Here's to Hoping

Writers: Eimi, Rochelle
Date Posted: 30th September 2007

Characters: M'galec, R'syl
Description: M'galec and R'syl have a talk about women over a mug of klah
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 6, day 19 of Turn 4

R'syl poured some klah into one of the mugs he preferred to keep in his office instead of more expensive glassware -cheaper and easier to replace if a nervous or shaky visitor dropped them. Corking the skin, he handed a mug to M'galec, and leaned against his desk as he took a sip.
They needed the break. They had been comparing notes on various students' progress for over a candlemark now. "Here. It's still sort-of warm."

M'galec took the mug gratefully. "Right now I would take it any way I could get." R'syl smiled mirthlessly, and took a sip. He stretched, feeling his back pop, then sat on the edge of his desk. "I'll drink it anyway it's served, so long as there's nothing but klah in it." His eyes went out of focus, staring off into the distance of memory. Masair had always preferred her klah with a substantial helping of redfruit juice in it.
R'syl had always found the combination nauseating.

M'galec had never put anything into his klah but klah, so he lifted an eyebrow curiously but thought it better than to ask. "I have never been picky about my klah. I enjoy its stimulant properties more than the taste."

"I prefer it to at least pretend to be warm, but I'll drink it so long as it keeps me going." R'syl agreed. "My wife though, she thought that it was too bitter without something extra." He smiled sadly at the memory of more than one argument.

"Wife?" M'galec asked, rather surprised at the choice of words. After all, dragonriders were weyrmated, not married like Holder folk.

"Yes." R'syl confirmed, looking down into the mug for a moment. "It was an arranged marriage. She hated me at first, but she hated our parents more..." He shrugged. "She arranged to be transferred to Vista Point and I Impressed Usaeth there. And then we fell in love." He laughed softly to himself, remembering how foolish they'd been. "After a while we weyrmated, and she gave me five children before she died." He swallowed.

"Had I not been found on Search I probably would have had an arranged marriage," M'galec nodded understandingly. "I could have only wished it had turned out as amicable as yours."

"Do you know who you would have married?" R'syl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," M'galec said with a shake of his head. "I was still too young yet. Of course, there were prospects, but they were far too young still. I was still an apprentice when I was Searched."

"Ah." R'mer nodded. "What would you have looked for if you had been given a choice?" He asked idly, remembering how he and Masair had been thrust together more by their parents' friendship than by available partners.

"A lady," his Second answered without hesitation. "Polite, thoughtful, articulate."

"Really? I thought you would have favored more of the delicate devoted damsel type."

"Well, loyalty is important in any committed relationship," something Lenala had never understood, "but I certainly would not want a woman who could lot lift a finger without my leave to do so."

"Of course not." R'syl agreed with a faint shudder. He'd had some lovers like that, and they had never believed him when he told them they could do things without him. The relationship had rarely lasted more than a few nights, and he'd felt suffocated the entire time. "A mind of their own is far more important to me than a glorified servant."

"But of course," M'galec nodded. "Though I do find it touching when a woman does little things to make me happy. It makes me want to do all those little things to make sure she is happy as well." That was one problem with Lenala. She just wanted to take all the time.

R'syl smiled. "Who doesn't like that? But you can't expect them to do them all the time. I can't tell you how many arguments I've had over that." He shook his head, then smiled faintly as he remembered more than one incident with Masair. "Although sometimes a good argument can be more arousing than than candlemarks of flirting."

M'galec nodded knowingly. He could recall a few very memerable nights with Lenala that had start out as a fight. Once she had realized she had been in the wrong, it seemed she had used her body to apologize in the most delicious ways. The bronzerider had to admit, he missed that. Though sometimes the fighting had lead to only more fighting. Those nights he'd rather forget. R'syl continued, seeing that his 'second did not look inclined to add to his statement. "Of course, you don't want to argue all the time. But someone who tries to please you all the time..." He shook his head. "You might as well be a bully. They would treat you the same way. A woman with a mind of her own though, now there you know when you have something. Even if you spend more time arguing that loving, it's worth it to know that they aren't doing it because they want you to be happy.
When they want _both_ of you to be happy is when it works, and you keep coming back to each other."

His second thought about that a moment. Finally he shook his head slightly. "I would rather a woman with a mind of her own who choses to make your home as comfortable as possible out of love for you. And I think it is the man's duty to make her comfortable and fill her needs as well with as little fighting as possible. Compatibility and understanding are important to me. I have enough stress at work, I want to enjoy going home."

"And what if she has equally stressful work?" He challenged with a slight smile. "Better to make it an equal effort. It isn't fair to demand more of someone else than what you would demand of yourself. A woman with a brain will realize that, and keep you in your place. A partnership is better than a hierarchy, especially in love."

"But it _is_ a partnership," M'galec corrected. "She takes care of me, and I take care of her. She makes sure home is happy to come home to, and I make sure she is happy to make it a home. You cannot have one without the other. The pursuit of each other's happiness is the ultimate expression of love."

"But pursuit of the other's happiness is only one part of love." R'syl challenged, pouring more klah into M'galec's mug. "Sometimes, if you really love someone, you have to do what is best for them, even if it makes them unhappy."

"It is all the same," M'galec said with a wave of his hand. "By doing what is best for them, you are making them happy in the end. That is what is truly important."

"Not necessarily." R'syl said with a grin, enjoying this conversation far more than what they were supposed to be doing. "It depends on whether they stay with you long enough to realize that what you did was for the best. But tell me, do you have a preference in looks as well? Or did you never have a fantasy woman when you were younger?"

"Every man had their fantasies when they were younger." And when they grew up too. "Mine always had dark luxurious long hair."

"Just hair?" R'syl said with a teasing smile. "No face or body to go with it?"

"Those tend to change. The hair remains the same."

R'syl laughed. "I suppose you're right there. The faces are never clear to begin with, are they?" He shook his head. "For me it was always a somewhat petite woman, very slender. When I was a young man she was a blonde, but after Usaeth..." He shrugged, feeling a pang at the memory.
"She became a dark-haired lady. Looked disturbingly like my ex-wife, actually." He said lightly, but his smile was sad as he took another sip of rapidly cooling klah.

"We never forget the ones that could have been, do we," M'galec nodded understandingly. "Even when they were never meant to be."

"No, you never forget." R'syl said softly, more to himself than to M'galec. "Even after fourteen turns. A turn of a skirt, a breeze in the hair, the hint of fire in their eyes... You don't forget. But you keep looking. Hoping."

"Well," M'galec sighed, lifting his mug of cold klah, "here's to hoping."

"To hoping." R'syl echoed, lifting his own mug.

Last updated on the October 1st 2007

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