Mark My Words

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 29th July 2008

Characters: Traelyn, B'ram
Description: B'ram challenges Traelyn's feelings for U'kaiah
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 6 of Turn 4

B'ram

B'ram waited impatiently on the sofa for the goldrider to reappear. As he
rebuttoned his trousers he could hear them talking softly out on the
ledge. Why wouldn't that sharding wherry's ass leave already, he thought
sourly. Finally he turned when he heard the rustle of curtains as the
goldrider stepped back into her weyr.

There was a sweet sort of smile curving her lips and a soft look in her
eyes as she let the curtain fall behind her. The expression seemed to
transform her, making her look almost as if she were eighteen Turns old
again, just leaving L'kub's side. Traelyn was unaware of B'ram's scrutiny
for a brief moment, lost in her own thoughts--until he moved on the sofa.
The noise brought her attention immediately back to the present, and she
shook herself, gazing across the room at the brownrider.

The brownrider's eyes narrowed slightly. He had been feeling a sense of
satisfaction that he had made the bronzerider look so uncomfortable. And
yet, Trae's face was far from annoyed or dismayed. She looked
disturbingly like a woman with a secret, and he didn't like secrets.
"He's gone then?"

"Yes." She moved forward, but didn't make to sit beside him on the sofa.
"Back to Dragonsfall."

Her sudden aloofness did not go unnoticed. "Off to celebrate, no doubt."

Without her. The disappointment and longing that pierced her suddenly was
startling. Shards. Reaching out, she fingered the end of the blanket
that was thrown over the chair. "Probably."

B'ram should feel a sense of triumph! The bronzerider saw he was there
and left. He _left_, without a question, without a challenge... The man
yielded the night to him, and yet B'ram felt as though it were a hollow
victory. By leaving gracefully, U'kaiah had ensured that his shadow would
hang over the whole sharding night now. Trae's face reflected that fact,
and a tight knot began to form in the pit of his stomach. The jealous jab
escaped his lips before he could muster the restraint to keep his
insecurity in check. "Reliving his Flight with his new goldrider,
perhaps?"

Her dark eyes snapped to his, narrowing. "She's a _child_, B'ram."

A condescending sneer crossed his face. His arrow had hit it's mark.
"What exactly did you think they were doing while his bronze flew her
gold? Sharing a mug of warm milk and a plate of cookies?"

"Seeing as how I _ride_ a gold, I know exactly what they did," she
growled, folding her arms over her chest. "Mating flights are different.
Everyone knows that." _He_ should know that.

B'ram snorted. "And you think he woke up after the Flight with a naked
young woman in the bed, still feeling the effects of Flight lust, knowing
his bronze had just flown her gold, and what, ran the other way? Is that
how your Flights work, Traelyn?"

Her jaw clenched as she shook her head--but it was more to dislodge the
sudden image that sprang into her mind than to answer his sneering
question. "_What_ is your sharding problem, B'ram?"

"I just think it's rather funny, that's all. You try so hard to make him
out to be so sharding perfect." Unlike B'ram, who she just accepted as
being flawed. "What are you gonna do when that perfect image fails you?"

"You think you know how I think of him?" Temper flared. "I know what
you're doing. Stop trying to turn me against him!"

"I'm not doing anything to turn you against him!" B'ram shot back, rising
to his feet and getting a perverse sense of satisfaction from punishing
her. "I'm telling you how it is! You don't need me to make you turn
against him. You're already half way there yourself!"

"How am I halfway there?!" He sharding wasn't making any sense!

"Oh, come on Trae! He's only good for you so long as it's convenient, so
long as he fits into your perfect little bronzerider fantasy. The only
reason you and I work is that you accepted long ago that we were screwed
up beyond repair." He shook his head and a look of near disgust clouded
his face. "Don't pretend that you give a flaming Thread for him. Not
really. Not unless it suits _you_. If you truly loved him, would you be
here now?"

Shocked, she stared at him. "That's not true!" Was it? No! It wasn't
true. She was more sharding self-aware than that!

B'ram wasn't buying it. He had known her too long. "You don't ever
change, Trae. It was the same with L'kub. Everything was fine between
you two until he broke the perfect image you had of him. And to punish
him for not being everything you wanted him to be, you broke his heart.
You'll do the same to this bronzerider. He'll fail you and you will make
him pay for it. Mark my words, you will."

Traelyn glared at him, furious...and confused. "Get out," she snarled.

He snorted, not at all surprised. B'ram could help one last shot, one
that he knew would fester for some time and yet he couldn't quite bring
himself to feel guilty for saying it. "I almost pity him. But then
again, maybe he knows your game after all. I mean, if he really loved
you, what is he doing still at Dragonsfall, huh?"

"I said get out!"

As he walked towards the door her kept his eyes on her face, watching as his
words sank deeper and deeper into her consciousness. "You know I'm
right," he said, turning the handle of the door. "I know you." B'ram
didn't wait for her reply as he slipped out of her weyr and left her alone
with her thoughts.

Last updated on the July 29th 2008

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Mark My Words