Yay! You’re here! (Tater and Thali)

[Thaliawen]

Mavri had gone to check on Dezinarth when she’d spotted a familiar figure. The man she’d spent countless hours writing letters to, the man she’d invited to join her at the weyr, the man she’d fallen for before she’d Impressed her beautiful blue. And he’d a dragon? Had he been here all along? Was that why he’d never responded to her letters?

She ran over to him. “Yario!” She called, beaming at him. Oh, it was good to see him. She’d missed him.  

[Thaliawen]

Mavri was still beaming at him. “It’s me!” She affirmed. “I can’t believe you’re here, Yario, I kept writing you to tell you about Dezinarth but I guess you never got them! When were you Searched? I wish I’d known!” She’d felt wretched for leaving him, but her parents had encouraged her to accept the dragonman’s offer. No daughter of theirs was going to lose a chance at a dragon because she fancied some musician!

“I’ve missed you, Yario,” she said. “But look at you! You’re a dragonrider now!” She gave him a smile.  

[Thaliawen]

“Four turns, ever since that rider Searched me. I Impressed the first time they dragged me onto the sands. I...” she hesitated, studying his face. His smile was absent. It often was, but it was one of the things she loved best about him. It was a rare thing she could cause.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get my letters,” she said. “Do you want to meet Dezinarth? He’s my blue. I’ve been wanting to introduce you to him for turns.”  

[Thaliawen]

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see you Impress,” she said, sincerely. “I hope they know each other, but I don’t imagine we could be in the same wing without seeing each other.” Her smile was beginning to fade. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what, but he was treating her as if she were a stranger. His walls were up, she could tell.

Had she done something wrong?

“Yes,” she said. “When I have the time, Dezinarth likes me to play my guitar. When I first Impressed him, he’d try to honk along with my singing.” She hesitated and the smile faded from her face. “Yario, aren’t you happy?”  

[Thaliawen]

Oh. Maybe that’s why he was angry. She’d been calling him by the wrong name! “I’m sorry, Y’io,” she said. She offered him a small smile. “I was just so pleased to see you, I didn’t ask. That was silly of me.”

“...you just...I’m sorry.” She swallowed, and looked away. “What did I do, Y’io?” She asked, quietly. This wasn’t at all the way she was used to we interactions with him going. She must have angered him in some way.  

[Thaliawen]

Mavri stiffened. Her eyes went wide. “I wanted to say goodbye!” She cried. “My parents, when they heard the dragonrider inviting me to the Weyr, they insisted I go. I didn’t have time to pack. I couldn’t find you. I didn’t want to. But a chance to get a dragon...” Wait, what? She wiped at her eyes.

“Lover?” She echoed. “I never had a lover. Not since you. I wrote you almost every day. I...”  

[Thaliawen]

Mavri trembled. She swallowed and tried to rid her eyes of the tears threatening to escape. She blinked furiously. “I wrote them,” she said. “I sent them with a firelizard, a big bronze one. They told me golds were the smartest, but I didn’t know anyone with a gold...” she swallowed again. She’d poured her heart into those letters. “I kept inviting you to come to the Weyr. I loved you. I couldn’t come back with a baby dragon, I couldn’t leave him. And by the time he was old enough to go to Fort, I couldn’t find you.”

“Maybe he dropped them between instead of delivering them.”  

[Thaliawen]

“Most likely,” She echoed. She took a breath and nodded. “Right. Of course. Take all the time you need.” She wished she’d sent those letters with a more intelligent firelizard.

“Well. Now you know I’m here. So you can have your dragon bespeak mine whenever you’d like to talk.”