Post by tovaana on Jun 10, 2020 1:58:24 GMT -5
A Seven-day before the wedding/gather
Weyrling Muze :: Green Rylath
Weyrling V’than :: Brown Saruth
“I’m going with you.”
V’than looked over and down at his sister who was walking by his side toward the dining hall. She hadn’t looked at him while saying it, but turned her head momentarily to glance up and meet his muddied brown green eyes with her intense brown gaze. It took him a moment to get past the obvious – that she was going with him to the dining hall – and to realize that she was talking about the trip to their parents.
“I’ve already talked to D’rew, I just have to let him know when we’re going.”
There was a pause and V’than wished he could see Muze more clearly, but they were still walking toward the dining area in the dim light of the tunnels.
“The sooner the better.” She said in a quip tone, but glanced at him and offered a bleak smile in the dimness. He imagined she did have reservations about going. She had left to be free of her home, why go back? V’than didn’t quite understand first hand what she was feeling, but he knew family was important, even if it hadn’t been ideal for Muze. She was who she was today because of it, wasn’t she? If father hadn’t pushed her, would she have taken the opportunity to leave? V’than didn’t feel like it was his place to say anything, especially since she had come to conclusion on her own to join him in the visit. He had put it off for so long in hopes that she would decide to join him.
“I’ll tell D’rew, then.” They ate their afternoon meal in relative silence, both contemplating what the trip would be like.-----------------------------
Muze half wished that they could have betweened to their origin home. It wasn’t like they didn’t know what it looked like – maybe not from an aerial viewpoint – but still, it would have alleviated the anticipation that swam in the pit of her stomach the whole way there. Rylath had tried everything to cheer her rider up, but Muze resisted – wanting to feel all her anger and frustration from earlier years. While it had only been months for their parents, it had been almost two years for Muze to tuck such feelings away.
The little hold looked much smaller from the air, a lot gloomier too, despite the sunshine that shone. People started to gather and point the closer they got – at least she knew neither her mother nor father were in the group. They’d be working of course.
She slid off Rylath after landing, pulling her flight scarf away from her face and met the small crowd of mostly curious younger children and teens. Then there was a whisper that was repeated multiple times that hushed the crowd. “It’s Muze.” And also, “then that must be Vavithan.”
When there was a moment of silence Muze grinned and said loud enough to carry to the crowd, “V’than now, actually.” She recognized faces she had worked with, some older boys – or… she supposed she was almost their age now, that were ogling her in awe. She couldn’t help but smirk a little, since most had teased her when she escaped the kitchens to work side by side with them. It also felt strange to be a home, not that she didn’t want to be there – but that she no longer belonged there and was no longer her home.
V’than had landed Saruth (who was significantly larger) further back and was taking long strides to meet up with Muze and Rylath. “Hey everyone. Anyone know where our parents are?”
“I’ll go get them!” A bright blue-eyed blonde child, who contrasted greatly in the sea of brunettes, raised his hand excitedly. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes as he darted off before they could either encourage or stop him. Muze’s stomach twisted. She wished she’d stopped him. Or maybe they should have landed further away, to allow her time to readjust or prepare…though she had had plenty of time to prepare on the fly over.
Would you like me to leave, Muzemine? ‘No, stay.’ She said firmly and so Rylath took a step closer to Muze – and some of a crowd took a step back. Muze had little patience for the older kids, especially some that she knew – but the kids… She smiled at the bright-eyed kids who had escaped their chores to come see the dragons. “Did you guys want to say hello to Rylath?” She crouched and beckoned the younger ones. Rylath lowered her head, sensing what Muze wanted. “She likes to be scratched right here along or below her eye ridge. She won’t bite, I promise.”
As she had crouched down she had missed her mother running and joining the crowd. V’than saw her coming and grinned at her – though her attention was torn between the dragons in their hold and trying to grasp that they might belong to her children. What V’than hadn’t noticed was the way her run had hobbled – and something about the way her skirt hung on her waist…
“Mother!” He said, breaching through the crowd to embrace her.
“Vav!”
Muze looked up at her mother and stood up. She didn’t leave Rylath’s side, not wanting to frighten the smaller children that had been bold enough to approach… that and perhaps there was some stubbornness that kept her rooted to the spot. Her mother’s eyes seemed more lively than she remembered – perhaps it was seeing her speckled green.
Mother kept one arm around V’than as they came back through the crowd toward Muze. Her eyes glittered with unfallen tears. Muze did not match her emotion, but stared steadily, holding her chin up a little. They stood there in silence, but Muze couldn’t help the smile a little and take the few steps to meet their mother in a tight hug. She’d forgotten how much she had loved her mother, how grateful she was – despite her obnoxious silence.
“This is Rylath.” She said as she separated and took steps back toward her speckled green.
Her mother looked up at the green and then to her daughter. “I’m so very proud of you…” But then she frowned. “…She’s very pretty, but seems sort of large… I don’t know much about dragons, but shouldn’t she be… smaller? Younger, I mean?” She hadn’t thought of her mother as being very smart, she was surprised she had noticed or cared to think of that detail. Muze and V’than exchanged a grin and glance.
V’than glanced at the crowd and then at his mother. There would be rumors nonetheless, but still better to just tell their parents instead of letting the children run around with wild stories to tell their own parents.
“Vavithan! Son!” Muze cringed at the voice, moving away and back toward Rylath who moved also to meet her, frightening the kids that had come close to her. The green let out an apologetic croon in reaction to the yelps of the kids. I didn’t mean to scare them. ‘It’s okay, Rylath.’ She swallowed and her chin rose a tad as her father approached. “And Muze. Welcome back.” Everyone else in the group was silent. Vuzithan glanced at the others, his face darkening. “What’reya’ll doing out here? Get back to work! Like ya’haven’t seen a dragon before.” The group scattered quickly, a couple of small complaints and groans as they did so.
“They haven’t. Not like ours.” Muze said, quite sure there wasn’t a dragon like her speckled green, or even like V’than’s two-toned brown. Well, there were a lot of beautiful dragons in Mavros…she briefly thought of E’san’s brown and the unique black and white dragons – but still, hers had to be the best green nonetheless. Her father eyed the green, even as stubborn as he was, he could not hide the awe of being the presence of two dragons.
“Yours is the brown? Vavithan?”
“Yes, his name is Saruth. He calls me V’than.”
“He’s…large.”
He kept his body turned away from Rylath and Muze, as if in denial of their presence, and seemed to turn his head toward them with just as much reluctance. “So, y’came back.” As if it was just Muze who had left, not Vavithan.
V’than opened his mouth as if to speak, but his father saw the movement and shot him a look. Muze glanced at her mother, who was twisting her hands in small movements in her skirts. There was something new in her mother’s eyes, a spark of something she had always hoped to see growing up. Her father glanced at her mother, something silent passed between them and his jaw set – but something melted from his icy demeanor.
“Figures it would be a green. Them’s a girl dragon, yeah?” Her father’s attempt at civil conversation made Muze’s stomach squirm.
“No, actually. I mean, yes, it’s a girl dragon, but I know both female and male green riders – blue riders too, even brown riders.” Muze said in a stiff tone.
Vuzithan couldn’t help the flicker of his grimace at the thought of female brownriders – blue, he had never seen, but had heard they were becoming more prevalent. Brown riders though? It was wrong. He glanced at Milvia, she was giving him that look again. He tried really hard to not roll his eyes and looked back at his children. They seemed… grown… different for having been gone only months.
“Wha’ever.” He always slurred more the angrier he was, but Muze was surprised the way he was using what little self control he had.
Her fists curled, almost angry that he was being so docile. Her whole life she had wanted such treatment, so – now, now that she was a dragon rider? Is that all it took?
“Let’s go inside ‘n eat. Afternoon meal is’almost ready.”
Muze pursed her lips. “So, that’s it?” Vuzithan looked up, not at all startled by his daughter’s outburst. “Your two children are dragon riders – and – “
“- and what? And you both left…Not a goodbye, nothin'. So yeah, that’s it. Now, come inside for mid day meal.”
“You can’t tell me what to do anymore.”
Muze said in an almost inaudible voice. Vuzithan’s gaze and face fumed, but there was something else, something Muze refused to acknowledge. Regret? No. He didn’t care about her. Why had she come again? If Rylath hadn’t just flown all the way to the island, she’d leave right then and there. Rylath made a crooning noise and dipped low, wanting to take Muze far away. I will take you home. ‘No, you’re too tired…and besides, I just need a break.’ She pulled herself up with ease onto her green, feeling satisfied with the grace she managed to mount Rylath. She didn’t look at any of them as Rylath back away from the crowd and pushed herself into the air after a few long running strides. It felt good to have that freedom to just leave. To prove to him she could leave – though… she had already done that, hadn’t she?
She hardly realized that Rylath had picked out a familiar cove from her memories. As they landed and Muze slid off her back, so did her tears fall, feeling rather childish for leaving so suddenly. We can go back, if you want. Muze shook her head, plopping down in the sand facing the ocean and Rylath curling around behind her.
The sun’s shadows elongated behind rocks, the sky filling with warmer colors as the sun prepared to set. How long had she been there, wishing she wasn’t there, wondering if she should go apologize? She heard Saruth land in the same cove, but didn’t glance toward him.
“Would… would she let me join you?”
Muze started at the voice, glancing up to see her mother in her plain garb coming cautiously toward her. She glanced behind her to see V’than sliding off of Saruth’s tawny back, but he didn’t join them.
“Yeah, of course. Rylath is completely harmless.”
Milvia approached, less cautious after riding V’than’s large brown. She sat down slowly, sighing as she settled in a spot next to Rylath’s tail. She didn’t say anything, and Muze wished she would…say something. She wasn’t going to apologize.
After torturous moments, Milvia spoke up again. “He loves you.” Muze scoffed openly. Milvia smiled her signature sad smile. “In his own way. He just doesn’t know how to handle…”
“Me?”
Milvia smiled again. “Yes, you – a strong willed and independent woman- now dragonrider.”
Muze just sighed, glancing at her mother with a small smile. “It doesn’t change how I feel.”
Milvia nodded, and both of them stared out at the ocean in silence. “Are you happy?”
“Yes.” It was a definite and hard answer. Muze glanced at her speckled green and she hummed in response.
“I’m sad I’ve missed so much of your life.”
“V’than told you?”
She smiled, “Yes.”
“And… you believe him? Did dad believe him?”
She chuckled gently. “Hardly, but yes, he did. I do. Like I’ve always believed in you.”
Muze didn’t respond, but turned toward her mother, leaning on Rylath’s shoulder. “I wish you could have gone with back in time. You know, you should come to Mavros with us. You’d like it, it’s not large – we eat a lot of fish still, there are a lot of similarities to here.” She stopped, looking to where Milvia had glanced – to her stomach, where she had instinctively brought her hands to.
“I, uh…can’t, sweetie. I mean, I wouldn’t anyways, your father needs me, but…”
“Mom… you’re…”
She nodded, a smile that was not so sad spread from her lips to her cheeks – and even reached her eyes. Muze tried not to throw herself too roughly at her mother, hugging and laughing excitedly with her. As they separated, Muze’s hands went to her mother’s stomach, tears in both of their eyes. Now… now she wished she didn’t have to go home. What if it was a girl? What if father… She couldn’t, she just couldn’t leave another girl to her father’s rough parenting. Muze’s eyes hardened slightly through her watery eyes. “You…you have to come back with me. There’s a place for you… even father…” She winced at this, but whatever it would take for her mother to not stay here…
Milvia shook her head. “Your father would never leave his home, I will never leave your father.”
Muze’s jaw tightened, but she nodded quickly and bit her cheek hard to keep her from saying anything. Nothing she could say would change her mind. The conversation went on with smaller talk and V’than joined them a little later. The three talked and enjoyed themselves until the sun was touching the horizon. After goodbyes were done, Muze and V’than flew back toward Mavros. Muze’s stomach growled hungrily and Rylath complained that she needed to eat before they left – but all Muze wanted to do was to be home, to her real home.
