out beyond the sun (lark)

[derek]

burn on, burn on,
calling to you
burn on, burn on,
calling to you

They had been flying for hours. Days, really, if he stopped to think about it. He hadn't been back to Trelis Weyr for at least a week. The wild around the Weyr was easy to sustain oneself in, and S'bel and Maerath had proved that. The great bronze dragon had lost his Queen, and even lost the flight of the green-that-he-must-not-chase, Avirith. His rider, S'bel, had sank into a deep depression, and so they flew.

Outside of the Weyr, there was plenty of fresh water and enough wild wherries to sustain one large dragon and one small man. S'bel was loathe to go back to the Weyr, where he would undoubtedly face punishment for being gone for so long without permission. He was also loathe to go back and see Alyara flirt with that damned J'dol, her sharding student. Everything in the Weyr made him angry, made him sad. In the Weyr, he was a pathetic drunk. Outside, he was free.

Maerath roared as he flapped his wings, shooting higher into the sky. The sun was setting, and he would stop soon. He and His would find a cave or some other shelter, or perhaps even just sleep out in the open. It really didn't matter. There were no predators that could threaten the great bronze King, save for another dragon, and even that was slim. The bronze was huge and powerful, even more so now that he was living wild and free of Weyr life.

Dropping, he fell toward the ground at breakneck speeds before snapping open his wings and twisting back up into the sky, his body turned solid black and silhouetted against the red and orange streaks of the sinking sun. Mountains rose in the distance, their great peaks at once equal and beneath Maerath's own power and height. What were mountains to a dragon? What were mountains to a man?

Finally, the dragon lazily spiraled down, landing gracefully by the Trelis River, which was too close to the Weyr for S'bel's comfort, but far enough away that he felt reasonably safe. Plus, the river was full of clean water, and fish for dinner. The rider slid from the dragon's back, his boots sinking in the muddy bank of the river. Maerath wore no riding straps or saddle, and S'bel didn't care. His safety was no longer an issue.

Kneeling by the river, his dull eyes looked out across the water. If he strained his eyes, he could just make out the spot on the horizon where Trelis Weyr was seated, but then the sun sank completely, and he was plunged into darkness. It didn't matter, though. He could see well enough. shirtless, his chest streaked with mud, grit, and blood from not only his prey, but himself, he cupped his hands, dipped them into the water, and began to drink.

Maerath, too, lowered his head, gulping the water gratefully. Flying was hard business, but one he loved. Possibly the only thing left for him to love, save His, S'bel. The man looked to the dragon, who easily speared a fish for the man, who was busy starting a fire with flint and steel.

Within a few minutes, he had a blaze going, and rider and dragon were nestled against each other, bellies full of fish, watching the night grow steadily deeper.

i'll never burn again,
never burn again,
we'll never burn again,
never burn again

[Lark]

Sometimes I wake up by the door,
That heart you caught, must be waiting for you
Even now when we're already over
I can't help myself from looking for you.

Ara checked the riding gear once more, giving the straps a final tug. "Well, I think we're good to go Avi love." The green crooned, flourishing her wings out in a soft sweep, the leather-like membranes sighing against the cave's floor. On her ledge, the dragoness could see everything. Maelath's weyrlings were being taught below, in another part of the Bowl, the Istan Weyrlings were hunkered down near their werylingmaster. Hers had given their charges the day off though.

They deserve it after doing so well AraMine. Avirith's cool voice echoed in her rider's head, leaving a tinkling laugh to show her enjoyment at having gotten the weyrlings so far. "Yeah, they did do pretty well didn't they?" Loraketh's young had only just flown with their riders the day before, and the results were promising. A few had some difficulty as was expected, but the majority pulled off what they wanted flawlessly. Are we going yet Mine?

Avirith's impatient croon brought Ara out of her thoughts, steadying her in the here and now. "Sure love. Aries, Excalibur!" The rider turned to her chambers and called out for her two flits, cupping her hand around her mouth to magnify her voice. The bronze naturally came first to her, chittering happily and winding himself around Avirith's headknobs. Aries, her orange tinted gold came after her son, settling along Ara's shoulders and back. "There you are sweet one." The gold crooned happily, pleased that everything for now was about her. As it should be.

Rolling her eyes, Ara laughed and pulled herself onto the dragon's back, fixing her seating as she balanced across the green's neck. "Okay, ready?" Always. The short answer was punctuated by a laughing warble from Avirith, her wings spreading out and kissing the stone floor lightly before floating away into the air. Hold on. Her voice teased her rider as she got to her feet and leaped off the edge of her cave. There was that familiar sense of falling at that moment, then the wind caught the dragoness' form and she was traveling on a thermal.

Where to today Mine? The green tossed a glance back at her rider as she swiveled around playfully. Ara smiled back, moving her posture with every graceful twist Avirith performed. Her green wasn't known to fly straight for a reason, and it wasn't because she didn't know how. Stop showing off for two seconds, and maybe I can think then. Ara teased her green as the dragoness looped in the air, crooning happily. Fine then, I was only dancing though. I know Avirith my dear. What about the river? It's been a while since we've been there.

The green nodded her head, warbling in agreement. Yes, they'd go for a swim. Angling her wings in that direction, the dragoness headed for part of the river nearest them. It was minutes later that the female caught something that interested her. It was a form she hadn't seen for quite some time, once she missed to be honest. Mine? Ara took her eyes off the horizon where she had been looking to glance at her green. What is it Avi? Warbling, the dragoness tucked her wings in and free-fell downward. The rider held on, thinking that her dragon had only spoken to give her fair warning before doing her stunt. She didn't stop to think that maybe it was a warning of a different kind.

Avirith, where are you going? Ara narrowed her eyes as she noticed the green was going in for a landing, aiming for a clearing between the trees alongside the river. A small fire was flickering there, only now noticeable to her...and a great bronze shape was there as well. "Avi! You turn back around this instant! I do not want to deal with more boys because of you. First S'val and Addy, then J'dol, then that young carpenter that impressed to Maelath's bronze son. What are you trying to do?" Ara's tone was sharp, and her green ignored it. She wasn't interested in what her rider wanted. More of what she wanted at the time, and well, a bronze was not something she would easily turn down. Even if it was him.

As the green landed and let her wings drape the area around her, bowing her neck down to let her rider off, Ara looked at the rider of the dragon near them. "Oh shards and shells! Where have you been!?!"

But I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well, it burned while I cried
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name!

I set fire to the rain
And I threw us into the flames
Well, I felt something die
'Cause I knew that that was the last time, the last time!

[derek]

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

The great bronze dragon raised his head. Someone was coming. At this point, words were no longer necessary, and so S'bel raised his eyes to the sky just in time to see the shadow of a dragon hovering over their camp before it landed. Just as luck would have it, it was the one person in the entire Weyr that he did not want to see. The one person to find him, and it had to be her... S'bel turned, averting his eyes.

"Oh shards and shells! Where have you been!?!"

The familiarity of her voice stung, and he declined to answer, instead poking up the fire so it wouldn't be reduced down to embers. Were people truly missing him? He doubted it. Certainly no one had been sent to look for him, that much he knew by Alyara's surprise at stumbling upon him. He grimaced, and tossed another branch onto the fire.

"Go away, Lady Ara. You're the last person I want to see."

Maerath rumbled decisively, and curled around his rider, smoke pouring from his nostrils. These days, his emotions were tied very strongly to S'bel's, perhaps more than they ever had before, and the reverse was true of the rider. Anything Maerath felt, he felt as well, and so the anger at the green, Avirith, bubbled in the pit of the rider's stomach like acid, and he turned away once more, knowing how horrible he must look, and ashamed for it.

Usually, his hair was short, his beard kept trim. Now, his hair was shaggy, his beard unruly. Before, he had been vain about his appearance. Now, it didn't matter. Three long gashes ran across his shoulder, half-healed and ugly, and his face was gaunt and shallow. His boots were worn and muddy, his breeches torn, and his shirt was gone. In comparison to Alyara, he was wild, and he looked the part. Something in his mind had been rearranged, and he didn't know what it was.

If he had ever thought bronze riders too dignified to sulk, here was proof that they were not. For surely that was what he was doing, if anything? Sulking? As S'bel stood, Maerath snarled. "I said go away, Alyara." His voice was sharp and unkind, and he wondered what had happened to the man he used to be, and why in Pern's name had he changed?

Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes bolder, children get older
I'm getting older too, well, I'm getting older too

[Lark]

I wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away

I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone
to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out
That when the tide comes
I'd take you away

Ara let her eyes skim over S'bel's form. He hadn't eaten particularly well it seemed in the week that he had disappeared. His clothing was tattered, rags upon a shell of the man that she had once admired so. "What happened to you?" The greenrider stepped forward, fully aware that he was telling her to leave. At the title Lady, she smirked. "I may be a turn older today S'bel, but I swear to you I am no lady." Her lips curved up in a devious sort of grin, a chesire cat if you will working its way into her appearance.

While he looked wild, she was dressed much more civilly. Not that it had ever mattered to her what she looked like. Appearances were nothing. Did a dragon see you for how you looked, or the intent placed upon your heart and hand? Stepping forward again, her green eyes stared at him, trying to find the man she once knew. As for his bronze? The dragon's actions said that he was upset. The metallic coil of his body wrung around S'bel's form as a barrier between the two riders.

"Easy Maerath, there's no reason to be upset." Her voice was level, the same she had adopted to use with the more troublesome weyrlings. Avirith curled up similarly around Hers, completing a circle of sorts with the riders in the middle. There is no reason for animosity Maerath. What happened between us was long ago. The storm made my choice that night, not I. The green's voice was steel and ice, whispering a dark truth. She saw no reason to still be upset over her flight, it was three months now since it would happen. No doubt another would occur soon enough.

At S'bel's shout, Ara stiffened and narrowed her eyes. Green irises flashed as she gritted her teeth. "How dare you tell me to leave. I have just as much right to be here. Listen to me you, you.....jerk! We need as many bronzeriders as we can get. Iskra's gone! Iirla is young, who knows where S'vrin and his remaining followers went?!? We need you to be there, here.....I need you. I worried about you, and you're a horrible person for that. The last thing we can afford is to loose more riders, and for all I knew.....you could have betweened with Maerath forever!"

Avirith hissed at that thought. You wouldn't! .....would you? The young dragoness waved her tail over the earth, hearing its raspy voice as it scraped against rocks near the river. Staring at the bronze form across from her, Ara shook her head. She moved back slightly, then forward, and walked to S'bel. Snapping her head up, she narrowed her eyes at Maerath. "Hiss at me or anything else, and you'll regret it. I dot care if you're bigger than me, you'll regret it!" Then she leveled her face with S'bel's the best she could and reached out to touch his scarred shoulder.

"You should let me look at that." Her eyes never left his face for a moment as she spoke, but her fingers aimed to trace the outline of the wound. She had supplies in her bag with Avirith. He just had to trust her to help him. "For once, stop trying to be perfect. Trust me.....it never works S'bel. Just let me help you."

I'm sinking slowly
So hurry hold me
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone

If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted
was somebody who cares

[derek]

Help me I broke apart my insides,
help me I’ve got no soul to sell
Help me the only thing that works for me,
help me get away from myself

He could feel her eyes on him, taking in his appearance, and he frowned. She seemed disappointed, and saddened. "What happened to you?" S'bel grunted as she stepped forward, again not answering. She grinned at his calling her a lady, and he looked away. He didn't want to see her at all.

She could tell the dragon was upset. He could tell she wasn't going to leave. They were at a stand still, and he wasn't happy about it. In the darkness, her face was shadowed, but he could tell she was staring at him, which made him shirt uncomfortably.

Maerath rumbled angrily. Alyara was speaking to him as if he were a small weyrling, and he didn't appreciate it. Eyes flashing, he growled at the green, tail lashing violently. He did not grant the green with the reply, but a growl. It didn't matter to him that it was so long ago, or that the storm was an issue... he was still angry.

Alyara's words confused him. Iskra's gone? He looked to Maerath, who rumbled. "Iskra's gone?" he asked. His voice was raspy and cold from disuse, and he shook his head. "Where...?" And then she mentioned him betweening with his dragon, and he stiffened. "I am not so cowardly as to take my dragon between!" His shout was hoarse, but the anger shone through.

Maerath diregarded Alyara's warning and glared at her and the green. She approached, and he stayed silent, but coiled around S'bel protectively, eyes flashing.

S'bel drew back, hissing in pain, as the woman touched his injured shoulder. She mentioned taking a look at it, and he shook his head. "It's fine," he rasped, pushing himself against his dragon, who rumbled gently. S'bel ignored Alyara's advice, and shrugged. He didn't need her help. He didn't need anyone's help.

Help me tear down my reason,
help me its your sex I can smell
Help me you make me perfect,
help me become somebody else

[Lark]

You don't know my name
you don't know anything about me
I try to play nice
I want to be in your game
The things that you say
You may think I never hear about them
But word travels fast
I'm telling you to your face
I'm standing here behind your back

Ara stared up at S'bel as he mimed her words. "Yes, she left. Not long after the hatching feast actually, a few days maybe. Inali said that she thought it safer for her son and dragoness if they moved away from Trelis. Perhaps she thinks that Maelath will start having normal clutches again if she moves...I think she'll only spread the mutations honestly."

Glancing at her own Gold and Bronze flits, Ara sighed. "I wonder if she'll have more new colors as well. Or if he will sire them being her son?" Excalibur trilled as he was mentioned, looking up at the larger bronze dragon. The curious youngster couldn't resist getting closer to the large king, until a warning bark from his mother sent him back to her and GreenOne.

Avirith crooned, amused by the little bronze's antics. He's a funny one Mine. She reached down to nuzzle the flit, moving him forward and toppling him over in the process. He stayed there on the ground like that for a moment, his tail over his head and his wings splayed out against the ground. Ara minded them no attention though, instead she got up and walked over to her bag attached to Avirith's saddle.

He made it clear he didn't want help AraMine. I'm not going to help him, I'm simply giving it to him. Walking back over, she threw the wadded up bandages and numbweed at S'bel's feet. "If I can't help, then help yourself." She ignored his prior comment about betweening. At least the vigor in which he replied to that was a good sign he hadn't given up completely. "When was the last time you ate?" She glanced over his frame again, not able to stop her gaze from lingering. Of course, that honestly was for a different reason than just checking the shape he was in, and that idea made her blush.

Or it is exactly for that reason. Avirith's laugh taunted her rider's mind. "Oh shush up you! What are you? Close to rising again?!?....oh shards please say no!" Ara's eyes widened as she looked up at her green which warbled and chirped a laugh. No, I don't think I am....I don't feel like I did last time. The greenrider sighed, her dragoness was right. She wasn't even glowing. Pushing her hair back behind her ear, Ara rummaged through her bag again until she found a leather cord. Reaching behind her, she swept up her hair into a low bun, getting it out of her way for now.

Turning back to S'bel, the rider sat on the ground, crossing her legs. "So, why did you leave? It wasn't because of Avirith's flight, was it?" Her words were more matter of fact than a question. No, it probably had more to do with the last Goldflight than the turn out of one silly green." I AM NOT SILLY!! Avirith's hiss was loud and grating in Ara's mind and ears, but she paid it no mind. "Yeah, you are love." That's the only thing she said before ignoring her green again. She didn't even glance in the dragon's direction.

"Seriously though, what happened to you? I'm not talking about why you even came out here, or what happened while you were gone...just, what happened to you? You used to be the one I looked up to S'bel. You used to be the one I looked at as a candidate, other than my mo...other than the greenrider who raised me." Avirith's soft croon and warmth as she nuzzled Ara's back stopped the 18 turn old from shedding any tears. She might not have been your real mother, but she was the one who raised you AraLove. Nodding her head slowly, Ara sighed. "I know."

You don't know how it feels
To be outside the crowd
You don't know what it's like
To be left out
And you don't know how it feels
To be your own best friend on the outside looking in
If you could read my mind
You might see more of me than meets the eye
And you've been all wrong
Not who you think I am
You've never given me a chance

[derek]

And I don't know why
I just can't seem to dry
the rain on my face
all the tears I've cried
I think of the day
when you pushed me away
what can I do when I still love you

S'bel eyed Alyara warily. So Iskra was gone, and she would be spreading mutations soon... that wouldn't be good. The rest of the world of Pern may not take as kindly to the mutated dragons as Trelis had. Then again, Trelis had already experienced some violence for their mutated dragons... The rider unconciously hugged Maerath close to him, glad that his great bronze was a normal color.

Maerath drew back his head as the little bronze flit fluttered close. Drawing back his lips, his curved fangs served as a nice warning for the fire lizard to back off, which he did reasonably quickly, at a command from the gold.

The dragon left his fangs bared, but the poor flitter was now knocked on the ground, and Maerath felt some sort of sympathy for the smaller-- much smaller --bronze. His wings were splayed out, and Maerath wondered what it must feel like to be helpless. He was glad he was not. He was powerful and strong, and could take down any enemy he was faced with! Speaking of which...

He whirled and snarled as Alyara dropped the bandages and numbweed at his feet. S'bel did not move to pick them up, or answer her question. He had last eaten just before the green and her rider had appeared, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He could feel her eyes on him, and they lingered. He glared, unwilling to let her know that he, too, was staring.

She didn't even know when her own dragon was rising? S'bel turned away, sighing. Were they ever going to grow up? He doubted it. The green wasn't even glowing, and it was far too soon for her to rise again. The bronze rider watched as Alyara tied her hair back, his own eyes lingering on the girl.

And then she basically started crying. True, she had asked a bunch of questions first, but still. She was basically crying. S'bel felt a rise of panic in his chest. He didn't know how to deal with crying girls. True, she wasn't actually crying, but he could tell she was fighting it.

"I don't know." Was his answer to all of her questions. Because he didn't. He had no idea why he left, or what happened to him. He had changed, and he didn't know why.

What can I do
Where can I hide -
from all of these feelings I keep inside
It's dark as can be
and you'll never see
just what it's like to feel..
what it's like to feel unloved

[Lark]

I've gone for too long living like I'm not alive
So I'm going to start over tonight
Beginning with you and I
When this memory fades
I'm gonna make sure it's replaced
With chances taken
Hope embraced
I hope I told you


He didn't know. He didn't know. He didn't know. Was that all he could give her? Was that all he could say to comfort her pain, her worry? Ara sighed. It seemed like it was. Looking around them, the greenrider felt like she didn't belong. Not here, not in this particular moment, and not with him. Yet, she wished she could. Wasn't that why she didn't let herself fall for anyone else? Wasn't that why she pushed J'dol, Ad'os, K'lin and anyone else away. Well, there was also that small fact that J'dol was her student, but who was looking at that?

Besides, it wasn't even that she was all that in love with S'bel. Not that at all. She admired him surely, and she cared for him yes; but it didn't mean that her heart beat for him. She wasn't a weyrling anymore either, and she wasn't so young that she couldn't understand the meanings of her heart's pleas. It spoke to her now, whispering, sighing. Did she really want to just leave? To slip into the ever increasing darkness and forget S'bel and the fact she ever saw him here this evening? No, oh yes, the answer was no.

She might have wanted to leave, and to be away from his eyes. Away from that malicious dragon, and away from the situation. She would never, could never, leave him like this though. Not when she was needed, whether he admitted it or not. Which, now that she thought about it, was highly unlikely. Looking at him, into his gray eyes if she could, Ara shook her head and lowered her own. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't pout, she wouldn't show him that she even cared. Instead, her tone grew cold, and her eyes narrowed. She pushed any thought of her feelings out of her mind, and she spoke. Rationally, yet completely from her heart.

"Would you rather me leave right now S'bel? Would you really rather me go and leave you? Like everyone else seems to have? Would you rather me walk away this moment, and forget we ever met? Would you rather make me think of you only as an insignificant fact of life, and think of you no longer past that? Would you make me really do that? Because, if you did, I would." Perhaps that was why he was here on his own. Simply, because he could be, and no one had cared to tell him otherwise. Maybe it was because he had fought for something he believed in, and watch it slip through his fingers.

We've learned to run from
Anything uncomfortable
We've tied our pain below and no one ever has to know
That inside we're broken
I tried to patch things up again
To cut my tears and kill my fears
But have I told you how I..

Well, she was giving him another choice. He could either let something else go away too, or he could take that chance. She breathed in slowly, steadying her racing heart. Ara had never felt this afraid before in her life, not even when she had learned her mother was not really her mother. Not when she ran screaming and crying from that greenrider's weyr, and onto the sands. Not when the eggs started to rock, and she watched as the candidates filed in. Not when suddenly, when she wasn't there, dragons had started impressing. Not when she was sought out, not when she had to fly or between for the first times. Not when she had been told she had to take charge of the weyrlings, and not even when the gather had been flamed or when her green first rose.

Yet now, she was completely visible to him. Her heart was on her sleeve, behind a steel gate, but it was still there. Take it, or leave it. It was his choice, and he couldn't make her choose anything for him. She wouldn't be the one to give in, and she wouldn't be the one to make the first move. She would only make the offer, the proposal that he actually own up to something for once in the last few turns. Letting her features relax slightly, Ara looked at S'bel's face again, and she searched his eyes as best she could. She wanted to see something, anything that the man she once knew was still there. That he wanted to still be there.

Likewise, Avirith had craned her head and neck around Hers. Her eyes flicked up to Maerath's larger form. He had not yet spoken, but he was acting just as she had when Theirs had first met. When Hers was the one that was broken and scared, and His was the one that was strong. Now look at us my Dear Bronze. We're playing separate parts. We're dancing each others dance. I want nothing to do with hurting you, just as Mine wants nothing to do with hurting Yours. If I could go back, I would have chosen you. I would have fled to you and not allowed myself to get so hurt. I would have chosen you before those other two started to fight and got me distracted. I was younger then, I was foolish.

At that moment, Aries looked back and forth between the two dragons and their riders. Hers wasn't paying attention to her, her own hatchling had curled up around Theirs' legs, partially on her lap. Snorting, Aries twined her tail back and forth around itself. She wanted to get their attention back on her where it rightfully belonged! Hissing, she made a darting move toward S'bel and his things, only to be swatted by Avirith's tail. The green laughed, and hissed when Aries got up and started chittering. For once, it's not about you! Not sharding flap off or you'll regret it. The dragoness' words were a first, and final warning, and the Gold flit huffed and betweened to Hers' weyr. Beside Ara, Excalibur looked up at His and crooned. "It's okay boy."

I'm not going
cause I've been waiting for a miracle
And I'm not leaving
I won't let you
Let you give up on a miracle
Cause it might save you

[derek]

Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.

She was rambling. Going on about walking away and never looking back, or something to that effect. He knew if he asked her, she really would leave and never come back. And then where would he be? Besides, they both knew she didn't want to leave, and that he didn't want her to. He was already alone and depressed, he didn't need her to walk away, either.

He had to admit, he was jealous of her flirtations with other men, especially J'dol. He was her student, after all! Then again, when he had been Weyrlingmaster, turns and turns ago, she had been his student, too. He had no right to condemn her for flirting with a student when he had done the exact same thing, she being the student, he the teacher.

Loosening his grip on Maerath's forearm, he stepped forward, to place his hands on Alyara's arms. "No." He said hoarsely. He didn't really have to say it, but somehow he knew that if he didn't, she would turn around and leave him there alone in the dark.

When the green started talking, Maerath turned his head. He wanted to respond, but did not trust himself to be civil, or not to do something rash. His rider was feeling particularly amorous, and so was the bronze, so he stayed silent, biding his time. He wondered if she really meant it, that she would have chosen him above the others. He decided she did, and slid slowly beside her, humming lightly.

The firelizards were up to trouble again, but S'bel did not notice. His grip on Alyara tightened, and he repeated himself. "No." And then he was kissing her as he had never kissed her before as thunder rolled and the sky opened up to pour down rain.

Kiss me down by the broken tree house
Swing me upon its hanging tire
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat
We'll take the trail marked on your father's map

[Lark]

Ara was about to turn around and leave, to let him go when he finally spoke. She had to focus on on his words to hear him though. It wasn't that he was quiet, she just couldn't hear him over her own heart beat. Surely he could hear it too, but that didn't matter now! It didn't matter, he said no. He said for her to stay! Elation washed over her, wave after wave of joy as she realized he wanted her to be here with him. She had to admit now to herself, maybe she liked him more than she let herself believe.

It had been forbidden for so long, and then him with his stupid ideas of what made a bronzerider! A bronzerider was decided by the things be did and the people he helped, not the color of dragon his lover had. She smiled as he got up and walked to her, and then placed his hands on her arms. They were rough, calloused, and warm. She looked up, searching through the increasing dark for his face, but then he said no again, and his lips were on hers.

She didn't fight, she didn't do anything. She just gave in. This wasn't a kiss received through flightlust, or a kiss stolen by a weyrling. This was real, and it was something she had a part in choosing. As she broke away for breath, the greenrider moved to lay her head on his shoulder and laughed as the heavens above let forth a roar of thunder and torrent of rain. She broke her body away from his then, twirling lightly in the rain. Avirith crooned happily too, nuzzling into Maerath's side where she was warm and safe. Her wing spread out partially to create a tent over the two riders, shielding them from the worst of the sudden storm. Laying her head in the crook of the bronze dragon's neck, Avirith chirped a happy, Mine, finally Mine.

Ara stopped and looked back at S'bel, crooning her finger at him. "Come on bronzerider, I think you have something new to teach me." Her voice lowered seductively and she smiled at the tone. Oh, this would be a good night, and to between with the consequences of it all!

[derek]

And indeed, he taught her a good many things that night. The morning dawned chilly and wet, but with Alyara in his arms, he dared not move. The pair had moved to a small cave he had stayed in previously, with the dragons stationed outside as bronze and green sentinels, guarding Theirs from harm.

A fine drizzle still misted down from the heavens, but S'bel paid it no mind. He was dry, for the most part, and he was semiwarm with Alyara curled up with him in the cave. He wished he had been more gentle with her, for this was only her second time, the first being Avirith's maiden flight... but he had been waiting far too long for this, and had let himself get carried away.

Sliding himself gently away from the woman, he stood, completely nude, and walked from the cave. Maerath crooned to his rider softly, unwilling to wake the slumbering green or her rider. Avirith was curled against Maerath, and he was twined around her happily. S'bel smiled, and walked forward, wincing at the dull, aching pain in his shoulder.

Slipping his feet into his hastily discarded boots, he proceeded down to the river, where he took a long drink, thinking over what had happened. He had denied his love of the girl for far too long, but he was loathe to return to the Weyr, as she would undoubtedly beg of him. If he returned, he would return as her Weyrmate, as befitted him, but part of him still longed to be wild.

He didn't know what to do. Shaking his head, he took another sip of water, and decided that the only thing he could do was wait for Alyara to wake up and talk things over with the girl.

[Lark]

Avirith was up first, curling her tail around her once sleeping form. Her wings were stiff from how she had been sleeping, but it didn't matter any. The green glanced up at the bronze she was entangled with, moving to nuzzle his neck with her cheek. She didn't miss His leaving though, and Avirith crooned worried. Why would he be leaving? The fact that S'bel wasn't entirely dressed didn't register in the green's mind of course, so she woke Hers up with a gentle push to her mind.

Groaning, Ara shook her head and yawned. She had been so warm, in fact she still was. The place where S'bel had been still felt molded to his shape even. Thinking about that, Ara smiled. She finally had done it. She finally had gotten him to admit his feelings for her. Where was he though? Looking around, the rider gingerly rearranged her body to a sitting position. "Hmmm..." She bit her lip, noticing the half hazardous mess of clothing they had made. If he was outside, he didn't bring much with him. That thought made her blush. She hadn't gotten too good a look at him in the caves darkness after all.

Gathering up some of her own clothes, she pulled them on and started to head out the cave's entrance. Ara paused next to Avirith though, rubbing the green side and receiving a mental picture of where he had gone. To the river then, she headed off that way, quickly followed by her bronze flit. "Morning Excalibur, and morning to you as well." Ara smiled as she spoke, moving to put her arms around S'bel in a hug. In terms of morning afters this by far was her best, even of it was only her second, and so she wasn't that shy. Not that that couldn't change, but until then, Ara moved to place her head against his chest then backed up. "We should get that shoulder cleaned now."