The Wingleader listened to the Weyrling speak in a way that seemed to him as though she hadn’t understood anything that he’d meant to convey, as though she thought she actually understood the Weyr’s politics and what it took to lead in the midst of such tangled webs… and as though she thought she was the one who held authority here. He couldn’t even comprehend what, exactly, he’d said wrong anywhere during the conversation. He’d given her everything she demanded, hadn’t he?

Hadn’t he?

He was unprepared for the blow to his shoulder and fell back a step, following the girl’s back with a startled look. Any Weyrling would certainly be punished for such an act, if reported. Rank was… well… almost everything at High Reaches. And, in truth, she was quite near to the ground.

Then, she was gone. K’ienn met his dragon’s amber gaze as he let his shoulders relax, his white fur cloak slipping off and falling to the floor. All of his energy seemed to have been consumed; he felt he’d been forcibly stripped of his dignity, naked and standing out in the snow piled up on the weyr’s ledge for all to see. This was the reward for revealing his hand? For pouring salt in his deepest wounds? For making himself vulnerable in every sense of the word? Doubts loomed large in his mind about… many things.

Yisketh… when she’s calmed down a bit… could you ask Zenobiath to tell Alumet that it would be best if she doesn’t come here again?

Until graduation?

I… I don’t know. Let’s not put a time frame on it, for now. Just… gently. As you love me.


-_Wish of Tevarae_-
Fin?