Whatever You Decide
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: Heather
Date Posted: 28th February 2024
Characters: Rasme, Casmari, C'ris
Description: The family of three enjoy some special time on the beach together.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 15 of Turn 11
"It's almost time, you know," C'ris said, trailing his fingers through Rasme's untamable mane of white-gold hair.
"For what?" she asked, her eyes not leaving Casmari as the girl played with Piketh and Vemyth down in the surf.
"For Casmari to decide whether she'll Stand or not."
Rasme bristled a bit. "She still has plenty of time."
"You impressed when _you_ were sixteen." The bluerider nudged her in the ribs with his knuckle.
"I remember, I was there. You weren't even born yet." The retired goldrider shot back, although her solitary blue eye did flash sideways to spare him a glance.
C'ris didn't wilt under the goldrider's sass. It was one of the things he liked most about her. "Good things come to those who wait. I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long," he said slyly.
Now the blue eye rolled upward. "You do think highly of yourself, bluerider."
"I seem to remember you think pretty highly of me, too," he said, lips at her ear.
"Eeww, Mom, Dad, do you have to do _that_ all the time?" Casmari, who had left the gold and blue dragons in the breakers, came up and flopped herself down on the towel beside her parents.
C'ris arched an eyebrow. "Do _what_ all the time?"
"Be all..." Casmari wiggled her fingers at them. "Lovey-dovey and stuff."
Rasme fought a grin.
"Ugh, you sound like your mother when you say stuff like that." C'ris picked up some sand and tossed it in his daughter's direction.
Casmari's chin lifted, and there was a gleam of pride in her eyes. She liked being compared to her mother.
"Your father was just saying that he thinks you should decide soon if you want to start Standing. Sometimes it takes a few Hatchings to Impress." **If at all,** went unspoken.
"I'm still thinking about it," Casmari said, lifting her shoulders. She'd begun working with the dragonhealers as an apprentice, following in her mother's footsteps, and she knew that without a dragon she could never progress to the journeyman level but....
"You don't have to be a dragonrider," C'ris said, reaching out to tenderly tuck a strand of Casmari's wet hair out of her face. "It's your choice."
The girl looked back at her parents. "Are you sure you wouldn't be disappointed if I wasn't a dragonrider?"
Rasme knew the question was directed at _her_ and not at C'ris. "Of course I wouldn't mind," she said, showing a rare moment of tenderness as she took her youngest child's hand. "Your sister Asmrey has made quite the happy life as a harper." Asmrey had always been her most independent child who knew her own mind and couldn't be persuaded by anyone else to change it. "As long as you're healthy and happy? Then I am happy."
Casmari smiled and threw her arms around her mother's neck, launching herself into the goldrider's lap.
"Oof," Rasme fell backward into C'ris' sturdy chest as her arms came around Casmari.
"Aww, group hug," C'ris crooned, wrapping his arms around them both.
"Uugghh," Rasme cried out teasingly at all of the affection.
From the surf, Piketh and Vemyth moved up the beach assuming their place in the group hug as they encircled the trio.
"Thanks," Casmari said to her parents. Wrapped there in their embrace she believed she could do anything. Be anything. Conquer everything. What _did_ she want to do with her future? It was unwritten, and she was the author. She had only to decide.
"Okay, you're both making me claustrophobic," Rasme gasped from the midst of the group hug.
C'ris and Casmari laughed as they released Rasme and scooted back from her a bit.
"Come on, Cas, let's get back in the water." C'ris said, standing and dusting the sand from himself.
"Only if Mom comes too," Casmari said, standing and braiding her wet hair back from her face.
"No, thank you. My hair is crazy enough as it is." Rasme sniffed.
C'ris and Casmari shared a look over the goldrider's head.
"Up we go!" C'ris announced, scooping Rasme in his arms and hurtling down the beach toward the water.
"C'RIS!" Rasme squealed, partially in surprise and partially in warning. The bluerider paid her no heed, however, as he sprinted into the breakers and dumped her unceremoniously in the water.
The goldrider surfaced with a splutter. "Oh, okay, you chose violence today, bluerider," she growled before launching a fierce splashing attack in his direction.
Casmari, still on the beach, smiled as she watched her parents playing in the water together. Even though there was nearly a twenty-Turn age gap between them, and even though she was a goldrider and he was a bluerider, there had always been such love displayed between them. Casmari hoped she could have something like that one day, too.
Last updated on the February 28th 2024