The Challenger

Writers: Devin
Date Posted: 20th September 2008
Series: Proving His Worth

Characters: N'vanik, Talryne
Description: N'vanik tells Talryne he's going to chase in Nyith's Flight.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 21 of Turn 4
Notes: Follows: "Have To Take The Chance" and "Worth The Effort"

N'vanik

Talryne

N'vanik was lost in thought as he walked through his weyr, but not so
lost that he didn't notice the soft splashing coming from his bathing
room. He stepped in and smiled at the sight of Talryne with her head
covered in bubbles. "I had to fight to get you your own bathing room,
and yet you're always using mine."

She grinned. "Yours is bigger."

"True." He leaned against the wall and pulled off his boots.

"Joining me?"

"Yep. That water just looks so inviting ... and so does what's in it."

"The sweetsand?" she teased.

"Smart ass." He dropped his clothes near the doorway and slid into the
pool. It was just as nice as it looked. He pulled Tal against him and
kissed her, getting bubbles on his forehead and in his hair. He
brushed them off and leaned against the side of the pool.

"Did you have a good visit?" she asked. He never hid it from her when
he was going to see Traelyn.

"Yeah." He met her eyes and steeled himself. "I'm going to chase in
Nyith's Flight."

Her face paled. "What?"

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Tal. I'm not gonna win."

"But what if you _do_?" He would have to stay at Dolphin Cove. Would
he leave her here, alone?

He almost protested that it wasn't going to happen, but considering
how well Trae took his self-doubt, he might end up with actual bodily
harm if he said the same things to Tal. "I'll figure that out when it
happens."

"I meant ..." Her eyes dropped. "What about us?"

"Would you want to come with me?"

"You wouldn't leave me, would you?" That awful insecurity rose up in
her. Despite all his assurances, the fear was always there, even if it
was sometimes way down deep. That he would get tired of her, that he
would leave her. Tal clung to him, her head pressed to his shoulder.
"Would you?"

"No." He wrapped an arm around her. Shards, it still scared him how
fast she could revert like this. "I would take you with me. I would
never leave you alone."

She took a deep breath and tension seeped out of her. Not all of it,
though. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

He didn't have to ask who. "Yes."

"Is that why you want to win the Flight?" She looked up at him.
"Because ... she's special to you?"

It took longer for him to answer this time. "Yes."

"And if you win ..."

He cupped her face in his hands. "Tal, I love you. That's not going to
change." Even if the unthinkable happened and he won. Even if it
turned the rest of his life upside down, it wouldn't change how he
felt about Talryne.

His words were reassuring, but she couldn't shake her fear. She and
Traelyn were alike in many ways, but Traelyn was whole. Traelyn could
be everything she was to N'vanik and more. Tal felt that huge hole in
her heart, the place Ysanth used to fill. She bit back a sob. "You'll
never win my Flight."

He'd been well aware of that fact several times. Loseth hadn't caught
Ysanth. He would never share a Flight with Tal. N'vanik pulled her
against him. "That doesn't matter. You make me happy, Tal. You love
me. That means more to me than a Flight ever could."

But Flights still did matter to him. Why else would he go half a
continent away to be in Traelyn's? She didn't ask him, though. She was
too afraid of what he might say.

Last updated on the September 24th 2008

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The Challenger