Calm After Storms (2/2)

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 10th September 2025

Characters: Gilbek, Tr'vel, Beniran, Calenta
Description: Gilbek and Tr'vel travel to the Northern Harper Hall to visit Gil's ex-wife
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 10, day 7 of Turn 12

Tr'vel

"Sounds like the ice has broken." Beniran jogged to catch them up with a basket on his arm. "Naked ladies?"

"At the Weyr," Calenta explained. "They have...different standards."

"Really? I thought that was all wild rumors."

"Don't sound too excited," she teased. "Anyway, Tr'vel was telling how he and Gil met - but when did you find out you wanted to be together?"

"For me, I started having serious interest after he saved R'ayl from that attack," Tr'vel said. "Though I was, uh, fighting some attraction for a little while before that."

"Oh, yes. There was a little about that in Gil's letter, though not much. He said he'd been lucky enough to recognize an intruder." Calenta sensed the slight falter in her former husband's step, but she wasn't going to let that get in the way of a good tale. "We'd love to hear the full story, wouldn't we, Beniran?"

The retelling took them to a grassy bank by the river, where sunlight filtered through the leaves of willows and fruit trees, and Gil tried to hide his embarrassment by helping Beniran spread out the picnic blanket and unpack the light meal. The harpers, however, had less mercy on him.

"You should have been a harper, Tr'vel." Calenta sank down onto the rug, brushing her fingers lightly over the grass. "You're a good storyteller, and you have a beautiful voice, very rich and smooth."

"It would make a good subject for a ballad, don't you think?" Beniran said thoughtfully. "Weyr and Hold, working together to prevent a terrible crime."

"Please don't." Gil groaned.

"Watch out, he'll make it into a grand opera," Calenta teased. "It's got everything - suspense, danger, and a love story, of course."

Tr'vel hummed thoughtfully. "I'm usually not much for attention, but with the tensions between Weyr and Hold, it might be good story to spread." Then he snorted a laugh. "Though the holdfolk won't like the romance part."

"True. We can always turn one of you into a woman," Beniran suggested, deadpan. "It'd be a good part for a soprano."

"It had better be Tr'vel," Calenta said firmly, "because I am not singing the role of my own ex-husband. Or better still, be subtle and make them two 'intimate friends'."

"Good idea." Beniran murmured a few notes of melody under his breath. "A sweeping, passionate ballad about friendship, and everyone can read into it what they choose."

"Perhaps we should hear some of your work, before we entrust you with our life stories." Gilbek had noticed the journeyman had brought a gitar case along as well as the picnic basket, and held out a faint hope that they might be distracted by their own music. "What do you think, Tr'vel?"

Tr'vel was so used to this kind of banter from Lightning Wing that it didn't even phase him, but poor Gil looked uncomfortable. "I'd like to hear what a Northern Harper has to offer."

"Let's eat first. Calenta can't sing on an empty stomach." Beniran reached forward to hand around the rolls, savory pastries and salads, while Gilbek found a flask of white wine and glasses. To his relief, the harpers appeared to have taken pity on him and the conversation turned to the Weyr, and all that had happened since Calenta had last been there - the changes in leadership, the latest fashions and the new service delivering books from the Printer Hall. Beniran turned out to be an avid reader, although he teased the others for enjoying romances and adventures rather than more literary fare.

When at last, there were only crumbs of dessert remaining, Beniran sighed in satisfaction, rubbed his stomach and then reached to open his gitar case. He leaned over the instrument, strumming soft chords for tuning, then shifted to a more comfortable position and began to play. His wife smiled, recognizing the wistful melody, and when he'd played it through, her voice joined in.

Gil felt a shiver ripple over him. It had been so long since he'd heard Calenta sing, and her voice was as pure as ever, but even with his untutored ear and after so many Turns, he could sense the refinement of her training. To compliment their visitors, they'd chosen a song of the Weyr, a goldrider waiting on the Sands for her lover to return from Fall, and the notes rippled in the air like the gentle flow of the river beside them, smooth and effortless as a firelizard's voice. Relaxing, he shifted closer to Tr'vel, leaning against his shoulder.

The bluerider wrapped an arm around him and waited until Calenta had finished. "That was wonderful."

"I'm so glad to hear your voice again." For so long, Gil hadn't known if he ever would, and it felt like a gift. He wanted to memorize every detail - the sunlight on the water, the music, the scent of sweetgrass and wine, and the warmth of Tr'vel's body.

Beniran's fingers wandered over the gitar strings, moving idly through a progression of chords. "It's a Northern ballad, written for a hatching at Igen a few Turns ago. There's a style they have there, those quarter-tones in the vocal line..." He changed key. "How about something from the South? Calenta?"

"I don't know so many of those, just a few that I learned before I came here. Perhaps Tr'vel should sing, and we'll join in," Calenta suggested mischievously. "Do you have a favorite?"

"Me?" Tr'vel said. "I'm no harper."

"You don't have to be a harper to sing," she teased.

"I'd like to hear you." Gil joined in, aware that he'd likely pay for this later but enjoying himself too much to care.

That earned him a soft look from the bluerider. "Well, for you." In an unpolished but pleasant tenor, he started a happy, simple song about falling in love. It was fairly well-known in the Weyrs of the South.

Calenta's face brightened as she recognized the tune, perhaps from her brief time at Dolphin Cove, and she leaned over and murmured softly to Beniran. He nodded and joined in, with simple chords at first, then a more intricate accompaniment as he grew familiar with the tune. With the next chorus, Calenta began to sing with Tr'vel in harmony, her voice soft and wordless so she wouldn't overwhelm his.

Gil felt a fleeting admiration for the harpers' skill at picking up a tune that one of them, at least, didn't appear to have heard before, but then his attention was all on the bluerider. Tr'vel's voice resonated deep within him, and his heart felt full. How strange, that after so many hardships he'd come to this peaceful place, by the river, with the people he loved most.

Last updated on the September 18th 2025

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Calm After Storms (2/2)