A New Horizon

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 28th July 2025

Characters: Ketlyn, Kemmin
Description: Ketlyn finally manages to bring her eldest brother, Kemmin, to visit the Weyr.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 6, day 21 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: K'lvin

The last time Ketlyn had come to take her eldest brother to the Weyr, she'd landed only to find that Kemmin's help had been requested the next valley over. They'd needed an extra hand to move herdbeasts to a new pasture, and she'd been forbidden to fly Varinth over to fetch him for fear that her dragon would scare the animals.

Then Varinth had been 'Scored during their Blooding. Recovery took time, but then they'd graduated into Willow Wing-- and promptly got a new Wingleader and Weyrwoman. And then Varinth had risen. It had been a lot, and all Ketlyn wanted to do was spend her rest days drinking klah in bed and reading Harper novels until her fingertips were black with ink.

Instead she bowed to responsibility, put on Varinth's riding straps and brought them /between/ to her family's cothold. The sky was clear and the sun was warm, and the cothold's slate roof glowed blue in the afternoon light. Varinth landed dantilly in the courtyard. Chances were that Kemmin would be somewhere else again this rest day, sent to go do some chore or other, and Ketlyn would spend a perfectly lovely afternoon with her family.

As Varinth's toes touched the ground the cothold door crashed open and Kemmin ran across the flagstones toward. Their father Ketarmain loomed in the doorway. "Kemmin! Get back here!"

"Fly! Quick!" Kemmin grabbed Ketlyn's outstretched hand and awkwardly clambered onto Varinth's back behind her. Varinth grunted as he accidentally kicked her in the ribs. "Or he'll make me go dig a new outhouse at the neighbours'!"

Ketlyn hesitated. Then she saw her sister Tris grinning and waving them off from behind her father's angry frame. "Hold on tight!" She grabbed his arm and leaned forward as Varinth leaped into the sky.

Kemmin nearly tumbled off backward but whooped with glee as the dragon's wings took them out of their father's reach. Ketlyn could see her parents and siblings spill into the cobbled space around their little cot, their siblings cheering as their father yelled at them to land.

"Take me to the Weyr before he can get me!" Kemmin shouted over the wind. "I swear he'll fly after us if you don't take us /between/!"

Ketlyn twisted in her seat long enough to wrap a strap through her brother's belt. K'lvin's lessons on properly securing passengers rang loud in her ears, but what would be the harm in going /between/ just this once? "Hang on to me," she told Kemmin. "We're going /between/ in three, two, one--"

They blinked out from above her home, through the black, and reappeared over the Star Stones.

Kemmin was screaming. He bit it off as soon as he saw blue skies again and nearly snapped her in half with his arms around her waist. "That was /between/?!"

"That was /between/," Ketlyn confirmed with a smile. Her ears were ringing and she was never going to let him forget that he'd yowled like a child. _She_ hadn't screamed going /between/ the first time, and she'd been clinging to the back of a Search dragon with a stranger. "You get used to it. Let's take a tour of the lake before we land!"

Below them the lake sparkled in the morning sunlight. White-sailed ships sliced through the waves and the cliffside of the Weyr was alive with dragon wings. The cool air had them both shivering by the time that they were done the tour. Varinth finally took them back to her little ledge and Ketlyn was happy to help her brother down. Kemmin looked dazed and radiantly happy. "This is where you live?"

"This is all mine," Ketlyn said proudly as she opened the door to her weyr. It was tiny compared to many others, but neatly kept. The bed was made with a green blanket and undyed cotton sheets, and fire was laid in the fireplace grate. A bowl of colourful stones balanced on one end of the fireplace mantle and a lopsided glass vase she'd blown wobbled on the other. "Come on in. I can light a fire if you're cold."

Kemmin rubbed his arms as he gaped at the room around him. "This is-- they gave all this to you? Just you? I always thought that dragonriders shared rooms. There's so many of you." He carefully wiped his boots on the rug by the door and stepped inside. He and Ketlyn's next eldest brother, Milyn, shared a room they'd made up in the hayloft of the barn. "This is really nice. I'm glad they take care of you here."

"Sometimes I miss sleeping in a dorm with the other girls," Ketlyn admitted. "I never thought I'd miss listening to others snore, and yet some nights seem too quiet."

"I could sleep in the corner and keep you company?" Kemmin offered. "Milyn says I snore."

Ketlyn laughed. There was something in the way that Kemmin looked at her that made her uneasy so she started toward the door into the Weyr. "How about we go for a second breakfast in the Dining Hall? The Kitchens have the best spice cake. And I could show you the Smithy afterward if you like?"

Kemmin grinned. "I want to see _everything_."

Last updated on the August 1st 2025

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A New Horizon