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Writers: Bree, Eimi
Date Posted: 27th January 2006

Characters: Abrei, U'kaiah
Description: Abrei and U'kaiah deal with the inevitable morning after conversation topics
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 14 of Turn 3
Notes: Follows 'I Want to Forget'

Abrei

Abrei was sitting on the end of the bed when U'kaiah woke up, her robe tied tightly around her body again and her damp hair piled on top of her head.
She had a mug cradled in her hands and she gave him a tired smile when he looked at her. "Klah?"

The bronzerider looked at her in confusion for a moment before nodding.
U'kaiah felt slow and dazed, the way you feel after a much needed full night of sleep. "Yes please," he mumbled, his voice as sluggish as the rest of him.

She slid from the edge of the bed and slipped into the other room, returning a few moments later with a second mug. "How are you feeling?"

He cupped the mug in his hands, breathing in the steam for a moment. "I don't know yet. You?" "I have no idea." The fact that she'd crawled out of bed several candlemarks before sunrise to brood in her bathing pool indicated that she was far from normal... she hadn't willingly greeted dawn in fifteen turns or more. U'kaiah frowned into his mug. "Shards, Abrei, I'm sorry."

"About what?" Abrei asked, more sharply than she'd meant to. Having him looking so unhappy about waking up in her bed was doing _nothing_ for her nerves. Her tone of voice just served to reinforce his suspicions. "You just seem a little... unsettled. I have a feeling you were not so happy to find me in your bed this morning."

Abrei narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "I was sober last night. And more than capable of throwing you out of my bed if I didn't want you there.
I'm just... not used to finding someone in my bed in the morning who isn't R'han." Which was because it had never happened before. R'han had been the only man she'd wanted to sleep next to. U'kaiah nodded his understanding. Though he had not had enough time with Jaela to become so accustomed to finding only her next to him when he awoke, he remembered from past experience how much of a shock it could be when the one who had always been there before was not the one there now. "Do you regret what we did, Abrei?"

"No," she replied easily enough, and finally gave him an honest smile.
"Maybe you even deserve a little bit of your ego." But the heartbreaking truth had been that no amount of skill on U'kaiah's behalf could erase the fact that something had been missing--and she was terrified that the answer was that she was totally and completely in love with an aggravating, egotistical bronzerider over twice her age. Her answer brought a small smile to U'kaiah's lips as well. Had he been completely sober and his mind not fighting for escape from reality, he would have been extremely nervous to find himself in bed with a willing Abrei. Now he was relieved to find that he had not disappointed her, or pushed her too far. But he could still see the loneliness in her eyes, and could feel the pain in his own heart. He reached down to set the mug on the floor and patted the space next to him. "Come over here, Abrei."

She settled next to him hesitantly after setting her own mug down, tucking a few wayward strands of damp hair behind her ear. "Do _you_ regret what we did?" "No," he said emphatically as he wrapped an arm around her to pull her closer, craving the feeling of a warm body next to him that he had been denied when he awoke. "No, Abrei, I cannot regret it."

"Good. I was starting to worry that I wasn't up to your standards," she replied in a light voice, but there was a tension in her body that made it clear to U'kaiah that she was honestly nervous.

"Abrei you have been the object of countless fantasies in a young man's dreams. I would say it would have been impossible for you to live up to them all." He grinned down at her with a grin. "But you not only lived up to them, but surpassed them last night." As a young man U'kaiah had always imagined Abrei as being the sensual and fiery older woman. The real Abrei was much more shy, nervous, and wonderfully sweet. He decided the truth was much nicer than the fantasy.

Abrei rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile. "Either you're still drunk, or you're really hoping if you charm me, I'll climb back into the bed with you and give it another try." "Why should I charm _you_? I seduced you last night. Next time it's your turn. And I promise to give you all the encouragement you need." U'kaiah gave her a smile much more like his old self than the one he had managed the night before. "How kind," Abrei replied dryly. Pleased that he looked a little more steady, she slid out from under his arm and stood, holding a hand out to him. "Come on... before I let you go back to Dragonsfall I want to see you bathed and fed. I had a drudge bring up food with the klah, so there's plenty of it." "Yes, weyrhealer," U'kaiah said with a pout, but he gave her a genuine smile as he took her hand.

Abrei smiled and leaned down to kiss him softly. "Don't pout. Do you have any idea how few men get an invitation into my bathing pool?" The bronzerider was pretty sure he did, but he didn't let that show as he stood up, still holding her hand. "Why, are you going to bathe me by hand as well as feed me, Master Healer?" he asked with a gentle tease in his voice.

Standing there looking rumpled and tired and amused, he was terribly tempting, especially when she had no idea how long it would be before she got another chance. But she still felt that dull ache that had intruded in the morning, the bitter grief that had nearly choked her when she'd rolled over in the morning to find that the warm body next to her wasn't the one she wanted it to be. She might not regret what they'd done, but she had the feeling she would regret doing it again. "You wish you were that lucky," she finally said, pushing him in the direction of the bathing pool. "Go get cleaned up. I'll get breakfast ready."

Last updated on the January 27th 2006

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