VIGNETTE: What Next?
Date: Month 3, Turn 25
Synopsis: K'del is restless. Cadejoth doesn't have an answer to everything, but he has a reminder.
Taikrin wasn't the only one to be finding the world increasingly... small.
Or was that it? It was hard to explain.
But K'del was twenty-two turns old (twenty three in a few months, anyway), and everything was... Well. Everything he'd ever wanted, at least in broadstrokes, he had. The dragon-- the bronze dragon, the top job, the sexy girlfriend, not one but two examples of his virility; all of it.
K'del was twenty-two turns old, and he didn't know what else he was supposed to want. What else was there?
Not that he loved his life any less; he enjoyed his work, loved being with Milani, doted on his boys, and his bronze. It just feel increasingly small, somehow, and he wondered, quietly, when he was alone, what else there was.
He'd never have admitted it to anyone else, but sometimes, just occasionally, he wished something awful would happen, so he'd have something to do. And that was awful - to even think about it. He didn't want more raiders, didn't want more problems with Crom, didn't want more meteors. But at least when things were difficult everything was challenging and new, and now this... this nothing.
It was late afternoon, and the sun was already disappearing below the distant walls of the weyr bowl. It was cold: it honestly felt like winter was going on forever, though it was only month three, which wasn't exactly late. K'del pressed one hand flat upon the icy wall, feeling the aching cold through his heavy glove. He watched as Cadejoth descended from the heights, careening into a careless landing that flung up some of the recent snowfall.
It felt good: refreshing.
<< We should go south, >> the bronze suggested, leaning in to the hand his rider offered him; K'del rubbed his nose, then his eyeridges. << Escape. For a little while. All of us. >>
He meant Milani, and the boys, and honestly, the idea had merit. But: It feels like it's just a temporary fix. Like... I can go around enjoying life as much as I like, but it's not enough somehow. It feels like nothing is, at the moment.
Cadejoth was silent, watching him with slowly whirling eyes. << Not enough? Ah, but there's always more. Everything is new; every day! >>
It doesn't feel it.
<< But it is. You just need to rediscover it. All of it. Let me help. >>
He crouched, his long, spindly body dropped low to the ground, encouraging his rider to mount. K'del hesitated-- but his bronze was insistent, so, finally, he turned for the weyr, fetching his straps, and a warmer jacket. Five minutes later, they were soaring upwards, far into the mountains.
<< Feel>
He closed his eyes; he felt. The air rushed past him, and as Cadejoth dropped, suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt his stomach lurching towards his throat. And-- just like that-- he felt it: freedom. Exhilaration.
It didn't fix things; it didn't make everything instantly better. But when they returned that evening, windblown and chilled, the tension had slid from K'del's shoulders, and he felt-- better.
For now.
Synopsis: K'del is restless. Cadejoth doesn't have an answer to everything, but he has a reminder.
Taikrin wasn't the only one to be finding the world increasingly... small.
Or was that it? It was hard to explain.
But K'del was twenty-two turns old (twenty three in a few months, anyway), and everything was... Well. Everything he'd ever wanted, at least in broadstrokes, he had. The dragon-- the bronze dragon, the top job, the sexy girlfriend, not one but two examples of his virility; all of it.
K'del was twenty-two turns old, and he didn't know what else he was supposed to want. What else was there?
Not that he loved his life any less; he enjoyed his work, loved being with Milani, doted on his boys, and his bronze. It just feel increasingly small, somehow, and he wondered, quietly, when he was alone, what else there was.
He'd never have admitted it to anyone else, but sometimes, just occasionally, he wished something awful would happen, so he'd have something to do. And that was awful - to even think about it. He didn't want more raiders, didn't want more problems with Crom, didn't want more meteors. But at least when things were difficult everything was challenging and new, and now this... this nothing.
It was late afternoon, and the sun was already disappearing below the distant walls of the weyr bowl. It was cold: it honestly felt like winter was going on forever, though it was only month three, which wasn't exactly late. K'del pressed one hand flat upon the icy wall, feeling the aching cold through his heavy glove. He watched as Cadejoth descended from the heights, careening into a careless landing that flung up some of the recent snowfall.
It felt good: refreshing.
<< We should go south, >> the bronze suggested, leaning in to the hand his rider offered him; K'del rubbed his nose, then his eyeridges. << Escape. For a little while. All of us. >>
He meant Milani, and the boys, and honestly, the idea had merit. But: It feels like it's just a temporary fix. Like... I can go around enjoying life as much as I like, but it's not enough somehow. It feels like nothing is, at the moment.
Cadejoth was silent, watching him with slowly whirling eyes. << Not enough? Ah, but there's always more. Everything is new; every day! >>
It doesn't feel it.
<< But it is. You just need to rediscover it. All of it. Let me help. >>
He crouched, his long, spindly body dropped low to the ground, encouraging his rider to mount. K'del hesitated-- but his bronze was insistent, so, finally, he turned for the weyr, fetching his straps, and a warmer jacket. Five minutes later, they were soaring upwards, far into the mountains.
<< Feel>
He closed his eyes; he felt. The air rushed past him, and as Cadejoth dropped, suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt his stomach lurching towards his throat. And-- just like that-- he felt it: freedom. Exhilaration.
It didn't fix things; it didn't make everything instantly better. But when they returned that evening, windblown and chilled, the tension had slid from K'del's shoulders, and he felt-- better.
For now.