Happy Birthingday!

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 15th April 2006

Characters: Tsaera, F'lin
Description: It's Tsaera's birthingday, and Felarin tries to pry her out of her office.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 11, day 4 of Turn 3

Felarin knocked on his grandmother's door and waited, shifting
impatiently from foot to foot. If it wasn't for a concise note from
his mother, he wouldn't have known at all. **I guess Ma's good for
something after all,** he thought warmly. The hallway was silent. He
sighed. He knocked again. No answer.

**It'd be so much easier if I had a dragon,** the Candidate thought,
then turned back down the hall toward Tsaera's office. Vilarth's
clutch was due to Hatch soon, and he still hoped... against all hope,
seeing how he hadn't been Searched and there were only eighteen eggs.
His boots echoed off the walls, and since no one was around Felarin
did a little hop and a skip, just because.

There was a line of light beneath Tsaera's office door; that was a
good sign. Sort of. Felarin knocked and was immediately answered with
a, 'The door's open!'

"Grandma?" Felarin stuck his head in and grinned. Tsaera was
ensconced behind her desk, trapped by piles of hidework. Her grey
hair was softened to the colour of fog by the light from the glows
and there were dark smudges beneath her eyes. But she was smiling.
"How come you're here so late?"

"I need to catch up a little, but you're always welcome, Felarin.
Come in!"

Felarin did as he was told and shut the door. "Know what I heard?"

The Weyrwoman shook her head. "What?"

"Someone whispered in my ear, 'it's Tsaera's birthingday!'" Felarin
grinned and withdrew a package wrapped in a scrap of cloth from
behind his back. "Ta da! Happy birthingday, grandmama!"

"Happy-?" Tsaera looked momentarily confused, then suddenly grinned.
"I'd completely forgotten! Thank you, Felarin!"

Felarin came around the desk to press a kiss onto her cheek and give
her the present. "How could you forget your own birthingday?"

"When you're as old as I am, birthingdays aren't quite as important."
**Or wanted...** "Besides, I've had sixty seven of them already. More
than my fair share!"

"You? Never." The Candidate grinned and perched on the edge of her
desk. "Aren't you going to open it?"

Tsaera grinned and shook the package. It was oblong, hard, didn't
rattle, and the cloth it was wrapped in was a dusty shade of yellow
that looked a little like a dishrag. Oh well. It was the thought that
counted. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"But I wanted to. Open it!"

The Weyrwoman smiled at his enthusiasm and unwrapped the cloth,
revealing a wooden vase polished to a high sheen. She held it up to
the light and made the appropriate appreciative sounds. "This is
lovely, Felarin! Thank you. Did you make it yourself?"

"I sure did!" He submitted to a kiss on the cheek before standing
again. "Happy birthingday."

"I couldn't wish for a happier one," Tsaera replied.

"Even with all this hidework?" Felarin gestured to her desk, and
Tsaera suppressed a sigh. It was tidy, but it was obviously... in
use. "It's your birthingday! We should get a bottle of wine or
something and go for a walk. You need to get out of here, at least!"

Tsaera shook her head and put the vase aside. "What would your mother
think, hearing you talk about bottles of wine with such familiarity?"

"She'd say that I take after you," Felarin said with an impish grin,
and Tsaera couldn't fault him. Everlyin probably _would_ say that.
She felt her resolve crumble.

"All right. Let's go for a walk - or better, I'll have Tabanirth take
us somewhere. How does that sound?"

Felarin's eyes lit up like glows. They could go flying! "That would
be awesome!"

Tsaera grinned and stood, feeling her hips ache because she'd been
seated for so long. "All right, then. You go dig up a bottle of wine
- white, mind you - and a pair of glasses, and I'll rouse Tabanirth
and get her fitted with her riding straps. Meet me at my weyr."

"Yes, grandma!" Felarin saluted, hopped off her desk, and was out the
door before she could blink. The Weyrwoman could only stare enviously
after him - shards and shells, for the energy of youth...! She shook
her head and left her office at a more sedate pace. **Tabanirth? Wake
up, love. Will you take Felarin and myself somewhere for a little
while? A beach, maybe?**

}:Why me?:{ Tabanirth protested sleepily.

**Because Felarin doesn't have a dragon.** Yet. Tsaera smiled and
closed her door. Maybe he'd Impress... and wouldn't _that_ be the
best birthingday present of all?

Last updated on the April 22nd 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Happy Birthingday!