Breakfast Visitor

Writers: AL, Clancey
Date Posted: 1st May 2008

Characters: Mai, Ciara
Description: Still in the Infirmary 3 sevendays after her son's birth, Mai receives a visitor.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 13 of Turn 4

Ciara

"Mai?" Ciara's soft voice called out to the woman as she approached the area of the infirmary where she was staying. "Care for some company?" The greenrider offered a smile, one hand reaching up to run through her tight curls.

Mai shifted her too-small son to her other arm; he was going to wake up and be hungry any moment. Sleepily, she peered out through the curtains. That sounded like Ciara!

Pleased, Mai called out softly, "Come in, Ciara."

The Mai surrounded by a large bile of bedfurs looked much less like the Mai that had come into the Infirmary a little over 3 sevendays ago, in labor.
Her eyes were tired, her cheeks a bit hollow and pale, and she was alot smaller in her middle. But despite all that, there was a burning, glowing joy that seemed to kindle almost to blindness when those weary blue eyes gazed at their mirror image in her small son.
K'reyel's son.

Ciara couldn't help but smile at the vision that greeted her. SHe moved over to a chair that was placed off to the side, took it up, and placed it by the bed. She lowered herself into it as she studied the tiny babe. "How are you feeling?"

"Hello Ciara." She greeted her warmly. Ciara was only around 10 turns older than her, but being Weyrmated to K'reyel's father made for a relationship she couldn't quite label. Friend was all she knew, and that was just fine.

"I feel alright; tired. He wakes up so often, and he's always hungry.
The Healers say that is a good sign, though, so I don't begrudge him a moment of my own rest. I was so scared Mayel would never be born..."
She smiled a bit, faintly, and then brighter. "But he is, and so that is that. I wish they would let us go home, though. He visits often, but I miss K'reyel... and he's been so busy..." she trailed off, realizing that might be a sensitive subject at the moment.

"I'm glad he's doing well." Ciara reached out to gently caress the tiny cheek. She had to spend some time in the infirmary before and knew that sometimes being in one's own bed to recover was much more preferable to that of the infirmary's. "Have they said anything about when you will be able to leave?"

A snort followed that - a rare sign of her spirit returning. "They keep saying a day or two. Then, after a day or two, they say another day or two. They surround me like felines eyeing a large canine of unknown temperament and all they say is 'well, maybe another day..'".

Mayel chose that moment to wake. In his sleep, he had moved a bit toward the soft caress. He cried very little, which worried Mai. All her siblings and their children and her various relations had all cried like wherry when they awoke. His small face was wrinkled and his lips make a sucking motion she recognized. Without thought, she unlaced her special tunic a bit and laid him at her breast to feed.
With so many watching her, and Mayel's high demands on her, she had long ago shed modesty.

"Hungry thing, though." She laughed softly. "When he's done, would you like to hold him?"

"I would love to hold him." Ciara loved Radela, but she was no longer a tiny baby. Her youngest was growing fast, crawling everywhere, pulling herself up, and on the very threshold of walking. There was something about babies, particularly new babies, that always seemed to pull at her. "He's feeding well then? Is he a guzzler? Radela always ate really fast - sometimes so fast she would swallow wrong and start to choke a bit."

Mai considered the question as she gazed down at her son, suckling peacefully. "I don't really know if he's a 'guzzler'.. He's my first one. He eats often, and steadily. I can almost see him growing, really, though." She glanced up at Ciara and smiled warmly at her.

"And how is Radela? She must be growing fast now."

"She is. Growing too fast." Ciara sighed, the sound wistful. "I feel like all I did was blink and she's eating solids. Then blink and she's crawling. She's so very close to walking now."

"My goodness! It will be so interesting to watch my little man here grow. I hope he does grow..." She glanced down at him again, her eyes pinched a little in worry. If he was fine, and healthy, why were they still here in the Infirmary? It had been 3 sevendays!

Mai had no idea, really, how close both she and her son had come to dying. No one had told her - on purpose.

A little 'pop' sounded as he finished his breakfast. The smile returned and she began to clean him up a bit and lifted him to her shoulder, patting his back. "Ciara...:" she said in a questioning tone. "..will you foster Radela? Or do you already?"

"I just recently fostered her." It had been hard to do that, as it had been with her first. Had Thread not come, maybe things could have been different. But thread had come, and it had changed everything.
"I wish I didn't have to, but sometimes we must do things we don't like. Her foster mother is absolutely wonderful, though, and I help tuck her in every night that I can." Ciara reached out for the baby.
"Let me burp him...please?"

Strangely reluctant, but willing, Mai handed over Mayel gently to Ciara, blanket and all. She lay back against the furs a bit and considered Ciara's answer. "I understand; you're a dragonrider. But I wonder... I'm just a Harper. I wonder if I would have to foster?"
Her blue gaze turned smokey and unfocused. "It would so wonderful to have a family in our Weyr...." Perhaps it would?

"I don't see why you would be forced to. I would think crafters would have more flexibility." Ciara cradled the child for a moment before turning him around and laying him across her shoulder, blanket laying so that it would catch any spitup. She began to alternately pat and rub his back, something she hadn't had to do with her own daughter in quite some time. "Although, you might want to consider taking some time off in the first few months. Having a newborn is wonderful, but exhausting. Make sure you sleep whenever he does. Trust me, you'll need those naps!"

Mai watched, entranced. She nodded in agreement with the naps. "I've already found that I must sleep when he does.. he wakes so often, and doesn't sleep for long." She considered what she was saying about fostering and finally nodded. "Yes, we may have to foster him anyway with K'reyel being so busy now. But it is perfectly normal at the Weyr, so perhaps it will be alright.. "

Mayel let his milk out in a small sound and spit up a bit on the blanket, and Mai chuckled. "Thanks for taking that on your shoulder, Ciara." She grinned at her, but already holding out her arms for the babe. He would be going to sleep again soon.

Last updated on the May 1st 2008

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Breakfast Visitor