The First Practice

Writers: Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 22nd December 2020

Characters: Aviday, D'ale, L'cor
Description: Aviday gets in her first real 'practice' after her flight, with good results
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 12 of Turn 10

Aviday

D'ale

L'cor

Aviday paced back and forth in her weyr, gnawing on her thumbnail
until her teeth broke the skin. Thoughts flickered through her mind
in rapid succession. Had he talked with him yet? Maybe she should
approach him first. Would he still want to help? Did she even want
him to? Maybe he really did just feel sorry for her. Maybe she'd
misunderstood his offer. Oh, Faranth, what if she had? What if what
what he'd offered meant something completely different, like going
with her to the weyrlingmasters? She groaned, feeling utterly
humiliated at the thought. Why would a bronzerider like L'cor even
consider anything else? He had a pretty weyrmate and she knew full
well who his father was. Why would he even consider doing what she
assumed? She didn't hear the scrabble of talons as she groaned out
loud. "I'm an idiot! I'm such an idiot! Aviday! Use your brain for
once!" She smacked herself in the forehead as if the action would
somehow affect her mind and its methods.

"Aviday?" D'ale ducked into the tiny weyr.

Startled, Aviday squeaked in surprise, her arms flailing as she spun.
"Oh! I didn't hear you. I'm here! I'm just... thinking. Uh, did you
talk to him? I was wrong wasn't I? He didn't mean what I thought. "
She groaned before he could answer. "I feel so stupid. I should just,
I don't know, remove my big foot from my jaws now."

D'ale walked over to her and just put his arms around her. "Calm down
sweetie, you're scaring Kobeth. Torerath is calming her down."

"I am?" She felt his arms around her, steadying her nerves with his
solid presence, then felt Kobeth's jittery concern when she finally
felt her heartbeat slow. The poor green was anxious, uncertain, and
was trying to figure out how to calm her rider without much success.
Like D'ale, Torerath was settling her nerves and soothing her.

**Oh, Faranth, Kobeth. I'm sorry!**

}: You were thinking too hard. It made my mind tingly. I can't do
all those thoughts at once. :{ The green's plaintive voice wasn't
accusatory, just uncertain.

**I'll try not to think so much, okay?** Aviday exhaled, then inhaled
deeply and slowly. Then again. "Sorry, Papa. I just got nervous."

"Yes," he chuckled. "I could tell." He led her over to sit on the end
of her bed. "Look, I checked him out and got some very good feedback
on L'cor. So I thought at that point I'd go have a chat with him like
we discussed. He's very nice, just like you thought."

She nodded slowly, trying not to twitch or fidget. "And... he does
want to help? Not just because he feels sorry for me? Or is it just
that he was being nice?"

"He really does want to help. He did say he'd intended to offer before
your flight, but that you ran away. So there wasn't much he could do
at that point. So he feels a little responsible for what happened to
you for what that's worth." D'ale smiled. "And yes, he likes you."

"He was? He does?" She blinked, surprised, then remembered the day
she'd helped him oil his bronze. She had gotten so embarrassed that
day and he'd been nothing but kind to her. Aviday chewed on her lower
lip. "Oh. So... what do I do now?"

D'ale felt rather strange acting like an old auntie for his daughter
but he kept a straight face and muddled on. "You have Kobeth tell
Tonuth that you would like to see L'cor and he will either meet you
somewhere or come to your Weyr. You just tell him which. Oh! and he
promised that he will only go as fast as you want." ** whew harder
than I thought!**

"Okay. I can do that. Thank you, Papa. For everything. " Aviday took
a breath. Should she just get it over with? What if she changed her
mind? What if he changed his mind? What did he mean exactly by as fast
as she wanted? Was he talking about...

}: Stop all the thoughts already. It makes everything so fuzzy.
Tonuth? Can Yours come soon? Mine is making my brain hurt with her
questions. :{

Aviday peeped, glanced around her father at Kobeth, eyes wide. "She
just called him herself."

D'ale kissed her cheek and stood. "You should listen to her Aviday.
Many times our lifemates know what we need better than we do. They
don't always understand all the reasons but they're pretty good at
cutting through to our real needs. Alright?" He started toward the
ledge and turned back one last time. "Most of all dear, relax and
enjoy." D'ale took a few more steps and leapt into his saddle, blew
her a kiss and dropped off the ledge.

"But..." Aviday's voice trailed off as D'ale left. She hadn't thought
to actually call on L'cor today. She thought maybe she'd take some
time to really think about it and decide what to do. Like month maybe.
Or longer.

}: No. Your mind is all messy right now and it makes me feel messy and
jittery. It's been messy and sad and confused and I don't like it.
Maybe Tonuth's can clean the mess up or something. Or at least answer
questions so your mind doesn't rattle around so much. I miss you
feeling happy. This isn't happy. :{

Aviday felt a surge of guilt. She'd caused all of this and her poor
dragon was breaking the brunt of it. **I'm sorry, Kobeth.**

}: Just let Tonuth's clear up the mess and maybe it'll get better. :{

Moments later Tonuth himself landed and touched noses with Kobeth.
"Hello," L'cor called. "May I come in?"

"Come in." Aviday rose off of the bed, arms around herself as she
shifted from foot to foot. What was she supposed to say?

Kobeth greeted Tonuth, then gave a croon, thankful the larger dragon
was there. She rubbed her nose along his jawline and shifted over to
make room for him.

L'cor smiled. "You look really nervous. Why don't you just sit down
and I will sit next to you. Then you can ask me any questions you
want. Does that work for you?"

She hesitated, then sat back down on the bed. "I am nervous," she
admitted, then waited for him to sit. He wasn't bad looking, she
decided, then blushed, fidgeting. "I don't know anything, you know.
I mean I know how it's _done_. I mean if you've ever met my mama, I
guess you could figure that out. But I've never done anything until my
Flight. Not anything."

"I know," he said. "I _have_ met your mama," he kind of blinked and
then smiled. "Your da seems level headed though . Of course that comes
with brown riders." He had been rather impressed with D'ale actually
and now that he looked at Aviday he could see a resemblance and only
imagine what she'd look like when she matured. Likely to be a knockout
though there were only hints of it now. "Then, we start with something
easy like just talking or maybe kissing. How does that sound?"

"Papa has been great. He's really there for me." She said softly. It
was likely her mother had mothed a flight with L'cor. That was a bit
awful to think about, but at least she hadn't clung to him. She hoped.
She looked up at him, drawn away from her thoughts by the suggestion;
she'd never been kissed. Not even in play. Her eyes flicked down to
his lips and then back up to meet his gaze, swallowing hard. If she
decided to talk, she might start rambling and not be able to stop. "I
kinda talk a lot. I don't know how to shut up sometimes." Her eyes
went back to his lips. "Maybe a kiss would be good."

He smiled and gently leaned in to kiss her.

L'cor had found something that would indeed silence her. His lips
touched Aviday's and her eyes fluttered closed. His lips felt soft
against hers and she leaned towards them with a sigh. Her hand lifted,
paused as if uncertain what to do, then laid on his shoulder lightly
near his neck. When he pulled away, she didn't move, but stayed still,
eyes remaining closed for a moment before licking her lips and
swallowing. "Can you do that again? "

"Of course," he smiled. and this time he put his arms around her and
deepened the kiss. When he pulled away he kissed her cheek and then
trailed more kisses down the side of her neck.

There was a soft gasp against his lips as she followed his lead,
moving her lips against his own and parting them under the pressure as
he deepened it. Her eyes remained closed as his lips trailed down her
neck, then her back gave a noticeable shiver. Her skin felt like it
was prickling everywhere. How was he doing that? How did he know to do
that? Faranth, it felt strange, but good and...Kobeth began to hum, a
deep sound that only seemed to increase the prickles along her spine
towards her belly. "Kobeth?"

"I'm definitely not Kobeth," he chuckled and began to unbutton his shirt.

That brought a breathy little laugh. "No she's humming and..." her
breath felt a little short as her eyes followed his fingers. Her
heart began to pound in a mixture of both excitement and a little
fear. She was actually doing this. He was taking his shirt off and
oh, he _did_ have a nice chest up close. But what if...Kobeth's
humming became insistent, breaking the chain of thought before it
could continue. Her hands lifted from his shoulders and she stopped,
not certain what she was supposed to do next.

"I'm pretty sure she wants you to fly," he said with a pointed look at
her shirt. He was amused by her hesitation. They'd been naked together
in the baths more than once so this wasn't really new territory. So,
he kicked off his shoes and pulled off his trousers before getting up
and moving to the head of the bed to lie down. "Let's do some more
kissing," he smiled.

She peeped. It was a high sound from the back of her throat as he
completely disrobed. Seeing him naked out of the baths and filling out
her rather small bed was something that her brain was struggling to
accept. Usually she didn't have a man's sole attention focused on
her, especially when was disrobing, but she had a feeling that his
attention wouldn't waver for a second. What if her didn't like her
body or it didn't really excite him? What if it deflated him? There
was an annoyed huff from her dragon's ledge.

Swallowing she stood up and slowly took off her shirt, then untied
her trousers with fingers that weren't quite steady. She slipped them
over her hips, stepped out and just stood for a moment, feeling
vulnerable. Kissing. She'd liked the kissing, so she could focus on
that. Slowly, she laid down beside him, feeling small in comparison
to his frame.

He put his arms around her and just held her. "Aviday," he murmured.
"I promise I'll stop if you say so," he kissed the top of her head.
"Do you believe me?"

Being held against his warmth, bare skin against bare skin, Aviday
relaxed as his arms folded around her. L'cor, she told herself,
wouldn't hurt her; he was trying to help her. He was being gentle.
Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah." She looked up at him and pressed so
close, paused for just a moment, then pressed her lips to his.

~*~ fade to black ~*~

Aviday felt completely spent and relaxed. When L'cor kissed
her, she returned it, a slightly stunned, but very satisfied smile
lifting the corners of her mouth. For once, she didn't immediately
start talking, she simply basked in the glow of pure satisfaction.

He let her float for a little bit and then fell to the side and pulled
her against him to cuddle a little. Then he turned and whispered. "And
when your lifemate flies it's even better if you stay with her. Maybe
if I'm lucky Tonuth will catch her."

Her eyes opened as she was pulled to his side and she burrowed into
his warmth, cheek against his chest. Her voice was a murmur. "I'd
like that. And it won't hurt again? Because that was amazing. I've
never felt anything like it." Aviday sighed happily, feeling utterly
content. "Can we do it again?"

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Sure, in a little bit." He kissed the
top of her head.

Last updated on the January 13th 2021

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The First Practice