Catching Up

Writers: Anika, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 26th November 2014

Characters: Ilyssia, A'kua
Description: "Oh, hello again."
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 9 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Nokala, Ninaine
Notes: Lyrics sung to the tune of INXS' "Original Sin."

Ilyssia

It wasn't a nice night out, but it was tolerable, and Aluka wanted to
be outside in the evening free time. So he wrapped his mother's shawl
around his shoulders and went, carrying his guitar and composition
book. Said book was getting full in a hurry; he had started using it
to take notes during Nokala's lessons, which filled up more pages than
he expected. He would have to use the fourth-Mark meant for a
fire-lizard egg to buy another leather-bound book soon, which he found
he was surprisingly okay with. The egg could wait. His lessons
couldn't.

Aluka sat down on the fairly comfortable rock he used most often when
he did this, and tuned his gitar before trying his newest composition.

"Have you heard them raising a din?
And have you been playing with fire?"
Have you heard of the murder committed
In the name of love, oh-
Don't you think it's a pity?

Dream on, Weyr boy,
Dream on, Hold girl,
And wake up a brand new day
To find your dreams have washed away."

Upon recognizing the voice, Ilyssia changed direction and headed
toward the musician, appreciating the music as she did so. After
Gwynneth was bedded down, the weyrling had decided a short walk and
some fresh air would be nice before bed. She usually stayed in the
barracks during their limited evening free time, but found herself
yearning for the open air. Pulling her coat closely about her she
took a seat near Aluka to listen.

Aluka didn't notice at first; he was watching his fingering, trying to
utilize a technique that Nokala had shown him. That woman was
amazingly deft, and he wasn't sure he could replicate it. "There was a
time when I didn't care, and there was a time that the facts did
scare-" Wait, no, that didn't sound right. Why had he written that? He
broke off and turned his head as he reached for his book, only then
seeing Ilyssia. "Oh!" He jumped slightly. "Ancients, where did ya come
from?" he asked, but he found himself smiling as he asked. It was good
to see her again.

"Why from /between/ of course, where else," she teased. "Your music
is," knowing Aluka would not appreciate an inane compliment she tried
to put into words how it called to her, "So compelling."

Aluka's eyebrows disappeared under his browband. That was one he
hadn't heard before. "What's compellin' 'bout it?" he asked without
meaning to, and mentally cursed at how close to shy he sounded. It
wasn't like him.

Tilting her head, she thought for a moment before answering, not sure
she could explain. "It calls to me, and makes me..._feel_. It isn't
just the words or just the melody but how they combine to," She moved
her hands in front of her chest as if that would help her get her
thoughts out into words, "Grab hold of something inside of me."

The smile resulting from those words was as brilliant as a sunset.
"Thank ya," Aluka said quietly, but sincerely. "So how ya been doin'?
That gorgeous li'l green of yours keepin' ya hoppin'?"

"And how!" Ilyssia replied with a laugh. "Shards and shells but a baby
dragon is a lot of work! Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but it
takes the zip outta one that's for certain. Plus all the classes.
Kind of boggles the mind!'

"Maybe I should reconsider bein' a Candidate, then," Aluka joked.
"Sounds too much like bein' a parent for my tastes."

"Oh no! It's the most unbelievable thing, Aluka. Knowing another and
being known this way. The absolute love and acceptance. I can't
describe it, but it's worth whatever hardship I have to face." She
wrinkled her nose, "Though some of the greatest hardships come in the
form of certain female canines that live in the weyrling barracks with
me."

That brought him up short. Love and acceptance were the kind of things
he had craved back in his hold and given up on for some time. Of
course he had heard that a dragon completed their rider, but hearing
such from Ilyssia had more impact. Probably because the only close-up
comparison he had was Ninaine's relationship with Luneth. Speaking of,
hearing Ilyssia use a relatively delicate term when he knew how well
she could curse was pretty funny. It reminded him of how Ninaine had
reacted when she really swore for the first time. "Someone's givin' ya
trouble?"

With a roll of her eyes and a wave of her hand, she replied, "Ah
nothing big, just annoying bits that get under my skin. I'm one of
the younger ones to Impress, you know. I'll be fifteen turns next
month. Some of the girls think that means I'm a drudge and not a
weyrling. While we were cleaning the barracks couple evenings back I
told one that she could bloody well get up off her arse and do the job
herself. Made a bit of an enemy with that little show of temper and
she's been going on about how those that run with caravans can't be
trusted and saying people best keep a watch on their belongings lest
something disappear. Lots of teasing about how I'll handle my dragon
rising since I'm, and I quote, 'just out of the creche.' As if we
don't have months before we even have to consider that. Then there's
ribbing about the incident with Z'then just before the hatching. You
heard about the fight, right?"

Yikes. Aluka had figured Ilyssia was young, but not that young.
Hopefully she would have found someone she trusted -someone who
wouldn't take advantage of her age- to help her in that regard by the
time her green was ready to rise. "Might've heard," he said, deciding
not to think about it. "I don' listen to gossip, and I don' have
friends who spread news. Was anyone hurt?"

"Well it's good you don't because what you'd have heard would have
been wrong or exaggerated. No one was badly hurt, but both Z'then and
Slif were banged up. Slif was bullying someone as normal, I suggested
he move along, he got nasty and then Z'then came up and tried to get
him to back off. Some people just got the wrong idea about the cause
of the fight." She sighed heavily. "Sorry to rant. It's all nothing
really. It's just I have to keep such tight control of my thoughts
and feelings while Gwynneth is awake." Aluka always put her at ease
and before she'd even realized it all that she'd been keeping bottled
up inside had just poured out.

The dark-eyed youth's lip curled in distaste. "I scrapped with Slif
'bout four days after I joined the Candidates. We were cleanin' one of
the halls and he suggested holdboys were all repressed, and he'd love
to help me loosen up. Leered at me all nasty-like. Thought it might be
a trap or joke of some kind, and I don' like bullies-" he'd dealt with
more than his fair share in the hold "-so I warned him to stop." The
sneer became an almost evil grin. "He didn', so I cast dust in his
eyes, kneed him in the squishy bits, and threw him to the floor. Only
reason I didn' get in trouble was there were no witnesses, and he
didn' wanna admit a holdboy had won."

He set his gitar down and drew up a knee, leaning his forearm on it.
"But any time ya gotta rant, ya tell me," he said seriously. "I know
what it's like to need someone to talk to. Even if ya think it's
insignificant, if it's botherin' ya, I wanna hear it."

"Thank you," Ilyssia said softly, never having had such an offer
before. Looking directly into his eyes so he'd know how serious she
was she added, "That means a lot."

The dark expression on his face smoothed into a genuine, gentle smile.
"It's the kinda thing I wish someone'd told me years ago. No harm in
sayin' it now."

Returning the smile, Ilyssia said, "Well, I'm a good listener too, and
very good at keeping confidences so if you can get around my being so
nearly outta the creche," she jested, feeling better about the whole
thing now. Why she'd let the addle-brained wherries get to her in the
first place she didn't know, but what did she care? She was in the
Weyr, had a wonderful green dragon, and someone who would lend a
sympathetic ear if needed. Life was good.

"Your age doesn' bother me," Aluka said honestly. "It's just- some of
the stuff I could talk 'bout's a li'l heavy." But on the other hand,
the green weyrling had narrowly escaped being married at fourteen, so
maybe she would at least understand some of his issues. "But I'll keep
it in mind, I promise."

"Good," she replied with a tone of satisfaction. "Now how about some
more music? Unless your fingers are stiff from the cold."

Taking the teasing well, Aluka picked up the gitar again.

"There was a time when I didn't care, and there was a time when the
facts were spare.
There is a dream that's held by many,
And I'm sure you have seen its open arms.

Dream on, Weyr boy,
Dream on, Hold girl,
And wake up to a brand new day
To find your dreams have washed away."

Last updated on the November 28th 2014

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Catching Up