The Promised Starting Over (1/2)

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 5th September 2019

Characters: K'lvin, Riveenata
Description: K'lvin and Riv have a first date and start over, but the topics get serious.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 12, day 27 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: K'ran

K'lvin felt nervous as he tied his hair back and glanced over his
appearance in the mirror. The last time he had been nervous over a date
with a woman, he'd been wet behind the ears without even a bit of hair
on his chin. K'lvin had not expected, nor deserved Riveenata's
forgiveness, but since he had it, and since she was willing to give a
relationship with him another chance, he was not going to mess it up.
Before he had done everything he could to discourage her from wanting to
be with him, but now, now he would pursue her with all that he had.

}:Savith says that her rider is ready.:{ Xmrenth relayed to K'lvin, who
turned, scooped a covered basket onto his arm, and a folded blanket in
the other, and went to his waiting dragon.

Xmrenth's bronze hide was gleaming from a fresh bath and oiling, which
was just another part of K'lvin's determination to give the best
impression possible.

Flying down to the Weyrbowl, K'lvin smiled when he caught sight of
Riveenata in the promised sundress.

The greenrider had wound up borrowing a pretty dress from her sister, in
a bright light-blue shade that called to mind the color of the sea in a
tropical lagoon. It fell just below her knees and had a neckline that
was more low-cut and daring than she normally went for. After putting it
on in the morning, she had put her hair up not in her normal practical,
tight braids, but instead tied it back in a runner's-tail, then secured
it with a pretty tie. It would be easy to take down this way, and not
spending time braiding it meant that she could focus instead on applying
a small amount of cosmetics around her eyes and cheeks.

Savith, who was strapped up and waiting, huffed in her mind to her
rider, }:Xmrenth is bathed and oiled, I should be oiled.:{

**Hush, you. You were watching me bathe and oil myself with
fascination.** Well, the green hadn't literally been able to watch since
she didn't have a bathing pool in their weyr, but the green's presence
in her mind had made it clear she was fascinated, and she hadn't begged
her rider for a bath, so...

Spotting the bronzerider broke up their mental conversation. "K'lvin,
hello," she said with a broad smile.

K'lvin had to pry his tongue from the roof of his mouth. He had always
found Riveenata attractive, but the sight of her in the blue dress made
his heart skitter- and in a good way this time. "I've got a spot picked
out for us," he said, gesturing to the picnic basket and blanket. "Do
you want to ride with me and Xmrenth?" He offered mostly because he was
itching to have his arms around her.

"You kidnapping me away while my poor dragon stays home and lonely?" she
teased.

"Home and lonely?" K'lvin repeated with a grin. "Xmrenth very much
expects his mate to go with him to cuddle while we eat our picnic."

"What a shame, I was hoping to be trapped alone with a handsome
bronzerider and no way to leave without appealing to his better
nature..." she said with a wink.

Savith fluttered her wings at Xmrenth and let out a snort of air. }:I
don't know why my rider would not want me there,:{ she commented,
unaware of the way that Riveenata wasn't being serious.

}:Perhaps they wish to rub necks.:{ Xmrenth said matter-of-factly to the
green.

"Who says I have a better nature to appeal to?" K'lvin flashed her a
toothy smile.

"I can certainly try it and see how far I get, hmm?" She strolled up to
him, closing the last of the space between them, and brushed a light
kiss over his cheek.

**

The picnic spot that K'lvin had chosen wasn't far from the original
River Bluff Weyr. The grassy knoll that Xmrenth landed on was atop a
precipitous cliff that overlooked the sea below, and while the view was
beautiful, most importantly, it was private. That was the trouble with
Dolphin Cove beaches, K'lvin thought as he climbed down from Xmrenth and
began pulling down the blanket and basket he had packed, they were
always crowded.

"What do you think?" he asked Riveenata.

The greenrider was quiet for a moment as she slid off of the bronze's
back, patting him in thanks. She looked out over the sea, and breathed
in the air, and looked for landmarks she knew.

"I think I miss the sand being the right color," she said, finally.
Dolphin Cove's sand was very white, this was much more orange-yellow and
mixed with shells, and it was what she'd always known.

"Me too," he said truthfully. "I am disappointed that the new Weyrhold
they're working on won't be located near here." K'lvin had hoped to
return to the River Bluff territory, mostly for sentimental reasons.

"They're still going to overfly it here, right? They just found a
different actual site?"

"Yeah, the new location is by a large lake." K'lvin said as he spread
the blanket and put the basket down. He had been planning on talking
with Riveenata about it later, but ... "K'ran has asked me to go with him."

Of course, everyone had heard about the new weyrhold. She hadn't paid a
ton of attention to it because she hadn't seen the point. All she'd
heard right now, as a chromatic rider, was that the first batch of
dragonriders would mostly be the metallics - the golds who would hope to
be Senior Weyrwoman and the bronzes who hoped to win their way to the
Weyrleadership - as well as some riders with craft skills to fill out
the wing and work on labor.

She didn't know how long it would take to _actually_ get it built out
enough to support wings of riders beyond that initial group. So what was
the point in getting excited about whether or not she could figure out
how to get a spot to transfer there? She knew that for some people, it
was an all-consuming concept. Some people wanted to see a new territory
or claim the honor of being the First staff for a new Weyr; some wanted
to get away from problems here; a not small number of the former River
Bluff riders wanted to go back to a familiar over-flight region.

Really, the only relevance it had really had to her was the part where
her wing had a change-up in the leadership. As for her...well, after her
spectacular crack-up earlier this year and the punitive grounding, all
she really wanted was to keep her head down and not get in trouble
anymore. Besides, her family was here at Dolphin Cove, and her parents
kept saying they were too old to move again.

The result of all that was that because she wasn't interested, she'd
never stopped to imagine that people she cared about might actually be
going... so K'lvin's words sent her mind into a spin, her stomach
dropping in a way like it did when Savith lost altitude in a hard wind
gust. Her eyes widened at the news and her breath was sucked in and
caught, making an od hitching noise.

"He did?" she asked.

K'lvin could hear the difference in her voice. "He did," he confirmed,
looking up to meet her eyes. "I told him I would have to talk with you
before I could give him an answer. I know we haven't made any promises
to one another, especially not after my spectacular behavior, but I'm
not going to do anything that could jeopardize this."

Last updated on the September 9th 2019

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The Promised Starting Over (1/2)