Run Boy Run

Writers: Estelle, Halyonix
Date Posted: 20th April 2026

Characters: M'gan, J'lyas
Description: J'lyas asks M'gan how he managed Timing it
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 14 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: R'kede, B'lyse, Ç'pier, N'vanik

Notes:
***

J'lyas wasn't an idiot. He knew it was dangerous. But he also knew that he could do it. Plus, the guy who had done it first, he was in the same Wing as J'lyas now. Perfect. "Hey, M'gan," the cocky bluerider greeted the older bronzerider at dinner one evening.

M'gan nodded pleasantly enough, though he couldn't help remembering the days when he'd been Wingleader and a brand new baby wingrider would never have dared address him so informally. He wondered, not for the first time, what had R'kede been thinking in making his choices from the graduating classes. First B'lyse and Ç'pier, and now this one, with his reputation for stunts and impudence to the Weyrlingmaster. He couldn't help but think that if a bronzerider had been in charge, he'd never have been allowed to get away with it. Still, he hadn't disrespected M'gan...yet. "Good evening, J'lyas. Something on your mind?"

"Not one for beating around the bush, are you?" J'lyas answered as he sat down across from M'gan. "Something on my mind, absolutely. The same thing that's on everyone's mind ever since N'vanik made you tell the Weyr what you pulled off. Not that I agree with him not reinstating you as Wingleader. That was kind of dumb to do. But now we all know dragons can time it. So, tell me. How'd you do it?"

The bronzerider gave him a long, dour look. "Even if I was minded to share that information, why in the name of the Red Star would I pick a scrawny little pup like you to tell it to?"

J'lyas's grin was shit-eating. Overly confident. Like he had been planning for pushback. "Because if you don't tell me, I'll just go ask someone else. Someone who might screw it up on the explanation and get me and Brax killed. You don't want to hear the dragons keen, do you?"

"I think you're overestimating how invested I am in your survival. New wingriders die all the time." Still, M'gan's eye twitched slightly. This was exactly what he'd feared would happen when the green and blueriders were told about timing. He really didn't want a dragon's death on his conscience, nor a young rider's, no matter how annoying. "When is it you want to go, anyway?"

"Just back a few Turns. To a place I know very well," J'lyas answered. "But I just want to make sure that I don't have any of the annoying side effects, you understand? So how do I go back within my own timeline and not mess it up?"

"You don't," M'gan replied flatly. "That's far too dangerous. I went back to a time and place where I knew I couldn't possibly be." He wondered if he'd said too much, but at least he could put off this idiotic boy from getting himself killed. "If you want my advice, you'll forget about it. Going /between/ times causes more trouble than it solves."

"You let me decide that," the reckless bluerider answered. His eyes narrowed. "You ever gone forward? Ahead in time?" Was that possible? If going back was possible, why wouldn't going forward be too?

"No. That's even worse. At least with the past, you've got some chance of knowing what it's like where you're going, but no one knows what the future holds. Look - imagine if you'd been a River Bluff rider, just before it collapsed," he explained, hoping he was getting through to the stubborn bluerider. "If you tried to jump forward in time, your Weyr wouldn't exist any more. You'd be lost /between/."

This at least, J'lyas seemed to consider with some gravity. "Good point," he agreed. Well, he was going to have to adjust his plans based on this information. He didn't really want to go forward anyway -- he wanted to see if it could be _done_. Going back was his true goal but with M'gan's warning, he was going to have to be a bit more careful. "So, you can go back to a timeline you're in, but it's dangerous. How dangerous? Can you shake hands with your past self?"

M'gan shook his head. "No. Bad idea. You can't alter what happened in the past, and particularly not to yourself, or you could create a paradox. Memories of events that never happened. The way that manifests itself is disorientation, nausea, dizziness. The closer you get to yourself, the worse it gets." Or so the Records reported; he'd been too far away from himself in time to feel any effects. "In extreme cases, you might never come out of /between/ at all. Which is why if you're smart, you don't try it."

J'lyas grunted, not impressed with the warning. "So, no saying hello to my past self. Got it. Try to stay out of my own timeline. Don't go into the future. Seems easy enough. No idea why you bronzeriders thought you needed to hide it from everyone else though but whatever. Glad you're back, old man. Hope you win the next Weyrleader flight and take N'vanik down a few notches. That'd be fun to see."

"Ah...thank you, bluerider." M'gan was too taken aback by the young rider's impudence even to reprove him for disrespecting the Weyrleader. Besides, he didn't owe N'vanik anything, and given some of the conversations he'd been having behind closed doors, it would have seemed hypocritical to defend him. "Seriously, though, I don't recommend it. It's not as easy as you think, and it doesn't end well."

The grin that J'lyas gave M'gan clearly said that he wasn't going to take that advice at all. "I appreciate the talk," he said in a tone that wasn't genuine at all. "Thanks for the time." He gave M'gan a jaunty salute and strode off.

M'gan wondered, as he watched him go, whether he ought to say something to N'vanik. He could hand over the problem of dealing with this irritating rider to the Weyrleader, with a generous dose of 'I told you so', and the matter would be off his conscience. However, it seemed harsh when the young man hadn't done anything yet.

Perhaps he'd just ask Isarth to have a word with Braxialth to discourage him from following his rider's plan. Satisfied that he'd have done his duty, he turned back to his dinner, putting J'lyas and his foolish notions out of his head.

Last updated on the April 26th 2026

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