Left To You

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 16th February 2007

Characters: R'haran
Description: R'haran starts to get some answers about his unexpected delivery.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 8 of Turn 4

He had managed to herd the five of them into a reasonably secluded corner of the dining hall – somewhere they could imagine they had some semblance of privacy. Five children, five small draw-string bags that couldn't hold more than a change of clothing and a favourite toy, and in his hand a letter from their seaholder that he was desperate to read.

But to read it in front of them was tantamount to treating them like the parcels their delivery had made of them. Instead he set the letter aside on the table and directed his questions to the eldest, another dark-haired girl, this one about ten Turns old.

"You lived with your grandfather, Rarwen –"

"Until he died," Sahna agreed. "Last month."

"Because your parents died –"

"Our father, Tahbi, in the storm this time last Turn that took most the fishing fleet. Our mother, Azzie, the Turn before when she was having Tibby."

They all looked at Tibby, R'haran looking down since the boy was settled on his lap. After they had dismounted the green dragon Sahna had lifted the sturdy two-Turn-old onto her hip before facing R'haran and he had been quick to offer to carry the boy. Sahna, even more than the others, bore more than just the wiriness of childhood and looked as if she might not have been getting enough to eat.

Tibby had been happy to be carried, but had refused a seat of his own, preferring to be held.

"You look like Granda," Iselen had said in explanation as their little group had settled at the table. Eventually somebody would pass and be kind (or curious) enough to offer to bring drinks and a snack but for the moment R'haran thought it more important to find out exactly what their situation was.

Theirs and his.

"No paternal family?"

"An uncle and two cousins who were with our father on his boat. And we have three cousins left, but they're all younger than we are. Than I am. Arwey's age."

R'haran nodded. "Rarwen didn't have any other children?"

"No, just our mother." Sahna's blue eyes met those of her uncle across the table, and her expression was determined. "Granda said you would take us. We were left to you in his Will."

"But he died a month ago." It wasn't a question but Sahna didn't seem to need much prompting to supply what he wanted. He caught the glance between her and Iselen and suspected that the pair of them hadn't always agreed on something about this.

"We wanted to stay there. It's our _home._"

A firm statement and he was being warned not to dispute it. He nodded.

"But there are so many children without fathers. Nearly the whole fleet was lost. The women who have children … Nobody could take us all."
She glared fiercely at the man who looked so like her grandfather but lived so far from everything they'd ever known. "We _have_ to stay together. Iselen and Tibby, _everybody._"

R'haran could guess how it had been. Iselen was probably only three Turns from being able to go out to sea on whatever boats the seahold was using as a fleet, so he would be an asset to any family. And Tibby – well youngsters were easy to integrate and the boy had a dark-haired blue-eyed charm that even R'haran was affected by. The others – two girls, in a seahold now overrun with girls to feed and not enough men to provide for them, and a boy with a lot of growing to do before he would be a provider. There must have been a lot of pressure on the family to split.

"You should read the seaholder's letter," Sahna said, glancing at the sealed paper before diving down to search something out from her draw-string bag. "And these. From Granda to you."

The greenrider reached slowly across the table to take the bundle of letters, saddened that they were the only way he would ever know his nephew. "Thank you. I'll read those later. For now –"

"Do you need some help here, sir?"

By the wide smile on the face of the lower caverns woman he could see she hadn't a single doubt that he did. "Something to drink – for the children. And to eat. If it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble for you." She looked curiously at the five thin faces and then back at the greenrider who looked slightly uncomfortable as he held one of the waifs on his lap. "Are all of these yours then?"

R'haran glanced down at the unopened letter from the seaholder but he didn't really need words from some distant man to tell him what his obligations were. He nodded. There would be time enough to let people know the intricacies of his kinship with the children but for the moment it was simple enough. "Yes, they're all mine."

Last updated on the February 17th 2007

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Left To You