Going Home 1/3

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 11th March 2025

Characters: Ketlyn, Aralyn, Trisalyn, Nevalyn
Description: Ketlyn goes home to introduce her family to Varinth.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 14 of Turn 12

**I have it,** Ketlyn thought. Her stomach was fluttering with v-tols as Varinth took them /between/. Home, the little farming cothold she'd grown up in, with its slate roof and heavy walls, the rough cobblestoned ring around it that wore a layer of mud on rainy days, the sheds and barn trailing out behind the cothold like a school of brown fish.

But what if she got it wrong? What if it changed too much, what if she'd forgotten the exact shape of the trees out front, or they'd painted the barn a different colour, or the kitchen garden had been planted differently, they'd be stuck forever /between--

Varinth emerged into low hanging clouds that brushed wet against her cheeks. Ketlyn sagged with relief that they weren't lost /between/ forever, but tensed up again when she saw the little cothold below.

She hadn't been home in over a Turn, and so much had happened.

}:They will still love you, just as you love them,:{

Varinth's practical voice cut through the knot of anxiety that had formed beneath her breastbone. Ketlyn smiled. **And if I hate it there, we can leave!**

Varinth bared her teeth in agreement. She landed as the door to the cothold banged open to reveal a young woman with a baby in her arms and her mouth open wide with shock.

"Tris?" Ketlyn pulled off her helmet. "That you?"

"Oh-- _Ketlyn_!" Tris squealed and ran toward her and Varinth, suddenly looking much more like the scrawny girl she'd been four Turns ago. Another girl appeared at the door, but she hung back and twisted her hands shyly in her skirts as she watched Tris greet the newcomer.

Ketlyn hastilly undid her riding straps so that she could slither off Varinth and catch her little sister-- sisters! -- in a hug. "You're so big, I can't believe it! And this must be Aralyn, right?" she asked, pulling away long enough to peer down at the baby's squishy, confused little face. "And Verraki, I suppose you barely remember me!" she called to the girl in the doorway.

Verraki smiled shyly but was pushed aside as a tall, dark skinned woman of middling years appeared beneath the lintel, wearing a blue dress and apron gone grey with too many washings. Her black hair had more streaks of silver in it than last she'd seen her, but her eyes were sharp as ever. "Ketlyn?!"

Ketlyn stiffened. "Mother?"

Nevalyn opened her arms wide and Ketlyn immediately went over and hugged her. "Oh my goodness, how you've grown!" her mother murmured into her ear. Her arms were tight around her daughter's shoulders.

It was strange to hug her mother and have her mother be the same height. In Ketlyn's mind Nevalyn was a giant, but she felt... fragile, somehow. Her bones were slight as a flit's. Ketlyn leaned back from the embrace and her mother cupped her face with her hands as if she couldn't bear to part from her. "It's good to see you too, Mother."

"Please tell me you're staying. Your dragon can-- I can't put her in the barn like a runnerbeast, can I? What do I do with a dragon?" Nevalyn asked with a laugh. "Oh my goodness, my oldest daughter is a dragonrider!"

"I am, or I almost am. Soon am. Come meet Varinth!" She drew her mother forward and put a hand on her dragon's side as Varinth examined her family.

Tris reached a tentative hand out toward the green. "Can I touch her?"

"Varinth says yes." Ketlyn patted Varith's neck and beamed up at the dragon. "Isn't she wonderful? It's still hard to believe that she chose _me_."

Her sister laughed as she lay her hand on Varinth's neck. Her fingers were slim and long, and Ketlyn was suddenly too aware of the scars on her knuckles and the roughness of her skin.

"Tris, give your sister Aralyn," her mother said. "She needs to meet her. Don't you adore her already? Verraki, don't cling so!"

Ketlyn found herself with an armful of baby as her mother shooed her littlest-- second littlest? sister from behind her skirts. Aralyn immediately screwed up her face and began to wail, and Ketlyn bounced her in hopes that she'd stop. Tris was determinedly ignoring her so that she could coo at Varinth, who was already shoving her head beneath Tris' fingers so that Tris could scratch her eyeridges.

"She'll stop in a moment, she just needs to get used to you," Nevalyn said cheerfully. "Did you get my letters? Why didn't you come sooner? Tris has been such a help but we needed you at the birthing, and afterward. It would have been lovely to have another woman around the house."

Ketlyn suppressed a wince at her mother's words. She started rocking side-to-side instead, but Aralyn didn't seem to approve. "I couldn't leave the Weyr until Varinth was old enough to take us /between/ on her own. Besides, you knew that when I accepted the Search token I wouldn't be able to come home much."

"I didn't think it was _never_." Nevalyn wrapped her arms around her eldest daughter again. "I'm so glad you're home! You're staying the night, aren't you? You must."

Ketlyn tried to hand Nevalyn the squalling baby but her mother dodged and started heading back toward the cot, forcing Ketlyn to trail after her. "I can't. I need to go back to the Weyr tonight."

"Can we stay with Varinth?" Tris asked.

}:Oh please, let them stay with me!:{ Varinth begged. }:They are giving me such good scratches. Only the queen dragons get scratches like this at the Weyr!:{

But before Ketlyn could reply her mother was already saying, "Of course you can. Wait, instead take the dragon and go find your father and brothers to let them know that Ketlyn is home."

"They can't ride Varinth without me," Ketlyn protested. "Varinth won't let them, and they can't speak to her--"

"Oh, I'm sure that it's fine. Your dragon would never let anything happen to my babies. They are _your_ sisters, after all!" Nevalyn paused at the door to wave Ketlyn in. "Come in! We can have tea and catch up while the boys arrive. I need some time with my eldest daughter!"

Ketlyn sent a pleading look over her shoulder at Tris, but her sister looked delighted to have someone else minding Aralyn for a change. Verraki was solemnly petting Varinth's snout and Varinth looked like she was about to roll over and wave her legs in the air like a happy canine. **So much for backing me up!**

}:Scritches are not the same as taking them flying. I would _never_ let them fly with me if you were not there,:{ Varinth said disdainfully. }:_You_ are my rider.:{

The greenrider suppressed a sigh and followed her mother inside, her baby sister still squalling in her arms. It was good to be home.

Last updated on the March 26th 2025

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Going Home 1/3