Hello Cousin!

Writers: Len, Paula
Date Posted: 11th May 2011

Characters: Sh'dori, Sh'del, Belidora
Description: Sh'dori and Sh'del ponder the facts that they have almost the same name, both are carvers and both ride browns
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 1 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik

Sh'dori was putting a final layer of varnish to the rocking runnerbeast
he had made for one of his grandchildren. After finishing, he
straightened and looked around who else was here today. The workshop
was shared with all the dragonriders who dappled with handcrafts on
their free time and you could meet technicians or smiths or stone
masons here besides the woodcrafters like Sh'dori himself. He did spot
a familiar face and walked over. "Hey, Sh'del! I heard you made to
Weyrlingmaster's second, congratulations."

Sh'del looked up from the large limestone he was torturing. "Hiya
Sh'dori." He took off his eye protectors to see the man better.
"Thanks for the congrats. Not sure if I'll be saying that in a few
months..."

"Yeah, like after the eggs Hatches. What are you working on?" Sh'dori
replied and asked.

The younger man stood back and eyed his stone. "Well..it's_supposed_to
be the bust of a woman..but right now it's looking more like some
abstract tree or something." He shook his head and chuckled, holding
up his claw chisel and mallet. "It's been a while...a long while."
He preferred to work in alabaster or marble but that was hard to come
by. So limestone it was. "Your runner's looking good."

"Thanks, it bit late though, the birthday it was meant for was month
ago," Sh'dori replied. Deadlines never been his strong point.

Sh'del raised an eyebrow at him. "I'd say something sarcastic but I'd
be even later, if it was me. Who's it for?"

"For my grandson," Sh'dor replied.

"Ah..what's his name again...?" Sh'del wracked his brain but couldn't
remember for the life of him.

"This one is named Shantrix," Sh'dori replied.

"Ah..another 'Sh' on eh? How many is that now?" It had been a
running joke between the two men whilst Sh'del had been in N'vanik's
wing, them both having similar names.

"I don't know, I've lost the track," Sh'dori laughed. "Are you sure we
are not related?" He asked again, having made the question many times
before.

"Well, funny you should say that..." Sh'del teased, putting down his
stone carving tools.

"What about it? I've been wondering it since you transferred here.
It's just too much of a coincidence. Having similar names and similar
craft and both riding brown dragons."

"Well...I asked my father about it over the turn's end and he thinks
his father is the brother of your father's brother." Sh'del grinned at
that. "In other words, our grandfathers are brothers."

"Wait, doesn't that make us second cousins? I knew there had to be
some connection!" Sh'dori was delighted.

"It does indeed! Hello cousin!" With that, Sh'del laughed and hugged Sh'dori.

"Well, this calls for celebration!" Sh'dori declared after he had
bounded the younger man's back for a while.

Sh'del got his breath back from the pounding and asked, 'my weyr or your's?"

"Mine is kind of cluttered," Sh'dori replied.

"And mine is brand new! So it's fine then."

Sh'dori grinned. "For some reason everyone says that my weyr resembles
more workshop than someones home."

"Give me a few sevendays...mine will too." He shook his head. "Must
be a family thing."

"Must be. Come one, on our way we could stop by to say hello to my
mom. She would like to know about this," Sh'dori replied and
suggested. "Besides she's cook and probably has some goodies for us."

"Who would be my...first cousin?" Sh'del never knew just how family
dynamics worked, pondering that as they walked.

"By marriage, I think," Sh'dori replied.

"Ahh..okay." Sh'del tried to do the math in his head and gave up.
Tracking his family tree wasn't something he was particularly good at.

"By the way, you just gained a whole lot of new relatives, and I mean
LOT!" the brownrider chuckled.

"Great! It was only me and my brother growing up. All of my mum's
relations died in the plague but her family and her dad died when she
was a child, so I only ever had a nan on that side." He smiled,
thinking of getting to meet everyone.

"They can be overwhelming," Sh'dori thought it was fair to warn him.

"Hey, I'm 6'3" and a Smith! It'll take a lot to intimidate me."

"Try swarm of children between 3 to 15 and you might change your mind
about that," Sh'dori grinned.

"It's gotta be better than the swarm of 12 to 21 turn olds I'm saddled
with now." Sh'del shook his head at the thought of the upcoming
Hatching and said, "and to that we're about to add 40-some dragonets?
Bring this family on! I can handle it."

"As you requested," Sh'dori grinned mischievously. "But let's start
with my mother." They were approaching the kitchen.

"Great." He could catch a fishroll or two as well, since he hadn't
eaten since early this morning.

They arrived the kitchens and Sh'dori located his mother. She was
slowly stirring a large cauldron on the fire. Her grey hair was on
neat bundle on her neck. She was motherly, well padded woman on her
seventies. Tasting your own cookings too much was occupational hazard.
She waived at Sh'dori when she spotted him. "Hi, Shan. What brings you
here? And who is this young friend of yours?" She was the only person
who called him Shan or even remembered what his name had been before
Rahmuth.

"Sh'del, he's our new Weyrlingmaster's second. Sh'del, meet Balidora,
an excellent cook and terror of all candidates and weyrbrats."

" Terror only for those who are stealing bubblies. Pleased to meet you, Sh'del."

"Nice to meet you too, Balidora." He eyed one of the aforementioned
bubblies. "If I ask first, can I have one without facing your wrath?"

"Yes, you can," Balidora replied, laugh lines around her eyes
deepening. She was kind of person who laughed a lot. "What brings you
here?" she asked again.

Sh'del, with his mouth now full of pie, pointedly looked to Sh'dori.

Sh'dori explained her the situation and their newly found connection.

"How wonderful!" Balidora exclaimed and rapped Sh'dori to the fingers
with a ladle since he was trying take a bubblie without asking first.
"You think you would have learned by know, " she scolded him.

Sh'del grinned wolfishly and gathered the woman up in a bear hug. He
also stole a bubbily behind her back. "Hello..cousin, is it?"

"Well, not exactly. Your father would have been my husband's cousin
and I'm only related by marriage not by blood. But if you want to call
me cousin, that's fine with me," She gave him a kiss on a cheek.

"Er...cousin it is!" Sh'del wasn't about to task his brain trying to
figure this one out. The Candidates were doing that already.

"Sh'dori, fetch us a drink," she commanded. The brownrider wondered if
his mother ever stopped treating him like a child. He didn't disobey
her, though. He quickly found glasses and bottle of strong wine. It
wasn't the best vintage, being something cooks might use in making
food.

"Ah, great," Sh'del muttered, needing the drink. He took one sip and
did his best to swallow before asking, "you trying to kill me already,
cousin? Surely there has to be better stuff about. Hang on..." He
quickly strolled over to a cook and asked as nice as you please for a
nice bottle of wine. She smiled, blushed and came back with a vintage
white for them. "Now_that's_a wine worth celebrating with!" Sh'del
said, taking a sip or two.

"Yes," Balidora agreed. "I need this one for other purposes," she took
the cooking wine bottle from Sh'dori, and poured half of it to the
cauldron she was over-seeing. She threw handful of herbs in to it too.

"Well, excuse me," Sh'dori muttered with injured huff.

Sh'del eyed Balidora and winked. "Let him have the cheap
stuff....that just means there's more of this," and he held up the
good wine, "for us."

Balidora chuckled. "I like you," she said to Sh'del.

"How about me?" Sh'dori said with miserable expression. The amused
twinkle in his eyes did ruin the effect a bit.

"I love you, my dear," she said to him tenderly.

Last updated on the May 16th 2011

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Hello Cousin!