Gone Fishing

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 19th July 2014

Characters: D'kere, Talwynn
Description: The greenrider and bronzerider go on a fishing trip.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 3 of Turn 7

D'kere was beginning to learn that he had to take advantage of
whatever free time he had when it came along. As J'darin's second he
had found that there was a lot more to being a part of the
Weyrlingstaff than he had previously imagined. Today he had some
fishing gear packed on Kenirath's sides that he could not wait to use.
It had been too long since he had been fishing and out of the freezing
depths of Dragonsfall.

It was nearly nightfall at Dragonsfall, but would be sunset at the
lake where he always fished, the perfect time of the evening for
fishing, he thought. As he passed through the Weyrbowl with his bucket
of bait, he caught sight of a familiar greenrider.

"Talwynn," he called, changing direction.

She tilted her head when she heard a familiar voice, turning to follow it
to its source. "D'kere? What are you doing this fine evening?"

"Going fishing," he supplied, a slight grin making his lips quirk as
he added, "and with a pretty greenrider too if you will join me."

There was a time when Talwynn would have said no - both before the
accident, and right after. Now, though, she relished nearly any chance to
get outside of the confines of the weyr and see somewhere else.

"I'd enjoy that." It wouldn't take long to get riding jacket, at least.
"And don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

D'kere's eyebrows lifted, "Is that a challenge?" He asked before
following up with, "I will meet you back here when you are ready."

"Just a statement," she tossed back. If she was right, she still had a
pole and some line...

"Ready," she said when she met him back in the bowl. She had on flight
jacket and the gear in a carry bag.

"You want to ride with me?" D'kere offered as he leaned against Kenirath.

She appreciated the offer; she had too much pride to ask, but not too much
to accept. "That would work out well. After all, you know where we're
going," she said lightly.

Kenirath bent lower to aid the greenrider in mounting. After all,
there was quite a difference going from a green neckridge to a bronze,
"Ladies first. Do you need a foot up?" D'kere offered.

"Please." She used his assistance to start up, then hauled herself the
rest of the way. Her hand burned afterwards, but she settled in and felt
proud of herself. She was on a dragon not her own, and he hadn't said a
word.

"Nice view," she commented. Bronzes were very tall.

D'kere smiled at the comment, he heard it often from passengers who
had never ridden a bronze, or were unaccustomed to the height, "Isn't
it?" He agreed as he settled behind Talwynn and then Kenirath the go
ahead to rise.

~*~

The setting sun had transformed the mountain lake into a glowing,
mystical body as Kenirath brought D'kere and Talwynn down for an easy
landing in the tall grasses. It was D'kere's favorite place to get
away, mostly because it was usually private, and because he enjoyed
the calm, placidness of the lake's water. The air was warmer than it
had been at Dragonsfall, and D'kere happily shrugged out of his jacket
as he dismounted.

"Need any help down?" He asked, looking up at Talwynn as he began
unstrapping the equipment.

"I think I'm okay," she said, struggling a bit with the buckle but getting
it undone. It was a bit farther of a slide than she expected, but she
didn't fall over.

"Sorry if I kicked you," she said with a light touch on Kenirath's hide.

It had been a smooth trip, the bronze's flight pattern took a bit getting
used to, but then Talwynn wasn't used to flying on a fighting-prime dragon
anymore. She had enjoyed the experience of it, and privately wondered if
she could work with another friend to get a few daredevil moves in some
time.

"This is beautiful. How'd you find it?"

"An old bluerider who was in the Weyrlingstaff when I was a kid
brought me out here. He was kind of like a father to me." D'kere told
her as he spread a blanket so they would have something besides grass
to sit on. Carrying the bucket of bait over and his rod, D'kere sat
down and began getting his hook and line in order.

"He had the best taste in spots." She pulled out an assisting device that
helped her thread the line, but stared at the hook with concentration.

"He did." D'kere agreed as he readied his rod, flashing his blue eyes
sideways at Talwynn in a quick glance to see how she fared. Seeing
that she was managing all on her own, D'kere reached down into the
bucket for one of the writhing worms and quickly speared it onto his
hook and then with a flick of his rod, cast the hooked worm out into
the lake. "I don't find a lot of women that like to go fishing." He
commented.

"I grew up at Dolphin Cove," the greenrider replied. "Fishing was a pretty
good way of having quiet downtime while still looking useful."

D'kere smiled at that, "Yes, I fear I have squashed quite a bit of my
future 'quiet downtime' by becoming J'darin's second." The bronzerider
lifted his shoulders in a little shrug, "He needed someone to fill the
position though that was dependable."

"We do seem to be having quite the leadership turnover lately. To lose
several bronzeriders and a goldrider all at once...it's good for you to
not do that." It also made her wish she was back in the fighting wings.

"There's no way I could leave. Dragonsfall is my home, there is
nothing Northward that interests me." He shot her a sideways grin,
"And I am not very ambitious." A nibble on his line drew his attention
back out to the water.

"So you wouldn't have wanted to be Wingleader or Weyrleader?"

D'kere shook his head, "Definitely not. I don't like telling people
what to do." He pulled his line in a bit, "So you can imagine that I
was very relieved when Chioneth did not give Kenirath a second
glance." An offended snort came from the bronze.

She laughed at that noise, then concentrated on her own line. Nothing. She
twitched it out a little farther.

"I never wanted to ride gold anyway," she admitted.

"Yeah, me neither." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and then gave his
real a backward snap, "Gotcha!" He began reeling in whatever was
struggling on the end of his line.

A question lingered on the tip of her tongue before she decided not to
answer it. "Got anything good?" Nothing on her end, but it had only been a
few moments.

D'kere pulled the wriggling fish up out of the water, "Just a little
silver belly." He said with a grin. He slid his hand from the fish's
gaping mouth down it's back to smooth down the spikey back ridges.
Pulling the hook from the fish's mouth, D'kere bent and dumped the
little guy back into the water, "That's one for me, and zero for you.
You'd better step it up." He grinned as he splashed some water on his
hands to wash off the general stickiness that the fish had left.

Her line twitched and she grinned back at him. "Maybe this one will be big
enough for a meal." It was certainly resisting. She pulled once, twice, to
confirm it was really a fish.

"So besides fishing, what do you do for fun?"

D'kere shrugged, "Not much, if I were to be honest. I read, and I am a
dragohealer." He put new bait on his hook and tossed his line back out
into the lake. "You?"

"Starsmith - so a lot of staying up all night watching things. No real
hobbies." Except trying to fix herself. "What do you read?"

"I like a lot of the fiction things that the Harper hall puts out.
Maybe a little poetry, but nothing too flowery," he glanced sideways
at her, "I have to keep up my ultra masculine bronzerider persona you
know."

She grinned. "Can't have everyone thinking the bronzers are - hey!"

The tip of the rod bowed low down. She started pulling it back in as fast
as she could, and was rewarded for her efforts with a fish. It was about
half as long as her forearm and flopped about pitifully.

D'kere's eyebrows raised as he smiled, "Well look at that! You are on
the board, milady. One to one."

"Think it's big enough to eat?" Well...maybe. She considered it for a moment.

"Yes, I suppose.... If you are planning on not sharing." D'kere turned
big pouty eyes to Talwynn.

It didn't matter how much they actually ate, just the symbol of cooking
what they'd got. She dispatched the fish and laughed. "If we get another 2
or 3 that size, should be fine."

D'kere turned his blue eyes back out to the lake and fixed a look of
determination on his face, "Then prepare to be amazed..."

Last updated on the July 21st 2014

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Gone Fishing