The Devious Plot

Writers: Corrin, Shawna
Date Posted: 29th October 2024

Characters: T'gyrlan, Zariah
Description: Set up by his niece, Kevia, T’gyrlan takes Zariah for a picnic date.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 6 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Kevia

T'gyrlan

Kevia had told him to take Zariah out on his next rest day when they were both free, so one ‘fall and two days later, T’gyrlan was doing just that. Things were arranged quickly between their dragons. Hanassath reported that T’gyrlan had uncovered his niece’s devious plot to get them together-- by arranging for them to take a picnic on the beach. Thankfully Zariah knew that T’gyrlan only tolerated the beach for his niece’s sake, and counter offered a meadow of wildflowers. The date was set.

Following Relsath’s directions, T’gyrlan and Hanassath landed in a mountainous meadow rife with wildflowers and, finding a nice spot where he wouldn’t crush too many flowers, he laid out a blanket and anchored it with not one, but two picnic baskets.

“See?” Zariah said, sliding down Relsath’s shoulder, “A nice place for a picnic, without the sand. And while I disagree with your dislike of sand in general, I admit I don’t like it in my food. I like to stop here when I do sweeps and pick up a bouquet for my weyr.”

She let him set up the blanket, and if he looked up, he probably caught her giving another admiring look when he bent over, but as soon as the blanket was down, she approached. “Two picnic baskets? I’m almost afraid to look in them.”

“One is a defensive picnic basket,” T’gyrlan said with a rueful smile. “The other, Kevia packed.”

“What is in a defensive picnic basket?” Zariah reached for that one.

“Oh no you don’t!” Athletically whisking the ‘defensive’ basket out of reach, he pivoted to hand her the remaining one. “You have to look at Kevia’s basket first. This was her idea, afterall.”

“I have children of my own, I’m not sure I want to look in Kevia’s basket,” Zariah joked, but she still took the other basket willingly enough. Rifling through it, she held up a soggy piece of bread coated in red… jam? No wait. A little more digging and the greenrider pulled out the empty crust of a bubbly pie. Laughing, she said, “Really, it looks like she did a good job. I see four pieces of bread, what appears to be sandwich insides, and an empty bubbly pie crust. You should have checked this before you transported it.” Dumping the sticky contents back in, she pulled out the skin and the cups. “Shall we see what she sent us as libations?”

“I _did_ check before I flew, that's why we have the defensive basket. It wasn’t great before either. I think she was running about the lower caverns with it for a while.” T’gyrlan shook his head, chuckling. “Pour me a cup. That should be safe enough at least.”

As she poured he set about opening the ‘defensive picnic basket’ and laying out a well packed and presented picnic lunch. He had paid the kitchens extra for the rush order. It wasn’t all that different from Kevia’s basket, still centering around sandwiches, but they hadn’t been thrown in loose, which helped the appeal. The bubbly pies were fully intact too. “What’s the verdict?”

Zariah poured out two cups, offering T’gyrlan one before sniffing her own and taking a sip. “It’s juice. Not too bad, but it would have been better chilled, but I intend to tell her it was all delightful. You have a very sweet niece, you know.”

“That said, I do like my sandwiches not scattered about. Did you pack this yourself?”

T’gyrlan took the cup of lukewarm juice, shaking his head. “You're talking to a man who once lit toast on fire. I left everything to the kitchens. Paid them a nice bit of marks too. Can't say I regret it, they did a better job than I would’ve. Look. I think they gave us fruit salad.”

“I take it you were not raised in the lower caverns,” Zariah guessed, pulling a sandwich towards herself, “or at least not in the kitchens? I hope you didn’t tell everyone what this was for, I’ll be interrogated about the ‘handsome bronzerider’ if you did.” Her tone was more teasing than worried.

Since she started eating T’gyrlan took his cue to begin as well, chatting easily as the sun climbed into the sky. “Hanassath found me at fourteen, so I wasn’t in the Lower Caverns long-- but I _was_ there long enough to know to keep the tip heavy and details light with the kitchens unless I wanted my business known throughout the weyr. But maybe I should have… if it meant they’d spread the word about how a lovely greenrider agreed to spend the afternoon with me.” His smile was teasing too. “They think we bronzers are all gold chasers right now. I have _range_.”

Zariah actually blushed, “Well, I don’t know that I warrant weyr-wide gossip, but you certainly do credit to your knots. Do you do a lot of varied chasing?” Her small faltered a little, “Was it hard? Impressing that young? Relsath didn’t find me until I was nineteen.”

“It probably should have been hard. It would have if I’d treated it even half seriously, but--" Here he grinned ruefully, “I’m afraid I was pretty frivolous during the Interval. I did a lot of varied chasing then, a lot of partying and drinking too. Now I’m more about quality than quantity though.”

She took another sip of the juice in an ineffective attempt to hide her smile.

He looked at her meaningfully for a moment, before continuing, “Nineteen must have been hard in its own way. The wait and uncertainty… Did you ever consider something else?”

“True. It was different for us, we had the Interval. Less danger.” Zariah set aside her sandwich, considering. “Not really. I tried my hand at tailoring, and if it had come to it, I’d have made myself useful to the Weyr. I always knew I was meant to fly, though.” Sighing, she admitted, “My daughter is 13 and she’s very excited for the upcoming hatching. I worry she’s too young for it. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be negative on such a lovely day.”

“No need to apologize. I admit, current events have been on my mind too-- though mostly that it’s damn nice to get out of the weyr again. The days before a gold goes up are always the worst, can’t leave the weyr, but can’t really do anything to affect matters.” He paused, snacking on some of the fruit salad, before continuing in a thoughtful tone, “Your daughter may not benefit from having the Interval to learn in, but the weyrling masters are sensible. If she Impresses, they won’t graduate her straight to the wings. She’ll be given the time she needs to get her feet under her.”

T’gyrlan paused, suddenly having a horrible notion: a thirteen turn old on _gold_. “...Of course, waiting one hatching might not hurt.”

“I suppose. It’s just… different. And I worry. But I suppose it’s all up to the dragons and I just have to hope for the best.” She took a piece of fruit. “And I hope a certain dragon in this clutch has the sense to pick someone older and more ready for responsibility. We had it easy, you know? Turns of just galavanting across Pern.”

“We did. We had time to grow up… The most we can do for our kids right now is fight and fly as best we can. Keep them safe.” He caught himself frowning and shook his head, “You’re right, no need to be negative on a day like today. Here, let me show you what I learned during those gallivanting Turns.”

Picking the nearest wildflowers, T’gyrlan began a flower crown.

Last updated on the November 9th 2024

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The Devious Plot