Boundless Limits {B.Durran}

12

Celebrating after Threshing doesn't involve alcohol, rather, company is the only way they can party. Surviving threshing only ensures that Tierney takes up Ridoc's offer he made the first time they met.

Tierney wakes to her bed shifting in the morning, accompanied by small spurts of pain raging across her body. From her split lip to a gash on her arm, aching pain catches her limbs from riding her dragon for the first time, no matter how short of a time it was.

'The best way to get over pain is to put yourself through more,' she thinks gingerly as she slowly rises, rubbing a hand over her face before moving it through her hair. Tierney's gaze draws up from the sheets crumpling at her torso and to her private dorm room.

One of the more normal perks of bonding is that the new first-year riders are permitted into private dormitory rooms, while the unbonded stay in the barracks. It almost feels odd to have such privacy after months of having no space away from prying eyes.

The man beside her shifts, drawing her attention to Ridoc as he gives her a sleepy smile. "Are you a morning person or something, Tier?" he questions, his voice hoarse and deeper than usual.

"Fuck no," she responds with a shake of her head and her eyes land on the brown relic on Ridoc's upper arm, proof that yesterday wasn't a dream if the pain wasn't enough. Her lips form a tight line as she draws her head back, eyes glancing over the tip of Anam's morningstartail sneaking under her ribs and then to the wing tip appearing on her shoulder.

A reminder that they're no longer normal by any means, however, dreaming and believing they can survive a full three years in this quadrant hardly made them normal to begin with.

A soft touch runs over her back and she shivers from the contact, "I still can't get over how big your relic is," Ridoc comments, tracing the dragon relic's spine. He doesn't dare to brush her hair away from the base of her neck to look at her Valkorin tattoo after getting hit for trying to look at it last night.

"I'm just as surprised at how large it is," Tierney murmurs as Ridoc gets up from her bed to get ready to leave before the bells ring for breakfast and morning formation is called. She raises a hand to finger her bandage wrapping Anam's wound and barely winces at the pain shooting up her arm.

"I woke up to Aotrom in my head," Ridoc tells her, tapping his temple as he gathers his shirt, already half-dressed, "He freaked me the fuck out." He immediately frowns after saying this as Tierney can tell Aotrom isn't too happy about his words. 

"I haven't heard Anam since last night," she admits as she flops back down on her bed and digs the palms of her hands into her eyes. A rippling sense of strong emotion wafts over her, no doubt from Anam.

Dragons amplify their rider's emotions through their bond, it's rather hard to initially differentiate one's dragon's feelings from their own. However, Tierney cannot tell what emotion is coming through the bond, it feels numbed to a sense but it's still felt.

"Really?" Ridoc inquires, furrowing his brow as he pulls his shirt over his head, watching Tierney's jaw tense. "She hasn't spoken to you, at all?"

Tierney shakes her head as she sits back up and reaches for her tunic at the end of her bed, slipping it over her head she says, "I'm surprised but there's no reason to be worried about it. I have a relic, I have her mark, I'm her bonded." Despite her confidence, she wavers when reaching out for her dragon, "Morning, Anam."

"Such confidence," he teases as he fixes his hair in the mirror before heading for the door. With a wink, he lays his hand on the door handle, "Last night was great, I'll see you soon, Tier."

The woman laughs at him and grins making his smile widen. "Bye, Ridoc," she gives him a little wave as he leaves the room, smiling and as the door closes behind him, muffled voices come from the other side of the room.