Send for Me
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr (NPC)
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall
Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 7th November 2017
Characters: K'yne, Ocktima
Description: K'yne reflects back to his time with Ocktima
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 8 of Turn 9
K'yne was still reeling after Cyradis and L'pin left to return to
Dolphin Cove. He had wondered, many times over the Turns, what had
happened to Ocktima, but he felt that she'd made it pretty clear that
she was going to stay in her marriage, and so he had moved on with his
life. **Why didn't you send for me?** He asked as he sat on his ledge,
eyes gazing up at a moon, sending his thoughts back to a moonlit night
Turns ago....
**Flashback**
The noise of the crowd of the gather was deafening, a mingling of
traders hawking wares and athletic competitions that were so popular
this time of the year. Ocktima wandered through the crowd, large blue
eyes never lingering long on any particular item. She drew gazes as
usual, but despite her outward beauty, she never returned any smile
from those who showed interest. She didn't realize that many of the
crowd were noting the colorful bruise on her cheek, nor did she
particularly care. She was only there to get out of the small, cramped
confines of the home she and her new husband shared. If she could have
summoned enough energy to care, she would have hated it. Instead, she
just wandered, not particularly paying attention to anything.
"I am going to ask her to dance," E'thas said, inhaling deeply as he
looked across the makeshift dance floor at a woman whose dress plunged
so deeply she was earning hot glares from more conservative women at
the Gather.
K'yne tried to hide his snicker from his friend. The woman was nothing
short of gaudy, but then E'thas had never had good taste in women.
Movement in his peripherals made K'yne turn his head, and when he did
his heart leapt. "Go ahead, E'thas, I'll catch up with you later."
Leaving his friend, K'yne took long strides to catch up with the woman
he had seen, "Ocktima?"
So deep in her own thoughts, she didn't respond at first. It was only
when K'yne drew closer that she realized he was speaking to her. She
turned slowly, her blank expression meeting his. For an instant there
was no recognition, but then her eyes widened. "K'yne?" Her face grew
abruptly pained at a sudden memory, the memory of her Marloth and his
Arinoth curled up together. She wanted to immediately escape the
memory as it clutched at her, so she backed away, then held still. She
hadn't expected to see anyone from her Weyr ever again; she had
thought it would make things better...
K'yne was confused by Octkima's reaction and then his eyes were drawn
to the visible bruise on her face. "Octkima, are you okay?" He asked,
grabbing her by the shoulders.
}:Take care, she is still grieved by Marloth's memory.:{ Arinoth said
in a soft tone.
"K'yne?" She repeated again, staring at him with wide eyes. She
flinched when he grabbed her, but stared at his face for a long
moment. Her lip trembled before she suddenly flung her arms around his
neck and hugged him desperately, burying her face in his shoulder and
neck. She didn't care that people around them were murmuring
,though she would realize it later. In that instant, with the
familiarity of him so close, she felt almost normal again.
K'yne wrapped his arms around her, as he had in times past,
remembering again how perfectly she fit against him. When she had left
the Weyr he'd never thought he would see her again. Realizing that
they were causing a small scene, K'yne directed them to a more
discreet location between two of the vendors stalls, all without
breaking contact with Ocktima. "I can't believe it's you."
"I'm here." Her voice was dull, even as she looked up at him, keeping
her hands on his shoulders. "You shouldn't be." She shook her head and
looked down. "It's been a long time and I've found a place here." She
swallowed hard, unable to look him in the eye for longer than a
moment. Even so, she leaned
against him, taking comfort in his familiarity.
The tone of her voice was like a knife in his sternum, so lifeless and
without spark. K'yne remembered how her eyes once flashed when she
would get angry, her chin would raise challengingly when she felt that
she was absolutely right and he was absolutely wrong, and now she
could barely even look at him.
"It seems like you have found more than a place here," he said, a
finger skimming gently over the bruise on her face. The sight of her
skin discolored by the bruise roused an anger inside K'yne that he
rarely felt.
"I fell." The whisper was soft enough to barely reach his ear, but the
tear that suddenly welled up in her eye couldn't be mistaken. She
looked up and shook her head, recognizing the beginnings of anger in
him. "Don't, K'yne. Please. " She lifted a hand to cup his cheek.
"It's nothing. I promise."
"You did not fall." K'yne said between clenched teeth. He'd seen her
mount her dragon in a single, nimble leap, clumsiness was not in her
vocabulary. "If a man can do this," he touched her face, "then he
doesn't deserve you." Why had she left the Weyr, left him, to come and
live like this? It didn't make any sense to K'yne.
"I fell." she insisted, wincing away from his touch for a moment
before shaking her head and bringing up her other hand to cup both
cheeks. Her thumbs stroked over his mouth, trying to ease the clench.
She noticed curious gazes finding them even with their more discreet
location, and she visibly wilted, drawing her hands away. "We can't
stay here, people are watching." Looking even more distressed, she
wiped at her eyes. "I have to go."
"Hey, wait, don't go." K'yne said, reaching for her hand. "I won't say
anything else about the bruise." He wanted to find whoever the man was
that had placed it on her skin and grind him to a pulp beneath his
boot heel, but he wouldn't, not if it displeased Ocktima.
Her hand caught, she didn't try to tug it away, but her gaze flicked
over to the side before going back to his face. She had missed him
more than she had missed her sister or her mother. She had missed him
terribly. But how could she explain that she could never again live
where he lived? To be around dragons all the time...she couldn't bear
it. Her eyes watered as though she could not stem the flow. "I've
missed you. I've missed you so much. But I couldn't stay...even for
you and..." she looked down at their joined hands. "Tell me you
forgive me, K'yne. Please."
"Ti, there's nothing to forgive. You have to do what is best for you."
He just wished she hadn't chosen some heavy-handed holder.
She finally lifted her gaze again and met his eyes. There was a faint
hint of a warm smile in her gaze now. Only he had ever called her
that. Her voice caught a little as she touched his face again. "I
still love you, K'yne. I know you have K'fel and Saibra and they come
first. I understand. I just
wanted you to know that." Before she could change her mind, or even
think about what her new husband would say, she stood on her tiptoes
and pressed her mouth to his.
It was on the tip of his tongue to say that she came second to no one
when her lips touched his. The simple gesture brought back memories of
when they had attended Gathers together in the past, memories of
chasing Ocktima barefoot around her weyr, his pants dangling from her
fingers. He would do anything for things to go back to the way they
were.
"Ocktima," he breathed against her lips, his hands going to her hips
and pulling her closer to him.
She stopped thinking of her husband or even for a moment, the loss of
her Marloth. She had K'yne and felt his arms around her again. A
sudden shout from the gather crowd, someone complaining about a
Trader's prices, caught her attention and she pulled her mouth away.
"We can't." Her voice was husky and she still clung to him, arched up
full length against his body. Jenasom's love making was rough and crude; it
had been so long since K'yne had touched her with those hands that
knew her so well. "Not here..."
"Then let's go somewhere." K'yne said, not ready to let Ocktima go
yet, but not wanting to risk her reputation among the holders.
They shouldn't. She knew that they shouldn't. They'd already been
sighted and by this evening, her husband would be questioning why she
had been seen with a strange dragonrider. He would suspect...Her eyes
met his and she decided then and there that she just didn't care about
anything else but being with K'yne again, if only just the once more
before she had to remember why she had come here. "There's a grove
that way." She pointed. It was private and on her husband's property.
They wouldn't be disturbed. She grabbed his hand and hurried away from
the Gather, slipping through the trees to afford them some privacy.
K'yne followed Ocktima, heart pounding as they wove through the trees
in the grove until they were far enough away from the Gather that the
noise faded, leaving them alone, finally. "I'm not use to you wearing
so many clothes," he said teasingly, grabbing a handful of the skirt
she had on.
She didn't want to be reminded of that. "Then take it off." Her hands
flew to his shirt, wasting no time in pulling it over his head and
tossing it aside. Her hands splayed over his lean chest, reacquainting
her hands with his skin and muscles. She then grabbed his head,
pulling his mouth down to hers again. There was no hesitancy in her
now; in this moment she was like she used to be, energetic and
_alive_.
K'yne didn't need to be told twice, reaching behind Ocktima, he
slipped the buttons of her skirt free and then jerked the material
over her hips. Her hands on his skin was familiar, and set his blood
on fire. No one else did this to him, but he hadn't realized that
until after Ocktima had left the Weyr.
Pulling her blouse over her head, K'yne's fingers expertly unlaced the
front of her shift. There was some part of him that was aware of not
tearing or ruining her clothing, because she would have to go home
later and keep what had happened between them a secret.
***Fade to black***
She shuddered in his arms, aftershocks rippling through her as she
clung to him as tightly as she could. The bark behind her had scraped
her back and she felt the sting, but she couldn't bring herself to
regret what had happened. Slowly, she pulled her head from his
shoulder and looked at his face. The tear finally fell from where it
had been glimmering. This wasn't something she could have again. He
couldn't stay with her and she wouldn't go back to the Weyr.
She stroked her fingers over his face, as though trying to absorb his
features through her fingertips and gave a sad smile. "He'll be
looking for me soon, K'yne. You can't stay here."
K'yne closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them they were
filled with emotion, "Don't stay here with him, Ocktima, please," he
begged, "let me take you away from here. We don't have to go back to
Far Island, we'll go somewhere else." He brushed her hair back from
her face.
Her eyes were mournful as she met his. "You know I can't. We wed,
K'yne. I've made my choices." Her voice broke before she caught and
cleared her throat, trying for a smile despite her watery eyes. "You
can't save me any more than I could have saved Marloth. " She let him
go, carefully finding her feet and standing in front of him still
nude, but appearing more fragile. "I'll be fine, K'yne. I promise I
will be."
A part of him wished the man would find them, then K'yne would
throttle him for touching Ocktima... but he couldn't. She'd made her
choice, just like Saibra, and it wasn't him. Why could he never help
the women he loved? Ocktima's choice to stay with some holder bastard
who beat on her stung. It wasn't that simple, some part of him knew,
but it didn't lessen the hurt.
Straightening his pants, K'yne reached down and picked up Ocktima's
shift, which seemed to glow a bright white in the moonlight. "Here,"
he said, holding the garment out to her.
She saw his face and it broke what was left of her heart. She took the
shift and grabbed his hand. "Please don't look at me that way.
Please." She swallowed hard. "I just can't. Not yet." Her eyes
searched his face, begging him to understand. "When I'm ready, I'll send
word. I swear to you on my Marloth. Just don't look at me that way.
Let me go home knowing that you love me and that I know that you know
that I love you."
He captured her face between his hands, feeling guilty that he had
made things harder on her when he had meant to make her feel better.
"I will come for you the moment you send word. Whether it's tomorrow
or five Turns from now."
She nodded, trying not to let more tears spill over. She laid a hand
over one of his. "I'll call for you." She took a deep breath and
struggled to say the next words. "Go. I'll see you again. Just give me
time."
Last updated on the November 7th 2017