To Hear it from Me

Writers: Aaron, Devin
Date Posted: 29th April 2026

Characters: R'lor, Vianne
Description: Vianne attempts to gain access to I'thralos to tell him why she stood him up at the feast.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 2 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: I'thralos, T'gyros, Nidre (Jossenth)

R'lor

Vianne had, at first, had no intention to wait. But T'gyros's advice had slowed her down enough for her to consider one very important thing.

What if she was pregnant?

So Vianne had waited. And waited. And waited. Just to be sure. It felt like the longest wait Vianne had suffered in quite some time. But she had never been so relieved to see blood before in her entire life.

The wait for R'lor to begin his office hours, too, was interminable. The beautiful, cool sunshine could not calm her nerves or stop her from sweating. But eventually, he was finished with his other duties and became available. Of course, she was already waiting by his office door.

"Sir, there's something very important I have to talk to you about." After this long, there was always a possibility he already knew, if any of the others who had seen her at the party mentioed it. But like I'thralos, R'lor deserved to hear it from her, too.

"Vianne, please have a seat." R'lor had suspected she might want to speak with him at some point. Her husband's Impression from the Stands would certainly have been a shock and it had disrupted their family.

Vianne paced behind the chairs, not quite able to have a seat just yet.

"I'm just... gonna come out and say it. I messed up really, really bad. I was supposed to meet Il... Ilth -- whatever he's decided to be called -- at the feast after the Hatching, but I..." The tears started again.

"After I didn't Impress and he did and none of those babies even so much as glanced my way, I went somewhere else first. And I drank a lot of rum. And after that, I don't remember much, but I woke up in another man's bed. And I--" She broke into sobs.

"I don't remember it, but he said we did... well, you know. And now my husband is here, and, and, and I've made him wait long enough even just to hear why I stood him up-- I can't just let him hear that I did _this_ from someone else, and the longer I wait, the more likely it will be that someone else will tell him they saw me with him, and there has to be something I can do to fix this and--"

Was this what a panic attack felt like? Vianne was not sure. But also yes.

R'lor stood and stepped around the desk, half reaching toward her. "First, you need to sit down and take deep breaths." Faranth, this sounded like a huge mess.

"I can't, I can't!"

How could she have done this? How could she ever make up for this? How could he ever forgive her? How could she expect him to? Why had she ever come to this place?

Despite her objections, she let the man lead her to one of the chairs and collapsed into a sobbing lump.

R'lor rubbed at her back for a while. "I'm guessing you and I'thralos had agreed to be exclusive?"

Vianne was shocked enough by the question for her weeping to sputter to an abrupt halt.

"We're _married_," she said. "Agreeing to be exclusive is part of the vows. The _vows_." She had yet to think of what she had done in exactly those terms-- in terms of what she had promised and how. She shuddered and shook for a moment more but forced herself not to break down again just yet. "I broke my oath!" She put her face in her hands for a moment, then began to fidget with her ring. The ring he had given her to symbolize those vows.

"I'm not very familiar with marriage," R'lor said gently. She was holdbred, he had to remember that. "But I do understand the gravity of breaking a promise, especially to someone you love. You had a shock at the Hatching, to watch him Impress when he wasn't even a Candidate, and for you to be left alone on the Sands. I might presume you were upset and not thinking clearly. We all make mistakes, Vianne."

"I... I appreciate what you're trying to do, sir, but I didn't come here so you could comfort me." Vianne blushed as she heard herself. She wiped her eyes and nose, again. She was going to have to start using her other sleeve. "My... outburst notwithstanding. I'm here because I need to tell I'thralos what I did. There's not going to be any keeping this a secret forever, and I can't make excuses. Nobody made me get b-b... blackout drunk." Saying the words tasted bitter in her mouth. How could she have done even that, let alone everything that came after? I'thralos would never have wanted to see her that way, even if she did make it there to see him. "And what I did after that is so much worse than a mere _mistake_.

"He can't hear about it from someone else. He deserves to hear it from me."

"Ah," R'lor said as he went to his desk to get a handkerchief. "If he gets upset, then his dragonet will get upset, and with Vorlogoth so young . . ." The Weyrlingmaster sighed. "But it would be more shocking and upsetting if I'thralos heard it from someone else, or believed you were trying to hide this from him. We'll have to approach this delicately." He handed her a folded square of cloth. While he had sympathy for the young woman who was crying and clearly regretful, he was a little angry that she'd put one of his new weyrlings in an emotionally damaging situation.

"That's exactly why I came to you," said Vianne. "The... dragon and I may never get along." She had to force herself not to call it a monster. "But despite what I did, I still love my husband, and I don't want to hurt him any worse than I already have. If I'm ever going to... If he's ever going to forgive me, I can't let this wait."

The Weyrlingmaster considered the best way to handle this. "We should have him come outside with his bronze, where both Kularth and I can watch him. I'thralos being in physical contact with his dragon should help ground both of them. Hopefully that and Kularth's assurance should keep Vorlogoth from panicking."

}:I will make sure he stays calm,:{ Kularth said. }:Though I do not want this one to upset his rider at all.:{

**Neither do I, but unfortunately I think this is our best option.** R'lor hoped they wouldn't have to call in Jossenth or one of the other Queens.

"I... he... I think when the Searcher found me, what they were really feeling was I'thralos. He... He had to have been the one... If he pulled a bronze all the way into the Stands? The babies didn't even look at me. They didn't even consider... Not even one, not for one moment. So... I have to believe that... If he's strong enough to make me look like someone the dragons want just by being near to me, then he's strong enough to keep that baby with him, no matter how much I..."

Vianne shuddered with the effort it took not to break into sobs yet again. Shells, what she would give to be more than a lesser moon...

"No matter how much I've hurt him. I just... I just want the chance-- a chance, some chance to make up for what I did. Shells, if I could only go back..."

"That's not how Search works," R'lor insisted. "We don't understand what the dragons see, or _how_, but they don't choose someone because they're standing close to a potential Candidate."

They did not know how Searched worked, but that was not it, eh? Vianne was not so sure. Either way, I'thralos was obviously special, and she was not, and she was never going to find anyone else like him.

She shrugged.

"So what do I do?"

"We'll find a place that's somewhat private, and you wait there with Kularth while I go get I'thralos," R'lor said. The young man had been weyrbred, so hopefully he wouldn't take this as badly as a holdbred lad would.

Vianne nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Last updated on the May 3rd 2026

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To Hear it from Me