Enjoying Stars

Writers: Cali, Rochelle
Date Posted: 12th March 2007

Characters: Karri, F'melar
Description: Karri convinces F'melar to join her and his sister watching shooting stars.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 20 of Turn 4

F'melar strode along behind the girls, wondering how they'd talked him into this. He'd been all for a quiet evening with a new book he'd found in the archives, when Sakime had bounced into the weyr with Karri trailing. There were an abundance of shooting stars outside, and somehow they'd convinced him to go along.

"Oh come on, don't straggle." Karri teased as she looked back and waved him forward with her good arm. "You don't want to lose us in the crowd once we get onto the Plateau." "Crowd?" He asked warily, almost stopping short but remembering that would take Sakime out of his sight and he didn't want to lose her.
"There's that many people watching them?"

She shrugged as she dropped back a bit to walk next to him, "I would think so. It was all the talk in the dining cavern, and we don't know if it'll be back tomorrow." "Wouldn't it be better to go somewhere else then? Where there are fewer people in the way?" He asked hesitantly, trying to remember the last time he'd seen shooting stars.

What was wrong with the Plateau? "I don't think so. The Plateau is the highest thing around, we'd have the most unobstructed view." "But won't the lights from the weyr cause problems?" He protested. "I'd think a beach might be better."

Karri frowned, they were only a few seconds away, why was he being so difficult about this. "The weyrbowl lights are all below us, and they might be all gone by the time we get our dragons straps on." Then she noticed that Sakime had already raced ahead of them out of sight. "And Sakime's probably already up there saving us a spot." F'melar swore under his breath, lengthening his stride as he tried to spot Sakime again. He didn't want her wandering the plateau alone in the dark! Not if there were going to be a lot of people who might not understand that she was deaf. Faranth! He should have stayed in his weyr! Maybe they could find a spot a little away from the rest of the crowds, and if he kept Karri on his right he should be able to catch what she was saying. Sakime already knew to make sure he could see her before she began signing. Karri... belatedly, he glanced around to see if the greenrider was still with him.

She was, right on his heels in fact, so when he paused to look for her she ran right into him. "Oh, sorry." she exclaimed with a grin as she gripped his shirt to steady herself. "You shouldn't stop like that." He shook his head. "No, It's my fault. I'm sorry." Quickly he stepped to the side, moving smoothly enough that he was able to get on her left side without making it seem deliberate, and hustled her along, feeling a little more secure now that she was on the side of him where he could still hear. "Come on. We need to find Sakime."

Karri found her first, already staking out a spot on the grassy top and spreading the blanket she'd grabbed. She pulled at the bluerider's arm and pointed towards his sister. "There she is!" F'melar spared a glance down at Karri, and followed her pointing finger across the plateau to where Sakime was spreading out the blanket -away from the standing groups, but amid several other blankets already occupied. He cursed softly again, gently pulling Karri along. He could hear the low murmur of conversations being snatched away by the light wind, and the surprised gasp when a star blazed by before vanishing. It was dark on the plateau, dark enough to see the stars clearly, but too dark to make out more than vague outlines of faces, or hands.

She sat down next to Sakime, and stared up at the sky. "I've never gotten to see shooting stars before. I had to be in bed not long after dinner each night. Do they happen a lot?"

He was silent a moment as he sat, mentally cursing Karri for sitting to Sakime's right and forcing him to sit to her left if he wanted to hear her at all. A whole extra person between them, and Sakime couldn't whisper anything he missed to him. "Not really." He answered, hoping he'd guessed her question correctly. "I don't know much about them though.
You'd have to ask a starsmith."

Karri laid back on the blanket so that she wouldn't get a creak in her neck. She watched for a few minutes in silence, just watching and listening to the conversations of those around them. "Now aren't you glad we convinced you to come? You would have missed all this." F'melar had opted for sitting up, leaning back on his hands and with his face to the sky. Tabs had hopped into his lap, slowly whirling eyes watching the activity around him. He frowned, a sinking feeling in his stomach as the light breeze and the murmur of conversation around him muddled her words. Rather than undermine himself, he made a non-committal noise.

"Oh come on, don't pout because we were right!" she teased as a particularly brilliant star caught her attention.

Her teasing tone was louder this time, so he caught enough of the sentence to reply curtly. "I'm not pouting. I'm watching."

"Could have fooled me." she mumbled to herself, somewhat wishing she hadn't suggested to Sakime that they invite him. Shardit! She was muttering to herself now -he must have missed something. He opened his mouth to apologize, but was saved by a mass gasp as a particularly bright shooting star flared and vanished. Sakime squealed.

Karri laughed, despite F'melar's foul mood, she was having fun with Sakime. "That was beautiful." she said more to herself than to anyone else. He heard another murmur from her direction, and hoped it wasn't directed toward him. Faranth, he hated this! He couldn't enjoy the stars if he was wondering what he'd missed. Tabs chittered, reflecting his agitation, and he sent a silent command to be quiet. He didn't want Karri to know he was frustrated. She'd probably take it the wrong way and think he was insulting her, like so many others had since his disaster.

Last updated on the March 13th 2007

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Enjoying Stars