I Hope We Can Be Friends

Writers: Eimi, Paula, Suzee
Date Posted: 8th May 2013
Series: It takes Time to Love

Characters: U'kaiah, Aileyan, Tavia, Ravyan
Description: Tavia and Aileyan finally meet...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 21 of Turn 6

Tavia

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" the bronzerider asked for at least
the third time that afternoon. Of course, Tavia and Kaiavin were
probably already in the sky by now, but truth be told, he was just as
nervous as either one of them might be at this first meeting.

"I'm fine," Aileyan reassured him, giving Ravyan's dark locks a one
more brush. She was distracting herself by fussing over her son. It
helped to cover her nervousness. Dressed in gather-tunic, Ravyan
squirmed under her ministrations. He gave U'kaiah an appealing look,
that seem to say: "rescue me from fussy, nervous mothers".

Even Timor, Aileyan's brown flit, was with them. The older the boy
got, the more time the firelizards seemed to spend with him.

U'kaiah gave the boy a small, apologetic quirk of a smile, as if to say,
**Sorry to drag you into this, buddy...**

"You look beautiful, by the way," he said leaning down to place a light
kiss on her shoulder. The bronzerider knew this was not easy on her,
and he was grateful beyond words that she was willing to at meet his
'other woman'.

With Kaiavin almost 9 months old Tavia had to bundle him up against
his will. He was very vocal about his unhappiness with her but she
finally got him up onto Sawauth and strapped to her. When they took
off the little boy's tune changed. He loved to ride with her though it
remained to be seen how he'd take to /between/.

So it was all giggles until that moment when the total cold and
blackness enveloped them. It was a very unhappy baby that emerged from
/between/ into the cold of Dragonsfall. Sawauth spiraled down to where
she'd been instructed to land while Tavia tried to calm both her son
and herself.

"They're here," U'kaiah said, giving Aileyan's shoulders one last
squeeze. **Tell her which ledge is Aileyan's,** he instructed his
bronze. "Really, you're ok?" he asked, his heart thudding in his chest.

"I'm nervous," Aileyan admitted.

Kjarliheth growled a bit when she had to move to make room for unknown
green to land on her ledge. She was also picking up her rider's
emotion.

"The baby?" Ravyan was looking towards the ledge with impatient
eagerness.

"Everything will be ok," he assured her, turning his head to kiss her
temple softly. "Yes, Ravyan, the baby is here. I'll go get him, ok?"
U'kaiah walked out onto the ledge to meet Tavia and their son first
where the dragons would partially shield them from Aileyan's view.
The last thing she needed to see was any sort of tender greeting
between the two of them. Not yet.

Sawauth landed lightly on the ledge and apologized to the resident
green while she waited for her rider to dismount. Tavia smiled down at
U'kaiah and unstrapped a still complaining Kaiavin. "He didn't like
/between/," she said and handed him down.

Ravyan just couldn't wait and slipped from his mother's grip. He ran
to the ledge and stopped to gawk at the new greenrider and her bundle.

Tavia slid down Sawauth's side after handing Kaiavin down to U'kaiah.
She turned to smile at the little boy who'd come running out. Then she
took Kaiavin back and knelt down with him in her arms. "You must be
Ravyan," she smiled. "This is Kaiavin."

Of course Kaiavin got all excited at seeing another child and waved
his arms and pumped his legs as hard as he could inside all that
padding. "I think he's glad to see you," she smiled.

"Hi, Kaiavin," Ravyan greeted and peered the baby. "His so tiny!" he
was having an awed smile on his face.

Aileyan came out and hoovered on the background.

"Aileyan." As soon as he saw her, U'kaiah rushed to her side.
Putting a hand on the small of her back, he gently tried to coax her
out from the shadows. "Sweetheart, this is Tavia. And this is
Kaiavin." He looked down her into her face, hoping for any positive
sign.

Tavia's eyes slid away from U'kaiah and Aileyan for a moment and back
to Ravyan. U'kaiah's solicitous rush to her side had stung just a
little. His greeting of her had been... less. But the little boy
seemed to enjoy meeting the baby. After a moment composing herself she
turned a smile toward Aileyan and only hoped she didn't look as
uncertain as she felt. "Hello," she said

"Hi Tavia," Aileyan replied and managed a little, nervous smile.
Tavia seemed so beautiful, so confident, how could she ever compete with
her?

U'kaiah gave Tavia a hopeful smile. In his mind it was a good first
step. At least she had acknowledged the "new comer" and was trying to
put on a brave face. He moved to kneel down behind Ravyan, putting
his arm around the boy's middle. "Ravyan, this is my very special
friend, Tavia. And the baby is our son, Kaiavin. He's Kaiafel's
brother. And he's like your little brother, too."

"Neat!" Ravyan said. The baby wasn't really doing anything, so his
attention started to wander off. "Where's Kaiafel?" he wanted to play
with somebody.

Tavia gave U'kaiah a brief smile but then her lips curved up even more
for little Ravyan. I wouldn't be long until Kaiavin would be demanding
his brother just like Ravyan. Whatever else this move would be, it
would be good for her son, so she was determined to put the very best
effort into making this work. Tavia realized she'd changed. Her life
wasn't just about herself and Sawauth now. She had an additional
responsibility.

She smiled a genuine smile this time at Aileyan. "It's very nice to
finally meet you," she said. "U'kaiah has nothing but good things to
say about you. I hope we can be friends."

Aileyan sensed her genuine meaning and replied it with a shy smile.
"Thank you, I hope too that we will be friends."
After all, if they were sharing a man, they needed to get along. It
didn't made her feel any less inferior.

**Me too!** U'kaiah joined in silently. "Ravyan, why don't you go
find your dragon? I'm sure Tavia would love to see him." He turned
to Aileyan with an encouraging smile. "Come closer and meet Kaiavin.
I know you've been curious. And I know Tavia loves to show our little
boy off." This time a warm grin was directed in the other woman's
direction

"Can I hold him?" Aileyan asked hopefully. Who did not love babies?
The mother in her was too curious to see how much U'kaiah the baby
looked like.

Ravyan nodded and run inside to find his stuffed toy.

Kaiavin was being his usual squirmy self and obviously over the
swaddling in which he was still wrapped. She smiled "sure," and walked
over to put him into Aileyan's arms. "I think he wants out of that
suit though," she added as she stepped back.

"Here, you hold him, I'll try to get this thing off," U'kaiah offered,
stepping up to help undo the laces. It was really quite an ingenious
way to keep the little infant warm, but it certainly wasn't easy to just
peel off of him. Finally pulling his arms and legs free, he stepped
back and let Aileyan get a good look at the beautiful baby he and Tavia
had made.

The way Aileyan hold the baby showed that she had done it before. "Oh,
he's so adorable!" she couldn't help but to revert to the
doting-mother -mode. "It feels such a long time since Ravyan was this
small."

Kaiavin let out a gurgle of recognition when U'kaiah began undressing
him but he was rather serious when he looked up at the unfamiliar
woman holding him. But he gave a big smile when she did and began to
try and sit up.

"He's crawling now and we have to watch him like a lizardhawk," Tavia
smiled. "Sawauth has become very adept at laying across the opening to
the outer weyr, though Glory is the one who thinks she's really in
charge of us all."

"I bet she does," U'kaiah said, giving Tavia a knowing smile. The
bronzerider had been on the receiving end of Glory's protective nature
once. He gave the little boy a tickle on his tummy, and grinned at the
giggle it produced. His son certainly had a happy laugh. "He's going
to be a charmer, I think."

"Like his father," Aileyan said, offering the baby back to his mother.
"Kjarliheth did that too, kept Ravyan off the ledge and Timor has
always acted more like Ravyan's flit than mine," at least she had
something she had common with Tavia..they could always talk about the
children. It made her feel better. Motherhood was universal.

"Yes," Tavia chuckled and smiled at U'kaiah. She found she rather
liked Aileyan. This could be a good move after all.

U'kaiah beamed his happiness at both of them. This was turning out so
much better than he had feared. Maybe this could work after all.
Once he got up the courage to ask Aileyan of course. But why dwell on
that now when things were going so good! "Well, I suppose we
shouldn't just stand here talking on the ledge all day. Shall we go
inside?"

Tavia hefted Kaiavin onto her hip and smiled. "That would be nice."

"Of course. This way," Aileyan showed the way.

Last updated on the June 4th 2013

[Prev: Somewhere To Go] Series: It takes Time to Love [Next: He Loves Her More]

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

I Hope We Can Be Friends