After Dark

Writers: Yvonne, Eimi
Date Posted: 31st January 2006

Characters: Firsa, K'far
Description: K'far returns to the stables well after dark to find an irate Stablemaster waiting for him
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 23 of Turn 3
Notes: Follows 'DFW: Whatever It Takes'

The sun had set and Firsa's runners were in for the night. The warm scent of hay and grain and runner wrapped itself around the Stablemaster like a blanket as she prowled up and down the stalls, checking each occupant and rattling doors to make sure that they were properly shut. Most of the runners looked up as she passed, and a few pressed their soft noses against the bars for a quick scratch, their ears forward and their eyes soft in the electric lights.

All but one. Leaf was still gone.

**Sharding dragonrider. If he's done anything to my runner, I'll have his head,** Firsa thought. She grit her teeth, spun on her heel, and returned to her office. Pacing wasn't going to bring her elderly charge back any earlier. **I _told_ him not to be late - poor Leaf, he must be so tired!
What if he stumbles in the dark?** Firsa bit her lip. **What if he's broken a leg? Faranth's egg, I don't want to have to kill another one...
It's only merciful, but when they look up at you and expect you to make everything _right_ again...!**

"Hello?" the brownrider called as lead Leaf into his stall. He had been expecting that they would have been out with glows and pitchforks waiting for him to come back with their precious runner.
Instead he had been surprised to find the stables quiet. "Hello!" he called out again as he began loosening the belt holding the saddle on.

Firsa jerked awake, embarrassed to realize that she'd fallen asleep at her desk waiting. There was a small dark spot on one of her hides where she'd apparently drooled, and the Journeywoman hoped that she didn't have ink on her cheek. At least the brownrider was back. She rushed out of her office to find him awkwardly trying to undo Leaf's girth. "Shards and shells, man! What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking 'where is everybody'", he muttered as his frozen fingers fumbled with the belt buckle.

Poor Leaf was standing with his head hung low, exhausted. Firsa patted his neck and whispered, "Poor baby," before bending to run her hands down the runner's legs to make sure that they weren't swollen and hot beneath the layer of mud and kicked up snow. "You're late. Candlemarks late. Leaf is exhausted - you could have foundered him!"

"Well, we would have been back a bit earlier but I walked him the last few miles," K'far replied, more weary than contrite. "It grew dark sooner than I had expected and we got turned around up in the hills."

At least he had sense enough not to try to ride an exhausted Leaf in the dark. "Why didn't you get your dragon to guide you home?"

"Because I didn't _think_ I was lost," he sighed. "And I wasn't _lost_, just turned around."

Firsa straightened, her lips compressed in a thin white line.
"Semantics." Men were hopeless with asking for directions! Too much pride... her frown deepened as she reached out to gently turn K'far's face toward the light. "What happened to you, anyway?"

He frowned and reached up to touch the angry red scratches. "I, uh... I was hit in the face with a branch. I didn't see it in the dark. It knocked me right off, Leaf."

Firsa gave him a long look, then dropped her hand. His skin had felt disconcertingly warm against her fingertips, and rough with stubble and grit. "It's not that bad, and if you walked back then you're obviously not hurt. But I still can't believe that you were irresponsible enough to take my runner wandering around in the dark!" She turned sideways to tackle the buckles that K'far had been struggling with earlier. "You're just lucky that you brought him home in one piece."

K'far sighed and patted Leaf's side. "Listen. I'm sorry, journeywoman. I didn't mean to get so turned around. I was... a bit upset... and I wasn't thinking clearly. It won't happen again. I promise."

Firsa was silent. The girth fell away and she pulled the saddle from Leaf's back, and as she did so the runner breathed a long sigh of relief.
"I can put Leaf to bed myself. Go back to your weyr, K'far."

The brownrider regarded her for a moment. "What is it about me, journeywoman, that annoys you so much?"

The Stablemaster gave him a sharp look as she set the saddle down on the edge of a stall door. "What?"

"I asked," the brownrider's tone was even and his words slow, "what is it about me that annoys you?"

This was why she disliked talking to people. Firsa began to unbuckle Leaf's bridle, knowing that the old runner wouldn't take the opportunity to bolt. Leaf was probably looking forward to his own stall as much as she longed for her own bed. "You don't, except when you bring my runner back long after dark."

"Good," the brownrider said finally. "Because I very much don't want to annoy you." He gave the gelding a final pet before turning towards the door. "Goodnight, journeywoman."

She wanted to say, 'then don't ask me questions that I don't know the answer to', or 'don't stand so close to me', or 'don't remind me of someone I miss.' But she didn't. Instead Firsa finished unbuckling Leaf's bridle and let the gentle smell of runner and the soft brush of his hay colored coat against her knuckles soothe her. "Goodnight," she said instead, unwillingly, and was more than happy to turn her back and tend to her runner as he left her stables, and herself, alone.

Last updated on the April 26th 2006

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After Dark