A Proper Evening

Writers: Avery, Eimi
Date Posted: 26th October 2007

Characters: Eridhiya, M'galec
Description: M'galec and Eri spend time relaxing together after a Fall
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 6, day 18 of Turn 4

Today's Threadfall had been characterized by high winds, and one brownpair especially had suffered. As a result of handling the wing stitching before she could do anything else like checking over the other cases, Eridhiya had spent several more candlemarks in the Dragon Infirmary than she'd expected to. By the time she was done there, and was done bathing to get the numbweed and redwort off of her, dinner had stopped being served.

The greenrider sighed and flopped onto a plush chair she'd appropriated from the storerooms and covered in one of her earliest quilts. As she thought about calling something up, she paused. Why not ask for company?
**Avesith, will you ask Dwarkanath if his rider has eaten yet?** The green complied.

**Tell her I'm in the kitchen's now, and I could easily pick up dinner for two.** M'galec replied, pleased at the invitation. "Two dinner's to go, please," he said to the drudge who had come to wait on him. "And a skin of red wine."

Avesith relayed it. Eridhiya couldn't help but smile- the concept of food and pleasant company to finish the unwinding process that the bath had begun was perfect. To occupy the time before he arrived, she put a nice cloth over the table and arranged the chairs and tableware until it looked perfectly laid out.

"Good evening," the bronzerider smiled when she opened the door for him.
"I have brought dinner and wine," he said, holding up the basket full of goodies. "I even managed to secure us a couple pieces of spice klah cake for desert."

Dinner and wine. It was perfect. At his mention of dessert, her eyes sparkled a little. "Spice klah cake? It's a favorite." she said. So much a favorite, in fact, that she'd learned to bake it at Topaz from a helpful Baker who worked there and didn't mind teaching her. Cooking and baking was one of those skills she saw fit to practice when she could.

"I'm glad to hear it. I thought we could both use an energy boost after that Threadfall." He would have been flat on his back by now if the thought of such stimulating company hadn't fortified his resolve to stay awake. "Is there somewhere I can set out our dinner?"

"I took the liberty of setting up the table when I heard you were bringing it." she said, leading him there. "I must say, it smells quite fine."

"It looks wonderful! Though really, it was not necessary for you to take all that trouble on my account," though his appreciative smile told her he enjoyed the fact that she had. He pulled back the cloth and began pulling out small covered pots of soup and casserole. "I brought red wine. You seemed to like it."

"I do. I've never cared for white, for some reason." she revealed. The table was looking fantastic between the layout and the food. If she looked just at the table, she could almost pretend she was in a room in a Hold and not in the endless stone of a Weyr.

"Perhaps you have just not found one which suits you. Do you prefer sweeter or drier wines?" he asked as he pulled out the skin's stopper and poured them each a glass.

"Sweeter, generally."

"I had a very sweet white wine at the Vintner Hall perhaps you would like, though I tried it before the earthquake destroyed the Hall. Even so, they may have a bottle or two left in their stores. I shall have to make inquiries." He handed her a glass with a bit of a flurish. "It may not be so grand, but it has a pleasant enough bouquet."

"If you can find any, I would be willing to try it." she said. M'galec's taste was clearly similar to her own, so she would try. She took the glass and took a sip before setting it beside her plate. "I must admit this is a far better evening than I had expected this morning."

"It is hard to imagine an evening of relaxation and good company when you are surrounded by blood and pain," M'galec nodded. "But perhaps that is precisely why we need such evenings - to remind us why we continue the struggle."

She pondered that. "It does seem logical. If it was horror all the time, I wonder how many riders could hold up for long? Of course, that is the excuse some dragonriders use for... extreme behavior." Those who drowned their fear or whatever they wanted to call it in food, or sex, or some other wild Weyr entertainment on the nights in between Fall. Eri disapproved of much of that debauchery.

"Well, the mindhealers do say that it is good for the riders to release their built up tension in some way. Too much tension does terrible things to the human mind. A cracked-shell riding a flaming dragon is something I would rather not dare to imagine." M'galec sipped at his wine thoughtfully. "I, however, have never been one to find my release through excess. I much prefer a quiet glass or wine or two and the company of a few people. I find getting to know the inner workings of a persons mind us much more rewarding than mere carnal knowledge."

The greenrider listened and nodded. "It seems a wasteful way to release tensions when, as you said, there are much more rewarding ways to spend your tension." She couldn't help but mentally ponder the phrase carnal knowledge in relation to M'galec. Idly she wondered what sort of woman he was attracted to.

"Yes, for me... Well, an evening such as this is idea. Good wine, good food, good company, polite and intellegent converstation..." He shrugged, knowing it was not the stereotypical notion of how a bronzerider ought to spend his time. "I suppose it was my Holder up-bringing."

Her own upbringing was why Eri refused to engage in the activities she so deplored. "There's no harm in wishing to retain dignity."

M'galec sighed, twirling the stem of his glass between his fingers and watching the red liquid coat the side of his glass. "I think that was the problem with my ex-weyrmate - Lenala showed all the outwards trappings of dignity, but it was all for show."

Eridhiya couldn't help but pause. She covered it by sipping at her wine.
Lenala? As in the goldrider? He and Lenala had been weyrmated? She was shocked, but too dignified to show it. She couldn't wrap her brain around it. "Goldriders can be temperamental, even the best of them." she said neutrally.

"I freely admit, I was dazzled by her charm. She just could not understand that my being a healer was much more important than satisfying her sexual desires. And so she decided to dazzle every other bronzerider she saw." Even going so far as to bring one back to their weyr just to throw up in his face. And she had the nerve to kick _him_
out? He should have thrown her out of his life right then and there!
"I was not going to shirk my duty to the Weyr just for her, nor was I going to suffer other men in her life. She, perhaps wisely, chose to end it. And I am the better for it." At least, that was what he told himself.

Fidelity was something important to the greenrider, so she could fully understand M'galec's relief that the relationship was over. "I cannot believe she would go so far as to be unfaithful when she had a weyrmate." Eri said. "The whole point of weyrmating is to show that there is fidelity in a relationship. I can see why it is over."

"Have you ever been weyrmated, Eri," M'galec asked curiosly. He knew very little about her past, he realized.

"Once." she answered. "V'ryn and I spent 4 Turns together, and we even had a child. My daughter, Erivana- she came here with me."

"A child? I am surprised. Where is she now?"

"Surprised?" Eri echoed. "She came with me." she added. "I don't see her as much- she never lived with me, since I fostered her. We are friends though, and I'm proud of her."

"I am just surprised because you had made no mention of her before.
Though, I cannot say that I am surprised that you would be a mother."
Though that she was able to have a child and achieve her Master's knots was impressive. "And where is your daughter's father now?"

She bowed her head slightly, remembering those nights, how hard it had been to lie next to her weyrmate, a shell of a man. "V'ryn died in a flaming accident." she replied. "He was a Weyrlingmaster's Third, teaching them, and one of the young bronzeriders was rather overenthusiastic."

"I am very sorry to hear that," M'galec murmured softly. It was obvious she still missed him. "How long ago, may I ask?"

"Oh, Turns. 16 to be exact- I was 28 at the time." she said. "A long time to carry it, I know, but at the time there was no Thread, no risk-
we thought we had our whole lives."

"That is understandable. So that must mean your daughter is older than that. So she followed you of her own accord?" For some reason when she had mentioned a daughter he had assumed she was still a child, but sixteen turns at least, why she was a woman already!

"She has. I didn't raise her myself- what dragonrider ever could?" Eri asked rhetorically. She had wanted to, but trying to care for Avesith as well as do her duty had convinced her it was impossible. "But I always checked in on her, and we became close. I told her I would come visit if she chose to stay there, but she decided she would rather at least live in the same Weyr."

"It just proves that you were a wonderful mother to her despite all your obligations. That is indeed remarkable." M'galec shook his head in wonder. What a woman she was to gain her Mastery, the respect of her peers, a Weyrdragonhealer position, and still be a proper woman.
"_You_, I believe, are remarkable."

She couldn't help but flush slightly at the compliment. "Had you ever considered children, M'galec?" she dared to ask.

"Of course," he nodded thoughtfully. "I had always hoped to find a Weyrmate with whom I could have a real family, but... Well, my craft must come first. As much as I would love that, as my last attempt seemed to prove, I cannot hope to have the time to devote to it. Not during a Pass. Pern must come first."

She was pleased that she was right that he had also wanted children.
"The Pass really changed everything." she said sadly.

"Yes," the bronzerider agree. "But let us speak of happier things."
Smiling, he leaned back in his chair. It would be a waste to spend the whole night speaking of such solem topics, especially after a Fall.
This was a chance to relax, share a few drinks and get to know each other without the troubles of the world foremost in their minds. "Tell me more about this daughter of yours."

Last updated on the November 3rd 2007

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A Proper Evening