Divide and Conquer

Writers: Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 13th December 2007

Characters: Causton, Teene, Geni
Description: Causton comes to collect two of the children and remove them to the Hall
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 6, day 23 of Turn 4

It had been almost ten days since he had seen Geni and the children, and the new babe Neva, but now it was time to relieve the women of some of their burden for the next part of their trip.

Since the early arrival of Neva, there was no longer a need for Geni, Teene and the children to stay in the seaport for more than a night or two. The main reason for their delayed stay was to ensure the safe arrival of the baby, but Neva had changed those plans considerably.

He stood at the dock waiting for the paddleboat to finish tying up, before he could board and help them remove his families belongings to the ship that awaited them. He had arrived early this morning and rearranged their previous arrangements as far as accommodation and travel plans. A few well greased palms had helped to assuage the inconvenienced folk on the small port.

"Dar! Dar!" he could see young Ednes and Bryton hanging over the rails up on the deck, waving to him and returned their eager and excited greetings. He hadn't realised how much he had missed them over the intervening month, until he had seem them the day Neva had arrived. He had enjoyed the short two days he had been with them all again, Brylee had seemed a little reserved to begin with, as had Sousie - amazingly they had been shy around him, but by the end of the second day they had clung to him as much as the boys, before his departure.

The girls must have heard the boys exclamations because they too, now hung over the rails waving, Sousie clutched tightly in Teene's arms.

"You're welcome to come aboard now Causton!" he turned at the sound of the man's words and found 'Fog' standing at the entry to the boat. He had enjoyed the time he had been able to spend getting to know the crew that had cared for his family while he was at the Hall, and admired the way the boat had been run, along similar lines to a smallholding.

"Morning Fog." he smiled and held out his hand in greeting as he boarded the gangway. "Must have had a good run this last sevenday or so, as you made port right on time."

"We always do, man." Fog nodded with a grin, clasping Causton's hand tightly in his own. "Bairn's doing well, so is your wife. We take good care of our passengers and your families been no different." he assured the Hallmaster. "I won't show you the way, you know where you're going."

"That's fine." Causton nodded, "I'll come and see you all before we leave the area. You're here for a while, yes?"

"Aye, a coupl'a days."

With a nod, Causton made his way to the stateroom Geni had been sharing with three of the children. The older ones clamoured around him at his arrival. "Dar!" "Dar!" "Pick Me Daddy!" he reached down and collect Sousie in his arms, before opening the door to the room and finding Geni in their with the baby.

"All ready to go?" he asked, depositing Sousie up on the top bunk and admonishing her with a waggle of his finger to stay put. Reaching out, he pulled Geni into his arms and kissed her soundly. "I miss you." he said softly into her ear.

"None of that in front of impressionable eyes," Teene said, pausing in the doorway to smile at the pair. "And you know I'm talking about mine."

"You're just jealous." Causton replied with a laugh. I can give you a hug, if you'd like?" he turned from his wife, and received a mild punch in the shoulder for his troubles. "On second thoughts..." he turned back to Geni looking bemused. "Okay, I get the message. You just wanted me here as a pack runner."

"Off load some of the children; that was the plan. Of course, we had to do something drastic to get you here," Teene pointed out. "Or, rather, Geni did."

"You have considered what we talked about then?" he asked her. He had been concerned about the women having to care for so many children on the ship. An ocean going vessel was of more concern than the Sungazer, especially with the younger children, so he had suggested to Geni that he take a couple of the children back to the Hall with him, and he would sort out care of them too.

"Yes, this last few days has shown us both how much extra worry we would have. Ednes and Bryton are getting a little bored, and need the extra eye, we just don't have, kept on them.

"Ah, so returning to the care of a Harper would help them?" he agreed.
"Back to lessons for the pair. Have you told them?"

"Oh yes," Geni nodded. "They're over the moon about leaving, all they are thinking about is the travel adragonback, not the fact they will be returning to classes that little bit earlier." She smiled grimly. "I don't think that part actually occurred to them."

"And how will you be?" he asked, more concern for her being separated from the boys, than the other way around.

"Would it sound really bad if I said I don't think it'll be too bad for the next few sevendays?" she asked, moving closer to him.

"No, you've more than enough to keep you occupied," he said, taking her back into his arms. "Where are they now?"

"Down having something to eat with Brylee, who's a little jealous, but she's still smitten with Neva so that helps. Look, we'll all go down and have something to eat now, and then we can start the unloading." She looked over his shoulder to Teene, "Do you want to walk Sousie and Neva down and we'll follow?"

"It would be my pleasure," Teene said, picking up the babe and making a fuss of her before shepherding the toddler before her out of the room.

"So - you're ready to say goodbye to the boys?" he asked, slipping his arm around her shoulder, once more.

"More than enough, they've been keeping occupied the last few days by harassing the engineer with questions about the boat. It's been all Teene can do to keep them away. And I don't understand why they want to hang about him, he's a very taciturn man, not one who encourages friendship." she shook her head puzzled, but Causton wore a small grin.

"Geni, that's half the appeal. See how many questions he'll answer before blowing them off. At least I think that's what is going on."

"Oh..." slowly the idea firmed itself in her mind, he had to be right, surely the boys weren't really that interested in the boat.

"Come on, let's go have breakfast and then I'll help unload your things.
The dragon pair will return within the candlemark."

"The boys are beside themselves with excitement, you have no idea..."
she said as they left the stateroom behind them.

Last updated on the December 16th 2007

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Divide and Conquer