Boundless Limits {B.Durran}

19

"That hawk is fucking pissing me off," Tierney tells Anam from where she sits next to Violet on Rhiannon's bed. Violet sits cross-legged while Tierney has her boots off and sits lengthways across the bed, her back propped against the headboard.

"I don't even know what I was thinking," Violet sounds more than a bit disappointed in herself as they watch Rhiannon pack her satchel with books for the afternoon. Violet seems to have had an eventful night, from beginning to channel to making out with their wingleader.

"Why haven't you told your squad mates yet?" Anam says and Tierney opens her mental mouth to respond when the dragon continues, "Squad mates, Little one, plural. Glane's Rider is singular one." 

Tierney clamps her mental mouth shut, reevaluating her words as she opens her physical one, "You waited ages before telling us— I do not have that kind of restraint." She does have that restraint, a lot of it actually, but they don't need to know that. Sometimes, she prefers to keep things a secret, if that's making out with the guy she's been crushing on, so be it. Rhiannon lifts the canvas strap over her head and turns, leaning back against her desk. "They have enough problems. You've just listened to Vi, right?"

Anam snorts, "That cannot be considered an issue. Tairn channelling isn't a problem and whatever issue she has with the wingleader is idiotic. She kissed him, so what? You humans are dramatic."

Tierney suppresses the urge to snort, however, her eyes flare for a brief moment of amusement. "Oh, we're dramatic now? You should've seen us when we were teenagers." A wave of annoyance filters through her, Anam's emotions she can easily decipher. "A hawk recurring in my dreams could mean absolutely nothing. Just a stupid part of my brain reminiscing and deciding to terrorize me in my sleep."

"That's not judgement." Rhiannon nods toward Tierney in agreement, unaware of the conflict in her head. "Far from it. We're all for you exploring... whatever it is you want to explore."

"I've been with Liam from the second I walked out the door this morning, and last night I was a little too discombobulated to put it into words." Violet rolls her head looking for relief from the knot in her back sprouting from her relic and the mass of training she's been doing. "Between Tairn finally channelling and then everything else, it was just a night."

"Good point." A grin shapes Rhiannon's mouth and her brown eyes sparkle. "Was it good? Tell me it was good. That man looks like he knows exactly what he's doing."

"It was just a kiss." Heat stings Violet's cheeks making Tierney laugh at her friend's embarrassment. "But yeah. he knows exactly what he's doing."

"Second thoughts?" Tierney asks, her voice rising in amusement as Violet's brows furrow as she rethinks what she's done.

"You look like maybe there are third thoughts, even," Rhiannon adds.

"No." She shakes her head. "Well, maybe? But only if it makes stuff between us weird."

"Right. Because you're stuck with him for the rest of your careers. Lives, too. Have you guys talked about what happens after he graduates?" Her eyebrows rise. "Oh, I bet you get the choice of duty stations. Wingleaders always get to pick."

"Yeah, he'll definitely get to pick," Tierney says, stretching her arms above her head as she settles back down on Rhiannon's bed, drowsiness enveloping her from last night with Ultan and talking with Imogen until she was clear from Dain. "You might want to be nicer to him though, he could make your lives a living hell by picking an outpost hours from here."

Violet grumbles at Tierney's words as she toys with an errant string on her satchel. "Wherever he goes, I'll have to follow. Tairn and Sgaeyl haven't been separated for years. Her last rider died almost fifty years ago, and as far as I know, she flew wherever she wanted to be near Tairn before Naoline— his last rider— died in Tyrrendor. It's a two-day flight to that part of our border, depending on where he's stationed, so what are we going to do next year and the year after?"