Second Meeting (Z'dayi)

[Xinnai]

The day before the time lapse

Another long day was over and Telgar's newest queenrider was sitting within the barracks, enjoying the small amount of freedom she had. The others had rushed out in their joy to have some time of their own but Salina had opted to stay behind. She wanted some time to her own, to decompress and let her batteries recharge, so to speak. It had been another long sevenday, full of lessons and small dramas and troubles as always. It was a sweet, sweet joy just to be by herself and not have to worry about any other people. Even Deoneth had left her to go have small, meaningless fun with Xyruth. It was something the gold never did, and Salina wholeheartedly approved of it. Deo was maturing so fast. Before long, she'd be full grown and have neither the time or inclination to play around.

The goldrider stretched back onto her cot with a small yawn, picking up a dog eared manuscript and thumbing through it. It was something a weyrling had given her upon hearing she liked reading more than just records. It was a story penned quite a few turns ago about the first combat against Thread-it was enthralling really. Salina found her spot and began reading, caught up in the story once more. She snuggled down deeper into her cot, among the furs and blankets. Ankles crossed as she flipped to another "page", a yawn struggling from petal-pink lips. She'd read for a just a little while longer and then settle down to sleep...The next day would be just as tedious as the others had been. She wanted to be prepared for it in the morning, bushy-tailed and bright-eyed.

She was taking her duty as junior weyrwoman now, the little mother nickname she'd had as a child coming forward once again. She wanted to be a leader. A sigh broke through, thoughts caught up within this little tangle. She wanted to, but wasn't sure how without seeming too domineering. People like K'mar and Ez'ki and Z'dayi wouldn't listen anyhow. All three were turns older than her, like many of the other weyrlings. It didn't matter, but to some it did. She couldn't just put on the stole of authority either. It had to be earned. Salina just had to figure out how.

With a shake of her head, the girl reapplied herself to the manuscript before her. A few minutes later, and she was absorbed once more, thoughts upon weyrlinghood and her position forgotten in the wake of the desperate days of first Threadfall and the brave men and women who had fought against it.

[blueaid]

In from the twilight dimness, Z'dayi jogged through the barracks entrance and slowed his steps once there was the remotest possibility that someone would see him voluntarily moving at more than a slackerly pace. He held a bundle of damp-looking clothes rolled up under one arm, and his hair was half-dry and comb-free curled, his shirt unbuttoned, his belt looped over his shoulder, clean from his bath but not yet put-in-order for stepping out-- undoubtedly one of those weyrlings that had every intention of getting out of the barracks and making the most of his spare time. First, to drop off his laundry and do those last bits of grooming, swinging toward his cot, passing Salina's initially without even noticing the goldrider. It wasn't exactly unusual for someone to spend a night in.

But then his head cocked, his brows knitted, and he stopped walking to take a look around the barracks. Empty; except Salina. He tossed his clothes toward his cot, heedless of where they landed, and worked his way back around to the goldrider's, there to reach out toward manuscript as if he pluck it from her fingers; or perhaps just read the title on it. "Darlin," he began seriously, leaning over in the process of reaching for her manuscript as though he would brush a kiss across her forehead. "There're a lot better ways to spend your free time."

There was Salina, worrying about her place in the future of the Weyr; and there was Z'dayi, to whom the thought would never occur to care. Pretty girl. Empty room. Bed. It's not like it was hard to connect the dots of his thought processes.

[Xinnai]

Preoccupied as she was, Salina didn't see Z'dayi either. A good read can always keep a person in its grip indefinitely and the manuscript she was reading certainly did so for her. She continued to delve down deeper into the text, not even hearing the bronzerider's footsteps, relaxed as she was into a slothfulness she was fully enjoying, perhaps for once. She was working hard, harder than she ever had. Did anyone blame her?

She came to the realization that she wasn't the only person contained in the little world of the barracks when a hand came out to snag the hides she read, and a drawling voice reached her ears. She glanced up-Z'dayi. Half-dressed, slightly wet and looking like he had certain intentions in his eyes. Lips quirked into a half-smile as Salina elevated herself to more of a sitting position, leaning back on her elbows to regard her visitor more closely.

"Really now?" she asked, playing dumb. She knew what he was thinking. How could she not? It was Z'dayi after all. It was the two of them. Alone. Head tilted to one side, hair sliding like a silken wave to puddle among the coverings of her cot. "Won't you show me?" Smile curved invitingly.

An interesting sidebar to what had been a killer of a week. She doubted anyone would blame her here either. After all, it wasn't as if they could do anything too much. There were their dragons to consider after all-would Tremaith allow this game to progress? Had the months that intervened from their potato peeling escapade to now have relaxed the bronze?-and people who could interpose at any time. There was the slight undercurrent of the thrilling to this meeting-the fact that anyone at all could walk in at any time adding to it. Faranth save her, she liked it.

[blueaid]

"You make it too easy," Z'dayi remarked around a smirk, straightening up long enough to glance over her reading material. Not his idea of a fine afternoon, getting all engrossed in something like that, and he tossed the pamphlet carelessly toward the foot of Salina's cot. Where it landed then slid off on to the floor, just to make the point that he was particularly disinterested in its finale.

Weyrlings are increasingly expected to behave with the maturity and poise that Pern imagines its dragonriders to possess, so say the guidelines for this particular period in weyrlinghood. Yet here's the future of Pern personified, gold and bronze, with nothing but the idiotic intentions of youth between them. And, where Salina doubted that people would fault her for her foolishness, Z'dayi neither knew nor cared whether or not there'd be cross words for it later. All he had, all he needed to know was the briefest of interludes while he laughed at her "show me" suggestion.

You awake?

Tremaith's awake, and he's perfectly aware what Z'dayi intends with Deoneth's rider. He may not remember clearly what happened last time, but he recalls enough. But... he's placid today, the dust undisturbed by what he expects will transpire here, the intervening months granting him the luxury of a little curiosity with the fairer sex. But don't let's assume too many liberties; he is, as ever, willing to drop the axe when Z'dayi crosses that line.[/color]

Which sounded enough like permission to prompt the bronzeling to a perch on the edge of Salina's cot. "I ain't gotta game that suits this exact moment, 'fraid." With her already in bed, and that usually being the object of his games. "Buuuut." He leaned one arm across her, braced himself on one hand on the opposite side of her cot, still sitting with his legs on one side, twisted at the waist to mostly face the goldrider. "We could have a rematch-- so long as you ain't worried about your reputation."

Because. Really. The barracks? Someone would walk in eventually. And Z'dayi's reputation wouldn't be the one that suffered to get caught making out.

[Xinnai]

"Maybe, but that just gives us more time." Smile curved as she heard the flop of the manuscript hit the floor. What did she care for it now? She had a rather fine, handsome bronzer here with her and that was definitely a better source of entertainment than some moldy story. By far.

Just to be sure, the queenrider checked in with her bonded, finding the gold still in high spirits with her little blueling friend. Salina stayed with her a few moments, before slipping in, mind-voice warm and affectionate. Darling, enjoy your time with Xyruth. I'm going to be with Z'dayi, all right? Don't pay much attention to me. Just tell me if it gets to be a bit much.
Deoneth stopped whatever game she was playing with the blue, head cocked and eyes whirling. Her wings ruffled along her back, settling down to smooth lines against her gleaming sides, the interesting "tatters" within them hidden for now. You speak of repeating what happened long ago.[/color] Long for the gold's memory, at least. I do not suppose it will bother me as much. I grasp more at what these "games" are and just warn you, Salina-mine, not to take it too far. You will be told. Be careful as well.[/i]
A smile, one the gold couldn't see, graced the weyrwoman's delicate visage. So noted.

She broke off from the conversation, feeling her cot sag slightly under the new weight of Z'dayi. Her face was carefully grave, set in a mask of the somber girl she'd been before the hatching. Eyes were gleaming when they met his, feeling a slight warmth next to her side as his arm came across her body to grasp the other side of the cot. Head tilted just enough to suggest she was listening and eyebrows rose, giving her a look of complete surprise.

"Me? Worry about my reputation? What a silly thing to suggest." She might indeed have concern over it, but not for this. Not for now. She'd just say she was experimenting. And wasn't she? "A repeat. Mmm. I think that can be managed." She slid nearer, chest and shoulder touching at his arm, their faces mere inches apart. "Just like last time?" Each word was carefully timed, dropping from her lips with a distinctive splash into dark waters.

[blueaid]

Entertained, Z'dayi answered, "Seeing as I lost last time, let's hope it ain't just like last time." Though it was the sort of sport where losing wasn't quite as traumatic as it might have been. He could feign indifference in the end to pretty, easy girls coming-on-strong by the lakeshore, let Ez'ki and T'rad wander off to play at splashing them while he hung back, but Salina... was different. And it could probably be attributed to the simple fact that she was a queenrider and, despite his every effort to the contrary, he was a bronzerider and he was going to ken to that "bond" between them, but he responded to the nearness of her, the warmth and willingness.

His lips found hers this time, as she'd made it so convenient, only him dipping fractionally lower to her. It wasn't a kiss exactly, just a touch, just able to feel the movement of his mouth when he added, "Just thought I'd check as you wouldn't burst into tears if you 'got caught.' 'Cause that can really ruin a mood." And then it was actually kissing, one arm still stretched across the cot, the other braced beside her pillow so he leaned easily above her.

At least last time there had been the worry about unpeeled potatoes to hurry things along; this time... well, Tremaith and Deoneth had best be very good watchdragons.

[Xinnai]

Her fluttering laugh was barely a puff of warm air when it was expelled. "Well, we'll try to avoid that then." She was surprised in the extreme when their lips met in a testing kiss, just a gentle rub. He'd avoided kissing her at first last time.

She sighed softly in pleasure at the meeting, hands on either side of her body, following the rules of this game of theirs. She was going to reply to him, to tell that she would never cry, but her lips were very occupied then, moving with his as he leaned over her.

She smiled beneath the press of mouths, leaning back slightly as her eyes drifted closed, hands knotting about the furs. No touching. She'd just have to hope Deoneth-and Tremaith-were keeping a close watch, because this could very, very easily go sprinting out of control.

[blueaid]

Ah, but things had changed since last time. Last time, Z'dayi had been pleasantly surprised to learn the little-girl Salina wasn't quite so firmly ensconced in her ivory tower as he might have believed, and it was all the playful testing of waters. Last time, there were baby-dragons at risk. Last time, there were a lot more things keeping the bronzerider checked that really existed at this exact moment. Tomorrow, when the whole world changed and everyone was awash in chaos, there'd be a whole new set of issues to worry about. But-- right now-- he'd found his stride as a weyrling, he looked forward to the freedom that loomed only a few months in the future, and he kissed Salina.

What started as a little thing, a taste, a test, deepened quickly. There were the confines of the game to keep things at least fractionally honest between them, his hands stuck to the bed on either side of her as much because he needed to support himself as because it kept him from losing right away, but Z'dayi was kissing her with stupid avidity for now. Salina's little laugh, her little sigh, it was all fuel for idiotic ardor. Why they'd do this to themselves, get the flames all fanned when they knew it was just going to end with a metaphorical douse of ice-water, was anyone's guess.

Probably that whole enforced-celibacy thing. Nothing says "make out!!!" like telling people not to.

[Xinnai]

She was wondering why they continually got themselves worked up for nothing. The last time she and Z'dayi had played this game. Ez'ki, T'rad and Z'dayi's escapade with the three lower caverns wenches. Now. But it wouldn't have been as much fun, that was for certain, if they didn't. They were practically being commanded to anyhow. The leaders of the weyr had to know that the surest way to get the weyrlings to do something was to tell them not to do it.

There were, of course, boundaries, lines that dared not to be cross. Ones she was sure she and Z'dayi would be observing, even if they toed that line rather heavily.

Their kiss was spiraling on, a sweet bliss. At her sides, her hands remained clenched about her faux bedclothes, resisting the overwhelming urge to touch him. She wouldn't yet. Not just yet. Beneath him, her body arched closer, her chin tilting up so their mouths could meet more thoroughly. She didn't care if anyone walked in right now. She didn't give a damn. She just wanted to keep kissing Z'dayi stupid.

[blueaid]

There wasn't really a moment when one kiss ended and the next began. Not a definable one. Z'dayi stayed with her lips for a long spell, but eventually his mouth wandered on to other bits of anatomy. After all, he was very much a grass-is-greener type of person, one easily distracted, happily lured from one vice to another. So he nipped at her lips and dragged his down along her chin, the warmth of his breath across the exposed curve of her neck, the nuzzle of his nose, all the things that ought to wait another handful of months before they really perpetuated.

His voice was a little ragged, a little tattered and muffled for lack of prying his lips from Salina's skin; "How you holdin' up?" He'd taken a glance, just a little one, to check the state of her balled-up hands, to check the likelihood of victory this time. He was in a better position for it, actually having a use for his hands, but no sense being too cavalier. Especially since he was going to wind up leaving this position with a wicked crick in his neck.

[Xinnai]

This was definitely jumping into deeper waters from their last meeting. Then, it had been a testing, a teasing. This was exploring, this was feasting. She couldn't tell when their lips parted, couldn't tell how she caught her breath. She merely followed him, breath going more ragged as she felt his lips, his teeth, making her go slightly more mad with every pass he made.

She wanted to touch, to feel. Arms half-rose before she reminded herself that that was the one thing she could not do. Like the direction not to fool around, it just made her yearning all the stronger.

She spoke with eyes closed, her chest rising and falling shallowly, breath tearing slightly in her throat. "Fine," she murmured. Anything but. He did anything more, and she was going to be wrapped about him like a vine, game forgotten.

[blueaid]

A laugh, a little one, breathed across Salina's neck where Z'dayi paused, his head shaking just slightly, hair still damp. All his big plans for stepping-out had come to naught. "Fine?" Briefly, he rested his chin on her shoulder, listened to and felt her quickened breath, hid the self-satisfied smile in the curve of her neck. "Y'don't sound it."

Then her ear, a small thing to hold his fascination for a time while his arm inched closer to her side. His hand dragged along toward her pillow, succeeded in slipping his forearm along the outline of her spine without so much as lifting his fingers from the bedclothes. It wasn't technically against the rules, hands-off, but it sufficed to keep her pressed against his chest, way too much warmth of the safety and security of adolescent dragon-minds between them now.

Despite Z'dayi's playful tone, he didn't sound particularly 'fine' in turn.

[Xinnai]

She shuddered to feel his breath against her skin, warmer and hotter than the surrounding air. There was the brush of his flesh, of hair. Eyes slid open to half-slits, making the queenrider appear almost drowsy as she looked for the source. She could see nothing but the tangle of golden curls, feel the curve of his lips against her skin. Another slight tremor as she exhaled slowly. "Perhaps not," she murmured.

She tried to gain control of herself, but he was at her ear, a ticklish spot for most and particularly for her. Her body stiffened against his, his sneaky move gone unnoticed as she went limber, trembling with light giggles and laughter. There was no stopping now. Hands rose, grabbing at Z'dayi's shoulders. Eyes were open, clear, as she laughed, hands now moving to his hair, fingers tangling within the curls.

"C'mere, Master Enchanter," she teased. "Now I've lost, I want my consolation prize." Head tilted, her cream face suffused with the rose of her enjoyment, lips slightly bruised from passing whims but wanting for more.

[blueaid]

Pleased in a vain but authentic way, Z'dayi had every intent of tickling her ear indefinitely. That was as much for amusement, as much in response to Salina's giggling as his own lascivious ends, but then her fingers were in his hair and he gave one last nip to the soft skin below her earlobe before he leaned his head back. Eyes brightened, lazy smile in evidence, he held away from her a few extra inches, had to strain his shoulders a little to accomplish it. But it was worth it for a good luck at her flushed cheeks and reddened lips.

"But I thought," he began lightly, leaning to nuzzle his nose alongside hers. "I thought it was-- to the victor go the spoils?" Still, he reached with one hand bent to lay his fingers around her wrist up behind his head, to press her palm beneath the collar of his shirt to the base of his neck, just the thrill-of-touch.

It had barely come to this before, barely gotten to winners-and-losers when Tremaith intervened. Now, alert but unmoved, he let it go on. And Z'dayi would, for the first time ever, have to thank his dragon for staying the hell outta things.

[Xinnai]

A delicate shudder crawled over her for the last nip, a small tremor that passed from the base of her neck to her bare toes. They were face-to-face and she could see those bright blue eyes.

Warmth made her fingers tingle as skin rubbed, a nuzzling that was intimate, was playful. She let him guide her hand, fingers pressing to the nape of his neck. They began a long, lazy glide, bumping along each vertebrae, circling to come down again. "Mmmm." Cheek brushed his, her voice lazy, reflecting the heat that had taken up residence within her body. "Sure, you're right. But shouldn't the loser get a little consolation out of that big bag of spoils?"

Cheek rubbed along his, a free finger wrapping one curl about its diameter, twirling it idly. Deoneth was fine, still playing with Xyruth. No one had come to interrupt the two of them. Everything was perfectly warm and content in this moment.