Not Yet

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 18th April 2007

Characters: R'harne
Description: R'harne tells Teykara about Rahona's decision.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 19 of Turn 4

They shared a small room. They dragon weyr was lovely – large and airy – and there was plenty of room for two dragons to sleep in it. There was an incredible ledge that in the cooler months served as an outdoor seating area for the riders.

The actual rider quarters weren't big, however, and the bathing room was minuscule. R'harne had been there for Turns before Teykara had joined him and when she had arrived in his life they had just squashed up a little and made do.

The brownrider quite liked the cluttered, lived-in look. He liked that the two armchairs jammed against the end of the bed faced each other across a low table that had long since become exclusively used as a footrest. He liked that fact that when he was sitting in 'his' armchair he could see right into the bathing room and watch Teykara shower.

He also liked it when he brought back cold ales from the dining cavern, sat in his chair, kicked off his boots and rested his feet on the table which was what he was doing right at that moment.

Tonight Teykara was sitting opposite him instead of bathing, but he could live with that. He smiled across at her and watched her smile back. Strange that he had actually worked to keep her out of his life when she had first expressed an interest in him. It seemed the action of a foolish man, now.

"Good drills?"

"I was excellent at them," Teykara said dryly.

He nodded. "Didn't doubt it for a moment." He took a long sip of the ale. "We did well, too."

"Guieth's pretty good, all right." Teykara wiggled her bare feet on the table between the chairs, studying them for a moment before moving them across to tickle her weyrmate's much larger feet. "How's it all going with Rahona?"

R'harne grumbled into his ale bottle as he took his next sip. "She's going. Taking the children."

"I didn't think she'd leave them behind."

"She could foster them here. Not unreasonable."

"Foster them after having them with her for so long? You're asking a lot." Teykara wouldn't have children, but if she did they _would_ be fostered; there was no choice. They would be weaned and fostered early, though, not after she had raised them for over six Turns.

"Not as much as Lineal's asking of his family." R'harne studied the embossing on the side of the ale bottle. "Not just moving away from her family, but out of the Weyr. The stories you hear ..." He thought back to the latest tiny example, that performance at the Tavern at Amber Hills Hold when Arateyka and the family had visited. "Ahh, well." He lifted his gaze from the bottle and met Teykara's dark eyes. "I promised her I would always be there to bring her and the children back, any time she needed it."

She nodded, accepting that if anything happened to R'harne and his brother she would inherit the responsibility. It was one of the unspoken changes that Thread had bought to their lives – the recognition that promises made could be limited by the reality of early death or life-altering maiming.

"And I said I'd find her a firelizard egg, so she can always contact me."

That wasn't as easy as a promise. Not many wild clutches were found around the Weyr and most riders were too busy to range further afield hunting them. "Hmm ... Do you have a friend with a gold?"

R'harne took another long sip of the ale and then smiled wryly at his weyrmate. "Not yet I don't."

Last updated on the April 19th 2007

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