The Sharpness of a Word

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 17th February 2025

Characters: Ki'ben, Vadira
Description: Vadira shares something with Ki’ben.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 1 of Turn 12
Notes: Notes: Directly follows “An Ambassador of a Different Kind”

Ki'ben

The sun helped keep the worst of the chill off the day, but even so, Vadira had come quite layered. Until she wasn’t. Ki’ben had an appetite, in more than one way, and despite half hearted protests, had finally given in. Thankfully, an extra blanket had been packed, and it was under this the two restled, her body curled up next to his, warm despite the chill in the air. His shoulder made a fine pillow and she closed her eyes, happy to bask in the moment. “It’s so nice being with you.”

Ki’ben was smiling up at the sky, eyes still closed as he breathed in deep gulps of the crisp air. Shards, this was the life. A warm, curvy woman under his fur with him, beautiful weather, Setoth waiting patiently (}:Actually, I’d like to be getting back to the Weyr. There was a glowing green who looked nearly ready when we left.:{) and not a care in the world.

“Yeah,” the young bronzerider murmured in agreement.

Idly, Vadira ran her fingers over the chest of her lover beneath the blanket where their bodies kept each other warm. For a moment, she lapsed into silence, simply tracing a trail back and forth over his skin, before finally breaking it. “It would be nice to be together more often.”

Ki’ben made a noncommittal noise but turned his head and pressed his lips gently to hers. He couldn’t tell her that on the restdays when he didn’t visit her, there was a lovely redhead at Lantern Ridge that he liked to take on picnics as well…

“What if….what if we were together more often. I could come to the Weyr.” Her hand stilled, and Vadira’s dark eyes peering out from equally dark lashes as she studied his face.

**Red flag. Red flag. Red flag.** Ki’ben kept his outward appearance calmer than his inner.

“But how would your family feel about that? I thought they had different plans for you?” Ki’ben said this words gently, as if the obstacle to her coming to the Weyr was her family rather than his own reticence to bring her to Dragonsfall.

Vadira’s eyes dropped, but her hand continued to move, that time tracing circles over his chest. The cool air that brushed her face contrasted sharply with the warmth in his arms. If she could have, she would have stayed there forever. Unfortunately, that was not possible, and she knew that her parents’ plans could no longer happen. “I…don’t have to tell them. I could just go. You could just take me with you.”

A little smile curved Ki’ben’s lips. “Now, how would that look? A bronzerider stealing a woman away from the Hold?”

“But I don’t have to stay here.” Her parents had plans, but they weren’t her plans. Vadira had fallen in love, and she wanted to be with Ki’ben. If she stayed at the hold, that wouldn’t be possible. Besides… “Things are going to get…complicated if I stay here.”

Ki’ben’s head cocked to the side as he turned to look at Vadira a bit more. “What do you mean?”

“I’m pregnant.” Turning her face up to him, she smiled, her expression hopeful, wistful, as all the thoughts of how beautiful a child between them would look, how happy they could be together, raising a family in the Weyr. It wasn’t the same as a hold, but she could adjust, she knew she could, and she would do so - for him, and for their child. “We’re going to have a baby, Ki’ben. Our baby…”

The bronzerider’s happy mask fled, leaving behind a startled, horrified expression. “You’re _what_?!” He extricated himself from her. Oh no, oh nooooooo. His uncle had tried to warn him, warn him that holder girls could be devious, use their wiles to try and get their way to the Weyr. But _this_? Vadira? He hadn’t thought her so conniving.

At Ki’ben’s response, her smile faded. She had thought he’d be happy at the news, but from the expression on his face and the tone of his voice, he was anything but. “I’m…I’m pregnant.” She repeated, her voice soft as she tried to process how he responded to her. “We’re going to have a baby…”

“Can you be sure it’s even _mine_?” He snapped the blanket back and began dressing with movements stiffened by anger.

A chill washed over her as the dragonrider withdrew, and it wasn’t the air that sent a freezing tingle down her spine. Rising, she quickly grabbed at her clothes, throwing them on to her as fast as she could. At his question, however, she stared at him, aghast. “What? How…how could you ask that!?”

“It just seems awfully _convenient_ that when there’s a gold egg on the Sands you turn up ‘pregnant’ and begging to come to the Weyr!” He shoved his arms into his flight jacket roughly.

Quickly pulling her clothes on, Vadira, taken aback by the scathing accusation, tugged her cloak around her, but it did little to ward off the chill that blew from the man’s chilly remarks. “The egg? Why would I care about a flaming egg? I don’t want to Stand! I don’t want to be a dragonrider!” Try as she might to restrain herself, the tears welled up in her eyes and the words came choking from her mouth. “I just want to be with you!”

“You _were_ with me, Vadira. What you wanted was _more_,” Ki’ben spat as he hurriedly vaulted to Setoth’s neck ridge. Anything to escape Vadira in that moment. The bronze dragon stepped back so that Vadira was clear of his wings before rearing back on his hind legs and then launching into the skies.

Forced by back the gust produced from the bronze’s wings, Vadira threw up her arm to ward of the dust and grit that flew at her face. By the time she could open her eyes again, Setoth was in the air, and she only spied Ki’ben’s form for the briefest moment before the two winked /between/ and disappeared. Staring in shock, Vadira’s entire world crumbled around her. All her hopes and dreams were dashed with the knife of Ki’ben’s betrayal. He had come to her, made her fall in love with him, drawn her into the deepest, most exquisite experiences of her life, given herself completely and utterly to him, but he turned his back upon her as soon as she produced a child.

Vadira tried to swallow, but choked even as the tears welled up in her eyes. For some time, she stared at the spot in the sky where the last glimpse of the dragon had struck a pose against the sky, a mighty beast caught on the canvas of her memory. Standing there, she tried to imagine a different ending. Perhaps he had simply been frightened by the idea, but he would return when he realised how much he loved her. Perhaps he would realise how foolish he was to abandon the woman he had wooed and bedded. Perhaps he would come back, his handsome face alight with laughter at a cruel joke he had played, but she would wrap her arms around him, envelope herself in his warmth and forgive him for he was her beloved.

But no matter how long she stared, the chill of the wind cutting through her clothes, unmoved by her heartbreak, the tears turning almost to ice as they trickled down her cheeks, the sky remained devoid of anything save the thick gray cast of clouds. Turning, she ignored the blanket, now rumpled and forgotten, the empty basket turned upon its side, the remnants of their meal tossed to the insects. She forgot about gathering up the items she had so cheerfully brought with her, filled with food that she had packed with her heart glowing and full, ready to meet the one whom she loved, whom she thought she would have a future with.

As she trudged back toward Shadow Mountain, her head hanging heavily down, her hands clutching desperately at her cloak, though it offered no comfort to the chill in her heart, water fell from above, first one drop, then another, and another. In moments, they tumbled down in sheets, the weather pouring down and drowning everything in its own torrent of tears.

Last updated on the February 24th 2025

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The Sharpness of a Word