A Little Dirty Laundry (2/2)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Corrin, Shawna
Date Posted: 11th March 2026
Characters: Cirina, M'kadja
Description: Two weyrlings from very different backgrounds have a chat.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 1, day 11 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: T'thalin, Aydhara, Ç'pier and Saedyna (not by name)
“Who’s is it? We could just tell them to come get it,” Cirina tried to catch a look at the tag, but she’d been more than happy to let him do the carrying.
“Tathalin-- or _T’thalin_, I guess. Still can’t believe he’s a dragonrider now. Honestly, I can't believe he was holdless either. Boy pisses himself at his own shadow.” He _would_ have liked to leave it, but just now he wanted those laundry ladies to think he was helpful and keen.
“Yeah, that’s not what I’d pictured when Aydhara mentioned two of the weyrlings were holdless,” Cirina gave M’kadja a side eyed look for a moment before catching herself and looking away.
M’kadja caught her side eye and just smirked. “What’d you picture?”
“Well, back at Dolphin Cove, there was this holdless boy who came in with the traders. He bashed one of the other candidates over the head. So, really, a precedent was set for unpleasantness.”
“Huh. What’d the other candidate do?”
“She definitely didn’t do anything to deserve getting bashed over the head,” Cirina said with the loyalty of a friend, “then he went and got a stupid brown so he just got away with it, and she almost died.”
“Huh.” M’kadja could actually think of a whole host of things that might warrant a sharp knock on the head, but even hardened as he was, it was a shorter list that warranted killing. “Sounds like a looney, risking his place with the traders and weyr like that.”
He glanced sidelong at her. “…So’s that why you're kinda jumpy around me? You're scared I'm gonna attack you or something?”
“Well, I won’t be going into any storage rooms alone with you, and not for the reasons the Weyrlingmasters tell us not to.” She glanced at him again, looking away quickly when she caught his sidelong gaze. “You haven’t seemed overly head-bashy, though. And I don’t think T’thalin has it in him. So why were you holdless?”
“I was born holdless,” said M’kadja with one shoulder shrug. (The shoulder without the laundry bag). “My parents were holdless, and their parents. I think. Never talked much about them.”
“Huh. I didn’t know that was a thing.” Cirina was frowning. “But I guess it makes sense since you would have been living with your parents. Are they at Dragonsfall or… uh…” She let that trail off.
He chuckled, shaking his head. It was truly unbelievable how sheltered the Sheltered could be. There was a system to bar the holdless, and practically nothing to let them back in. How luxurious it would be to be ignorant.
“You worried they're dead or something?” he probed, catching her hesitance, assuming her concern was based off Harper tales of hardship and woe. “They could be. My brother and I struck out on our own a while back. Our parents never did much for us beyond stick us with this life-- that life. We've been doing better on our own. Naldhavi is a bronzerider too, at Dragonsfall.“
“Oh, I was afraid maybe they’d drowned or… it was a flood, right? That sent you all to Dragonsfall? Terrifying.” There was something genuinely knowing in her tone, despite her general sheltered nature, and she shook her head as if to dispel the thought.
In a more cheerful tone, she added, “We have something in common, then. My brother is a brownrider at Dragonsfall. C’rin. I used to tell my mum I’d go stay with him since the Dolphin Cove Weyr dragons didn’t like me. Joke’s on me now.”
A brownrider and a bronzerider were leagues different in M’kadja's short book, but he wasn't going to argue the point. Cirina seemed to be relaxing somewhat and he found he didn't want to jeopardize that. “Huh. Is that why you came to see the Barrier Lake eggs? No luck back home? Smart.” He'd have done similar. In fact he had.
“I came to see Aydhara. She just happened to be hanging out with the eggs, there was nothing wrong with that,” Cirina said more than a little defensively. “Besides, I’ve touched a lot of eggs before, and it had never mattered. I’m not even sure I touched Saejith’s egg,” that had the tone of a lie.
M'kadja raised an eyebrow, the one over his hazel-green eye, as the beginnings of a smile curled his lips. “Why do you sound like you're trying to convince the guards?”
“The last time I snuck onto hatching Sands, I got put on Infirmary cleaning duty for a month, Panitath roared so loud my ears rang for days, and R’lor threatened not to let me Stand,” she sounded strangely chipper about that. “Someone tried to poison her hatchlings once, though, so she’s a lot less welcoming than Tymborikath, and Loseth isn’t nearly as friendly as Avicath. Your bronze is probably going to be huge, you know.”
“Shards, I hope so! His egg was massive, Avicath is massive-- I know he's great at any size, but a little more strength and brawn never hurt anyone.” Actually, it saved lives in M'kadja's opinion. “Hang on, that gives me an idea…”
He glanced at her, a touch wary, a touch amused. “Would you tattle if I slip a few rocks in T'thalin's laundry bag? Is that too holdless of me? I just wanna see him try to carry it.”
“Nah,” Cirina said, “serves him right for not going and picking it up himself. Just don’t ruin it, or the werylingmasters’ll give you an earful for wasting the Weyr’s supplies,” she said with the air of someone who’d spent many Turns learning exactly which pranks were and were not accepted in the barracks. “So, we swinging by the dock to grab some lake rocks?”
M'kadja’s eyes lit up. He hasn't expected she'd be game to join in. He grinned. “Let’s do it.”
Last updated on the April 1st 2026