All In This Together

Writers: Devin, Eimi
Date Posted: 2nd October 2007

Characters: D'ren, D'cal
Description: D'ren and D'cal catch up
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 26 of Turn 4

"Hey, D'cal," D'ren said as he pushed his tray onto the table and wearily slid into his seat.

The bluerider snorted. "Shards, D'ren, you look like I feel."

"I knew this would be a lot of work, but shards and shells, I'm exhausted!" D'ren propped his head up with his arm and started to eat.

"Yeah, well, Topaz Sea Hold was worse after The Great Hurricane that hit it." At least there weren't having to search for bodies in rubble after days in the heat. Just the thought sent a chill down D'cal's spine.

"I can't imagine," the bronzerider said quietly.

"So yeah, I'll take this mess over that one," D'cal shrugged, trying to shove the old images from his mind. They were some of his last memories of his home before he was found on Search. They had started to rebuild.
He probably wouldn't even recognize it. Again.

"I suppose it could have been worse." D'ren took a listless bite of his food.

D'cal wished he could think of some joke or silly anecdote to get their minds off of it all. Truth was it seemed to be all anyone was talking or thinking about, and it was getting rather depressing. Still, he wanted to at least try to get their minds off it all for a while. "So... How's the wing?"

"Tired." D'ren smiled a little. "But otherwise everyone is doing good.
What about yours?"

"Good. J'darin stays out of my way and I stay out of his." D'cal shrugged a shoulder as he reached for his mug of klah. "It's not as bad as I had feared."

The bronzerider laughed. "I don't know if he _could_ give you trouble even if he wanted to. He's got to be more tired than I am."

"Well, recently at least." At least he's too tired to put his hands all over Dyaera. That was of come comfort.

"If he treats you like a lesser rider again, just bring up his decision to put fifteen-turn-olds in the wings," D'ren said, a little darkly.
"It's hardly a traditional thing to do."

"Yeah. Those poor kids. They're not ready. But they _think_ they are, which makes them even more dangerous. To themselves and all of us." Though part of D'cal wondered if J'darin just might not have been right to make that decision. He was kind of on the fense. They were just too young, but at the same time, their backs were against the wall and tough choices had to be made.

"I understand why he did it. But he can't go around saying people should keep to traditional roles when he does something like that." D'ren sighed. "It's going to be terrible when we lose one of them. Which I fear will be sooner rather than later."

"Shards, isn't there anything positive happening now?" D'cal was really getting sick of all this negativity!

D'ren's expression brightened a little. "New weyrlings."

"Well, yeah, I suppose there is that," D'cal nodded. Though how many of them would be rushed into fighting Thread was a rather depressing thought. "Have you met any of them?"

The bronzerider nodded. "A few. Some of them helped me wash Menanth when they were candidates. It's always fun to see them Impress."

"Did you notice Nefiet Impressed? She was with us back when we were candidates." There were still quite a few of their Candidate class who were Standing on the Sands. Some had yet to Impress. D'cal had always felt a little guilty about Impressing the first time on the Sands when so many have persevered despite set-backs for Turns.

"I did! I'm glad I didn't have to wait that long. Shards, that would be hard." D'ren had been left Standing once, and it was heartbreaking. "It's going to be hard on her and Sakri. He didn't Impress. Again." How hard that would be to have to wait for months before you could be together in. D'cal should know.

D'ren nodded. "Yeah. I saw him walk out alone."

"I hope everything works out for them. They're a good match for each other." Perhaps it was the romantic in him, but D'cal wanted to believe that they could make their love last, even with one deliriously happy and busy with a new dragonet and the other lonely and bitterly disappointed. But he knew better. Love was rarely that simple. "How are you and Dysali doing?"

"Um, ok ... I guess," D'ren said uncertainly.

That sounded suspiciously like one of his own non-commital responses. "You guys aren't having problems, are you?"

"We haven't seen as much of each other lately," the bronzerider told him. "I've just been so busy ..."

"Well, that's normal," D'cal assured him. "I mean, shards, we're in the wings now. And with the clean-up and all..."

"Yeah." D'ren nodded. "It has to end sometime. And when I get some time to breathe, I'll try to make it up to her."

"I heard J'darin is planning some sort of end-of-clean-up party. Maybe we'll all get a chance to unwind a bit." It was probably the first good move that bastard had made in a while. **No, that's not fair. He saved the Eggs. That is something he _did_ do...**

"Shards, I hope so." Hopefully, an end of clean up party would mean the clean up was actually over. D'ren felt like he could sleep a whole sevenday.

D'cal glanced up at the long line of riders filling off towards the door. "Shards," he muttered, ripping off another piece of bread to sop up some of the gravy. "We'd better step it up. Seems most people are heading back to work."

"At least we're all in this together," D'ren said as he lifted his glass in a quick salute.

Last updated on the October 3rd 2007

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All In This Together