Out to the sun

Writers: Devin, Paula
Date Posted: 4th October 2019

Characters: K'mai, Uetia, Sabia
Description: It's a family outing to beach and sun
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 12, day 7 of Turn 9
Notes: Backdated due LOAs

K'mai

K'mai hummed to himself as he buckled the straps on Sebeth. Uetia
would be here any minute, and they were going somewhere _warm_! They
had the whole restday to enjoy a sunny beach.

}:And I will sun with Sirjath:{

**You do that here,** K'mai teased.

}:But there we will be alone.:{

Sirjath launched from her ledge and was soon hovering just outside
Sebeth's ledge.

"Hurry up, slow stuff!!" Uetia called, her voice easily carrying over
the air. She was eager to go. What she missed most was ocean.

K'mai laughed. "Alright, alright!" He climbed up on his blue with
practiced ease and fastened himself into the harness. A moment later
Sebeth dropped off his ledge, wings snapping out to catch a thermal.
Then he climbed to a safe height, Sirjath beside him, and both dragons
winked /between/.

Bundled up Sabia, tucked safely in her mother's lap, waved her little
arms furiously, when she spotted Sebeth.
But then they were /between/.
Once they were out, Uetia checked her first. But Sabia was accustomed
travelling dragon-back. She was still trying to attract the attention
the second best dragon in Weyr: "Sepet! Sepe!"

"You can greet him once we're landed."

Bright sunlight and warm air greeted them. K'mai let out a happy sigh
as they spiraled down toward the beach. Shards he missed living next
to the ocean, having a view of sand and waves every day. Sebeth landed
and K'mai slid off, hurrying over to help Uetia with Sabia. "Hey
sweetie."

"Papa," Sabia greeted with Uetia handed her over to K'mai. Since Uetia
tended to towards over-protective, Sabia had too much clothes and was
now turning red face and sweaty. "Off," she complained, trying to
wiggle her way out of the clothes.

"Just a minute honey." K'mai stepped back to give Uetia room to
dismount before setting Sabia down and starting to unfasten her tiny
jacket. "Mama made sure you weren't going to freeze /between/, didn't
she?" He chuckled.

"Sorry," Uetia said and removed rest of the things they needed form
Sirjath's straps. Blanket, picnic basked, bag of stuff to Sabia.

"It's common with first time mothers, being extra careful." K'mai had
grown up with younger foster siblings and also had some experience
watching his friends' children -- though only for short periods of
time. It made him feel more at ease taking care of Sabia.

Once she was freed of the clothes, Sabia ran to greet Sebeth and was
soon climbing the blue's front legs.
That did not give Uetia any concerns. She actually trusted the dragons
more than her own first-timer skills. She had been youngest of the
siblings and when her brothers started to produce children, she had
been busy as an apprentice.

Sebeth watched the child with mild amusement. He was used to weyrbrats
clambering over him, though they were usually bigger than his rider's
hatchling. K'mai went to help Uetia with the supplies. "I'm already
melting under my jacket. It's wonderful." He grinned as the warm sun
beat down on them.

"Me too," Uetia replied Once they had everything set up and the food
basked stored in shade, she stripped her clothes until she was wearing
just her swim wear.
"Sabia, wanna come to swim?" she called.

K'mai was too impatient, already running past Uetia to splash through the waves.

"Daddy already beat us," Uetia said with amusement and picked Sabia
up. Running in the loose sand was hard for the toddler. They soon
joined K'mai at the water. Having born in River Bluff, Sabia swam like
a little fish.

"If she doesn't want to be a dragonrider, maybe she'll be a
dolphineer." K'mai smiled.

"Or a dolphin," Uetia chuckled and dove beneath a wave. She was
keeping an eye on Sabia. Not matter how well she swim, sea could be
treacherous and Uetia knew that all to well.

K'mai was unconcerned. With two humans and two dragons looking out for
her, he was sure Sabia was safe. "Can you catch me Sabia?" he asked as
he slowly paddled away from her.

Sabia accepted the challenge and started to swim after him.

"Not too deep!" Uetia called after them. Yes, she was really over-protective.

"She'll be fine!" K'mai called back as he stayed just out of Sabia's
reach. He only went a little deeper before shifting to move parallel
to the beach.

"Alright," Uetia said, forcing herself to relax. They were here to
enjoy sun, sea and time together.

After a while K'mai stopped and let Sabia catch him. "You caught me! Good job!"

Sabia giggled, obviously enjoying herself.

When Sabia started to get tired, they headed in to have lunch in the
shade. K'mai helped Uetia set the food out. "We should do this more
often," he said.

"Yes, we should," Uetia agreed and handed Sabia some fruit and juice.
The little girl looked like she might fall asleep on the spot. "Look,
we wore out the hatchling."

K'mai looked at Sabia with a warm, loving smile. "I'm so glad we had her."

"Yes," Uetia agreed with tender smile. She managed to save the
juice-glass when Sabia suddenly just fell asleep, topping sideways.
She carried her to a shade.

"A nap sounds nice, but I don't want to waste a minute of this
beautiful day." He took a deep breath of the salty air. "Even just
sitting here watching the ocean is wonderful."

"Mmh," Uetia agreed and sat next to him. "I really miss days like this."

"I miss home," K'mai said, then immediately felt guilty for bringing
down the mood.

"So do I," Uetia replied and gave an understanging smile.

K'mai put an arm around her. "I never thought I'd leave, especially
not like that. I know it was home for you too, but I lived there my
whole life." Many people he loved had left for various reasons, or
died, but he'd always been surrounded by familiar faces with just
enough new arrivals to keep things interesting. Now everyone was
scattered to the winds.

"I had settled down to River Bluff, it was my home," Uetia sighed a
bit. She did miss people from there who had ended up to different
Weyrs. "Have you considered the new Weyr?" she asked. She knew at
least one friend who was going to transfer there.

"Have you?" K'mai turned the question back on her. She'd gotten her
Wingthird knots not long ago and he wondered if that would make her
reluctant to leave.

"A bit," Uetia admitted. "I've two minds about it. I does sound
exciting, setting up a new Weyr. But I've barely settled down to
Dragonsfall, do I have the energy to leave and do it all over again?"

"I like the idea of building something new. Of doing something that
feels... hopeful. And I also like the idea of warmer weather," he
added with a little smile.

"Dragonsfall's winter was a shock," Uetia made a face.

"Does that mean I might be able to convince you to move? I'd like to
go, but I'd rather keep our family together." Dragons made everywhere
a short hop away, but it was still much easier to spend time with
people when you lived in the same place. K'mai didn't have romantic
feelings for Uetia--or for anyone, really--but he loved her dearly as
a friend and Sabia was his first child. Right now, staying with them
was the most important thing.

"Maybe, I don't know," Uetia replied. "They just made me wingthird
here, so," she did felt loyalty to her new wing. But if all her
friends moved to the
new weyr. Faranth knew, they might even transferr her whole wing to
the new Weyr, once it was ready for riders.

Last updated on the October 26th 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Out to the sun