Breaking The Ice (Part I)

Writers: AL, Kaysea
Date Posted: 16th July 2008

Characters: Fog, Eliste, Linli, Tahna
Description: Fog and the girls go on a picnic with Eliste.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 11, day 9 of Turn 4

"Do you think she'll like us?" Linli eyed her sister as the pair dressed in their quarters. She was a little worried whether she had left Eliste with a good impression from her time aboard the Sungazer.
Eliste would be their new mother - would she stay around? So many questions stirred in her mind as she pulled on her best clothes for the picnic her da and Eliste were taking them on.

"I don't know. I hope so. But it's not us she's marrying." Tahna replied with a comforting smile. "She'll fit in well on board though." Tahna thought of the beautiful stitching the woman had done with them the time they had sat and quilted together. "And she'll have the baby as well." She reminded her younger sister.

~*~

"I'm ready." Eliste smiled as she approached Fog, her gaze darting to the basket he held, then back to him. There wasn't as much light in her eyes. The news about Helvar had unsettled her and she was uncertain what to do. Fog had tried to reassure her, but she couldn't help but worry.

"Hey - today no thought of him, okay?" he asked, his eyes searchig her face. "Today, its you, me and the girls - your new family."

Her new family. Eliste would like that, but unless something happened to convince Helvar otherwise, it wouldn't happen. The harper did say that she could appeal to the Lord Holder, but she would have to do so in person. That wasn't going to happen until after the baby was born and was approved for travel. And what if the Lord Holder disagreed?
"We should get the girls."

"They're coming now." he nodded up to the crew deck. "I can hear them from here. They love being able to come ashore for a day or two, just to stretch their legs, and today - well today is a little more special to them - and to me." he smiled, his free hand reaching out and taking hers.

"Oh?" Eliste's smile relaxed a bit as Fog took her hand. Just his touched helped to comfort her a little. "What is today?"

"The day they meet their new mother, of course." he replied lightly.
"I want all of you to get along well. After the past few turns, the girls need a mother, a real mother - not just their aunt." his voice softened at his words.

"They've met me before." Fog sounded so certain, but Eliste couldn't be so. She was afraid of what would happen once she went to Emerald Falls. She hadn't wanted to face Helvar, and she didn't tell Fog exactly how afraid she was.

"Yes they have, but then you were just another passenger. A passenger they liked well enough, and who shared the same interests, but - it'll be different now." He looked up at the gangway and saw the two girls standing side by side watching them. He waved to them and called out, and before long they stood before Eliste and him, both looking shy.
"You remember Tahna and Linli, don't you Eliste?"

"Of course." Eliste offered a gentle smile to the girls. "How could I forget?" Yes, it was different, quite different.
Almost...embarrassing? No, that wasn't quite the word she was trying to think of.

"Hello Eliste." Tahna managed and found herself blushing, a deep crimson crept up her face. How was she supposed to act, she wondered.
Eliste was to be her new mother, _their_ new mother, but neither girl knew her well enough.

"Hi..." Linli echoed her older sister.

It didn't help matters that Eliste was still tied to Helvar. She had the feeling she'd be a lot more comfortable with the situation if that wasn't looming over her head. "Shall we go?" She asked, her voice soft and timid.

"Yes, I think thats a good idea." Fog nodded, not altogether oblivious to the tension between the fairer sex. "I don't know about you lot, but I'm famished." he said, a little too jovially.

The girls watched as their father held out his arm for Eliste to take, and took his direction to walk ahead. "Where we went with Rahona and Keirlee." he told them as they hurried out in front. Linli giggled at the mention of Keirlee, but stopped almost immediately when Tahna cautioned her.

"Who's Keirlee?" Eliste questioned. She hadn't met anyone by that name, but she was certain there were plenty of crewmembers that she would only know by sight and not by name.

"Keirlee was a friend of Rahona's, she was onboard with us when you travelled aboard the Sungazer. I'm sure you'd rememeber her." Fog answered, though he tried to keep his words even, he wasn't sure he had managed to. How would Eliste feel if she knew he had once thought he had feelings for Keirlee?

Eliste shook her head. "If I remember her, it will be by face and not by name." The young woman smiled a little. "There were quite a few people on the boat, after all."

"Red hair, pretty woman." Fog shrugged trying to appear as if he wasn't affected.

"There was more than one redheaded woman on board." Eliste laughed lightly. "I'm sure if I saw her while I was there then I would recognise her should I see her again."

"She'll be aboard the Sungazer occasionally. She's brought here by one of Rahona's family, occasionally for a visit." he explained, feeling a little better that Eliste didn't remember the other woman, he still felt uneasy about how he had felt about her.

Eliste nodded, then stated softly, "We should catch up with the girls."

He hadn't realised the girls had skipped ahead of them. He looked along the track and saw them waiting in the distance. "You know everything will work out, don't you?" he said, with a quick hug of her shoulders.

The woman answered with only a small smile. She knew it would, she just wasn't particularly looking forward to the journey to get to that point. "I love you."

Her words hit him out of the blue. His smile widened until it seemed his face would split in two. "I've been waiting to hear those words."
he admitted, "I - I didn't want to press you, so I was waiting for you to say it first."

"Have I not said so before?" Eliste's expression reflected surprise.
Surely she had. Or perhaps she had simply thought it so much that she had thought she had spoken the words out loud.

"Not to my memory - but then.. My memory isn't the best." he chuckled softly. "You know, I love you too, don't you?" he asked, wondering if she really did understand how deep his feelings had become.

"I do." Eliste looked up at him her hold upon him tightening slightly.
"You say it in every action. I know you do."

"Dar! Come _on_!" Linli called, interrupting the pair. "We're _hungry_!"

"Linli!" Tahna scolded a little further up the track than her sister.
"Dar may have wanted some privacy!"

"Well if he wanted to be alone with her, why did he bring us?" Linli asked skipping up to her sister. "Do you think he'll like her more than he likes us?" she asked, once more sounding like the six and a half turn old that she was.

"Shhh... don't be silly." Tahna shushed her, taking her younger sisters hand as their father approached. "He loves us all - I think." she said, nodding at her father, "Look at the way he watches her." She couldn't remember her father ever looking at her mother that way, but then again, it had been so many turns since her mother had walked away from him - and them.

Last updated on the July 16th 2008

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Breaking The Ice (Part I)