Lovers' Tokens

Writers: Estelle, Devin
Date Posted: 18th January 2026

Characters: Lorican, I'lek, Tr'vel, I'lek
Description: I'lek and Tr'vel visit Master Lorican to order a weyrmating gift for Gil
Location: Sunstone Seahold, Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 22 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik, Gilbek

Tr'vel

If anyone had approached the Lightning Wingleader's office on a particular afternoon, they might have noticed a young greenrider behaving in a most unusual manner. He was dressed in full riding gear, ready to fly, but instead he was lurking in a side corridor. Every now and then, he poked his head out and glanced up and down the passage, checking to see if he was observed. Then, when he thought the coast was clear, he ran up to the Wingleader's door on light feet and rapped on it in a complicated knock worthy of a harper.

Without waiting for permission, he pushed the door open and slid inside. "Tr'vel!" he whispered. "I don't think anyone saw me. Are you ready to go?"

Tr'vel rolled his eyes, but only slightly. "Yeah I'm ready." He stood and checked his pocket for about the twentieth time today, making sure the small ribbon was still in there. He took his riding jacket from the hook near the door and stepped out into the hall.

"If anyone asks, I saw something on a sweepride that I wanted my Wingleader to take a look at," I'lek murmured as they headed out. "I was flying over...the south-west sector out towards Emerald Falls, and I noticed some strange activity around one of the logging camps..." He continued to describe his imaginary discovery in elaborate detail, oblivious to the fact that none of the weyrfolk they passed seemed the least bit interested in what they were up to.

The dragons were waiting in the Bowl, Lirioth happily passing the time by flirting with Eboroth. Her rider wiped his forehead dramatically with the back of his hand. "We made it! Quick, get their straps on before anyone sees us."

"You've been reading too many of those harper tales," Tr'vel said as he began fastening the riding straps.

}:When we get to Sunstone, we can find somewhere nice and warm,:{ Eboroth told Lirioth. }:You can curl up with me.:{

}:I would like that,:{ Lirioth replied, tilting her head to show off the graceful arch of her neck. }:Sunstone sounds nice and warm. And so do you.:{

"No such thing as too many harper tales." I'lek buckled the straps and mounted up, a task he could manage one-handed almost as quickly as his wingmates, thanks to much practice. "They're educational, and joyful." He raised his arm in a salute. "On your command, Wingleader."

Tr'vel shook his head as he strapped himself in. After an affectionate pat to Eboroth's neck, he signaled for them to take off. Before long they came out over Sunstone Seahold with deep green land and glittering blue ocean below them. The two dragons landed in the Gather square, drawing some attention from the nearby holders.

A young Assistant Steward approached, his eyes a little wide. "Fair skies, dragonriders. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"We'd like to speak to Master Lorican, please," Tr'vel said.

"Oh, yes, of course, sirs." The young man nodded eagerly. "Right this way."

They followed the steward along a gently sloping path towards a group of small cots and crafters' workshops. The smithy was a large building, easily identified by the smoking chimney and, as they got closer, the regular clinking of hammers against metal that rang out from inside. I'lek stepped inside and, once his eyes had adjusted to the dimmer light and the glow of the furnace, he saw that there were two anvils in use. At one of them, a journeyman was working on a decorative piece of ironware that looked like a hearth guard, and at the other the master was watching over a pair of apprentices as one of them tapped a thin rod into the shape of a fish-hook.

"Master Lorican!" He waved.

Lorican looked up and his eyes brightened. "Greenrider I'lek! One moment..." He studied the apprentice's work, then nodded. "Good. Now each of you take turns - you first, Berid, and make sure you don't overheat the point. It needs to be sharp, but strong. Come and find me when you've both made a dozen."

Once he was satisfied that the boys were occupied, he left them to work and ducked out into the fresh air and sunlight where the dragonriders were waiting. "Welcome to Sunstone! How's that new arm working out for you?"

"Good, I haven't flown Fall with it yet, but I've been practicing with some riders from the Queen's Wing. It's a different technique to what I learned as a weyrling." I'lek gestured to Tr'vel. "I've brought you a customer! May I introduce my Wingleader, Tr'vel of blue Eboroth?"

"It's an honor to meet you, Master Lorican." A touch of nervousness made Tr'vel's heart beat faster.

"Likewise, Wingleader. Any friend of I'lek's is welcome here." The smith spoke respectfully, but with warmth and natural ease.

"Careful, Master, I've got lots of friends and some are quite disreputable." I'lek grinned. "But Tr'vel is harmless."

Lorican hid a smile. "Come on in. Would you like a drink after your flight? I've got water and klah." He led the way to a side building off the forge, a quieter, cooler space lined with shelves stacked high with records, samples and raw materials.

"Klah sounds good, thank you," Tr'vel said. He glanced around at the shelves and checked his pocket for the ribbon again.

To make conversation while the klah was brewing, Lorican asked if there was any news from the Weyr, which caused I'lek to launch into a detailed narration of all the most salacious gossip from the past sevenday. To the smith's relief, this was mostly about folk he'd never heard of, and it was only when he brought over the steaming mugs of klah that he got a chance to interrupt while the greenrider was sipping his drink.

"So, what can I do for you, Wingleader?" he asked. "It's always a pleasure to work for the Weyr."

"Well, I . . . I'm going to ask my lover to weyrmate and I wanted to get him something special. A ring." Tr'vel cleared his throat. "I greatly admire your work -- the new arm you made I'lek, and the torc you made for Weyrleader N'vanik."

"Oh, congratulations!" Lorican brightened, partly at the prospect of a new project, but there was also a hint that he was as much of an incurable romantic as I'lek. "And thank you. Do you have a design in mind? I can show you some samples and drawings from the records."

"I'd hoped you might help me with the design. I'm not very good at this sort of thing." Tr'vel wondered if he should have come better prepared. Was he going to waste the master's valuable time?

"Of course. Let me fetch some drawings." Lorican got to his feet and went over to the shelves, running a finger along the stacks of sketchbooks and leather-bound volumes of records. "Perhaps you could tell me something about this man. Is he a dragonrider, like you?"

"No, a lower caverns worker. He's holdbred, and I want him to understand that this is . . . special." Tr'vel thought about how to describe Gil. "He's had a hard life, made some bad decisions, but he's a good man with a good heart. Steady, hard-working, and surprisingly open to new things."

"He sounds like he'll make a wonderful weyrmate." Lorican could hear the depth of feeling, warm and constant, in Tr'vel's voice, and he felt determined to craft a unique piece for the bluerider. He pulled down a couple of books of standard jewelry designs, then one of his own sketchbooks, and carried them over to the table.

"Here, these are some rings intended for lovers' tokens." He opened one of the books and flipped through some of the pages. "This wave pattern is popular here, with sailors and fishers - and these entwined bands make a fine symbol for a couple." The delicate work of that design would be trickier to pull off, but he was confident he could do it after some recent commissions for the ladies of the Hold. "And these..." He opened the sketchbook. "These are some ideas I worked on for the torc. The metal is textured, rather than smooth, to suggest dragon hide."

}:I like that one.:{

**This isn't for you, goofball.**

Tr'vel looked over the designs. He needed to make the right choice. He needed this to be _perfect_. The waves would be nice, since they lived at Dolphin Cove and had met there, and the dragon hide texture would declare Gil to be a dragonrider's mate. But he was drawn to the entwined rings and the symbolism of them -- that his and Gil's lives would be interwoven. "I like these." He pointed to the page.

"So do I." I'lek sighed, losing himself in a daydream of someone giving him such a ring, one day.

"Good choice. Hmm - maybe we could..." Lorican flipped over to a blank page in his book, then reached for a charcoal stick and began to draw, sketching out the lines swiftly as ideas came to him. First he copied one of the simple entwined-ring designs, then added a closer view of the bands crossing, adjusting the curve and flow of the lines to suggest first twined dragon necks, then a single neck and tail. "Would you like a stone? I'm not a jewel-smith, but I know some at my Hall who could cut one for you."

Tr'vel considered it. Did he want something like that?"

}:A blue one.:{

**I told you, this isn't for you.**

}:You are my rider. If you want him to wear something that shows he belongs to you, then it should have blue,:{ Eboroth said. }:Besides, blue is the best color.:{

Tr'vel laughed. "Maybe a small one. Light blue."

"Like Eboroth!" I'lek exclaimed, delighted.

"Your dragon?" Lorican had recognized the unfocused look of a dragonrider talking to his lifemate. "Can I see him? It'd help to get the right shade." That was true, but the smith's eager tone suggested he was just was excited about a dragon as any young apprentice.

After a pause Tr'vel said, "He'd love to meet you. He's overly invested in this ring." He set down his mug of klah and led the way outside.

Eboroth disentangled himself from Lirioth and flew over to meet them, his eye whirling with curiosity.

Lorican stepped out behind Tr'vel as the dust settled. Eboroth might have been on the smaller side for a blue, but he filled the lane in front of the smithy and was already drawing onlookers from the nearby workshops and passers-by. Even Lorican's own apprentices were peeking out of the main door, their work forgotten.

"Oh, he is an unusual color!" Remembering his manners, he bowed. "Sorry - thank you for coming, Eboroth. Your hide is a very beautiful, distinctive shade of blue. We must choose the right stone - an aquamarine, perhaps, or a very light sapphire."

}:I want to come and see!:{ Lirioth protested his departure.

**There isn't room for two dragons outside the smithy,** I'lek replied. **Today is for Eboroth and his rider. We can come back another time.**

Lirioth huffed and curled up in a sulky heap, one wing over her head. }:I will sun myself on my own, then.:{

}:I will come back after the smith admires me,:{ Eboroth told her. He lowered his head and leaned forward, encouraging Lorican to pet him.

"Baby blue," Tr'vel said fondly as he patted Eboroth's arm. "He thinks the ring should have something to represent him, and I suppose it would look nice."

"He's quite right," Lorican said, already picturing how those entwined bands could clasp around a glittering blue stone. "The symbol of a bond between lovers should show the heritage of both, and Eboroth is part of yours." He reached out a hand towards the dragon's lowered head. "May I?"

"Of course. He loves attention," Tr'vel said.

Eboroth leanded closer and bumped Lorican's hand.

A delighted grin lit the smith's face as he touched Eboroth's hide, then gently scratched his eye-ridges, careful of the scars. "Oh, he's very handsome. I spent some time at Weyrs when I was a journeyman - your Dolphin Cove, and Barrier Lake - and the one thing I do miss is seeing dragons every day."

Out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed the apprentices stealing closer, and turned his head, suppressing a laugh at their innocent expressions. "All right, you can look, but don't come any nearer unless the Wingleader says you can. And I want both of you to make a count of the different metal fittings on his riding straps. We'll go over how to make them later, in case you're ever posted to a Weyr."

Eboroth crooned encouragement at the apprentices.

"You can come pet him." Tr'vel told them. "Just avoid the scars around his eye socket." His gaze unfocused for a moment and he laughed. "And he says you have to give attention to Lirioth later."

"Lirioth is my green." I'lek beamed at the boys as they stepped closer to touch Eboroth, giggling at the warm gust of the dragon's breath. "I can show you to her - with your leave, Master Lorican..."

"Well, I doubt I'm going to get them to concentrate on fish hooks for the rest of the morning," Lorican said tolerantly, still idly rubbing the blue's eye ridges. He glanced over at Tr'vel. "Oh, I almost forgot - do you know the size of the ring you want? They can be adjusted to fit, but the closer we can get at first, the better."

"Oh, yes." The Wingleader dug in his pocket and took out the ribbon. "I measured while he was sleeping, and marked it." He offered the small piece of white ribbon to Lorican.

"Perfect. I wish all my customers were so efficient." Lorican took it back into the smithy and found the tapered rod used to measure rings. He wrapped the ribbon around it, so that the mark just touched the cut end, and noted down the measurement. "Well, I can send you some final sketches tomorrow by a firelizard, and then if you like any of them, it shouldn't take more than a couple of sevendays. The main part will be getting the stone cut."

"Thank you so much, Master Lorican." Tr'vel was sure the ring would be beautiful, and he couldn't wait to give it to Gil. Even if he was still a little nervous.

Last updated on the February 7th 2026

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Lovers' Tokens