To Changing Minds

Writers: Halyonix, Heather
Date Posted: 22nd April 2024

Characters: F'aen, Y'rim
Description: F'aen and Y'rim spend a night in together catching up on drinks and gossip.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 10, day 21 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: T'ner

}: Ugh, I am a _mess_! :{ Quiroanth declared with a disgusted snort as
she landed on the lakeshore sands next to her wingmate Scarleth. }:
There is ash where ash is not supposed to be. :{

Y'rim quietly agreed with his dragon as he tugged his helmet off and
felt the grime in his curls. He shot F'aen a tight smile as he began
to dismount. "Definitely a soak for all of us," he remarked. But
they'd see to their dragons' first. "Scarleth looks unscathed," Y'rim
commented.

"Thank Faranth," F'aen said. "Quiroanth looks whole as well." He
ripped off his helmet, where his shoulder-length hair was braided to
fit snugly when the helmet was on. "So. Much. Grime." He removed his
goggles, which left clean circles on his otherwise sooty face. Even
though he planned on a real bath later, F'aen bent and scooped up the
lake water and scrubbed at his face.

}:I think I have a piece of firestone stuck in my teeth:{ Scarleth complained.

}: _That_, :{ Quiroanth said decidedly, }: is the worst. :{ She
submerged herself up to her shoulders in the water. Y'rim let her
create some waves for a moment before he sought out some sand to use
as a scrub.

"Thank Faranth for that as well," he agreed with F'aen, remembering
still the accident that had kept Quiroanth grounded for a month. Her
wing was healed though and he was glad that she hadn't been
permanently injured. "Oh, I am sooo taking a hot soak after this.
Maybe with a glass of wine too. You? Do you have any plans today?" he
asked, thinking that F'aen probably would be spending the evening with
his weyrmate.

"No major plans tonight," F'aen said, his face now streaked with clean
and dirty spots from his haphazard scrubbing. "T'ner is spending some
time with his former weyrmate and their son. They still try to do
things as a family of three, for the kid."

"He has a kid?" Y'rim blurted out before he could stop himself. "Oh,
that was so impolite of me to ask like that. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to come off as...oh, you get the idea." Y'rim waved his hand,
trying to dismiss his own awkwardness. "Well, good for him, trying to
be a good parent for his kid," he commented. Which then left an
equally awkward gap in the conversation, even though it would be easy
to fall into the silence of concentrating on cleaning their dragons.
Social anxiety simply would not let Y'rim let it go however. "Well, if
you're not doing anything tonight, would you like to? I'm sure we can
find a bottle of wine and food and just hang out."

}: Look at you, being social! :{ Quiroanth squealed.

F'aen chuckled at Y'rim's surprise. "T'ner was married to a holder
woman. They came to the Weyr together when he was Searched, and
brought their kid with them," he explained.

The greenrider rolled his sleeves up. "Let's get these ladies clean
and then I'd love wine, food, and a chance to chill."

Y'rim nodded. The two greenriders busied themselves with scrubbing
their lovely ladies in between a few other icebreaker questions. Where
Y'rim had been nervous before, unsure about hanging out, he now began
to look forward to the evening with a fellow man who rode green,
especially since T'ner and F'aen had been so welcoming to Y'rim.

When both dragons were sparkling clean, it was now time for their
riders to do the same. "Meet...in my weyr in an hour?" Y'rim
suggested. It seemed impolite to volunteer F'aen's weyr, in case it
was being used by T'ner for family things, and besides, Y'rim was
single. Oh, but it was a mess! He'd have to quickly clean up enough of
it and -- oh, bother.

"I'll bring a fantastic bottle of wine and snacks," F'aen agreed.

--

After a dunk in the communal bathing pools and a fresh set of clothes,
F'aen appeared at Y'rim's weyr, bearing the said bottle of wine and a
covered basket.

"I scored big in the kitchens," he said by way of greeting.

"You did?" Y'rim queried. He was shrugging on a shirt. "Oh, how so?"

"Gerilda, short little woman in the kitchens," he held a hand up to
demonstrate her lack of height. "She makes these little spice cakes
with a blackberry compote inside. To. Die. For. And I happen to have
some for us."

Y'rim's expression brightened immediately with both recognition and
delight. "Yes! I love those cakes! Oh my goodness, you _did_ score!"
The wiry greenrider eagerly cleared the table for F'aen to deposit his
goodies and then devoted the next few minutes to a frenetic cozying up
of the weyr. "Sorry, we don't have people usually over and it's a
little messy and -- oh, who cares, don't hate me for it, please?" he
explained before giving up. He shot F'aen a sheepish expression as he
came to join his wingmate at the table.

"Messy? This isn't messy, this is lived in, which is just perfect."
F'aen smiled back at Y'rim as he set down the bottle of wine.
"Glasses?" he asked. Y'rim let out a small yelp and went to fetch
some.

"You know," Y'rim said as he sat and let F'aen pour the wine, "we
should go visit one of those vintner halls one day. Maybe one of the
ones up north. I hear they do advanced tastings sometimes."

The blonde's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Ooohh, that sounds
like a fantastic idea. I've been to the tastings at the Amber Hills
Hall, but I'm sure the different climates in the North would offer
some interesting variations on vintages."

At the mention of Amber Hills, Y'rim wrinkled his nose in distaste.
"My ex-weyrmate _loved_ Amber Hills. We were there -- well, _he_ was
there -- so much that I thought we were just going to move there."
Y'rim took a drink and said, "Not that there's anything wrong with
enjoying oneself but he, he just always took it too far." The
greenrider exhaled. "Sorry. I am still getting over some things about
him. I don't miss him _at all_ but when you're with someone for six,
seven Turns, it takes time to untangle that, you understand?"

F'aen immediately thought of D'naz, the bluerider he'd been heavily
involved with before T'ner. "Oh, I understand exactly," he murmured.
"It's like trying to pull up a plant by the roots without disturbing
the soil. Impossible. But," F'aen lifted his wine glass a bit,
studying the way the light filtered through it before he winked at
Y'rim, "eventually it's like the plant was never even there... Or you
get a _new_ plant." An extra wink followed.

That brought a laugh from the wiry greenrider. "Oh, you are speaking
to my farmercrafter heart!" he said. He lifted his glass, mirroring,
and then took a drink before continuing. "It's sooo much better now,
I'll be honest. It does take some adjustment. I haven't really found a
new plant yet." That last part was said with a wink. "Although, Quir
is definitely trying! She's the extrovert of the two of us. She keeps
introducing me to as many riders as she can." Another sip and then,
"Anyone I should be aware of? Or steer clear of?" The latter concerned
Y'rim more. Every Weyr had their bad seeds and Y'rim definitely didn't
want to get involved with any of that.

The greenrider considered that question for a moment. "Okay, well,
you'll definitely want to avoid G'yldin. Bluerider. He especially
likes to prey on new riders, because they don't know him yet. Whatever
feelings you have about your ex, multiply those by one-hundred, and
you have G'yldin."

"Ew," Y'rim immediately said, making a face to match. "Well, good to
know, then. Honestly, I'm not sure I want a bluerider this time.
T"shel was one. So maybe this time I'll find me a book-loving
brownrider and we'll just be cute on a couch somewhere, reading and
happily boring together." Y'rim grinned as he spoke though. He was the
hopeless boring romantic. He didn't want risk and adrenaline -- he got
enough of that as a dragonrider fighting Thread -- he wanted
stability.

F'aen grinned a little at the image Y'rim painted. "I'll toast to
book-loving-brownriders, as long as you don't tell T'ner," he said,
lifting his glass. Y'rim laughed and clinked his glass against F'aen's.

"Deal. But you have to tell me how the two of you met! We were so
rudely interrupted during storytime at the tavern the other night,"
the wiry greenrider said.

"This is going to sound like a cheesy harper novel but... " F'aen
grinned a little as he took another sip of his wine. "I was on the
Weyrlingstaff at Dolphin Cove, where T'ner Impressed. He, uh, came to
me for advice about being with men because he was married to a woman,
from a hold, and had never considered anything else." The greenrider
rubbed the side of his nose. "So obviously I sent him in the direction
of someone I know I would be safe for that, a bluerider, T'kala. T'ner
had other thoughts, however," he grinned a little as he glanced up at
Y'rim. "Have you caught where this is going?"

Y'rim covered his smile with his hand. "Oh, I think so," he answered
with a giggle. "Oh, you poor thing. No escape for you. He had his
sights on you."

"Exactly. He was still very much weyrmated to his 'wife' from Green
Valley, so it really did just start out as lessons on what to do
should he win another man's flight. After all, we've both been there
when you get someone new to the show," F'aen wrinkled his nose in
distaste. "Anyway, like any good harper tale, one thing led to
another, T'ner realized he liked men a lot more than he realized."

Y'rim made a little incomprehensible sound as he took a sip and then explained it as, "Oh, coming from Hold life, I understand. I always felt so different but I was lucky in that I didn't start out with a wife. I just kept holding out, hoping. I have no idea what I would have done if I had stayed at the Hold." An ominous shudder went through his wiry frame at he said that. "Well," he continued, shaking it off, "I am glad that he found you and you changed his mind." He moved his glass to toast.

"To changing minds," F'aen toasted.

Last updated on the April 26th 2024

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