A/n: hope you liked the last chapter. I've been told that I needed to fill in some gaps, so I've been revising the chapters as I've been re-formatting them. Still don't have a name for the little stuffed dragon, and I still don't own anything from Pern or Sonnette's Dawn, or Thread's End Weyr. I do however, own R'ahvin and Et'an, hehe.
Changes
(The following morning)
K'dra arose early the next morning and pulled her pants on quietly. Terranth was just beginning to stir, her wide open in a massive yawn. K'dra snagged a tunic from the chest and a jar of rubbing oil. She tossed the tunic on the bed and opened the oil, slathering it on her back to ease the itching and soothe her left shoulder.
K'dra's back and right shoulder had healed up very nice and left no noticeable scars, the Thread only grazing that part. Her left shoulder was not so fortunate, it had taken the brunt of it, piercing straight to the bone, and leaving a vertical scar about two inches long on her back. It was still sore from time to time, and but not as often as before.
It also started to throb softly on the day when Thread was due to fall, which was ironically amusing to K'dra. The scar wouldn't be very noticeable unless her tan darkened any more than it already was. Finishing that, she wiped her hands and pulled on the tunic and belted it, shrugging into her fur-lined boots.
I itch, Terranth complained from her weyr.
K'dra hurried to scratch the offending spot and then tended to her dragon's daily oiling.
Thread's falling today.
K'dra knew how her dragon felt. She, too, wanted to be out there fighting with the wings today.
"Soon, dragon-love. Soon. Our turn will come again."
Habit was not so easily forgotten, and K'dra checked over her equipment and riding straps, giving them a good oiling for good measure and then hung them up to dry. It was good to keep the equipment in good condition for when they were allowed between.
You need to eat, Terranth told her after she stretched.
"I don't know if I can. I'm so stuffed from last night."
Regardless, you should be there to support your fellow dragonriders.
Terranth nudged K'dra toward the weyr steps, eyes whirling softly.
"I don't suppose arguing with you is going to do much good."
No.
K'dra went down the stairs and crossed the Bowl to the kitchen. She immediately spotted a friendly face and made her way on over.
"Hello, R'ahvin."
The bronze rider looked up from his klah and smiled.
"K'dra. Please sit down."
K'dra sat down and accepted a cup of klah from a passing drudge, who cast a sidelong glance at R'ahvin.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
K'dra took a sip of her klah before answering.
"Terranth told me I had to be here for the moral support of my fellow dragonriders. Yours was the first face I saw, so I came over."
R'ahvin smiled.
"So you came to give me moral support?"
"No, I just came here to please my dragon. You were just an added bonus," K'dra teased.
"Ah, so it wasn't my company you sought," he gave a mournful sigh. K'dra laughed.
"Regardless what my intentions, I always enjoy your company," she quipped.
"You're not going to eat breakfast?" he asked, taking a bite of fruit.
"Probably not. I might snatch a few pieces of fruit off your plate but I am so stuffed from last night."
K'dra suited words to action and seized a sweet melon from his plate and bit into it, the juices dribbling down her chin. She wiped the juice of her chin and licked the juice from her fingers.
"This is good."
"Glad you approve. Speaking of last night, where did you go? You weren't in your weyr."
"I went to Sonnette's Dawn Hold for dinner," she answered candidly. "You came to my weyr?"
"Oh?" The dinner part perked the bronze rider's interest and he didn't hear the last.
Did she have a lover at the Hold?
He was amazed at the twinge of jealousy that thought provoked.
"Did you find the company enjoyable?"
Seeing as he wasn't going to answer her question she sat deeper in her seat, thinking back over the marvelous time she'd had with her family, made all the more pleasing when her brother Malachi brought over his sweetheart Largo, to announce their upcoming espousal within the next few months. K'dra could honestly say she had found the company most enjoyable.
"Absolutely."
She suddenly caught R'ahvin's expression and figured out that he didn't know she had spent the evening with her family. She laughed anew.
She is having a joke at your expense, Xenith remarked from his place on the ledge outside.
"You didn't spend your time with the type of company I was thinking about were you?"
She shook her head no, trying to contain her glee at having inadvertently caught the bronze rider off guard. He relaxed and smiled.
"All right, who'd you see?" he asked on a mock sigh.
"You sure you want to know?"
She still continued to bait him! She must have been totally relaxed for she was never this free in her teasing unless in the company of S'na or Et'an.
"Yes, I'm sure I want to know."
"Well, first you answer my question. Why were you at my weyr last night?"
"Just wanted to see if you wanted some company. You've been working yourself hard to get back in shape."
"I'm not sure I completely believe that, but it was an answer. Anyway, about last night, Terranth refused to let me eat at the Weyr. She took me to my brother Gavin's place. What we didn't know was that my parents and sister, along with their adopted son, were also coming over for dinner. So I spent the rest of the day with my family, giving my niece, nephew, and new brother some rides on Terranth. Then I came back home. I'm surprised you forgot I had family nearby."
K'dra's eyes sparkled and R'ahvin had to admit that night had done her a world of good. She didn't look so edgy; especially after they had fought two more Thread falls since she was injured. Once in a while, every rider needed a break sometime.
A quartet of riders came in the kitchen just then. They were K'tal, S'na, Et'an, and one other rider who came from a different Weyr. K'dra didn't know her.
"Who's that?"
R'ahvin looked over at the girl K'dra was looking at.
"You don't know?"
How often was K'dra going to hear that phrase? She gave R'ahvin a look.
"Guess not. That's Et'an's new weyrmate, Bria, green Jynth's rider."
"Really?"
K'dra waited for a spark of jealousy to ignite and found there was only relief. She was curious of how the rider got a hold of Et'an.
"You're not angry?"
"No. Why should I be?"
"You shouldn't. It's just that you and Et'an were always so close everyone assumed…" he trailed off.
"Yes, but that still doesn't answer my question," she remarked pointedly.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Well, after Tilanth didn't fly Shrith, he felt very out of sorts. That happens to the losers of mating flights. I should know."
R'ahvin shrugged.
"A'dlar sent him to Halcyon Weyr to take a message to S'gal, the Weyrleader, and Bria's green Jynth was rising. He flew her. Bria transferred over here; she was one of the ones who were coming anyway. And she genuinely likes Et'an, I guess, or enough so that she decided to come and find out if things will last."
"So soon after one night?"
Again, R'ahvin shrugged. K'dra just shook her head and mumbled something under her breath.
"What'd you say?"
"I said there must be something in the air. First it was Shrith and Kittith, then my brother Malachi and his new fiancé, and now Tilanth and Jynth. I suppose I'm next," K'dra added ruefully.
Then she fell silent and looked away in the distance. R'ahvin grew curious and questioned his dragon.
She is deep in thought, Xenith answered. She wishes to fight Thread.
Is that all? So little and not very informative, unless you counted that last little bit.
I can't read her mind you know, the great bronze dragon cut in. Only yours.
Couldn't you ask Terranth?
No. There was a pause. Terranth is sleeping in her weyr.
K'dra glanced up at him, quirking a questioning eyebrow.
"Trying to get into my thoughts?"
R'ahvin laughed at being caught out.
"You could have asked."
"Yes, but you were so quiet."
K'dra ducked her head down to hide her smile.
"Do I have to send you back to your brother?"
K'dra's eyes sparkled their mirth and she gave him a smug grin.
"No. But you do have to fight Thread."
"What?"
"You've got to go."
Indeed, it was time for the dragonriders to leave. R'ahvin swore softly under his breath. He turned his attention back to K'dra and pointed a finger at her.
"I'll deal with you later," he promised.
"Anytime," she smirked at his parting look, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him. She chuckled as she watched him leave, and when he was gone, she went back to filching food from off his plate, and sipping her klah with a smile on her lips.
R'ahvin was never so glad that the fall was over with. Xenith landed as gently as possible and crooned encouragingly to his rider.
"Don't worry, I'll go to the infirmary immediately. Who's working there?"
He added as he saw the journeyman healer and the headwoman of the Weyr taking care of one of the riders who was more seriously injured and his dragon, both who were scored pretty bad.
Terranth's rider.
R'ahvin jerked up.
"What?"
Terranth's rider is working in the infirmary.
The big bronze tilted his head, inclining an eye at his rider for his absentmindedness.
"Oh."
Xenith gave R'ahvin's uninjured arm a nudge.
Go get patched up.
R'ahvin followed his dragon's order, and made his way to the infirmary. It took a few seconds to adjust his eyes to the dimmer light of the infirmary, but that was okay.
R'ahvin paused at the threshold as he watched K'dra work to patch up rider who had been laced and just admired at the efficient and capable way she worked. She obviously had learned some healing arts along the way somewhere. She moved with a natural grace and she wore a light blue broomstick skirt with a loose fitting matching tunic, silver bangle bracelet and necklace only accenting the outfit, along with a silver belly chain in place of a belt. R'ahvin had to reign in his thoughts as they took a decidedly more manly interest in her than as a healer.
K'dra finished bandaging the last rider's wounds and sent him on his way.
"Whew. I'm glad that's the last one."
"So am I."
She spun around to see R'ahvin lounging carelessly against the doorjamb, arms crossed in front of him, hair sweaty and mussed up. Sweat beaded his forehead and made trails in the thin layer of dust on his face. He was watching her intently.
For some reason, that was disconcerting and K'dra became shy. He looked like every female's fantasy, and she quickly turned back to put all the extra bandages away. Where was Candy and that journeyman healer anyway?
Attending the seriously wounded in their weyrs.
That was a rhetorical question, Terranth.
Behind you.
What?
Watch it.
K'dra started when she became aware that R'ahvin was now beside her. She looked up at him.
"Did you need something, R'ahvin?"
Why was she acting like this? It was only R'ahvin she told herself.
"Yes. I got scored."
K'dra stopped rolling up the bandages to give R'ahvin a good looking over. Sure enough, the jacket and tunic on his left arm was chewed off, and the skin was agitated where the Thread had broken through and got a hold of it.
"Oh, R'ahvin! Why didn't you say so in the first place?"
With deft hands she sat him down in the chair just vacated and ran to get the rest of the numbweed simmering in the hearth. She made R'ahvin take off the remains of his jacket and tunic underneath in order to assess the extent of the damage.
It wasn't very deep, just a graze (his jacket and tunic took the brunt of it) because Xenith went between so fast.
"Does it hurt that much?" she asked as she prepared the numbweed to it's proper consistency.
"A little bit. Some of it grazed my ribs though."
Mercy! The man acted like getting scored was No Big Deal. K'dra dutifully put the numbweed on his arm and ribcage, and then searched him for any more scoring.
R'ahvin relaxed to K'dra's care, noting the gentleness in which she worked, and yet the total ease and confidence of someone very skilled in this kind of thing.
"Where did you learn to take care of someone so well?" he asked as she unrolled a bandage to put on his arm. She paused slightly to look at him.
"My family were merchants and men and animals often became ill in places where no healer could be reached easily. Like in the middle of Igen Plain or the forests Lemos. Most small holds don't have one," she explained as she began swathe his arm.
"My mother and Aunt Indira were familiar in the Healer Craft; Auntie actually studied under a master before she married my Uncle Kieran. And my grandfather on my mother's side was a Healer. As the second eldest female cousin, it became my duty to care for the sick. I've had a lot of practice."
She was silent as she started wrapping the bandage around his ribs. He had a broad chest that tapered down to a narrow waist and tight abs, and she had to lean into him in order to get the bandage around. It was unsettling for her the way her heart pounded, as she was so near, and the scent of him seemed to fill her senses. She cleared her throat.
"There you go."
She paused to admire her work before starting to roll the remaining bandages and put them away. R'ahvin didn't try to stop her this time: he flexed his arm experimentally moved his upper body around. The bandages held. He then watched K'dra tidy up, liking and enjoying what he saw.
Had she only Impressed a queen she would have made some Weyrwoman, he thought with a smile.
But if she had, you wouldn't have become her friend, Xenith pointed out. You like, respect and appreciate her more because she has not been your lover first.
R'ahvin became very still as he let the words of his dragon sink in. This was something that he had never considered and it hadn't crossed his mind before. It was true. He didn't have any female friends. Lovers yes, flirtations and dalliances, but not friends. He was surprised to find that to be truth.
"R'ahvin?"
He jerked his head up to see K'dra before him, her pale blue eyes concerned as she gazed at him.
"Are you feeling okay?"
She put a hand on his forehead, worried that he might have caught something from between.
"Hmm? Yes, uh, why?"
K'dra's hand on his bare skin was doing funny things to his heart and breathing.
"You sort of blanked out there for a minute. You sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure."
R'ahvin then looked at her in such a way that she became uncomfortable again, and realized she had her hand on the side of his face, and he was shirtless. Quickly, she pulled her hand back and backed away from him, rising from her crouch before him.
"Well, if you're all right, then I'd better go."
With that, she nearly ran out of the infirmary to get away from his intense stare.
R'ahvin just gazed after her, a thoughtful expression on his mobile face for many minutes afterward.
The Weyrleaders wish to speak to you. They come.
Warned by his dragon, R'ahvin quickly pulled on his tunic, tear and all. He had time enough only to button and leave it untucked before A'dlar and Myna appeared in the infirmary.
Myna was a strong Weyrwoman with a no-nonsense air. Her sharp eyes measured R'ahvin up in an instant, and a smile curved her lips. At another time, R'ahvin would have flirted with the queen's rider but instead he bowed his head respectfully.
"A'dlar, my lady Myna."
Before the greeting was out of his mouth, R'ahvin got another surprise when his own Weyrleaders, S'gal and Sakura, stepped in also.
"S'gal! Sakura! What are you doing here?" S'gal smiled at his old friend.
"We came to see why our best wingleader had been absent so long."
"And to our surprised dismay, we hear from Xenith you were injured," Sakura added, her pretty smile alluring, but holding no interest to R'ahvin, who happened to be her older brother.
Tattle-tale.
The queen asked me, Xenith defended himself, not the least bit repentant.
"Yes, ma'am. Just a graze. K'dra fixed me up superbly. She does an excellent job of it."
A'dlar and Myna exchanged glances, partly amused while Sakura asked knowingly,
"Really? And who is this K'dra? Your new bedmate?"
"No, K'dra is green Terranth's rider," A'dlar answered.
Now it was S'gal and Sakura's turn to exchange looks. R'ahvin could guess what they were thinking, 'A female green dragonrider?' It's what he thought when C'ran first told him of K'dra and S'na.
"K'dra is just a friend," R'ahvin spoke up, wondering that he felt so defensive.
Because she is your friend.
"And furthermore, she does not share my bed. She turned my offer down politely."
Which was all the truth. She didn't share his bed and she had been very polite when she thanked him for showing an interest in her, but that she'd have to decline. Those were her very words, by the First Egg.
It was still kind of hard to admit that a girl had refused him, but it became easier. The Weyrleaders grinned in amusement as they could imagine the blow R'ahvin's ego had taken.
"A green dragonrider turned your company down?" The little sister in Sakura found this appealing and she smiled.
"She was only a weyrling then, too," A'dlar added with a malicious grin. S'gal howled with laughter.
"And you still became friends? I must meet this girl," Sakura grinned at her brother, eyes dancing with mirth.
"She is no girl any longer," Myna spoke up. "She has passed eighteen Turns and fought Thread valiantly. She was scored badly enough to keep her from fighting Thread for these past few seven-days, but she took it with maturity. No girl would have done that."
The Weyrwoman of Thread's End Weyr spoke with no small amount of pride, and one would think K'dra was Myna's own from the way she spoke. R'ahvin felt proud of K'dra, but for a very different reason entirely.
"You'll meet her sooner than you think, Sakura."
All eyes turned to R'ahvin. He glanced at the Thread's End Weyrleaders.
"K'dra has always been one of my choices to take back to Halcyon Weyr. She has certain skills and been through situations which have molded her into a superb dragonrider from being craftbred. I think she, and us at Halcyon Weyr, would benefit from this trade."
The Weyrleaders were listening intently.
"I had been planning on bringing this up with you later, but I was scored."
R'ahvin shrugged at that setback, careful not to jar his injuries.
"Are you sure you want K'dra?" Myna asked. "It'll be another two seven-day before she can fight Thread, and one seven-day before she's allowed between."
"With all due respect, I have spoken to Journeyman Healer Doming and to Candy, who have been taking care of her since she was injured. They agree that she has healed quicker than they'd anticipated and can go between at anytime. As to fighting Thread, this gives her two seven-days to ride sweep and get to know the land and people of Halcyon Weyr."
R'ahvin fell silent to let the Weyrleaders think it over. There were a lot of looks exchanged, but then A'dlar started grinning first, then S'gal, and finally the two Weyrwoman, though Myna still looked a tad doubtful.
"Looks like you covered all your bases," S'gal chortled, slapping R'ahvin's good shoulder heartily.
Sakura smiled, and A'dlar openly laughed. Myna was the only one who was serious, even though she smiled a little.
"Have you thought about taking one of the other two?" she asked quietly.
"The other two?" Sakura raised her eyebrows.
"Thread's End Weyr has a running amusement with K'dra and her two companions, both dragonriders. Green Shrith's rider, S'na, who is female by the way, and brown Tilanth's rider, Et'an," R'ahvin began to explain but was cut off by S'gal.
"Et'an, brown Tilanth's rider? The same one who took green Jynth's rider Bria here?"
The other two Weyrleaders and R'ahvin nodded.
"Curiouser and curiouser. Please continue." A'dlar picked up where R'ahvin left off.
"Never saw three riders so close and not share the same bed. Up till blue Kittith's rider took S'na as weyrmate and flew her green, the three were inseparable, both before the Hatching where they Impressed, and it's carried on. They're so close their dragons call them by name."
"But S'na and K'tal are weyrmates now, and Et'an is pretty dedicated to Bria since Tilanth flew Jynth. Breaking them up won't be so drastic as a few months back," R'ahvin interjected calmly and logically.
"K'dra is also the only one of the three who has never taken a lover and perhaps being at a different Weyr will help break that reserve, at least enough so she won't inhibit Terranth when she rises. Which should be soon."
"That two seven-days will also give Terranth some variety in choosing a mate," S'gal remarked slyly, giving his favorite wingleader a sidelong look.
"Exactly."
There was a moment of silence for a moment before Myna asked,
"Who else?"