Maybe I Will

Writers: Len, Devin
Date Posted: 22nd February 2011

Characters: D'ren, Tigrid
Description: Tigrid almost crashes into D'ren (and his gitar) and the two get to know one another
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 7 of Turn 5

D'ren had found a rock big enough to cast a shadow and sat with his
back up against it, avoiding the heat of direct sunlight. He strummed
a few notes on his gitar and paused to write them down on a hide.

Tigrid stopped when she heard the gitar. She was so lost in her
thoughts that he didn't see the boy playing until she realized that
she was in danger of actually walking right over him. Shaking her
head, she said, "I'm sorry I didn't see you, I was just walking along
and thinking and..." She stopped when she realized she was rushing her
words. Trying to sound more mature, she added, "I'm sorry."

He looked up and gave her a friendly smile. "It's okay. You didn't
step on me, so no worries."

"Ah, okay, so what are you doing? You writing a song?" Her words
came out in their usual rushed clip.

"I'm trying to, at least." He still felt self conscious about writing
his own music.

"Yeah? Well, that's better than I could do. The only time I was
ever allowed to try to play a gitar I broke about four strings, I
think. Or was it five? Well, a lot of strings anyway. So what kind
of songs do you like?" She sat down across from him, wrapping her
towel around her shoulders and letting it cover her swimming gear.

D'ren held his gitar a little tighter. "Anything, really. I guess it
depends on my mood."

"Yeah? So what are you writing now?" It never occured to the artless
girl that she may have been disturbing him.

"Oh, it's nothing. So you were headed down for a swim?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I was on sweep this morning, I'm knackered! A
swim'll feel nice and my little green has made a wallow down by the
water, so I can go join her."

"Ah, so you're a rider." He offered his hand. "I'm D'ren, rider of
bronze Menanth."

"Ah, nice to met you!" She shook his hand, perhaps a bit longer than
was the norm. When she realized she was still hanging onto him, she
let go.

He smiled at her awkwardness. It was a nice change from some of the
bold women here. "Are you going to introduce yourself, or do you want
to be mysterious?" he teased.

"Oh! Oh, sorry...I'm Tigrid, by the way." she blushed, feeling quite
the fool. She felt like the fool more often than she wished in her
young life.

"Nice to meet you, Tigrid. Were you ever a crafter?" With her comment
about breaking gitar strings, she hadn't been a harper, but that
didn't mean she hadn't had some other craft.

"Me? No, no craft. My da didn't think girls should be wasted
learning when all they would do in the end was make babies." Those
words came out slower than her normal talk, as she thought about her
father and her upbringing. In a low tone, she added, "I haven't seen
him since I Impressed Jeith."

"Avoiding him?"

"No." She sat back, thinking about her dad and her family.
"No, it's more the opposite."

D'ren frowned. "Well, that's too bad. What about the rest of your family?"

"I don't know, to be honest. They're a bit like me da." She shifted
the towel around herself a bit tighter. "What about you?"

"I still see my family. Not as much as I should. Not as much as I'd
like to, but I visit when I can." Sometimes he felt a little guilty
having a good relationship with his parents when others didn't.

"Yeah? Where are you from?" Tigrid grinned at him, not at all upset
that he was close with his family whilst she had been disowned by hers for not Impressing a Gold.

"A small hold near Emerald Falls." He leaned back a little, relaxing
his hold on the gitar.

"Oh, I don't know that place. Cold, right?" She shuddered delicately
just thinking about cool weather. She was a hot weather girl, through
and through. "So how did you end up here and not some place like
Dragonsfall?"

"It's warm there. Not as hot as here, but definitely not cold." He
often wished the days here were cooler. "I was Searched from the
Harper Hall, before the Hall moved here."

"And now the Hall's here as well! That's lucky for you." She sat
back, grinning. It would be nice to have old friends and Masters
about, she thought.

D'ren nodded. "I've been trying to convince my sister to come, either
to the Hall or the Weyr. She has a wonderful voice."

"Well, the Hall is moving soon. Do you think they keep to allowing
girls to be more than just students?"

"I think they have to. They can't just send all the apprentices home
again. Besides, they've merged with the Printers, and they've always
allowed female crafters." Although the impending move made D'ren want
his sister to come to the Weyr more than the Hall. He wanted to be
able to keep an eye on her.

"Wonder why the South is so uptight about women and gays. It's not
like the Plague just happened, right?"

"Are you from the North, then?" The way she talked about her father
made her think she was Southern, but now he wondered.

"No, about as far South as you can get. I'm from a small Hold just
southeast of here." She sat back, lost for a moment in her childhood
memories. Not the bad ones, mind, but ones of playing in the ocean's
surf with her little sister and her youngest brother.

"Ah, so you're wondering about your own culture. How are you adjusting
to Weyr life?"

Tigrid sat back. "Oh, I love it! All of it, except Flights aren't so
fun...opps, I didn't mean to say that." Really, she was going to have
to learn not to run off at the mouth like that.

D'ren considered how to respond to that. "Flights can be hard to get used to."

"For guys too?"

"It's not easy waking up to someone and realizing that you've just had
sex, and that it wasn't your choice." It was both disorienting and
embarrassing. "And guys lose flights, and that's ... unpleasant."

"Maybe you can write a song about it. That'd be a good way to
scandalize the Holder crowd!"

D'ren laughed. "I think I'd be too embarrassed to write a song like
that, much less perform it."

She joined him in laughter. "Oh, come on! I'd sing it, my voice is
probably bad enough to make it completely unacceptable for Holders!"

"Bawdy songs aren't really my style, but I'm sure someone else in the
Weyr would write it. You could commission it for the next Hatching."
He winked.

"Maybe I will." The small girl sat back, grinning. She thought about
how her da and his male relations would react to that. "Maybe I
will..."

Last updated on the January 28th 2012

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Maybe I Will