[G] [C] 739.05.11 | The Kiss of Doom

Ayontay was miserable and really just wanted to be alone while he sulked about, well, being left alone. And the random girl kissing him. And possibly being a replacement for a crush on his dad. Sometimes he found he might be able to hate the man and it wasn’t really even his fault! R’nd was so damn charming and friendly and flirty and seemingly perfect. Well, maybe not perfect since it was well known he was afraid of commitment and didn’t even know he had kids until Benden’s mom started the trend. He still only knew of half of his kids but that wasn’t for Ayontay to point out. Some, like Mylorah, didn’t care if he knew or not, finding they were fine without him knowing for so long that it wouldn’t change much now.

But still. The fact that he left the party was so he could be alone and someone coming up the hall behind him in what sounded like they were either fleeing as well or, more likely, chasing him down, was about to ruin that. He stiffened as the footsteps came closer, suddenly worried that maybe it was his dad’s fangirl and he braced for being mauled again when a hand slipped into his. He jumped slightly, clearly not as prepared for physical contact as he thought he was, and realised it was Madiquel. How did she even know he left? She seemed to be settling into the game and should have been in for some fun for quite a while still yet there she was, holding his hand and proving why he liked her so much.

“You should be back there having fun. R’dare and Mylorah would have made sure you were fine,” and they would have. The bluerider was part of their little pack of troublemakers formed a good decade ago as they hung out in the crèche and his sister was fond of Madiquel as well and already showed she would be quick to defend her virtue.

“I’m just tired and going to bed but that shouldn’t stop your fun,” it was mostly true so Ayontay didn’t feel bad about the small fib. He was tired, emotionally drained for the array of emotions running rampant. He was actually starting to hate himself as well for the jealousy that caused everything to happen as it had. He felt left out and like no one noticed him standing off alone and even Madiquel had forgotten him in the whirl of being accepted into the game with the older kids. He wasn’t a jealous kid! Why did he have to fret about whether or not she might be with R’dare or why he wasn’t asked to play a game that didn’t even interest him? The kiss and being compared to his dad just made it all a million times worse.

“No, you’re not,” Madiquel said firmly, frowning at her friend and tightening her grip on his hand for a moment. She didn’t force him into putting into words what she’d seen, but she wanted him to know she knew why he was running away with the party, and it didn’t make her think any less of him for it. She would have run away, too! Faranth, she would have been the first one to run away, if Mylorah and Nerreh and Casa hadn’t changed Nerreh’s original plan!

“I only went because Mylorah said you were going,” Madiquel said honestly, frowning at Ayontay. “Why would I stay if you’re not there?” It all seemed rather obvious to her! She was friends with several of the party goers, but Ayontay was her best friend, and she’d rather spend time with him than be surrounded by drinking, stripping teens who were loud and kind of obnoxious in their drunken haze. On her shoulder, Clover chirped in agreement and then crooned at Ayontay. Madiquel smiled, pleased the firelizard had backed up her point.

Madiquel fell silent for several moments as they walked, before turning her head and smiling at Ayontay. “Why don’t we give Clover and Shadow a bath and oil them?” It was late, but she was rather awake from all the noise and excitement and emotions from the party and she didn’t feel like going off to bed right then. Especially when she knew that Ayontay needed to be cheered up! Bathing and oiling the firelizards would be nice and relaxing, and would be a good way to wind down before going to bed. Though neither of them had their own rooms, his being a candidate and her a visitor, Madiquel figured they could steal one of the smaller bathing chambers to use and then go their separate ways for the night.

No he wasn’t, what? That he wasn’t tired? That he wasn’t going to bed? Was the fact that he wasn’t going to bed her calling out his little fib or was she implying he wasn’t going to bed because she was dragging him back to the party or somewhere else? There were far too many questions in his already confused head and Ayontay’s frown deepened, though he didn’t ask for clarification. If he did, Madiquel would definitely know he was lying and possibly trying to avoid her. Not that he was really avoiding her but he wanted her to go back and be social and have fun with the group of people that accepted her and wanted her there. She didn’t need to hang out with the awkward invisible kid that had none of the grace and social skills as his beloved dad.

“Mylo told me you were going and convinced me to go as well,” he mumbled the confession that he only went because Madiquel was going to go. T’ryn had told him to get out more as well and that alone may have had him stopping in for a little bit but knowing Madiquel was going had definitely encouraged him to go and made him stay longer than he otherwise would have. He suspected his oh-so helpful older sister had played them both so they’d end up going and having fun, but Ayontay wasn’t sure why she had done it and then panicked a bit at the thought that she might know he had a crush on his best friend. What if Mylorah said something to Madiquel? Life was just getting better and better since coming to Ista.

“I don’t expect you to follow my whims, Madi,” he pointed out as he started to feel bad about his jealousy over her spending even a fraction of a second with other people. Well, R’dare. But who wouldn’t want to spend time with R’dare? He was pretty awesome and Ayontay counted him as a good friend as well. He also had a sinking suspicion he was being paranoid about no one wanting him there. They were accepting anyone that moved to join the game and if he had been closer or showed interest in playing, they no doubt would have let him as well.

He fell silent when Madiquel did and continued playing the horrible events in his head and how he was feeling about it all when their firelizards were brought up. A small smile appeared when Clover crooned his way and he reached out to rub under her chin. “Ah! Shadow!” Ayontay gasped, shocked that he had forgotten about his loving blue firelizard. He didn’t want the silly thing going to the party, knowing he’d try to eat too much food and possibly sample the drinks left unattended or bother the wrong person and end up in trouble. He told Shadow to go visit with a friend but the little guy sent back an image of T’ryn and disappeared. He supposed all his firelizard friends back at Telgar, though it wasn’t like the trip would take more than a few seconds to get there, but maybe he wanted to stay close. “Clover, can you go find Shadow? I think he’s visiting T’ryn,” he didn’t want to make the detour to his brother and knew Clover would do the deed a lot faster than he would anyway.

“I guess that would be a practical use of time if I’m not going to bed,” he mused, a slight hint of humour in his voice as Ayontay tried to cheer up and not dwell on everything too much. “We’ll get the supplies and then find a quiet area for it.” A quiet place would be heavenly right then after the noise and chaos of the party.

Madiquel blinked at Ayontay, tilting her head slightly and looking confused. “I’m not,” she said, frowning slightly in the silence that settled between them as they walked; his comment had been several moments ago, but it took her a little while to collect her thoughts and form the words. “I came tonight to spend time with you,” she said both firmly and reasonably. “If you’re not at the party, that kind of defeats the purpose, don’t you think?” Madiquel gave Ayontay a quizzical smile, not sure why he was trying to shoo her away.

When he asked Clover to go and fetch Shadow for him, Madiquel relaxed a little, smiling in successful happiness when he agreed to the firelizard spoiling she had proposed. “Okay!” she chirped, right about the time Clover reappeared with a wave of cold air from between and landed lightly on Madiquel’s shoulder. The girl tilted her head, looking at her firelizard curiously. “Did you get him?” she asked, to which the green chirped happily. Madiquel lifted her eyebrows and gave Ayontay an amused look.

Deciding to let him figure out where his firelizard was (for all she knew, it was behind her) Madiquel’s expression changed again into a look of cheerfulness, and she looked curiously down the hall, before glancing at Ayontay. “Where will we find firelizard supplies?” she asked, scrunching her nose up suddenly. “I forgot to bring mine, in all the mayhem.” And leaving for the week had been mayhem! Madiquel had never actually been away from home before – home being wherever her father was – and that thought had her suddenly feeling a wave of panic, stepping closer to Ayontay and taking a deep breath through her nose. She could do this! Papa was only a quick ride away, and she had any number of dragonriders she could turn to if she needed to!

“You can use mine,” Ayontay shrugged, thinking it wasn’t a big deal to share his oil and what not. He didn’t use anything scented either so he didn’t think Clover would be offended by smelling like Shadow. Speaking of Shadow, Ayontay assumed the blue would be waiting back at his bunk for him if he had already left T’ryn. He felt kind of bad for his brother; his girlfriend was getting naked with a group of people and now his firelizard visitor was leaving. Hopefully the bronzerider had found someone else to hang out with or some way to pass the time. Maybe he’d gone to bed. Ayontay wondered if he could still use the excuse that he was tired and get out of the new plans he had just made, or at least use it as soon as the last speck of Shadow was oiled. He really wasn’t in the mood to be happy and chatty.

Madiquel had perfect timing with her step closer to him as Ayontay was pulled out of his misery again to glance her way quizzically. Come to think of it, what did she mean by mayhem? “Was your dad having a bad day when you were getting ready?” He couldn’t think what else could be counted as mayhem or make her forget Clover’s things. He was certain Madiquel always had some oil on her, especially when swimming was involved so she could sneak in a bath and oiling for the firelizard.

A genuine smile appeared shortly after his question as they rounded the final turn to where his bunk was housed and he saw his firelizard right where he assumed he’d be. Shadow chirped a greeting and was soon perched on Ayontay’s shoulder even as he was letting go of Madiquel’s hand. He held up a finger to his lips and pointed around the room to some of the other beds that were occupied with sleeping forms. He wanted to hear her answer about the apparent mayhem but it had to wait since he didn’t want people angry at him on top of an already horrible night.

His bed was one of the first ones near the door, a downside to being one of the bouncing Candidates between Weyrs, but it did mean he had some moonlight shining in to help guide him to where the bag of supplies was kept. He grabbed it and quickly headed back out to head to one of the bathing rooms.

“Thank you,” Madiquel said sincerely, throwing a warm smile at Ayontay as they wandered. His question took her a moment to process and she gave a sad smile, but shook her head and prepared to answer when they arrived at the barracks. She paused, nodding when he indicated silence, and waited patiently as he crept into the room to collect his things.

When Ayontay slipped back out of the room with the bag of supplies, Madiquel returned to his side and took his hand once more, feeling particularly affectionate because of the (obviously) horrible experience her friend had been exposed to. She didn’t feel that what she was doing could be taken as more than a friend being friendly, and was completely oblivious to any signals she could have been sending.

“Not really,” she said quietly, picking up the conversation where it had left off before the sleeping barracks were reached. “Papa doesn’t like me traveling by dragonback,” that was said mostly in a rhetorical manner; Ayontay was aware of her father’s quirks. “So, he decided last minute that since I want see the Hatching, I should just stay until then.” She frowned slightly, looking down at the floor as she walked. She hadn’t really thought about it in the flurry of getting ready to leave, but now that she was in the Weyr… well, the Hatching was a while yet, wasn’t it? They hadn’t even done the Touching yet! Her eyes widened at that thought.

“Do you think they’ll let me watch the Touching?” she asked, turning her wide eyes up at Ayontay.

Ayontay nodded in understanding as Madiquel explained what the mayhem had been. He was happy to hear Jajojin seemed to be doing well but didn’t ask if his bad days were lessening or not. It seemed like every time he was on a roll of being normal again, something happened to send him back to the night his dragon died and returned him to madness. It was almost enough to make a kid not want to Impress a dragon and risk losing it, but Ayontay had debated that issue for years and decided it was better to bond to a dragonet than risk seeing it go between because no one was there to help it. The chances were high that he would have a long and happy life with his dragon and it wasn’t worth giving into fear and never experiencing the joy having a lifemate would bring.

A shrug was given in response to her question as he went to nudge a door open only to find one hand was holding the gear and the other was in Madiquel’s hand. Ayontay frowned at that, not really even noticing when she had taken it again when he came back from getting the supplies. It was a pretty natural thing for them to do over the years and he had a feeling it was still the usually innocent gesture that it had always been. Shaking his hand free and avoiding thinking further on it, Ayontay nudged the door open to peek inside. It was a smaller bathing room and it seemed to be empty so he opened the door further and walked in.

“I’m not sure,” he replied as he set the bag on the ground and sat down beside it near the water’s edge. “Maybe you could ask Vaeyla if it’d be okay. N’mor likely wouldn’t care,” he could ask T’ryn to ask N’mor to let her watch but given Nadioth was the mother and the one bound to the Sands guarding her babies, it seemed better to ask the gold pair about it.

He waved Shadow into the water with a little gesture and the blue firelizard gleefully took off for it, diving in and a moment later splashing about, squawking a bit with excitement. Ayontay had been relieved when he realised how much Shadow liked swimming and getting cleaned. It meant they could play in the ocean together and it wouldn’t be a struggle to wash and oil the little guy. He knew some people that had flitters that didn’t like sitting still and one even seemed to fear water. Falling silent, Ayontay pulled out some sandsoap and scooted a bit closer to the edge so he could splash his hands in the water, playing with Shadow a little before the cleaning started. He was doing his best to focus on the positive and not the disaster of a party.

Madiquel considered Ayontay’s comment, pursing her lips thoughtfully. She wasn’t sure how she felt about asking Vaeyla that; she was rather intimidated by the regal goldriders and their beautiful dragons! She didn’t really consider how amusing it was that everyone else was afraid of her father and friendly with the Weyrleaders while she was the complete opposite. Her father never frightened her – well, sometimes he did, but not in the way he frightened other people. Her fear was always fed by her not wanting him to hurt himself or get lost in the madness that had sprouted when his dragon was lost. Madiquel shook those thoughts away before she could really worry about how her Papa was doing without her.

Clover didn’t need an invitation; as soon as Shadow was in the water, she threw herself in as well, splashing and squawking joyfully. Madiquel’s smile returned, her frown smoothing away as she watched the little beasts playing in the warm water. After a moment, she sat back a little and pulled off her long-sleeved shirt, leaving her in a sleeveless undershirt. Ista Weyr was definitely warm and she hadn’t needed the long-sleeved shirt, but Madiquel liked it (it was one of her favourites) and she had wanted to be comfortable around the older kids. Familiar clothing was comfortable, and in the depths of the Weyr and an unused room, she’d found the long sleeves kept her warm enough without overheating or being too cool. She did not, however, want to get it soaked from playing with and bathing firelizards.

Tossing the shirt towards the door, Madiquel leaned forward with a giggle and poked Clover on the rump, dunking her firelizard’s rear under the water and making the little green shriek in delighted and playful outrage. Still giggling, Madiquel tweaked on the edge of one of Clover’s wings as the firelizard attempted to swim around in circles and bat at the offending fingers at the same time. Mostly she ended up dunking herself, which just had Madiquel laughing outright in delighted amusement as she continued to tease the green until she wore herself out. When Clover was obviously exhausted, Madiquel scooped her out of the water and stole some of Ayontay’s soapsand, lathering it up between her hands before scrubbing the little green.

Glancing up shyly suddenly, Madiquel tilted her head at Ayontay. “Ayontay?” She asked, her voice almost hesitant. “What colour dragon do you think you’ll Impress?” The question of Ayontay Impressing never entered Madiquel’s mind; she knew her friend would make a superior dragonrider, it was just a matter of time (and hopefully he’d Impress at Fort!) but she was curious as to what he thought he’d get. She knew the Candidates discussed such things amongst themselves, but she wasn’t a Candidate and none of her friends seemed to be interested in talking to her about their hopes. That didn’t usually bother her, but Ayontay was her best friend, and she knew – hoped, anyway! – that whatever dragon he Impressed she’d hopefully be friends with, too!

Ayontay was busy scrubbing down Shadow, concentrating on the task and nothing else about the night when Madiquel’s softly spoken question came. He frowned, not sure he wanted to answer that. He was kind of superstitious, which he knew was silly and just all in his head; like speaking something out loud would make it true or jinx him from ever getting it. Yet, there had to be some truth behind them, right? How else would they come into play? Still, Madiquel was his best friend and she didn’t ask for details like that too often, mostly because she didn’t like it being turned back on her and getting asked when she would start Standing. As much as Ayontay had fantasized about them Impressing at the same Hatching and being awesome riders together, he understood why she hesitated and likely would have in her shoes.

He shrugged, still not sure what to say. In truth, he had thought about it a bit but never lingered too long on the idea. Again, he didn’t want to jinx it but a large portion of him wasn’t sure he’d even Impress. Just because he was weyrbred with a dragonrider for a father and one sibling had Impressed didn’t mean he would. With his luck, Benden would Impress before he did and his youngest brother couldn’t even start Standing for four more years.

“I’d be happy with anything,” he answered quietly and truthfully, though brown had never really appealed to him as much as the other colours. He finished up washing Shadow’s tail and gave the firelizard a nudge to let him know he could hop back in the water and rinse off. He watched for a moment as Shadow returned to splashing around as he considered the question again and what to tell Madiquel. Some of his real answer lingered too closely to what bothered him about that night. He urged Shadow closer again so he could start dribbling water over his head and rubbing away the remnants of soapsand from his little body.

“T’ryn and Syrendryth are so amazing. I could never be a bronzerider but it’d be kind of cool to be like them,” he wouldn’t admit it, though a blush would likely give him away, but Ayontay kind of hero worshipped his big brother and wouldn’t have minded following in his footsteps. He didn’t really want to be a Weyrleader or Wingleader though, so what else could he do on bronze?

He fell silent again as he convinced Shadow to get back out of the water so he could dry off and be oiled. “I thought maybe blue would be nice… you know, like my dad. But…” But what? Why didn’t he like that idea as much as he had the day before or since he was old enough to Stand or since R’nd approached him and said he wanted to include him in his life? That stupid kiss really messed him up. He actually hadn’t minded that he looked so much like his dad and thought it was kind of funny that the bluerider had never noticed it before. But the comparison to their looks and the assumption he’d be fine with a random person kissing him just rubbed him wrong.

“But I’m not R’nd!” He didn’t necessarily yell the declaration but it was a bit more forceful than was possibly needed. “I look like him but I’m not sleeping with everyone. Not that I even care that he does, or did, that. Everyone loves him and he’s not horrible to anyone but that’s him and I’m… I’m just me.” Ayontay slumped in defeat as he realised he really was just himself and not very important. With a sigh, he grabbed the bottle of oil with caused Shadow to turn from his croon of concern to a trill of excitement, earning a small smile.

Madiquel didn’t press the subject when Ayontay seemed to hear her, but not answer. She wasn’t the type of friend to push for answers, especially when she could see the frown pulling Ayontay’s eyebrows together; his wordless shrug was met with a small pout, but she accepted the answer and turned to tease Clover back into the water so she could be rinsed off. When Ayontay chose to speak, Madiquel was in her own little world and startled slightly, looking up in surprise. She had been sure he wasn’t going to answer at all!

Pausing in her task and letting Clover play with Shadow in the water, Madiquel pulled her legs around so she was sitting with them crossed, her hands in her lap as she watched her friend. She was not unaware of his hesitant reluctance, so she listened silently and with her head just slightly tilted. A small smile was given at the mention of T’ryn and his bronze. She hadn’t had much to do with Ayontay’s elder sibling or his dragon since Impression, but she’d seen them from afar and heard good things about them from the weyrbrats she did still interact with. He wasn’t much older than her, but in the past four or five turns, that age difference had seemed to become unsurpassable, especially with the addition of the dragons.

Madiquel flinched at the declaration; she wasn’t usually startled by raised voices – her Papa could get pretty vocal when he was having a bad turn – but Ayontay was so soft spoken and sweet as a rule that the forceful exclamation was surprising. Madiquel pursed her lips and considered her friend thoughtfully. “You are more than ‘just’ you.” She said firmly, unconsciously falling into the role she filled when her father was having a moment and needed to be reminded how amazing he was and how much she still needed him. Leaning forward, she reached out and grabbed both of Ayontay’s hands, ignoring the way the firelizards both grumbled at the obvious delay in being oiled.

“You are a wonderful friend – the best – and you are sweet and generous and you are not a mini-Rh’ind,” Madiquel said, stumbling over the bluerider’s name. It was one she’d never gotten the hang of, so she rarely spoke it if she could get away with it. “Any dragon would be so lucky to be with you,” she said firmly, “and if it is a blue, I am sure he will be very different from Ayyonth!” At least she could say the dragon’s name without issue! “Look at the twins!” She said, falling back on the best ‘you never know-!’ that the Weyrbrats had to date. “You could be a walking-talking duplicate and you might end up on… on a brown!” she said, releasing one of Ayontay’s hands to throw up empathically.

Sitting back slightly, she gave the hand she was still holding a squeeze of reassurance and smiled slightly. “I think you’d get brown.” She said thoughtfully. “Enough responsibility to keep you occupied, but not so much to keep you in the lime light,” she poked her tongue out teasingly, knowing how much Ayontay didn’t like being the centre of attention.

Ayontay shrugged again as Madiquel scolded him for his low views on himself, though her slaughtering of R’nd’s name got a bit of a smile. Ayyonth had shown his trickster side when he gave out that name but to be fair, there wasn’t much that could be done with ‘Orwind’. Despite Madiquel’s belief that if he ended up on blue the dragon would be vastly different from Ayyonth, Ayontay actually didn’t mind his father’s dragon and thought it could be fun to have one like him. They had enjoyed a good laugh over their similar names although he was actually older than the dragon and named after a favourite relative of his mother. Sure, Ayyonth could be a bit of a handful when he was in a playful mood and enjoyed teasing R’nd – something he didn’t think he’d want his own dragon to do to him – but he was loyal and loving, which he did want.

His gaze drifted to their hands when Madiquel squeezed it for emphasis and barely managed not to shrug again in his indifference to the idea she was so excited at coming up with, even if it did have some logical elements to it. “Really? I guess so,” it was true that browns did a lot of work but didn’t have to really lead or be in the lime light, like was pointed out. That was appealing but thanks to S’kef and some other brownriders that were kind of mean and horrible to other people, brownriders as a whole had a bad reputation and Ayontay didn’t think he could handle dealing with that every day. He liked the thought of being busy and not being sought out all the time for something but didn’t want to be thought of as a jerk either.

Taking his hand back, Ayontay let the idea go and figured it was all up to destiny or whatever for the if, when, and what he Impressed, and turned his attention back to a barely still patiently waiting Shadow. He was proud of the little guy for staying quiet and not constantly nudging his hands into action so he was promised a little extra treat at morning meal the next day.

“We should finish up. I actually have an early start in the morning,” he didn’t tell Madiquel that originally, first not wanting to rush her through the party when they first got there and then not wanting to pass up the chance to hang out with her alone for a bit when she suggested bathing the firelizards. But he was getting tired and really just wanted to sleep off the dark mood that still hung over his head. Ayontay figured he’d be fine in a few days, maybe talk to T’ryn about the pressures of being R’nd’s sons and then let it go. They had the Touching coming up soon and he didn’t want to be too negative around the eggs. If he was superstitious about saying the colours out loud, he definitely worried about his mood and thoughts scaring dragonets away from him before they even hatched.

“Thank you for caring, Madi,” Ayontay barely managed to whisper the words as he kept his gaze on Shadow and the oil he was slathering on his back. Sometimes he didn’t think he deserved such a caring and amazing friend and she was proving it then but taking his whining in stride and pointing out it was okay to be him. He didn’t think he showed or told her enough that she was the best friend everyone should be lucky enough to have.

Ayontay glanced up at her, suddenly filled with a determination to tell her every amazing thing he saw in her and how much he liked her and even how he wished his first kiss went to her, but fear took hold and his gaze dropped back down to his task. Her words had been kind and sincere but he was a ‘wonderful friend’ and ‘the best’ friend, of course he thought that about Madiquel as well but what if that was all he was to her? He couldn’t take the rejection, as sweetly delivered as it was sure to be and kept the confession to himself, again.

“I guess so,” Madiquel agreed quietly, her tone not really enthusiastic. She was enjoying her time away from all the hustle and bustle of their other friends, of getting to just chat with Ayontay, and she really wasn’t looking forward to sneaking into the community room she was lodged in; she’d have to be careful not to wake anyone up, she’d have to change in the dark, and her bed would be cold. Her Papa always kept their weyr nice and warm, and Madiquel missed the open fire that she spent more time tending to than he did, but he always lit it.

Madiquel’s expression softened at Ayontay’s whispered words of gratitude, and she resisted the urge to hug him only because they were both still covered in the oil they’d been slathering on their firelizards. “Of course,” she said just as softly, giving her friend a warm smile, completely oblivious to his internal struggle. Madiquel was still innocently aligned; too childish still to think about kissing people and too naive to actually even process the thought that, someday, she would probably have sex.

Shooing Clover off her lap, Madiquel leaned over to wash her hands in the water of the bath, using a bit of soapsand to make sure all the oil was free from her skin. Once done, Madiquel got gracefully to her feet and collected on of the small hand towels that were nearby. Drying her hands, she returned to Ayontay and tossed him the cloth (which landed in his lap); she packed his items up while he took care of washing his hands. Smiling gently, she offered her own to him when he was done, and pulled her friend to his feet with a soft grunt and an amused snort.

With a start, Madiquel realised she was taller than Ayontay, and she tilted her head. How long had she been taller? Had she had a growth spurt recently? Would he always be shorter than her, now? That would be funny! Especially since his parents were both on the tall side. She giggled and stepped forward, throwing her arms around Ayontay’s neck for that hug she had wanted to give him before, only really realising how lonely she’d been a moment into the hug. She missed hugging her Papa! She stepped back slightly, and let her arms fall.

“Goodnight, Ayontay!” she said, with false cheer but a real (if small) smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” Calling quietly for Clover, Madiquel smiled at Ayontay once more, and quietly slipped out of the bathing room, making her way towards her shared quarters. She was so ready to go home, and she’d only been in Ista Weyr for a day!