Everything I Need, Right Where I Am

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

Characters: Iskara, M'trel
Description: Iskara confronts M'trel over being kept in the dark about timing it
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 5 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: M'gan, N'vanik

As soon as the Cyclone wingriders were dismissed from that most extraordinary meeting, the gossip started. Could it really be true that M'gan had traveled in time? Who had known about it? The bronze and brownriders were looking rather uncomfortable, and the blue and green were peppering them with questions, half in disbelief and half outrage.

Iskara didn't bother with any of that, but slipped out of the meeting room and headed for the weyrbowl with a determined stride. She wanted answers, and she had an idea about where to get them. **Where is Noruith's rider? I need to talk to him. It's important!**

Both rider and dragon had figured this would be coming. While the Wingleaders and -seconds had fielded the brunt of the questions, M'trel was a Wingthird under N'vanik -- he knew people would come ask him as well. But coming from Iskara made it a little more awkward, like it was a personal thing he had been hiding. M'trel rubbed the back of his neck as Noruith relayed the message from Hylith. "Have her come to my weyr. I'll...well, I guess I'll explain everything."

Only minutes later, Hylith was landing on Noruith's ledge, her eyes whirling fast and flame-yellow, and it was debatable whether she'd have come with or without being invited. Iskara leapt down from her back almost before she'd settled, folded her arms and fixed a narrow-eyed stare at the entrance. "M'trel! Did you know about any of this?"

M'trel held out both hands to stop her. "In theory, just in theory," he said quickly. "They cover it in training, just bronzes and browns, but we're told to never use it, so I've never done it before."

She was not appeased. "Bronzes and browns? Why not the rest of us? Do you think we're too flighty to handle it?" Iskara was vaguely aware that this wasn't really M'trel's fault, but even she wasn't bold enough to confront the Weyrleader in his current mood.

"Uh...." he started to answer because the answer _was_ that blues and greens weren't as...well, equipped to handle certain things. They tended to be more emotional, more reactionary, and not as steady or prone to take things into deep consideration.

}: If you tell her that, she is going to eat you, :{ Noruith remarked.

So, M'trel said, "Look. It wasn't my decision to make. We're just told to not say anything. And are you going to be the one to disobey the Senior Weyrwoman? I'm certainly not!"

"She wouldn't have had to know who it was that told!" Iskara threw up her hands in exasperation. "I can't believe our dragons can go _back in time_ and none of you breathed a word. Sure, maybe the bronzeriders enjoyed being all smug over their little secret, but I thought you were better than that."

"Iskara, it's _dangerous_," M'trel said with dire emphasis in his tone. "You could be lost forever. I'm surprised M'gan wasn't!"

"Dangerous, my dragon's tail fork," Iskara scoffed. "If a doddery old uncle like M'gan can do it, I definitely can. You just don't want us greenriders making use of it. For instance, I could have an extra hour in bed each morning and never be late for drills. Or go back and see if you really did have paperwork to do last restday, or if you were having a sneaky flirt with that simpering blonde in Lahar Wing..."

The accusation that he was flirting with someone else shifted M'trel's expression into one of pure shock. "What? Wh....I would never! I would never use timing to do something as stupid as flirting with someone else! Are you not understanding how dangerous this is? If you get too close to yourself in the current time, it's...you could die!"

"Of what?" Iskara rolled her eyes. That sounded exactly like something a Weyrlingmaster would make up to stop his riders trying out an exciting new ability. "Are you saying I'm so hideous that if I saw myself, I'd die of shock?"

"You know that's not true," M'trel answered her sharply. He gave her an exasperated look because she should know how much he -- and quite a few other men! -- enjoyed looking at her physique. "You...get disoriented. The world spins. You can't remember anything. Where you are, what you were doing. Now, imagine that and you're trying to tell your dragon how to get back safely home. Do you see how risky it is?"

"Oh, fine. I won't do it unless I absolutely have to," she conceded grudgingly. That did at least sound more plausible than dying of seeing one's past self. She let out an exaggerated sigh. "I suppose I'll have to keep on getting up early for drills like everyone else."

Now M'trel crossed the gap he had made between them to grip her shoulders tightly. "Iskara, _please_ don't time it for something so trivial. Or at all! Let the past be where it is. It isn't worth the risk. Or losing you."

Iskara eyed him narrowly for a long while, but at last, she appeared to relent. "All right. I didn't really want to anyway." The corner of her mouth tilted up, just the slightest bit. "I've got everything I need right where I am, in this particular moment."

It took the brownrider a moment to catch her drift since he was still so worked up over the conversation but when he did, the corner of his mouth lifted in masculine amusement. "You do, do you?" he asked. The grip he had on her shoulders loosened so that he could slide his hands down her arms.

"It seems pretty nice here," she admitted, slipping her hands around his waist. "So long as you aren't hiding any _more_ draconic abilities from me. If Hylith can breathe ice, or turn herself invisible, I want to know about it."

M'trel laughed. "No, no, nothing like that. Nothing that I know of anyway," he assured her. He squeezed her arms lightly again. "I'm sorry that it was hidden. I didn't...I really didn't even think about why it should be when they told us to not to tell anyone. I just obeyed," he explained, sounding apologetic. He had been a weyrling then. He wasn't going to go against the Weyrlingmasters. That's what he told himself then, that's what he believed now.

"Mmm, well." Iskara pretended to think it over. "Perhaps I might consider forgiving you, if you make it up to me..." Mischief glinted in her green eyes, all at odds with her demure expression. "I do like an obedient brownrider."

That got her another laugh from the brownrider. He ducked his head closer to her ear as he drew her closer. "Obedient, mm?"

Iskara smiled, feline-like, as she molded her body to his and her voice dropped to a low murmur. "To my every whim."

Last updated on the April 26th 2026

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Everything I Need, Right Where I Am