A Dance with the Weyrleader

Writers: AL, Devin
Date Posted: 22nd May 2011

Characters: N'vanik, Briata
Description: N'vanik dances with Briata at the Hatching feast
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 18 of Turn 6

N'vanik

Briata

Briata was going to be left breathless by the end of the hatching.
She'd already been passed through three partners before she'd even had
a chance to stop and get something to eat and drink. Even that was
short lived as another pair of hands sought hers and pulled her out
into the dancing. Her skirt swayed, her shoes winking from beneath
its hem. It was fun, so many dances, so many partners! It was a
whirlwind, a fast paced, crazy, delightful whirlwind that brought her
round and round again, a different set of arms each time. Her eyes
sparkled as much as her embroidery and did and she'd laughed more that
night than she had in the last half a turn or more put together. Time
had no meaning, the feast was the beginning and the end.

One set of arms led to another and there was a pause in the music,
brief, but enough for Briata to catch her breath from the frenzy and
lift her gaze to the face of a man whom she recognised from the
hatching cavern - the Weyrleader! "Oh!" She breathed in surprise,
even as the music began, a slow melody that provided a little more
respite for the tossed around woman.

"Would you care for a dance, or do you need a break?" N'vanik asked.

"A dance is fine." Briata was already in his arms and it would be odd
to suddenly pull away, especially from the Weyrleader of the Weyr she
was visiting! "This one's slower. I think I might be able to breathe
through it as opposed to the others." The others that had sent her
whirling and twirling all about the floor. She moved easily in his
embrace, skirt teasing at his legs.

He chuckled and moved into the dance. "For the sake of politeness,
I'll introduce myself. I'm N'vanik, rider of bronze Loseth and the
Weyrleader."

"Indeed, you need no introduction sir." It had not been difficult to
pick out the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman. After all, they had the best
seats for the hatching! "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Briata,
a resident of River Bluff." The other songs had left little room for
talking. This, a simple and slow waltz, made it easy, the flow of the
tempo guiding their steps and adding a gentle accompaniment to their
words.

"Ah, River Bluff. Nice to meet you," he said. "So I assume you've been
to Hatchings before."

"Well, I've been to one, though I fear I had to leave before long. I
only got to see a few eggs hatch." Briata had come a long way since
then.

"Why did you have to leave early?"

"It was..." Briata paused as she tried to find the words. "Too
overwhelming." And even that was putting it mildly.

He arched an eyebrow. "A Hatching?" He shifted them a bit to move away
from a cluster of dancers.

"At the time, yes." Briata nodded, letting N'vanik guide her along
easily. "I...have the ability to hear all the dragons. I'd never
been to a Weyr before, and going during a hatching I hadn't realised
how noisy it would be. It was some time after I officially moved to
the Weyr before I learned to control it."

N'vanik made a few connections. "Ah ... you're the one that divorced
the Lord Holder."

Briata winced. Was that how people knew her? The woman who divorced
Ishek? "he was not the Lord Holder. He was the...Lord Warder. And
yes, I am she."

"Well, good for you I say. Too many women stick around and suffer
through bad marriages." His mother, for one.

That had been unexpected. It had been the last thing she had thought
the Weyrleader to say, "Yes, well..." She wasn't quite sure how to
respond.

"Uncomfortable subject? I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's...it wasn't really a happy time." Briata managed after a
moment. That was quite the understatement. No one _really_ knew how
much she had been hurt.

It had to have been, for her to leave him and go all the way to a
Weyr. "Are you happy now?"

Was she? Her life had been full of turmoil. What had started out to
be a happy laugh had been ruined by a bitter divorce. That pain had
been eased by the love of another man, but she had, in turn, lost him.
"I'm...better." She managed after a moment. "I am, at least,
enjoying myself tonight." And she was. She had laughed, truly
laughed, for the first time in a very long time. That was something.

"Ah, that's good. So what do you do at River Bluff?"

"I'm an apprentice weaver." Briata couldn't help but hope she could
walk the tables soon though she hadn't been an apprentice that long.
She had started late, but she learned quickly and in some ways, she'd
had a head start thanks to her turns of experience.

"Interesting. My lover is an apprentice weaver too." He smiled as he
thought of Tal. Maybe he could coax her down for a dance later.

"Oh, I see." Briata couldn't help but blush a bit at that, though it
could easily be mistaken from the exertion of the dancing.

"Do you have a specialty in mind? Or is it too early yet?"

"I'm not sure. I'm rather torn between embroidery and tapestrymaking."

"Talryne, my lover, she's good at tapestries. She has a knack for
patterns." The song ended and several people clapped. "You two should
talk sometime."

"That would be lovely." Bree almost _was_ breathless after the
whirling, even if it had been a slower song. Her skirts moved of
their own accord a couple of beats after the music ended, playfully
teashing N'vanik's legs before she finally pulled out of his embrace.
"It was a great pleasure to dance with you, Weyrleader."

"And you too, Briata." He inclined his head.

Last updated on the May 29th 2011

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A Dance with the Weyrleader