A New Friend

Writers: Teresa
Date Posted: 22nd July 2008

Characters: Trealeina, R'len
Description: Rendalen introduces himself to Trealeina, whom he has been watching from afar.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 7 of Turn 4

Having finished her chores, Trealeina was getting a small meal before going
out to the lake with Tamineth. She sat at a table in the shadows as she ate
her meal, every now and then giving a little tidbit to either Jadella, or to
Tierk. As she ate, her mind drifted again to the last hide she had been
re-reading about healing techniques. Going over it again in her mind, she
thought about the procedure for cleaning a score wound, and suturing
techniques. **I really do need to talk to the weyrling master about working
with the weyr dragon healer**

She spent all of her free time studying anything and everything she could
get her hands on concerning dragon anatomy or healing techniques, She was
forever using Tamineth as a study subject. Tamineth did not always
appreciate it, but she seldom complained. Most of the time Tamineth enjoyed
the almost massage like caresses she got when Trealeina was doing her ...
"examinations". At some point in time, she was not sure when, Jadella and
Tierk had blinked to somewhere else.

Wrapped up in her own thoughts, she had not noticed the tall curly haired
young man that had been watching her. In fact he had been watching her for
the last couple of months.

**Today is the day I will talk to her** Rendalen thought to himself. He
nursed a cup of wine as he waited patiently for her to finish her meal. She
looked like she was deep in thought, and he didn't want to disturb her.

Trealeina gathered her dishes and took them over to clean then, and then turned to head out of the dinning hall. She thought she heard her name being called. She turned to see who it was. Curious as to how he knew her name, when she did not know his, she stopped and waited for him to catch up. She smiled as he approached her. "is there something wrong?" she asked. She now recognized him from the kitchens, as she was often assigned kitchen duty. She thought perhaps she had forgotten to complete a task. She had never bothered to look too closely at him before, so she got a good look at him as he was getting closer to her. He was kind of tall with dark
curly hair that kind of bounced as he walked. As he stood before her, she could see his eyes were one of the most beautiful shades of blue she had ever seen. His body seemed to be in pretty good shape as well.

"Oh…. No" he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, "nothing like that." He reached up to push some curls up out of his eyes. " I… Ummm… just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes." he all but stammered. "That is, if you don't mind.

"Sure" she shrugged her left shoulder. "I have some free time, I was just going to change, then spend some time with Tamineth"

"Oh…. Well" he paused looking down at the floor then up at her again …. "If I am interrupting something I could catch you another time." He said disappointment creeping into his voice.

"No, you are not interrupting anything. I just like to spend as much of my free time as I can with Tamineth"

"If you are sure I am not interrupting anything, could I join you? I would like to meet Tamineth, if she doesn't mind. How big is she?"

"Uhh, sure. I guess so," she said a little confused, and a small lopsided smile. "I don't think she will mind at all. She is almost 21 feet now. She is the biggest green in her clutch" she told him proudly. The request had
thrown her off a bit. No one had ever asked to see her dragon.

She knew that people often marveled at seeing a queen up close, who wouldn't, but she had never heard of someone wanting to be near a green, unless it was another rider.

"Is there something I could bring along, something to drink perhaps?" He asked wanting to make sure their visit was a good one.

"How about some juice. That would be nice" she said with a smile.

"Any particular kind you like best?"

"Surprise me" she told him, broadening her smile.

"I'll be right back."

**Tamineth, my sweet, has it stopped raining so we can go to the lake?** She asked her lifemate. Tamineth had taken to lounging on the ledges with the blue and the browns while Trealeina was doing chores.

}:Yes, it has. I have been inside much too long today, it will be nice to go for a swim:{

As if on cue at the mention of swimming at the lake, Jadella, and Teirk blinked in above her giving happy chirps as Jadella landed on her left shoulder and Teirk on her right. Both rubbing their heads lovingly on her cheeks at the same time.

"Where have you little rascals been?" she asked as she reached up to stroke the head of Jadella then Teirk. Jadella sent her an image of sunning herself on Tamineth's back as she lounged in what little sun there was today, and Teirk sent her images of his favorite past time, eating. Trealeina laughed and continued to pet them both

**Dearest, I will meet you at the lake, we have company with us tonight.**

}:who is he?:{

**you know?, I don't know. I will find out**

Rendalen returned, almost jogging, to get back to where Trealeina had been waiting. "You know," she said as soon as he had reached his destination. "You kind of have me at a disadvantage, you know my name, but I don't know
yours" she told him with a coy smile.

Rendalen flushed at his oversight. " Oh…sorry…. how silly of me. My name is Rendalen." he bowed slightly, "at your service, my lady dragon rider."

Both of Trealeina's eyebrows went up in surprise. **Well, good looking and a charmer.**

Rendalen stood up straight, "I have seen your firelizards with you in the dining hall before, but I do not know their names."

Trealeina chuckled "The green is Jadella, and the blue is Teirk." she told him stroking each one as she said their names.

Jadella, gabbing onto a strand of Trealeina's hair, her blue-green eyes whirling, leaned a little closer to Rendalen as if to examin him closer, cocking her head first to one side, then the other. Teirk cocked his head a little
then stuck his nose out to sniff at the man standing in front of them.

**his name is Rendalen.** she said to her lifemate.

}:that is a nice name. I like this man, he is nice:{ Tamineth decided.

**yes he is, at least what I have seen so far.** Trealeina agreed, a small smile still on her face.

"Shall we go?" she asked him.

"By all means." he bowed slightly then motioned for her to proceed "My guess is that we are going to the lake" he asked as they proceeded down the hallway.

"Yes, Tamineth has been waiting for me to finish, so we can go for a swim." Trealena smiled a mischievous smile, turned to Rendalen, raised one eyebrow and stated. "Oh, and Tamineth says you are a nice, man" She added slyly.

Rendalen turned a little pink around the ears. He had never received a compliment from a dragon before. "And what does the dragon's rider think?" he asked as he quickened his step to keep up with the long legged woman.
"Well, I have only met you, I suppose we shall see." she winked at him then turned and walked a little faster.

Normally he was not shy around women, but for some reason, Trealeina was different from other women that he was attracted to. Yet he found himself drawn to her anyway, which caused him to be bewildered, and elated at the
same time. He took longer strides to catch up to her again.

They walked talking, and laughing on their way to the summer lake. Tamineth was there already, splashing happily in the water, playing some sort of tag game with her firelizards as they often did.

They chose a rock that had a fairly flat spot, and Rendalen sat down the skin of juice, and handed her a glass, then poured her juice first as she held it out.

Rendalen poured juice into his own cup then leaned back against the rock behind him. "So, how long have you been here at Dragonsfall?" Rendalen asked, not really knowing how else to start the conversation.

"Well, I got here well before the hatching, not quite a full turn yet." she said, and then took a sip of her juice. It was not sweet, but it was very good.

Rendalen nodded thoughtfully as he looked into his cup and swirled the dark juice around. Not really knowing what to say next, He looked up, cocked his head a little, and asked "If it is not being too nosy, may I ask why you
requested juice? Most people I know usually prefer beer or wine to relax."

Trealeina shrugged her right shoulder, "I really don't like the taste of beer or wine, or any other thing that is fermented. I prefer to drink water or juice. I never really have liked it." Trealeina wrinkled her nose to emphasize her dislike. I forced myself to drink it once at my Uncles' wedding, but it was just for the sake of the toast. I think I took two sips before I passed it over to my brother."

"Do you have a big family?" he asked hoping he was not being too personal.

"Yeah, most of my family lives in our family home, set in a Cliffside near Opal Cove Hold. She put up one of her hands to mark each family member. "There are my parents, my two sisters, and two brothers. My Fathers two
Brothers and their Wives and my six Cousins, my Auntie Sarita's Parents, along with her Brother and his Wife, and her Sister and her Husband. I have another set of Grandparents, and 6 more Aunties and Uncles, and 15 more
Cousins, but they don't live in our family home, they live over in Amber Hills Hold."

Trealeina looked up to one of the few clouds that still lingered, and counted again on her fingers. Satisfied that she had accounted for them all, "yup, that's all"

Rendalen's eyes widened a little, "wow, that is a lot of family. I'll bet you miss them a lot" he added softly.

Trealeina looked off to her left, watching others that like to come for a swim after chores."Yeah, I miss them a lot, but I have Tamineth, and she is what is most important to me now, well, then there are those two scoundrels." she added pointing out toward the two firelizards that were diving and darting around Tamineth.

Rendalen watched her face as she looked out toward her lifemate and her playmates. He had noticed that dragonriders usually went around with warm loving smiles on their faces, much like the one that Trealeina was wearing now. He could appreciate it and liked to think it was the kind of smile he wore when he was cooking.

"How about you? Do you have a big family?" She asked starting to feel uncomfortable talking about herself so much.

"No, just my Foster Parents, and my Foster Sister. But" he added in an afterthought, "I guess you could say that the entire kitchen staff was my family. Since they all had a hand in raising me in one way or another." He smiled, why had he not thought about it that way before?

Trealeina chuckled, "that would be a large family indeed" She stood and stretched. "I don't know about you, but I am in the mood for a swim. The air is warm, and I could use a little exercise before I have to go back to my weyr. I have to check my riding gear for tomorrow's lessons."

"Sure," he said with a cocky grin, the thought of getting a better look of her body was appealing. They both stripped off their clothes laying them on the rock they had just been sitting on, and waded out into the water. Trealeina sank into the water then pushed herself forward and under the water, Rendalen not far behind her.

They swam a little, splashed a little, and generally just goofed around. It seemed like only one candlemark, but it had to be much later, as it was now dark. Trealeina had started to feel tired, and she thought maybe Rendalen looked like he was getting that way as well.

**Tamineth my dearest, we must go in now, we have lessons tomorrow, we must rest. ** She said to her lifemate as she started to climb out of the water.

:} alright, I would like to swim more though{: Tamineth replied sullenly.

**you will not fly well if you do not get enough rest** Trealeina insisted, ** we can come for a swim tomorrow evening after I do my chores.

Tamineth reluctantly climbed out of the water and shook as much of the water as she could from her hide. She turned her great head, eyes whirling a greenish color that they often took when Tamineth was being mischievous.

:} you will not have to go to the bathing pool tonight, I have already given you a bath.:{ Tamineth told her with what, Trealeina could have sworn was a smirk.

Trealeina laughed out loud as she climbed onto the rock that still held their drinks, and pulled her breeches on, then her tunic over her head. Rendalen heaved a heavy sigh as he pulled on his clothes.

"I thank you for company and the swim." he picked up his glass to finish it off. "One last glass? " he asked as he shook the skin he had brought the juice in. It had just enough for a half glass each.

"Ok, just a little more, I really must go in and check my gear for tomorrows lessons."

He filled her glass halfway, then poured the rest into his, then held it up in the gesture of a toast. "Well, to a new friend. " he turned his glass up and drained it in one swallow. Trealeina followed his example "yes, to a new
friend" and finished hers off.

Last updated on the July 24th 2008

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A New Friend