Restday

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 30th December 2014

Characters: Taine, Rayche, Pia
Description: Taine enjoys a restday rest with his family.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 28 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Tahvey

"_Now_ we're getting into it," Rayche said as she entered the rider's quarters
of the weyr to find her weyrmate stretched out on the bed, his hat and shirt
draped over the high-backed chair she had supplied for the purpose of limiting
the sprawl of his discarded clothing.

"Getting into what?" Taine asked, dragging his thoughtful gaze down from the
rocky ceiling and his mind away from contemplating where vents might be added to
the room to make the most of any slight breeze along the cliffs.

"Spring. The _warmth_. Heading for summer," she added with some relish. Taine
had been very happy with the change in climate that had come with their move
from Dragonsfall to Dolphin Cove, but they had moved in winter and Rayche had
been waiting to see how he would react to the real heat of the tropical
location. And the humidity.

"Mmm. Getting a mite hot now," he admitted with a smile. The day had heated up
faster than he expected under the overcast skies and the showery rain had just
made the heat unpleasantly damp.

It was certainly a day to enjoy the relative coolness and lower humidity of
being inside - even in the rider's quarters behind a weyr with a dragon-width
opening at one end. He was glad he had thought to get a south-facing weyr which
got little direct sunlight.

"Did the girls enjoy their swim?"

"Tahvey did. Pia's a bit washed out by the heat." The greenrider looked back
down the corridor to find her younger daughter had stopped at the top of the
stairs to lean over the balustrade and peer at something below. "Tahvey's got
'things to do' this afternoon but Pia's -" She glanced back along the corridor
to see the five-Turn-old had given up her surveillance of whatever had
interested her. "- on her way."

"I suppose I should get up then."

Rayche rolled her eyes. "She will probably be happy to join you for a
middle-of-the-day nap since it's a pastime you both seem to enjoy."

"And one at which we show considerable skill," he pointed out. "Going to join us?"

The greenrider shook her head. "I want to spend some time on my second set of
straps. This climate doesn't seem very kind to stored leather."

"Are you going to work out in the weyr?" He had built her a workbench in a
corner Tahirath agreed she could spare because he knew she liked the time spent
in her dragon's company.

"Not today." She didn't find the heat as tiresome as her younger daughter did –
and hadn't taken to the habit of napping through the hottest part of the day -
but she didn't see any point in sweating when she didn't have to.

"Are you asleep Taine?"

He waved a hand at Pia's question and she climbed up over the footboard of the
bed to bounce down beside him on her back, her feet remaining in the air while
she shed her sandals and threw them back the way she came.

Pia was a miniature of her aunts and cousins; the same round, happy face as her
mother but the shorter, stockier build that was the norm in Rayche's family. He
put an arm out as she crawled up the bed and gathered her in for a hug as she
settled against his chest.

"Since you're not asleep can you tell me a story?"

"I probably can." He glanced up to see Rayche's smile. He suspected she was
remembering when he had made a fuss about Pia's uncertain parentage, wanting to
know for _sure_ if she was his half-sister or not. It was an unanswerable
question and in the end he was a father to her, regardless of whether or not
there was a blood relationship. She was Rayche's daughter and he was Rayche's
weyrmate; it put him in a father's role and he had to admit he didn't mind that
at all.

"I'll leave you two to it."

"I thought you were coming back in here to work?"

"When I get things organised."

"You don't want to miss Taine's story," Pia protested. "Especially the end
where the bridge collapses."

The master mason tried not to grin. With all the harper tales on Pern Pia had
taken a liking to his stories for little masons. Not dragonrider heroes for
her; she preferred the Clever Little Mason character he had dreamed up in an
effort to give her older sister an understanding of what his job entailed.

Rayche might never have indicated that she wanted her daughters to follow her
example and Impress, but she did tease him about his efforts to entice her
'little dragonriders' away to masoncraft.

"I'll be back in time for the bridge collapse," the greenrider promised, pushing
open the louvred door and slipping into the dragon weyr where Tahirath dozed.

Pia sighed and momentarily snuggled in again before pushing against him and
moving across the bed. "Too hot."

"It is a bit. You'll get used to it." He hoped she would or else she would go
back to Dragonsfall to live with her aunt and cousins and there was no doubt
that he would miss her. "Are you comfortable over there? Should I start the
story?"

Pia wriggled herself around on her mother's side of the bed and then lay still.
"I'm ready. Do you know which story I want?"

"Hmm. The one that ends with the bridge collapse?" he suggested.

"Yes. It's my favourite. Don't tell it wrong, either, because I will know."

Taine smiled. She did know, and wouldn't hesitate to correct him if he deviated
from her preferred narrative, though occasionally she would interrogate him for
additional details which she would expect to be incorporated in the next
re-telling. Sometimes he wondered if he needed to start making notes.

"One day a clever little mason was going to visit his aunt's cot at the main
Hold ..."

Long before any bridges had a chance to collapse the eyelids of the
five-Turn-old and then those of the master mason had closed and the clever
little mason was abandoned to enjoy his tale however he chose.

Last updated on the January 4th 2015

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