A Busy Family Meal

Writers: Estelle, Miriah
Date Posted: 9th April 2021

Characters: R'fal, Aviday, Lirena
Description: Aviday experiences cothold life with R'fal's family
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 14 of Turn 10

Aviday

Marlath blinked out of /between/ above the now-familiar landscape of
rolling meadows and grazing beasts that surrounded the farm hold of his
rider's kin. He turned his head to make sure the smaller green had
followed him safely, while on his back his rider waved and pointed down
towards the area of bare ground in front of the hold. Already, small
figures were emerging from the main building. }:We can land there.:{

Kobeth banked towards where R'fal and Marlath indicated immediately
and backwinging with more grace than her rider ever showed, landed
delicately. Aviday waited for Marlath to land before pulling off her
helmet to run quick fingers through her short hair. It was getting
longer, but in growing it out, the thick mop seemed to go everywhere
after she wore a helmet.

R'fal had no sooner dismounted than he and his dragon were surrounded by
a group of excited children, jumping up and down and calling Marlath's
name. The brown rumbled in pleasure and lowered his head so the small
hands could reach up to touch the soft hide around his eyes and jaw.

"Look at that one! She's pretty!" One of the girls pointed to Kobeth,
fascinated by the bright color of her hide, so different to the young
brown's.

"Can we scratch her too?" another girl asked.

"I'll have to ask, but you should probably greet her politely first! Her
name is Kobeth, and her rider is my friend Aviday." R'fal looked over to
Aviday with a smile. "Is she okay with kids?"

Slipping down Kobeth's side, Aviday looked at the children and nodded
with a grin. "I think she's very pretty. I think she's the prettiest
green in the entire Weyr." Kobeth preened at the praise and lowered
her head to allow the children to approach. "Just don't climb on her,
okay? She likes around her head knobs and her eyeridges scratched."
She moved to stand near R'fal, slipping her hand in his. "I can tell
you come here a lot."

"Yes. Whenever I can." R'fal's eyes lit up as a woman emerged from the
farm hold, followed by some other adults and a pair of young men. Her
dark brown hair was neatly braided and she wore an apron over her dress.
Though R'fal resembled his father more in his looks, the bright brown
eyes and the shape of her face were much like her son's. "There's my Ma!
Come and meet her."

As they approached, he stepped forward to embrace his mother, then
greeted the couple who'd followed her as his aunt and uncle. "Ma, this
is Aviday, rider of Kobeth." Stepping back, he took her hand again,
feeling his cheeks grow warm as his mother's brow rose a fraction.

Lirena smiled warmly at the girl who stood beside him. "Welcome, Aviday,
and my duty to Kobeth. I'm so pleased to meet you."

Aviday figured out quickly who the woman was just by looking at her.
Unlike herself, who didn't carry much of her mother's looks but more
of her father's, this woman had left her stamp on her son. She felt
R'fal's hand slip back into hers and smiled brightly at R'fal's
mother. "Hello. It's very nice to meet you too. I hope you don't mind
me visiting along with R'fal. He talks about you a lot."

Lirena glanced at her son, who looked half embarrassed and half proud,
and at the way his hand clasped around the greenrider's. "Oh, does he? I
suppose he misses home cooking." Every time she saw her son he seemed a
taller and lankier, although he'd filled out a bit since his father's
return. "I'm sure they don't feed you enough at the Weyr."

"If so, we've got a treat for you both," R'fal's aunt said. "Roast
wherry with stuffing, tubers and fingeroots and greens, and a fruit
crumble for dessert." She laughed at the way the young man's eyes lit
up. "Why don't you both come in? I'll get on with the cooking and leave
your Ma to have a good talk..." She turned and shook a finger at the two
younger men, who were whispering and nudging each other. "And you two
have chores to finish before we eat! Go on with you."

R'fal watched his cousins reluctantly dragging their feet back toward
the yard where they'd been cleaning tools, relieved that he wouldn't
have to deal with their teasing for a bit, although he sensed it would
only be a short reprieve.

He followed his mother and aunt into the main building, which always
seemed low-ceilinged and crowded after the Weyr. Every inch of space was
used up, with shelves stacked with supplies and well-used household
tools hanging on hooks or propped against the wall, and a long table
laid for the holders' meal. Since the skies were clear today, the
shutters had been thrown open and sunlight streamed in, casting a golden
glow over the room.

"What would you like to drink, Aviday?" Lirena asked. "Tea, or klah - or
would you prefer juice?"

Aviday looked around with interest. An entire family lived here? It
seemed so crowded, but it was certainly neater than her own weyr. Her
weyr was horribly messy and it seemed like this family was able to
keep things organized even having more belongings than she did. But it
felt nice, warm, and welcoming. Lirena's voice caught her attention.
"Oh. Tea is fine for me, thank you. I don't really like klah that
much. It makes me hyper and bounce off the walls and stuff."

She smiled. "We wouldn't want that! R'fal, klah for you?" At his nod,
she gestured towards the chairs at the end of the table. "Please, have a
seat. R'fal, come and fetch some mugs from the kitchen." They followed
her sister through a door through which the tantalising scents of
cooking wafted. It wasn't long before they back, Lirena bearing a
steaming cup of tea and her son with a klah jug and two mugs.

"We're both very fond of klah," she said, sitting down opposite Aviday
and letting R'fal take the seat beside her. "It was the only way I could
wake this boy up to do his morning chores when he was at home." She
watched as the young brownrider moved his chair a little closer to the
girl's, and smiled. "So, are you and R'fal in the same Wing, Aviday?"

Aviday turned to look at R'fal, eyes glinting with humor. She'd never
stayed the night with him, but decided to keep that in mind. "I'm sure
Marlath helps wake him up now." She turned back to look at his mother
and shook her head. "Oh no. We're not. I'm not in the fighting wings
yet. They won't let me until I'm sixteen, I've still got nearly a
turn for that. I met R'fal when Marlath caught Kobeth during her
mating flight." She sniffed. "The food smells really good. R'fal said
that you were a good cook."

"Thank you. The roast you can smell is my sister's work, but I made the
dessert today." Lirena watched with amusement at the blissful look in
her son's eyes. "It'll go in the oven as soon as we start the first course."

R'fal felt his mouth watering at the thought, but his pleasure was
short-lived. The door from the kitchen opened and the two young holders
who'd been in the courtyard earlier came in, with freshly scrubbed
hands, bare feet and wide grins.

"Did we hear that right?" The younger one's eyes went wide in gleeful
amazement. "Marlath won a mating flight?"

Lirena gave them an exasperated look and R'fal a pleading one, both of
which they ignored. "Um, Aviday, these are my cousins, Delfin and Falevin."

"Yes, he did. Mine." Unaware of the potential fodder that she had
given R'fal's family, Aviday's smile was bright. "It's nice to meet
both of you." She turned to R'fal. "You _do_ have a big family." It
was so different from how she'd been raised. Though she now knew she
had siblings, she'd never grown up with anyone who she could really
call family.

The smell of the roast made her stomach audibly growl and she grinned
at the noise. "Sorry. I didn't eat lunch or breakfast or anything
cause R'fal said you always had a big meal."

"No breakfast?" Lirena tutted. "We'd better hurry up with the meal
before you fade away. There isn't enough of you as it is!" She glanced
at the two cousins, the younger of whom was smirking. "Falevin, you can
go and call the children, they'll all be gawping at Marlath and Kobeth,
and then fetch your Da and the other men from the barn. And Delfin, you
can start setting the table."

R'fal gave his mother a grateful look, though he knew she was only
putting off the inevitable for now. "You haven't seen half of the
family. I've got three older sisters and a younger brother and sister,
but the older ones are married and moved away and the younger ones are
fostered. And then there's my other aunt and uncle, who have their own
farm, closer to the main Hold."

Aviday's eyes widened. "And I thought having a couple of brothers and
a sister was a lot." She turned to his mother. "I didn't grow up with
siblings or anything. I didn't even know who my Papa was until after I
Impressed my Kobeth. It was just me and my mama and really I just
stayed in the creche before I started my lessons with the Harpers. But
I have two brothers and a sister now. My papa and older brother are
both brownriders at Dragonsfall. I visit when I have time or they
visit me when they have time, but we're all really busy."

"I imagine so, in a Pass." Weyr life sounded very different, Lirena
thought. Her son didn't talk about that much, but perhaps that was
understandable, with his cousins about and hanging on every word. She
sipped her klah. "And what about your mother? Is she a dragonrider too?"

"Oh, Faranth no. She's a drudge and a flight moth. She kinda
just...moths a lot." Aviday sipped her drink and looked at R'fal with
a shrug. "I don't spend a lot of time with her, really. It's mainly
just my friends and R'fal."

"Well, it's natural to want to spend more time with friends, at your
age," Lirena said, though she seemed a little perplexed.

Delfin was not so reticent. By some unerring instinct, he'd detected his
cousin's reaction to one particular phrase. "What's a flight mo... ow!"
He put down a stack of plates and rubbed his ankle where someone had
kicked him.

"It's a Weyr thing. I'll tell you another time, when the little kids
aren't about to come in." R'fal gave him a meaningful look. **And when
my mother isn't right there!**

Fortunately for him, the children did start piling in to the hold,
followed by R'fal's uncle and a group of other men in faded, well-worn
clothes, their hands and faces freshly washed and muddy boots left at
the door. Soon the room was filled with noise and chatter, children
running about pretending to be dragons and adults trying to herd them to
the table. Lirena excused herself to help with bringing out the food,
and a little girl ran up and jumped into the chair next to Aviday's.

"Hello! Your dragon is so pretty! I scratched her eye ridge and she made
a grumbly rumbly sound like Marlath does, only lighter. I want to be a
dragonrider when I grow up. We're going to have fruit crumble. Do you
like fruit crumble? I do."

At the sudden "ow!" Aviday looked at R'fal and blinked, about to ask
why that had happened when she was immediately distracted by the
sudden influx of people and noise. People and noise were not anything
new, especially after living at a Weyr, but it was all so close
together and so many in such a small place! It was all so active and
close that she didn't know where to look, so her eyes flicked from
voice to voice, widening with interest.

She was then distracted from that buzz of conversation by the
appearance of the little girl who plopped down beside her. "Hi!" She
chirped, then had a glimpse of understanding how some people tried to
follow her own conversations. "Kobeth is amazing isn't she. Yes, I
do."

"We've got to have our mains first though." The girl pouted a little,
but brightened as a sizzling, mouth-watering scent filled the room and
R'fal's aunt appeared bearing the roast wherry on a large plate. She set
it down in front of her husband, who carefully considered it, then
carved off several large slices. Choosing a few that looked the most
tender and succulent, he handed the plate down the table to Aviday.

"You're only a little thing, you need feeding up." He grinned at her.
"Will that be enough?"

Aviday's eyes widened at the hefty portion. She'd never be able to eat
all of it. While she ate her fair share at the Weyr, some often told
her she picked at her food like an already stuffed flit. "Oh..that's
plenty." She took the plate and glanced at R'fal, uncertain how to not
take all of it, but still be polite. This wasn't like eating at the
Weyr at all and she didn't know how to do all this family stuff.
"Thanks."

R'fal returned her look with an encouraging smile, his mouth watering as
he eyed her plate. He could tell he wasn't the only one around the table
who was doing so.

"Here, have some vegetables." He held out a bowl of golden-brown roasted
tubers for her, and lowered his voice. "It's okay. If you can't eat it
all, someone else here definitely will." His gaze flicked across the
table to his cousins, who were watching hungrily as more plates of the
roast were passed around.

"Hey, we've been out in the fields all morning," the older of the two
said. "We've worked up an appetite!"

Aviday grinned and carefully slipped R'fal the biggest slice of meat
off of her plate before taking the tubers and giving herself a portion
before passing it down. "Is it always like this?" She asked R'fal's
mother. "It's so...busy."

"Busy?" Lirena's brow rose in surprise. "But this is just a small farm,
with a few families. When we went to the Weyr for Marlath's Hatching,
there were more people than I'd ever seen in my life."

"There's more space, though." R'fal thought he understood what she
meant. The dining hall at the Weyr was crowded at mealtimes, but it was
also cavernous, and his and Marlath's weyr was almost as big as the
whole cothold.

"I suppose that's true. You should see Emerald Falls Hold," Lirena said,
smiling. "Now that's busy. People everywhere, from drudges to crafters
to fine Lords and Ladies, endless corridors and passages, and the
kitchens are something to behold."

"I've never been. I mean, I've flown over it, but this is my actual
first time being at a cothold or really spending time outside of the
Weyr." Aviday admitted. "I really didn't understand what R'fal was
talking about when he told me about it." She looked around at the
people, her eyes trying to take in everything. R'fal, she decided, was
really lucky. She certainly didn't have this kind of relationship with
her Mama or really with her Papa or brothers either. "I like it!"

R'fal's uncle beamed in delight. "Well, you know, dragonriders are
welcome in my hold any time, and that goes double for any friend of
R'fal's."

"Thank you, Uncle." R'fal felt a warm glow of pride and pleasure,
knowing that Aviday was enjoying her time in his family's hold. It
helped to banish the thoughts of being unworthy, of being only a
disgraced cotholder's son who'd aspired to ride a dragon. He'd nothing
to be ashamed of.

He turned to her as the family began to tuck in to the meal. "You
haven't tried Ma's pie yet - then you'll _really_ like it here! Make
sure you leave room."

Slipping her hand under the table to hold his, Aviday nodded. "I'll
try." She didn't know if she could, with everything piled on her
plate, but if she had to waddle home with a bulging belly, it would be
worth it!

Last updated on the July 21st 2021

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A Busy Family Meal