No Holdless Dragons
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Halyonix, Heather
Date Posted: 11th June 2026
Characters: Rathandra, Hesbia
Description: Rathandra and Hesbia talk about how they got here
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 16 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Evanram
Notes:
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Oriveth glided back down to their starting point from the heights after dropping off their latest passenger. “Only two more candlemarks of this boring whershit,” Hesbia grumbled to Rathandra once Oriveth folded his wings back.
“Say it again, girl, and louder, because I’m ready to be done.” When they had first started serving elevator duty, Rathandra had loved it as it was an excuse to ride Morivath, but the shiny had quickly worn off after about fifteen trips taking laundresses around to deliver riders’ clothes and bedding.
“I think we only have one more sevenday of it after this. Shells, I hope. I’m tired of being used by drudges,” Hesbia complained. “Hey, you going to steal your man away somewhere once you graduate? Take him to a beach or something? I heard a lot of us are thinking about whether or not we’re staying here after we pass our tests.”
The word “stealing” sent a fluttering sensation through Rathandra’s stomach, which felt like a big gaping pit when she thought about graduation. Evanram was still under the assumption that she and Morivath would be leaving Dragonsfall and going back onto the road with the Holdless caravan once they graduated. She’d yet to work up the courage to tell him all that she’d learned during Weyrlinghood, how dragons lived in Weyrs and how dragons were social creatures. Morivath would need more than they could provide her living on the road.
“Where else would you go?” Rathandra asked Hesbia.
Hesbia shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe somewhere with a beach? I’ve never really gotten to enjoy one of those and everyone’s always talking about how nice they are.” Maybe she would just visit one on her days off instead. Not that she preferred the chill and altitude of Dragonsfall but it was kind of growing on her now.
“There are several beach Weyrs,” Rathandra conceded, the unease in her stomach lightening slightly as she realized Hesbia wasn’t talking about taking her dragon on the road. “I’d like to see Far Island, I think. I’ve never seen an island before.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Hesbia admitted. “We saw plenty of forest and caves. And Weyrs are just open cave systems, really. But now that I have Ori…” She paused to touch his jaw reassuringly. “We can go anywhere. See whatever we have coordinates for. Really weird, right? Going from nothing to…” She pointed to the two dragons. “This?”
“It is weird,” the other woman agreed. “To think what we loved about being Holdless was the freedom, and yet, somehow, now within the hierarchy of the Weyr and having a dragon, we’re actually more geographically free than before.”
Hesbia’s expression darkened a little. “Yeah, geographically. But we traded our own laws for the laws of the Weyr.” It wasn’t all bad, honestly. But some of the bronzeriders could be unnecessarily stuffy. Hesbia was glad that Oriveth wasn’t like that. “Could be worse, I guess. Gilded cages and all that.”
“So far none of the Weyr’s laws have been… too bad? But then, I was raised in a Hold for a long time.” Rathandra hadn’t been Holdless for as long as some. Shells, she’d never have become Holdless had she not fallen in love with Evanram.
This took Hesbia by surprise. “You…were in a Hold? How in Red Star did you become Holdless?”
“Love,” Rathandra answered with a wry twist of her lips as she shot her eyes at Hesbia. “Love will get you in trouble every time.” She shook her head, flipping her long red braid over her shoulder. “I was attending a Hold Gather and saw Evanram there. It was love at first sight, which was highly problematic, since he’s Holdless, of course.”
Hesbia grunted. “Surprised they let him into the Gather,” she remarked. She shifted her weight. “But, yeah, I guess we all do weird things for love sometimes. My dad loved his brother so much that he followed him into exile too.”
“I suppose love has kept Evanram here at the Weyr for me, though,” Rathandra admitted. **Or just the hope that this is only temporary?** “I’ve certainly not minded having access to consistent hot water, that’s for sure.”
The blue weyrling let out an appreciative groan. “Yes! Also, hot biscuits. Especially with that sweet glaze. I could eat my weight in that every day.” And if she hadn’t been in the middle of hard weyrling training, her middle probably would show the effects of that. “Well, I guess we can look forward to both of those things forever now. I mean, it’s not like they can kick us out of the Weyr now. There are no holdless dragonriders.”
**”There are no holdless dragonriders…”** the words reverbrated in Rathandra’s brain. Was that because dragons _couldn’t_ be outside the Weyr, or because no one had ever tried?
Last updated on the July 1st 2026