"N'lan?" came the call from the bedroom. "What are you doing? It's the middle of the night."

"I know it is, baby, I'll be back in a moment."

The young woman snuggled under the bedclothes smiled fondly to herself and patiently awaited her weyrmate's return.

The moons were high and bright and the bronzerider edging out of the door shivered as the cool, fresh night air swathed his half-naked body. Rubbing gooseflesh from his arms, N'lan closed the door silently behind him and breathed deeply.

He and Yamoth had been flying with the fighting wings for almost a turn now. It was weird. Remembering back to his weyrling days took effort, now. It seemed so long ago. But at the same time, he hardly felt like he had been a fully-fledged dragonrider for more than a month! Time was odd that way sometimes.

A breeze ruffled his hair and a stray thought about getting it cut floated through his head. Tira had cut it last time and hadn't done too bad a job. Maybe he'd ask her to trim it in the morning.

Tira. He smiled. She always made him smile like that. They'd been together since early weyrlinghood and she still made him smile. That was a very good thing.

She's not the only thing that makes you smile, is she?

"No, 'Moth," N'lan chuckled. "You know you do. You always will."

The bronze seemed satisfied with this. Tomorrow's a restday. What shall we do?

"I dunno. Weyrlake?"

Much as I love the sun and the surf, Yamoth replied, We always go to the Weyrlake. Let's go somewhere new.

"You want to go exploring?" N'lan asked, amused.

The big bronze portrayed an evilly smiling version of himself through his thoughts.

The rider laughed. "Oh, I see. You want to go searching for some mischief!"

Oh, if you want, rider mine.

N'lan shook his head. "Sounds good to me. Assuming Tira is up for it as well, of course."

Taralath assures me that her rider will be 'up for it', Yamoth relayed, speaking of Tira's green.

"I didn't doubt it for a moment."

Satisfied with the night, and starting to shiver a bit, N'lan took one last breath of deep blue sky and turned back through the door. The air inside was not as fresh, but pleasantly warm and enfolding, riddled through with familiar smells and drafts of memory. The figure under the covers breathed regularly and calmly, and N'lan took a moment just to watch her. She'd hardly changed the the turns he's known her. Cornflower blue eyes with a hint less innocence and a touch more mischief in them (he could blame himself for that, though only in the best way), sunny blonde curls longer and a little less bouncy, and silhouette with a few curves and pleasing additions to both the eye and the hand. And they were all his. Like most dragonrider couples, Tira and N'lan shared a relatively open relationship - when the mood or opportunity took them, they would gladly spend a night or more with another. But they would always, always return to one another.

Creeping quickly across the cold stone floor, N'lan paused when he reached the soft rug, then silently slipped under the covers beside her.

"N'LAN!" Tira cried unexpectedly, pulling away. "You're freezing!"

The bronzerider grimaced. "Sorry, baby." Then he smiled. "Warm me up?"

"Fiend."

"I try."