"Yes!" Saedyna agreed. "We could swim, too, maybe? I put my suit on underneath just in case."

Once he finished his little dance, Avarith nudged Riamorth affectionately. He was certainly not the smartest dragon, but he was sweet.

Riamorth took the nudge as permission and took off like a flash to the dock.

"I can swim, too," Tirraze chuckled.

Even though she was spending most of her days in the water, Oriene still grinned. "Swimming sounds great. The dolphins will love that!" She grabbed her friends' hands and all three of them followed the eager dragons towards the waves.

Last updated on the April 26th 2026

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Another One Left Behind