Time With Family

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 1st July 2015

Characters: Kadira, Jadirah, A'kades, J'ler
Description: A'kades spends the restday with his children and their mother.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 13, day 7 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: V'kellyn

J'ler

}:Littles are coming to the weyr,:{ Volaith said, interrupting A'kades' concentration on the belt he was working on.

**My littles?** the bronzerider asked. He knew the children were supposed to stop by at some point, but he'd thought it would be in the evening. **Or weyrlings?** he added as he remembered that some of them might want to contact him on a restday, too.

}:Your littles and the healer,:{ the bronze said.

A'kades started putting away his project and cleaning up the room. He didn't want to leave tools scattered around to irritate the next Tanner who needed to use the place. **They can wait in the weyr if they get there first,** he said.

It took him almost half a candlemark before he got back across the bridge to his own weyr, but he didn't have to worry about the children being bored. Before he'd gotten halfway back, he was informed that they were going to the lake to bathe, so he changed course and headed out towards the water. Once he got there, he saw Jadirah sitting by the side watching the children bathe Volaith, who was lying as low as he could manage so they could reach most of his bulk.

He walked up to the seated Healer and settled onto the ground next to her. "You look radiant today, Jadirah," he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Flatterer," she said, but her eyes lit up and her face crinkled with a smile. "I hope you don't mind that they took some initiative."

A'kades shook his head. "He was just bathed _yesterday_. They're indulging him. Not that I mind that they're helping. He's quite a lot of dragon to bathe. Though I'm still going to have to get the top of him, I think." Kadira looked like she was going to be short forever, and she was clearly struggling to get to the dragon's back.

"What a chore it must be to take care of your own dragon," she said, rolling her eyes. "Think of it as setting a good example for the weyrlings. It's been a month now, hasn't it? Regretting taking the job?"

"Not as much as I thought I would," he said. "As a wingsecond I had to mold people to fit into the wing's culture, and sometimes I noticed the newest riders had some bad habits from weyrlinghood that wouldn't fly in a real wing."

"So now you can beat it out of them early on and save the wing staff the aggravation? How noble of you," she teased, elbowing him in the side.

"Something like that," he agreed.

"And with V'kellyn back and taking the top spot, that's even better. You're both going to be the terror of the weyr again, aren't you?"

"We can't be that bad," he defended. "The weyrlings might hear and it could ruin our reputation with them."

She snickered. "I don't know about V'kellyn, but I know your reputation needs a little ruining, if you ask me." Before he could retort, she continued, "Ten Turns ago I'd have laughed at the idea of you overseeing weyrlings and said you'd be too hard on them. But I think being so involved in the children's life has mellowed you out. You did good with them."

He shook his head. "They're the children _you_ wanted, Jadirah, and you're the one who's shaped them."

"We both did," she said firmly, in the tone that meant she wouldn't take any disagreement.

Jadirah hadn't been in a long-term relationship with anyone when she'd realized she wanted children, but she hadn't felt like waiting around to find a weyrmate and had instead set out to pick the perfect father. She and A'kades had been lightly involved at the time, as they occasionally continued to be, so he had been near the top of her list. His serious and conservative nature had been almost entirely the opposite of her own, but she'd thought it would be a good counterbalance for contributing to raising children. She hadn't wanted a traditional holder-style situation, but she hadn't wanted a father who'd contribute seed and then never pay attention to what he'd created. And indeed, they'd turned out some very pretty and smart children between them.

"I'll take that," he agreed. "So what are you doing for dinner?"

"I was hoping to have it with all of you," she said.

"That sounds lovely."

"Let me go arrange that while you spend time with the children," she suggested. "And then I'll meet you at your weyr in a candlemark."

"That sounds marvelous. I'll make sure not to be interrupted," he added.

"You do that," she said with a mock-stern look, wagging her finger at him before standing up and jogging towards the dining caverns.

A'kades stood back up and stripped off the clothing that would object to being soaked before heading into the water. He smiled at the kids as he approached. "I see you decided to help out!"

"He looked like he needed it," Jadirel said. At almost 8 Turns, he was the younger child. He'd inherited much from his mother, always smiling and a ball of permanent energy.

"What he means is, he really wanted to bathe a dragon, and when mom said she wanted to have dinner with you, he got it in his head," Kadira said. The 15-Turn-old was more serious and reserved, as befitted a Healer apprentice.

"And he _needed_ it," Jadirel insisted again.

"I don't mind if you help out with Volaith," A'kades said. "Are you almost done?"

"Almost, but we need help at the top."

"Well why don't I just help you out, and then we can go have dinner with your mom. Jadirel, you can tell me all about classes, and Kadira, I'm sure you have news too…"

And the rest of the restday looked like it was going to be very good.

Last updated on the January 31st 2020

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Time With Family