Tunnelsnake on the Beach

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 22nd October 2010

Characters: Aileyan, U'kaiah
Description: Aileyan's and U'kaiah's relaxing vacation didn't turn out that relaxing.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 11, day 14 of Turn 5

Aileyan attached the luch basket to Kjarliheth's straps and tugged the
blanket-roll to make sure it was secure. She had finally decided to go
somewhere warm with U'kaiah. A picnic at the beach, just two of them. The
mere thought made her smile expectantly.
"You ready to go?" she turned to ask him.

The bronzerider finished securing to Kalamath a small canvas tent to give
them a bit of shade and protect them from the worst of the sun, and two
back braces they could recline on. One more glance to make sure his bag
full of goodies they could amuse themselves with and he nodded. "Good to
go! I feel like we're _moving_ to the beach."

Aileyan let out a little laugh and deftly swung herself up to
Kjarliheth's back.

"Are you sure you don't want to change your mind about that Gather? Far
less luggage to unpack," he said looking up at her with a teasing
squint.

"I don't feel like being bumbed by people in a crowd," Aileyan replied.

"So, did you bring your bathing suit? Or did you just want to count on
the fact that there's no people?" he asked, swinging his leg over
Kalamath's neck.

"I did pack my bathing gear, we shall see if I need it," she said.

~*~

U'kaiah lay back on the blanket, feeling the gentle warmth radiating from
above and below. It soothed him all over, relaxing tension from his body
he hadn't even realized was there. "What a sharding good idea this was,"
he sighed contentedly.

"I thought so," Aileyan said bit smugly and leaned her chin against her
hands. She was laying on her belly, looking at the waves crashing to the
beach.

"You seem nice and relaxed," the bronzerider grinned, reaching out to
trace a finger along the small of her back. "You should do this more
often. It's good for you, you know."

"This is relaxing," Aileyan admitted. "I don't relax easily."

"I know," he said softly. It was a little sad to see one so young going
through life so seriously. "You always seem to be on your guard. Why is
that?"

"Probably something I picked up in my childhood," Aileyan said.

"Still, you don't have to be that way with me, you know. When it's just
us like this, I want you to feel you can relax around me." He was
convinced it wasn't good for her or her son to be so uptight all the time.

"I am relaxed around you, see!," she said and swung her legs in the air.

U'kaiah laughed, wishing this could be the Aileyan he met every day. But
as much as she said she relaxed around him, he knew it only came in rare
moments. But it was the possibility of this kind of reward, the
satisfaction of breaking through that tough shell to the girl beneath,
that kept him coming back to her for more. "Come here."

Aileyan scooted closer.

"I have an idea." He wrapped his arm around her waist, kissing her
shoulder softly. "Why don't I put up our little beach tent, roll out the
blankets, and we can slip inside and take a nice long nap. When as the
last time you did that, hmmm? I mean, without keeping an ear out for the
baby or the candlemark in the back of your head?"

"Mmm, I like your ideas. But is sleeping only thing you have in your
mind?" she asked.

"For now," he said, eyes narrowing slightly. "Why, do you have
something different in mind?"

"Possibly," she with a mysterious smile.

U'kaiah chuckled softly. "Don't worry. There isn't a Thread's chance
/between/ that we're going to get through this day without me exploring
every inch of your skin with my lips. I'm pacing myself."

"All right, that's a promise," she said with a happy little laugh.

He kissed from her shoulder to her ear, loving the way her skin tasted of
a hint of sea salt. "This is your day," he reminded her softly. "My only
goal is to keep that smile on your face, so if you want to swim, if you
want to nap, if you want me to cover you in kisses, if you want to try to
fly to the Red Star and back, that's what we'll do. Tell me what you
want."

"Let's stay off from Red Star. A bit of a snack and then little rest. Then
we can continue," Aileyan said.

That sounded like a good plan to him. "I'll set up the tent if you find
that picnic basket."

"All right," Aileyan agreed. She got up, she had left the basket into a
shady spot. She went to fetch it and noticed that someone else had found
it too. "Shadings pests!" she cried. "Timor, drive it away!" Her brown
firelizard appeared and attacked.

U'kaiah had been pulling out the tent from it's bag. When he heard her
cry for help he picked up one of the poles that was to be used to hold the
canopy up and ran to her side, afraid it might be a feline. "What?!
What is it? Where is it?"

"A tunnelsnake!" she answered. Timor hissed and the tunnelsnake reared
it's ugly head.

He took a few steps closer, stick poised, but realized the situation was
not right. "If I take a swing at it, I'll hit your flit..." Which he was
pretty sure would not make her very happy or relaxed.

Aileyan nodded, "Timor!" she called. The flit popped /between/,
reappearing on her shoulder. "Now," she said, "before it gets away."

U'kaiah wasn't sure that wasn't a viable second option. But he took aim,
and with a long swing brought the stick down on it's neck with a
bone-crunching thwack, paralyzing it from that point down. Reaching in to
pull it out, he threw it down on the sand brought the pole straight down
on it's head to put it out of it's misery. "Sharding little
beast," he breathed, standing back with stick ready to be sure was indeed
dead.

"I hate them," Aileyan said, petting Timor for comfort. Her eyes looked
bit wild.

The bronzerider poked it with the stick a couple times, and once he was
sure it was indeed dead, picked it up by the tail and flung it far into
the bushes. He thrust the stick into the sand and motioned for her to
come closer. So much for relaxed Aileyan! He held out his arms to her,
ready to try to make everything ok once more.

Aileyan snuggled into his arms, while Timor flew off after the carcass.
Probably to eat from it, although Aileyan really didn't want to think that
too long! She knew her reaction to tunnelsnakes was bit irrational, but
when you mother threatens to fed you to tunnelsnakes, you're
entitled to bit of a phobia.

He rubbed her back soothingly, a little surprised at her reaction, but
feeling a bit of manly pride at being able to save her from the hated
creature. Deep down, he liked the way she sometimes seemed to need him.

"Do you think there's anything salvageable in the basket? Or do you want
to just lie down for a while?"

"Let's check the basket," Ailyen said, getting her nerves under control.

"All right." U'kaiah let go of her and carefully picked up what would
have been their lunch. Luckily the tunnelsnake had crawled in from the
top rather than burrowed up from the bottom. He peeked inside just to
make sure there weren't any other unpleasant surprises before he walked it
back to the greenrider. "Let's see what he got."

"It got the meatrolls," Aileyan said, rummaging thru the basket.
"Fruits, bread or the cheese didn't seem to interest it, but some of them
are slimy," she made a disgusted face.

He set the basket aside and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Well,
then, why don't we set up the tent, take a nap, maybe swim a bit, go back
to the Weyr and grab something to eat. And then, why don't we try out
those bathing salts I gave you for your birthday, wash the sand and salt
off each other and see if we can't progress into that kissing you all over
idea? Sometimes the best days off are the ones you spend at home."

"That sounds like a perfect plan," she replied and rested her head against
his chest.

Last updated on the November 7th 2010

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Tunnelsnake on the Beach