Sharing

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 25th October 2007

Characters: Tsaera, Zebrekhan
Description: Tsaera and Zeb share a beer, a game of chess, and a few thoughts
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 6, day 6 of Turn 4

Tsaera barely hesitated before she moved her chess piece. "Checkmate," she said, leaning back in her chair and letting herself wallow in the victory. Zeb was a challenging opponent.

"Well, let's see." Zeb leaned over the board and studied it. He was pretty sure she was right, but there was always a chance. The Master Geologist was never one to admit defeat so easily.

"Oh, leave off. I won, fair and square."

"Wait, wait," he said, raising a finger to stop any further protest while he took a sip of his ale. "Just let me take one more look."

The Weyrwoman rolled her eyes, but let him search. She was right - she had all the time in Pern to let him deliberate, because it wouldn't change a thing.

Zeb studied the board for a long moment before shrugging a shoulder. "Well shards. I think it might be checkmate."

"Finally!" Tsaera chuckled, then stretched, then stood and went to the small sideboard for a bottle of beer to celebrate. "You beat me five games to one and my last losing stretch has been going on far too long! Want a consolation beer?"

"Hmmmm..." Zeb watched her as she moved across the room. You wouldn't even know she was a mother several times over. "I'll take a beer for starters."

She popped the cork off and poured them both a glass. "It`s not terribly cold, I`m afraid. The ice melted ages ago."

"That's all right, I like my beer room temperature anyway."

"I don't, but I'll make do." She held one of the glasses out toward him, then settled herself back in her chair with the board between them. "So what have you been up to of late, my friend? The Hatching's kept me too busy to keep tabs on you."

He took a healthy drink from his glass, sighing appreciatively. There certainly were perks to a sedentary life. A constant supply of beer was one of them. "Oh, the usual. Wandering your fair hills, teaching a few classes, meeting people. Enjoying the Hatching of course."

"Mmm. Thank you. We're all quite proud of Ariau. She's a bright young woman and has Impressed well."

"Yes, I have gotten to know her a bit. We have a few things in common." She certainly had that spark in her goldriders seemed posses.

"Really?" Frizzy haired Ariau and the Master Geologist? Tsaera couldn't imagine them having much in common at all.

"We both have a similar love of travel, we've been to a few of the same places in the North... We had actually planned to take a ride together that restday, but then she found her lifemate."

"Unfortunately dragonriding doesn't leave much time for riding runners. You tend to see them in a new light after just a few weeks."

Zeb pouted slightly. "Are you trying to tell me your new junior queen won't have time for me anymore?"

"Sorry old man, but my junior goldrider won't have time for much besides lessons and her dragon for the next few months. You'll just have to make do without her!"

"But only for a few months?" he asked with a look of pure innocence.

"Well... that depends."

"Oh? And what does it depend on?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he regarded her across the chess board.

The Weyrwoman bared her teeth in a smile. "On how lecherous you intend to be."

"Ah, I see," he said, running a finger absently around the rim of his mug of beer. "And does the Weyrwoman disapprove of lechery in general? Or do you disapprove of _my_ being lecherous with your junior goldrider?"

"I will stay my judgement on the former and agree to the latter," Tsaera said primly. She sipped at her beer, then set it on the table between them where the condensation from the sides fell onto the wood. "Ariau has _far_ too much to worry about without having to deal with _you_ as well."

Zeb clicked his teeth disapprovingly as he watched the water pool at the base of the glass. Such a nice chessboard too. "Am I really so hard to deal with that you wouldn't wish me on Ariau? She seemed more than capable of handling me."

"Of course that's what you'd say!" The Weyrwoman tucked her legs up beneath her, then stretched. "It's getting stuffy in here. Want to take a chair and go kick Tabanirth off her couch?"

"Are you hoping she'd turn on me and eat me?" he asked, watching as she lifted her hands high over her head. "You know, I'd heard golds were averse to sharing."

Tsaera smiled, having forgotten for a moment that she was sitting with a Crafter and not a dragonrider. Not everyone felt as comfortable sharing a couch with a dragon as she did. "Some of them are. Tabanirth only gets sensitive about space when she's proddy or has eggs. But she'd like the company..."

}:Tell him I would not eat him. Tell him I'll only eat him if he gets as fat as a herdbeast,:{ Tabanirth whispered to Tsaera, and the Weyrwoman relayed the message with a smile.

The geologist smiled as he crossed one long leg over the other, leaning back in his chair comfortably. "You know, I wasn't really referring to your lifemate. Though I'll bear in mind what you said about her proddy
behaviour."

"Wait, are you calling _me_ selfish?" Tsaera tut-tutted. "If you wish to spend time with goldriders who are young enough to be your granddaughter, that's your business. Just remember whose Weyr you currently call home."

Zeb snorted. "Half the women at the Weyr are young enough to be my granddaughter, it seems. Besides, she wasn't a goldrider before..." He looped his hands around his knee and looked at her through narrowed eyes. "I don't think you're _selfish_. I'm just wondering if you're trying to say you don't like the idea of sharing me."

The Weyrwoman stood, stretched again, and held out a hand to Zeb. "I'm not sharing you right this very moment. Come out to the ledge with me and remember what the wind feels like."

"As my Weyrwoman wishes," he said, taking her hand and rising from his seat. "Just promise me your dragon isn't proddy..." Zeb gave her a roguish grin as he pulled her closer.

Tsaera smiled mysteriously. "No promises," she said, then slipped out of his arms, took his hand, and led him from her weyr into Tabanirth's clutches.

Last updated on the October 25th 2007

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Sharing