Failing the Assignment (2/2)

Writers: Heather, Yvonne
Date Posted: 8th February 2025

Characters: Ketlyn, N'kayden
Description: Ketlyn and N'kayden give "it" their best shot...
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 3, day 11 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Jayzine, Aydhan, Aydhara, N'kevyn

N'kayden

Ketlyn made sure to look both ways down the hall before approaching N'kayden's door. It felt a bit shameful. Everyone would know what they were doing. **Nobody cares,** she told herself for the millionth time that day. **It's _homework_.**

It just felt humiliating after all his bragging about his List of People Who Wanted to Sleep With N'kayden to be knocking on his door.

Ketlyn knocked on his door.

N'kayden visibly jumped at the knock.

}:This bodes well,:{ Aberath muttered.

Vtols raced in his stomach as he swung open the portal and smiled at Ketlyn. Again, it was his actual smile, and not the one he'd specially curated for his cocky persona.

"Come in."

"Hi." Ketlyn smiled shyly back as she stepped into his new weyr, where she promptly goggled at all the space. His weyr was _huge_ compared to her own cupboard. "Oh wow, you get _three_ chairs?!"

"Before you get jealous, I did 'borrow' one of them from my parents' weyr." N'kayden winked. His weyr was neat and tidy, sporting muted tones of cream and brown except for a few green plants here and there.

**Must be nice,** Ketlyn thought. She'd stuck a wedge of wood under one of her chair's legs so the chair wouldn't wobble. "So... uh. Nice weyr, though. Yours is much bigger than mine."

"That sucks," N'kayden said genuinely. "But at least it has to be better than the barracks? I had forgotten what privacy was." He gestured for her to sit on the tiny couch he'd scrounged out of a storage closet. If Jayzine found out, he was probably dead, but he was going to enjoy the couch for as long as he could.

"This is the first time I've ever had a room all my own," Ketlyn said as she sat on the couch. "I was in the Barracks since I got to a Weyr, and before that I was sharing a room with my sisters."

"Same. Well, kind of. When I lived with my parents I had my own room, but you've met Aydhara - no privacy there. This is the first place I've

really been on my own." He looked around and then caught sight of her sitting on his couch and smiled. She really was very pretty, he thought. "Oh, the wine," he said, turning and collecting it. It was a nice red, or so he'd been told by his father when N'kevyn handed it to him with a wink. He poured a glass for himself and Ketlyn and then brought it to her as he joined her on the couch.

"Thanks." Ketlyn's grip on the glass was awkward and probably a bit tighter than it should be. She sipped it and then took a larger gulp to steel herself. "So."

N'kayden took a couple of generous gulps of his wine but then set it aside. Too much and he wouldn't be able to think clearly enough about what he needed to do. "So," he repeated, "let's start somewhere easy? Kissing, maybe?"

"I have kissed people before," Ketlyn said, feeling a bit stung.

"Oh," N'kayden's eyebrows shot up. "I wasn't saying you hadn't, I just thought... Well, that some kissing would be a good way to, er, get things started?" It was also the one and only thing that N'kayden knew he could do well. Beyond kissing, however, was uncharted territory.

He was probably right. Ketlyn nodded, then took a fortifying slug of wine and leaned forward to kiss him.

Cupping the side of her face, N'kayden pulled the greenrider in closer. Her lips were soft and velvety and still tasted of the red wine she'd drank. The simple touch was enough to ignite desire within the young brownrider.

Ketlyn melted in him. N'kayden could be annoying but his lips were _so_ soft, and the soft press of his lips and flick of his tongue went straight to her head. She put a hand on the flat planes of his stomach, the way she'd wanted to for a while now. He tasted like grapes and went straight to her head.

**So far so good,** a little voice in the back of N'kayden's mind said. Kissing Ketlyn was even more enjoyable than he had anticipated. His hands slid from her face, down her neck, where his fingers ghosted over the buttons on the front of her shirt. There was a moment of hesitation, giving her a chance to slow things down if she needed, before he began slipping each button free

She made a frustrated noise and pulled back just long enough to rip her tunic over her head. When she kissed him again, it was with an impatient tug at tunic so that she could slip her hand beneath it and touch his skin, which is what she suddenly very much wanted to do.

N'kayden followed suit, pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it aside. Wow, this was going _way_ better than he had anticipated. Making out with Ketlyn felt... _natural_. **We should have been making out way sooner!**

She wrapped a leg around him, too caught up in the moment to remember that this was a homework assignment or that he was her friend's brother. Ketlyn broke their kiss long enough to ask, "Where's your bed?"

"This way," he said against her lips. Hooking his hands underneath her thighs, the brownrider stood and carried her through the portal that hid his small bed chamber. Depositing her on top of the quilt his mother had sent with him when he moved out - **Don't think about that now N'kayden, that's weird** - he bent and tugged off her boots and then kicked off his own.

Ketlyn tore off her shirt and dropped it over the edge of the bed. She looked up at him through a tangle of her curly hair, suddenly feeling shy again. It wasn't the nudity-- it was suddenly being able to _touch_ someone else. She didn't know what to do.

N'kayden knew that it was time. Time to do what he'd been instructed to do. Logically, his brain knew what was supposed to happen. He had memorized "the steps" repeatedly to this _process_. All that was left to do was act...

*fade to black*

~*~

The ceiling in N'kayden's weyr was lumpy. Ketlyn traced the contours of the plaster with her gaze so that she didn't have to look at N'kayden beside her. She couldn't think of a single thing to say after.... that. Whatever that was.

N'kayden was clutching his mother's quilt to his chest, blinking hard as he too stared at the ceiling. The female anatomy had been much more complex than he'd prepared for.... Also, was it supposed to be so quick? He'd felt sure he'd heard about people spending the day "making love".... **What in Faranth's name could they be _doing_ for that long?**

His eyes slid sideways to glance at Ketlyn's face. Oh great, she looked just as horrified as he felt. The least he could do was gather her clothes for her, he supposed. Inching out from under the blanket, he tugged on his pants and then retrieved her clothing and deposited them beside her. "Um. Here you go. I'll just give you, uh, some privacy." And then like a coward, he tucked tail and disappeared out of the bedroom.

Ketlyn pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. **People _like_ that?!** This was the worst homework assignment she'd ever completed, and right there and then she hoped that Varinth would be an anomaly who never rose.

But she couldn't hide in N'kayden's room forever. Ketlyn took her time dressing to delay the inevitable fact that she was going to have say something to him on the way out. She _hurt_ and her hair had tangled into a giant snarl, and she felt just as bad as she looked. Reluctantly she pulled on her last sock, then laced up her boot. There were no more excuses to linger. The green weyrling took a deep breath and opened N'keyden's bedroom door. She could barely meet his eyes when he looked at her. "Um. Thanks... for wine. For the wine. I'm... uh, it's getting late and tomorrow is... early. I should go."

"Um. Right. Yeah, I'll, er, see you in class." N'kayden said, walking her to his weyr door and waving her off. His stomach felt like it was hanging somewhere around his knees. It had been awful, and he was fairly sure it was his fault. He hoped Ketlyn didn't tell anyone....

Last updated on the February 24th 2025

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Failing the Assignment (2/2)