An Unexpectedly Political Dinner (1/2)

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 13th November 2017

Characters: Corran, Yusanis, Serra, Neja
Description: Yusanis has a birthingday dinner with his cousin's family and the conversation turns political.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 2, day 8 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: K'ran, Nohria
part 1 of 2

Yusanis had nearly forgotten that his birthingday was coming up. And he
certainly had not expected anyone to do anything special for him, given
that all of his direct relatives were located at Ruby Ravine Hold and he
hadn't thought that anyone else would consider making the effort to do
something for him.

But in retrospect, he should have known better and realized that with
his cousin and his family here at Amber Hills, his birthingday would not
go unremarked upon. After all, he had been invited to dinner with Corran
and his family when it was the guard's birthingday, because the guard's
parents seemed determined to treat him as if he was part of their family
as well.

He hadn't expected it to be that way. Corran was Yusanis' cousin, since
his father was Yusanis' uncle. But the guard and his brother had been
adopted by their parents. That meant Serra and Neja had no blood
relation to the Steward.

He'd worried when he'd arrived at Amber Hills that he would never be
invited to spend any time with his cousin's family, because his status
as a legitimate child of the Ruby Ravine bloodline contrasted sharply
with his cousins' as illegitimate castoffs. There were many people who
wouldn't want an awkward situation like that at family events.

And yet they had always been willing to invite him to family events, and
if there was any awkwardness or uncertainty about his participation at
first, it had faded long ago. Now Yusanis received invites to drop by to
an event on a regular basis. Yet the casual acceptance was novel enough
that he never wanted to assume it would keep occurring.

So when his aunt stopped him when she saw him in the corridors of the
main Hold, he was deeply pleased when she insisted that he stop by their
cot on the night of his birthingday.

"You're my nephew, of course I'm going to make sure it's not going to
pass without," Serra had said to him. "We'll make sure that there's
something for you."

When it had been Corran's birthingday, it had just been the four of them
eating a meal that Serra had cooked herself. And for Turnover he'd
stopped in to see them, and K'ran had also joined them for a meal. As
the Steward, he had several other places he could have taken the Turn's
Beginning's meal. But Serra's meals were always richly layered with
flavor, even if they were simple in construction, so spending a chance
to eat there rather than inside the main Hold was always worth the walk.

The cot door was open and the smell of fresh bread and cooking meat was
tantalizing in the air. Yusanis knocked on the door before entering.
"Hello!" he called.

Neja rose off of the couch and walked over to give Yusanis a hug. "Happy
birthingday."

"Thank you," Yusanis said, patting him on the shoulder. "It smells
amazing in here."

"It ought to. Serra's been cooking for two candlemarks," the former
guard said. "I think she likes the excuse to host a gathering like this."

"I certainly won't complain," the Steward said.

"You know they'd never let you sit in the Steward's quarters eating a
meal alone," Corran said, appearing from the kitchen carrying two large
serving plates, which he settled onto the table.

"You're stuck with us now," Serra said with a soft chuckle, sweeping out
the kitchen with a plate in her hands as well.

The family and guest settled down into chairs around the table. Corran
took over distributing the food onto the plates. It was slices of
roasted herdbeast with sides of mashed tubers and a bread stuffing.
Yusanis recognized that it must have taken a good part of the day to
prepare and he suspected that Neja's comment about Serra working in the
kitchen for two candlemarks had been an underestimation.

"This is amazing," Yusanis said after his first bite. "Truly
mouthwatering. Are you sure you were never a cook?"

"Only a Weaver, my dear," she said. "All of us cook as a hobby. Though I
don't know if K'ran does," she added after a moment. "It was lovely to
marry Neja and find that he didn't expect me to do all of the cooking
because he enjoyed it as well."

"Your marriage is somewhat atypical for a Southern one, it seems, but
that makes it all the more admirable," Yusanis said, phrasing it
carefully so as to avoid any insult which might get him kicked out of
the cot and separated from the meal.

"What do you mean?" Neja asked.

"That Serra continues to effectively practice her craft, even if she
can't wear the knots, and you don't have a problem with it. I can't
think of any marriages I've seen like that," he elaborated.

"That's why we traveled until we had the boys. On a trading caravan, she
could do all her work and then mix her items in with items from the men
and no one would know," Neja said.

"I didn't care that I didn't get the credit for it, as long as I could
do the work that makes me happy. That's how I still feel, though it
would be nice to sell a few more pieces and wear my knots again before I
die."

"The worst part is that it wasn't atypical for marriages before the
Plagues," Serra said with a sigh. "There was no reason that women
couldn't craft as well as raise families, and often the child-rearing
was more cooperative as it is in Weyrs to accommodate that. But so many
were lost they put in a short-sighted ban, and now we have generations
who don't remember the old times, so they stay stuck in the new patterns."

"With some Halls re-accepting women as apprentices now, with men who go
to the Weyr to stand and then come back when they don't Impress, there's
chances to see what independent women can do," Corran pointed out. "It's
not a rapid change, but I think it will happen."

"Do you intend to be part of it somehow?" his mother asked.

"If the woman I loved wanted to become an official crafter, I'd make
that happen for her. If it couldn't be done at a Hold, I'd go to the
Hall or to a Weyr with her," Corran said without hesitation.

"Do you believe Nohria wants to craft for real?" Neja asked.

"I don't know," the guard said. "But if she did, and I could make it
happen, I would."

"You and Nohria?" Yusanis interjected, because here was something he
didn't know about.

"I have affection for her," Corran allowed.

"Should I prepare for a wedding at some point? Or will you both run off
to the Weyr?" Serra teased.

"It's not heading in that direction yet, mother. I have my career and
Nohria hasn't indicated she'd be interested," the guard said. "Besides,
I wasn't speaking of her in specific, but in a general. If I loved any
woman enough to marry her, I'd love her enough to make sure she could
fulfill her dreams."

Last updated on the November 27th 2017

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

An Unexpectedly Political Dinner (1/2)