How to Lend a Helping Hand

Writers: Bree, Erin Smith
Date Posted: 6th August 2006

Characters: Vir'en, Dyaera
Description: Virnoren helps Dyaera out... in more ways than one.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 5 of Turn 3

Dyaera ended up sprawled on the beach long before Tilarth had been scrubbed to her satisfaction. She made it to her towel on slightly shaky legs and collapsed, feeling the strain in every tired muscle. It was frustrating that even a morning of light exercise had her this exhausted, but she was trying to just be glad that she was moving on her own.

By the time the candidate who had been helping her with Tilarth made his way back to the shore, she'd recovered enough to sit up and give him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Virnoren. And Tilarth thanks you, too. I think you're her favorite candidate."

Virnoren smiled. "I've been assigned to some bronze dragons as well, and she's far less work then they are, so I make sure she gets an extra good scrub. And it's always far easier when you've got such a charming charge to tend to." Tilarth was always good at making sure she didn't step on Virnoren, and always was careful with her wings and feet to avoid drenching him entirely. "Besides. Hopefully this will be good practice for me." He sunk down into the sand next to Dyaera. "So how are you today? You look tired, but not as sad as usual."

"I think it's getting a little easier," she admitted. Then she made a face.
"The healing, I mean. The rest of it is the same, because I was stupid and got involved with someone who doesn't understand weyrlife yet."

Virnoren chuckled. As of recent, he'd been realizing a lot about some of the crazy ideas of Hold people. "Weyr ideals are very different than Hold ideals. And unfortunately, those who weren't born at the Weyr seem to have a hard time adjusting to the Weyr's ideals, even after they Impress.
And it's not like the Candidate Masters and the Weyrlingmasters don't tell them. I guess they don't figure that it'll ever happen to them."

"I didn't have any problem adjusting!" Dyaera retorted, her voice decidedly grumpy. "I don't see what's so hard about understanding that things are different. Maybe it was easier because I was younger, but how long should it really take?"

Virnoren paused to think. He had seen many of his peers go on to be dragonriders. "It really depends on the person. Yes, the older they are the longer their ideals take to get changed, but there is far more than that.
It's in his personality as well. I mean, he has to get to the point when he trusts you enough to know that sex isn't the only defining factor in a relationship. In the Weyr, it's one of the less important aspects.
The sad thing is, he acts like a newly weyrmated female greenrider over the whole situation!"

Dyaera choked back a laugh. She shouldn't find it funny... but after the last fight, it was hard not to. "We got in a fight over whether or not he should be upset that I'm not sleeping with other men, but I _could_ be. So now he wants to assume I'm sleeping with other men, but I'm not allowed to tell him whether I am or not. It doesn't make any sense!"

The concept all seemed confusing to Virnoren. He spent a few long moments pondering it all over. "So... if he's going to treat you like you're sleeping with other men... than why don't you get the benefit out of sleeping with other men?" It all seemed perfectly reasonable to him.
If you are going to get punished for something you aren't doing, why not do it to at least make the punishment fitting?

"I haven't really felt like it," she admitted with a half shrug. "I was tired and hurt. And spending most of my time in physical therapy."
Dyaera's expression turned a little self-conscious, but she tried to smile to cover it. "Besides, men weren't exactly chasing me around _before_ I went and got all scarred."

Virnoren raised a questioning eyebrow. "What makes you so convinced that scars are ugly? Maybe that's the case outside of the Weyr, but inside of the Weyr that's hardly true. Threadscores are a sign of courage. You've risked your life protecting Pern, and you got hurt, but you _survived_.
You're a tough girl, Dyaera to go through so much at such a young age! You're barely old enough to be in the fighting wings. People should respect you, not think you're unattractive!"

It was a satisfying and comforting answer, and Dyaera rewarded him with a more genuine smile. "It may seem obvious to you, but I'm still getting used to the idea, I guess."

"There's a lot of things that require adjusting to, not just sex."
Even though Virnoren was not a dragonrider, he was very familiar with their lifestyle. He smiled down at her, and tapped her chin with his finger.
"C'mon now, chin up. You'll find someone who appreciates you for who you are. Or, you'll find a lot of people that appreciate you for the moment and you move on when they stop making you feel good.
It's as simple as that."

"I suppose it is..." Her voice trailed off thoughtfully as she stared out at the water. It had never occurred to her that she might still be influenced by growing up in a hold. She couldn't imagine any of the holder boys she'd grown up with looking at the mass of scars stretching from her shoulder to her hip and being anything but repulsed.

"Hey! Hey you!" Virnoren stated. He realized belatedly he should perhaps watch his tone with a dragonrider. "You're looking awful sad again.
Whatever your thinking you need to stop thinking about." He forced her to look at him. "C'mon Dyaera. What can I do to make you smile? Even just for a minute."

She studied him for a moment. Well, since he was asking... "We could go back to my weyr and have fun, uncomplicated sex," she offered.

Virnoren grinned. "I generally don't oblige riders. However, I've grown quite fond of you. And if that's what you really want..." he trailed off, looking her carefully in the eye. "And if your sure your bluerider boyfriend won't be coming after me..."

"He's the one who said we had to start sleeping with other people," she retorted, though she had the feeling this was _not_ exactly what he'd meant.
But she'd spent enough time being miserable... she deserved a little bit of fun.

"Okay." Virnoren stated simply, and headed over to Tilarth. He'd gotten reasonably good at checking and securing the green dragon's riding straps, and wasted little time with the process. Turning around, he headed back to Dyaera, picking the petite greenrider up gently. He mounted the green with relatively little trouble, surprising considering he had no hands free at the time, but the green was quite helpful. Vinoren kissed Dyaera on the forehead once more. "You comfortable?" He didn't want to hurt her before they even got to her weyr...

"I'm fine," she replied easily. And it was the truth. She just hoped she'd still be fine when D'cal found out. He always did somehow... and then she'd see if he _really_ felt that the possibility of another man in her bed was so much worse than the reality.

Last updated on the August 7th 2006

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How to Lend a Helping Hand