Kai can't swim
It is an autumn afternoon of day 4, month 10, turn 20 of Interval 10.
Beach, Nerat Area
A small 'pocket' beach is tucked away in a fold of the lengthy palisade that ranges up and down Nerat's western coastline. White sand reaches all the way back to the foot of the steep rocky face that stretches up almost impossibly high above, fingers of bleached stone aiming for the heavens. To the north the palisade breaks off into the water in an intricate series of stepping stones and columns, stalwart soldiers against the inward rushing of the tides, all the way up to Half Circle Seahold. To the south, the palisades gradually taper off into flat headlands and rolling hills before dying into swampland near Nerat Tip.
Early afternoon, just after lunch, but here on the coast of Nerat it's hours and hours later. B'kaiv can't relax, even with Chielyth amusing herself in the surf and springing into the air to spatter droplets over the beach; though he sits on the blanket they brought for their impromptu picnic, it's with a stiff-back and not an easy sprawl. He holds the nearly empty beer bottle like he's contemplating throwing it somewhere, and shoots the bronzerider an uncertain look now and again. "You relaxed enough?" he finally asks, just the question to erase any possible ease. "T' talk about it? Me going t' th' Hold?"
By contrast, T'rev is the very image of relaxation, propped up on his elbows and looking out at the surf tumbling. Mecaith's down the coast a ways though, threading his way through the stony columns that march along this part of Nerat's coastline. "Yeah. It's all set up," the Weyrleader answers after a moment, then holds his hand out for the bottle. "Here. I can put that back in the basket for you."
<< Wait for me! >> Chielyth calls after Mecaith, just like she wasn't the one to say no, she didn't want to fly just now and no, he should go ahead. Maybe it was only her way of giving herself plenty of room to get up to full flying speed before hitting those columns. Kai watches her go and glances at T'rev again, slings back the last however many swallows before handing the bottle back. "A'right. So. Th' Weyrwoman agreed? It's t' Fort Sea, ain't it? Not Ruatha River?"
Mecaith takes a little longer to work up to speed anyway, which means Chielyth has ample opportunity to catch up, though once he gets going, he's not exactly a slowpoke. "Yeah, she agreed and -- yeah. Fort Sea, given what's h appened lately," T'rev says with a bob of his head. "We'll have to manage things real careful if she gets proddy, but the upside is, it's a little closer."
B'kaiv says, "She ain't gonna get proddy," while he watches the waves, because saying it will make it true. "She's too," and there he stops, because /Elaruth/ wasn't too young. Says, "Shit," instead and loops an arm around one bent knee. "I ain't asked G'dri yet. If he'd - he'll watch her. Maybe should get Elaruth or Peireth t' make her not say nothing, 'least 'til I get back."
"No she ain't too young," T'rev says as he takes the bottle and stows it once B'kaiv's finished off that beer. And hey, presto there's a fresh one being offered over. "Mmm. Best be askin' him this seven. Got a name for you over there," the Weyrleader says and he blows out a breath, goes on. "Veray's the second in command and he'll be expectin' you next seven. Got a recommendation letter for you too, small hold north of Fort proper. Anyone goes askin' any questions, they'll back up what's in the letter."
Kai shoots him a narrow-eyed, sideways /look/ that says 'you just had to say it, didn't you?', but grudgingly accepts the beer with a grunt for thanks. Pops the top and swigs again. "Veray. Right. Balkaiv." His name - his /old/ name - drops slowly from his mouth, and maybe, possibly, Chielyth pauses in her headlong rush to send a flick of curiosity back. "Next seven - you want me picking a fight? Or you wanna just..." here he smirks, "Surprise me?"
"Kai. Use Kai instead maybe," T'rev suggests and pushes a hand through his hair, ignoring that look and drops his elbows down atop his knees. That smirk draws a little grin and T'rev's shoulders lift. "Yeah, I can berate you for something stupid, you go off on me, we get loud, you pop me one ... go from there?"
B'kaiv shrugs, like it's no matter to -him- what name he goes by, even if it's a little quick, a little brittle. Listening to T'rev's plan he nods slowly, has another pull of beer to draw out the silence. "Spend th' day packing and getting ready, someone takes me out of there after midnight. Drop me off a few hours from th' place. It'll look better I come in with road dust an' tired." "...Shells," he adds after another second or two, glances over again before warning, "I'm gonna really go for you. I'll try not t' hit nothing as'll break, but... an' maybe you should poke at me a couple days before, build up t' it an' all."
"Yeah. Just in case you know. 'Balkaiv' is a pretty -- stand out name. And close to your rider name. 'Kai' it slides by more," T'rev says with a little sweeping motion of his hand. "Sounds good yeah." About his planned arrival and T'rev blows out another breath, nods. "Okay. Just -- I won't really mean any of it, Kai," the Weyrleader says and holds his hand out to the other man. "Think of you as a friend, y'know."
"Kai," the greenrider agrees, nodding. "Yeah, guess you're right. Ain't that hard, maybe, t' get from Balkaiv t' B'kaiv." Chielyth certainly didn't have a problem with it. As T'rev continues Kai cocks an eyebrow at him and snorts. "Yeah." He knows. "Ain't your style, t' needle. Jaeyi. Kaida. W'ton - they'd do it, an' think as it's funny. You'd just flat out say something." Approving. "I know. Like I ain't gonna try t' do you real damage." Only then does he shift his beer to the other hand, reach over to trade slap palms.
"Mm," T'rev mumbles agreement, takes a swig from his own beer. "That how you see what they do?" the Weyrleader asks though, about the three named people but his head bobs. "Yeah. Tell you you're a fucking bastard, there you go," T'rev replies with a quirk of his mouth as their palms connect. "Just try not to knock out any teeth. Jaeyi'll leave my sorry ass if you unpretty me too much," he quips.
A blink, a frown. "Sure," Kai returns easily, retrieves his hand with an equally quick grin for the insult. "A'right. Gotta get in /some/ work t' your face, but it'll mostly be body. Be interesting t' see who pulls me offa you, huh?" With a salute of his bottle, like this isn't just a totally messed-up topic. "Figure there can come a letter once I got whatever I'm gonna see, yeah? Probably's gonna look too strange if I just up an' disappear. --Course," he adds after a second, and watching T'rev all the while to judge, "Could do a little theft of my own, trinkets an' all. 'Cept that ain't gonna look too good for my recommendation, huh."
T'rev snorts softly. "Shiner'd be fine. Visible reminder for why you're grounded," the Weyrleader says with a broad wink. "And yeah. I'm layin' odds on V'for." More beer and T'rev blows out a breath. "Yeah. Get called back home or what have you. Or sure, get yourself dismissed, though if you wanna do it again ..." the Weyrleader says with a laugh and rolls his shoulders.
B'kaiv snorts a laugh back and lets his stretched-out foot wag back and forth. "I'll figure out a way t' get out of there. Shells. Almost wish it was time now. All this waiting... s'like waiting for them eggs t' hatch. Wonder if Chielyth's gonna search nobody for Elaruth's eggs? S'just... shells. D'kai. /Mikhuth/." Odd.
"All right, leave it to you then," T'rev says with a chuckle. "And if Chielyth /does/ go up, there'll be someone to help pull you out." The Weyrleader grins about the eggs. "Yeah. Waiting is always rough, easier to just ... get going." His beer is finished off and the empty bottle set in the basket. "Mm. If Mecaith hadn't caught Peirith ...." he starts then shakes his head pushes to his feet and stretches. "C'mon, I'll race you out to the sandbar?"
"Somebody better be watching for it, s'all I got t' say," the greenrider warns, grubbing his heel into the sand and washing the whole lot down with a lot of beer. Lower still, "Ain't like I know what'm lookin' for," before he tosses the now-empty bottle onto the blanket. "You think Mecaith woulda gone after?" He follows T'rev to his feet, slowly, eyes the distant sandbar and the bronzerider again. "You wanna swim? In /that/? Shells, you're gonna whup my ass."
"Mecaith'll probably know, or some of her flying pals," T'rev says quietly, arms still clasped above his head. "From what I gather, a change in the way she's actin' but yeah ... it's different for all greenriders. But most male dragons actually start to pick up on it as soon as there's signs. And well -- Vrianth ... she lets him know outright." The Weyrleader nods as his arms drop. "He promised her he would," he says quietly. "But then he caught Peirith and he's had to go back on his word." Laughing, T'rev reaches over to clap Kai on the shoulder. "Hell yeah, s'fun. Bracing. Good work out."
Perhaps Kai doesn't mind having his ass whupped - and let's not go there, too late - because he shrugs and starts peeling out of his shirt. "That's half th' whole sharding Weyr, sir, an' a good... shells. Twenty? From every other Weyr there is. Her 'flying pals'. I don't know as /she'd/ know what's going on, though, t' tell nobody. Even me." With a glance down the coast to where specks of bronze and green dance. Shirt off, it's dropped in the sand without a second look before he starts on his boots. "Just hope as /somebody/ figures it out if it's gonna happen. Don't wanna think too hard about what'd happen if they don't."
"Heh. Well, some of 'em might be able to give you a nudge. If Mecaith feels it comin' on, I sure will," T'rev says sincerely and waits for Kai to disrobe. He already shed layers earlier. "Well. Mostly what'll happen is you'll get all wound up in it and lose your sense for a bit, come real hard wherever you are or you'll grab someone and it won't be too pretty," the Weyrleader says candidly. "So. We'll all be keepin' an eye on her as is in the know."
Why doesn't Kai look all that reassured by that candidness? Probably he's just contrary. "Well, it ain't gonna happen. It just ain't." He tries to avoid hitting his shirt with the boots, but one of them tips, rolls, spills sand and Faranth-knows what else across the fabric. Kai doesn't even care. "I ain't even gonna ask what th' stakes is," nod to the water, "'Cause I know I'm gonna lose. How far are we from where you grew up, any road?"
"Gotta be ready in case it does," T'rev has to say and stretches his arms up again. "Bah, forget about stakes. This is for fun," the Weyrleader says jovially and then hitches his thumb up the palisade. "That many feet straight up and about two miles inland," the Weyrleader describes. "If you can scale that there cliff, you can walk here from there."
Pants follow after boots as the greenrider gives the thumb-jerk a look. "Huh. A'right." Shielding his eyes he looks after Chielyth one last time, approaches the waves like they've got a fresh coat of agenothree. There's no announcement of 'it's /cold/!' when he marches in, but he does get all tense and manly, and maybe another muttered, "Shells," floats back to the bronzerider's ears.
Good thing it's Nerat at the end of summer and not other parts of the world: the water is pretty balmy. T'rev on the other hand, goes charging into the water happily and cuts a clean enough line towards the sandbar in spite of the waves. He realizes somewhere in there that Kai really wasn't kidding about being a crap swimmer and drops back to more swim /with/ the greenrider. Out on the sandbar, he gives some pointers about using upper body strength with the waves and so on and so forth and out there, it's actually pretty interesting, shallow water before the deep and out beyond it, it's /deep/ dark water. There's a warning from T'rev not to go past that bar even and to watch out in other parts of Nerat: there's things with teeth in the deep water. Eventually there's a far more relaxed swim back, because hey, you can /bodysurf/ your way back to shore. T'rev lets the dragons have their fill of fun flying around columns and broken bits of palisade until it's starting to push dark here at Nerat and it's time to head home.
Told him I couldn't swim. Shells, really gonna go through with this. Gotta talk to Chielyth, make sure she understands. Hope she ain't gonna be no trouble.
Beach, Nerat Area
A small 'pocket' beach is tucked away in a fold of the lengthy palisade that ranges up and down Nerat's western coastline. White sand reaches all the way back to the foot of the steep rocky face that stretches up almost impossibly high above, fingers of bleached stone aiming for the heavens. To the north the palisade breaks off into the water in an intricate series of stepping stones and columns, stalwart soldiers against the inward rushing of the tides, all the way up to Half Circle Seahold. To the south, the palisades gradually taper off into flat headlands and rolling hills before dying into swampland near Nerat Tip.
Early afternoon, just after lunch, but here on the coast of Nerat it's hours and hours later. B'kaiv can't relax, even with Chielyth amusing herself in the surf and springing into the air to spatter droplets over the beach; though he sits on the blanket they brought for their impromptu picnic, it's with a stiff-back and not an easy sprawl. He holds the nearly empty beer bottle like he's contemplating throwing it somewhere, and shoots the bronzerider an uncertain look now and again. "You relaxed enough?" he finally asks, just the question to erase any possible ease. "T' talk about it? Me going t' th' Hold?"
By contrast, T'rev is the very image of relaxation, propped up on his elbows and looking out at the surf tumbling. Mecaith's down the coast a ways though, threading his way through the stony columns that march along this part of Nerat's coastline. "Yeah. It's all set up," the Weyrleader answers after a moment, then holds his hand out for the bottle. "Here. I can put that back in the basket for you."
<< Wait for me! >> Chielyth calls after Mecaith, just like she wasn't the one to say no, she didn't want to fly just now and no, he should go ahead. Maybe it was only her way of giving herself plenty of room to get up to full flying speed before hitting those columns. Kai watches her go and glances at T'rev again, slings back the last however many swallows before handing the bottle back. "A'right. So. Th' Weyrwoman agreed? It's t' Fort Sea, ain't it? Not Ruatha River?"
Mecaith takes a little longer to work up to speed anyway, which means Chielyth has ample opportunity to catch up, though once he gets going, he's not exactly a slowpoke. "Yeah, she agreed and -- yeah. Fort Sea, given what's h appened lately," T'rev says with a bob of his head. "We'll have to manage things real careful if she gets proddy, but the upside is, it's a little closer."
B'kaiv says, "She ain't gonna get proddy," while he watches the waves, because saying it will make it true. "She's too," and there he stops, because /Elaruth/ wasn't too young. Says, "Shit," instead and loops an arm around one bent knee. "I ain't asked G'dri yet. If he'd - he'll watch her. Maybe should get Elaruth or Peireth t' make her not say nothing, 'least 'til I get back."
"No she ain't too young," T'rev says as he takes the bottle and stows it once B'kaiv's finished off that beer. And hey, presto there's a fresh one being offered over. "Mmm. Best be askin' him this seven. Got a name for you over there," the Weyrleader says and he blows out a breath, goes on. "Veray's the second in command and he'll be expectin' you next seven. Got a recommendation letter for you too, small hold north of Fort proper. Anyone goes askin' any questions, they'll back up what's in the letter."
Kai shoots him a narrow-eyed, sideways /look/ that says 'you just had to say it, didn't you?', but grudgingly accepts the beer with a grunt for thanks. Pops the top and swigs again. "Veray. Right. Balkaiv." His name - his /old/ name - drops slowly from his mouth, and maybe, possibly, Chielyth pauses in her headlong rush to send a flick of curiosity back. "Next seven - you want me picking a fight? Or you wanna just..." here he smirks, "Surprise me?"
"Kai. Use Kai instead maybe," T'rev suggests and pushes a hand through his hair, ignoring that look and drops his elbows down atop his knees. That smirk draws a little grin and T'rev's shoulders lift. "Yeah, I can berate you for something stupid, you go off on me, we get loud, you pop me one ... go from there?"
B'kaiv shrugs, like it's no matter to -him- what name he goes by, even if it's a little quick, a little brittle. Listening to T'rev's plan he nods slowly, has another pull of beer to draw out the silence. "Spend th' day packing and getting ready, someone takes me out of there after midnight. Drop me off a few hours from th' place. It'll look better I come in with road dust an' tired." "...Shells," he adds after another second or two, glances over again before warning, "I'm gonna really go for you. I'll try not t' hit nothing as'll break, but... an' maybe you should poke at me a couple days before, build up t' it an' all."
"Yeah. Just in case you know. 'Balkaiv' is a pretty -- stand out name. And close to your rider name. 'Kai' it slides by more," T'rev says with a little sweeping motion of his hand. "Sounds good yeah." About his planned arrival and T'rev blows out another breath, nods. "Okay. Just -- I won't really mean any of it, Kai," the Weyrleader says and holds his hand out to the other man. "Think of you as a friend, y'know."
"Kai," the greenrider agrees, nodding. "Yeah, guess you're right. Ain't that hard, maybe, t' get from Balkaiv t' B'kaiv." Chielyth certainly didn't have a problem with it. As T'rev continues Kai cocks an eyebrow at him and snorts. "Yeah." He knows. "Ain't your style, t' needle. Jaeyi. Kaida. W'ton - they'd do it, an' think as it's funny. You'd just flat out say something." Approving. "I know. Like I ain't gonna try t' do you real damage." Only then does he shift his beer to the other hand, reach over to trade slap palms.
"Mm," T'rev mumbles agreement, takes a swig from his own beer. "That how you see what they do?" the Weyrleader asks though, about the three named people but his head bobs. "Yeah. Tell you you're a fucking bastard, there you go," T'rev replies with a quirk of his mouth as their palms connect. "Just try not to knock out any teeth. Jaeyi'll leave my sorry ass if you unpretty me too much," he quips.
A blink, a frown. "Sure," Kai returns easily, retrieves his hand with an equally quick grin for the insult. "A'right. Gotta get in /some/ work t' your face, but it'll mostly be body. Be interesting t' see who pulls me offa you, huh?" With a salute of his bottle, like this isn't just a totally messed-up topic. "Figure there can come a letter once I got whatever I'm gonna see, yeah? Probably's gonna look too strange if I just up an' disappear. --Course," he adds after a second, and watching T'rev all the while to judge, "Could do a little theft of my own, trinkets an' all. 'Cept that ain't gonna look too good for my recommendation, huh."
T'rev snorts softly. "Shiner'd be fine. Visible reminder for why you're grounded," the Weyrleader says with a broad wink. "And yeah. I'm layin' odds on V'for." More beer and T'rev blows out a breath. "Yeah. Get called back home or what have you. Or sure, get yourself dismissed, though if you wanna do it again ..." the Weyrleader says with a laugh and rolls his shoulders.
B'kaiv snorts a laugh back and lets his stretched-out foot wag back and forth. "I'll figure out a way t' get out of there. Shells. Almost wish it was time now. All this waiting... s'like waiting for them eggs t' hatch. Wonder if Chielyth's gonna search nobody for Elaruth's eggs? S'just... shells. D'kai. /Mikhuth/." Odd.
"All right, leave it to you then," T'rev says with a chuckle. "And if Chielyth /does/ go up, there'll be someone to help pull you out." The Weyrleader grins about the eggs. "Yeah. Waiting is always rough, easier to just ... get going." His beer is finished off and the empty bottle set in the basket. "Mm. If Mecaith hadn't caught Peirith ...." he starts then shakes his head pushes to his feet and stretches. "C'mon, I'll race you out to the sandbar?"
"Somebody better be watching for it, s'all I got t' say," the greenrider warns, grubbing his heel into the sand and washing the whole lot down with a lot of beer. Lower still, "Ain't like I know what'm lookin' for," before he tosses the now-empty bottle onto the blanket. "You think Mecaith woulda gone after?" He follows T'rev to his feet, slowly, eyes the distant sandbar and the bronzerider again. "You wanna swim? In /that/? Shells, you're gonna whup my ass."
"Mecaith'll probably know, or some of her flying pals," T'rev says quietly, arms still clasped above his head. "From what I gather, a change in the way she's actin' but yeah ... it's different for all greenriders. But most male dragons actually start to pick up on it as soon as there's signs. And well -- Vrianth ... she lets him know outright." The Weyrleader nods as his arms drop. "He promised her he would," he says quietly. "But then he caught Peirith and he's had to go back on his word." Laughing, T'rev reaches over to clap Kai on the shoulder. "Hell yeah, s'fun. Bracing. Good work out."
Perhaps Kai doesn't mind having his ass whupped - and let's not go there, too late - because he shrugs and starts peeling out of his shirt. "That's half th' whole sharding Weyr, sir, an' a good... shells. Twenty? From every other Weyr there is. Her 'flying pals'. I don't know as /she'd/ know what's going on, though, t' tell nobody. Even me." With a glance down the coast to where specks of bronze and green dance. Shirt off, it's dropped in the sand without a second look before he starts on his boots. "Just hope as /somebody/ figures it out if it's gonna happen. Don't wanna think too hard about what'd happen if they don't."
"Heh. Well, some of 'em might be able to give you a nudge. If Mecaith feels it comin' on, I sure will," T'rev says sincerely and waits for Kai to disrobe. He already shed layers earlier. "Well. Mostly what'll happen is you'll get all wound up in it and lose your sense for a bit, come real hard wherever you are or you'll grab someone and it won't be too pretty," the Weyrleader says candidly. "So. We'll all be keepin' an eye on her as is in the know."
Why doesn't Kai look all that reassured by that candidness? Probably he's just contrary. "Well, it ain't gonna happen. It just ain't." He tries to avoid hitting his shirt with the boots, but one of them tips, rolls, spills sand and Faranth-knows what else across the fabric. Kai doesn't even care. "I ain't even gonna ask what th' stakes is," nod to the water, "'Cause I know I'm gonna lose. How far are we from where you grew up, any road?"
"Gotta be ready in case it does," T'rev has to say and stretches his arms up again. "Bah, forget about stakes. This is for fun," the Weyrleader says jovially and then hitches his thumb up the palisade. "That many feet straight up and about two miles inland," the Weyrleader describes. "If you can scale that there cliff, you can walk here from there."
Pants follow after boots as the greenrider gives the thumb-jerk a look. "Huh. A'right." Shielding his eyes he looks after Chielyth one last time, approaches the waves like they've got a fresh coat of agenothree. There's no announcement of 'it's /cold/!' when he marches in, but he does get all tense and manly, and maybe another muttered, "Shells," floats back to the bronzerider's ears.
Good thing it's Nerat at the end of summer and not other parts of the world: the water is pretty balmy. T'rev on the other hand, goes charging into the water happily and cuts a clean enough line towards the sandbar in spite of the waves. He realizes somewhere in there that Kai really wasn't kidding about being a crap swimmer and drops back to more swim /with/ the greenrider. Out on the sandbar, he gives some pointers about using upper body strength with the waves and so on and so forth and out there, it's actually pretty interesting, shallow water before the deep and out beyond it, it's /deep/ dark water. There's a warning from T'rev not to go past that bar even and to watch out in other parts of Nerat: there's things with teeth in the deep water. Eventually there's a far more relaxed swim back, because hey, you can /bodysurf/ your way back to shore. T'rev lets the dragons have their fill of fun flying around columns and broken bits of palisade until it's starting to push dark here at Nerat and it's time to head home.
Told him I couldn't swim. Shells, really gonna go through with this. Gotta talk to Chielyth, make sure she understands. Hope she ain't gonna be no trouble.