Stubborn Like Nothing Else

Writers: Anika, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 2nd January 2015

Characters: Ilyssia, A'kua
Description: In checking on a new friend, he stirs things up.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 17 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Ninaine, Luneth, Nokala

Ilyssia

It had been a few days since he had been able to see his kindred spirit,
and with some of the things Ilyssia had told him, Aluka was a little
concerned. Girls might be less of a threat than boys, but they could still
be back-biting tunnelsnakes to each other if it suited them. So Aluka put
on his heeled boots, swiped a plate of raisin bread slices, and went to the
weyrling barracks' common area. His first two sweeps of the area showed no
sign of the lithe brunette, so he gently caught the shoulder of another
girl passing by, also wearing a green weyrling's knots. "'Cuse me, I'm
lookin' for Ilyssia. She 'round?"

The girl nodded. "I think she's putting Gwynnyth down for bed. I'll have a
look."

"Thank ya. I 'preciate it," Aluka said, letting go.

It wasn't long before Ilyssia appeared, her blue green eyes alight with
humor and a huge smile on her face upon seeing Aluka. "Oh, you're a sight
for sore eyes, I'll tell ya true, but shards and shells if you didn't just
send the wherries into a flutter!"

"What'd I do this time?" Aluka asked, sounding rather like a holdbrat far
too used to trouble. Which he was. But on hearing that from his friend, he
wondered if he had inadvertently caused trouble for her.

"Pft! You've done nothing at all. Except to bring me sweet bread. At
least I hope it's meant to share. If the ninnies in there want to cackle,
well just let 'em."

The redhead paused, processing that. Oh, fardles, were some of her fellow
greens holdbred? If that were so, he'd really stepped in it. He sighed a
curse that would make a canine's ears bleed as he handed over the bread.
"I'm so sorry if they're gonna give ya grief about this."

"Nonsense! I'll take grief from those wherrie's arses any old day if it
means a visit from you," she replied brightly. "They'll come into their
own soon enough if they don't drop their silly Hold ideas. Come sit down.
You _do_ mean to share this sweet bread don't you? Because I might just
change my mind if it's for someone else," she teased looking from the plate
in her hand then back to Aluka as if he might grab it away.

"I just gave ya the plate, didn' I?" Aluka teased right back, relieved to
hear Ilyssia genuinely wasn't concerned. Not to mention she was right about
the girls. He sat down with his friend. "So catch me up. What's been
happenin' 'round here lately?"

"Feeding Gwynnyth, bathing Gwynnyth, oiling Gwynnyth, and then doing it all
over again," she said with a laugh enjoying the sense of total comfort and
ease she always felt around Aluka. "Actually, we just started classes on
the differences between Weyr and Hold sexuality and I honestly thought
Nerate was going to pass out cold. I almost feel sorry for her," Ilyssia
shook her head and bit into a piece of sweet bread."

Aluka snickered. "Well, they gotta hear it, and like ya said, they gotta
get over it at some point," he commented, thinking of Ninaine's struggles
with the issue. Had she found someone she trusted enough yet, by chance?
"Just wait until they learn they oughtta find someone to be their first
before their first matin' flights. I betcha there'll be at least one squeal
of outrage."

"Oh, that's the big talk in the barrack's, though there's a few that still
don't believe it's true. I think there'll be all out caterwauling from a
couple when the weyrling staff confirms it. Not many Weyrbred girls
Impressed this clutch, but some of the Holders have been here awhile and
have been around. They like to tease me because I'm the youngest girl, but
I'm not half as silly as some of those dung-for-brains. I've given it some
thought, but decided there's not much use fretting over it until I'm a
senior. Then I plan on finding someone who knows exactly what he's doing
and enjoy the lessons. I could give a herdbeast's hiney if he's handsome
or carries rank," she explained matter-of-factly, though if she were
completely honest she might have worried over it a tad more than she let on.

"That's a sensible attitude to have," Aluka said. quite pleased. "You're
settin' a good example with it." Even if no one cared to notice. "Whatever
bad stories ya might've heard from other women, don' mind 'em. If at least
one person knows what they're doin', it's a pleasant experience."

Though Ilyssia turned a bit red she gave a nod. "My foster mother said as
much and warned me it could go either way. I had no high hopes being
betrothed to that crafter, but here, well, let's just say I'm more hopeful.
Enough of this talk, though. I've time yet with Gwynnyth not even a month
old."

Noticing the blush, Aluka wisely allowed a subject change. "Tell me what
Gwynnyth's turnin' out to be like." A dragonrider's dragon was a safe
topic. Well, usually. Hopefully this little green treated her partner
better than Luneth did hers.

"She's curious and inquisitive and can be quite bold, really," the fondness
and devotion was evident in Ilyssia's voice. "She listens to me though,
which I've really come to appreciate. Some of the weyrlings are having a
touch of trouble with that. I guess that's all part of the learning
process."

Apparently some dragonets really were a lot like human children. That was
amusing. But taking care of Gwynnyth seemed to be suiting Ilyssia just fine.

"And you? Have you been enjoying your music and time with," she bit her lip
trying to remember the name, "Nokla?"

"Nokala," Aluka corrected, not harshly. He smiled a little. "The music's
becomin' a real challenge, which's what I was lookin' for. Nokala's
determined to catch me up on all the technical things the harper at the
hold didn' teach me. To be honest, I'm not sure what the point of half that
stuff is, or why it has to be complex." He paused, folding his arms atop
the table and leaning forward slightly. "To be _really_ honest, I'm not
sure how much of it I'm understandin', or how some of it applies to what
I'm tryin' to do," he confessed in a lower tone. "Nokala plays from her
head and heart, and she can do amazin' things that way. I've been playin'
to my tastes for Turns without technical trainin', and now I'm wonderin' if
any of that matters, or if it'll change how I play and compose into
somethin' I don' like." He gave a short, embarrassed laugh.

"Well, you can't let it," Ilyssia stated definitively. "Your music is so
moving, I wouldn't want to see it change. Maybe it's a little like me
learning to live with a dragon in my head. There's stuff to be learned
from dragonkind. They live in the moment and leave much of the nasty bits
in the past, but I'm being taught to keep my true self as well. Both
halves of the partnership are important. I don't know much about music,
but you seem to respect Nokala and what she can do, so there must be
something in what she has to teach, but you don't have to lose yourself in
it anymore than I have to lose myself in Gwynnyth."

That was something else the dark-eyed redhead hadn't known: That it was
possible to lose oneself in their dragon's mind. Fascinating. His friend's
encouragement was heartening, banishing the embarrassment. "Thanks, Lys,"
he said quietly, smiling in appreciation. It did wonders to soften him up.
"I'll do my best."

She returned his smile, pleased that she had been able to offer back some
of what he'd given her. "And you'll succeed," she said with absolute
confidence. "We're survivor's you and I so there's nothing we can't do
we've a mind to - we're too sharding stubborn to give in, you see."

Aluka cracked up. Maybe he should have brought this matter to Ilyssia
sooner, because she was right again. "Stubborn like nothin' else," he
agreed once he had gotten his mirth under control.

Last updated on the January 7th 2015

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Stubborn Like Nothing Else