Old Friends

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 18th July 2013

Characters: Harki, U'kaiah
Description: Harki celebrates her return to Dragonsfall Weyr by visiting her old friend U'kaiah
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 1 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: G'nir, Tavia, Aileyan, Kaiafel, N'vanik

It was good to be home. Harki threw the last of her bags onto her bed
and turned in a circle to examine her weyr, hands on her hips. It was
similar to her last weyr; simple, with a bed, some beat-up second-hand
furniture, and a rag rug on the floor to ward her feet against the
chill of stone. The walls were pockmarked white plaster and there was
a fire laid, but not lit, in the stone fireplace.

The smart thing to do would be to take the rest of the evening to
unpack since G'nir had put her back on the drills roster in the
morning. Harki's lips twisted into a smile. 'Smart' wasn't her thing.
**Cerillith, love. Ask Kalamath if U'kaiah is free?**

}:Ooo, I would like to see Kalamath!:{ Her green's mindvoice was
bright with excitement, and a moment later she informed her rider that
Kalamath wanted to see her right away.

**And U'kaiah?**

}:Him too,:{ Cerillith said. }:Let's hurry!:{

Harki smiled again. Cerillith was as happy to be back as she was – her
little green dragon never hurried for anything. She took a moment to
rummage through her packs and run a brush through her short hair
before meeting Cerillith on her ledge. "Let's go, love."

Cerillith wasn't wearing her straps, but Harki climbed onto her back
and kept her balance easily as her green tumbled off her ledge and
winged her way across the Weyrbowl. The dragon trilled a greeting to
Kalamath as she landed neatly beside the bronze.

His rider was standing nearby. As soon as her feet hit stone, she was
swooped up into his arms as U'kaiah planted a kiss firmly on her lips.
"Welcome home. We've missed you, crazy greenrider."

Harki laughed and kicked up her heels. "Shells, we've missed your ugly
faces too! But I'm _home_!"

"And you're not going anywhere again," he said with a mock growl,
carrying her back into his weyr before setting her down once they
crossed the threshold. "What on the Red Star possessed you to leave
it in the first place, huh? You who swore Dragonsfall was your home
for life!"

She squirmed out of his grip and shrugged. "Yeah, well, men make you
do stupid things. I brought you a gift, though!" She held out a
largish package wrapped in rough burlap.

"Oooo, is it another dirty book?" Hopefully in better shape than the
one she brought him when he was laid up in the infirmary Turns before.
U'kaiah could tell as soon as he took the offered gift that was not
the case. It felt like a bottle. He was getting a bit excited!
Rising Moons had a few very good vintners. She knew how much he liked
the hard stuff and had always been willing to share. Which was
probably why she had brought him some! That sounded like fun, for old
time's sake. Pulling the burlap aside, he revealed the bottle and
scanned the label. "Beer?" Well, that killed the party.

She grinned. "I stole it from B'lac's weyr before I left. It tastes
like revenge. _Apparently_ he got it at some Gather, and he's been
saving it for a while."

"Well, I'll drink to that then," U'kaiah said with a laugh. Leave it
to Harki to leave with such a classy move. "I'll just grab us a
couple of glasses. Have a seat on the sofa."

"It feels right to give his precious beer to another man. That's what
I'll tell him if he ever complains." Harki flopped onto U'kaiah's
couch and looked around his weyr curiously. Not much had changed, and
she wondered why she'd expected it to. "How are you, stranger?"

U'kaiah poured for each of them in silence as he thought about the
question. Where to begin? As he sat down beside her, placing a glass
in her hand he said, "I don't know for sure yet, but I think I'm doing
really, really well, actually."

"Seriously?!" Harki's eyebrows rose. "That's unlike you."

"Harki, you're never going to believe me. Sometimes I can't believe
it myself. But I think I'm becoming something of a family man." He
just waited for the shocked reaction he was sure that confession would
bring. They had known each other since they were both in nappies, and
even _he_ would never have pictured such a future for himself just a
few Turns before.

"A what now!?"

He chuckled into his glass, relishing in her surprise. "I have a
family now, with children and everything."

She shook her head. Figured. She'd failed at a normal life and
committing to someone, and U'kaiah was excelling at it. Then again,
he'd always been better at excelling. "I don't believe it. I leave for
a few Turns, and you take the opportunity to get all boring on me.
What were you thinking!?"

"I know! Who would have thought, especially after Trae..." Harki had
still been at Dragonfall for end of that fiasco. She had even come to
comfort him after N'vanik won her Flight.

Trae, and Jaela before her... Harki shook her head again. "So who is
this lucky lady of yours? Hopefully not another goldrider. And _more_
children!? Seriously?"

"Well, now, see, that's the even crazier bit." U'kaiah watched her
face carefully as he said, "I actually have _two_ ladies."

Harki suddenly laughed and raised her glass to the bronzerider.
"'Family man' and two goldriders-- riiiight. You had me going,
though!"

The bronzerider did not let her doubt phase him, though inwardly he
cringed. Had he really been that bad? "They're greenriders,
actually. Tavia and Aileyan."

There was a small pause as she examined his face, searching for the
slight smirk that would indicate he was trying to fool her. She
couldn't find it. "You're serious. About the 'family man' thing and
everything."

"Aileyan has a son from a Flight who I've come to be a father figure
to, Ravyan. And Tavia and I have a son, Kaiavin. You should see
them, the two of them are so cute! And you wouldn't believe how big
Kaiafel's gotten, either! He's such a great big brother to them
both." Once U'kaiah had started talking about his family, it just all
spilled out. He would have told her much more in one go if he hadn't
realized that Harki would need a moment to process everything.

"Two more sons, too." Harki said after a moment. She sipped at her
beer, oblivious to the taste. Trying to reconcile this U'kaiah with
the one that she'd left behind was difficult. He had a family-- _two_
families. Babies. Two women who loved him, or at least weren't going
to leave him any time soon. Jealousy reared its ugly head, but she
wasn't sure if it was because he'd managed to create a life himself
when she'd failed, or if it was because she wasn't sure if there was
room for her in his life anymore. Or maybe it was because he was
happy. Perhaps U'kaiah deserved to have a little happiness, even if
she didn't. She looked up to find him watching her with a hopeful
expression, and she made herself smile. "Wow. I mean... wow. I... if
I'd been asked to guess your news, I wouldn't have guessed it in a
million Turns. I'm happy for you."

U'kaiah's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew Harki almost as well as he
knew himself. No taunts or sarcastic remarks? Being supportive and
happy for him? "What is it? What are you thinking?"

"Nothing! I just..." She studied him over the rim of her beer glass.
"I'm just surprised. It's... surprising. You. Gushing about _babies_."

"Surprising? Or unpleasantly surprising?" It wasn't as if U'kaiah
was oblivious to the fact that he was changing, and that could affect
his friendship with one of his oldest and best friends. Could she
accept this new U'kaiah? Or would she eventually truly find him dull
and boring?

She arched an eyebrow. "That depends. If you start talking about
diaper contents, I'm out of here."

"I haven't changed _that_ much," he assured her. "I'm still basically
the same U'kaiah you knew, just... I have to think about them first
now. That doesn't mean I still can't have fun or hang out or sleep
with you. I can still do all those things, just not every day. But
then again, we never _did_ do those things every day, did we."

"I wasn't thinking we would, dimglow." Harki stuck her tongue out at
him. "But thanks for spelling it out for me. So when do I get to meet
your multiple families?"

"Well, actually Tavia isn't at Dragonsfall yet, but she'll be moving
with Kaiavin soon, hopefully. But Aileyan... " Did he really want
her to meet Aileyan? U'kaiah had to wonder what the two greenriders
would think of each other! Especially what Aileyan would think of
_him_ after meeting her. But it wasn't as if Harki was going away
again. At least she had better not be! "Aileyan's around. I'm sure
you'll meet her soon."

Harki resolved to track down Aileyan as soon as she could. "Where's
Tavia from, then?"

"Dolphin Cove. We met after a waterball game Turns ago. Then we
bumped into each other here when she was on an errand and... Well,
she ended up getting pregnant which was a bit of a happy accident,
really." They certainly had never intended to be anything more than
casual partners. "And that was that. Now she's getting ready to move
here so we can all be together."

"Wow. That's pretty serious for a casual partner."

"We're not casual. We're family." He quickly added, "But we're not
exclusive." Just in case she thought he had completely lost his edge.

"Yet." She grinned and pointed a finger at him. "Just you wait,
though. Before long, your greenriders will be wanting to move in and
you'll be having long discussions about bed linens and decorative
vases with sticks in them. I'll bet you a mark it happens before the
Turn is out."

"I'll take that bet," he said, holding out a hand to seal the deal.
As hopeful as he was for their futures, he knew moving them both into
the same weyr with him would be not only cramped, but that it would
surely be a deal breaker for Aileyan. Sharing her man was one thing.
Sharing her home as well would be quite another.

They shook, and Harki settled back into the couch. "How old is Kaiafel
now, anyway?

"Ten Turns next month." Shards, only two more and he'd be old enough
to Stand! "And getting into the same kind of trouble you and I used
to get into at that age."

"Shells, I hope not! We were lucky we were _allowed_ to Stand.
Remember accidentally setting a fire in the back of the laundry room?"
She pursed her lips. "Want me to talk some sense into him? I'll tell
him that if he's not careful, he'll end up like me."

"Nah, he's a good kid. He'll never turn out like you," U'kaiah
teased, bumping her with his shoulder. "We did have a lot of fun,
though, didn't we? I would never want to talk too much sense into
him. Or any of my boys."

"Good for you, bad for the Headwoman." Harki shrugged and finished her
beer in one long swallow. It wasn't as good as she'd thought it would
be. "I can't believe I'm actually back at Dragonsfall. For good."

"I can't believe you ever left." U'kaiah knew he never would. If
Trae couldn't tempt him with a chance at being her Weyrleader at
Dolphin Cove, no one would ever pull him away. But Dragonsfall
certainly wasn't the same without Harki. Now that she was by his side
again, it was easy to fall back into old patterns. U'kaiah drained
the rest of his beer and plucked her glass from her hand. "What do
you say we slip on some blindfolds, peel the clothes of each other and
check for new scars?"

"I'd say that I have a thing or two to show you," she said.

And she did. Enthusiastically.

Last updated on the July 19th 2013

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