Wingwoman [D'hys]

There were people out there that didn’t think much of her intelligence but she was smart and observant, honest! Rhaedalyn knew when a friend needed her especially and the previous night at the Hatching Feast was proof that V’zire needed her. He needed her like the wings needed each rider. She was his Wingwoman! Besides, she had been the one not too long ago encouraging V’zire to go for the bluerider that kept hanging around him so it was only right that she now find out D’hys’ intentions with her sweet friend. He wasn’t at all her type – okay, he had the required height but that was about it – since he was too muscular and while she could admit she saw why people found him attractive, that just wasn’t the face that matched her dream man. His best friend, on the other hand, was another story entirely. Maybe she could work in some conversation about Z’ia after making sure V’zire was in good hands?

As luck would have it, she was returning some plates to the Dining Hall when she spotted the bluerider with a new bottle of ale he must have just received from a kitchen worker or a friend. Either way, she had to hurry before he left on his pretty blue and she had to track him down another day. Nearly tossing the dishes on the counter, Rhaedalyn ran back across the Hall and slowed just before coming up on D’hys. With two deep breaths she skipped her way around in front of him and smiled sweetly, hands clasped behind her back. “D’hys? Do you have a moment? I promise it won’t take long.” She hadn’t had a chance to think about what she wanted to say or how to word it but Rhaedalyn was glad she managed to ask for some of his time without tripping over her tongue. It probably helped that he was so tall she could easily just stare at his chest and not get distracted by those girly eyes of his.

Zeianth, who is this girl? D’hys eyed the bouncy little thing before him both with a hint of curiosity and annoyance. He had plans to get to but her mannerisms reminded him slightly of someone. Z’ia. They both seemed to like having a bounce in their step and when they were standing still and this girl was also short with a mass of curly hair. She was cute as well but given how he hadn’t noticed her before she was likely a Candidate. Correct. She’s one of the special little girls those in charge of the segregation thinks will be suitable for gold. Rhaedalyn. Zeianth had brushed lightly against the girl’s unguarded and easily read thoughts and shook his head at how trusting and hopeful such a creature could be. No doubt she was a prime target for a gold dragonet.

D’hys regarded her quietly for a moment longer, convinced now that the girl was about to confess her attraction to him. Why else would she be so eager to talk to him and promising it wouldn’t take long? He had received his fair share of such sappy moments over the turns and when he was in a good mood, he actually let the person get all the way through the confession – it was nice to hear such flattery anyway. It also helped pinpoint who else would be fun to have around on a boring night that needed someone beneath him to make it a bit more exciting. Despite the few similarities in mannerisms with Z’ia, D’hys doubted the girl would be nearly as fun as his friend. In fact, she looked downright virginal, though if the gossip was correct, she wasn’t anymore thanks to B’jin’s way of teaching Candidates.

“Sure. What do you need, Rhaedalyn?” He always liked throwing names out when it seemed like it would throw the other person off guard and since they hadn’t spoken before and she seemed the shy type, it would have been obvious that he shouldn’t know her name.

Hazel eyes nearly exploded out of her head when D’hys spoke her name. How did he know her? Did V’zire talk about her and had pointed her out before? No, he would only do that if he wanted to invite her over to a conversation. V’zire liked to gossip but it was with her, not about her. Oh, right. A dragon. D’hys likely asked his blue to find out who he was standing in front of but when she chanced glancing up at his face, she found she couldn’t read anything, not even a trace of amusement or annoyance. Did the dragon give him a heads up about what she wanted to talk about or was he polite enough to only find her name and leave? Are you still poking about, dragon? She felt foolish for asking and wasn’t even sure she was doing it right since she only really talked with Niskziath and did so aloud. When no reply came, Rhaedalyn opted to go with she had done it right but her mind was all hers again.

“Um… it’s about V’zire.” Having kept her gaze on D’hys’ face, she saw the ever so slight twitch of an eyebrow. That had to be a sign of shock! It could have been amusement as well. Who knew? She was tired already of trying to read him and she hadn’t even gotten to asking him any questions! Her head was going to hurt later. “You see, he’s my best friend and I want what’s best for him and for him to be happy.” She worried her lower lip as she thought about how best to proceed. So far, she wasn’t rambling too much or stuttering, so that was a good start. She could keep this up!

Getting up on her tippy toes, Rhaedalyn tried to get in close to D’hys to show how serious she was about her grilling of him but still came up too short to have much of an impact. Trying not to pout, she continued anyway, “are you the one who will make him happy?” She hoped so! She had seen them interact quite a bit leading up to the Hatching and at the Feast there seemed to be some nice chemistry there. Could D’hys be the man needed to kick R’ore out of V’zire’s life?

He hadn’t been expecting V’zire to be the topic of the girl’s choice but there it was. You could have told me this was his playmate. D’hys chided Zeianth lightly who snorted and gave the impression of what felt entirely too much like a mental shrug. Do you need me to hold your hand through every conversation with women now? D’hys gave a mental chuckle at the idea that he’d ever need assistance in talking with a woman or anyone. In fact, this was probably the perfect opening he didn’t really need but would take advantage of all the same. She would most certainly be reporting back to V’zire after their talk and if he could win her over, she’d make sure their mutual greenriding connection stayed in his pocket.

“Why don’t we have a seat, my lady?” D’hys indicated an empty stretch of table that didn’t have anyone else sitting in the vicinity and grabbed a seat on one side of the table and waited for Rhaedalyn to slide onto the bench opposite him. He was tempted to purposely delay in giving an answer, make it seem like he was considering her question, but that wouldn’t work in this case. It was a pretty easy question that didn’t need so much pondering over even if his feelings had been true to the core.

“I’d like to think I’m the one who will make V’zire happy. I really enjoy being with him and I thought we were having fun together.” D’hys frowned, pretending a horrible thought just hit him. “Has V’zire said anything? I know you want him happy but is he unhappy with me? He’s not having fun?” D’hys already knew the answers to all of his questions but wanted to see how the girl would handle it. He doubted she had actually spoken with V’zire about last night so he knew how the greenrider felt more than she did.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to imply you were making him miserable or anything like that,” Rhaedalyn felt so bad for making such a handsome and kind man frown! She could tell already that D’hys did care about V’zire on some level if he worried about such things. No doubt he would remove himself from V’zire’s life if he thought he made the friendly greenrider sad even once. She felt so horrible! “I only wanted to make sure you weren’t a jerk like R’ore. I mean, maybe he’s nice, I never really get to speak with him since he’s only ever really with V’zire during Niskziath’s flights and that would be a bit awkward to be around for, wouldn’t it? But R’ore has a mate so it’s just not fair to V’zire!” She took a deep breath when her lungs were devoid of air and Rhaedalyn gave a shy nervous laugh at realising she had been rambling and quickly looked down at her hands that were folded neatly atop the table.

She stared at them a moment longer, wiggling both index fingers several times before finally looking up. “He deserves the best, D’hys. I want to believe you are. You certainly couldn’t be worse than R’ore. But V’zire seems happier, especially last night when he was near you – not that I was creeping on you guys! I was in that area a lot myself for dancing and couldn’t help noticing his smile.” She looked at her hands again and slowly pulled them from the table top to her lap and biting her lip, stared D’hys right in his pretty grey eyes.

“Tell me you’ll keep making him smile like that!” Rhaedalyn was a hopeless romantic and while she waited for her prince to notice her, she wanted to make sure V’zire didn’t miss his either and ended up getting passionately attached to the idea which was heard in her plea. D’hys couldn’t truly be a heartbreaker, could he? Just because he was a bluerider didn’t mean he was as horribly shallow and in need of jumping into every bed as so many others right? He was best friends with Z’ia and that was a bluerider that was sweet and friendly.

This was one odd girl. Passionate, he’d give her that, but still odd. He supposed it was refreshing to see someone care about another so much with such innocence but D’hys wasn’t really the sort to get into that and ignored that thought as quickly as it came to him. “Rhaedalyn, I would love for all of that to happen, I truly do. I like V’zire and I agree. The relationship with R’ore isn’t healthy for him. But in the end, it’s all up to V’zire. I’m not going to push him into being with me. After last night, I think we’re moving along well and we might get our wish but I’m going to be optimistically cautious, okay?” No doubt the girl would run to V’zire as soon as she could to work on him and beg him to give that kind bluerider a chance. She was going to make things so much easier!

It wasn’t that D’hys was getting bored or didn’t like the challenge but he also wasn’t afraid to use the pawns around him when needed. Rhaedalyn had willingly approached him and added herself to the game and while she thought she was helping V’zire, all she was doing was bringing him to an end he never would have wanted if he knew the truth from the start. Poor little greenrider. D’hys would admit to seeing the appeal of V’zire though. He wasn’t exactly a chore to be around but that may have just been the end goal keeping him fresh and encouraged every time they met up. For people like R’nd and Rhaedalyn though, it was obvious why they all got along so well. “I promise you, Rhaedalyn, I do want a relationship with V’zire. He’s special to me.” A special sort of prize.

Rhaedalyn smiled with relief and then with pure joy at hearing D’hys confess to how much he wanted to be with V’zire. That’s what she wanted to hear! V’zire was special to her as well and hearing that he meant something to a man that seemed like he would take good care of him made Rhaedalyn infinitely happy and cling to hope that her dream man would confess to her one day soon as well. How would he do it? She imagined Z’ia would be laughing and full of life as always and break away from his friends to come over to see her. They’d get along instantly and it’d be love at first sight! She sighed happily before remembering she wasn’t alone and hoped D’hys took the sigh being given over V’zire and him.

“Thank you for being honest with me, D’hys. I hope you can help him break away from the hold he’s allowed R’ore to have on him and make him live fully with the right man.” She was so glad D’hys turned out to be as wonderful as she pegged him as a while ago when she cornered V’zire about the budding friendship. She had an eye for such things after all! Now, speaking of that, would it be okay to ask about Z’ia? Maybe she could find out about his love life and if he had a R’ore of his own she hadn’t heard about.

Unfortunately her blue firelizard popped into existence between the two of them, chittering loudly at her. “Muffin!” Behind Muffin she saw D’hys jump a little but took it for the shock of the firelizard appearing so suddenly since he startled her as well. “I told you to wait in the room. I wouldn’t be long.” He continued to chide her, landing on the table to stare up at her, his discontent at being left alone clear. “I was talking with D’hys. He’s V’zire’s boyfriend! Now, come here.” Muffin turned to check out D’hys, noting him for the first time. They regarded each other for a moment before the blue lost interest and hopped over to Rhaedalyn. She picked him up and held him to her chest like a doll which was her favourite way of carrying the little guy. Muffin was learning to accept it since he got a lot of pets out of it.

At the appearance of a firelizard, D’hys figured it was time to end the conversation. The little bastards were hard to stay away from entirely, especially with Plague always close by to Z’ia but if he had the chance, D’hys always steered clear of the other ones. The fact that this one was upset didn’t help in making him want to stay. He wasn’t even sure how much control over the thing the girl had either though it seemed like she must have had at least a little with the way this so-called Muffin looked at him before going to the girl and snuggling up close. In a way, he wasn’t at all surprised she had a spastic firelizard that seemed to cause her a bit of grief. After all, she was a bit spastic and no doubt had the same reaction on people around her as well.

“If you don’t mind, I better get going. Looks like your little guy there wants you to head home as well. Thanks for approaching me, Rhaedalyn. It’s nice to know V’zire has a friend that cares about him so much. Take care.” If it wasn’t for the firelizard and the suspicion the girl would talk his ear off, D’hys would have kept up the act of caring about her by offering to walk her home but he had reached his limit for the night. Muffin wasn’t nearly as unsettling as Plague but it was still enough to send him on his way all the same.

Before she could find a way to call him back into the conversation, D’hys’ long legs were carrying him out of the Hall and towards Zeianth. That was an interesting yet beneficial encounter. D’hys shrugged as he mounted the dragon. It was but he would have continued on the path of success without her assistance. A bit painful as well. I pity the poor man she ends up with.