I Thought Maybe...

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 26th July 2011

Characters: Aileyan, Kaiafel
Description: Kaiafel looks to Aileyan for answers to some puzzling questions...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 9 of Turn 6

Kaiafel's forehead creased in an expression he inherited from his
father. Blowing a black curl out of his eye, he decided to approach the
greenrider leaning against the feeding pen. "Hi," he said by way of
greeting as he climbed up onto the first rail.

"Hi, Kaiafel," Aileyan smiled a greeting for the little boy. She
resisted an urge to ruffle his hair. It was so much like his fathers and
she really liked it.

"Is that Kjarliheth up there?" he asked, pointing to a green circling
overhead before climbing up to the highest rail to straddle it.

"Yes, she's trying to decide which herdbeast to pick up," Aileyan said,
shielding her eyes from the sun.

Kaiafel rocked back and forth on the beam of wood, leaning forward to
catch himself with his hands and then push back off once more. "You
have sex with my father, right?"

"Yes, I do," Aileyan replied, blushing a bit.

His question had been more rhetorical, so he continued straight on to
what he really wanted to know. "So, then, is Ravyan my brother?"

"Not exactly. That would require you to have a same mother or father,
and you don't. Your dad isn't Ravyan's father. But he is kind of like
step-brother for you, if you want to," Aileyan replied and tried her
best to explain it to him. Shards, in his age, she believed that babies
just appeared.

"So my Da isn't his Da then?" Kaiafel asked by way of clarification.

"No, his dad is brownrider named R'van. He transferred aways after
Ravyan's birth," Aileyan told him.

"Hmmm." Kaiafel's face turned thoughtful again and he was silent a
moment. "There's a woman named Tavia at Dolphin Cove. She and my Da
have been having sex and now they'll have a baby. So I thought maybe
Ravyan was my little brother too."

"Well, in his case it's not so," Aileyan replied and now she ruffled his
hair. "But you can certainly think of Ravyan as a little brother if you
want to. I know he likes and admires you."

He smiled a little, liking the thought that someone looked up to _him_.
"Yeah, he's kind of fun, I guess."

"You're his rolemodel," Aileyan smiled.

Kaiafel actually blushed a little at that, though he tried to hide it by
picking at a splinter in the wood. It made him feel rather proud and
grown up. "Well, I did show him how to look for flit eggs down by the
lake once. We didn't find any, though."

"Good thing you didn't. I don't want another Timor," Aileyan snorted
when she thought about her timid flit.

"My Ma says I'm too young for a flit anyway." Besides, he already had a
great canine. "So will you have a baby with my Da too someday?"

"You are," Aileyan commented. After the second question, her face grew
sad. "Probably not. The healers don't want me to have more babies."

That didn't sound right. "But why?" Healers were supposed to help
people have babies, weren't they?

"I'm too small, too narrow down here," she patted her hips. "The baby
won't fit out, there's not enough room," she explained.

"Then how did you have Ravyan?" Kaiafel asked, since obviously it had
worked before!

"The heales cut me open, right here," she lifted up her skirt to show
the scar on her belly, "and took him out. Then they stiched me back
together."

"They can't do that again? Maybe in another place?" he asked, pointing
to a perfect patch of skin.

"No, there's only one place they can do it. Another surgery like that
might just kill me," Ailayan said with sad tone.

"Oh," he said, his voice also filled with disappointment. "I was hoping
you'd have one, too." Hers would be at Dragonsfall, not far away at
Dolphin Cove.

"That was a nice thought, too bad it can't never happen," Aileyan said
gently.

"Well, if one's all you get, I guess you're lucky it was Ravyan. You
could have had a real brat, you know," Kaiafel said with the air of one
experienced in such matters.

"Like you?" she asked teasingly.

"I'm not a brat. I'm a del... delkuant..." What was that word that
lady in the kitchens had used? He had liked the sound of the word, even
if he wasn't completely sure of the meaning. "Delin...quent.
Delinquent. That's what I am."

Aileyan laughed and impulsively hugged him.

Kaiafel let out a startled cry as he grabbed the beam so as not to be
completely unbalanced. Once he was certain he would not fall he
relaxed, leaning his head against her shoulder a little. After all, he
couldn't hug her back in public. She was a girl!

"Sorry. Are you okay?" she pulled back.

"Yeah. I don't mind, you know." In fact, he kind of liked it. This
was actually the first time he had ever talked to Aileyan alone without
his father and Ravyan around, and she had been kind and really listened
to him. He didn't even have to work to be all cute and funny to make
her like him. No, he didn't mind the gesture of affection at all.

Last updated on the August 3rd 2011

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I Thought Maybe...