Uncertainties

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 15th August 2014

Characters: Kapera, J'nus
Description: Kapera and J'nus watch the sun rise and share a moment of total honesty.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 4 of Turn 7

Kapera

As she sat up, Kapera's heart was pounding and her mouth tasted foul. She
fumbled for the glow basket and uncovered it, then squinted as the bright
light hit her eyes. A pitcher held the remains of some flavored water, and
she quickly gulped it down, even though it was warm.

She padded out to the ledge to look out over the weyrbowl. It was just
before the dawn - the stars were faint in the sky and there were
brightening colors on the horizon. A few people were moving down by ground
weyrs, and here and there along the walls there were the blue-green glows
of unlidded dragon eyes. It was a rare moment of peace, but soon enough
the Weyr would begin to stir in earnest.

Riyanth turned her muzzle towards her rider and whuffed softly. Kapera
leaned against the gold's snout and ran her fingers across it, taking
comfort in the familiar feeling of the hide and warm spicy smell of
dragon. They were both still here, still breathing. Everything was fine.

}:Kopth is awake.:{ Riyanth supplied helpfully, peering over her ledge.

**You're not going to - **

}:Kopth,:{ Riyanth said sweetly to the bronze. }:Is your rider awake?:{

If Riyanth wanted J'nus to be awake, then J'nus would be awake. Kopth
mind-spoke his
rider. }:YOU ARE AWAKE,:{ and followed it with a thump of his tail against
the wall
between his couch and his rider's weyr.

J'nus woke with a start. **Wha..?**

}:He is awake,:{ Kopth told Riyanth.

}:See, he is awake.:{ Riyanth told her rider smugly.

**Well, if I'm not disturbing him.** She pulled a silk robe around herself
to cover her nightshift, then took the stairs and halls till she reached
J'nus' weyr and knocked.

}:My rider is going to come see yours now,:{ the gold told the bronze once
her rider had left the weyr. She peered down at him again. }:I will share
your ledge?:{

}:I will give you the best spot. You can see the sun light the Weyr, and
all the
fields beyond,:{ Kopth told her. He curled himself against the most
northerly wall
so that the gold dragon had room to land.

A moment later, the weyr door was pulled open and J'nus ushered Kapera
inside. He
was still bleary-eyed, but had pulled on a pair of loose pants and a light
tunic
before answering the door. "Good morning."

}:That spot sounds lovely,:{ the gold said, dropping from her ledge to
land smoothly on his. She shifted her bulk until settled, then nudged the
hosting bronze with her muzzle.

"Good morning," she said softly, shuffling in. "What's got you up early?"

An irritating, meddling and very smug dragon. "I think I'm still adjusting
to the
change
in time," J'nus said instead. "What about you?"

"Windswept's timezone is closer. It wasn't nearly the same adjustment,"
she said sympathetically.

"I just couldn't stay asleep and so I was thinking about taking a morning
walk or...something." She reached up and twisted a few strands of hair
around her finger.

That was... unusual. Kapera wasn't a morning person. "Are you looking for
company?
Because I wouldn't mind a walk either," J'nus said. "I was about to go
down and get
some klah. Join me?"

"That would be lovely, actually," she said, then looked down at herself as
though she'd forgotten. The robe had seemed like a good idea when she was
just going to see J'nus, but... "If you give me a minute to
actually...change."

It was on the tip of his tongue to offer her something to wear, but that
was how rumors got started. "Or... I could get someone to bring us some
klah, and
we can see if Riyanth and Kopth are willing to share Kopth's ledge. It's
been a while
since I watched the sun come up."

"Same here. I think that would be lovely, if it's not too imposing."

"Not at all." The bronzerider gestured for her to proceede him through his
weyr,
hiding a mental wince as he looked around and saw the mess he'd been
ignoring for
sevendays now. The unpacked bags, the untidy shelves, the rugs still
rolled up
against the wall instead of laid flat on the cool floor. The worktable of
gears,
chains, tools and weights, and a tripod the height of a man with a
rudamentary motor
and not much else. On the way through he grabbed a blanket from the back
of a chair
for them to sit on, and pressed it into Kapera's hands. "You get settled.
I'll find klah."

"Thank you." The blanket was soft and warm, and she wondered where he'd
gotten it from. He always had things from places, and his weyr looked more
lived-in than hers did.

She walked to the ledge and affectionately pushed at Riyanth's shoulder.
"Make space for us?"

Riyanth grumbled and moved over so there was some space. }:I was with
Kopth first,:{ she grumbled to her rider and the bronze.

}:I will move more,:{ Kopth told her, and somehow shoved himself closer
against the
wall. }:Riders are small. And I only see you.:{

Riyanth arched her head to rub it against the bronze's muzzle again. }:I
am the prettiest one here,:{

Kapera found herself in a fit of laughter which interrupted her fixing her
hair.

"What's so funny?" J'nus came through the door with two mugs in one hand
and a fresh
pot of klah in the other. He'd simply stolen them from the first drudge
he'd seen,
and had weilded the Weyrwoman Second's name very persuasively.

"Someone is a shameless flirt," she answered, finishing the terrible braid
she was trying to wrangle the loose strands into. "It's nice to see,
actually."

As he settld onto the blanket beside Kapera, J'nus raised his eyebrow at
his dragon. "Who are you talking about, her or him?"

"Her. And she stopped being like this when she was grounded. So it's nice."

He smiled a bit, wishing that he'd gone /between/ to visit the pair of
them more.
But he and Kapera had just sort of... drifted apart, and it didn't
seem right at the
time. And now he regretted it. Pouring two mugs of steaming klah, he
held the blue
mug out to her. "Klah?"

"Thank you." She accepted it, curled her fingers around it, and took a
sip. It was warm and grounding.

These soft still moments with J'nus were odd. They were partially
familiar and comforting - she'd really liked him, at Dragonsfall, and
if she was going to be honest to anyone, he'd be at the top of her
list. He made her want to confess the pain of the dreams she'd had.
She also remembered that she was trying to be more mature than the
childish woman she'd been there, and he'd seen her at her most selfish
and immature. If she acted weak in front of him now...

The mixed feelings stirred something uncomfortable in her, that made
her throat tighten and ache. She looked out at the brightening light,
and sighed.

"The light wasn't as good at Dragonsfall," she said, needing to say
something before the silence became too thick a wall.

"No. Not in the winter." The bronzerider sipped his klah and wondered what
she was
thinking. Kapera had always been good at hiding herself and sending mixed
signals.
As much as he enjoyed her company, she remained a mystery. Like why she'd
decided to
have Kopth wake him at dawn, and now that she was here, not mention it.

Riyanth shifted slightly to touch Kopth without interfering with their
riders, and the sight of the silvery lines on the gold's side reminded her
uncomfortably of the dream.

"Did you hear what happened to us?" she asked after a moment.

J'nus paused, then shook his head. "Rumors, really. Just that Riyanth was
injured
catching a falling bronze. I should have... I regret not coming to see
you, when I
heard. To make sure that you were all right."

She hadn't expected that, and it made her fall silent for a moment. "The
rumors were right. He caught himself from sliding off with his claws;
drove them deep into her side so we couldn't /between/ for months. They
both lived, but he won't fly again."

He could have died after all that, gotten them crippled for nothing. Or
/betweened/ while still stuck to her. She and Riyanth had done that much -
gotten everyone back down in time. Been called heroes by some, castigated
by others for getting hurt in the process.

"It was lonely," she admitted. "But I'd like to think I'm a better person
now than when I was Weyrwoman, and maybe it took something awful to make
that happen."

The whole incident sounded awful, but the capper was Kapera's lesson. He,
out of
everyone, knew how terrible things could drive change. It didn't make them
any less
terrible. He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "I'm glad that
you caught
him, but that sounds-- dragon claws can do a lot of damage. Luckily,
Riyanth has
plenty of pretty to go around."

"The big test is going to be if she can Rise again. It's something we'll
have to wait and find out," Kapera said, curling her fingers into his.

}:I do,:{ the gold said smugly, having listened in.

"She likes the compliment."

J'nus glanced back at the golden dragon with a smile. "Good. She ought to.
I don't
hand them out to just anyone."

She grinned. "Then we'll treasure it forever."

"They go stale after a while. I'll give you new ones on a regular basis,"
he said
lightly, although he did make a mental note to be sure that he followed up
on it.

She grinned at him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm glad
we're in the same place again."

"Me too." And for all their uncertainties, that was one thing that J'nus
was certain
of.

Last updated on the September 7th 2014

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Uncertainties