Spoiled Weyrbrats

Writers: Eimi, Dana
Date Posted: 15th February 2007

Characters: U'kaiah, Traelyn
Description: Traelyn recieves some news from Dragonsfall...
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 11 of Turn 4

"Shards," Traelyn snarled, glaring down at the hidework spread out before her. She kept on repeating the _same_ sharding mistake in her mathematics! What was she over-looking? Huffing a frustrated sigh, she sat back in her chair, hands splayed on her desk, staring icily down at the tally marks as if she could _will_ them into correcting themselves. Sharding inventories...they had never been her favorite. But really, what part of hidework was her favorite? Her grimace was wry. It was true that she could tolerate some more than others, but that was true for every goldrider. None had a favorite.

Shards. She needed to figure this out!

After raking a hand through the top of her braid to get the annoying little baby hairs out of her eyes--everything little thing seemed to be sharding annoying today!--she reaching out, blindly grabbing at the mug of klah, hoping that maybe the last swallow or so would refresh her, clear her mind. What she hadn't remembered was that she'd refilled her mug earlier, and the steaming drink sloshed over the edge, scalding her hand. With a startled yip, she slammed the mug down on her desk--on top of her hidework. "Oh for the love of Faranth! Of all the scorching things..."
Traelyn cradled her burned hand against her chest, staring down at all of her smudged, hardly legible notes and felt her cheeks grow hot as her simmering temper rose another notch.

Could anything _else_ go wrong today?

"Excuse me, Weyrwoman. May I spare a moment of your time? It's... urgent business." a rider asked, ducking his head into her office. By the knots exposed on the shoulder she could see, it was obvious he was a Dragonsfall rider and not one of her own.

Her stare was chilling as she gave him her full attention. "Urgent business?"

"Yes ma'am. I was instructed to deliver this message into your hands personally. It's concerning..." His face turned very grave and his voice softened a bit. "Well, its concerning Wingleader U'kaiah, ma'am."

She was on her feet so fast she almost spilled her klah--again. Oh shards...U'kaiah. "What happened?" she demanded, voice rough with temper melting into anxiety, worry.

"Well, ma'am, as you know we had Threadfall yesterday and... well... I think its best you read the message yourself ma'am." The rider stepped forward, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

Intense images filled her head; silver glinting in the sky; dragons veering and soaring, belching fire at the silent, deadly menace; the shrieks of pain as the Threads wormed their way into their adversaries' flesh; the stench of firestone and fear, terror... Had U'kaiah and Kalamath fallen? Were the bronze's wings shredded? Had he tried to twist his large body to protect U'kaiah, but had failed? Had Thread seared into U'kaiah's flesh too? Ripping the letter out of the rider's hand, she tore it open and, with her heart in her mouth, began to read:

"I bet you thought this message was going to tell you that I was scored and fighting for my life, didn't you! Don't worry, Kalamath and I are just fine. I'm a little stiff and tired, but other than that, we're in perfect health. I just heard C'tar was going to Dolphin Cove and I couldn't help but take the opportunity! He's a pretty convincing liar, isn't he? He got us out of more than our fair share of trouble when we were younger with that skill! Now, reassure him that you're not mad at him, and ask him for your real message.

In Excellent Health-

U'kaiah."

"Are you sharding _serious_? Oh, U'kaiah!" Her frustrated growl turned into a frustrated laugh as she looked up at C'tar, still not quite sure if she should be fully annoyed or fully amused. She decided she could be both as she shook the crinkled letter at him. "I almost had a heart-attack because of you!"

"I was under orders from my wingleader, ma'am," C'tar said, raising his hands pacifyingly though his lips were cracking a smile.

"Yes, of course you were." Shards and shells. "You men have the strangest sense of humor sometimes!" She glared at him, though she wasn't angry. Not really. "No, I take that back. Make it most of the time." Then she sighed, rubbing the side of her neck, her expression wryly resigned. "I'm supposed to tell you that I'm not mad at you."

"Well, of course you're not mad at _me_. I am only the messenger. It's all _U'kaiah's_ fault," the brownrider grinned as he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a rolled hide and a small pouch. "From U'kaiah and his son."

"Oh, thank you." Kaiafel too? A genuine smile curved her lips at that.

"I will be here for a while if you would like to send a message back. My lifemate's name is Welith."

She inclined her head, glad that her heart had finally slowed to its normal rhythm. Shards...men. Traelyn stayed standing until he was gone, then sank gratefully back into her chair, previous irritations forgotten--for now, at least. That sharding problem with her hidework still needed to be sorted out, but it could wait. Faranth, when she'd wanted a distraction from hidework, she sure did get one! Shaking her head, amused, she unrolled the parchment, and grinned when U'kaiah's scrawling penmanship jumped out at her:

"Dearest Trae-

Greetings from Dragonsfall. Hopefully you're not too mad at me for my little trick. I just wanted to liven up your day a bit. I'm sure it was full of all sorts of exciting Weyrwomanly duties, but I thought you might need something to get the blood racing again. I know Hatching that little plan gave me something to do other than the mountain of hidework sitting on my desk. That was one thing I _didn't_ miss about being a Wingleader. All right, maybe I missed even that a little.

Kaiafel and I washed Kalamath together last night after the Threadfall and I mentioned that you and I had talked about his upcoming birthday, but that we were not sure yet if you could come or not since you couldn't leave your Weyr for a while. He felt so sorry that you were not free to come and go as you pleased that he gathered up some pretty stones to cheer you up. He even used Kalamath's brush to scrub all the sand and dirt off of them for you. The little man is so thoughtful sometimes. It amazes me. He must get it from his mother. I never would have thought of others as much as he does when I was his age. It makes me proud, although I know that when it comes to his upbringing, I am unfortunately only a small influence in his life.

Really that's all I had to say. I suppose this whole letter is pretty pointless except to deliver the stones to their rightful owner and for the vain hope that we might have brightened up your day. I will miss you this restday. We were really spoiled seeing each other so much last month. If you have the time to write me a note back, I'd really like that. But if not, I understand you have a lot you need to get done. I hope I didn't pull you away from anything important. I look forward to hearing from you if you have a chance, but if not, I'll see you after Nyith rises.

Yours Always, U'kaiah"

Smiling, Traelyn put the hide aside and picked up the small bag. Unlacing the strings, she carefully poured the contents out into the palm of her hand--and her smile turned into a grin. Kaiafel was so sharding cute! And thoughtful, like his father. U'kaiah could deny it all he wanted, but she saw thoughtfulness in him too. The boy didn't get it just from his mother.

Setting the pretty stones on her desk, she pulled out a small blank piece of hide and leaned back in her chair, tapping the pen against her bottom lip, thinking for a moment. Then she began to write:

"U'kaiah, U'kaiah, U'kaiah.... No, I'm not mad at you. But shards! You and your messenger almost gave me a heart-attack, as I'm sure he'll tell you. And I'm also quite sure that he'll fill you in on all the humiliating details of my panicked reaction. Laugh all you want, bronzerider, but I'm going to get you back one day! Just you wait.

Now that I've given you a sufficient warning for your devious plottings, please thank Kaiafel for me. And tell him I think the stones are beautiful. I'm going to put them in the little glass jar I have in my weyr. You know the one on my table that you almost knocked over that one time with your foot? And you know, U'kaiah, you might not have been as thoughtful as he is when you were that age, but you _are_ thoughtful. Kaiafel didn't just get it all from his mother.

Thank you for procrastinating your mountain of hidework to write to me. I was having a frustrating time with my own mountain of hidework--up until now. Not counting my near heart-attack, of course. (I'm teasing you. So smile for me!) I'm going to miss you this restday too. But once she rises, we can go back to being spoiled weyrbrats. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

Kiss Kaiafel for me.

Yours, Trae"

~*~

U'kaiah set the letter down on his desk. **Spoiled weyrbrats...** "I told you she wouldn't get mad, C'tar," he grinned at his brownrider.

"Well, you certainly got her on her feet in a hurry," his friend chuckled.
"I thought she was going to rip my arm off when she tore the letter from my hands."

"I was just trying to give her a little excitement in her day," the bronzerider said innocently. "So... how did she look?"

C'tar gave his friend a knowing smile. "Gorgeous."

"Now now, she's not that kind of friend," U'kaiah corrected him. Though he had to admit, C'tar was right.

Last updated on the February 17th 2007

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