A Day for Friendship and Sunshine

Writers: Ames, Len, Suzee
Date Posted: 1st April 2013

Characters: G'wen, Cardella, K'ale
Description: The three friends gather for a little free time together, enjoying the sun and the company
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 12, day 6 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: E'naer, Teseada, J'darin

Cardella

K'ale

Time had sure flown by. It seemed they had all been busy with their
day to day lives that they hadn't had nearly enough time to just enjoy
each other's company.

"Come on," Cardella called as she raced ahead of them to the little
lake. Awenth had already taken off to do a bit of hunting and Cardella
was looking forward to an lazy, fun afternoon with her two best
friends in all the Weyr.

G'wen rolled his eyes at K'ale and jogged after the girl. "Slow down!
My head still hurts from last night!"

"And what exactly were _you_ up to last night?" She called jokingly as
she slowed and turned to look at the boys. Her smile lit up her face.
She was happy. Being here made her happy. Being with K'ale and G'wen
made her happier. It was amazing how fast her life had changed, but
she wouldn't have traded a second of it.

"Your head hurts?" K'ale grimaced against the sun. "They wouldn't stop
bringing me drinks last night." At least thats the way it seemed since
Imalkyth had won a gold flight.

"Me either." G'wen slowed down to rub the hangover from his forehead.
Being with E'naer didn't stop more than a few blue riders from trying
it on him, and he found he wasn't above a bit of teasing if it meant
he got what he wanted. And last night he got a little too much if what
he wanted. "I never want to see another wine skin ever again."

"Would you two hurry about!" Cardella called. "I want to swim." With
that she turned and started heading to the lake once again.They'd gone
/between/ to a lovely lake far from Dragonsfall where the sun was
shining and the temperatures were high. Cardella was tired of the
cooler weather at Dragonsfall and had been looking forward to this
little mini-vacation for quite some time.

G'wen moaned low in his throat, cursing bluerider N'ki for plying him
with glass after glass of white wine. Served him right for not staying
in with E'naer like he usually did. Glancing at K'ale, who looked as
rough as he felt, he nodded. "Come on, maybe the warm water'll help
our heads."

K'ale groaned to himself. Cardella was far too chipper and
unsympathetic to his poor head. For the life of him he couldn't
understand what had possessed him to agree to this in the first place.
He shaded his eyes with one hand and followed her down to the waters
edge. "Swimming?"

"Yes," Cardella replied with a grin and then a laugh when she took in
his face. "Did you party so much you can't even keep your head above
water today?" Her smile was radiant and showed her laughter even as
she began pulling off her outer layers. She no longer carried with her
the same shyness she had brought from her years in Hold and Hall, at
least not around her two best friends. Dipping her toes into the lake,
she smiled. "The water is _warm_!" She declared happily, removing her
last layers to reveal a rather skimpy swimming outfit.

"Come on!" She coaxed as she moved into the water with ease.

G'wen plopped down onto the sand to pull his boots off. The wherhide
jacket and tunic were next. Though he was loath to stand back up, he
did so and slipped out of his trousers. Kicking them down beside
Neath's straps, he waded out to Cardella. "At least you're right about
this, it is nice and warm." It felt good to lay back and let the
water hold his aching head for the time being.

K'ale was more sedate or maybe he was just careful. He got his
trousers off and folded them placing them on his shoes and his shirt
on top. Then he stood at the edge of the water for a moment squinching
his toes in the sand. then he walked out waist deep before sinking
into the water.

"The water's nice, isn't it?" Cardella asked, swimming closer to the
two boys. "We haven't done this enough lately." She center of the lake
was deep, she had to tread water to stay up. "We should make it a plan
to do something, just the three of us, once a month for sure. I feel
like we've all been so busy with our own lives lately. I miss the way
it was when we were weyrlings. I want that back." Treading water and
talking took a lot of effort, even for someone in good shape, which
Cardella was. She slipped under the water and had to spit out the
water with a cough as she resurfaced.

K'ale let the water cradle him as he floated. He kept his eyes closed
and let the gentle waves move him. "I like that idea Cardella, he
said. Then he grinned. "Especially if you bring bread."

"You only love me for my bread!" Cardella giggled and splashed the
boys slightly. "I think we should have a party today. It just so
happens we have a few things to celebrate this month." She turned in
the water so she was staring at K'ale. "Mister going to have a Clutch
of eggs here soon! I still can't believe you and Ima won Onnyth's
Flight!!" She was beaming from ear to ear for her friend. Then she
reached a hand out to G'wen, "And you....I can't believe how _old_ you
are getting!" Cardella giggled. She knew G'wen's birthingday wasn't
until later in the month, but she wasn't going to miss a chance to
tease him about getting older before her. She was enjoying teasing her
friends. They were some of the few people she felt she could let her
guard down with all the time. They, and Awenth, had helped her find
her true self.

"Hey, I can't wait to be older...maybe one day E'naer and I together
won't get odd looks when we leave the Weyr!" G'wen hated being so
young. Or at least, looking like he was about 12.

K'ale grinned at Cardella, "I don't eaither," he said with a little
blush. He didn't want to disillusion poor G'wen but no matter how old
he got he'd get odd looks from holders when he was out of the Weyr.
They didn't understand when those they perceived to be different, like
male greenriders, loved other men, no matter what their age.

"Well, you're looking older now than when we first met," K'ale smiled.

Cardella just smiled and chuckled at the pair of boys. "It's hard to
believe how much we've _all_ changed since we first met. I couldn't
imagine my life without you two!" She tried to put her arms around the
boys, but while swimming that ended up causing her to go under,
sputtering as she swallowed water.

"Lady, if you want us to go swimming more often, then you'd better
learn to swim!" G'wen sidled up to Cardella and steadied her. Just
then a large shadow covered them, the only warning the three got
before Neath dive bombed into the water.

She chuckled once she finished coughing. "I'm a better swimmer than
both of you when you're not distracting me!" That was when they all
got splashed by the diving dragon.

K'ale spat water and rolled back over on his stomach to swim back to
shore. "I don't know about you guys but I want something to eat." He
stood and trudged up the beach. "Where did you put that basket?"

"Food, you said?" G'wen trudged after K'ale, the thought of food
promising, particularly if his dragon seemed intent on drowning the
three of them. He glared over his shoulder at the huge green playing
in the water, her golden yellow undertone bright in the strong sun of
the tropics.

"It's over by our riding gear, near that tree!" Cardella called as she
emerged from the lake, shaking off the water and reaching to wring out
her hair before heading to join the boys. It was lovely to be in her
simple bathing outfit without feeling cold. In fact, she felt rather
the opposite.

As she reached the boys, she quickly gathered up their picnic supplies
and starting laying them out on a blanket she'd brought.

K'ale plopped down on his side on the blanked and propped himself up
on an elbow watching her. He reached out a hand and snatched a
meatroll. He grinned before he popped it in his mouth. "That suit looks
good Cardella,"

"Thank you," she replied, pleased he had noticed.

"He's like this, Car--" G'wen smirked and held up his pinkie finger.
"Not worth it." Really smug at teasing k'ale about the Flight he won
for Neath a while back, the tiny greenrider dove into the bread.

K'ale felt the flush of embarrassment all over again. Not because of
what G'wen had said about his equipment, they'd all been in the
bathing pools together often enough that it wasn't really a mystery.
It was because he'd hurt his friend without intending to do so. He'd
thought they'd gotten past it but from what G'wen had just said, joke
or not, it didn't really appear that way. He quickly tried to hide
his momentary discomfiture hoping the greenrider hadn't seen the dart
hit home.

"Hey, I hear there's going to be a gather soon over to Opal Cove.
Would you guys like to go?"

"When's that? As long as J'darin doesn't give me candidate baby
sitting duties, I'm in." G'wen perked up at that. Gathers weren't as
much fun for him as the others but if both Cardella and K'ale went
then he'd feel protected enough that it could be enjoyable.

Cardella was surprised by the interaction between the two. At seeing
K'ale's reaction, she felt it best to just ignore those comments and
focus on the last.

"A gather would be fun. I haven't been to one in _such_ a long time,"
she replied, already looking forward to all the fun and festivities
that were part of such a gathering.

"Next rest day," K'ale offered, thankful the change of topic went so
well. He smiled at both the others. "I think I should get a hatching
gift for Teseada. What do you think?"

"That would be a good idea," Cardella nodded as she munched on her
food. She didn't know what to suggest getting a goldrider as a gift,
however. She contemplated it while they ate, wondering if G'wen had
any ideas.

G'wen chewed thoughtfully at the bread whilst he thought.
"Well...sometimes I wonder if getting her and her boyfriend a fire
lizard egg each would help him, y'know? Or would that be too
expensive?"

K'ale smiled at his friend though he wasn't so sure that was what he
was looking for. He wanted something for her to remember this
particular hatching. But he nodded. "That's an idea. We'll see what
they have at the gather."

Last updated on the April 2nd 2013

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A Day for Friendship and Sunshine