I Kind Sorta... Have a Son?

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 12th March 2019

Characters: Erivana, K'yne
Description: Erivana needs K'yne but he's at Dolphin Cove with J'ackt.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 9 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: J'ackt, Saidrene

K'yne

K'yne had been to check on J'ackt again, and he'd stopped by for a
visit with Saidrene too while he was at Dolphin Cove. He didn't see
his niece as much as he liked but tried to stop in and visit with her
when he could.

When he and Arinoth came out over Dragonsfall it was with some relief.
The heat at Dolphin Cove had been almost unbearable, especially since
K'yne had become so accustomed to the cold.

They had only been in the air for a moment when Arinoth said, }:Seryth
says that her rider has been asking for you.:{

**Tell her we're on our way,** the brownrider instructed.

Seryth had picked up on her rider's intense distress and had tried
Arinoth, but he and his rider was gone. Now Arinoth was back and the
green was happy about it.

Erivana had not had drills that day, which was good, because she'd
spent all morning curled miserably around a bucket. She'd woken up,
thrown up, eaten a small breakfast, and then thrown up again, until
all she was doing was gagging up clear liquid. She'd drunk through the
water she had and dumped some on a towel to wrap around her head. She
wanted someone to come comfort her but she was stubbornly resisting
calling her mother in, and other than maybe Lanniya, who she didn't
want the younger girl to see her like this, she didn't know who to
call.

Arinoth landed on the green's ledge. K'yne didn't even bother going to
his weyr first but when straight to Erivana's. It only took a couple
of steps to enter her small weyr and he winced when he found her
curled up with the bucket.

"Erivana," he stooped down where she was. "Seryth called Arinoth. Are
you okay? Can I get you something?"

"Water?" she said, a little plaintively. Her voice was hoarse and her
throat sore.

He turned around in the tiny space and looked for the water pitcher,
only to find it empty when he grabbed it. "Hey, I have water, tea, and
things in my weyr. What if we went there? My couch is pretty
comfortable too," he knelt beside of her, "especially compared to the
floor."

She licked her lips and looked down again into the bucket. "I don't
want to throw up on your stuff."

"It won't be the first time, or the last. Come on, you need water, and
maybe some tea, and I can't do that here."

"Okay," she said, standing up slowly. She felt a little dizzy. "I'm
really sorry, if Seryth was bothering Arinoth. We just didn't know who
to reach out to."

K'yne took her by the hand and led her out to where Arinoth waited,
"It's not a bother. Call us any time. I'm sorry we didn't get here
sooner, I was at Dolphin Cove."

She tilted her head. "Dolphin Cove?"

"Yeah, my son lives there. He sustained an injury almost a fortnight
ago," he explained as he helped her to Arinoth's neckridge.

Erivana stumbled right before she began to climb. "Your. What?"

The brownrider's hands reached out to Erivana's hips instinctively to
keep her from falling. "Are you okay?" he asked, mistaking her stumble
for dizziness.

"I just need a second." With both feet on the ground. "You have a son?
I thought you didn't have children..."

K'yne tilted his head to the side, had he said that? "It's
complicated," he replied, thinking the entire tale of finding out he
was J'ackt's father was a lengthy one. "I can tell you about it,
although preferably not when we're freezing our tails off on your
ledge," he flashed her a smile.

She breathed in the chilly air and wondered how it was making her feel
better than being inside her weyr was. Perversity, maybe? And then she
nodded. "Yeah." she said, letting him help her up as she did feel a
little wobbly for other reasons.

As Arinoth flew them over to his ledge, K'yne realized that he
probably should have told Erivana about J'ackt back when they had
first discussed keeping the baby. He just wasn't used to thinking of
J'ackt in that way, nor did it come to his tongue easily to call the
bronzerider 'son.' It had only really just become more real with the
time he'd spent with J'ackt during his recovery.

"I'll get you some water and a bucket," K'yne said after he and
Erivana had left Arinoth's neckridge and stepped into his weyr.

She stepped to the promised couch and settled down. "Thank you."

The brownrider made quick work of wrapping a blanket around Erivana,
tucking a bucket under her arm, and setting a tea pot on the warmer to
steep.

"Here's some water," he said bringing over a cup full.

She took a sip of it and it was cold in her mouth and it was a good
relief from the bile. "Thanks for the blanket," she said.

K'yne came back and sat in front of her, thinking her color did look a
bit better since they'd had some fresh air on the ride over. "Can I
get you anything else?"

She kind of half-shrugged, it was all she had the energy for. "Just
talk to me, a little? It was really quiet and lonely."

"I'm sorry," he apologized again. "I found out some months back that I
had fathered a child that I never knew about. He's nineteen and lives
at Dolphin Cove. A bronzerider," there was a tiny hint of pride in his
voice. "He was injured very gravely at the end of the month. I've been
visiting him while he's recovering."

Her eyes widened. "Wow, I'm sorry to hear he was hurt..."

"I never mentioned him before because for forty-two years of my life I
didn't have any children, and then suddenly one day," he snapped his
fingers, "I'm a father. I guess I'm still getting used to even calling
him my son or really mentioning him to people."

Forty-two Turns... Erivana was quiet again because she was remembering
suddenly, starkly, that she was half his age. If she'd planned this,
which she hadn't...in her vague thoughts pre-Impression about having
children, she'd always thought it would have been with someone she was
in love with, someone who was close to her in age. K'yne was older
than her, old enough to be _her_ father, and different from her in
rank and authority and experience. But thanks to her own
inattentiveness and their dragons, she was carrying his child. She did
_want_ the child, they'd agreed to it... but she hadn't realized just
how different they were.

And she shouldn't be rude and stay so silent. "I imagine it must be
odd for men," she finally said. "Women know when they're pregnant,
even if they don't know who the father is. You could have dozens of
children and not be sure, if the mother doesn't tell you, if she
doesn't know. It seems unfair."

"That's true," K'yne admitted. "I've had that thought many times. What
if I'd fathered children before in flights and no one had told me."
The brownrider lifted his shoulders. "That's just the way it is,
unfortunately."

She reached out to take his hand. "I'm glad I told you so it wouldn't
be a surprise. I couldn't imagine anyone not telling someone."

The brownrider enveloped her much smaller hand between his. "And I am
very grateful to you for that."

"We're in this together," she said. She was going to say more to him,
but another sudden attack of stomach pain hit her and she doubled over
the bucket, spitting up clear liquid - maybe the water she'd just had? -
and making a face. It did help, to be here on his couch witht he
bucket, with a blanket, instead of on a cold stone floor.

K'yne tried to be helpful and hold her hair back out of the way. "I think the tea's ready if you want to give that a try."

She appreciated that gesture. "I would. Thank you."

She breathed out a sigh, glad that she had let him talk her into coming over to his weyr. K'yne was an interesting man, forbidding from afar, but compassionate right now. That he tried to engage with his child now that he knew he had a son, that he wanted to be involved with her pregnancy, both spoke highly of him. If she was going to be going through with this, well, he was certainly a good option to be with.

Last updated on the March 22nd 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

I Kind Sorta... Have a Son?