Meet the Parents

Writers: Emma, Heather, Suzee
Date Posted: 20th September 2019

Characters: Ranni, R'nar, Cyradis, K'deren, Kielya
Description: R'nar brings Ranni to dinner to meet his family.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 7 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Xeledrie; Bryvin; Clovente; K'don

Ranni

Cyradis

K'deren

Kielya

Ranni was not sure at all why this "dinner" was necessary but R'nar
had insisted that it was. Apparently, the Weyrwoman wanted to meet
her, since she was going to be the mother of Cyradis' grandchild.
Ranni was not sure what that had to do with anything but she also was
not stupid enough to disobey the very person who could make her leave
Dolphin Cove.

As they walked, R'nar cast a sideways glance at the Weyrling, noting
the tense set of her mouth and the stiff way she carried her
shoulders. He nearly felt sympathy for her, but after the way she had
treated him in the past month he could not find it in his heart to
feel sorry for her in any capacity. She had gotten herself into this
and now she had to deal with it, he thought.

"Here we are," he said as they stopped in front of the weyr that his
mother shared with her weyrmate. R'nar wasn't sure if K'deren was
going to be present for this get-to-know-you meal or not.

Ranni merely nodded and licked her lips as R'nar knocked and then
opened the door and led her inside. She was sure that the Weyrwoman
would hate her immediately, after all, Ranni had tricked her son into
impregnating her. That wasn't the sort of thing most mothers took
nicely.

"R'nar!" Kielya squealed when she opened the door and flug her arms
around the bronze rider. "We have your favorite meatrolls and tubers
tonight. Mamma insisted." She turned to the young woman. "Hi," she
said with a great deal less enthusiasm. Then she looked back and forth
between the two of them. "Come on," she stepped back to let them in.

"Hi," Cyradis smiled in welcome as her son and the young woman came
into her Weyr. "I'm Cyradis," she said with a small smile. This is
K'deren," she swung one hand toward her weyrmate.

K'deren managed a smile as he stepped forward with the introductions. "It's
good to see you both, I hope this isn't too much, but we kept it to a
minimum. K'don was too busy, and the others are with their foster parents."

"It's fine," R'nar assured his parents. "This is Ranni," he said,
pulling her forward a bit to meet Cyradis and K'deren.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ranni said with a deep curtsy, the sort
she had used when approaching Lady Xeladrie or Lord Bryvin. She just
barely managed to keep from calling R'nar's parents "milord" and
"milady."

Cyradis waved a hand, "No need for that here Ranni," she said. "Here,
we're just family." She turned and went to the table and began
removing the covers from the food. "R'nar, do you want some wine? I
have a new bottle from Master Clovente, he says it's almost as good as
the ones from Amethyst Cliff."

"I'll take a glass," he said, directing Ranni to a chair at the table and
pulling it out for her.

Unused to having such actions taken for her, Ranni's eyes flashed up to the
bronzerider's for a brief moment before she stepped into place and seated
herself as he pushed the chair in. **This is weird,** she thought, **seeing
the the Weyrwoman's family at the table.** Ranni glanced around at their
faces. The Weyrwoman and her brownrider weyrmate seemed so comfortable with
one another, she thought, and R'nar seemed so comfortable with K'deren, even
though she knew that his real father lived elsewhere.

"I hope you like roast herdbeast," K'deren said. "We've got some of that,
and tubers, along with some other vegetables." K'deren had seated his
weyrmate, and then her daughter, treating Kielya as an adult. "I think
there was a fruit tart, and possibly some sorbet for dessert."

Ranni glanced at the rude little girl from earlier. She did not see
very much resemblance between the child and R'nar, or K'deren for that
matter, but she supposed they were related in some manner. That was
the thing about the Weyr, she thought, it was difficult to keep track
of how people were related with mating flights and casual
relationships crossing family trees.

"Everything looks great," R'nar said, winking at Kieyla.

Kielya smiled at her brother, settled her napkin primly and began to
eat her soup in the lady like fashion her mother had always taught
her. Instead of her normal slurp, she made hardly any sound at all.

Cyradis' brows twitched and she threw an amused look at K'deren. With
a raised eyebrow and slight widening of her eyes she conveyed her
wonder at Kielya's sudden good table manners. "Um Ranni," she said.
"R'nar tells me you're from Sunstone originally?"

"Yes, ma'am." Ranni answered, although inwardly she stiffened at the
question. Sunstone was the last place she wanted to talk about, especially
with the Weyrwoman.

R'nar chewed a piece of the roast and glanced sideways at Ranni. He knew her
well enough to know that she was uncomfortable, he could see it in the
ramrod posture of her back. **Good,** he thought, she deserved a little
uncomfortableness.

"Do you still have family there?" asked K'deren, wanting to drive the
conversation forward. "We have a big family here, as you probably know."

"My mother lives there," Ranni confirmed. She tried not to think about her
mother, who wasn't very smart, and was simple in a childlike manner. Leaving
her had not been easy, but at the time, Ranni could only worry about
herself. "I don't have any siblings." At least, none by her mother. She
supposed the passing sailor who had fathered her could have other children
elsewhere.

"Have you been able to send word to her?" asked K'deren. Ranni couldn't go
herself, weyrling dragon aside, the dangers of /between/ and pregnancy were
well known. "We can organize that if you want us to."

Ranni looked down at her plate. "That would be nice, but she can't read."

R'nar glanced down and saw that Ranni's left hand was clenched into a
tight fist in her lap. He had never asked her about her mother before,
not really any of her family, he supposed.

So many questions flickered through Cyradis' mind but she didn't give
voice to any but one. "R'nar could bring her here if you like. Either
for a visit or for always. I know it's important to have your
relatives near at a time like this."

Ranni's nearly black eyes flicked up to Cyradis' in surprise.
"Really?" She glanced sideways at R'nar. "You would do that?"

She made him feel like a heel when she asked it that way. "Of course I
would."

Cyradis put down her fork and leaned forward. "Ranni, I know the ways
of the Weyr are new and different from what you've known. But
understand this. You're part of our family now. Whether you and R'nar
work things out between you or not, your child is the child of a
dragonman descended from dragonriders on both sides. You're family,
it's the way the Weyr works."

"But I lied," Ranni blurted, the admission seemingly surprised even
her as her fingers flew to her lips, and then her eyes flicked over at
R'nar.

R'nar sighed and said, "They know." He gestured to his parents.

Cyradis half smiled though it didn't really reach her eyes. "And yet,
you are the mother of my grandchild and have Impressed one of my
lifemate's daughters. Do you think there is any way, I am not involved
in your life now?" She said the last part softly. "My son tells me he
cares about you and wants to help you through everything that is
coming your way. You might want to think about that a little." Then
she perked up as though she hadn't just delivered anything resembling
a threat. "Who wants dessert?"

**Moooommmmmmm!** R'nar groaned in his head. Not that Ranni didn't
know he cared about her, he had been foolish enough to say that to her
right before she'd broken in heart. He just didn't want it to be
reiterated any further. He was already embarrassed by the entire
situation. He had his pride as a bronzerider to consider, after all.

Ranni swallowed and nodded at the Weyrwoman's advice. She wasn't sure
what to think about the notion of being 'family.' She'd never had
family before, and her mother didn't really count, in her mind, since
the woman had never been able to really take care of her, not the way
a real mother would. Still, she was having the Weyrwoman's grandchild,
and she had Impressed one of Panitath's dragonets, so she supposed
that did tie her to R'nar's family in more ways than one.

"I do," Kielya jumped out of her chair and ran to the sideboard for
the fruit tart and carried it carefully back to place in front of
K'deren at the head of the table, so he could do the serving. She
bounced by his side as she waited for the knife to cut into the
delicious looking pastry.

K'deren gave the youngster a glance, "Just a small piece for you, too big a
meal and you won't sleep tonight. But as you know, we ask our guests first,
so Ranni, can I offer you some of this?"

"Yes, please, thank you." Ranni said to the brownrider. She wondered how he
had ended up with the Weyrwoman. Somewhere in her mind she had assumed that all goldriders were with bronzeriders, even though that myth had been
dispelled in her Candidate and Weyrling classes, it was still hard for her
to fathom. She glanced back at Cyradis, she and K'deren seemed very
comfortable with one another. It seemed different than the relationship she
had witnessed between the Lady and Lord Holder of Sunstone.

"There you go," K'deren had cut a portion of the tart. "Kielya, will you
please pass this to Ranni for me?"

"Yes sir," she said and scooped up the plate with the delicious tart
to carry it carefully around the table to Ranni. "Here you go," she
said with her best smile. Maybe da would give her a little bit more
for being really nice.

"Oh, thank you," Ranni said, although she did not trust the girl's
suddenly sweet manner. Still, she needed to play along until dinner
was over. Hopefully once they were finished, she could retreat back to
the Weyrling's Barracks and then go back to avoiding the Weyrwoman as
much as possible. It was too much pressure being near such powerful
people.

Last updated on the September 23rd 2019

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