Never Forgotten
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Eimi
Date Posted: 2nd May 2008
Characters: U'kaiah
Description: U'kaiah remembers a remarkable woman
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 6 of Turn 4
The view hadn't changed much. The sun shone like a thousand sparkling diamond on the gentle waves in the saphire-blue cove. Heat surrounded him - the sun on his face, the sand under his body, and the warm, steady presence of his lifemate at his back. And yet he couldn't feel it.
She had sure known how to pick her spots. It had been a beautiful day, just like today. The water had felt so perfect, especially after sevendays laying in an infirmary bed. They ran through the sand and froliced in the waves. They fought, and usual. And then they kissed and melted into each other once more. It had always been their way -
pushing each other away just to come back together with such agonizing longing. Such exquist frustration fueling desires that ran deep.
It had just built over time. He had always admired her strength and poise, she had respected him for his leadership abilities. The begining was innocent enough - talking of work, talking of Records, talking of her family. It moved from gentle jibes to friendly flirtation, and then not so subtle inuendos. Their smiles lengthened, their eyes danced, their hearts beat faster. It had all seemed so harmless - he felt drawn to her, but she was not his, and he was no woman's. And then one night she had walked into his Record room and he knew he wanted her. He wanted to be hers, too.
Shards, even now, he could see the picture in his mind as clear as the moment it happened. As his lids closed, he stared into the darkness and it was as if he were there once more. He could smell the dust and old leather. He could feel the coolness of the stone walls. He could see the gentle light of the few glows still uncovered. And he could see her, and it was as if his heart dropped into his stomach once more at the sight of her. Oh shards, he could see her standing there in a thin, practically see-through shift. She hadn't been wearing any under garments, and the evening was cool. And the most unexpected accessory to just top of that vision of perfection - wherhide boots. Dirty, scuffed up old work boots thrown on haphazardly for a quick trip down the hall. A crack in that personification of flawless elegance and dignity that finally made her seem a little more human, a little more accessable, and all woman. He had blushed, _he_ blushed like a boy in harper classes, and she smiled like a woman with a secret. She was stunningly beautiful. For a moment he had forgotten how to breathe. Faranth how he wanted her. It was all he could do to keep the table between them, and after she had left he could not keep the image of her from his mind. She was like a shadow hovering over him. He finally had to give up his work and go back to his own weyr, but even there, that vision was with him, only he was alone all night with his thoughts. And how his fantasies ran wild. Playing that scene over and over in his mind always ending with that shift discarded and laying like a puddle on the floor. But not the boots...
Even now, it would be so tempting to give into those thoughts once more, but they were no longer tantalizing and exciting, but painful and agonizing. U'kaiah had been blissfully unaware that night of all things he knew now. He didn't know then how her lips had felt, how her skin had tasted, how her hands would dig into his hair and back. That U'kaiah didn't know how sweet her voice sounded when she whispered his name. He didn't know the soft, vulerable woman she had tried to hide under a mask of strenth and self-confidence. And he certainly didn't know then, couldn't even _imagine_ then, that one day all too soon, she would be gone from his life forever. One turn ago exactly. A whole turn since she had passed. How was it possible? He still couldn't believe it. There were still moments when he was so sure he caught a glimps of her petite figure turning a corner in the hall, of her head of short, soft hair bobbing through a croweded room. How could she of all people truly be gone? Her presence still filled every nook and crany of the Weyr. He had moved on. He _had_ to move on. He had to live his life, or he would have been lost. U'kaiah knew he would probably still be wallowing in broken heart, lashing out at the world in his grief, if it were not for Trae. She had picked up the shards of his shattered heart and patiently glued it back together, infusing it with with her love. But there would always be one piece of it missing - one placed reserved for one he had lost too soon. The ache would always be there. He know that now. Her memory would always be in Dragonsfall. She _was_ Dragonsfall.
}:U'kaiah,:{ Kalamath whispered softly, almost hesitantly in his mind. }:It's time to go home.:{ The bronzerider nodded. His lifemate was right. It was time to leave this place and those memories behind. His eyes opened as he pushed himself to his feet, and a stream of tears that had been held at bay behind his lids fell silently down his cheeks. He wiped at his eyes to clear them before leaping up onto the neck of his bronze. Gripping his riding straps he paused for just one more brief look out over the topaz sands to the cyan blue bay.
"Faranth, Jaela, I miss you so much," he whispered as his eyes filled with tears once more. U'kaiah didn't even try to stop them as he laid his head down on his bronze's neck and allowed the grief to wash over him like the waves of the sea she had love so dearly. One turn gone. But not forgotten. Never forgotten.
Last updated on the May 5th 2008