Staying Unbitten

Writers: Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 16th August 2008

Characters: K'hetah, Xara
Description: Xara and K'hetah meet up while dancing.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 13 of Turn 4

There was dancing in the dining cavern that evening, and the bronzerider found himself involved. Dancing was safe enough. Lots of people, set moves to the dances. Not much could go wrong.

When the harpers took a break he left the dance floor and found himself in a crowd. He waited patiently for somebody to move so he could get to a table and then smiled as he realised who was standing just in front of him. He leaned forward and spoke quietly into an ear. "You're looking as good as new."

A shiver went down her spine at his words, and she turned quickly coming face to face with K'hetah. "Almost..." she grinned back. "But I'm not sure my nose will ever recover." she said touching the slightly crooked nasal passage.

"You nose looks as lovely as ever," he assured her. "Are you looking for a table?"

"Yes, I am. You too?" she asked, slightly surprised at the compliment he had given her, no matter how throw away it had seemed.

"Indeed. I think I've done enough dancing for a while. Ahh," he caught her elbow and guided her out of the crowd toward a small table close on the edge of the emptying dance floor. "Will this do?"

"Yes, definitely." she grinned as she took a seat. "So, how have you settled in, K'hetah?" she asked. She had seen him around the Weyr on and off, over the last few sevendays, but apart from the day he had assisted her to the infirmary, she hadn't really had the chance to talk to him. She was almost jealous of the girls who had Impressed the last time she had Stood at a hatching. She would have seen more of him, had she too been a rider - she supposed.

He shrugged. "New Weyr, new people, same routine, really. Loeth's taken to the sea, though. I have a terrible time getting him out of it."

"He's settled in without a problem. But then again, he had within the first sevenday, hadn't he?" she laughed. "It's good to see you're out having a good time now."

"Hmm." he leaned forward so that he couldn't be overheard, though there was enough noise around them that that was unlikely, anyhow. "I feel I ought to be seen to be approachable by my wingriders. Not always tucked away in my weyr." He grinned. "One night a sevenday, at least." And only when there was a crowd.

"Ah, I see." she laughed softly. "You know, you could come out more often, we don't bite, you know."

"Dolphin Cove residents don't, you mean?"

"You're telling me someone from the Weyr has bitten you?" she asked in mock horror.

"Uh ..." He appeared to give it some thought. "No. No, I'm not. But I intend to stay unbitten," he said firmly. "A man can't be too careful."

She couldn't restrain the laughter she felt bubbling up inside her. "Oh K'hetah, you sound like one of those stuck up maidens we have travel here for Hatchings. The ones who hold their skirts up over their ankles for fear of catching something from the Weyrfolk." She covered her mouth, trying to straighten her face again.

"Hmm. Nothing wrong with that. Except the skirts." He grinned. "I wasn't born weyrfolk, you know."

"Neither was I," she replied quickly, "Though I think I have settled in more easily than you appear to have."

"I don't think you know me well enough to make a judgement on that,"
K'hetah said with a grin. "You've only ever known me here ... I had a whole other life at another Weyr before I appeared in Dolphin Cove's skies."

"Okay, if that's the case, then why are you so...." she searched for a word that wouldn't be insulting to the bronze rider, but that would also describe his reluctance with the people of the Weyr, "... reclusive?"
she finished, finally.

"Because I enjoy being alone - or alone with my dragon. Fair enough?"

"Oh... okay." she shrugged, "Fair enough..." she considered what he'd said, but it didn't ring completely true. "..I suppose." She took a sip of the fruit juice in front of her.

"So, what makes you think you've settled in to weyrlife?" he countered.
"How do you behave that makes people think you belong here now?"

"I socialise ..." she smiled, it was true, now she enjoyed being around people. It was a real contrast to how she had been when she first arrived; but then - even she didn't recognise the girl she had been a few short turns ago. "But I just feel as if I belong here." she shrugged, so much better than living in that mean little cothold with her father.

"And so do I," K'hetah pointed out. "I'm a dragonrider; Weyrs will be my home for as long as I live. And I'm a bronzerider and right now a Wingleader. This is most certainly my place in life."

"Yes, that's true, but - do you feel as though you have fit in _here_ at _this_ Weyr? Have you made friendships since you arrived?" she asked, masking her curiosity with another sip of juice. She was aching to ask if he had found any particular woman friends, but knew that would give her feelings away.

K'hetah's grinned at the redhead. "I suspect you and I regard friendship as quite different things. I get along with the men and women in my Wing. The Weyrleader." He shrugged. "The Headwoman.
Zelle, who transferred here from home."

"We do?" she asked, sitting back in her chair. "How so?" she asked, surprised at his response. As far as she was aware there was only one form of friendship - anything more was a relationship, anything else merely an acquaintance, but maybe he had other ideas. She hadn't missed the fact he hadn't included her in his circle of 'friends', either.

He shrugged again. "I have friends in the Wing. People I see around the Weyr sometimes. We don't need to be living in each other's pockets to be friends."

"And you think that is how I see friendship?"

"I think that's how women see friendship."

"How wrong you can be at times. But then I suppose a lot of men think that way." He had dumped her in with most of the women who grew up with some kind of social circle - women who hadn't grown up surrounded by oppression. Women who had had a choice of how friendly they could be with men, and with women. Women very different to herself.

"Oh, well. It seems neither of us understand the other, at all." He couldn't help but smile; it seemed as if they were talking themselves into insurmountable differences that probably didn't exist.

"So it seems." She felt a funk slip over her, was she really not counted among those he thought of as friends? She had felt something for the wingleader, almost from the moment they had met, but it seemed the same couldn't be said of him. Had she pushed too hard for a friendship - or not enough? She affixed a smile back on her face to hide what she had been thinking, and glanced across at the dance floor, "So tonight," she said finally, "you're all danced out?"

"That depends," he said, amusement in his expression and tone.

"On what?" she asked, her eyes flicked up to his but she couldn't hold his gaze any longer. His omission of her as a friend had had more of an affect on her than she had expected.

"Whether there's anybody around here who wants to dance with me."

"Oh..." she felt truly deflated, he didn't want to dance wi-, "What, what did you say?" she asked, his words finally beginning to unscramble in her head.

He laughed and got to his feet, holding out his hand. "Come on, Xara.
Less talk, more dancing. I'm sure that'll keep us from arguing."

"Yes, I'd like to and I'm sure you're right, if I concentrate on dancing, it'll give me less time to talk." She took his hand and rose from the chair. His hand was warm and inviting - she felt a rush of warmth spread through her as she took a step from the table, towards him.

Last updated on the August 16th 2008

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Staying Unbitten