Creaks and Heartbeats
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 23rd February 2006
Characters: Supaka, Kessel
Description: Supaka spends her last night with her husband before moving to dry land
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 10, day 7 of Turn 3
Supaka lay in her husband's arms, listening to the familiar sound of his heartbeat in one ear, and the gentle creaking of the ship in the other. They were almost synonymous. She couldn't hear the groaning of a ship at night and not think of Kessel, nor could she hear his strong heartbeat and not feel the rolling of the sea beneath them. They had lay this way literally thousands of times since their marriage eight turns before. It was almost surreal to think that those days were now numbered. Could she even be able to find her rest with no Kessel and no ship to lull her to sleep?
"We're doing the right thing... for Selka," she murmured, absently running her fingers through his chest hairs.
"So, why doesn't it feel like a right thing? I'm going to miss you both," Kessel answered with a silent voice. Kessel knew he had been blessed with the past turns. Only few seacrafters had his family on board. Most just had to do with the time they had with them when the ship was anchored in home port. "Please, Kessel. Don't talk that way," she whispered, kissing his shoulder gently, though she knew exactly how he felt. It felt like a great pit of fear and emptiness in her gut. "We'll miss you too. _I'll_ miss you, my love."
"I'll get lonely. It can take months before we see each other again,"
Kessel said ...*if ever...* the thought was there even if he didn't voice it. The captain of True Runner was well aware of the risks involved in seacraft. "Not too lonely, I hope," Supaka asked softly. A knew fear suddenly crept into the back of her mind. She knew that many sailors found solace from their solitude in the arms of others. Would Kessel get _that_ lonely?
"You know I'll always be true to you", Kessel murmured and stroked her hair, twisting strands around his fingers. She breathed out a long relieved sigh. If he said it, she believed it. He had never given her reason to doubt him before. She pressed her lips to his neck and whispered, "I'm glad to know it, my darling."
"Now, what _I_ have to worry about is those handsome dragonriders and harpers," he said teasingly and buried his face to her hair, inhaling her sweet scent. "You don't have to worry about them," she smiled as she tickeled the skin of his neck with her nose. "I think I could make them seasick."
Kessel laughed gently. "Do you think Selka will adjust to living on land? Somewhere where the ground stays still?" he asked after a moment of silence. "Yes, I think so," Supaka nodded against him. "She's young enough. She will never lose her sea legs though."
"That's a good thing. She would make a wonderful Seacrafter. Maybe when she at the age, they'll let girls become seacrafters too. Remember the old female captain from Telgar? She would be like her." "And what's wrong with a dolphineer, huh?" his wife asked teasingly running her fingernails up his side.
"Absolutely nothing. Want me to prove it?" her husband grinned. "Do your worst, Captain Kessel," she grinned as she rolled over on top of him and claimed his lips in a kiss. **Shards, I'm going to miss this man...**
Last updated on the February 23rd 2006