A Little Visit

Writers: Rochelle
Date Posted: 1st February 2009

Characters: Ariau, Shaelis, Aothart
Description: Ariau receives an unexpected visit from her family.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 13, day 7 of Turn 4

Ariau squinted up at the sun beating down on the weyrbowl, wrinkling her nose. It was too nice a day to be doing hidework, even the more brainless stuff she had to do as a junior goldrider now. She wanted to be out, flying somewhere more exciting than River Bluff, but she'd been told in no uncertain terms by just about every person in the weyr that the hidework came first. _Then_ she could take Alabieth and go exploring somewhere, or just fly straight out over the ocean following the sun on the horizon until Alabieth's wings got tired and they went /between/ to the weyr again.

But the hidework came first, and she could even understand the reasoning why, no matter how it irked her when she wanted to _move_. So she'd compensating by sitting under her beautiful gold's wing as she sunned herself on their ledge.

The squeak of a firelizard caught her attention, but she forced herself to ignore it, concentrating so fiercely on the mid-numbing details of tithe records that she completely missed the sound of booted footsteps on stone.

"Look love. She's gone /between/ without a dragon again."

The hidework had not even hit the ground before she was flinging herself across the short distance from the wall to her grandparents' arms. They were laughing and grinning broadly, the sound as achingly familiar as the thin arms that wrapped around her.

"What are you doing here?" She exclaimed at last, pulling herself reluctantly back to look up at their faces.

"Just decided we'd visit, so we hitched a ride with a messenger." Her grandmother said airily. "The watchrider said it was sunny here, and we didn't feel like staying indoors at Dolphin Cove while it rained."

Her grandfather snorted, an indulgent grin on his face. "Among other things."

Ariau arched an eyebrow. "Other things?"

Her grandmother shot a friendly glare at her husband, and admitted reluctantly "I'm thinking about a new song."

"For the next Hatching." Her grandfather prodded dryly.

"I want to do something special for the new goldrider." Shaelis was glowering at her husband now, and despite her puzzlement Ariau found herself fighting the urge to laugh. It had been nearly a month since she'd last seen her grandparents, during a visit to Dolphin Cove on a restday, and she sorely missed their easy, loving banter.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't you?" Aothart continued his gentle tease, undaunted by his wife's expression.

"I've been working on Turn's End music." Her grandmother said defensively. "And I don't have to debut it at the Hatching anyway. I was thinking it might be more appropriate for when she goes to the wings."

"What does this have to do with me...?" Ariau asked slowly, trying to work her way through her grandmother's apparently work addled logic. "And isn't a song about Impression a little... wrong for a graduation?"

Shaelis waved the concern away. "It's not going to be an Impression song. There's enough of those already. I was thinking this would be more like... not a lament. A memorial of sorts, about how dreams change when faced with reality. The dreams a little girl has of Impressing gold is not the same as when it actually happens, and there's a sort of... nostalgia to them then."

Ariau stared at her grandmother mulling over the emotions stirred in her at the sound of the master composer's latest pet project. She was jealous for only a fleeting second -Shaelis had written a beautiful song just for her and Alabieth after she's Impressed the gold, and Ala' liked it when Ariau sang it to her in their weyr since she knew it was about her. But a song about the changing and lost dreams resulting from Impression... she wasn't sure what to think about that. It resounded so closely with her own occasional thoughts on the matter that it was almost disturbing.

"So you came here to ask my opinion...?" She said blankly, not really sure of her own question. Shardit, her brain must have been muddled by too much hidework!

Her grandfather chuckled. "No." Shaelis rolled her eyes at her husband, and smiled warmly at her granddaughter.

"Not exactly. We really did want to escape the rain at Dolphin Cove." She admitted with a laugh. "But what better way to do the research than to talk to my own granddaughter? I don't get to see you often enough for my liking anymore. Or you, Alabieth." She added courteously to the gold watching the proceedings below her outstretched wing with interest. The gold snorted.

"But only if you're free." Her grandfather added, patting Alabieth absently as he strolled over to the hidework lying on the stone where it had fallen from Ariau's lap. "If you're busy we can wait until you're done."

"Oh!" Ariau shook her head, hurriedly darting over to gather up the hated hidework. "No, I can break. We can go to the beach or somewhere. Just let me put these away..."

"The beach isn't necessary." Shaelis said dryly. "We're more interested in seeing to you. It's been a month. Tell us what's new. And we'll tell you about the latest prank the apprentices tried to pull at the Hall."

"The one with the tunnel snake guts in the the guitar strings?" Aothart asked, handing his granddaughter a runaway pencil.

Ariau scooped the hides up, not caring about the order, and darted into her weyr to drop them on her desk. She'd sort them out later. The tithe was already here, and was not going to go anywhere. Her grandparents came first.

Last updated on the February 17th 2009

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A Little Visit