Fishy Business

Writers: Chelle, Eimi
Date Posted: 9th May 2010

Characters: E'rae, U'kaiah, Kaiafel, Werenn
Description: They meet while spending time with their children by a lake.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 9, day 7 of Turn 5

Leith was busily finding a good spot to sun while E'rae double checked
that he had brought everything they needed in the pack. Werenn stood by,
used to the way her father did things-slowly. The lake glittered in the
light and he was sure that the fishing would be good. Werenn could swim
if she wanted. He was just sad that Leith couldn't carry the bulky
canoe.

If the bluerider had thought they were alone on that stretch of the
lake, he was wrong. As he took inventory, a black and white canine came
bounding up to his daughter, seemingly out of nowhere, wagging his tail
as his tongue flopped out of his grinning mouth.

"Kal! Come here, Kal!" A young boy's voice could be heard off in the
distance, coming closer. "Kal! Where are you?"

Werenn looked down at it. It seemed tame enough. Then she heard the
voice and realized it was someone's pet. "Is this your dog?" she yelled
back.

"Careful," E'rae looked up, surveying the situation. The voice was young
so it wasn't anyone dangerous, but wariness never hurt anyone.

Kaiafel had never learned to be suspicious of anyone, or his
surroundings. In the Weyr he was always safe and protected. As he
rounded the bend of the beach and the two strangers came into sight, he
continued running straight towards them. "There you are, Kal!"

"He seems like a nice dog. I'm Werenn," she offered, as children would.

"I'm Kaiafel," the boy replied, fearlessly sticking his hand out to her.
He noticed they were about the same height, and could guess the same
age.

She shook it. "That's my pop." Her gesture pointed at the bluerider who
had now unpacked his fishing pole and was busy stringing it.

"Mine's here somewhere..." Kaiafel looked over his shoulder and called,
"Da!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," a much deeper voice called back from behind
the trees. A rather tall man came into view, a long stick thrown over
his shoulder that he had been using to idly draw in the sand.

"My Da's a wingleader," the boy pronounced proudly, knowing just how to
impress a girl.

E'rae did look up then. He stood, moving perceptibly closer to Werenn.
The strangers had yet to identify themselves and he didn't take any
chances.

"Pop rides a blue. Where do you live?" Werenn was wearing a bright
sundress and her hands were in her pockets.

"At Dragonsfall." Kaiafel looked at the man with the suspicious look in
his face and felt suddenly uncomfortable. He reached out for Kal and
pulled him closer. He whispered to the girl, "Your Da isn't really
friendly, is he."

"He is. Just wants to make sure your Da isn't some crazy holdless."
She was used to her father's ways. "We're from River Bluff. Never
been to Dragonsfall."

"We don't have crazy holdless people at Dragonsfall." He had never been
to River Bluff either, but it certainly didn't sound like an inviting
place.

"Hello there," U'kaiah nodded to all of them. Kaiafel moved
instinctively closer to him as he eyed the bluerider warily.

"They're from River Bluff," he whispered to his Da, thinking he would
know exactly what people from that Weyr were like.

"Oh, well met, then," the bronzerider nodded, putting his hands on the
boy's shoulders. He was a little surprised at the way his son was
behaving. Kaiafel usually was very friendly and warm with strangers.

E'rae recognized U'kaiah for what he was then. "My duty to you and
yours." He put a hand out to make the turns-old gesture.

"We don't either, but some of the places Da has been, they have 'em."
Werenn was very matter-of-fact about that.

Though he watched his father return the gesture without hesitation,
Kaiafel still wasn't comfortable. He had lived all his life at
Dragonsfall, where he felt perfectly safe even in the company of
strangers. Suspicion was new to him, but his childish senses told him
there was something to fear about this place, or about these people. He
didn't have the experience to know that what they feared was him. "Da,"
he whispered, reaching up to hold the hand on his shoulder, "I wanna
go."

"Sure, son, we can go," U'kaiah said, giving his son's shoulder a
squeeze. He hadn't noticed the man's suspicious behavior and so was
unaware of what could be upsetting his son, but he could tell Kaiafel
did not feel comfortable in the situation. Perhaps they should talk
about it later. "Well, enjoy the day then."

"'Kay, me and Da are gonna fish and swim. Nice to meetcha." Werenn
turned on her heel and headed over to where E'rae was. He handed her a
small pole that was strung. She began to dig in the bucket for a grub to
use as bait.

Kaiafel muttered a goodbye at his father's prompting, but held fast to
his hand as they walked back down the beach, Kal bounding on ahead. He
turned to look over his shoulder at the pair, still unsure what had just
happened. The boy didn't know anything about River Bluff, but he was
sure glad he was not from there.

Last updated on the May 18th 2010

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Fishy Business