Are Dragons Enough?
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: Devin, Clancey
Date Posted: 2nd May 2008
Characters: D'ren, Dysali
Description: D'ren can't seem to shake his worries, even in the presence of Dysali.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 17 of Turn 4
"I don't know, Dysali," D'ren sighed as he dropped his Thread gear on the floor near the wall. "I wouldn't trade Menanth for the world, but this ..." He shook his head. "I don't know."
Dysali looked up from her own pile of straps and wherhide. She still had a smudge of oil on one cheek and was as tired as D'ren probably was, although he seemed so much more tired than usual these last sevendays.
She was quiet a moment, then said, "... I understand, a bit. Thread is so mindless; its just destroys everything we love with no reason behind it. Just..destruction." She stood up and went over to him, hands slipping around his waist as she leaned her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She had been in the first half of Fall this time, so she'd been back over a candlemark. When their shifts split that way, she always waited like a nervous feline, starting at the least sound. Was he alright? Would he make it this time?
"But listen, D'ren. We save people every time we Fly...and our dragons, they were made for this fight. Its why we have them... if it wasn't for Thread, there would never have been dragons."
"But this wasn't supposed to happen. Thread was supposed to be _gone_, gone for good." D'ren shook his head. "And I wonder, if they hadn't tried to get rid of Thread, maybe we'd be in an interval now, and we wouldn't have to deal with this." Fall after Fall he went up wondering: Is this the day I make a mistake? Is this the day I die? Or one of my friends?
She peered at him intently, a finger tracing his cheek.
"Maybe... maybe not. We have no way of knowing. All we know is...
today we had to fight Thread. Tomorrow we don't. And tonight..
tonight we have each other." She knew, even as she spoke, though, that he wasn't really hearing her. His mind, his focus was completely elsewhere. Perhaps not even with Menanth. And the words.. they even sounded flat to her own ears, and she believed what she was saying.
He held her tighter. "Is that what we have to look forward to? Living every day like it might be our last? And if it's not Thread, it's hurricanes, and wings struggling along without enough riders. When do we get a break? When do we get to relax for more than a few candlemarks here and there?" Menanth was crooning out on the ledge, sending his rider love and comfort. But it wasn't enough.
A faint twitch to her lips as her natural good humor tried to spring to the surface. "46 turns?" She murmured against his chest, where he held her so tightly - as tightly as she was holding him. "It will get better, you'll see. We'll recover, we'll have enough riders. Its already getting better." She paused in thought over his other words. She wanted children - his children - but what would be the point? Or maybe that _was_ the point...
She put it aside for later, turning her energy to her love, weyrmate in all but actual living arrangements, and neither of them were in a rush to change that, or so it seemed. "Maybe we could live today like we might have another sevenday....Or even just one more day? Not our last. A little hope never hurts."
D'ren sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking like this."
"Oh love... you should talk that way if its whats on your mind. I just wish I could make you feel better. You always make me feel better when I get sad or scared or worried. I just want to return the favor." She stretched to her tiptoes to kiss his cheeks and finally his lips.
He pushed his worries aside, locked them away. Dysali couldn't change anything, and he was only upsetting her. She was offering what she could. That was all anyone could do. D'ren returned the kiss, bending to give her better access. "You do make me feel better. You do." But it was getting harder and harder to find consolation anywhere.
"I'll keep trying if you will, my dear, wonderful bronzerider." She kissed him with the deep passion he still stirred in her, even after a turn of being lovers, and then set about trying _very_ hard.
Last updated on the May 5th 2008