Happy With That

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 2nd August 2008

Characters: Zelle, K'hetah
Description: Zelle 'kidnaps' K'hetah to take him on a picnic and the bronzerider lets her know where she stands.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 20 of Turn 4

"Hey, K'hetah." The sun was setting, the next day a rest day, but Zelle didn't plan on spending it in her weyr. Her voice echoed out and traveled to the weyr next to her own. She knew K'hetah was there.
She had seen him arrive not too long previously.

K'hetah gave Loeth's eyeridges a last scratch and moved out onto the weyr's ledge. "Hey, Zelle," he called, looking up at the little section of cliff he could see above him. There was nothing to see, but Zelle was there.

"You're coming with me tonight." The greenrider announced, her voice confident and leaving little room for argument. "Get over here."

K'hetah glanced down at the waves breaking over the rocks at the foot of the cliff then up at where Zelle weyr ledge was just out of sight.
"I don't like my chances."

Zelle's laughter rang across to the bronzerider. "You do have a dragon silly. There's enough room on the ledge for him too."

"All right."

**Ready for a quick flight?**

Loeth admitted that he was, but also advised that he had no intention of making some sort of silly green-style turn right out of his weyr and onto the ledge above. They would make a decent circuit and a perfect approach.

Which, in K'hetah's opinion, was exactly what they did.

"Well hello there." Zelle greeted both of them with a bright smile.
She patted her green. "Okay, from one dragon to another, please K'hetah."

"What?" For a moment he didn't understand what she meant - and when he did he was incredulous. "On Rillith? My feet will drag on the ground!"

"Just pull them up." Zelle laughed again and shook her head. "She's bigger than you think, though."

"Shards! She looks like she'll break with two of us on there. And where will I sit? My backside'll be on her wings!"

**Loeth? Would you like to object to me riding on another dragon?**

}:No,:{ the bronze said, his mental tone riddled with amusement. }:I would _not._:{ "Just get on her you silly bronzerider." Zelle gently pushed K'hetah in the direction of her lifemate. "I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter."

K'hetah climbed on Rillith, settling himself far enough back that Zelle had room to sit between the last neck ridges. He glanced down and grinned. "All right. Here I am."

Zelle clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Such resistance." She nimbly clambered up atop her lifemate and patted the green before settling into her straps. "See, she's not so tiny after all."

"Says you. Tell me when I have to lift my feet up off the ground."

"Oh hush you." Zelle faced forward, speaking to her lifemate. A moment later, the green shot off the ledge, gaining speed quickly and easily.
A few flaps of the wings later, she turned sharply left, leaving the view of the sea to their right. Zelle took a deep breath, laughing at the feel of the wind in her face. She could never get tired of such a wonderful way to travel.

K'hetah kept his hands firmly on Zelle's waist and looked back over his shoulder at his dragon, watching them depart from the ledge. Although there was nothing to see - the bronze dragon was appearing smaller at every beat of Rillith's wings - he was sure his lifemate was laughing at him.

They rode in silence for a while save for the sound of the wind, whipping at their faces and clothes. For a moment, Zelle leaned back into K'hetah's touch, but she didn't remain there for long. Instead, she turned, shouting a warning to him before her dragon blinked /between/. The green reappeared over a beach, not one familiar to K'hetah, not near the weyr. The sands were startling white, contrasting starkly with the green and brown of the forest that lay at their edge.
The water was a crystal blue, a cove hidden away somewhere along the immense stretch of the Southern continent.

"Wow," he said, but the comment wasn't for the scene, just the sense of distance from Loeth. He couldn't recall the last time they'd been separated by so far.

Zelle turned to grin at K'hetah, taking his reaction in a totally different meaning. Rillith circled around for a moment, then came in for a landing. The greenrider undid the straps, then clambered down.
"That wasn't too bad a ride now, was it?"

"No ... Look! I am _stepping_ off the dragon!" He suited his action to his words and then patted Rillith's shoulder in silent thanks. "Is this as isolated as it looks?" he asked, turning slowly on the spot to look one way up the beach, and then in the other direction.

"Yes, it is, and now I get to do evil things to you." Zelle clapped her hands and rubbed them together, her grin reeking of mischievousness.

"You could _try_," K'hetah suggested with a grin from his height advantage. "You're sadly in proportion to your dragon size, Zelle ...
not ... very ... big."

"Never..." Zelle stepped forward, her finger jabbing into K'hetah's chest, her grin still wide, "underestimate the little guy..."

"Did the little guy bring food?" K'hetah asked, looking around again.
"Because I don't see a dining cavern nearby."

"Who said you get food?" Zelle's eyebrows raised and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't deserve food."

"No food? Zelle, it's a restday tomorrow! All I planned do between the end of my duties today and the start of them the day after tomorrow was eat and rest. I'm entitled to food and relaxation. I'm sure I am."

Zelle laughed and shook her head. "I suppose so. Well, there is food, and it was right under your nose. You were just looking the wrong way."
Zelle strutted past the bronzerider over to her lifemate where she took down a basket she had lashed to the leathers along with a rolled up blanket. "We're having a picnic."

"Ahh." he smiled, much happier now that he was reassured about the welfare of his stomach. "I like picnics. Food _and_ relaxation."

"Here," Zelle tossed the blanket over to K'hetah. "Spread that out and we can eat."

That sounded like an instruction he could deal with. He flicked the blanket out and settled it on the fine white sand and then tweaked the corner straight. "Done."

Zelle set the basket down, then turned and sat down upon the blanket, feet still upon the sand. She flicked her shoes off, then turned around and patted the ground next to her. "Come on, sit down. I won't bite -
hard anyway."

"I'm more worried about your teeth in my food, to be honest." He settled down on the blanket and edged toward the basket. "Let's see what's in here ..."

"You don't need to worry, I brought plenty." Zelle slapped K'hetah's seeking hand and took the privilege of opening the basket herself.
"Meatrolls, cheese, bread, juice, and even some dessert - if you're good."

"I'm excellent. Let's start with dessert."

"Oh no." Zelle shook her head, then thrust a meatroll into K'hetah's hands. "No dessert until you eat your dinner like a good boy."

The bronzerider eyed her while he took the first bite of the meatroll, enjoying the savoury meat and the pastry that scattered in a cloud of flakes all over his shirt. "You're not my mother, Zelle," he said when he could speak again.

"I certainly hope not!" The greenrider snorted, "I don't think I could be your mother. I'd go insane."

"Really? Why? I think I'd be quite an easy son to have."

"So you say." Zelle lightly punched K'hetah in the arm. "Faranth knows, you're annoying enough as it is and I'm not your mom."

"If I'm so annoying," he began, pausing to chew on the last of the meatroll, "why do you bother with me at all?"

"Because you bother with me." Zelle sighed softly. "I feel sorry for you, I really do."

"Sorry for me?" K'hetah was surprised but that didn't stop him peering in the basket for more food. "Why?"

"Because you now have me as a neighbor." Zelle peered into the basket with him, then grinned. "Looking for something in particular?"

"Still hoping for dessert," he said. "And you're not such a bad neighbour." He hadn't been very gracious when he had first discovered her residence in one of the closest weyrs to his own secluded spot but she hadn't been any trouble. "You're not too bad as a neighbour. And now I know Rillith can carry my weight too, I could always get a lift home with you from time to time. Save Loeth's wings."

"Does that mean I get one from time to time too?" Zelle elbowed out of the way and dug around in the basket. She took out two small bundles and handed one to K'hetah. She unwrapped her own, revealing a fruit tart.

"Ahh. I like these. Yes, I suppose Loeth can drop you off or pick you up ... If I can get him out of the water," K'hetah added ruefully, rather put out at his dragon's obsession with the tropical waters of Dolphin Cove.

"I can't blame him for wanting to be in the water." Zelle took a bite of her tart, savouring its stinging sweetness for a moment before swallowing. "It's nice swimming around here."

"It's not him wanting to be in it that's the problem. It's his not wanting to be _out_ of it that inconveniences me."

"Well, you're always welcome to have him call me if you need a ride."
Zelle offered, eyes twinkling with amusement as she finished off her tart. "And you're welcome to come call on me if you like too. I don't mind having visitors to my weyr."

He eyed the greenrider, suspecting teasing in her tone. "Well, I do,"
he said as lightly. "So you remember that."

Zelle lowered her gaze in an attempt to hide her hurt expression.
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I won't try to come to your weyr."

"Good. That way we can stay friends."

Silence descended for a moment, hung heavy between them, despite the call of the waves. After a moment, she broke it with a soft, "I'm not _her_ K'hetah."

"Of course not." He looked surprised. "I know that. I've just learned my lesson. People are supposed to be able to do that. Smart people.
I'm being smart."

"No, you're not." Zelle's fingers played at the corner of the blanket and she tried her hardest to keep the hurt from creeping in on her voice. "You're being suspicious and you aren't willing to trust. I know she hurt you, but I thought...I thought you trusted me."

"I _do_ trust you, Zelle."

"No, K'hetah, you don't." Zelle finally lifted her gaze and let it rest upon the bronzerider. "You say you do, but you're holding me at arm's length. I think you're so afraid of it happening again, you're not willing to let someone else get closer to you."

"And I'm happy with that," he said firmly. "Why can't you be?"

Zelle turned away to hide the tears that stung at her eyes. She pushed herself to a standing position and then without a word began to walk back to Rillith. The walk turned into a run after a couple of steps and as soon as she reached her lifemate, she scrambled up as quickly as she could onto the green's back.

K'hetah stood up, looking around him at the remains of their picnic.
"Tell Loeth where I am!" he called after her, though he thought he and the bronze could find each other if they had to.

There was no response from the greenrider as she urged her lifemate into the sky. The green did so without hesitation and Zelle leaned forward, the Weyr's image forming in her mind as the tears that stung her eyes were released and sacrificed to the wind.

Last updated on the August 3rd 2008

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Happy With That