That's Pretty Much It

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 10th July 2007

Characters: R'harne, T'kanu
Description: T'kanu visits R'harne the day after Guieth is injured.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 5, day 5 of Turn 4

"How is he?" T'kanu asked when he found the other brownrider lazing in the sun against the hide of his dragon.

"Not too bad," R'harne said, opening his eyes to squint at T'kanu who was backlit by the evening sun. "Already protesting his 'grounding' despite the fact that it's only a precaution for today and tomorrow."
He shifted a little and patted the brown hide beside him. "Sound asleep, dreaming of his revenge, I think."

"I brought ale." T'kanu moved around a little and nodded at Guieth's side. "Mind if I lean on here?"

"Don't mind at all if you've got ales." R'harne took the bottle that was offered and nodded at the gritty sand that passed for soil near the dragon infirmary. "He won't even know you're here."

T'kanu settled on the ground, leaning a little on the flank of the sleeping brown. "Looked horrific."

R'harne didn't need to ask what. "So I've heard. Fairly upset your daughter."

"Upset all my daughters," T'kanu grumbled, glad to have the opportunity to air his usual complaint. "But especially the one in the air when it happened. I guess you saw it in time."

"Guieth did. We were /between/ before my brain caught up with my eyes.
It did no more than graze him." There were no words to express his thankfulness that Guieth's quick jump had frozen the deep clump of Thread before it had had a chance to do more than etch the surface hide for a couple of handspans along a toughened leading edge. He took a sip of the ale, enjoying the taste and coolness and the fact that Guieth's injury was minor enough that he could. "They've all been by, you know,"
he said, keeping the smile out of his tone and off his face with an effort.

"My daughters?" T'kanu took a breath to complain then abandoned the idea. They were idiots over R'harne, the lot of them, but they would have been grieving idiots if the encounter with Thread had been as bad as it had looked at the time. "Teykara all right today?"

R'harne knew T'kanu had probably already checked up on his eldest daughter – that's the sort of father he was – and was most likely only getting a second or third opinion. No doubt the others would have been quizzed about Teykara's state of mind, too.

He nodded. "Telling me off for not paying attention and praising Guieth for being so alert. The usual stuff."

"Good."

That sounded like the last word on the subject to R'harne and he was glad it was over. Tomorrow Guieth would be able to fly back to his own weyr and a couple of days after that they would be back drilling with the Wing. It would be easier, he thought, to get over the lingering sense of unease at the close call once he was back to his usual routine.

"I had some news this morning," he offered as a change of subject.

"Oh? Good news?"

"Yes and no. Rahona's firelizard egg hatched."

"And?"

"Gold."

T'kanu choked on his ale. "Well, you couldn't ask for better than that." He took another sip of ale to ease his throat. "What did you pay for it again?"

"Paying for it again is exactly what's going to happen. It was a two-tier buy – hatch male or green and he'd be happy with what I paid."

"Hatch gold?"

"And the price doubled."

T'kanu winced. "Ouch."

R'harne nodded his agreement. "So, want to lend me a few marks?"

"First my daughters and now my marks?"

"Yeah." R'harne grinned. "That's pretty much it."

Last updated on the July 11th 2007

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That's Pretty Much It