Kylia's weyr

She heard him exhale, in... relief? Joy? She could not tell. He grinned at her, a broad, proud grin. It slowly faded; softer, gentler. He had a very cute smile. He held his hand out, and she paused before taking it. "Then perhaps we should talk about who we are... we are dragonriders, you and I." Serious now. "I know that I have heard some other riders, after all this time, goading about you and Trymmeth. You know I would never do that. And now they will have to eat their words, won't they?"

She felt a heavy burden lift off her shoulders and go flying out towards the mating queen. She laughed, her quiet, soprano laugh. "They would go after us when Trymmie was little, but even then the Weyrlingmaster and M'ran would scold them."

"I didn't see any of them riding in this flight," he said. She grinned, a smaller copy of his own.

"They could never catch up." She felt pride, watching Trymmeth and Jeremoth in the skies, and let it show in her voice, no longer wavering as it had once before. But she still felt Trymmeth's passion, her emotions, and in a smaller corner, she felt Jeremoth's, too.

Trymmeth? she called, experimentally. Trymmeth, are you coming?

We are done. Her Trymmeth's voice was somewhat breathless, tired. The white and blue dragons landed, slowly crawling back to their quarters.

Good, Trymmie. Now please, get something to eat. You'll soon be eating for your young. The dragon, to weary to disagree, slinked over to the feeding grounds and quickly snatched a wherry.

"How is Trymmeth?" Shard asked her, still smiling.

"She is... perfect!" Kylia stood, looking at Trymmeth. She sighed, half in exhaustion, half in relief that she was now safe on the ground. Too many things could go wrong in the air. She shook her head, smiling up at him. She was turning into her old self, again. He grinned, and clasped her shoulder affectionately, before going off to tend to his Jeremoth. She smiled, watching him go.

All right, love. You were wonderful. The white crooned, rubbing her head against her.

May we sleep now? Trymmeth asked plaintivly.

Yes, dear heart, you may sleep as long as you want. She lead Trymmeth into the weyr, now fully aware more than ever that Trymmeth was much more than just a Searching dragon.

Kylia bit her lip nervously. M'ran wanted to see her, for some reason. She hadn't done anything wrong that she could remember. Maybe about the mating flight? No, that was months ago. She looked up at the ceiling. Shard was busy with the weyrlings ever since he got promoted to Weyrlingmaster, so she was alone. The door opened, and she turned, saluting the Weyrleader.

"Kylia, don't make us tell you to quit doing that," he said, sighing. He sat down on a chair, indicating she could sit too. Trymmeth crooned outside, as Kylia slowly sat down. There was a pause. "Well," M'ran began. "I've got an urgent issue to discuss. Shard should be coming soon..." He peered over his shoulder, as the door opened and Aer'n--who liked to be called Shard--poked his head through.

"Am I late?" he asked, somewhat apologetically, grinning.

"Yes, but we'll let it go." M'ran looked relieved, and Kylia smiled at her weyrmate. "Now. As I'm sure you know, Shard has been very busy with the weyrlings, and paper work, and hasn't had much time for anything else."

"I, um, know," Kylia said, blushing slightly.

"Hmm. Well, we also know that since your Trymmeth is... well, fertile, she can't fight Thread. Which leaves you with a lot of free time on your hands."

Kylia looked confused, and Shard was giving his characteristic grinning-like-an-idiot-when-its-good-news smile.

"So we'd like you to take some of the responsibility off his hands for him."

Kylia's eyes widened. "You mean... I'm..."

M'ran smiled, simply tossing her the badge. Kylia caught it, barely, between two of her fingers. She stared at it. Weyrlingmaster Second.

"Congratulations," the Weyrleader said, standing and leaving the room.

Shard put a hand on her shoulder. "This way," he said in a low voice, "we'll have time for other things."

Kylia blushed and let him lead her out of the room.