Hard Asses?

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 22nd October 2013

Characters: D'hol, Saibra
Description: D'hol and Saibra finally meet
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 1 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Meledei, N'vanik, R'enh, Jeyme (not by name)

D'hol

Saibra

Saibra thought if she had to stand one more minute of this torture she
would pluck her own eyeballs from her head. She was currently leaning
up against the doorway of the weaver's work place. She had went with
Saidrene down to get her daughter fitted for some new clothes. Faranth
knew with the curves that Saidrene was beginning to develop she needed
some less revealing outfits for her work as a dragonhealer. At fifteen
Turns, Saidrene was basically old enough to make her own decisions in
the eyes of the Weyr, but Saibra still held a close relationship with
her eldest child, and wanted to keep it that way.

"What about this?" Saidrene turned from side to side, her arms held
out as she showed her mother the gold trimmed top.

"Yes, looks fine." Saibra answered dully. Her responses had been more
supportive at the beginning of this clothing session, but by what
seemed like the fiftieth top, Saibra was _less_ than enthused. **Dear
Faranth, please send me a way of escape.** She sighed.

Peeking out of the doorway she saw Wingleader D'hol on his way by and
the idea struck in a moment of genius, "Saidrene, I'm going to have to
run, I'm needed by one of the Wingleaders. Bring by what you picked
out tonight and we'll go over it, okay?"

"Bye Mom." Saidrene called out, in a voice that said she was
suspicious of her mother's sudden need to disappear.

"Oh, D'hol, I was just coming to meet you!" Saibra exclaimed, for the
sake of her listening daughter. "I believe we were going to discuss,"
she hooked her arm in his and walked with him, "that thing, about the
thing." The last part she muttered as she glanced over her shoulder to
see if Saidrene had caught on. Blissfully, her daughter was already
picking out her next top.

The Weyrwoman Second's shoulders dropped with relief, and she shot a
small grin at D'hol, "Sorry about that, Wingleader, I was in need of
an escape route when you happened by."

D'hol blinked in surprise at the near-lunge from the new goldrider and
his brows rose in immediate response. He glanced behind them and
snorted. "So glad to be of an exuse opportunity." He gave a slight
smirk. "How lucky for you that I happened by and was able to be of
assistance to our newest goldrider." He inclined his head. "So...the
thing about the thing?"

"Yes well, if you had to stand and wait while your daughter tried on a
plethora of different tunics you would be looking for a way out too!"
Saibra insisted, although there was still a light of amusement in her
eyes, "And the thing about the thing, I believe we've yet to formally
meet one another, aside from R'enh's birthday party."

"I was of the opinion that women tended to enjoy those activities."
His voice was dry. "But no, we've not yet formally met. I'm afraid
that I've been a bit busy, but I am sure that N'vanik and R'enh have
made overtures to make sure you know how much another gold rider is
welcome." He glanced at her and inclined his head. "And of course, you
are. I figured I would wait until the rush to swoon over you was
finished."

Saibra chuckled, a low throaty sound, "N'vanik, I have not seen much
of yet, but I got the feeling from my interview with him that he
doesn't really believe a goldrider will stick around long. Now, R'enh,
on the other hand, was at my weyrdoor on day one to help me unpack." A
smile tilted the corner of her mouth as she considered R'enh, he was
one of the most agreeable bronzeriders that she had ever met. "And of
course I had to meet you, D'hol, after all, there is a lot of juicy
gossip about you that buzzes around."

"He doesn't." D'hol shrugged. "He has his reasons. Perhaps you'll
prove him wrong." He wasn't overly close with N'vanik; he felt as
though he was more in competition with the man, though there was no
longer as much animosity between the pair of them as there had been in
the beginning. "He needs that on occasion." He looked at her and shook
his head. "That sounds like R'enh." His lip curled up and then dropped
at the mention of gossip, one brow rising high. "There always is."

"I am still in that lovely stage where I haven't been here long enough
to get the rumor mill going." Rumors came with the job description
when you were a goldrider or bronzerider, or just someone in a
position of rank. There would always be others watching them under a
magnifying glass.

"Give it a sevenday." He snorted. "Especially being seen with around
with different bronze riders. You'll either be bedding them, separate
or together, or you'll be fighting with them." He paused and seemed to
think for a moment. "Or, any moment they'll be about to fight over
you." There was another pause. "Except for me. You'll just be fighting
with me."

Saibra smirked, "And what makes you the exception?"

His reply was prompt. "Because, I am such a hard-assed bastard that no
goldrider would be able to put up with me except during flights and I
can only find innocent weyrlings that will have me." His smile was
humorless. "At least...that's the rumors." He shrugged.

A laugh escaped before Saibra could reign it in, "Well, I guess that
does effectively make you an exception. The rumor mill may be
surprised when they can never catch us having a cross word." She
already had the feeling that her and the Wingleader would be friends,
"As for the Weyrling, yes, that does get the rumors started pretty
quickly."

D'hol stopped and looked down at her with a wider smirk. "You're
assuming that will never happen. Trust me, the entire weyr will be
waiting for it and there aren't many that it hasn't happened with."
That of course was the truth; while he had not argued with Meledei,
his interactions with her had been mostly private and so out of the
weyr residents' collective prying eyes. "As for the Weyrling..." He
shrugged. "She is old enough to make her own choices."

"I rarely have cross words with people," Saibra admitted, "only with
those who break the rules. I'm a hard ass that way myself," she
glanced sideways at him, "and since you don't seem like a ruler
breaker I am sure that we will be fine. And if you would like to
argue, we'll do so behind closed doors." Saibra had been trained by a
very traditional Weyrwoman who felt that the Weyr should see the
leaders of the Weyr in unity, even if it wasn't always true.

He was silent as he listened, and then nodded slightly. "We'll see."
With her hand still in his arm his voice was tinged with dry humor.
"And since I can't see your ass, I'll have to talk your word on the
matter."

Saibra hid a laugh behind her hand as they passed a couple of
dragonriders in the hallway, "Yes, I guess you will." By this time
they had arrived near the goldrider's office, "I think this is my
turn. Thank you for the company, D'hol, even if I did force it on
you."

"You're welcome." He inclined his head and stepped back, gesturing
with a hand for her to pass. "I think I will allow the force this
time. I might fight back the next."

The Weyrwoman's Second accepted that with a nod of her head, "I look
forward to it then." The goldrider left the man's company then,
thinking that the gossip that went around about the man was only
partly true. She could sense the edge that D'hol had, and she could
foresee the man as being a hard-ass, as he had put it, but he didn't
strike her as being unreasonable.

He watched her as she walked to the office and couldn't resist the
parting shot spoken in a plain, un-inflective tone, "It doesn't look
hard. Soft and round, actually." He inclined his head in brief but
slightly mocking nod before turning on his heel to stride to his own
office.

Last updated on the November 2nd 2013

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