[Log] Twins
Who: K'del, Tiriana
When: Day 10, Month 7, Turn 25
Where: Lakeshore, High Reaches Weyr
What: Tiriana and K'del behave like grown-ups. Working theory: they've been kidnapped by exiles and replaced with new models.
Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr
The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself.
A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one -- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly tempting stairs.
Warm sunshine and cloudless skies make for a beautiful day and pleasantly warm evening. A breeze tempers the heat with no humidity lingering in the air.
Contents:
K'del
Obvious exits:
Diving Cliff Lake [Gardens] Bowl [Far End of Lake] [Sky]
The afternoon is warm and lovely, and the skies are clear: it seems like half the weyr is out and about, while the other half are probably regretting their duties, whatever they are. K'del is one of the lucky ones: he's sitting on one of the sun-warmed rocks, his long legs dangling into the cool water below. He's without children, this time, though he's got his eye on some that aren't his - a group of eight-to-twelve turn olds engaging in that age-old game of Using-Cadejoth-As-A-Climbing-Frame-And-Diving-Board. They look like they're having fun, and K'del, well, he looks like he's enjoying watching them, too.
Iovniath's shadow is--not quite as unmistakable as it used to be, actually, what with first Iskiveth and now Rielsath to match her in size and color both. Still, the gold is striking as she glides low out over the water, strapless but with her rider aboard all the same. Touching down only briefly on shore, Iovniath lets Tiriana dismount near Cadejoth and K'del before she turns and glides out into the water.
Still, there's no question that Cadejoth recognises the queen, extending forth a rattled greeting as he flicks his tail against the water. Not, of course, in /her/ direction: that would be unfitting. The arrival of the senior pair does draw K'del's attention away from the antics of the children, though. Turning to regard the Weyrwoman, K'del gives her a short, sharp nod to which he adds, "Can't imagine anyone not wanting to spend an afternoon like this one out here. Beautiful, isn't it?" His expression is polite, but falls short of outright 'friendly'.
A brush of coolness reaches out toward Cadejoth's mind, but that's all the attention Iovniath is interested in sparing her mate as she swims deeper in the water. Finally, at the deepest part of the lake where only her long neck and head extend above the water, she stops, content to rest there in the cool wet. "She just wants to cool off," says Tiriana, with a nod toward her dragon as she ambles just that bit closer to K'del. "I keep trying to say it's the Reaches, it's never really hot, but you know her."
K'del doesn't seem to mind that, especially since he /does/ have the adoring masses of weyr children to worry about. He really seems to enjoy their frolicking: he shifts around, tail and wings, forelimbs and neck, to add to the experience. All in good fun. "Not a dragon who would ever have been happy at Ista or Igen," confirms K'del, the corners of his mouth twitching in easy amusement. "Least the lake never gets warm or anything, no matter how hot the sun is. It's refreshing." He gives his feet a bit of a wiggle in the water, apparently demonstrating.
"No, and me neither," Tiriana says firmly. "We're Reachian." Never mind she's not, really. We don't talk about that. She moves along the shore until she's finally by K'del, and then she sits down on the sand herself, blowing out a breath and leaning backward until she's lying down. From there, with her eyes closed against the sunlight, she asks, "How are the boys?" Look, interest in his life!
Not inclined to quibble - particularly since she /is/ showing interest! - K'del says nothing about the reality of Tiriana and Iovniath's Reachian-ness. He does shift his body so that he can follow her progress to the sand, and though his gaze lingers, it's not in a creepy way. Not pervy. He's looking at her /face/, I swear. "They're good. It'll be Kasey's turnday, at the end of the month. Reckon he's old enough to be kind of aware of it, this turn. How's Rianev?"
Good thing she's not watching the way his eyes follow her, because pervy or not, it might put a crink in their getting-alongness. "He's what, two?" Tiriana hazards a guess. "Better than the first birthday, I guess. All Rianev did was stick his hands in the cake. But at least I didn't have another one-year-old going along smearing it on the floor behind him or whatever. Don't know how you stand two of them, that age." It's almost a compliment, really. She cracks her eyes open enough to give K'del a look then; let's hope he really is looking at her face.
Really, truly looking at her face. Go K'del; smart move. For once. "Two, right," agrees the bronzerider, with a laugh. "Well - don't have the two of them full time, at least. Not sure how people with twins manage, that's for sure. Or two really close together. Seems like there are good things and bad things about having them close in age." He seems pleased, though, and his smile is a genuine, friendly one. "Could be a problem, though. Celebrating one turnday, with the other not for a couple of months." His nose wrinkles for that. "Hadn't even thought of that, 'til now."
"Twins." The thought has Tiriana looking just a bit greenish, and she sits up, dusting sand from her hair idly. Her mouth pulls into a grimace. "And then you have to worry about: did one of them have a bigger party? Better presents? /I/ always got better presents than my sister, but then, she's only my half-sister on my mother's side, so you can't blame Daddy for having a favorite. Can you?"
K'del gives Tiriana a funny look for her reaction to the idea of twins. "What, suddenly realised that your productive future could possibly involve twins, if you bothered having another? It's not as though it's /likely/." But the rest? "Shells, right. The competition is going to be awful. Particularly once they're older." It's his turn to look-- well, not greenish, but certainly less than thrilled. On the other hand, he admits, after a moment's more thought, "Guess I prefer my kids to Milandra. Not that I don't /like/ her, or anything, but... Nik and Kase are /mine/. Would've kinda sucked to be your sister, though." It's all making him frown: the politics of unusual families.
"Daddy just kind of--inherited her," agrees Tiriana, frown persisting. "After Momma died. Cyrra's just /weird/ anyway, though, so..." As though that makes it okay. "You remember Satiet's twins? The creepy one and the... other one? They were always just--I mean, you know how they are. Yours might as well be twins too, close as they are, right? At least mine won't be /that/. They'll be a couple of years apart." They. She definitely still looks worried, though.
K'del is busy nodding along to mention of Satiet's twins - with whom he must at least have passing knowledge of, if nothing more than that - and he keeps doing so, until with a snap, he stops sharply. Silence. Then; "They?" His eyes are a little wide: he gives Tiriana a wary look. "You're... pregnant again?" Now he looks a little worried, too. Just a little, around the eyes, and maybe in the shift of his mouth.
"I don't know!" Tiriana all but wails. "Fuck. I don't know. Maybe. Fucking Faranth--shit. /Fuck/." Once more with feeling. "I should just go /between/. Be sure." Not that she's making any move for Iovniath, mind.
K'del looks... really, really uncomfortable, at this moment. He draws his legs out of the water, resting feet upon the edge of his boulder. "Uh," he says, intelligently. "Do you... want another baby?"
Tiriana rubs her face with one hand, looking just tired now. "Hell. I don't--I mean, I /don't/. Know." Beat. "I don't know. Maybe. I mean, the healers say Rianev is normal, and he's not dead yet either."
"Rianev seems..." K'del has to pause before he can fill in the gap, but it doesn't seem to be because he's trying to avoid saying some kind of awful truth. "like a good kid. Like the pair of you are doing a good job." It's not really advice, thankfully; K'del's stiff, awkward stance seems to preclude that kind of thing. "Guess you have a little while to decide, maybe?"
"He's a turn old. They're all good kids at a turn old," says Tiriana, with a disdainful look more in line with her usual demeanor. "Or at least, they're all bad in the same ways. Crying, not sleeping, and saying the only word they know: 'no.'" Still, she releases a breath, and while her mouth remains pulled into a scowl, she concedes, "I guess. Faranth, it better be another boy." Doesn't sound like there's much to decide.
K'del can concede that point, and does so with a shrug of his shoulders, a rueful little smile. He seems to be relaxing a little bit, though the gaze he aims at the Weyrwoman is still inclined towards the wary. "Reckon I ought to be offering you my congratulations, then, Tiriana. I'm sure the pair of you will make another lovely kid." Beat. "And if you need to, let Lujayn and Teris handle stuff, right? Look after yourself. Not that I don't think you can handle it..." That bit is added hastily. "Just. You know. Whatever you feel like."
Tiriana snorts. "I can take care of myself just fine," she declares. "But--thanks." Grudging though it is. She rubs her face one more time, then relaxes, at least a little bit, with that confession out of the way. "Faranth. It's not even that big a thing. I mean, it happens all the time. Everybody has babies, the herdbeasts and the cavernsgirls and Iovniath and--Faranth. You know what I mean."
Nodding, K'del accepts the thanks, however grudging, without a word. Mildly; "Not everyone is the Senior Weyrwoman. That's all I'm saying. But-- right. You know best. Not like I've ever been pregnant." For that, he cracks a smile: funny, right? "Guess R'uen must be pleased."
Tiriana admits, "He would be, if I'd told him yet. Didn't really... you know. Want to get his hopes up until--." A shrug finishes that statement. "It just--seems like it should be something easy, but people manage to fuck up the easy stuff all the time. Just look at, say, Fort lately. You'd think after taking care of a whole Weyr, taking care of just one baby, or two, would be nothing at all."
The line of K'del's mouth tightens distinctly at mention of Fort, though he doesn't speak to it. "You'd think," he says, finally, attempting for a lighter tone, though he doesn't quite get there. "I'll, ah, keep my mouth shut, then, until you've confirmed and told R'uen, and all that," he adds, probably unnecessarily, but still. "Not that R'uen and I speak on a regular basis, granted."
Dryly, "I generally try and keep the various men in my life away from each other." Tiriana's mouth pulls into its familiar smirk at that, as she pushes herself up to her feet. "I'm going back in." She shoots a glance at her dragon, but Iovniath doesn't make any move to get out of the cold deep water, leaving Tiriana huffing just a bit in annoyance as she turns to walk back. "See you, Weyrleader."
"Wise move," says K'del, with a little twitch of his lips. "Find it's easier to keep the women in my life separate, too." There's a rueful note in his tone for that, though he doesn't let it linger; instead, he lets his feet drop back into the water. "See you, Weyrwoman. Look after yourself."