Flit Smart, Dragon Man and Pet...Not So Much

Writers: Miriah, Heather
Date Posted: 29th June 2014

Characters: K'lvin, Bahji
Description: Sometimes dragons and flits are smarter than their partners.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 7, day 19 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: E'rae, D'arvn, U'fouinn

There was no one there. Burst's nose twitched as he surveyed the
familiar weyr. His pet may have put away all the treats in the shared
weyr, but he remembered where to get more. Licking his teeth, his
whirling eyes darted around the room. With a gleeful chirp, he landed
on the table. There were always treats. Always. He just had to find
them.

His nose rapidly twitching, he caught the scent. Jerky! With a bound,
he leapt towards the cabinets and landing on them, pawed one of the
doors below him open to thrust his head into it. Nothing. Huffing, he
moved to the other door and scrabbled it open. AHA! There was a small
bag that the delicious scent was wafting out of. Giving a tinny whoop
of excitement, he yanked it out, bringing a few cups clattering to
the floor. He ignored them and tugged at the opening.

K'lvin had been in his office working through some papers when he
heard the commotion coming from his weyr. Frowning, the Wingleader
pushed away from his desk and slowly eased into the main room, his
eyes sweeping from side to side. The moving of a cabinet door caught
his attention, and his eyebrows quirked upwards when he saw a bronze
tail sticking out.

With a little smirk, K'lvin swung the cabinet door fully open to
reveal the bronze flit with his head inside a bag of dried jerky,
"Good afternoon, Burst, by all means, help yourself." He drawled
sarcastically as he reached for the bag of treats. He hadn't seen the
bronze firelizard since the day that Bahji disappeared.

Burst squawked in surprise and nearly tumbled out of the cabinet. He
righted himself and clutched at the bag, darting out of the cabinet to
land on the table. He had found it! It was his! Little talons gripped
the bag as he chittered at K'lvin, clearly offended at the thought of
having his prize taken away.

"I will let you have some treats, but not with your whole head in the
bag." K'lvin said, already sounding exasperated. He didn't have the
patience for flits.

}:Little one,:{ Xmrenth broke into the stand-off, }:my rider would
like to hand you the treats one at a time. Yes? He has been very
worried about your friend.:{ The bronze sent a mental picture of Bahji
that he had plucked from K'lvin's thoughts.

**What are you doing, Xmrenth?** K'lvin demanded.

}:Getting answers. Follow my lead.:{

Burst's head turned from side to side before looking down at the bag.
He slowly put down the bag and wiggled back, but didn't move his gaze
from the bag for a moment after he did so. Distracted by the thoughts
of jerky, he sent back a picture of his pet, curled up in a bundle of
furs inside a stone room. It was obviously a weyr, but the image of
Bahji revealed her thinner frame and the dark circles under her closed
eyes. ~~Treat?~~

Xmrenth passed along the image to K'lvin, who sat down heavily in the
chair by the table, his hand automatically pulling out a treat and
sliding it to Burst. **She is back in the Weyr, Xmrenth. She's back
and she didn't even tell me. Like I even have a right to know.**

}:Now is not the time for your self-loathing pity party,:{ Xmrenth
chided, before focusing again on Burst, }:And how is your pet doing?:{

~~Sad sad, sick. Tired.~~ Burst snatched the jerky up and began
bolting it down, chewing with obvious relish. ~~Alone but not.~~

}:He said she is sad, sick, and tired. She is apparently living with
someone. Give him another treat while I find out more.:{ Xmrenth
instructed as he turned his attention back to Burst.

}:I am sorry to hear that:{ he crooned sympathetically, }:who is
taking care of her?:{

K'lvin's lips were drawn in to a thin line as he recalled the circles
under Bahji's eyes. Was it all because of the miscarriage he had
caused? Had he basically killed the one person he wished to protect
the most? For the first time he wondered if it would have been kinder
to allow her to carry the babes and risk death in childbirth. At least
she would have been content with that. Saving her had been done out of
pure selfish reasons, K'lvin knew.

Burst chewed the last piece of the jerky and licked his talons before
he answered. He was far too engrossed in the taste to think about the
privacy that Bahji wanted. He sent an image of U'fouinn and D'arvn
with a very quiet Bahji. She was picking at her food and attempting to
smile. Then as if irritated by the image, he sent an older image of
the angry blue rider and Bahji yelling at each other at a small
cothold. He gave a mental grumble with the feeling that he liked
K'lvin and the blue rider D'arvn much better than the yelling blue
rider.

At the yelling image of E'rae, K'lvin's hands clenched into fists.
**That scrawny little piece of wher shit!** He
would never have dreamed that the lowlife would have sought her out
when she had clearly left the Weyr for space and privacy.

It calmed K'lvin immensely that it was U'fouinn and D'arvn with Bahji.
He trusted the two men with her care and had no doubt she was in good
hands. It was clear she did not wish for him to bother her, and K'lvin
vowed that he would never be a bother to Bahji again.

K'lvin slid one last treat across the table.

}:Thank you for visiting with us, Burst. We won't tell your pet about
the extra treats if you won't.:{ Xmrenth added in slyly.

The little bronze picked up the jerky, but looked up at K'lvin.
Tilting his head, he sent an image to Xmrenth of K'lvin holding Bahji
as he had when she had sought comfort before, not after the trip
between, but before after a previous fight with the angry blue man.
She had a relieved smile on her face as she curled up with him. There
was a questioning to the image. K'lvin had held his pet before when
she wasn't feeling good. Why couldn't he now?

Xmrenth did not pass those images on to K'lvin, he was sure his rider
remembered them, instead he sent back to the flit the reinforcing
picture of U'fouinn and D'arvn, }:She already has people to comfort
her, yes? My rider does not wish to bother her like the angry
bluerider did.:{

Burst considered the image for a moment, then huffed loudly, ending it
with a snort.
~~different~~ Stubborn, the little firelizard hopped up on K'lvin's
shoulder and nudged at his cheek with a warm nose.
~~not angry blueman. Sad sad. Come.~~

K'lvin scratched the top of the flit's head, "Come on, Burst, I will
take you back to U'fouinn and D'arvn's." But the moment Bahji asked
him to leave he would be gone.

A smug chirp followed as Burst wrapped his tail lightly around
K'lvin's neck to steady himself. There was a distinct air of
satisfaction about the flit as he sent his feelings to the bronze
outside. ~~smart dragon man~~

As he walked the corridors with Burst, K'lvin's stomach churned
nervously. He couldn't remember the last time he had been nervous,
yet, the thought of the blind weaver he had hurt was enough to make
him sweat. When he arrived outside D'arvn's weyr he let out a slow
exhale and knocked on the door.

For a long while, there was no answer, but Burst remained on K'lvin's
shoulder, his chest still puffed up with smug satisfaction. He
chirruped eagerly and stared at the door. The door creaked open and
Bahji appeared, looking rumpled as if she had just woken. Her hair
was mussed and she looked both tired and uncertain. She hung back from
the door, head tilted slightly to catch sounds. "D'arvn and U'fo
aren't here."

"I know," K'lvin's voice was soft, "Burst came seeking treats in my
weyr. He wanted to bring me to you so that I could comfort you. I
didn't really know how to tell him that it was not a good idea for me
to be here."

At first there was no response and then emotions flittered over
Bahji's face: fear, grief, anger, panic, relief and uncertainty.
"K'lvin?" Her voice was wispy, as if disbelieving her own ears. Her
hand tightened on the door frame as she swallowed. This wasn't
something she had remotely prepared for. So, she fainted, tumbling
down to the ground.

"Bahji!" K'lvin cursed under his breath as he reached down and scooped
the woman up in his arms. Automatically his mind noted how much
lighter she felt than he remembered. Carrying her into the weyr he
laid her carefully on the lounge, "Bahji." He stroked her face
lightly.

Burst had immediately left K'lvin's shoulder and as he laid Bahji
down, hopped up next to her prone shoulder and snuggled up against
her, crooning softly.

As he touched her face, Bahji's eyes fluttered in response, turning
her face to press against his hand. Her eyes slowly opened and there
was a momentary expression of confusion on her face. "What..." Her
brow furrowed, then she went utterly still.

K'lvin withdrew his hand immediately. His voice was soft as he spoke,
as if he were afraid that speaking any louder might cause her to faint
again, "Its me. You fainted at the door so I brought you in. I will
leave now if you want. I didn't mean to intrude."

Bahji didn't say anything at first, but felt the loss of warmth from
his hand distinctly. Her breaths were slow and even, if a bit shaky.
She really didn't know what to say to him. She tried calling on her
anger, but it just wouldn't come, instead there was only regret. "Why
did you come here?" Her voice was just as soft. "I'm still upset at
you."

"I know you are, I deserve it." He studied the sharp angles of her
face, more defined than before, "Burst came to my weyr tonight," he
gave a little chuckle, "I found him with his head in my bag of dried
jerky. He wanted me to come and... help you. I didn't know how to
explain to him that there was no way you wanted me here. I wouldn't
have come had he not been there."

At that, she turned her head to Burst, who lay against her attempting
an expression of innocence. "You know better." The little bronze gave
a soothing croon and she sighed."I've not been giving him as much
attention. I'm not surprised." She turned her head back towards
K'lvin. "Why didn't you just talk to me first, K'lvin?" Her vice was
pained. "Why didn't you just help me make that decision?"

"Because you were set, Bahji. Would you have listened to me? If I had
told you I wanted you to go /between/ you would never have gotten on a
dragon with me again." It still didn't make it right, but K'lvjn
couldn't go back and change it.

"But you didn't even try. I trusted you to help me, not make decisions
for me." She closed her eyes tightly to stem the tears that
threatened. She was so tired of crying! "I'm just so...angry with
you. No...not angry. Hurt. I'm hurt. And I don't know how to stop
being hurt, especially since..." She swallowed hard, "I can hear hurt
in your voice too."

K'lvin bowed his head, "I know I broke your trust. I wish I could take
your hurt away and bear that too." He would take all of the blame, and
all of her heart if it were possible. She deserved more.

"You can't." She lifted a hand, found his arm and followed it to his
shoulder and then to his face. She laid the palm of her hand against
his cheek. She just kept it there for a long moment before speaking
softly. "Did you do it to save me?"

"Of course." His voice was ragged, moisture trailed from the corners
of his eyes, down onto Bahji's hand.

She felt the tears and her thumb brushed them away. "Don't make any
decisions for me again, K'lvin." She swallowed. "I'm still angry and
I'm still hurt. But I've missed you." There was a quaver in her voice.
"Hold me?"

K'lvin did not need to be told twice, he gathered Bahji in his arms,
inhaling her wonderful scent as he pressed a kiss to the top of her
head, and then rested his cheek against her hair, "I have missed you
too."

She pressed her face against his neck, curling against him and taking
comfort in the warmth of his arms. It was so familiar, so soothing.
She pressed tight and closed her eyes, letting her hand curl against
his chest. Burst had known better than both of them, she supposed. She
gave a shuddering sigh. "I'm still mad at you." She murmured softly,
but didn't stop herself from inhaling the scent of him and basking in
the comfort.

"I am okay with that." K'lvin replied back, one large hand stroking
soothing circles on Bahji's back. As long as she allowed him to care
for her, he could deal with the anger.

}:Well done, little one. Well done.:{ Xmrenth spoke privately to Burst.

~~Burst smart~~ The little bronze settled on the arm of the couch and
peered at his accomplishment with no small amount of pride.

Last updated on the July 1st 2014

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Flit Smart, Dragon Man and Pet...Not So Much