Helpful Advice?

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 8th January 2014

Characters: Paetri, Harki
Description: Harki and Paetri have another chat
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 13 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: J'kri, G'wen

When Harki finished her bath and returned to her weyr, she found it
lacking a dragon. This was odd since Cerillith hadn't shown a
preference for any of the blue or brown dragons at the Weyr, and she
didn't normally wander off on her own. **Where are you, love?**

}:With Camilth,:{ came the prompt reply. }:She has her own ledge now.
It is smaller than mine.:{

Harki smiled a little at Cerillith's smug comment. Dragons were
incorrigible. Paetri having her own weyr made Harki feel oddly
nostalgic. Getting her first weyr had been such an adventure for a
weyrbrat like her. Privacy was a luxury she hadn't experienced until
then, and it was one that she treasured now.

Cerillith's presence meant that she had an excuse to go down to the
Weyrling barracks for a visit-or snoop, as the case might be. Before
she left, though, she pulled a slightly battered crocheted garland off
her wall. It had been made for her by her foster mother as an
Impression gift, a series of small green dragons flying along a
string. Her foster mother would have been horrified if she'd gone
visiting without a weyr-warming gift.

Then again, her foster mother had often been horrified by Harki. And
probably still was.

Humming tunelessly to herself, she hurried out of her weyr and down
the halls to the Weyrlings barrack to find Paetri.

Sitting primly on her former cot, Paetri was in the process of folding
her clothes into a satchel, packing them away to carry them to her
weyr. She had been moving her belongings a little bit at a time; her
weyr was so small that she was having to decide what she could keep
and what she could not. Hearing the humming, she looked up and
suddenly smiled. "Hello, Harki. What brings you here?"

"Just picking up my wayward dragon. Somehow she and Camilth have
decided they can share a ledge." Harki grinned and invited herself
into the weyrling barracks. "Gosh, I don't miss this."

"Camilth likes your green." Paetri's lips lifted as she felt the eager
smugness that came from her own green as she showed off her ledge.
"Camilth is quite proud of her wallow." She looked around at the
barracks and folded her hands in her lap. "I think I will. I've never
really been on my own before."

"Really? You'll love it." Harki sat down on the edge of the bunk and
stretched out her legs. "No more snoring or farting bunkmates, you can
stay up as late as you want and nobody tattles, you can invite boys
over..."

Paetri blinked. "I'm kind of used to the noise and I've always gone to
bed early..." Her voice trailed off as a bright flush came to her
cheeks." Uhm...that won't really be an issue, I think."

"What, no boys to make your heart go pitter-pat?" The older greenrider
batted her eyelashes. "There has to be _someone_."

Flustered, Paetri squirmed and tugged on her braid, her face flaming
hot. "There is, but uh...I'm uh.." She swallowed and glanced up at
Harki before turning even beet redder. "Uhm.."

This was hilarious! Harki grinned at her. "A what now?"

Paetri squirmed visibly and glanced around before glancing quickly at
Harki, thoroughly embarrassed before blurting out. "I've only ever
kissed him. That's it." Her cheeks felt as though they were on fire.
"Just once. Okay?"

"Better get on that, girl," Harki told her, "since you've got that
very new, very private weyr now. And a bigger bed."

Paetri lifted her head to stare at Harki, her jaw dropping before
scrubbing urgently at her cheeks, as if trying to rub away the red
stain. "I can't yet." She said primly. "Not til I between."

"That won't be _too_ much longer." The older greenrider grinned. "I
bet your boy thinks it's cute when you blush like that. Who is he?"

Paetri spluttered a bit. "J'kri..but..he's not mine. Not really.
He...he's my friend." She was blushing, but it wasn't cute! It was
embarrassing to talk about things like this. It was one thing with
G'wen, but she didn't know this woman that well. She paused and sucked
in her lower lip. But this _was_ a woman and a greenrider. "And I've
never done anything like that."

"Everyone's got a first time." Harki nibbled her lip, thinking. For
her, Cerillith's first rising wasn't a surprise-- she was Weyrbred and
had made sure to lose her virginity before her dragon rose. But for
the Holder girls... "When do you graduate to Senior Weyrling?"

"Later this month. I've only got a week or so before we between for
the first time." Paetri frowned slightly at Harki's expression.

"Oh! I forgot-- I got you a new weyr gift." The older greenrider dug
into her pocket and produced the rather crumpled dragon garland she'd
pulled off her wall. "Congratulations!"

Paetri blinked at what looked like a crumpled mess, but being the
well-brought up girl that she was, immediately gave a bright smile and
took the garland gently. She smoothed it and her eyes warmed; it was
the first real decoration for her weyr that she had, and though it was
obviously older, she decided that a far better phrase for it was
"well-loved". "Thank you, Harki." She spread it out and her smile
widened. "This will be perfect for right above my table." She folded
it neatly.

She appeared as if she would as a question, paused, shut her mouth,
opened it again and then tugged on her braid. "Harki...perhaps you can
tell me something." She glanced around and then lowered her voice. "My
mother...she told me that uhm...sharing a bed was horrible and that it
hurts." Her cheeks pinked. "G'wen said she was wrong, but he's a man,
not a woman. Is she wrong?"

"Well... it's not horrible... my first time was funny. But it did
hurt." She shrugged. "But it's your choice, you know? It's not that
bad, and it stops hurting after a while. If it always hurt, nobody
would ever have sex."

Paetri hid a sigh, but she nodded. G'wen's opinions surely must have
been biased because he was male; perhaps it was just enjoyable for
_them_. At least it wouldn't hurt all the time; she supposed that she
could consider that a blessing. And Harki said it was her choice,
unlike G'wen, who had insisted that she'd be abusive if she didn't
share a bed. "Thank you for being honest." She offered a relieved
smile; it was _her_choice. She didn't have to if she didn't want to.
Good. "I appreciate it."

"Sure. I should leave you to moving, though." Harki stood and
stretched, feeling oddly pleased that someone had asked for her
advice. That _never_ happened! It was flattering. "Good luck!"

Last updated on the February 1st 2014

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