The Romance of the Weyr

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 16th December 2024
Series: Bronze and Blue Entwined

Characters: L'keri, K'mai, A'ten
Description: The friends celebrate A'ten's Impression and K'mai has a little too much to drink.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 22 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: I'serin, L'val, M'rhas, A'ris
K'mai thirst level: extreme

L'keri

K'mai

L'keri was fit to burst with pride as he entered the dining cavern with
his son at his side. The space was heated, raucous and packed with
weyrfolk, guests and families of the candidates, with weyrbrats running
about underfoot and serving staff carrying in huge trays of roasted
herdbeast, heaps of vegetables and greens, and bottles of wine.

Their progress through the crowd was slow, since everyone wanted to
congratulate a new weyrling. A'ten was looking rather dazed by the time
they made it to one of the tables taken over by the Cyan wingriders, but
that wasn't uncommon for the newly Impressed.

"K'mai!" L'keri waved at his friend, an irrepressible grin on his face.
"Look who's here!"

"Arten! Congratulations!" The bluerider smiled from ear to ear. "What's
the new name?"

"A'ten." His new name still sounded unreal, but Corvanth had used it as
naturally as if he'd never been called anything else. "Thank you...I
mean, sir," he added, remembering that he was a weyrling now.

K'mai laughed. "Don't get _too_ serious now. I still remember you being
knee-high and getting snot and drool all over me." He ruffled the boy's
hair.

"Never mind that. Did you see him Impress?" L'keri asked, grabbing a
seat at one of the dining tables. "A handsome _brown_!" Of course, he
was delighted that his son had Impressed at all, but he couldn't quite
conceal a note of smugness in his voice.

"Da!" Arten had the grace to look embarrassed by his father's gloating.
"I didn't have the honor to be chosen by a blue, but Corvanth is perfect
for me."

"Of course he is!" K'mai was unbothered. "We should have a drink to
celebrate!" He glanced between L'keri and A'ten. "Or, well, I can drink
for all of us! Be right back." He set his half-full wine glass on the
table and went to go get more.

When he returned, L'keri had snagged some glasses of a sparkling fruit
concoction for himself and A'ten, so that the table could raise a toast
to Corvanth.

"Go on about the feeding," L'keri said once they'd all quenched their
thirst. He glanced at K'mai. "A'ten says there was some sort of ruckus
at the feeding buckets."

"I don't know how it started, but suddenly there was meat spilled
everywhere, and Galgaith and a bronze were tussling over it, and others
were joining in. Someone gave Merhaskel - I mean, M'rhas - a bloody
nose, and someone else threw up, and these two girls were yelling and
tearing each other's hair out right by us." A'ten's eyes were round. "Is
that normal?"

"Faranth's first egg, no!" K'mai said with horrified laughter.

"Someone's going to be in trouble with the Weyrlingmaster," L'keri
commented with relish. He had never heard of such a thing, even in his
own wayward weyrling days. "You stayed out of it, right?"

"Mostly." A'ten looked down guiltily at the table. "I didn't do it on
purpose! I was watching what was happening and lost concentration for a
moment, and Corvanth was so hungry he put his head right in the bucket
and got stuck. One of the others helped get it off, but it was messy."

"His head stuck in a bucket?" K'mai laughed again. "Poor thing. Here's
to you staying out of the worst of it." K'mai lifted his glass and then
took a hearty drink.

Father and son raised their glasses too. The story had reminded A'ten of
something, and he turned to look around the cavern. "Actually, I'd
better go and find A'ris and thank him for helping us. It was so chaotic
I didn't really get the chance."

L'keri clapped the boy on his shoulder. "Go on and enjoy yourself while
you can, for tomorrow you'll be at the mercy of the Weyrlingmaster."

He watched A'ten hurry off into the crowd. "What a day! They grow up so
fast. Eluri will be next, and then soon it'll be your turn with Sabia."

"Not _too_ soon!" There were many Turns left before she was even old
enough to Stand. "They'll probably still be telling the legend of the
Feeding Fight, though." K'mai shook his head. "I wish I could have seen
that."

"Nothing like that happened in our day," L'keri agreed. "Though
Rhalith's clutch wasn't anywhere near so big, and there wasn't a queen.
We made up for it in training, though." He grinned, remembering some of
the escapades of his weyrling days.

K'mai launched into a series of funny weyrling stories. As he and L'keri
talked and laughed the bluerider steadily went through his second,
third, and fourth glasses of wine and then lost count. He kept finding
things to toast and then taking an extra sip for L'keri since he didn't
drink.

"Those were the days." L'keri sipped his fruit juice after raising a
toast to their long-suffering Weyrlingmaster, now in well deserved
retirement. By now it was growing late enough that most of the visiting
holders had departed, while the new weyrlings had been rounded up to
return to their barracks, but there were still plenty of weyrfolk
remaining to continue the celebrations into the night. The harpers had
switched to a series of slow ballads which had the dancers swaying in
each others' arms.

L'keri watched them with a silly sentimental grin. "Ah, the romance of a
Hatching. Nothing like seeing so many loving bonds made between dragon
and rider, to make you think of doing some bonding of your own." He
nudged K'mai. "Anyone out there you'd ask for a dance?"

Without even thinking, K'mai's gaze searched the crowd for one man in
particular. He was off to the side, looking like he wanted to escape.
"The Weyrleader." K'mai took another drink. "Faranth I'd love to dance
with him."

L'keri guffawed. "Wouldn't that be a sight - the Weyrleader dancing with
a bluerider. If anyone could pull it off, it'd be you, K'mai." He was
about to tease his friend more, but with the perception of a man who was
still completely sober, noticed his expression. He looked at the glass
in K'mai's hand. "Wait - how many of those have you had?"

K'mai realized he'd come close to revealing something he shouldn't. Best
to joke about it. He scoffed. "What, you think I have to be drunk to
want to shock the whole Weyr?"

"No, but I don't want you to end up with punishment duties on top of a
hangover." Not all bronzeriders took being propositioned by a tipsy blue
or greenrider well. L'keri didn't know I'serin or his sense of humor
well enough to be sure, but he didn't seem like the type to laugh it
off. He patted his friend's shoulder. "Better just admire him from afar,
eh?"

K'mai looked at I'serin again, chewing his lip. No one was going to
guess unless he flat out told them, and even then they'd think he was
joking unless he insisted. He turned back to his friend with an amused
gleam in his eye. "You think he'd spank me if I asked?" He was extremely
amused by the double meaning.

"He'd probably delegate it to L'val." The brownrider made a wry face.
"And we're already on his naughty list thanks to that holder wedding we
invited ourselves to."

K'mai had been fairly distracted by the thought of I'serin spanking him
in front of the entire Weyr and then pulling him up for a punishing kiss
. . . "Hmm? Oh L'val. I'd like him to spank me too." He made a pleased
sound and took another drink.

"Faranth's egg." L'keri raised his eyes to the dining cavern roof. "Is
lusting after bronzeriders a new hobby, or do you just do it when you're
drunk?"

The bluerider threw his head back and laughed. "The wine just makes me
talk about it more. Bronze boys being untouchable just make them more .
. ." He forgot the word for a second. "Desirable." K'mai nodded to
himself as his gaze drifted back to the Weyrleader. "Can't help wanting
to get my hands on hi--them."

"I know the feeling," L'keri sympathized. "Do you remember that harper
who used to teach back at River Bluff, when we were weyrbrats? The
gorgeous redhead with the tight tunic? I spent so many hours in class,
daydreaming about being invited back to her rooms for a little extra
tuition..."

He reminisced for a while about various unattainable women, then glanced
over at K'mai and nudged him. "Hey, are you listening? Or still
fantasizing about being disciplined by the Weyrleader?"

K'mai put his chin in one hand and sighed dreamily. "I really, really
want him to take me over his desk."

"Ah, the romance of the Weyr." He knew he shouldn't tease or encourage
his friend's infatuation, but after having downed so many glasses of
wine, chances were K'mai wouldn't remember any of it by the morning.
"Maybe you should work up to that. Bring him flowers. Write a poem to
his beautiful eyes. Prepare a candlelit dinner."

K'mai waved his free hand in a vague gesture. "Not my thing." He still
couldn't take his eyes off I'serin. Lusting after a bronzerider was
nothing new, but it was an entirely different thing to lust after a
bronzerider when K'mai knew what it felt like to be pressed against his
bare skin, what he tasted like, what his face looked like when he was
lost to pleasure. "Jussst put my arms around him and bite his neck and
whisssper in hisss ear allll the filthy things I'd do to him." He made a
low sound between a hum and a groan.

The brownrider let out a groan of his own, though not in the same
spirit. He was imagining the bitterly cold night watches that would lie
in his future if he let K'mai get within cuddling distance of the
Weyrleader in his current state. "You know, I never thought I'd say
these words at a party, but I think it's time we called it a night."

Last updated on the January 1st 2025

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