And They Arrive (3)

Writers: Ainsley1, AJ Kraier, Jane, Kaysea, Vix
Date Posted: 19th May 2007

Characters: Lineal, Rahona, R'harne
Description: Lineal rejoins his family aboard the Sungazer with Rahona and the children
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 10 of Turn 4

"We'll get their gear," Barr said gruffly as he passed the family. He nodded at Lineal. "Welcome home."

"Uncle Barr!" Lineal couldn't believe how much his father's brother had changed. While he and his father had managed to meet a couple of times, Lineal hadn't seen Barr for twenty-five Turns.

"Yep. Still here," the engineer murmured, heading across the path toward the dragons. Although engines were what he knew best he wasn't averse to getting a closer look at the dragons.

Neke and Linli arrived, at the small gathering, but though Neke noticed Tahna wasn't there, Linli was oblivious to her older sisters absence.
She edged forward into the throng and stood looking up at the newest members of the family, but especially the little girl.

"I'm Linli." she said, tugging at the other child's boot.

Lihona looked down but made no move to leave the safety of her father's arms. "I'm Lihona." She eyed the other girl for size. "I'm six."

"Linli?" Lineal mouthed at his father.

"Fog - Follen's youngest," Jesten murmured in answer to the silent question.

"You're older than me." Linli's smile faltered for a moment, "Everyone's older than me."

Neke pushed through the small crowd to find Linli, "There you are!" she said exasperated, it was bad enough she had lost Tahna, but Linli as well would have been too much. "Lineal!" she smiled widely. "My!
Haven't you gotten older!" she laughed, meeting her cousin's eyes.

"_Neke?_" Lineal found himself hugging his cousin, something he wouldn't have considered when they had last been together. "You're a fine one to talk! You were _thirteen_ when I left." He put Lihona on the ground.
"This is my family -"

Denna grinned at her mother. "I have to go down and say hello! I can't miss out."

"No, I suppose that you can't," conceded Vaheri, "and it's best if I go along to see that you stay out of trouble." She winked at her daughter and started to make her way toward the gangway.

Fog held back from the crowd. He knew everything would be all right, Jesten had assured him of that; but it had been a long time since Lineal had seen him, and he knew he wasn't the boy Lineal would remember from so long ago. He fingered the small scar that ran along his temple and disappeared up behind his ear, he didn't think of the visible scars as much these days, but maybe with Lineal and his family being here, he would have cause to.

He decided to just stand here on the landing stage and wait for them all to make a move towards the boat, then he would greet his cousin. He felt safe away from the crowd up on the shore anyway.

Jezz's wiggling finally brought Barli out of her reverie, "Mama, we're missin' everythin'," the girl complained. Letting her daughter down, Barli grabbed the girls' hand before she could barge ahead. She swiped the tears from her face and headed down with Denna and Vaheri and found that her own enthusiasm had her outpacing them.

She was through the crowd and to her brother in record time. "Handsome as ever, but is that gray I see?"
Barli teased, throwing her arms around her big brother, but careful of the child he held.

"Aww, Barli." Lineal held onto his sister, unable to believe that he had never come back to see her, at least. With only a Turn between them in age and being raised without a mother of their own they had been close as children. "I've missed you." How could he not have realised just how much he had missed everybody?

Jesten cleared his throat a couple of times as he watched his son and daughter hug and then caught sight of his grandson eyeing him uncertainly. "Something stuck in my throat," he explained to the boy.
"You look like you're going to cry," Nalin said bluntly.

Jesten grinned. "I might just do that," he admitted. He held out his hand to the boy. "Do you want to come and look over the Sungazer?"

The youngster's light green eyes flicked to the riverboat looming over the crowd of people who had gathered on the path, and then back to his mother. Rahona nodded her permission and he stepped forward to take his grandfather's hand.

Before they could moved toward the Sungazer they were overtaken by Barr and R'harne carrying one of the storage baskets that contained everything the family had brought from the Weyr.

"That's our stuff," Nalin informed Jesten.

"Then we'd better follow it and see it's put in the right place," the old man said, heading up the landing stage after his brother and the dragonrider. "There's a place for everything on a riverboat, and everything has to always be in that place."

Vaheri detached herself from the waiting crowds, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. "Jesten, I'll help overseeing that all gets to their quarters." She motioned to her daughter. "Denna, go ahead and greet them. I'll see them later."

Barli smiled as her father took charge of his grandson. She had released her brother and Jezz was fairly bursting at her side. "This little ball of energy is my daughter Jezz," she stated before turning to the woman at Lineal's side, "You must be Rahona, welcome, I'm Lineal's sister Barli."

"It's a pleasure to meet you after all these Turns,"
Rahona said. "This is Lihona." She felt the crowd move and looked around to find Teykara heading toward the riverboat carrying one end of another basket. "And that's my brother's weyrmate, Teykara, with more of our gear." It still felt strange to know that all they owned were stowed in four baskets that would fit under their beds. "I think I should keep an eye on -."

"I can't get _near_ Lineal," Denna complained with a laugh as she turned her attention on the woman her cousin had brought with him. "So I'll say hello to you. I'm Denna - and don't worry about your things. My mother's organising that."

"Come on, everybody, let's get aboard," Lineal said, catching sight of Rahona's expression as the basket went past. "I want to show my wife her new home."

Last updated on the May 25th 2007

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And They Arrive (3)