Time With The Folks

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 19th February 2015

Characters: Corran, K'ran, Neja, Serra
Description: K'ran has a present for his brother, and visits with his family.
Location: Amber Hills Hold, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 11, day 7 of Turn 7

K'ran

K'ran finished strapping himself in and urged Rogueth to take to the
sky. He'd been looking forward to visiting his family all sevenday.
Watching the weyrlings drill and figuring out which ones he'd want for
his wing had been interested, but he needed some time to not think
about the risks of Thread, and going home worked for that.

They lifted into the air and gained height above Dragonsfall. K'ran
took a moment to wave goodbye to the watch-pair before giving Rogueth
the visual of Amber Hills Hold. They blinked /between/ and came back
out about the Hold. Rogueth spiraled for a landing and K'ran scanned
the area, looking at the people who had accumulated to watch the
dragon land. Sure enough, there was his twin, waiting on the grounds.
As soon as the bronze was down he was walking over, shrugging into his
jacket along the way.

Rogueth hunched down to the ground and K'ran slid off. "Before we go,
I have something for you," he said.

"What is it?" Corran asked, surprised.

K'ran handed a wrapped package to his brother. The guard took it,
surprised by its warmth. "It's hot."

"Firelizard egg in a pot," K'ran explained. "I thought maybe it'd be a
taste of being what a dragonrider is like. Do you want it?"

Corran hadn't considered getting a firelizard since he was a child,
but he found he liked the idea. "I do like it. What's it going to be?"

"No idea," K'ran said. "But you might want to go put it in your
quarters. I don't want to keep taking it /between/, even if it is in a
nice shell. You should keep the sand warm. It should be another
sevenday till hatching."

The guard hugged his brother, then headed off to go stow it in the barracks.

Once he was back, K'ran was already mounted. He reached down a hand to
help Corran mount. The guard scrambled up onto the bronze's back and
began to strap himself in.

"Ready to go," Corran answered when he was done.

As soon as the words were uttered, Rogueth was leaping into the sky
and gaining altitude rapidly. Corran whooped at the thrill of the
speedy ascent. K'ran ignored his brother pictured the cothold in
Amethyst Cliff territory and they disappeared /between/ for four
breaths, then came back out above the little home where they'd grown
up. The bronze dove rapidly, eliciting another yell of glee from the
guard before the bronze pulled out of the dive and carefully settled
on the ground.

The brothers dismounted and walked over to the cot.

"That's such a thrill," Corran commented as he pulled off his cap.

"The blues and greens do better," K'ran reminded him.

"They're lucky in their own way, then."

"I know some who'd probably thinking it was amusing to make some marks
by giving thrill rides to bored holders with nothing more exciting in
their lives."

"You wound me," Corran said, pressing a hand to his heart in mock
distress as he knocked on the door.

Serra, the woman who had raised them as her own, opened it and met
them with a warm smile. "It's so good to see you both. How have you
been?"

"Well, as always," K'ran answered. "And yourselves?"

"We've been fine," Neja said from the couch, lifting his hand in a
wave. His cane was leaning prominently next to it, a sign of the
greater infirmity he'd been dealing with recently. It explained why he
wasn't getting up to meet them.

"I'll make you some tea," Serra said as they took off their jackets
and hung them by the door. "Was the trip over well?"

"It was exciting as always," Corran answered.

"If you'd gone and stood..."

"I like life on the ground, most of the time. I don't ride runners
every day, but I enjoy it when I do," the guard pointed out.

"You have the build for a jockey," Serra commented as she brought the
tea in and set it down on the table, passing cups and sweetener
around. "I don't know why you didn't pursue it."

"Because serving people is more important," the three men chorused at once.

She smiled as the men gave the answer she knew they would. "I don't
know how I raised such dutiful boys, but I'm glad I did."

"How's the wing been?" Neja asked.

"Pretty good. We did some rope drills with the weyrlings," K'ran
answered. "I've got a few I'd like to request for my own wing when the
time comes."

"How does it feel getting to pick who will fly with you?"

"More stressful than I realized. I have to find someone with good
flying skills, but also make sure they'll mesh with the rest of the
wing's style. Put complimentary flying types by each other so I don't
get two showoffs fouling each other and missing the important things."

Corran nodded. "Would you pair a stable type with the showoff?"

"It's a good mix. Especially with a cocky young brown or bronze,
giving them a stable blue pair as cover."

"Sounds like us," Corran said with a laugh.

"Got any candidates in mind yet?"

"A couple greenriders and one bluerider. I find their maneuverability
an asset for the mid-level flight," K'ran said.

"Do you miss not going to that new Weyr?" Serra asked. With her son's
penchant for wanderlust, she'd been surprised when he came home to
tell them he'd accepted the Wingleadership at Dragonsfall. He had
never seemed to stay in a single Weyr for long.

"A little. It was an exciting opportunity, after all. To be the
founders of a new Weyr? It's leaving your mark on a place in the way
taking over an existing position in an existing Weyr doesn't. Think of
the people who found new major Holds." There was a tinge in K'ran's
voice as he spoke.

"But you stayed."

K'ran nodded. "So many others were going that it seemed like all the
important people were going to go, and it didn't seem right to just
pull up stakes and leave holes. What would happen to the land we
protect if half the Wings moved at once?"

"Responsibility's a heavy chain, my boy," said Neja.

"And if you leave now that you've taken on a leadership role, would
you get it again if you traveled?" Corran knew that some of the
Amethyst Hills people had never quite regained their former ranks,
even if they were just as qualified as Amber Hills people in his eyes.
People tended to prefer known quantities, and leaving once you'd got a
rank was suspicious. It was unfair, but what could you do?

"It worked out for some of the others," K'ran protested.

Serra changed the conversation topic, sensing the potential for the
conversation to go bad. "You'll never guess what I made for dinner..."

Last updated on the February 20th 2015

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Time With The Folks