Welcome Intruder

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 1st February 2019

Characters: K'yne, J'ackt
Description: J'ackt finds an intruder at his mother's grave.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 15 of Turn 9

K'yne

J'ackt

}: Another is here. :{ ZIth announced immediately as he emerged from
/between/. The bronze circled overhead, peering down at the brown near
the copse of trees.

J'ackt's frowned from behind his goggles, expecting Timassa perhaps,
but seeing the much larger brown, paused. **Who?**

}: None from our Weyr. :{ Zith considered the brown as he landed
nearby, peering at him intently.

J'ackt didn't wait for Zith to settle; he dismounted and pulled his
helmet off as his feet touched the ground, his face set at the
perceived disturbance of his mother's resting place. He searched and
then found the blonde man who was near and stilled. It was the last
man he had expected to find here.

}:A bronze from Dolphin Cove lands. Your hatchling, perhaps?:{ Arinoth
had informed K'yne, who had just been walking away from the line of
trees. The wind had already been strong, but the landing of the bronze
flattened the tall grasses nearby.

K'yne had really hoped to visit Ocktima's grave undisturbed, to say
his goodbyes, and leave. He wouldn't run away now as if he hadn't been
there.

"I was just leaving," he said, not wanting to get into it with J'ackt.

The muscles along J'ackt's jaw twitched. He didn't know how K'yne had
found the grave, but he could guess. He shifted the helmet to be
tucked under his other arm as he studied K'yne with a guarded
expression. He honestly didn't know what to say to the man, so he
studied his face, taking in the tired expression on it. "I didn't
think you'd ever come here."

K'yne tilted his head, expression nearly mirroring the one on his
son's face. "Why wouldn't I? I would have come sooner but I didn't
know the location until today."

"Just didn't expect it." J'ackt gave a slight shrug and continued to
study the man across from him. He didn't look at his reflection often,
but he could see why other's mentioned that they looked similar.
"Why?"

"I never got to say goodbye." K'yne said simply, seeing no reason to
deny why he was there. He knew that J'ackt held him to some blame for
not being apart of Ocktima's life, for not stopping what had happened.

J'ackt fell silent for a moment before gesturing with his chin towards
the scrubby, ill-kept mound on the other side of the clearing. "His
grave is over there if you want to piss on it."

K'yne lifted his shoulders, "Doesn't matter now. I should have put my
hands on him when it counted."

That brought a snort and a similar roll of his own shoulders. "Why
didn't you?" The question wasn't a barb or asked with anger. J'ackt
didn't know if K'yne had known Jenasom well, or just in passing. All
he knew was that the man knew how to use his fists and a sword, so if
K'yne had come at him, the results may not have been to K'yne's
liking.

"Because your mother asked me not to, and mistakenly, I listened to
her." If time could be turned back, K'yne would go back to that night
under the moon and throttle Jenasom with his bare hands if he had to,
or better yet, carry him screaming /between/ and drop him off into the
black void.

"He would have killed you, rider or not." The words were flat. "She
saved your hide." He shifted on his feet, exhaling sharply through his
nose.

"I doubt it." K'yne said, in nearly the same tone of voice. "But I
figure she meant well, in some way."

J'ackt didn't. But, he had known Jenasom far better. It was odd, for
while he didn't care if the man's grave as pissed on, he'd known the
man as his father for so long, it was hard accepting that he wasn't.
"Yeah. I guess she did." He exhaled again. "She died cause of me, you
know."

"What do you mean?" K'yne asked.

"Protecting me from him." He tilted his head. "Like she protected you."

The words set K'yne's teeth on edge. He hadn't needed protecting from
the likes of Jenasom. He knew that J'ackt saw the bastard through the
lens of childhood, when adults seemed larger, all powerful, but K'yne
had seen him as the cowardly, tunnelsnake that he was, even back then.

"Yeah, well, that doesn't surprise me. She could be the most stubborn
person on the planet, when she wanted. Never wanted to accept help,
had to do it herself." He glanced at J'ackt, thinking his mother had
passed a lot of that on to him.

"Don't really know that about her. Don't remember seeing her around
anyone but him, really." His lips thinned slightly. "She never told me
about herself. Didn't even know she wasn't from Emerald Falls until
L'pin found out. She didn't talk much."

"After she lost Marloth she didn't really like talking about her
family, or past, it seemed. I guess it all sort of circled back to
those things reminding her of what she'd lost." K'yne wished he had
answers for why Ocktima had done things the way she had but all he
could do was guess.

J'ackt fell silent, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at
his mother's grave. There were so many questions flitting about his
brain that he wanted answered. But was this the person to answer him?
He could always ask Timassa. And there was still a simmering pit of
anger and resentment locked into his stomach that he didn't even know
where to start. "How long did you know her?"

"I knew Ocktima from the time we were weyrbrats. We didn't really
start to get to know one another until Arinoth won her flight for the
first time. We spent a lot of time together after that, until she left
the Weyr." He wished he could go back /between/ times to change her
decision to leave the Weyr, or even to go back to that night under the
moon. He could just take her from there and bring her forward... but
that was forbidden and he only knew about the possibilities from when
he'd been a Wingsecond to a loud mouthed bronzerider at Far Island.

J'ackt studied him for a long moment, then grunted softly as he
studied the man across from him. "She should have told me about you."

"I wish she had, but it might have gotten her in trouble with him," he
tilted his head toward the other grave.

J'ackt snorted. "He knew. He knew I wasn't his son. I didn't."

"Well, you know now, about me, about Timassa, and your grandmother." K'yne said.

"And I don't know if that makes me feel better." J'ackt replied
bluntly. "None of you really know me."

"You're right, we don't," K'yne agreed, "but I'd like to."

J'ackt just looked at him for a long moment. "I'm still fecking
furious at you. All of you." His lips thinned. "So, not now. Maybe
when I'm not so angry." If he ever was. "Maybe then. But not right
now." He turned and mounted Zith, who stood patient. From his seat, he
looked down at K'yne. "Come here any time you want." He gave a brief
curt nod, and at a mental prod, Zith leaped into the air.

**Well, it's a start,** K'yne thought as he watched his son leave.

Last updated on the February 26th 2019

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