Family is Forever

Writers: Aaron, Heather
Date Posted: 27th April 2024

Characters: T'ner, F'aen, Coran, Rendrall, Corette, Rayell
Description: T'ner takes F'aen to meet his family at Green Valley Hold.
Location: Green Valley Hold
Date: month 11, day 8 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: Corofel, Reven

}:Why is your heart troubled? You bear no shame for whom you love and
have said as much more times than I can recount or recall,:{ said
Lehystrath.

**Just so,** said T'ner. They had emerged from _between_ in the sky
above his erstwhile home, a place he had meant to visit far more often
than he actually had since Impressing Lehystrath. **Nevertheless. I'm
not ashamed of F'aen, but I am worried for him. And I will stand with
him no matter how my family treats him. As much as I'm willing to face
this, it doesn't mean I want to.**

"You good, buddy?" he asked Resser, who was harnessed to him for the flight.

F'aen released a little sigh as Scarleth brought them out of /between/
just behind T'ner and Lehystrath. It wasn't that he didn't want to
meet T'ner's family but... well... he didn't want to meet T'ner's
family. Maybe they were nice people and everything, but after what had
happened to the watchdragon's rider at Emerald Falls? A small hold in
the middle of nowhere was the last place the greenrider wanted to be.

But it was important to T'ner. So he would do it.

}:Lehystrath has assured me you will be safe the entire time.:{
Scarleth said, although her rider's worry bled through into her
whirling eyes.

Once he had joined F'aen on the ground and un-harnessed the boy, T'ner
pulled him into an embrace.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Something seemed off, and he was suddenly
filled with worry that he had made a mistake asking F'aen to do this.
He had been thinking too much about his own... bravery or whatever
nonsense...

F'aen stiffened against the hug at first before melting into his
weyrmate's embrace. "I'm fine. Really." He lied. "Or, I will be. I'm
meeting your parents. What if they don't like me? What if they wish
you were still with your ex-wife? What...." He trailed off. "I could
go on."

"I will have your back here," said T'ner. "They are my family, my
past, and that's important to me, yes. But you are my present and my
future." He took F'aen's hands and squeezed them as he looked into his
eyes.

"What do you think, Resser, can F'aen have a hug?"

Resser launched himself at F'aen's neck. The greenrider gladly wrapped
his arms around the youngster. "I'll carry the kid. He makes me feel
better." F'aen decided, exhaling the last of his nerves. He'd never
been unsure about himself and he certainly wasn't going to let anyone
at Green Valley make him feel less than the magnificent dragonrider
that he was.

T'ner smiled brightly and nodded. He loved to see F'aen with Resser.

"Alright. Here we go."

A short walk later, they approached the hold proper and its Holder's quarters.

F'aen looked around the Hold curiously as they walked through the
beautifully built structure. He'd always imagined a minor Hold being,
well, poorer or less up-to-date than a major Hold, but that wasn't the
case at Green Valley. **Apparently farming is very lucrative,** he
thought to himself. He whispered to T'ner, "Are you from a rich
family?"

"W-well. They're proper holders, aren't they?" said T'ner. He had
never really given much consideration to the fact that his family had
been rich or that it might be remarkable that they were. "I hadn't
really thought about it. I was never going to inherit any of this."

If he had stayed, he would probably be a journeyman by then, or at
least very close to it. He felt a prickle of guilt that he had not yet
remembered that his old master might appreciate seeing him, too.

The greenrider grinned and bumped his hip against T'ner. "I'm just
teasing you." The interaction earned a disapproving scowl from some
passersby, but they kept their snide comments behind their raised
hands. "Well, at least they didn't spit at us or anything," F'aen said
to make light of the situation. He readjusted Resser, who was riding
on his other hip.

T'ner maintained eye contact with the scowler long past the point of
uncomfortable, silently daring them to say something.

"They don't need that heat."

And before F'aen felt ready, they were standing before a pair of
highly polished, glossy wooden doors. When the doors opened, four
people waited inside. T'ner's parents were still in their prime, their
fifties, F'aen would guess. It was clear that the sons of the family
all took their looks from T'ner's father. It was as if he'd set the
mold and then each of his sons had been printed to match. The younger
man in the room, the one with healer shoulderknots, had to be Coran,
because he looked nearly identical to T'ner, except perhaps he was a
little taller and lankier. The final person in the room was a young
girl, a teenager, who had her mother's soft eyes and lustrous gold
hair.

"You made it!" Corette cried, holding her arms out as she came over
and wrapped her youngest son in a tear-filled hug. "Oh, look at you,
look at you," she sniffled, pulling back to look him over and pat her
hands over his body as if inspecting for broken bones or other
problems. "My boy, in the air fighting Thread on the back of a dragon.
Oh," she paused, lips trembling. "You look like such a man now. Not
the boy who left."

**Oh, he's a man alright,** F'aen thought slyly.

"And you!" Corette surprised F'aen by capturing his face between her
hands. "Look at how handsome you are!"

F'aen blushed. "Oh, ah, thank you, ma'am." The woman's open admiration
made him feel warm and tingly inside.

"Ma'am? Tush. You may call me Corette or Mother, whichever you prefer,
dear. _Oh_" she gasped, her eyes finally locking on Resser. "Is this
my grandson? Just look at him! He's the most precious child I've ever
seen."

"Hey," Coran piped up, hands going to his hips. "Your other children
are here and can hear you, you know."

Corette waved his comment off as she took Resser in her arms.

"It's good to see you, little brother," Coran said as he came over to
T'ner and pulled him into a hug.

T'ner was not expecting to be this overwhelmed. For his mother to be
so... accepting. To have missed him so after she had heard of Ayressa
leaving him. To have been so eager to meet F'aen.

He hugged Coran more tightly than he expected to.

"Hey." He swallowed to keep from getting emotional, too. "I'm... I'm
sorry I waited so long to come."

Rendrall, the father of the brood, stepped forward and clapped his son
on the back. "I've missed you," he said gruffly. He didn't personally
understand how one man could be attracted to another, but he didn't
have to understand _that_ in order to love his son. The fact that a
dragon, of any color, had found _his son_ worthy? Why, that was a
matter of extreme pride for Rendrall.

"It's nice to meet you, F'aen," Rendrall said, extending his hand to
the other man. "What's the name of your dragon?" he asked.

"Oh, Scarleth, and it's nice to meet you as well," F'aen said,
accepting the handshake.

"My duty to your Scarleth, then," the holder said, having learned the
proper etiquette for meeting dragonmen when he was a young boy in
harper lessons.

"Can we eat now?" Rayell, the youngest of Corette and Rendrall's
children, sighed with a roll of her eyes.

"Is it no wonder neither man nor dragon has been interested in her
with that attitude?" Corette muttered with a wink to F'aen and T'ner
before turning and taking Resser to the table. "Yes, dear," she
addressed her youngest daughter. "Let's sit."

T'ner held his hand out for F'aen to go first. Most if not all of his
worries evaporated. This was going to be good. And maybe after this,
they could make a regular appointment out of seeing his family.

Last updated on the April 30th 2024

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