A Similar Look

Writers: Avery, Estelle
Date Posted: 24th November 2020

Characters: M'gan, R'kehr
Description: M'gan runs into an interesting young bronzerider.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 10 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: K'ran, Lanniya, Rasme

M'gan stood back, rolled his shoulders and brushed his damp forehead
with the back of his hand, leaving a smear of hide oil behind. Above
him, Isarth gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, clean and contented after
his bath. Although it was familiar to him, he couldn't help thinking as
he always did what a magnificent sight his beloved bronze lifemate was,
at any time, but now most of all.

He couldn't say the same for himself, though, damp and oily, and it was
baking hot, so much he was bound to start to burn soon. So he picked up
the washing gear and started back across the Weyrbowl when he saw
another bronze pair approaching. M'gan raised a hand in friendly
greeting, then his brow creased. The rider was a young man, maybe just
out of his teens, but he seemed familiar in a way the older bronzerider
couldn't place. Yet when he asked Isarth for the dragon's name, it
wasn't one he recognised, and he thought he would have if they'd served
in the North together.

"Afternoon," he called, forgetting his plans for a moment in his
curiosity. "Headed to the lake? I've got some sweetsand left, if you
want it."

"I would appreciate it, this lug always seems to need more than I have,
and I can't tell if the candidates go through it too quickly or if he
just demands overuse." He grinned at the older bronzerider, revealing
the dimples in his cheeks and the little cleft in his chin.

"I'm R'kehr, and that's Thadath over there," R'kehr replied, gesturing
at the bronze dragon who was wading into the water. "You're Cyclone's
new wingleader, right?"

"Aye, I'm M'gan, and that's Isarth." He gestured towards the older
bronze, who had stretched out on the warm ground by the lake to watch
the other dragons bathing through half-lidded eyes. "The Weyrleader did
me that honor. But you're not in Cyclone..." He frowned, thinking.
"Rapids?"

"Got it in one. Impressed at River Bluff in Anaeryth's class, came over
in K'ran's wing after the collapse," he explained.

"Ah, right. A River Bluff rider?" It didn't explain the nagging sense of
familiarity. M'gan wondered if he'd flown with a relative of the young
man, since riders had come from all over the South to populate the
Northern Weyrs, back before the Pass had begun.

"My mother's a greenrider, and she transferred from Vista Point, and I
got lucky on the River Bluff sands. My sister Uriana's here too, she
works with wood when she's not Standing. You know how weyr families are,
right?" he asked.

"Right. Mine's much the same..." M'gan blinked, as slow realization
began to dawn. If it hadn't been for his conversation with Rasme, back
when he'd first come to Dolphin Cove, he might not have thought of it,
but being back in the South had kept it in his mind. "I grew
up at Vista Point, too, though I don't expect you remember me. You'd
have been quite a young lad when I went North. But perhaps I know your
mother?"

"Kehrana. She's about this tall," R'kehr held a hand up to his
shoulders, indicating a short woman, since he wasn't that tall himself.
"Short black hair with curls to it? Kind of a ditz?"

He frowned, thinking back. "She was a greenrider, you said? What was her
dragon's name?"

R'kehr had finished rolling up his pants and getting ready to wade in
with Thadath. He tilted his head when he saw how M'gan was frowning.
"Beralith. Do you know her? She's around here, Isarth could ask for
her."

"Yes, we weren't in the same Wing, but I do remember her now. We were
both weyrbrats, though I was a few Turns ahead." He was putting the
pieces together now, but was in two minds as to whether to say anything.
It wasn't as though he'd ever been around, even before he'd left for the
North, and the fact that he was now beginning to regret it didn't change
that fact. If he was right, and not mistaken. "Perhaps I will ask
Isarth. It's good to see some folk from my old home."

"I feel that way whenever someone from River Bluff visits, who didn't
transfer here," R'kehr said, entirely unaware of what M'gan was
thinking. "Whether they're doing courier duty or dropping in to see
friends, it's just...nice to know they're still around."

"Know what you mean. I've met a few old friends from Vista Point here
already, but another's always welcome." Though after ten Turns of
Threadfall, not all of them were left, and he was glad to know Kehrana
and Beralith were still flying. Shaking off those sad thoughts, he
smiled. "Well, I'll leave you and Thadath to your bath. Good flying,
bronzerider."

"Something I learned about having my home and so many things destroyed
by a disaster... What matters most is the people around us. I'm glad
you're finding some here."

Realizing that sounded morbid, he offered his own answering smile.
"Thank you for the supplies, Wingleader."

"You're welcome." M'gan raised a hand in farewell and started back
towards his weyr, wondering what to do. Would it be better to leave it?
The young man seemed happy enough as he was, as most weyrbred riders
were. But as he'd said, old associations mattered, and he'd shared a
childhood with Kehrana, besides anything else.

**Isarth?** He touched his bronze's sleepy mind, and felt his lifemate's
affection roll through him like the warm glow of a hearth fire. **Could
you find a green called Beralith? Ask if her rider remembers me, and if
she'd like to catch up over a drink...**

Last updated on the December 1st 2020

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A Similar Look