Comparing Notes
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, Iluva
Date Posted: 27th October 2026
Characters: A'garyn, Oriene
Description: They try to get to know one another, with mixed results
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 9 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Reviath (By'ler)
cursing
While Oriene was hoping that Esperanth would eventually prefer bronzes -- particularly a certain bronze named Reviath -- as her mates, there was decidedly one bronze dragon that she hoped Esperanth would not fancy. But that was mostly because Oriene wasn’t sure how to feel about Talarcheth’s rider.
“Good morning, A’garyn,” she greeted the other weyrling with as much warm politeness as she could muster. She knew she shouldn’t be biased against Holdless, well, former Holdless, but biases were hard to break.
There was an exceptionally long silence before A'garyn looked over, as if that were a greeting aimed at some other classmate. One ankle crossed over the opposing knee, his notes on top, he stared for a brief moment. Part of the reason he was up so early was that there was hardly anyone else around. He hadn’t had to be on guard. Not until she spoke.
Turning back to his notes, he finally said, “Morning.”
“Up early to study too?” she asked, even though it was clear. She sat down in one of the chairs nearby with her own notebook. Formations mostly. She knew most of the other weyrling coursework since she had lived in the Weyr long enough to just absorb it from the day to day activities. She flipped through her notes and frowned slightly. “Did you happen to write down formation forty? I don’t see it in my notes.”
A'garyn's shoulders rolled imperceptibly. She settled in just on the periphery of his vision and her notes fluttering like feathers set his teeth on edge. “Doesn't seem like you.”
She chuckled. “Well, there’s a lot to keep track of,” she said sunnily. Yes, it wasn’t like her to forget a formation but she had a baby dragon to keep out of trouble, plus all of her lessons, while also trying to get enough sleep to do it all again the next day. “How…how are you…well, adjusting to it all I guess. Coming from Holdless to this.”
Questions like that were another reason to get up early. They seemed aimed at an answer that reassured someone else, gave them something to hold onto, when what he wanted was to not be asked at all.
Or to fuck with them.
“Horribly,” he deadpanned, eyes still on his notes. He'd prefer to keep this as neutral and boring as possible and hope she just lost interest.
Surprise showed in her eyes. “Oh,” she said quietly. “I…I thought you would…you would like being somewhere, um, warm. And fed.” Wow, this was turning really awkward, really quickly! Maybe she shouldn’t have started with such a sensitive subject.
A’garyn exhaled softly through his nostrils, not amused, but certainly not unamused. He let the silence sit a moment too long-- long enough that it stopped being awkward and clearly started being deliberate.
Oriene, at least, didn’t look at him like he was still reeking of wet earth, but then she was sunny with everyone. Which was its own cause for distrust. Was it true friendliness or just naivety?
He gave up trying to read the scrawl of the words. They just swam as dark shapes left on a page now. He fixed a direct, even stare on her and asked, “You’re not from here either, are you? How are _you_ adjusting?”
She didn’t wither under his stare but her smile wasn’t as confidently sunny as it usually was as she answered, chuckling, “It’s cold. Colder than Dolphin Cove, that’s for sure. I spent the first few sevendays shivering. Esperanth would sleep on top of me some nights to keep me warm. She’s too big to do that now.”
A'garyn made a brief face of what could have been taken for agreement. “Big enough to sleep next to now.” And it was only going to get colder. Blizzards, frost, sheets of rain finding every gap. “Are you weyrbred?”
Oriene shook her head. “Hallbred. My family is all dolphineers. But I’ve been living at the Weyr for Turns now so it isn’t too much of a culture shock to me anymore.” She fiddled with the edge of her notebook. The conversation was going a little better. Maybe… “Can I…ask why you were made Holdless?”
A'garyn wouldn't have pegged her for a dolphineer, but it made sense. She was lean-lined like a swimmer, wore clothes the color of the ocean more often than not, and hers was the same bubbly curiosity he'd heard resided in the sea creatures. He had almost relaxed a little-- but then of course she asked _that_.
The word ‘no’ was right there, waiting its turn to be said and let things be that, but he didn’t say it.
He supposed there were obvious things that pointed to exile. He had a thick stack of evidence in his hands, no wherryscratch on those pages. He didn't act entirely clueless of authority or unfamiliar with hygiene, either.
He squinted slightly. He almost smiled, because he might have asked that of someone, too, in another life. “Want to know if you should be sleeping with a knife at your side, too? Avoid having chats with just the two of us in the morning?” He shook his head, but a short, low laugh still escaped him, all of it feeling absurd. “Want to be my friend?”
That sunshine aura around her dimmed. An obvious internal struggle was present on her face as she grappled with how to answer those questions, both for herself and for someone else. “I…don’t know,” she finally said. It was a weak response. She took a deep breath, rallying. “I’m…I came from a family that taught me to make friends. And so far, that’s worked out for me. I have a lot of friends. And I like that.” A pause, while she worked through her thoughts, which ended in her shaking her head. “A dragon picked you. Which means, you’re worthy of something. Dragons are never wrong when it comes to that. So, even if you…if you killed someone…you…you’re a dragonrider now. You can’t go back to that. Or live under that for forever.”
Out of all the words she could have chosen, one in particular snagged somewhere it shouldn't have.
A'garyn sat back and the sound of his breathing rolled steady, slow. “That's touching.” She was so earnest. Watching her brightness peter out, he was almost reluctant to dismiss her. His voice lowered slightly, brows drawn together. “You really believe that, don't you?”
“People put a lot of stock in what a dragon’s choice is. In what it means. You can rise to some higher calling, I suppose. But _they_ don’t exist outside us-- we're the only frame they have. They're there in spite of--" he stopped himself, “any shit you do and all the shit you’ve already done.” Gaze fixed, he sat for a moment, considering. “You think a dragonrider can't kill someone?”
Horror showed briefly on her face, replaced by a steely mask attempting to control her expression. “You…you would _do_ that?” she asked in a low, timid voice.
A'garyn shook his head again, less an answer to her question and more protracted resignation. “No,” he said at last. “But cruel, desperate people are everywhere. Even on dragons.” He realized, belatedly, from the strained look on her face, just how unsettling a thought that must be to someone who hadn’t been cast out of walls and orderly ways of life.
He looked away, down at his own notebook, the stylus scattering marks over the page while they were talking. While the gentle ripple of Talarcheth’s mind held against his.
“Thanks,” he added, for the benefit of the doubt, though that moment had long passed. He stood, exhaling, and, as he passed, held his notebook out to her. Tucked a few pages further, formation forty was there. Beside it, uncertainty-- black curls of question marks scrawled at the ends of his observations, giving his own position. More than legible thanks to a harper education and an inability to let anything other than precision hit the page.
“Let's stick to being classmates. You sound like you've got enough friends. I bet you’re good to them. Give this back when we’re in class, alright?”
When he stated that boundary, Oriene’s expression turned towards mild hurt. She hadn’t been _trying_ to offend him but obviously she had crossed a line and she hadn’t meant to. But since he had said they should stay classmates, she supposed she would honor that. Maybe another day they could talk further. “Of course,” she said as she took the book. “Thank you.”
He nodded, saying nothing, and kept walking. The Weyr was starting to wake, a few noises from other alcoves echoing down the hall, Talarcheth stirring in the back of his mind, and there was another day of training ahead of them. He didn't look back at her or the book.
Last updated on the October 28th 2026