All Tangled Up

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 30th January 2014

Characters: Bahji, K'lvin, Kylena
Description: Kylena causes havoc on Bahji's knitting.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 5, day 15 of Turn 7

Bahji clicked the needles together, wrapping yarn around one, then the
other. It was a mindless task, but one she was well suited for; her
fingers danced over the loops on the needles, silently counting them
as her eyes stared blankly forward. She had spent more and more time
doing this, knitting, sewing, and weaving, burying herself in simple
tasks. She finally smiled to herself, the knitting needles clacking
with steady rhythm. It helped to create things, even simple as they
tended to be.

"Kylena!" K'lvin called, a stern note in his normally peaceful voice.
Still, the father's warning did not stop the girl child from whizzing
past Bahji and in the process, catching the tail of a strand of the
yarn that the woman as using. As if in slow motion, K'lvin could see
what was going to happen and he rushed forward to prevent, but could
not reach the weaver in time. Kylena's movements jerked the yarn from
Bahji's fingers, sending the knitting needles flying.

The loud voice startled Bahji and her head whipped towards the
direction it had come. Her fingers faltered and as the needles were
ripped from her hands, she gasped, grasping for them in immediate
response. "No!" She heard them clatter and a sudden burst of cold air
told her Burst had immediately responded to her startled surprise. The
little bronze cried out a blistering warning and landed by Bahji, tail
lashing with angry indignation. His eye fell on the girl, then the
needles and then the approaching man. Angry red eyes whirled and his
chest puffed up in a hiss.

Kylena stood frozen, either by shame over what had happened, or by the
fire that she saw burning in her father's eyes. "Kylena," his voice
brooked no room for disobediance, "you will pick up those knitting
needles and apologize."

The child bowed her head and quickly picked up the needles. To a child
Bahji looked just like any other person, and so Kylena held the
needles out for the woman to take, her brow furrowing when Bahji never
reached out her hands for the needles.

K'lvin, on the otherhand, assessed the situation quickly. From Bahji's
unfocused eyes, to the tilt of her head. "I will take those, Kylena."
He said taking the needles from her small hands, "Now apologize."

"I'm sorry." Kylena spoke to Bahji, her voice low.

"Who's there?" Bahji's ears twitched as she slowly bent to pick up the
hissing Burst. Images sent by him were not clear and were tinged by
anger, soyarn. with gentle touches she soothed him. "Shh...It's okay.
No one's hurt, dearest." The little bronze have a hissing grumble and
skittered up Bahji's chest to her shoulder. Wrapping his tail firmly
around her neck he stared at K'lvin and chittered under his breath,
the very tip of his tail flicking with irritation. Knowing Burst was
as soothed as he was likely to get for the time being she turned
towards where he had indicated, the smaller figure; from the sound of
the voice, it was a little girl. "Okay. Please be more careful next
time." Her hands dipped, searching for the yarn.

"Go on, Kylena, I will catch up." K'lvin instructed his daughter
before taking a seat in front of Bahji. His eyes searched her face for
a moment, "I have your yarn and needles." He said before reaching out
and taking one of her hands, "Your yarn," he gave the wound ball to
the woman, and then pressed the needles into her other hand, "and here
are your needles."

She blinked in surprise and grasped her needles and yarn. "Thank you."
Her brow furrowed as Burst gave another distrusting grumble. She
shushed him. "It was an accident. It's okay."

"You are welcome. I apologize for my daughter, she's eight and still
has the tendency to run headlong everywhere." K'lvin explained, his
eyes now looking to the bronze firelizard.

Her lips lifted in understanding. "I was eight once. I do believe I
was the same way at that age. I'm not upset, just startled by it." She
laid the yarn in her lap and blinked as Burst sent a clearer image of
the man. It was flavored with more than a little distrust, but she
mentally soothed him once again. "Please forgive Burst. He's a little
protective. My name is Bahji. " She held out a hand towards him.

K'lvin smiled at the woman's understanding as he took her much smaller
hand in his own work-calloused palm, "It is nice to meet you Bahji, I
am K'lvin of bronze Xmrenth. The wild child running by was Kylena." He
looked down at her knitting, "I am afraid your yarn may have gotten
tangled in the process. I would offer to help untangle it but I am
sure that I would just make it worse."

Her brow furrowed as her hand went down to her yarn. Her fingers slid
over the strands and found the knots. "Oh dear...." She sighed, but
then shrugged. "I can untangle it. It just may take some time. If its
too bad, I can always just trim and re-tie what I need. " She gently
shook his hand and released it. "I've made worse myself. Is Kylena
your daughter?"

"Yes, she is." K'lvin said with no small amount of pride in his voice,
"We just moved here not long ago so she is still familiarizing herself
with this place." The bronzerider peered around Bahji to see that a
drudge was helping Kylena fix a plate.

She smiled at the tone in his voice and dimples flashed in her cheeks
for a brief moment. "Oh, then there's more than enough reason for her
to be so excited. There's much to see here for her, I'm sure. New
children to play with, new places to explore. I don't blame her at
all." Her fingers found a knot, pulled gently and untangled it before
moving to another. "I hope you are both settling in well."

K'lvin watched Bahji's nimble fingers work out the tangle and he found
himself impressed. Even with good eye sight he would have sat and
worked on the tangle all day before becoming frustrated and cutting it
out, "We are. I am liking River Bluff quite a bit, especially the
warmer weather. We moved from Dragonsfall." He explained, "What about
you? Native to the area?"

Her fingers found another large tangle and her fingers carefully
worked at it as she answered, moving a needle carefully through a loop
to untangle one piece of the knot. "I'm not from the Weyr." She found
another tangled loop and carefully fingered the area around it to find
the knot to work with. "I'm from Sunstone Sea Hold. I've been here for
almost a turn, give or take a month. I like it."

"Sunstone, huh? What brought you here then?" K'lvin asked with open
curiosity as he continued to watch Bahji. He wondered if she had
always been blind but he thought it would probably be rude to ask.

It was a question that she had been asked several times, especially by
those just meeting her, so she was prompt with her answer. "To have a
life. At the time, I wasn't considered really marriageable and my
parents thought it best that I come here." That had changed for a
time, but her mother still supported her presence here. She found the
piece of yarn that held the key to the rather difficult knot and
tugged it, smiling as the the tangle released. She started wrapping
the yarn around the ball, using her fingers to find the next knot. It
was a far simpler one and she had it released only in moments. "Why a
transfer here from Dragonsfall?"

"It was for my daughter," K'lvin's reply came just as readily as
Bahji's, he had recited it more than once since arriving, "she was
living with her mother outside of Dragonsfall and had grown up with
her. I decided that I wanted a change," he lifted his shoulders, "and
when I told her mother that I was moving to River Bluff I asked if
Kylena could come with me. By some miracle her mother said yes, and
here we are."

"Ah..." She nodded. " So you're not used to her living with you? It
must be an interesting change for the both of you."

"It _is_ an interesting change. I visited her as much as I could but I
was still surprised that Kylena even wanted to come with me. She
seemed to think it would be fun, though, and she's seemed happy since
we've been here." K'lvin was just enjoying the opportunity to watch
his daughter grow up, "Well, I should go join her, but it was nice
meeting you Bahji. Perhaps we can talk again sometime."

"Perhaps. It was nice meeting you as well." She inclined her head,
finishing rerolling her ball of yarn into neatness. It had been a
pleasant, but short conversation. Bronzeriders were often busy, so she
doubted she would speak to him anytime soon, but she left the
possibility open.

Last updated on the February 8th 2014

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All Tangled Up