Surprise

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 30th January 2007

Characters: U'kaiah, Traelyn
Description: U'kaiah shares his good news with his best friend
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 1, day 28 of Turn 4

The bronzerider sighed deeply as he sank lower into the water. Shards, he had missed this pool. _His_ pool. Warm, cozy, _private_... And now that he had all those tired, sore muscles from carrying all his stuff back into his weyr, it felt oh so good. He shifted slightly so his head could rest perfectly into the little dip in the stone side he knew was there. **It's so good to be home...**

"Well, well, well," Traelyn grinned, bracing her hands against the doorframe. "Look who has his knots back!"

"Surprise," he grinned up at the goldrider, terribly pleased with himself.
"Sorry about all the boxes. Give me a few days and it will look just like you remember."

"I'm sure!" She came inside, fingers slipping down to undo her belt. That steaming water just looked so inviting... "When did D'wrayt give them back to you?"

"A couple days ago. After the weyrlings graduated." He had done his time in the weyrling wing. U'kaiah had learned his lesson well. "Come on in. There's plenty of room."

"Maybe I'll just dangle my legs in," she grinned, pushing her pants down her hips and kicking them away. With a relaxed sigh, Traelyn eased first one long leg in, then the other before turning her full attention to her friend again. "I'm proud of you, you know."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, rather surprised at her statement.

"Mmmhmm." Lazily she swirled her toe around on the surface, watching the bubbles. "You accepted what you had to do to atone for everything, and you did it." She turned her head to smile at him. "I knew you'd get them back sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, well, I'm not all that proud," the bronzerider sighed as he pushed himself off the side of the pool. Grabbing the sweetsand he began rubbing it into his skin. "I still did something terribly stupid. No matter how quickly I atoned for it, it will always be there on my record. I'm the wingleader who couldn't control himself."

"And I'm the Weyrwoman who wasn't responsible enough to take notice of her dragon's condition before she took her out of the Weyr," she replied quietly, watching him. "That will always be on my record too, U'kaiah. But I don't dwell on it. Not anymore."

U'kaiah sank under the water for a moment to wet his hair. He blew water out of his eyes and set to work on his hair. "No one can take your Weyr from you Trae. Your place is secure. Mine, as I was so effectively reminded, is not."

"Mmm. But you learned from your mistake. I know you did." She lifted her leg, watching as the water ran dow her skin. "You wouldn't be in here now if you hadn't." Suddenly she grinned, bringing her leg down and splashing him with her foot. "So smile for me."

"Not if you're going to go about it that way," he growled, though his eyes sparkled with amusement as he lunged to grab the offending leg. "Watch yourself, Weyrwoman, or I might just have to pull you into the water with me."

She tried to give him an innocent look--and failed. "You'd latch on to any excuse to get a woman in your bath," she teased, bracing her hands on the stone floor as she tried to jerk her leg from his grasp. "Even if that woman _is_ your friend!"

"Well, I ususally do the same thing with a female friend as I would with a woman," he grinned as he grabbed her other leg as well. "You're the exception."

Chuckling, she brushed the back of her finger against his cheek, wiping away the lather that had accumulated there. "What, female friends and women aren't one and the same to you?" she asked, grinning down into his face, a pale brow arched. "Because, you know..." she leaned a little closer, "I am very much a woman, U'kaiah," she purred.

"And there was a time when I very much appreciated that fact," he murmured, his hands sliding up to her knees as he leaned in slightly closer. Two could play that coy game! "But I apparently was never your type. That makes you very different from most of the women I have known. And I have no idea why not. I have a very handsome bronze, and I have been told that I'm not hard on the eyes..."

"Certainly not. You've got a handsome face, nice eyes and hair, sexy smile, and a well-muscled body..." Her fingertips lightly ran over his shoulders and chest as she teased him. "Among other...larger qualities." The look on her face was positively impish when she met his eyes again. "But some woman had to teach you humility, and that task has fallen to me."

"I notice you skipped over my winning personality and unfathonable charms.
Obviously there's the flaw I seem to be lacking in your eyes. And speaking of eyes," he chuckled as he squnited against the suds slipping down into them. The bronzerider released her as he ducked his head under the water to wash to sweetsand from his hair.

When he popped back up to the surface, she was grinning at him. "You okay? The sweetsand didn't blind you, did it?"

"No, the water is though." U'kaiah whipped his hair from side to side to throw beads of water from his hair and face, spraying the goldrider like a shower of rain. "That's better, don't you think?" he asked with his most innocent smile.

Traelyn wrinkled her nose at him as she made a dramatic show of wiping the water from her face. "Oh yes." She raised her foot again and playfully splashed him. "Very much so!"

"Hey now." He wiggled his finger warningly at her. Smiling he slipped in between her knees and turned to lean back against the stone poolside in front of her. "Here, can you sand up my back for me?"

So much for getting a rise out of him. "Sure." Reaching over, she lathered up her hands before pressing them to the tops of his shoulders, slowly working at them, feeling the small grains rubing against her skin as well as his. She worked in silence for a moment, listening to the soft sounds Nyith was making out on Kalamath's ledge. She wondered what they were talking about--if they were talking at all. Or was Nyith just crooning her contentment and affection?

}:I _can_ do both at the same time, you know. Kalamath and I speak to one another often.:{ Traelyn slid her hands down U'kaiah's shoulderblades. **Oh? What about?**

}:All kinds of things.:{ Nyith's tone was suddenly, suspiciously, vague. And Traelyn knew better than to press her, for when the queen made up her mind about something, she stubbornly refused to yield.

**Like rider, like dragon,** she thought, and smiled at Nyith's answering snort of amusement--for Trae was stubborn too.

And that reminded her... Sighing, the goldrider lathered up her hands again before moving on to his spine. "The second month of the Turn is almost here."

"It's amazing, isn't it?" The bronzerider's eyes were closed as he could feel the tension and ache melting away under her hands. "How fast the time flies by..."

Her palm moved up to the base of his neck. "Nyith will be rising soon."

"Is it really that time again?" he asked, somewhat surprised. "Well, no, I guess it really _has_ been a while. Hmmm." U'kaiah frowned slightly. "I guess that means we shouldn't see each other again until... after."

Nodding, she leaned down to rinse her hands in the water. "It shouldn't be too long."

"I guess we've been spoiled lately, eh? Getting to see each other as often as we have this Turn, I mean." Nearly every sevenday, it seemed.

"Being spoiled does have its advantages," she grinned, running her fingers affectionately though his hair. "I kind of like it."

"Well," he sighed, turning around to face her once more with an accepting smile, "you'll just have to come and visit me when it's over. It won't be long, I'm sure. Hopefully you'll come before Kaiafel's birthday. I know he'd love to see you."

"And I'd love to see him."

His fingers came to rest naturally on her knees as he smiled up at her. "When you're back then, maybe we can plan a day on the beach together. The three of us."

Her hands slipped over his. "I'd like that, U'kaiah."

Last updated on the February 3rd 2007

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