A Strange Tryst (Part 2 of 2)

Writers: Suzee, Eimi
Date Posted: 28th December 2010
Series: It takes Time to Love

Characters: U'kaiah, Tavia, Kaiafel
Description: A Picnic brings unexpected insight.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 21 of Turn 5
Notes: Part 2 of 2

Tavia

"It's my turn!" Kaiafel picked up the dice, cupped them in his hands
and gave it an enthusiastic shake. Spilling them out onto the board he
counted the total. "One plus four is five. Plus five is... ten."

"You're just hoping along there, aren't you," U'kaiah smiled as he
watched his son hop his token from square to square. "You're going to
have to roll at least a seven in order to keep up with him, Tavia.
Think you can do it?"

"I don't know" she said grabbing up the dice from the board. She
rubbed them between her hands and blew on them before tossing. "Awww"
she groaned with mock disappointment. "Only six." she reached out for
her token and marched it after Kiafel's.

"All right, let's see what I can do." U'kaiah picked them up and
looked
like he was studying the board carefully. "I don't know, Tavia. Do
you
think I have much luck to catch Kaiafel now?"

"Hard to say," she leaned forward. "He's pretty lucky at this game."
She smiled at both the man and his son. U'kaiah really seemed to enjoy
the simple pleasures of time spent with the eight turn old. That
impressed her.

"All right, well, let's give it a go, shall we?" Giving the dice a
mighty shake, he let them go with a flick of his wrist. "How many is
that?"

"Five plus two is seven, and plus four is... Seven plus four..."
Kaiafel's brow knit slightly as he counted once more. "Eleven."

"All right, eleven." The bronzerider made a great show of marching his
token eleven spaces, only to scrunch his face in horror as he looked at
the mark on the eleventh square. "Oh no! Tunnel snakes!"

"Tunnel snakes!" his son echoed with absolute glee. "You have to go
back to the start!"

"Your turn Kiafel," she said with a smile. Then she reached into the
basked and brought out the water skin. "Who wants a drink?"

"I know I could use one," U'kaiah said giving her a wink.

Kaiafel was too busy concentrating on his next throw. "Six plus five
plus two is... eleven, twelve, _thirteen_!" It was enough to put him
in
the winner circle. "I win!"

"Again?" U'kaiah groaned dramatically, flopping backwards as if he had
just suffered a crushing defeat.

"I beat you," his son laughed, piling on top of his father.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm still bigger than you, little man." The
bronzerider tickled his sides as he writhed with hysterics. "What are
we going to do with this boy, eh, Tavia?"

She laughed along with the pair. "Maybe he needs to find out what it
feels like to play Water ball with you." she grinned.

"Someday." U'kaiah hoped he could one day play on the same water ball
team as his son when he got old enough. It would be nice to have
interests to share.

"Da, do flits lay eggs along rivers?" Kaiafel asked, his attention going
down to the river cutting through a stand of trees at the edge of the
meadow.

"Pets might. Why don't you go check it out?" And give the adults a
little time alone.

"Ok!" With boundless energy, the boy hopped up and took off for the
tree line at a run.

Putting an arm under his head as a cushion, U'kaiah watched a lazy cloud
drift over head. "It's all flits and dragons at that age, isn't it."

She watched Kaiafel run off down the river stopping to look at bushes
and under rocks. "Mmhmm" leaning back with her face to the sun. "Any
kind of pet I think. I had a feline I was sure I could train to hunt
tunnel snakes when I was about his age." She chuckled, "My da was a
weaver and didn't have any clue what to do with me." She nodded to
herself and then rolled onto her stomach next to the big bronze rider.
"I knew he cared about me though. That's important for a kid."

U'kaiah was pretty sure Kaiafel knew he was fond of him. Loved him, he
supposed. It certainly felt like a kind of love. "Did you know your
mother?"

She smiled and looked down at the small pebble she'd picked up from
the ground. "Oh yes, she is a baker. They raised me and both still
live at Dolphin Cove." She met his eyes "I always knew they cared."
She tilted her head a little as she turned the small stone over and
over in her fingers. "They were very surprised when I chose to Stand.
But what about you? Are your parents alive?"

He groaned slightly as he sat up just enough to turn on his side and
prop his head up on his elbow. "My fostermother passed. I have no
idea
about the woman who birthed me, or the rider who sired me. I assume
they are out there somewhere."

She didn't quite know what to make of the way he said that but then
they were really not much more than acquaintances really. She didn't
even have a background of living in the same Weyr. But then that was
probably good. If Dragonsfall was anything like Dolphin Cove there
were probably rumors aplenty floating around that had little or no
basis in reality. She preferred to form her own opinion but didn't
want to get too personal. "Sorry to hear that about your
fostermother." She could only begin to imagine what it would feel like
to have no one at all.

"It was sad," he agreed, though he didn't much like talking about it.
"She was a very good woman. She raised me pretty much from my birth."
While he had once dreamed of a beautiful goldrider coming to Dragonsfall
in search of her long lost son, grasping him to her breast in maternal
pride, it was Sarazara who had been there the whole of his life. She
had been the only mother he had ever known, and in the end, that was
more than enough.

"Sounds like you cared for her," she replied. She was sorry for his
loss yet he seemed to have dealt with it just fine. Somehow this thing
they had together had shifted. Beyond his obvious skillful
manipulation of her flesh, she _liked_ him. Tavia had no doubt he
could be hard and demanding she'd seen it, but then he was a
wingleader and it came with the job. She still had no illusions or
stars in her eyes. This was just fun with no strings.

"Oh it's beautiful out here." she sighed and rolled over onto her back
watching the clouds. They were feathery in a blue sky. She heard
Kaiafel yelling and crashing around and she chuckled. "This is the way
to spend a restday." she grinned up at U'kaiah. She really meant it.

He chuckled softly, thinking about how odd life could be. "If you had
told me a few turns ago I would look forward to spending a whole rest
day with a little kid, out in nature, drinking nothing harder than juice
all day, I probably wouldn't have believed you." Especially when the
day started with a willing woman in his bed!

She smiled, "My da used to say 'there is only one constant in life...
change.'"

The bronzerider looked serious for a moment, thinking about all the
changes his life had gone through over the last few turns, the happy as
well as the sad. Smiling thoughtfully he murmured, "Truer words were
never spoken." His mood brightening, he reached out to pluck a blade
of
grass that had burrowed into the hair along her temple. "Your father
must be a wise man."

She watched his face change subtly as he processed her words. Her
father made clothing for his living at Dolphin Cove, it didn't require
great brain power so he had time to think. He came up with the most
marvelous things at times.

"I've always thought he was." she replied. She paused for a moment
before continuing. "You know, your son thinks you're all that's
wonderful and will want to be just like you. He probably already is
from what I can tell." she chuckled remembering their earlier
conversation.

"Do you _really_ want to feed this bronzerider ego?" he asked, eyebrows
raised slightly.

"From what I can tell it's quite healthy without any input from _me_."
she challenged. "Besides as I recall I was talking about your son."

"A son is his father's pride, or so I'm told," he countered.

"Sounds about right." she smiled. Privately she thought Kaiafel was a
lucky child to have the bronzerider for a father.

He leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing. "I think you like my son."

She couldn't help herself as she collapsed laughing. "This is the
strangest tryst I've ever had." she covered her eyes and shook her
head.

Her laugh was rather infectious. "That's because it's not a tryst,
greenrider. It's a _picnic_. The tryst comes later."

"Well it started as an ambush, became a picnic and then I guess a
tryst." she was rather pleased with the way it was turning out. As
long as they got to the tryst part.

"Maybe we can recreate the ambush during the tryst." Had this not been
his day with Kaiafel, it would have been an equally perfect way to spend
an afternoon.

"That's my plan." she said loving the idea of a bronzerider with a one
track mind.

"Da! There's fish!" Kaiafel's voice called excitedly from the edge of
the river.

U'kaiah's eyes widened, feigning being impressed by the news. "Fancy
that. Fish in water," he said so only the greenrider could hear his
sarcastic reply, though his smile was full of fond amusement. Pushing
himself up he called back, "Be right there son!" Inclining his head,
he
silently invited Tavia to accompany him to see this marvel of nature.

Tavia chuckled and stood herself but not being used to the skirts
pooled around her, caught her heal in the fabric and ended up back on
her bottom in an ungraceful heap. "How do those holder women do
this?" she laughed at her own clumsiness. Then she shifted to her
hands and knees and cleared the skirt for another attempt. "Fish it
is!" she declared as she stood successfully.

"Don't worry," he grinned, reaching for her hand. "I won't let you
fall
in."

Last updated on the January 24th 2011

[Prev: A Strange Tryst (Part 1 of 2)] Series: It takes Time to Love [Next: Who's Your Daddy]

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A Strange Tryst (Part 2 of 2)