Fancy Seeing You Here

Writers: Shawna, Aaron
Date Posted: 1st January 2026

Characters: L'leb, Cirina
Description: Aurelth decides to explore L'leb's preoccupation with Cirina by making himself Saejith's problem.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 13, day 26 of Turn 12

L'leb had been thinking of that one often. There was some other time, some other place where they had been together for a little while. She made him laugh, made him smile. For a little while.

It was strange that they had both found their way here. Aurelth could not remember exactly how L'leb had explained it to him, but he was eager to follow that thread through his mind again. He could swim through it like L'leb through the waters of the lagoon he came from, finding bits of memory, pieces of the past like they were beautiful little red mollusks in the mud.

There was another Weyr. It was strange to consider exactly what that would be like. This was the only Weyr Aurelth had ever seen. But that other place was near the lagoon. Near enough. There was sand and sea and sun, and that one, Saejith's rider. The wind was in her hair, and she smiled.

There was another tied up in that mire of thoughts somewhere, too. He was at that other place and at the lagoon, all _after_ Saejith's rider. There was some peculiar guilt stuck to the memories of him, and he was gone now, too, but having never seen him, Aurelth could not imagine him beyond a shadow that seeped out from the sorrow of having lost Saejith's rider.

But she was here, now, and that mysterious other was not. Even so, she was still lost in some way that Aurelth could not quite grasp. Perhaps he could follow some of those threads through Saejith.

And so that was how and why Aurelth snuggled up to Saejith while their riders were shoveling poo.

}:Hello.:{

Saejith was waiting patiently, limbs tucked just so, tail curled around himself just right, the perfect picture of a patient and well behaved baby dragon as he watched his rider go about her chores with a pride that was entirely disproportionate to the seriousness of this particular task.

}:Hello, Aurelth,:{ he greeted without even looking away from Cirina. }:We're almost done here. We aren't going to be late for afternoon lessons.:{ The little blue's rider was extremely worried about not "being late", though he didn't entirely understand why, but Saejith accepted that that was a bad thing to be.

}:No, never that,:{ Aurelth agreed. L'leb was not at all concerned with being late. He was too preoccupied with her. If the little brown were not so curious about it all, it might have been enough to make him jealous. But L'leb felt him inside his mind, acknowledged him there, like a sort of embrace�" enough that it was as though they were pondering these things together.

}:Has your rider been absolutely furious?:{

Saejith tilted his head, as if considering, then said brightly, }:No. She's a little anxious, and sad about missing her friends and family, but not furious. Why? Is yours furious? About what?:{ Saejith sounded curious, and surprised. He hadn't seen any reason for anyone to be furious.

}:I'm not sure L'leb has ever been furious once in his whole life,:{ said Aurelth. }:He misses his lagoon, too. Family. Friends. His brother is still here, though. He thinks your rider is angry with him for being here. He was surprised to find both of us.:{

}:Oh, no, she's not mad. I don't think she cares much at all. It's surprising, though. He left the warm weyr.:{ Which Cirina still thought was the better weyr, but Saejith wasn't quite convinced.

Aurelth was positive not caring at all was significantly worse than mad.

}:He meant to leave this one, too,:{ he said. }:But he was too clever for his own good, and now he's all mine, hmm. I would have found him, anyway.:{

Saejith snorted, }:You'd have had to look a lot farther than the Stands if he had, so it's good you didn't. And now he'll have to stay, just like Mine.:{

Aurelth laughed melodiously.

}:He will. Will you go with your rider back to the warm Weyr after we join the wings?:{ L'leb had fond feelings for the sea, but there was some kind of unease in his heart when it came to the thought of going back to that place. Perhaps because he had run away. But they could hardly live at the lagoon. They would simply have to be happy where they were. Aurelth was very good at that.

}:She wants to, but we'll see,:{ the little blue didn't seem worried. There was plenty of time to convince his rider that this was meant to be home. They could always visit their friends. The warm weyr seemed very sandy, and Saejith hadn't much liked his experience with sand so far. }:She has friends she misses very much, but we'll be able to visit them soon.:{

}:L'leb missed your rider,:{ said Aurelth. There were, of course, people he missed from the lagoon, but aside from his sprawling family, they seemed more like colleagues than friends. That is, the way the memories read to Aurelth, on the whole, L'leb liked them a great deal more than they liked him. He suspected they missed the mollusks he fished up more than they missed him.

}:Oh.:{ Saejith thought about this for a long moment, then said simply. }:He should have stayed at the Weyr then. She liked him more before he left there.:{

}:He gave up too easily, but more was the better�" I should have been very cross with him if I'd had to crawl all the way there to find him,:{ Aurelth purred. }:What good fortune that the four of us have found ourselves together here now, hm? Do you think she could ever find it in her heart to be his friend again? Or has he spoiled it forever?:{

Saejith shrugged, }:He should ask her. I don't think she's thought about it, and I'm not going to distract her. This is very important.:{ Cirina was, in fact, finishing putting the cleaning supplies away, careful not to leave anything out of place.

}:What, the poo?:{ Aurelth laughed. }:I shall vex him over it,:{ he added in a tone that came from L'leb's impression of what a Lord sounded like. }:Asking her, that is. He's well vexed enough over the poo already.:{

}: It's important we make a good Impression; she doesn't want to make the Weyrlingstaff think she's not qualified,:{ Saejith said solemnly. }:Yours shouldn't let himself get frustrated, my rider said she won't have to do this forever. And it's over now.:{ With a happy bounce to his step, Saejith bounded towards his rider, skidding to a stop just before he would have run her down.

}:They can't very well take you away from her.:{ Aurelth bounded after Saejith and did a much worse job of stopping.

"Gah!" L'leb crashed into the ground as Aurelth took his legs out from under him. "Tssss... Hrng..."

}:You'll be all right,:{ Aurelth assured him.

**What was that for?**

}:It wasn't deliberate... I bet you looked very slick turning over in the air, though.:{

"You really need to get him to be more careful," Cirina warned, looking down at L'leb. "He's going to be big enough to really hurt you soon."

L'leb bit back the urge to say something smart-assed.

**It would make me look a lot slicker if we could work on... redirecting some of those impulses,** he said to Aurelth.

}:She knows dragons very well. Perhaps she would teach you how to teach me.:{

"I know you've got a lot of experience with working with dragons," L'leb said aloud as he climbed back to his feet. "Would you be willing to help me figure out how to teach him better restraint?"

"I've got a lot of experience taking care of dragons," Cirina countered, "I'm just learning the teaching part." Nevertheless, Saejith had assumed a perfect little sit next to her. "Oh, but I could introduce you to my friend O'rosin. He had a lot of trouble with Aeoluth's impulse control; I'm sure he can give you some tips," she offered brightly, "I expect he'll visit soon."

"I'd like that very much." L'leb brightened along with her. He loved to hear her sounding happy. Or bright, anyway. Next best thing. "Their names are even a little similar," he chuckled.

"Uh, sure," Cirina said, not convinced. "Anyway, in the meantime, maybe try not to get trampled? Weyrlinghood is hard enough, no need to get maimed, too."

L'leb did his best not to horribly deflate, but he could not stop his smile from wilting a bit. He must have sounded like such a... a twit. She was clearly just humoring him.

"Right... of course..." Maybe she was just being nice. Maybe she had no intention of introducing him to her friend. Who could say.

Cirina's eyes narrowed as she watched L'leb wilt, and her tone was annoyed when she said, "The kicked puppy look when you don't get your way wasn't cute when we were dating and it's worse now. You're a brownrider now, show some backbone."

"Get my way?" What was even happening right now? So much for being nice, he guessed. She must have been waiting for an opportunity to slip that quip in. "What way am I not getting?"

"I don't know. You never say what you want; you just look disappointed when I don't say the right thing. You asked for help, I offered it, now you're moping. It's exhausting to try to guess what to say to keep you from crumbling like a dried out sand sculpture, and I have a lot on my plate. I'm going to class now. Come on, Saejith." The blue gave his brown brother a little dragon shrug as he moved to hop after Cirina. "I'll still let you know when O'rosin visits. You should talk to him."

"I'll see you in class." L'leb forced himself to keep any emotion out of his voice and off of his face. She clearly was not interested in any response from him, nor did she have anything left to say to him. He could not imagine he would want to hear it if she did.

Moping?

**Aurelth, am I moping?**

}:Well, _now_ you are.:{

**Bah! But was I before?**

}:Perhaps where she is from, smiling a little less is how they mope!:{ Aurelth nuzzled against L'leb's side for a moment as he waited to give Cirina a head start.

**They have a lot to smile about there.**

Last updated on the February 7th 2026

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Fancy Seeing You Here