Often Go Awry

Writers: Halyonix
Date Posted: 25th August 2026

Characters: J'lyas
Description: J'lyas tries to time it again and it doesn't go well
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 27 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: M'gan
timing approved by Council, cursing involved again

Okay, so he couldn’t go _that_ close to his younger self. What about a time when he was physically further away?

J’lyas paced in his weyr, racking his brain for a moment in time when he had left his home Hold and was coming up infuriatingly blank. Had he _never_ left the premises? Impossible! He must have! He hated that place and would have jumped at any opportunity to get away, even if for a day. This had to be incorrect. He wasn’t remembering it properly!

Finally, one evening, someone said a phrase, the name of a tiny Hold nearby, in the Dining Hall that triggered a memory.

And just like that, J’lyas remembered the clear, cloudless spring day when he, barely ten Turns old, had gloomily mounted a runner (okay, it was a pony-sized one but still) and had followed his father out of the hold for a trek to one of the larger ones nearby. He remembered the scents in the air, the green branches just beyond the structures, who had been in the courtyard to see them off, and, most importantly, the last moment he had twisted around in his saddle to spot a last look at the cothold before it disappeared from sight.

J’lyas snapped his fingers. Perfect.

“Wake up,” he said to Braxialth before he forgot the details. It was dark of night and he didn’t want to risk going to sleep before giving this a try. It would just take a few minutes anyway. While Braxialth shook the sleep from his limbs, J’lyas went out to the ledge to memorize the present: the position of the moons, which dragon was where on the Rim, etc.

With destination and return point clearly in mind, he mounted a harnessed dragon and they took off. This time, he wasn’t afraid of how long it took to transfer /between/ times. He counted calmly until oblivion released them into that beautiful cloudless day, the air cooled by spring. Perfect. Now all they needed to do was cause some mayhem that would make the lives of those who had bullied him difficult.

They were over those green trees, on a straight course for the herdbeast pens, with J’lyas intending to have Braxialth smash the wooden fence so that the panicked herd would run away, when the disorientation smashed into him first. “Shard it,” J’lyas growled, trying to bite back the headache blooming. Almost there. Almost…there. “I just…need a second!” Sear it, couldn’t he get a win here? His younger self wasn’t anywhere nearby! How far away did he have to go before this dizziness and nausea stopped?

J’lyas didn’t have time to ponder that. His stomach heaved, his vision blurred, and he knew that he was still risking it too close. Angrily, he imagined Dolphin Cove as they had left it, commanding an anxious Braxialth /between/.

The moons with their stars heralded his defeat as Braxialth landed. J’lyas spent several minutes vomiting, feeling the cold stone beneath his knees and palms after he tumbled free of his dragon. “Sear it,” he growled once his stomach was less upset. “That should have worked!” It didn’t make sense! There had to be a way to do what he was trying to do!

Braxialth rustled his wings in agitation. }: Maybe we shouldn’t do this! Maybe it isn’t supposed to happen. I don’t like this, J’lyas. I don’t. Let’s figure out something else. :{

“Yeah, sure,” J’lyas agreed but not in the way Braxialth was hoping. There had to be a way for him to get back at those bullies who had made his childhood difficult. M’gan had said that the reason his trip had worked was because he had gone to a time when he hadn’t existed, right? So maybe that’s what J’lyas would have to do.

It was riskier. He wouldn’t have clear coordinates. But if M’gan had done it, J’lyas could too. He just had to find someone who could give him directions to the past -- good directions -- and then he would just repeat that over and over until he got his revenge. Surely those old ninnies and the stories they told over and over again about Gathers and whatnot could be of use, right? If he gathered enough tales of one event he could make a clear picture! Or, even better, get a hold of a harper painting to corroborate the details and use that!

}: You’re not giving up, are you? :{ Braxialth realized. He paced nearby in quiet worry, eyeing his rider.

“Shells, no, Brax! They’re going to get what they deserve!” J’lyas declared. “Don’t you worry though. I’m not going to risk us like that again. I know what to do this time. Trust me.” Yes, that would work. It had to work!

And Braxialth did trust him, but only because he was a dragon and J’lyas was his rider and he could do nothing else but trust.

Last updated on the September 12th 2026

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Often Go Awry