Surprise (1)

Writers: Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 2nd November 2007

Characters: Swift, Kateena, Aneya
Description: Swift finally meets Kateena's mother, Aneya, and is in for a big surprise!
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 6, day 11 of Turn 4

A secretive smile slipped across her mouth as she entered the dining hall. Scanning the room, she spotted Swift as he cleared a table towards the back of the room. Her mother had arrived the night before, at the Weyr, and would like to meet them both this afternoon after the noon meal to talk about the wedding.

Having her mother here made the wedding seem more real - closer than she had realised too.

She moved through the tables and almost bumped into him, as he turned with a laden tray of empty plates. "Whoa!" she said, grabbing the trays edge to stop it from tilting. "Good morning!" she smiled, leaning over the tray to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Well, that's certainly a great way to start the day," he said, holding the tray further to one side so that he could get closer to return the kiss. "What's made you so happy this morning?"

"Mother arrived last night." She grinned across at him, "Wants us to meet with her this afternoon when she takes Aramyth down for a swim with Civi."

"I'll make sure I'm there. Down at the Weyr? Do you want to wait for me or shall I meet you down there?"

"No, not at the Weyr, she and Aramyth want to swim with Civi, so they'll be down at the beach. But I'll meet you here, if you like, and we can walk down together?"

"All right. I shouldn't be held up." He winked at the other kitchen hand passing them. "I have the others trained," he said and was laughed at for his trouble.

"Hmm, something tells me, you're all bluff." She smiled, once more bestowing a kiss on him. "But for now, I'll join in with them and allow you to believe its true." She winked at a passing kitchen hand.

"Right, well, I'd better scoot and get some work done, I'll be back for the noon meal and then we can go down and meet with mother, if that sounds alright?" she asked.

"That sounded fine," he assured her. Though he was sure she knew already, he added: "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

"Going to play with dragons," teased one of the younger kitchen staff as Swift pulled off his apron and quit the sink he had been working at.
"You should have been Searched and been a dragonrider yourself."

Swift smiled and nodded. "Missed my chance, all right," he agreed amiably, not bothering to point out to the youngster that when he had been of Impressionable age there had been no dragons in the Northern Continent and even in the South they bred just enough to keep their kind going. "Thanks for taking the rest of my shift."

"No problem. If I had a 'friend' like your journeywoman I'd hope somebody would do the same for me."

The elder man laughed and nodded, taking the comment as a compliment to his betrothed and left the kitchens. Kateena wouldn't be too far away.

"You ready?" she asked rising from the table as he walked through the kitchen doorway. She had changed from her normal swimming and hall attire to a warm pair of dark sea green trous and a light ocean blue tunic, which belted at the waist with a corded belt. A pair of silver entwined dolphins were the buckle and complimented the dolphin shaped comb she wore in her hair.

"How do I look? Presentable enough?" she asked, nervously. It had been a while since she had seen her mother, and this meeting would be one of the most important of her life.

"You're beautiful," Swift assured her. "You're always beautiful, but you look lovely. And if we're dressing up to meet your mother and her dragon, am I all right?" He was just wearing work clothes, neat enough, but plain.

"You look fine," she assured him, "I'm more concerned about my attire, since mother doesn't like to see me wandering around in 'next to nothing' as she continually complains. It's 'not seemly' for a woman of my age, apparently." She gave a short sharp laugh. "I'm making her seem like a nag, but she's not, really."

"I'll know soon enough," Swift pointed out. "And you look better in next-to-nothing than most women I know." He indicated the door of the dining hall. "No more delaying. I'm looking forward to meeting your mother."

* * *

The beach was almost deserted, but the sea wasn't. The pod, and extras, were splashing about in the waters offshore, diving and playing around the bulk of a burnished gold dragon. A lone woman stood on shore, her riding jacket hugged tightly around her her gaze out to sea, resting on her lifemate.

"Perhaps she's late," Swift commented as they rounded the outcropping of rock that gave them a view of the bay. His tone was absent as he tried to identify the gold dragon. He knew the ones from Dolphin Cove Weyr by sight and this wasn't either of them.

"No, she's not late." Kateena laughed and called out across the beach to the lone woman, waving with her free hand to draw the woman's attention.

For a moment Kateena's actions didn't register with Swift, then he laughed under his breath. "Something you forgot to tell me?" he asked quietly as they walked toward the visiting goldrider.

"Well, you were surprised enough when you learned my family were from a Weyr, I wasn't sure how you would react if I told you the whole truth,"
she whispered, as Aneya turned to greet them; from the water Aramyth bugled her welcome, echoing her lifemate.

Last updated on the November 3rd 2007

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Surprise (1)