A Home Away From Home

Writers: Aaron, Estelle
Date Posted: 3rd October 2019

Characters: R'fal, K'don
Description: K'don accompanies R'fal on a visit to his family
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 12, day 4 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Y'gel

K'don

R'fal slipped down from Marlath's back where he'd landed in the Weyrbowl
and headed over to the dragonhealers' infirmary. He had asked Marlath to
find out from Maciath if his rider was free that afternoon, and had
found out that he was there, but his shift would be over soon.

Inside, he saw his friend was busy with some work, and found a quiet
place to wait, looking around with interest. He remembered the time when
he'd assisted Y'gel, while he'd been on duty with the healers. So much
had happened since then that he'd almost forgotten about it, but it was
a good memory, all the same.

When K'don's shift was over, he finally took notice of R'fal as he
returned to the common areas of the infirmary. He blushed, wondering
whether and hoping he had not made R'fal wait overlong.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you come in," he said. He had been hyperfocused
on his task. "I hope it hasn't been a million Turns since Marlath talked
to Maciath," he said. "I lose track of time sometimes..."

"That's all right," R'fal reassured him. "It's not been long, on either
count. And I know it's been busy, these last months." He didn't mention
the wing drills, or his duties, remembering how K'don had worried about
not being able to join the fighting Wings with his classmates. He'd have
found it hard, in his friend's place.

"Anyway," he went on. "You remember I promised we could fly out to my
family's cothold together, once we were allowed out of the Weyr? Well,
that's...I can't go there any more, but my Ma and little sister are all
staying at my uncle's farm and I'm visiting them this afternoon. It's
almost the same, ovines, fields, good meals, and I asked last time if I
could bring a friend and they said yes. So, if you're free, you're
welcome to come along."

K'don briefly, gently touched R'fal's arm and offered a sympathetic
wince. He wanted to hug him, but hugs could not make everything better,
not when there were such troubles to overcome.

"I'd really love to go," he said, turning his sad expression to his best
comforting smile. "I'm happy you remembered." K'don could not have
blamed R'fal if he had, indeed, forgotten.

"I wouldn't forget a promise. It took a while to work out..." He'd not
wanted to bring anyone else until his family were settled in, and even
then he'd been nervous about asking, but his uncle and aunt had been
more than happy to welcome another dragonrider to their cothold. "Do you
and Maciath need time to get ready?"

K'don's eyes widened, and he held up his hands. "I didn't mean – I mean,
of course, I'd never mean to say you wouldn't keep a promise," he said.
"It's just, a lot of stuff has happened since then. Sorry. Um. Right. We
can go now. Unless I should bring something nice for your mom? Or a toy
for your siblings, or..."

"Just bring yourself. And Maciath," R'fal said as they left the
infirmary together. "My little sister and my cousins will be more
excited about meeting him than about any toy. He is all right with
children, isn't he?" he asked. "If not, I can tell them to keep their
distance."

"Oh, no, no, he's fine! He'll love being the center of attention," said
K'don. He could not imagine Maciath disliking anyone who might marvel at
him.

"Good. Then let's go! Just tell Maciath to follow Marlath, he knows
where to go." Since Marlath already had his riding straps on, R'fal gave
the brown's eye-ridges a good scratch while they waited for K'don and
Maciath to be ready. Then he climbed up to Marlath's back and moments
later, the two young dragons leapt into the air.

When they were high enough, R'fal concentrated, visualizing his uncle's
farm. The Weyrbowl and the wide expanse of ocean below them vanished,
and three breaths later they reappeared again over a very different
landscape. They were far inland, and fields of pasture stretched away
beneath them, dotted with the small white and brown shapes of grazing
beasts. Marlath tilted his wings so they began to glide down towards the
cothold, a low, L-shaped building with a tiled roof surrounded by barns
and outbuildings.

As they descended, they could see figures gathering outside the cothold,
giving the dragons enough space to land in the clear space in front of
the main building. R'fal was out of his straps almost before Marlath had
settled to the ground, but even so he was nearly bowled over by the
group of children who came racing up to greet him.

"Marlath! It's Marlath!"

R'fal smiled indulgently as his brown lowered his head, crooning in
delight as his sister and cousins reached up to caress and scratch him.
He patted Marlath's side and walked over to join his mother and uncle,
who were waiting a bit further back.

"Ma, Uncle..." He glanced over his shoulder and beckoned to K'don. "This
is my friend K'don, rider of Maciath."

The man smiled warmly and held out a hand to the young brownrider.
"Welcome, K'don, and our duty to your dragon. We're honored to have you
visit us."

Maciath scooted closer to the children – and by extension, to Marlath –
hunkered down to the ground and wiggling back and forth so that he was
moving forward with as little possibility of stepping on a little as
possible. He, too, was here! And he was not at all jealous of the
attention Marlath was getting.

Maybe just a little.

K'don blushed and trotted after R'fal to join the adults. He shook
R'fal's uncle's hand firmly.

"The honor is mine, sir," he answered. "Thank you very much for your
hospitality. I'm glad to finally get to meet you!"

"We've heard a lot about you, and the rest of your weyrling class, in my
son's letters." Lirena was glad that R'fal had brought a friend with him
for the first time. Although he always made an effort to appear cheerful
when he visited, she'd noticed that he was thinner and wasn't as easy in
his manner as he had been before the trial. She worried about how he was
getting on at the Weyr.

"R'fal's friends are always welcome here," the man said firmly. "As are
all dragonriders. Would you like to come inside for a drink? Lunch
should be ready shortly. My wife's prepared quite a feast in honor of
your visit."

Before they could go inside, a young girl with a mop of dark curls very
like her brother's ran up to them. "R'fal! There's another dragon, just
like yours. He's watching us."

"His name is Maciath," R'fal said. "Maybe, if you ask K'don, he'll let
you scratch him too."

The girl turned to K'don, her eyes brightening. "Sir, please can we?
Will he mind?"

K'don balked at being called, 'sir'. It seemed extraordinary at his age,
dragon or no. He smiled at the girl and said,

"You can call me K'don. I'm R'fal's friend, so we can be friends, too.
And Maciath would love it if you scratched him," he chuckled. "He would
love it very much. He's Marlath's brother, you know."

The brown wiggled again with excitement.

"Excuse me the interruption, sir," said K'don to R'fal's uncle. "A drink
would be lovely, thank you. It's... It's very kind of you, all of it."
He blushed again. He suspected the feast was mostly for R'fal, but he
was honored nonetheless to be included.

With an excited giggle, the young girl rushed off to greet Maciath. She
would be the first one in the cothold to have scratched _two_ dragons.

They followed the cotholder inside to a living area, displaying all the
signs of comfortable disorder typical of a working family with young
children. The delicious scents of roasting meat and vegetables drifted
in from the kitchen beyond, from which a woman who resembled a slightly
shorter, plumper version of R'fal's mother emerged.

"Welcome! You must be K'don." She beamed at him. "What would you like to
drink? Klah? Or would you prefer a cool fruit juice?"

"Oh! Yes, ma'am, that's me," said K'don, more or less surprised at being
surprised that she knew his name. They all knew he was coming, but it
still seemed strange for strangers to know him. His stomach growled at
the scent of the cooking meal.

"Thank you!" Fruit juice was, actually, the most appealing, but K'don
decided he wanted to seem a little more adult. "Klah would be lovely,
please."

"So, K'don, my nephew tells me you're a beast healer as well as a
dragonrider." Evinder, the cotholder, gestured him to a seat near the
wide-open window, where warm sunlight spilled in and lighted the room,
while his wife went to fetch the drinks. "After lunch, we can go out and
take a look at the herd, if you'd like. We're like R'fal's family, we
raise ovines. They produce fine wool for the Weaver Hall."

K'don was ready to correct the man to say he was a dragonhealer now, but
before he had the chance, Evinder reminded K'don of the second half of
the reason R'fal had offered to invite him to visit in the first place –
meeting the beasts!

K'don's eyes and smile lit up at the mention of seeing the flock, and he
nodded as he took the seat the holder offered.

"I'd love to! Thank you."

"Not until after we've eaten," R'fal's aunt said firmly, setting down a
jug of klah and some mugs on the table. She gave her husband a
meaningful look. "I'm not having you tracking muddy boots in here after
I've just scrubbed the floor for our guests, Evinder."

"Well, I'll tell you about them first, then." The cotholder grinned
unrepentantly, filled with pride in his beasts. "We've around a hundred
usually, more now as we're just finished with lambing. You'll be able to
see the young ones, too. I bought some of a new breed a journeyman from
the Crafthall told me about, at the market up at the big hold, and
they've been working out well so far. The wool's better quality, and
there's a demand for it now that trade is picking up."

Lirena smiled as he launched into a detailed discourse on the new
beasts. "I'll help you in the kitchen, Falanna," she said to her sister.
"R'fal, you'd better set the table since I doubt we're going to be able
to drag any of the youngsters away from Marlath and Maciath for a while."

"Yes, Ma." R'fal went over to a large dresser to fetch plates and
cutlery, half listening to his uncle's speech as he did so. By the time
he was done, his mother and aunt had started to bring in the food - big
dishes filled with roasted vegetables and greens, a warm loaf of bread,
spices and sauces and a sizzling leg of lamb on a board scattered with
herbs. He was dispatched outside to call in the children, who came
reluctantly despite the feast, not wanting to leave the dragons. They
were joined by two more young men, R'fal's older cousins, both taking
care to remove dusty boots and wash their hands under the pointed gaze
of their mother, and a young woman from the kitchen, her face flushed
with the heat.

Once they were all seated, Evinder carved the roast, offering the first
cut to K'don, who was sitting beside him. "Here you are, brownrider.
Help yourself to vegetables. There's plenty for everyone."

"Oh, thank you, sir!" K'don said, still managing to be surprised to be
treated like a guest of honor and not just one of R'fal's little
friends. The meat smelled absolutely delicious. He served up a good bit
of vegetables for himself, but not so much as to seem excessive, and
then waited for everyone else to have food on their plates to begin eating.

"It's nice to meet you all," he said to the cousins, also, offering a smile.

"Glad to meet you, too," said the older of the two young men, passing a
plate down to R'fal's aunt, who'd taken her place at the opposite end of
the table. "It's good to know that our little cousin's got a friend to
look out for him."

"Hey!" R'fal pulled a face. "We all looked out for each other, in
weyrling training."

"Do you know any embarrassing stories about him, K'don?" the younger
cousin asked, grinning. "'Cause we do. We could share..."

"Boys," their mother reproved them, shaking her head as she helped
herself to tubers. "Show the dragonriders some respect, please."

The older cousin nudged his brother, who was rolling his eyes, but they
did leave off teasing R'fal. "My cousin says you're interested in seeing
the beasts?"

Last updated on the October 14th 2019

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A Home Away From Home