Sharding Man

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 9th September 2005

Characters: Ar'lis, Gaiya
Description: Ar'lis surprises Gaiya with a day trip
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 7, day 28 of Turn 3

"You weren't expecting me, were you?" Ar'lis asked with a boyish grin as he looked down into Gaiya's wide eyes.

"No, I wasn't," Gaiya admitted as she wrapped her towel closer around her body, feeling even more naked than she really was. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to whisk you away, my dear. Now quick - go throw on your bathing clothes, some pants and a shirt." His eyes flickered down her body before they flickered back up to her face. "Unless, of course, you'd rather go to the cove dressed in that..." His smile was slow.

"I'll just go change," she whispered, a blush spreading from her toes to the top of her head as she ran to her sleeping area to change.
**Sharding man,** she thought as she rubbed at the back of her neck. Despite herself a smile spread across her own face as she remembered the look in his eyes. She made sure to pick the bathing suit that most accentuated her... features.

Ar'lis waited patiently for her as he lounged back against the doorframe, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. By the time she was ready, the sunset would be beautiful. River Bluff truly was the Weyr that had the best weather.

Gaiya finally managed to find a pair of half length pants that would access her figure and a sleeveless light tunic to match. In her mind practiced different ways to walk out of the sleeping room as she tied her hair back into a braid. Should she do it dramatically? Throw open the door and storm into the room? Or slip into the room gracefully? Should she say something? Or just smile? Or should she just hide under the bed until he went away... **You are such a sharding dimglow sometimes, Gaiya! It's just a swim! Get out there!**

By the time she actually opened the door she had made herself so nervous she could only manage a shy smile and a less than sensual, "Ok, I've changed."

He grinned at her. "Obviously. And you look very nice, Gaiya. Now come on - and make sure that feline doesn't slip out behind us!" He pointed at Pepper who had slowly sauntered over. Ar'lis didn't want to be climbing trees anytime soon!

Gaiya swooped the black feline into her arms, ignoring his lazy protests as she walked him into the sleeping area. She rubbed her face against his soft fur as she said, "You wouldn't escape again, would you Pepper? You wouldn't do that to me because you love me like I love you, don't you."

"C'mon, Gaiya!" Ar'lis called.

"I'm coming!" Gaiya skipped out of the sleeping room with a sly smile. She gave him a little wink as she looked up at his impatient face. It was so cute that Ar'lis was jealous of a little feline! "Ok, we can go now."

"Good." What was the _wink_ for? Or was she just in a...playful...mood? Grinning, he tucked her arm in his and hurried her down the corridors and out to the Weyrbowl.

Zylarth extended his great head and nudged his rider as soon as they approached. }:I thought you said you'd be quick! I could have slept longer, and we still could have been on time.:{
**Sorry, Zylarth. But you know how females are...** "Now, please put out a leg for Gaiya...there we go. And you," he led the girl over to his dragon's forearm, "can sit there." He pointed to his bronze's neck.
**And besides, you've gotten _enough_ sleep!**

"Oh, right there? Behind _that_ neckridge?" Gaiya asked, trying to keep a straight face before she put her foot on the bronze's forearm and sprang up easily into place. After all, what good was being raised in a Weyr if you couldn't even mount a dragon properly!

He made a face at her as he mounted up in front. "I was only being solicitous, Gaiya." Zylarth crouched lower and extended his long wings, waiting for his rider's command. "Ready?" Ar'lis asked.

"Yes," she replied as she wrapped her arms around his middle. That was her favorite part of the ride.

With a powerful thrust of his hindlegs, Zylarth took off from the ground, caught up an updraft and began to beat his wings to gain altitude. **We can just fly straight there, Zylarth. It won't take very long.** The bronze dipped his head obediently and cut off to the right, flying straight over the ocean. Ar'lis allowed himself to lean back just a little in her arms, enjoying the feel of being close to a woman.

The ride was annoyingly short in Gaiya's mind, though she hated to admit it. Zylarth also was a very smooth flier, giving her little excuse to tighten her arms around the man in front of her. She had to admit, Ar'lis felt good. The young woman sighed as they started their descent.

The cove was a beautiful place, with lush foliage surrounding tropical trees that were heavy with passion fruits for the plucking. As soon as they both were down on the ground, Ar'lis kicked off his boots and buried his feet in the warm sand, watching as the fine, white grains sifted between his toes.

Then he turned to her, pulled his tunic over his head and gave her that boyish grin. "It's nice here, huh?"

"Gorgeous," Gaiya said as she shaded her eyes from the sun, still a bit bright on the horizon. She pulled off her boots, tunic and shirt pants and laid back in the sand, feeling the warmth through her bathing suit. "Ah, the sand feels so good. You should try it!"

Stripping off his pants to reveal his clout, Ar'lis laid back next to her and sighed, allowing the warmth to seep into his skin. "After we get all warm and toasty, we should take a rinse in the ocean to cool off, don't you think?"

"That sounds perfect," Gaiya said as she closed her eyes and allowed her body to sink into the sand, perfectly relaxed. "And then we should roll in the sand again."

He chuckled and propped himself up on an elbow to smile teasingly down at her. "We should take a 'roll in the sand,' hmm?" He raised a suggestive brow, his smile turning into a slow grin.

A slight blush reddened her cheeks and she looked up at him. "Well, not _that_ kind of roll. Sand tends to stick to uncomfortable places when you're wet."

"That it does." He sighed mournfully, but his eyes glinted. "Unless, of course...we gave ourselves a sufficient amount of time to dry off first..." he winked.

Gaiya could just imagine sand clinging to Ar'lis' chest. It was a very nice chest, muscled and well defined... She sat up rather quickly. "Are you hungry? We can pick a couple fruits from over there."

"Just as long as I don't have to climb _too_ high," he laughed, standing and offering his hands to her. "C'mon...I'll help you up."

"All right. But I think it's my turn to climb the tree," she said with a laugh as she let him pull her from the sand, enjoying the proximity as he helped steady her. **Shards he looks good...** she thought as she skipped around him.

"I won't argue with that!" He followed her to the nearest tree. He shaded his eyes as he stared up into the thick leaves. There were so many fruits! "Too bad I didn't think to bring a basket... Otherwise we could've taken some of these home!"

"Men," Gaiya laughed as she started up the first tree. "Go get your pants, tie off the feet and we'll fill those. Mine are too short to carry much I'm afraid."

Laughing, he jogged down the beach, grabbed his trousers and knotted off each leg at the ankle. It was going to be a rather uncomfortable dragonride back to the Weyr, with him only in a tunic and a clout, but maybe he shouldn't think about that right now...

"I did as you requested, sweetheart," he called up to her once he got back to their tree.

"All right, get ready to catch," she called down from high in the branches.

He dropped his pants and held out his hands. "Okay!"

Fruit dropped a bit faster than Ar'lis was probably comfortable with as Gaiya enthusiastically worked on the upper brances to get as many of the fruit as possible. "Is that enough?" she finally asked.

Ar'lis held back a moan. One of those fruits had hit him rather hard on his head. He rubbed at the sore spot and glanced warily up into the boughs. "Yes, Gaiya. That's enough! Come on down now, and we can eat some of them."

Gaiya worked her way down to the final branch and looked down at him smuggly. "All right, either, you're going to have to move while I jump gracefully down, or you're going to have to prove your manly strength to me and catch me when I fall."

He grinned up at her, the bump on his head temporarily forgotten. "I must confess... I just might need to prove my manly strength to you."

"Oh, well," Gaiya said, both pleased and nervous as she sat down on the branch, and reached down for him to catch her, "just watch your nose. And be careful, I'm a little heavy and I don't want to hurt you."

He just chuckled. "Come on down, Gaiya. I won't drop you."

She let herself fall from the tree, and was quite pleased as she fell directly into his arms. Her heart quickened a bit as she slid down her body, and was quite disappointed when her toes touched ground. She stood there a moment, leaning against him just to steady herself she thought. But he was very close and very inviting. "Thank you," she managed to say, with only a little waiver in her voice.

Ar'lis wondered if it was obvious to her just how much his body was responding to being so close to hers. It was certainly obvious to _him_. Not wanting to embarrass her, though, he took a small step back, but looped an arm around her waist and picked up his trousers full of fruit in the other. "We can feast on some of these before we swim," he told her after he'd cleared his throat.

"It's not good to eat just before swimming," Gaiya said absently as she tentatively slipped her arm around him.

"Then how about we swim first?"

"That's a very good idea." The thought that she should still be angry at him for that little incident in his weyr crossed her mind briefly as they walked along the beach. He had been an wherry's ass that day, but since then he had been nothing but sweet. Maybe it was time to look past that. Maybe he learned his lesson. Maybe she could forget what happened. She sighed contentedly. **Sharding man.**

Last updated on the September 9th 2005

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Sharding Man