Vegetables in Disguise
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Halyonix, Heather
Date Posted: 20th May 2026
Characters: Th'alin, E'rian, K'thyr
Description: Th'alin and Tsaetherian prepare a meal and discussion his options before K'thyr gets home.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 27 of Turn 12
Mentioned:
Notes:
~*~
“I’m here to help!” Tsaetherian called as he came into Th’alin’s weyr. The smell of food being prepared already filled the space. It was family dinner night -- well, something like that. It was the night where their two families came together to eat in a little hodgepodge weird unit that worked in a Weyr. Not that like though. Th’alin was like an uncle. Tsaetherian considered his kids cousins. Or whatever word fit to describe that. “What are we making tonight?” he asked, dropping off his knapsack, rolling up his sleeves, and coming over to get started.
“Potroast,” Th’alin answered, already wearing an apron, a dish towel flipped over his shoulder. “You know it’s the only way to get your father to eat a vegetable, if it’s slow-cooked in delicious meat juice.”
“Which, I never understood,” Tsaetherian remarked. “Tubers exist and are delicious just by themselves.” He picked up a knife and began cutting up some of the aforementioned tubers. “I learned about dragon ichor transfusions today,” he reported. “Not like, how to do one, but how they can be used if a dragon loses a lot of ichor. But we can’t do the same thing with humans. Have you heard of that?”
“Why can’t the same thing be done with humans?” Th’alin said, answering the question with a question as he made quick, precise chops. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a transfusion in progress in the human infirmary. Granted, I think it was a last resort measure, and not common practice.”
“Something about it not taking. Like a mismatch. I could be wrong. I’m not a healer. I thought about being one but I don’t think I’d be any good at it. I mean, I’ve got a good bedside manner, but the diagnostics part? I’m not like Dad. I don’t think all clinical like he does.”
“Clinical. Perfect word for your father,” Th’alin said with a chuckle under his breath as he slid the cubed tuber bits out of his way and plopped another one down on the chopping board. “You’ve still got plenty of time to decide what you should do with your life.”
“I know,” the young man answered. “I know. I…” He fell silent for a moment as he cut more tubers. “Between you and me, I…feel like I have a lot to live up to. My dad’s a dragonrider. You’re a dragonrider. Grandpa’s a dragonrider.”
Mom had been a dragonrider.
He didn’t say that line but it hung there and he knew that his uncle was also thinking it. “I don’t want to let anyone down,” Tsaetherian added softly. “And I don’t want to be a burden on the Weyr if I don’t Impress.”
“Hey, no one in my family is a dragonrider and that doesn’t make them any less important, does it? I was well on my way to being a cook in the kitchens if it hadn’t been for Keth, and I was more than satisfied with that.” Shells, there were days now where he wished he was just minding a pot over the fire rather than sitting in drills or fighting Thread. “Life is what you make it, Tsaetherian.”
Tsaetherian looked at his uncle with a bit of doubt (it was easy for someone who had found their purpose to say something like that, right?) and a bit of resignation (he was just going to have to struggle with this further for a bit) while he tossed tuber cuttings into the pot. “I just want to make it something meaningful,” he ended up saying.
Th’alin reached out and squeezed Tsaetherian’s shoulder. “You will.” The brownrider’s voice was filled with confidence. “Ah, he finally shows himself,” he said as K’thyr appeared.
“Smells great, whatever it is,” K’thyr remarked. He went first over to Th’alin to give him a hug and a thump on the back, before ruffling Tsaetherian’s hair after a kiss in those dark strands. “Not causing your uncle too much trouble, right?” K’thyr asked as he went to shrug off his jacket.
“Never,” Tsaetherian answered with an innocent smile. He winked at Th’alin in a privately shared joke.
Th’alin cocked an eyebrow as he lifted the lid of the toureen to reveal the vegetables cooked tender with the meat. “Told you,” he mouthed, shooting a smirk at K’thyr’s back.
Tsaetherian smothered a giggle. He cleared his throat and said, “Hey Dad, can you set the table while Uncle Th’alin and I finish up here?”
“Sure thing, son,” the burly brownrider answered as he wiped his hands. Tsaetherian went back to chopping, feeling as though even if he didn’t have an answer for what his future looked like, he at least could be content with how the present was unfolding.
Last updated on the June 4th 2026