A Very Good Thing

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 12th April 2008

Characters: F'naren, Kitali
Description: F'naren and Kitali meet for a second time.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 20 of Turn 4

"I seem fated only to meet you in the rain," the young brownrider said when he recognised the harper standing not far from him just inside the entranceway to the dining cavern. He had been watching the storm - and it was a particularly impressive one - hoping to get word that the afternoon drills were cancelled.

"Well, hello once again. F'naren, right?" Kitali offered a smile to the brownrider with whom she had shared cover from a previous rain not too long prior. "Where's your brother?"

"We can actually function separately," F'naren said with a grin. "And yes, I'm F'naren. And only possibly his half-brother. That or his uncle, if his father was one of my brothers and not my father. Does that make any sort of sense?"

Kitali blinked for a minute, trying to digest the words that had just come out of the brownrider's mouth, then shook her head. "No, none whatsoever. Though I suppose you could pass for twins if you wanted."

"We've wanted, on the odd occasion, when we were young and silly."

"Did you ever actually do it?"

"Mmm. Mainly at Gathers and things. We liked the idea that we had a relationship we could tell people about, instead of the confusing muddle of possibilities that we _do_ have."

"What do you mean?" Kitali turned to gaze out at the pounding rain, watching it splatter as it came into contact with the ground.

"Twins is an easy thing. Jh'slaen being born in the next cothold and growing up looking identical to me with no explanation from his mother
- that's not very easy."

"Oh." Kitali wasn't exactly sure how to take that. Was there an implication of infidelity there? She decided to take the conversation to a different subject lest she accidentally pry into something that might be painful. "Did you both impress at the same hatching?"

F'naren laughed. "Oh, no. We were Searched together - no surprise there as we were always together! But Jh'slaen Impressed first time.
That was ... odd. But -" He grinned down at the harper journeywoman.
"We're still talking about me. How are you? No ill effects from that drenching the other day?

"A bit of a sniffle, but it was gone in a day or two." Kitali waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "I'm fine. What about you? You seem to have dried out pretty well."

"I'm a tough dragonrider. Rain just bounces off me," F'naren told her, his expression alight with amusement. "And you mentioned children.
How many? How old? What kinds?"

Kitali chuckled softly, "I have two boys. My eldest is Lidrin who is six. Talvan is two. So what did you do before you became a dragonrider? Were you a crafter?"

"No, not me," F'naren said with a laugh. "We came from cotholds and we just worked in the fields. Being Searched was a huge honour - and an adventure."

"I'm sure it was." Kitali nodded in agreement. "I was never searched, but I must say, when I was younger, I wondered what it would be like."

"How did you end up here, then? As a harper?"

"My husband was a seacrafter." Kitali smiled slightly. It had been several turns since Gavin's death, so it wasn't as hard to talk about as it once then, though she still did miss him. "And he got caught in a storm. Afterwards, I decided I needed a change, so I came here." She shrugged. "I might have ended up at a hold had they allowed female crafters. They didn't, so I came to a weyr. This seemed like a nice one."

"Well, I suppose it is, though I've never really looked at any others.
I Impressed Jzeth here; this feels like home."

"Yes, I can understand that." Kitali sighed as she looked back at the rain. "It doesn't look like it's going to let up. Do you think your drills are cancelled?"

"No, I know they're not. I don't suppose your classes are?"

Kitali laughed. "No, of course not. We don't hold classes outside as rule, anyway. Ah well. I suppose I might as well get going."

"At least this time we can leave by a corridor." He smiled down the at the harper as he turned away from the rain. "Next time let's try to meet on a dry day."

"Yes, we don't have to suffer a drenching this time. And dry would probably be good." She turned to head off, giving him a quick wave. "So until we meet again."

"Until then," he said, watching her leave and smiling to himself. He liked her - he liked her a lot - and meeting up with her again would be a very good thing.

Last updated on the April 17th 2008

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A Very Good Thing