To Life and to the Living!

Writers: Kaysea
Date Posted: 14th April 2007

Characters: H'lem
Description: H'lem says a final goodbye to his weyrmate.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 14 of Turn 4
Notes: Follows on from "The Lot of Them"

"Let me go!" H'lem shrugged of the hold both K'ldan and E'nirie had on him, "I'm not about to start something. You think I want a punishment on top of everything else?"

K'ldan, the bluerider was first to release him, "You need to keep yourself more under control H'lem, R'shint wouldn't have wanted you to ruin your record over him."

E'nirie backed away too, slowly raising his hands. "We're just trying to be here for you, man."

K'ldan clapped his hand on H'lem's shoulder, "Come and have a drink with us, we've missed your company."

"Mm, maybe I will." H'lem took their words to heart, they were right, R'shint wouldn't have wanted him to pine either, they had had an agreement just in case this were to happen, but they didn't expect it to be at the stupidity of their Weyrleader. H'lem could feel his anger rising again, just thinking of _him_.

"That's the way!" E'nirie moved closer again, a smile crossing his face, it had been hard on them all, losing R'shint, he had always been so full of life, but E'nirie knew R'shint's weyrmate had felt it the hardest, though they had all been trying to be supportive, he suspected that when alone H'lem did no more than dwell on the whole thing.

"A game of poker, maybe?" E'nirie asked, feeling in his pocket, knowing his deck would be close to hand.

"Actually, would you mind," H'lem finally glanced from one man to the other, "would you mind if we didn't have a game, there's something.. something I promised R'shint, and I'd like for you all to come." his glance took in the other riders still seated. "R'shint would have liked for you all to be there."

A few stray nods appeared across the table, with "Sure!" "Okay." and "No worries, mate!" sounding out. Three or four of the other riders rose from the table, "Lead the way!" K'ldan said, a puzzled smile on his face.

* * * * *

Packing the painting into a carrisak very carefully, H'lem moved across his weyr, and picked up the bottle of special Benden wine he and R'shint had been saving for a special occasion. He packed it separately into another carrisak, which clinked and jangled with the earthenware bottles secreted within.

He walked out onto the ledge the carrisaks heavy on his shoulders, and shielding his eyes from the last of the evening sun, he looked to the heights where he knew Oarth would be.

}:I see you are ready:{ the green spoke softly, }:I am coming:{ He felt the draft of the dragons' wings before he saw her. She alighted gently on the edge of the ledge a few paces away, her talons holding tightly, as he walked towards her and attached the carrisaks to her day straps. }:They come:{ she intoned, and H'lem felt shadowed by the other riders who had collected together overhead.

**Tell them you will give their dragons the coordinates.**

}:They know:{ With a light leap, Oarth was in the air, winging heavily to bring herself to a height with the others, before flashing to them the picture a wide open space, and the endless view of white sandy beaches.

In the blink of an eye they were /between/ and H'lem was counting slowly, feeling the bite of /between/ break through his flight jacket. Just when he thought he could bear no more, they were out in the open again, the endless stretch of beach and the wide open spaces of the plain stretched to the horizon below them.

}:They want to know where?:{ Oarth asked, this place was familiar to him, as it was to his rider, _their_ favourite place in all the world. H'lem's and Tarath's rider had visited here often.

The waters were warm and the air balmy as the green backwinged down over the beach. A light spray of sand billowed across the beach as one after the other the dragons landed.

The riders dismounted and the dragons made themselves comfortable in the still sun-warmed sand. H'lem unhooked his carrisaks, and waved the other riders towards him, before patting Oarth's side and telling her to go and make herself comfortable.

"Take a seat gentlemen," he said with some ceremony, "tonight we farewell R'shint the way I promised him I would."

The other riders dropped to the sand, some with puzzled looks still on their faces. Not sure what they had let themselves in for. H'lem had made them all feel a little uncomfortable the last few sevendays as his depression had taken a deeper hold on him. They had had the mind healers out to the Weyr, buy they had given him the all clear, saying he needed nothing more than activity and distraction - and company when he showed a need.

H'lem pulled the bottles he had secreted in his carrisak, out. And began passing them around to the other riders. "K'ldan, you probably knew R'shint almost as well as I," he began, "but, did you know that this," he threw his arms wide, taking in their surroundings, "_this_ was his favourite place of all?"

K'ldan looked a little flustered at being singled out, but shook his head in denial, "No, didn't know that H'lem. But you're right, I went through training with R'shint, he was a true friend, true to the whole wing, always there if he was needed. To listen, to advise - he was a _good_ and trusted friend."

"Thank you K'ldan, R'shint would have appreciated your words, as I do."
H'lem felt his words sticking in his throat as it closed over in emotion.
"You're right, he was a good and trusted friend, and a beloved weyrmate; the kind of love we shared, one doesn't find very often at all."

"E'nirie, remember the time you were injured?" H'lem turned to the brownrider, "Tarath was there for you, wasn't he? Tarath and R'shint were almost the first to catch you when Pyayth's wing was all but taken by Thread."

By now the corks had been removed from the necks of each bottle and one by one the riders loosened up to the theme of the night. A few nodded in remembrance of the night E'nirie and Pyayth almost met the same fate as that of R'shint and Tarath.

"Yes, I remember, H'lem." E'nirie nodded solemnly. "I remember that R'shint spent most of the night and next day with Pyayth convincing him that I would survive. And then spent the remaining time with me, convincing me to hold on, and that Pyayth needed me." E'nirie felt tears burning at the back of his eyes, at the memory. He raised his bottle to his lips and drank deeply.
"He was the best of men!"

H'lem reached into the other carrisak and drew out the painting. It was one he and R'shint had commissioned when they first admitted their feelings for each other. A commitment painting, in all but name. He unrolled it, showing it to the other riders. "This," he held the painting higher, "we had done just after Oarth's first mating flight, the day Tarath caught Oarth was the day our life together began. The day we decided that the occasional glances we had exchanged since becoming wingmates, were really so much more." He wiped his forearm across his face, smearing the tears down his cheeks. "But tonight - tonight is the night I sever ties with him forever."
H'lem felt his words choking him.

The other riders rose one after the other, each exclaiming, "No! You don't have to do that H'lem." "You don't have to got _that_ far man!"

He held up his hands to still their words. "Please, please sit.." he shushed them all, and stood before them quietly. "It was a promise we made to each other. We didn't want the one left behind to pine; to lose sight of the fact that _they_ were still living." A shudder shook his body, and he took a deep breath, "It's just my luck that I survived." his voice was toneless.

No one knew how to take his words, but they raised their bottles to H'lem and made a toast to R'shint.

"This is it, the time for me to say Goodbye." He walked across to where Oarth had settled, and pulled one last thing from the harness, a long thick lump of wood that had a wine, soaked rag at one end. Oarth gave a cough, and a small flame shot out and lit the rag.

H'lem walked back to the group and with much ceremony lit the painting. The pigments flashed a rainbow of colours as the flames ate up across the portrait. H'lem let the tears flow unbridled down his cheeks, "Farewell my love." he said, loudly to the sky above. "You will stay forever in my heart and mind, but my soul needs release."

He waited until the flames had almost reached his fingers before letting go, and watched as the remaining canvas flutter away towards the gently ebbing waters.

He broke open the last remaining bottle of wine that next to the carrisak.
"To R'shint, but also to Life and to the Living!" he cried, thrusting the bottle into the air once, before tipping it and allowing the wine to flow freely from the neck and down to his lips.

Last updated on the April 14th 2007

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

To Life and to the Living!