A Harmonious Meeting

Writers: Dawn, Eimi
Date Posted: 24th March 2010

Characters: D'cal, Shawnyta
Description: D'cal and Shawnyta meet
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 22 of Turn 5

Shawnyta sighed in contentment as she slid into the waters of the
bathing pool and closed her eyes, her head resting on the ledge. Thead
had fallen this morning into early afternoon and as a healer, she'd been
so busy. The realities of Threadfall were never pretty. She'd been busy
everywhere she'd been able to find herself useful and had only recently
been able to slip away and bathe the sweat and grime of the day from her
body. She wasn't the only one here, either, though she wasn't
participating in the
conversations surrounding her. Her stomach gave a low grumble, reminding
her that she hadn't eaten much but a quickly snatched meatroll much
earlier. Her eyes slitted open slightly as she felt the water beside her
stir and a faint stench of firestone reached her nose.

"Sorry," D'cal said apologetically as he carefully lowered his hips into
the water. There was very little space between the young woman and the
older rider next to her, but the bluerider hoped it would be just enough
room for him. "Hi," he said a with a little smile of greeting when
their eyes briefly met and then he quickly turned them away.

"It's alright," Shawnyta scooted over the little bit she was able.
"I'm Shawnyta, by the way," she said, raising her head and opening her
eyes a little more to look at the person beside her.

"D'cal," he said with a nod of greeting. They were silent for a moment.
The bluerider still had trouble sometimes coming up with conversations
in the bathing pool. He had grown accustomed to the mixed bathing, and
was comfortable with his friends, but meeting strangers was sometimes
still a little awkward. Finally he said, "It sure it crowded today."

"It is. Threadfall has it's own way of bringing everyone out into the
bathing pools, dining cavern, and the infirmary." She sighed as she
thought of all the patients with threadscore she'd treated today. Her
stomach rumbled again, this time louder. She laughed softly. "And here
soon, I guess I'll be making my way to the crowded dining cavern."

"Yeah, I think as soon as the Thread is over and we're dismissed, half
head for the pools and the other half to the Dinning Hall." He
preferred this way. Right now you'd hardly be able to smell your food
over the reek of crackdust, he was sure!

"I don't know about you, but I'd much prefer to eat when I'm not all
grimy. I'm a Senior Apprentice Healer, so Faranth only knows what's on
me by the end of my shift." She shuddered at the thought. "You know,
I've seen you around, I think, but can't say that we've ever spoken
before. Your dragon must be good at dodging Thread since I don't think
I've seen you in the infirmary before."

"I'm just lucky I guess," he said with a shrug, though he was very proud
of his little Aosorath. Even for a blue, he was very agile and fast.
"But I used to spend a lot of time in the infirmary. A couple friends
of mine were scored pretty bad a couple turns ago."

"I must have missed seeing you then. I'm pretty good with faces, just
not names." She sighed and moved to flip her long, wet braid over her
shoulder. "So, D'cal, do you mind chatting? Or would you prefer peace
and quiet?" She smiled, "I promise I won't be offended if you'd rather
just relax."

"I don't mind." He might be naturally reserved, but he was far from
anti-social. "But could you hand me the sweetsand?"

She smiled, "Absolutely," she said as she reached for it and handed it
to him, but not before taking a handful for herself. "Would you mind
helping me with my back and I'll do yours? I always find it difficult
to get the middle of my back, especially when the pool is so full and
my elbows can get dangerous to those around me."

"I don't mind." His back had never been D'cal's problem. What he found
trouble with was washing anything below the waist with a pool full of
people. He'd either be shoving his nether region in someones face, or
his hindquarters, neither of which made him feel very comfortable.
"Just let me get my arms and chest done first."

"Sure thing." She began working up a lather to wash her own body.
Chill bumps raced across her skin as she stood up out of the water,
the slight chill becoming obvious in more than just the chill bumps.
Being weyrbred, she barely gave it notice as she washed herself. She
did, however, notice the fine, lean muscle of D'cal's body. "Not bad,"
she thought to herself, a slight warmth ran through her at the sight
of his body.

The bluerider, on the other hand made a point of turning away as soon as
he noticed her move to stand up out of the water. In his early days as
a candidate he had been caught staring once or twice and the
embarrassment and shame had been impressed on his memory so that now he
kept his eyes as much to himself as possible. "Do you want me to get
your back now?"

"Please," she pulled her braid over her shoulder to give him access to
her back as she turned around, offering him her back, "And don't worry
about scrubbing too hard, I like a firm hand."

"All right." He grabbed a handful of sand from the bag and dipped his
hands into the water to work up some lather. As his did his eyes
traveled down her spine to the small of her back and to the swell of her
hips just peeking out of the water. His eyes snapped back up to the
back of her head as his hands got to work carefully working the
sweetsand into her back. **Flight formations...** he told himself, and
began listing off the names of all the Flight patterns they had drilled
to keep his mind focused on anything other than the fact that when she
shifted slightly, he could see the hint of the curve of her breasts.

Peeking over her shoulder, Shawnyta noticed D'cal's eyes were very
carefully anywhere _but_ her body and he seemed a bit tense. "So, what
did you do before you Impressed?"

D'cal had so thoroughly put his mind elsewhere it took him a moment to
realize what she had said. "I'm sorry?" he asked, his eyes snapping to
hers. "Oh," the question finally registered. "I was a shipwright."

That would explain part of his obvious discomfort. "So how did you end
up a dragonrider?"

"My family and I were at Topaz Seahold when the hurricane leveled it.
The Weyr was helping us clean up the mess when one of the rider's of a
Searchdragon found me. We owed the Weyr so much for all they did saving
us that I couldn't refuse. I Impressed my first time on the Sands."
And so his life had changed radically three times in the space of a
couple months.

"I remember that. Was your entire family able to be saved?" She'd been
about fourteen turns at the time, but she did remember the incident. It
had been a devastating event for the Seahold.

"Yes, our family was inland at the time, thank Faranth." They had been
visiting relatives at the time and had decided to weather out the storm
with them. And luckily for them they did, or who knows if they would
have survived. As it was, they came back to find their home completely
destroyed.

"That's good then," Back washed and rinsed, she turned around to face
him. "Your turn," she said brightly, grabbing a handful of sweetsand
and lathering it up.

He obediently turned his back to her. "And you? I take it you're from
the Weyr." D'cal assumed from her lack of any shyness that she was.
Then again, Dyaera hadn't been born at the Weyr and had been very open
like this girl was.

"I am," she said, rubbing the lather over his shoulders and down his
back. "My mother, Shellana, is a greenrider, but she transferred to
another Weyr when I was fairly young, and I have only seen her twice
since then. My father, a brownrider, went /between/ with his dragon
during Threadfall and came out right into a large clump of Thread.
They were scored so badly, I'm told, there wouldn't have been a chance
of survival for either of them." She enjoyed the feel of his back
under her hands. She wondered if he would be adverse to spending more
time with her.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," he said softly, turning slightly to look at
her face. "Was it under O'dan?"

"Yes," she said, exhaling softly, "that day was horrible. So many
died needlessly because of that dimglow." As a healer, it upset her
when lives were lost due to the carelessness of others. "I wasn't
really close to my father, but I knew him better than I know my
mother." His back was now clean, but she continued rubbing, turning
her touch into a massage. It was soothing to her and he was _very_
tense.

D'cal wasn't necessarily thinking of what she was doing, though it
certainly did feel nice. He was thinking of his own memories of that
day. "Two of my friends were really badly Scored. That's when I was in
the Infirmary a lot, with B'vin and Dyaera." It brought back memories
of the girl he would probably always remember as his first love. As
complicated and tumultuous as it had been at times, he would always
remember her with a sad little bitter-sweet smile.

"Did your friends make it through?" Some of the riders that day had
made it to the infirmary with or without their dragons that day, she
remembered, but there were alot who hadn't survived either because of
their own injuries or because they decided to follow their dragons
when they went /between/ from their injuries. She continued to massage
his back, working in long strokes
down either side of his spine and working her way back up with her
thumbs pressing little circles.

Shards, that really was feeling good, he thought as his eyelids closed
slightly. "B'vin's back in the wing. I don't know if Dyaera will fly
Thread again."

"That must be hard for her." Shawnyta's stomach rumbled, reminding her
she needed to eat. "Would you like to eat with me when we are done
here? Maybe we could grab something from the dining cavern and then
take it somewhere not as crowded."

"That sounds nice. I'm starving myself." D'cal dipped down into the
water to wash the sweetsand off his back. When he rose out of the water
again he turned to finally face her, though he kept his eyes on hers.
"What's your name again?"

"Shawnyta." She swiped the water off of her body quickly with the
drying sheet before slipping into a loose tunic and trousers. Her
shoes she shoved into the satchel holding her dirty clothes. She
tilted her head at him, "And you are..." she paused for a moment,
searching her memory, "D'cal, rider of...?"

"Aosorath," he said when he had pulled his head through the neck of his
fresh tunic. "He's a blue." He reached his hand out to offer to take
her bag. "May I?"

"Thank you," she said, handing over the bag. "I have a blue flit,
named Taiv. He'd be excited to meet Aosorath sometime, as would I. If
you don't mind that is," she said as they began to make their way to
the dining cavern.

"No, I think I'd like that," he smiled as his stomach growled in harmony
with hers.

Last updated on the May 3rd 2010

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A Harmonious Meeting