Archive of Our Own ^beta

Rey stands on the outer wall, watching the incoming tide hit the cliff of Ista Weyr. She’s so tired. They have done all they could, but Padme was fading fast. The Healer was with her now, keeping her comfortable. When she dies, Rey will become Weyrwoman. 

I come, she hears Barnath’s deep voice in her mind and raises her head to watch the two large gold dragons appear from in between, then circle to land on the rim.

She slowly approaches the weary Weyrleader. A’kin has aged decades in the last few weeks and it brings tears to her eyes, even as she tries to put on a pleasant face. “How are things at Benden?”

“Lessa sends her regards and says if you need anything to have Caylith bespeak Ramoth. The mating flight will be open, however F’lar has set a limit. From Benden, only those dragons who have not had a chance at a queen can participate. I think the others will follow.” A’kin cups her cheek. “You are a good girl, Rey, and will be a phenomenal Weyrwoman.”

She nods, squeezing his hand then steps aside and lets him go to his mate. Her eyes follow A’kin all the way up to the Queen’s Weyr. “She’s waiting for him,” Rey’s voice quivers in despair. When Padme dies, her dragon will go between, never to be seen again.

K’ylo puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “You are not alone, Weyrwoman.”

Rey trembles, remembering the strength of his arms from Caylith’s last mating flight. “Neither are you, Weyrleader,” she whispers, her smile sad.

“Acting Weyrleader,” he says with a soft look, but then he catches himself and looks in the direction his grandfather went. He’s right. The new Weyrleader would be chosen by the outcome of Caylith’s next mating flight. The Weyr would look to the rider of the dragon who caught Rey’s Queen dragon for leadership from that day forward.

“Go,” she urges. “But do not forget to rest. Thread falls tomorrow.”

Months Later

Rey wakes. Her body is tight and she stretches her neck as Rose, the headwoman of the Lower Caverns, enters with a tray of food and klah.  

“Tithe train arrived late last evening,” the small woman says, handing Rey a stack of papers.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Rey looks over the list, nodding in approval. The cold months didn’t affect Ista like it did in the northern Weyrs.

“The Weyrleaders agreed to let you rest.” Rose smiles at her gently and Rey responds in kind, glad to have a friend. 

“It’s good to have A’kin back,” she admits with a smile. When Rey had been first found on search, the Weyrleaders had taken her in, like family. 

“He actually left early this morning to ride fall over Jaxom’s cove.” Rose refills her cup from the carafe. “Says the young lordling was much improved but could not ride yet.”

Rey hums and checks her charts. Fall should actually be finished at the cove by now, she wonders how long A’kin will stay…

Blood

Rey reels from the force of Baranth’s hunger and groans. “Prepare my rooms, Rose. Our bronzes are blooding their kills.” She moves quickly out to Caylith’s couch and watches her beloved queen’s restless sleep. She will wake up soon and Rey is thankful she had the opportunity to eat.

She closes her eyes. Ramoth, please inform Lessa that my bronzes are blooding their kills.

She hasn’t told anyone besides Lessa that she too can talk to any dragon in the Weyr. Although, as Weyrleader, A’kin had known. He has repeatedly told Rey that she needs to tell K’ylo. But she has never found the time. Not with Padme’s passing, Thread falls, then A’kin disappearance with Tiroth, weyrlings to train and a Weyr to manage.

“Rey,” she hears T’gen whisper, not wanting to wake the Queen before she was ready. “K’ylo assigned me to escort you to the bowl.” The wing-second was a loyal friend. 

“How many have arrived?” She is nervous. The weyr needs strong leadership and she feels selfish for wanting to follow her heart. The dragons, however, will decide.

“He told me not to answer that. Your only concern is to not lose your Queen.”

Caylith rises and is famished, moving quickly to the ledge.

“I love him,” she whispers as T’gen sets her on his brown to follow the queen to the feeding ground.

“He knows.” She drops to her feet, forcing her ravenous dragon to only blood her kills. She cannot eat her fill, if she eats, she will never fly fast enough to escape the unworthy bronzes who rise to mate her. Only the worthy would give her a good clutch.

Caylith has just taken down her third kill when the watchdragon roars, two shadows crest over the rim. She can feel the bronze riders behind her tense at the last minute arrivals, their dragons hissing in challenge.

“Stay with Caylith, Rey. I’m here,” K’ylo murmurs behind her.

Caylith snarls at the dragons on the rim as she heads back to the herd for more blood, draining the wherry quickly. Her golden hide is glowing.

Suddenly, she screams and launches herself upward.

Rey sways, caught up in need of her dragon. She knows she’s being led by the bronze riders back to her quarters to wait. She wants to shrink away from their hands, but she must focus on Caylith.

It is exhilarating, being so mentally bound to her dragon in flight. A laugh escapes her lips at how much faster they are than those lusty bronzes. They rise, fall, twist and turn to escape and she is thrilled when the first dragon falls away. 

He was not worthy.

Time does not matter. Their pursuers will not catch them. They fly fast and free as the bronzes give up one by one.

There is a shrill cry in the air, but Caylith easily ignores it until a strong neck wraps around hers.

Mine, Barnath says fiercely as he expends his wings to slow their descent.

Rey cries out in joy as her queen lands with her mate. The fire from their joining engulfs them as she’s covered, her back pressed into her bed. 

There is a crash in the room but before she can bother to look, she’s impaled and she suckles on the flesh beneath her mouth. Her nails are in his back as he pistons into her, his breath coming out in rough grunts over her.

They are still both tied to their dragons. Barnath had covered his queen well last time. Thirty-four eggs and all of them had been all healthy and strong. The bronze’s primal need driving them all.

“My Rey,” K’ylo groans in her ear. 

She clings to him, pulling away from Caylith enough to respond, “My love.”

His hand lifts her face for his mouth to devour hers, his arms tightening as he fills her in long steady spurts. She holds him close as his body trembles over her, kissing him over his jaw and down his neck.

She stiffens, looking towards the door.

“Mnementh is here,” she whispers, flipping K’ylo onto his back so she can ride.

K’ylo grabs her hips, lifting up into her. She is magnificent. His Weyrwoman.

He rises to capture her mouth and plunge them back into the ardor of their dragons, trying to push everything else out of his mind.

If Mnementh is here, it’s because F’lar is finally taking care of T’Kul, the old goat. How she knows about the Benden dragon will wait until Caylith is asleep on her bed, sated from her flight. He feels Barnath’s amusement at his inability to keep his mate focused and redoubles his efforts. His hands envelop her back as he bounces her over him. 

Her cries fill his ears and he just can’t get close enough. He thrusts his tongue over hers as she ripples around him. He really does enjoy watching her come undone.

He reaches and pours some water into a cup and lifts it to her lips. “Drink.”

He had always watched out for her. He remembers the day A’lek and K’ruk had brought her back from a search. She had been underfed and almost feral. But the moment Caylith cracked her shell, the small girl had rushed forward in delight. Impressed.

His grandmother had taken the young girl under her wing, if only to keep the pair out of trouble. They had thrived.

With his grandmother’s death, Rey had become the Weyrwoman of Ista Weyr.

Barnath’s flying of Caylith makes him the new Weyrleader.

K’ylo will not let his Weyrwoman down.

He pushes her hair out of her face, laying her back among the cushions. He slides in gently and rocks against her, kissing her face.

“The best part of coming forward four hundred years,” he says as he captures her eyes, “...was finding you.”

As the dragons’ passion retakes them, they meld once again into each other. Everything else can wait.

Tomorrow will be soon enough to face it all. 

They would do it together...

As the new Weyrleaders of Ista Weyr.