Chasing the Night to Day (L'nik, Shahera and dragons)

[faesinger]

Shahera pushed a wave of water at L’nik’s retreating form before flipping around to float on her back and look at the stars. “I assume it must get warm there sometime.” She hummed lightly before continuing. “I hope their sands are as warm as ours. Can you imagine having to stand in those robes in the cold?” She floated there for a moment seemingly contemplating the universe above her. “Enough about silly High Reaches people. Tell me you deepest darkest secret.” This ridiculous demand was said in the most reasonable voice.

Therianth bounced a little as she circled and beamed at Hessianth as he moved away again after the head bump. She flared her wings slightly as if she was trying to make herself bigger and charged at the other dragon. At the last moment she veered off to the right and set of down the beach again. Delighted laughter was shared with Hessianth. Shahera smiled as she felt the joy from her dragon flowing through the bond.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

The horizon line was suddenly very interesting once again, though he did suspect that Shahera wouldn't have actually mind if he'd not been so modest on her behalf. "They have to be warm if the eggs are going to hatch. I bet it's the warmest place in their Weyr," L'nik said as he pushed himself out farther into the water. Not out far enough to cause any concern of drifting away, certainly, but he was at least not going to be able to ground his feet in the sand. Turning idly in the water, he looked at her with a slight frown. "My deepest, darkest, secret, hmm?" That was one he'd actually have to think about. "Can't say it's anything exciting. Maybe the time I hid a dead tunnelsnake under the Head Woman's bed and she didn't know it was there until it had begun to rot and made the entirety of her quarters smell rancid? They didn't catch me for that one at least."

That one.

Hessianth had braced himself for another boop on the head or snout. Instead, he cheeped briefly with confusion as Therianth went tearing down the beach, bounding after her once he'd realized what she was doing. Clever! Another race? he inquired, though he couldn't help but ponder over jumping into the water to start a splash-fight with their riders - an image he shared readily with the green.

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[faesinger]

L’nik actually trying to answer the question surprised Shahera enough for her to loose her buoyancy and slip under the water for a second. Sputtering a little as she came up to get the sea water out of her mouth she glared at L’nik. “While a brilliant thing to have done, that isn’t really a deep dark secret. More in line with a guilty one.” She teased. “I was expecting something like,” her voice dropped to a fake whisper, “’I secretly want to sleep with the Weyrwoman.’” That was a scary and interesting idea.

Therianth bugled at Hessianth’s idea and set off for the water. Brilliant idea! Splashing her way through the small waves she began heading down the beach again. Water sprayed everywhere as she ran.

[quote="demon_pachabel”]  

[demon_pachabel]

He shrugged innocently. "Oh, well uh..." he scratched along his chin and neck at the clarification of what Shahera had been expecting as an answer out of him. "Can't say I have anything quite that exciting stashed away." He'd focused really hard on one big goal his entire life, and now that he had Hessianth, the world was kind of his oyster.

There wasn't much time to think much about a real answer, however, as Hessianth bounded into the water alongside Therianth, launching himself so that when he landed, water sprayed everywhere - or rather all over L'nik. The young man sputtered, turning to face the brown in time for a second splash to follow the first before Hessianth bounded back again, bugling with laughter.

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[faesinger]

Therianth came bouncing up to Shahera and batted water over her. When Shahera was above the surface again she laughed. “Hello there! Have you come to stir up trouble?” Therianth only splashed her again before turning to the boys and splashing them as well.

“You need to work on your secret ambitions then.” Shahera picked up the conversation from before they were interrupted by dragons. “Think big! Thing crazy! Think..what would make you happiest?” Therianth had waited for her to finish talking before pushing Shahera over a little. The dragon realized that Shahera was treading water and could be moved around and began pushing her rider around like a bath toy. Shahera just laughed and went with it.

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[demon_pachabel]

What would make him happiest? "If it doesn't sound dumb, I already got the thing that would make me happiest. I've dreamed of being on dragonback since I was old enough to recognize how it all worked," which was more than 18 years of dreaming about his own lifemate. Hessianth rumbled, clearly pleased by this as he tread water and flailed his wings to splash it all about. "From here we just go up. Maybe I'll try to steal that Weyrleader position someday," though that was a voted position, so that meant he and Hessianth needed to keep shaping up.

A worthy challenge! Hessianth seemed enthused by the idea, suddenly ducking under the water to tug at one of L'nik's feet, sending the boy toppling over into the water as he was flipped. Doing a 360 in the water was not exactly planned and the young man was coughing and sputtering all over when his head was finally back above the water.

Careful!

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[faesinger]

Treading water for this long was tiring Shahera. She was strong but this was using muscles in a way she wasn’t used to. Wrapping her arms around Therianth’s neck she used her dragon as a support. “That is better. A good ambition to have.” She couldn’t imagine having a dream to be on a dragon for that long. It must have been hard when Thread fell. To either have to give up a dream or accept the mantle and still live the dream. “Not exactly a deep dark secret though.” Teasing was so much fun.

Therianth allowed herself to be used as a buoy however she still wanted to play so she started moving towards Hessianth with Shahera in tow. Giggles were sent to Hessianth when he dunked his rider. She had started enjoying messing with people much like her rider. That being a fun game was something both rider and dragon agreed on.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"I'm a little boring, I guess," L'nik said innocently with a shrug of his shoulders. Hessianth bore into the boy with affection, reminding him that he was the most interesting, thank you very much. It was hard to argue the logic of a dragon who thought he could breath under water. "What about you? Anything you'd share?" Hey, if it was show-and-tell, it couldn't hurt to ask.

Hessianth allowed L'nik to float freely, as he didn't seem to be tired quite yet, instead seeming content to start paddling in circles around the group. It would have been an appropriate time for a tune about a shark if he'd known what either a shark or the tune related to such a thing was. Do you two sneak out often? This is quite the adventure! And to say Hessianth was enjoying himself would have been an understatement.

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[faesinger]

“We can work on that.” Shahera assured L’nik, still holding onto Therianth. They were much close now and Shahera reached out an patted L’nik on the shoulder. “Most people aren’t boring. They just don’t know all about themselves yet.” She had discovered in her travels that self awareness was a rare thing. “As for me…well…as far as ambitions go, I don’t have the height you do as I don’t want the responsibility of everyone’s lives. Probably my biggest ambition is a common one. Find love.” She grinned into the night. “Deepest darkest secrets wise? Did you know how many people are happy to maintain correspondences through flits? You learn the most interesting things. Mostly useless of course. But not always.” That was a more innocuous secret than some she could share, but not many people knew she was sending letters all over Western weekly.

Therianth batted out a wing at the passing Hessianth to send a wave of water over him. Nooooooooo. Never. She teased. We don’t go running or star gazing ever. We need our beauty rest. Her voice was full of false innocence.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

It somehow didn't surprise him that a girl that was as lovely as, and had been at the courtesan hall, like Shahera would have been seeking something like love. It wasn't an entirely unworthy thing, and L'nik wouldn't have been one to pretend he had loftier goals than that. He'd had to pull the idea of being Weyrleader out of a spontaneous moment of thought, and who was to say he'd hold onto it as a goal? "Well I hope it finds you," it seemed like really the best reply to such a thing. "So you collect news from firelizards? That actually sounds like a pretty good way to pass time and stay informed," which automatically meant that Shahera was likely much smarter than he was.

The false innocence of the green was answered with laughter from Hessianth. As you should! The night feels much more alive than the morning! for emphasis, he sent a helpful image of most of the Weyrlings when they were woken in the early morning, all groggy and wishing for a chance to sleep in for just a while longer. It seems to me you get just the right balance of fun and beauty sleep.

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[faesinger]

It was probably a good thing that L’nik had not voiced the thought about intelligence aloud. He would have gotten a lecture about knowledge and intelligence not being the same thing with a dash of everyone knows things others don’t mixed in. Shahera felt very strongly about people selling themselves short and comparing themselves to other people as a measure of their own abilities.

She shrugged slightly making the water ripple. “It may come. I won’t force it.” Forcing love was a foolish thing to do. “Yep. Firelizards are the best mail carriers.” She paused in thought. “Well-trained fire lizards are the best mail carriers.” She amended. She began to wave a hand around before it caught her eye and she began examining the slight pruning of her hand. She didn’t spend enough time in water to prune very often. It was an interesting phenomenon.

Mornings are terrible! They mean chores and work! The night means games and fun!

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Makes sense. Never thought about it much myself," but there were a lot of things he'd never really considered in his life and the argument he'd had with his mother and Eosphoth after the Hatching Feast had put a certain perspective on his life. One that shifted over time as he and Hessianth's minds became more entangled with one another. "I mean, that makes sense! Quicker than waiting for a runner to bring a letter or whatever," but not everybody had access to a well-trained firelizard.

Mine wakes up early anyways and he's like- the image he sent Therianth was perhaps an exaggeration, something more akin to a zombie than an actual man, But he says it's good for character or something.

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[faesinger]

Therianth giggled some more at the image Hessianth provided. What sort of character? They scary kind? She swiveled her head to follow Hessianth until she couldn’t turn it any more. You are going to make yourself dizzy.

Shahera looked up from her hand to see that the sky was starting to lighten behind L’nik. “Dawn is coming. We might want to get out of the water at least.” She ducked under the surface and swam towards the shore. She only came up when she could touch the ground and walk easily to the beach. There she contemplated her pile of clothing trying to figure out how to strap on the knives without L’nik seeing.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Clearly! he rumbled with agreement as he slowed his circling. Hmm! An improvement from usual for me, wouldn't it be? he asked in jest.

"So it is!" L'nik couldn't help but wonder if that would set the tone for the day - no sleep and covered in salt water. Hessianth seemed pleased, though. Just nap during your lessons! I'm sure a little trouble won't hurt you! he offered as a helpful suggestion. As Shahera made her way back up onto the beach, however, the horizon line with the rising sun suddenly looked much more interesting. "I'm not looking!" he pointed out, as though somehow the entire thing was a trap.

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[faesinger]

L’nik’s exclamation solved that problem. She quickly dressed with a long practiced efficiency. Once fully clothed with no knives showing she called out, “You can come out now. I am fully clothed.” There was a teasing note in her voice. If it hadn’t been for the knives she wouldn’t have cared.

I like you as you usually are though. Being dizzy would only make you clumsy! That would be a terrible thing to be. Therianth started towards the shore herself. We are going to need so much oil this evening. The salt water once dry was going to itch fiercely.