nameless [r'wign]

[Avu]

”I…guess it’s a little early to be thinking about names, isn’t it?”

The question came randomly; trying to think about living arrangements and what needed to be…uh, stolen from the crèche…made her want to curl up and hide; everything was ridiculously complicated and why hadn’t she known about the pregnancy before the Gather…? But names were a bit safer, she thought; more fancy instead of being based on steady fact. It had been glancing at Checkoth that had made her remember that, imagine that, the baby needed a name – hadn’t the brown dragon wanted to name him, after all? (How good he was at naming, she didn’t know; apparently he hadn’t been allowed to name Ellie…?) Meira quirked one eyebrow at R’wign, checking his reaction; the question was all but a plea to veer away from cradles and cribs – she still hadn’t figured out the difference, hmm – and when she’d have to start waking up/going to sleep in order to make her schedule somewhat fit with the baby’s – even if just a little.

The wherhandler was curled up in a chair, her legs drawn up onto the seat and crossed at the ankle, and her arms wound around her legs, Zesa curled in the bottom of the “U” formed by her body. She kind of felt like she was visiting someone sick, though. The reason? She was in R’wign’s weyr, and he was…on his bed. Why? She didn’t really know; it was kind of awkward to talk to him like this but – but she’d been dealing so far. So far hadn’t been very long, though; she’d come up a very, very short time ago. It was around seven in the afternoon, between their Infirmary shifts, and dark enough for Meisk to accompany her outdoors; the blue had expressed a very distinct agitation at the idea of His getting so close to a dragon; they were big and scary, and for a reason that the blue didn’t really comprehend, he was scared most of browns: He was waiting for her in the jungle, probably feeding, at the moment.

“I mean – it seems kind of odd to be figuring everything out when we haven’t…haven’t decided on a name yet…” Hmm. Maybe that was just her; it did sound kind of sentimental, but – well, it kind of made sense. She’d just hit her second trimester, and suddenly the idea of birth seemed very, very close – already a third of the way gone – six months left. Six months. Her stomach turned over at the thought, and Meira hugged her legs a little closer as Zesa twittered reassuringly at her, reaching up to nuzzle her under the chin. The gold had been fussing over Hers excessively, so pleased was the gold at the idea of a baby; only six months left! Six months – it seemed like a very long time – but it wasn’t; three months had already gone by, and…they had just found out. So not long enough for everything to get worked out.

But name: Name was important. They could work with the schedule after the birth; a cradle could be found in less than an hour, as well as most other baby supplies – thank Faranth for the crèche? – but a name was necessary – or at least, she thought so; what would they call the baby, otherwise? It’d help if they knew the gender, but meh; they’d have to take what they could get and maybe hope for a Gather at Blossom Hold sometime: Couldn’t the dolphins tell…?

“I don’t sound…absolutely crazy, do I…?” Trying to figure out names before living arrangements: Hmm.

[glamourie]

His furs were disturbingly comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that R’wign felt less agitated talking about something so… frightening, while wrapped up in them. It was frightening, he’d admitted to himself, though most of the shell-shock had worn off. He’d slept on it, given it some thought, and he was still positively convinced he’d be a terrible father, influence and role model for any young child, but he couldn’t back away from the responsibility any more than he could shun Checkoth; it wasn’t as if Meira became pregnant by choice, after all. So it was that he was slowly adjusting to the idea. Putting it into a format he could fixate on (ie: what needed to be done) was easier; it made the whole situation much terrifying. His first thought was what they needed -- bed, blankets, clothing (could be located closer to time…?) and a set schedule. Focusing on that made it easier for him to deal with the entire situation. It made him feel like he had something to do. He didn’t mind the idea of going out and buying a billion things for a baby. It was easier than… sulking.

So it was that R’wign was sprawled across his furs, laying on his side with his head propped up on his hand. His gaze remained settled on Meira as she perched nearby. Truthfully, he wouldn’t have minded if she wanted to lay more comfortably with him; he wasn’t going to be handsy with the likes of Meira. But if she felt more comfortable on the chair, that was her right. He liked his furs. After working in the infirmary all day, he was very happy to lounge and relax. While he’d have preferred bathing for a candle mark or two, he was positive that would unnerve Meira. Positive. So… furs it was. They were relaxing enough.

“I don’t think it’s too early to be thinking of names,” he said with a slight nod. He rolled over until he was sitting up, but still embedded in his blankets. He brushed his hair from his face and then crinkled his nose before eying Meira. Her habit of insulting herself offended him. Not because he was personally insulted (he wasn’t), but because she was better than she implied herself to be. She deserved to feel however she wanted… without worrying about how she presented herself. It wasn’t like he’d judge her. “But we’d have to think of for a boy and a girl, you know… and you don’t sound crazy. Stop worrying so much, would you? I’m not going to judge you or anything.”

Purring from behind R’wign drew his attention, and he glanced up as his cream-colored kitten pounced into his lap. Casually, he reached one hand down and rubbed his fingers over her back and then squinted at Meira. “Are you hoping for a girl? Or a boy?” He didn’t know what he was hoping for; he hadn’t thought as far as the baby actually being born yet… though, her question brought it into sharp perspective. The baby’s gender would be determining exactly what sort of decoration they needed. “We can find out if we go to Blossom; their dolphins can tell baby genders… if you don’t want it to be a surprise. Check wouldn’t mind flying us one afternoon if you wanted to. Or we can just pick unisex everything - name, blankets, et cetera. Save ourselves some trouble. Up to you, though.” He stroked the feline once more, before she mewled up at him. “Speaking of names, maybe I should just buckle down and give you one, little mess…”

[Avu]

She hadn’t meant for him to get up. It was admittedly awkward to talk to someone who was sprawled on their bed, but…if he was comfortable, Meira was okay with it…? She didn’t move either way, arms still wound around her legs; she would have rested her chin on her knees if the motion wouldn’t have…squashed Zesa, as it were; somehow, she doubted the gold would appreciate it, much as she liked attention. The gold was currently pressing her head against Meira’s abdomen; she could remember being able to feel the hatchling inside of Savitri; maybe if she tried hard enough she could feel the hatchling inside of Hers, too…? But no matter how hard she tried, there was nothing; the firelizard twittered curiously to herself, nuzzling Hers and then peeping apologetically when Meira looked down to check what the firelizard was doing.

Her gaze rose again a second later, the relief and gratefulness obvious on her face; she couldn’t help it. Trying to figure out what they needed, by when – it all made her feel panicky. Like their deadline was tomorrow as opposed to six months away. Unclasping one hand, she stroked a finger down Zesa’s neck, earning a pleased (if confused; why couldn’t she feel the hatchling?) croon from the gold as she shrugged her shoulders at R’wign’s…order? – to…not be self-deprecating, as it were. She really couldn’t help it; she didn’t mean to be – she bit her tongue before she could point it out; it wasn’t important anyway. Baby names – boy names, girl names…they needed to combine their names. Unless R’wign had another specific name in mind, which she’d probably be okay with too.

The wherhandler’s eyes widened slightly at R’wign’s question, though, and she shook her head slowly after a moment. “I didn’t really think about it,” she admitted, crinkling her nose thoughtfully; she really hadn’t. Mentally, she hadn’t assigned the baby either gender, either; it was just the baby. It felt…kind of offensive, to hope for a certain gender, too; what if the baby wasn’t that gender…? “Um…I don’t know; I never considered…” She shrugged, trailing off, and raised her hand from Zesa to tuck her hair behind one ear, pulling it back over her shoulder. “Did you have a preference…?” It was mostly curiosity; it wasn’t like she could control the gender anyway. She knew Zesa had an opinion – the gold firelizard fluted at the question, eagerly offering her own hopes: Girl~ They were typically sweeter – R’wign was an exception, she added, just to make sure she didn’t offend him – but a boy was okay, too, as long as it was a sweet boy; she wanted a nice hatchling~

“Couldn’t we pick…like, a favorite name for a boy, and another for a girl…?” Even unisex names tended to veer towards feminine or masculine, she thought, and it wouldn’t be too hard to come up with two names instead of just one anyway, surely…? Meira and Rawign didn’t combine too terribly well; she couldn’t think of anything off the top of her head – but that was okay…“Um…I’m okay with unisex decorations…” Like – what? She liked yellow, personally, but that was just her, and yellow…was kind of close to gold, which was definitely female, wasn’t it…? Hnn. “And…I don’t mind a surprise, so…unless we decide we – like, absolutely need to know…” She shrugged again; she wouldn’t mind going to Blossom Hold – it was nice there, all things considered – but Meisk didn’t like Blossom; Meisk would panic, and she couldn’t leave Meisk anyway.

Her eyes slid to the feline, and she couldn’t help tilting her head curiously at R’wign’s statement: He hadn’t named her yet…? Zesa’s head came around, too, and gold trilled curiously; silly Healer, didn’t he know everything needed a name?

[glamourie]

What… was Zesa doing? So odd, the fire lizard’s behavior. R’wign squinted and watched her curiously. He’d never seen a fire lizard act like Zesa was acting but then -- Zesa, until Ellie, was the only gold flit he knew. Maybe it was some weird thing that she did with Meira? Ellie didn’t go pressing her face against his belly. Speaking of which, where was she? He mentally prodded his gold, and received an image of D’nar for his trouble. Evidently she and his f’lizards were off with Ellie’s mate. They did that from time to time. For some reason all of them seemed fond of being around D’nar, for their own special reasons; he strongly suspected that most of it had to do with Ellie’s insistence on visiting Hero, though. Hero came to visit him often enough as well. That left only Zesa to examine though and R’wign couldn’t help but actually lean forward to get a better look at her. The little noise she made had him raising his eyebrows, and he lifted his head to look at Meira curiously.

Totally off topic, he brought up the question, “What exactly is she doing? None of my fire lizards nuzzle my stomach…?”

It just struck him as so unusual - enough to side track him completely.

Her question had him clicking his tongue, and R’wign frowned. He was having trouble, imagining the baby as a living thing. He didn’t really know… what he’d want. Was he supposed to have a preference? It was hard to imagine. He’d asked Ka’rys the same question, though, and the bronze rider had an immediate answer -- that girls did not have as good of aim. It amused him at the time, but thinking about it, he wasn’t sure. He wanted to know for sure. Would it make any difference? No. Not really. He’d… he almost wanted the baby. At least, he wasn’t totally mortified by the idea. After Meira told him, he threw up, unabashedly, and he’d drank an entire pot of tea to calm himself… but he was adjusting to the idea of fatherhood. Slowly but surely he was coming to terms with the concept of being a parent. He had no idea if he was going to be any good at it, but he had to try. That meant that the gender of the baby made no difference, but…

“I think I want a little girl,” he admitted, rubbing his nose. Had the silence while he thought been awkward? He didn’t know. He wasn’t sure he cared. “I mean -- it doesn’t matter. Boy, girl, weird mutation of a fire lizard -- I’d love them no matter what. I mean… it doesn’t matter at all. But if I had the choice, I think I’d want a little girl. Girls tend to be sweeter than boys do. Boys just make messes and get into things. I’d know; I was one.” Bowing his head, R’wign considered his words. He was still scared. He was. But… wasn’t some level of fear normal? At least some level of acknowledgment of the responsibility that they would be taking on? In six or so months, there would be a little life entirely dependent on him and Meira. That was a big, big responsibility. Unparalleled in his life so far. “I didn’t really think about it before, but -- yeah. I think I want a little girl…”

As far as names went, R’wign wasn’t entirely sure what to recommend. He nodded his agreement to her suggestion that they could simply pick a favorite for either gender, but really, he wasn’t that good at picking names out at all. See flits for emphasis. Grouch, Crash, Collision, Hazard, Elegance, Stumpy -- those were far from acceptable names for a human child. Even Roxie wasn’t appropriate. R’wign poked his fingers together, stroking the feline on his lap, before blurting out, “Empress.” Blinking, he shook his head. “That’s for the feline, not the baby. Uhh. Unisex decorations, I’m fine with… maybe pale greens? Like light mint…? I like that color…” He shrugged one shoulder, then crinkled his nose. “I’m not good at names. I name things like ‘Crash’ or ‘Hazard.’ Probably not the best person to be asking.”

I like Meiwign. Checkoth’s statement was broadcast to Meira as well; the brown was sprawled out his weyrledge comfortably, watching the exchange between his rider and the wherhandler. His two tails flicked back and forth. It never occurred to him that his opinion would not be inquired, since he had asked Meira specifically if he could name the baby. Besides, he thought it was a very good name. It wasn’t as though Meira or R’wign was offering a better suggestion in the meantime. Meira and R’wign.. Meiwign. I think it’s nice, since you wanted a little girl.

[Avu]

Meira hadn’t expected R’wign to notice what Zesa was doing; the question made her look up, startled, and then half-smile, embarrassedly looking down at Zesa again as the queen looked up, too, chirruping at R’wign in what, to her, was probably a very obvious explanation. Didn’t he know that hatchlings moved inside of people? They did; she’d felt SavitriRas’s move herself, and she very distinctly remembered that – why wasn’t Hers’ moving, was it broken? The firelizard turned, emphasizing her chirping with another nudge to Meira’s stomach; the wherhandler flushed slightly as she clicked her tongue at Zesa, tapping the gold firelizard on the nose in a light, teasing reproof. She didn’t really mind…but Zesa could wait till a better time. “She…I think she was trying to feel the baby moving,” Meira explained, shrugging and smiling – she knew how odd it sounded, very much so – “Savitri – Savitri let her…she still remembers that, I think…but I don’t think she’s figured out the difference between…between how soon the baby’s due yet…um…I think that’s right…?” The firelizard turned around to look at R’wign again, flapping her wings and chirping again; why wasn’t it moooooving?

The silence between her question and R’wign’s answer gave Meira ample time to consider it herself; she hadn’t even thought about her own preference on gender up until that point – Zesa had made it very clear she preferred a girl; Meisk would probably prefer a boy, though she wasn’t sure – the blue wher’s consciousness was not focused on her and she didn’t want to ask; she’d doubtlessly distract him from…whatever it was he was doing, and probably worry him, too. Hmm. Since they were in a Weyr, the typical choice would probably be boy – higher chance of Impression, in the future – but she wasn’t really sure; it wasn’t like a specific gender meant a specific personality, after all, or anything…twirling a piece of her hair absently around one finger, her elbow resting against her knee thoughtlessly, the wherhandler bit her lip – Zesa watched her silently, head tilted slightly; surely Hers knew girls were the best…? Meira was a girl, after all, and she was the best – because of course Zesa wasn’t biased at all~

Seeeeee. The firelizard crooned pleasantly at R’wign’s words; the gold was very, very excited, and at the moment, she’d just been proven right. Meira silenced her mentally, leaning forward slightly to wrap both arms around her legs again. Zesa hopped from her stomach to the chair arm, wobbling before she caught her balance, and Meira brought her legs closer still, resting her chin on her knees thoughtfully. “Mm. A girl would be nice,” she agreed after considering for a moment. “I think Meisk would prefer a boy if I asked him…” She shrugged absently, and then vaguely, remembered – didn’t people say that girls typically preferred their fathers, while boys preferred their mothers…? Something like that, though still…that didn’t really help; the idea of being a mother unnerved her enough as it was. She bit her lip, considering, staring unseeingly at the blankets piled on R’wign’s bed for a moment, before she admitted, “I think I’d probably prefer a girl, too…”

But: Names. Meira and R’wign. Rawign. R –

Empress, what? Meira blinked, completely taken aback for an instant before R’wign explained, and then she had to giggle slightly. A baby named Empress – hmm. Hello there, superiority complex…? Biting her lip, Meira nodded slightly. “I was thinking about yellow, but light green’s good, too…cheerful.” And cheerful was the goal, wasn’t it…? “Hmm…I don’t think names for a baby should be too hard,” she offered weakly – never mind that R’wign’s name was proving very stubborn. Hnn. “I mean – assuming you want to – to combine our names…I don’t mind if you don’t,” she added; some people just took names from other people they’d known, didn’t they…? Checkoth’s interruption – she was actually getting used to hearing him (at least, she didn’t start anymore) in her mind – made her glance towards the brown on the weyrledge, and then she tilted her head, glancing back towards R’wign to see his reaction.

“That’s pretty…umm, what about Rameir for a boy…?”

[glamourie]

“Oh.” Trying to feel the baby moving. Of course. But -- “You’ve explained to her that it’s too soon?” He didn’t know how much Meira told Zesa, if any, but - he tended to talk to his fire lizards as if they were simply miniature people, and he offered them the same quality answers that he would have a human being. So if Ellie ever took such an interest, he would gladly have explained the same thing to her. “She probably won’t be able to feel any kind of movement for another month, at the least. Not until you’re in the second trimester.” It was actually easier to think of explanations for someone else (even if that someone was a fire lizard) than try and ration them out for himself. Zesa’s interest was -- was cute. It was very sweet, the interest she had in Meira’s baby. Meira’s and his… “She’ll be able to feel the baby soon enough, though. Savitri’s much further along -- I think she’s almost to her third trimester.” Scrunching his nose, R’wign eyed Zesa, then leaned forward to look at her. He wanted to pet the fire lizard, more out of gratitude than anything else. She was being very considerate to Meira, taking care of her that way; he appreciated it, even though she didn’t do it for him by any stretch of the imagination. “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen a fire lizard do, for the record…”

The obvious delight that Zesa was showing pleased him immensely. He couldn’t say whether it was because she was a fire lizard, or just in correlation to Checkoth’s happiness, but -- he was pleased that she was happy. Meira didn’t seem to be all that happy about it, but… he couldn’t blame her. At her age, if someone told him that he was going to be a parent, he would’ve been terrified. He was older than her already and he was frightened. Frightened of the responsibility. Meira actually made it better though - knowing she wasn’t totally at ease made him feel less like a monster for his own feelings. Zesa at least was excited. Someone needed to be. Maybe he’d get over some of the terror by the time the child was born? Hope springs eternal and all… He did want the baby, he wanted a healthy child…

“Check doesn’t much care,” he admitted, then tilted his head. “He’s just so happy at the idea of a hatchling, I think he’d be delighted no matter what. But since I said girl, he’s leaning toward that too.” There was definite amusement in his voice, though he couldn’t help but ask, “Is Meisk okay…? With you having a baby…? He’s not upset or anything is he? I don’t know very much about whers; I’ve never interacted with them much…” At all, actually. What little experience he had with whers was from wher hatchings where he hadn’t Impressed, so hardly counted. He’d always assumed they were like overgrown fire lizards in temperament, but he was pretty sure that Meira would take offense at the comparison - most wherhandlers seemed to think their beasts were similar to dragons. Being a dragon rider, he saw no comparison between the two. Checkoth was far superior to any wher in his eyes.

Yellow, huh…? Hnn. Rubbing his nose, R’wign eyed his blankets, before nudging the newly-dubbed Empress out of the way. Purring to herself, the feline hopped from the furs (obviously very happy to be named at last) and R’wign pushed one, two, three away - before rolling onto the floor. He crawled across it to the trunk at the end of his bed and threw open the lid before pulling out a patchwork quilt. The patches were all pastels - blues, pinks, greens, purples - on an eggshell yellow background. Holding it up for Meira to see, R’wign cocked his head to the side. “Yellow like this?” he asked, standing up. “I keep meaning to go through my extra blankets and see if there’s any you’d want for the baby. Save us some trouble, since I collect them like a crazy person anyway. This one was made for me by one of the Healers when I first got to healer hall though…”

Checkoth crooned to Meira, pleasantly flipping his tails again. She liked his suggestion. She was nicer to him than R’wign sometimes. He crooned at R’wign as well, and then nosed against the ledge a bit, though he resigned to stay out of the conversation. If they liked ‘Meiwign’ then he was happy, yes he was. He didn’t know of any boy names. He thought ‘R’wign’ was the best one.

“Since Checkoth’s volunteered, I don’t see why combining our names would be a problem -- do you want to come look at these blankets? You can have any of them you want, I won’t be using them, and some might be good for you personally. I mean, I’ve got a huge collection and a lot of them are really nice. They’re my favorite gifts, blankets and quilts, as you probably guessed. Can never be too comfortable.” Setting the folded blanket on the end of his bed, R’wign flopped back down in front of the trunk. Rameir…? He crinkled his nose, then smiled. “That’s kind of nice… My name really doesn’t leave much in the way of options for combining, but that’s a nice one… Maybe Meiin for a boy? Or Meiawin for a girl… I like the ‘Mei’ part of your name a lot, as you’ve probably noticed…”

[Avu]

”This is the first time she’s done it,” Meira answered, shrugging slightly as she looked down at Zesa again, an almost bemused smile flickering across her face at the gold firelizard. “Or – well, maybe she’s done it before, but I never actually…noticed it as odd.” Zesa was usually physically affectionate anyway, though the queen did spend more time on her shoulder or forearm than she did on her stomach – which probably explained why she hadn’t tried to feel the baby before then. The gold twittered quietly, looking at R’wign intently; her head tilted, first one way, and then the other; it was clear that she was trying to understand the brownweyrling’s words. The firelizard couldn’t understand everything, but she understood enough, and, after a moment of consideration, she crooned, sides puffing out with the sound. She could wait – she could wait; she’d wait – only one month? She’d be patient. To emphasize this, Zesa rested her head lightly on Meira’s leg, eyes whirling rapidly. The wherhandler smiled slightly at the firelizard, stroking her wings and back with one hand at R’wign’s compliment to her; the gold fluted pleasantly at him, though she didn’t actually consider it cute. She really had wanted to feel the baby…

“She’ll probably do it a lot…she’s…extremely curious.” Meira rolled her eyes expressively, though the amused smile took away the sting of the motion. Zesa would know well enough when she started to bother Meira; she’d been very polite when it came to Savitri – she trusted the gold not to annoy her, and even if she did, Meira could just ask her to stop – and she almost definitely would. “I think she tried to – to sing to Savitri’s baby, too.” She didn’t really know how else to describe the queen’s actions, that low trill, intended for the baby to hear.

Hmm; she’d kind of expected Checkoth to take R’wign’s side as far as gender preference went; dragons did usually go with their Riders, didn’t they…? She was assuming that Meisk would, in his usual possessive manner, prefer that she was the only girl – human, anyway – that he was fond of; he’d been positively frantic after Risk had Run, trying to make sure that Meira knew she was the best, even after she’d assured him it was okay. And – speaking of Meisk – why wouldn’t he be okay? The blue was…very possessive, and protective, but hatchlings were hatchlings; like Zesa, Meisk didn’t understand why His would be at all upset about a hatchling – he’d been very agitated, trying to figure it out. She still didn’t think he’d understood, exactly; the wher probably expected the baby to “Impress” or something as soon as it “Hatched” – hmm. “He’s…he’s okay with the baby. I mean, he worries, but…he always does…” Meira shrugged, shifting her position from being more or less curled up into sitting cross-legged. “I…I don’t think he understands why having a baby could be…upsetting.”

The wher had had his moments when he hadn’t wanted the pregnancy anymore – namely, when anxiety and nausea had combined and she’d actually thrown up, or when she’d just cried – but overall, he was okay with it.

Meira leaned forward, unsure whether or not she should be concerned, when the brownweyrling rolled out of his bed and crawled towards the end of his bed to – oh. Open his trunk. And pull out…a quilt? She eyed it curiously as R’wign turned to show it to her, glancing over the colors arranged on it. “That’s what I was thinking of,” she agreed, as Zesa glanced over at the blanket too, though the firelizard didn’t comment; yellow was pretty and she trusted Hers anyway. “You don’t have to – give up that blanket, if you don’t want to,” she added. “But that’s the basic color I was thinking about…” And then, she added, eyes snagging on the purple patch, “A soft purple like that one could work, too…?” Purple was kind of a mix of pink and blue (kind of?); typically, she’d say it was feminine, but…she thought it might be cute with a baby. And purple wasn’t associated with any color of dragon, either, which made it better, in her eyes, though green was…very versatile, too.

At the brownweyrling’s invitation to look at his collection of blankets – was that all he had in the trunk? – Meira nodded, uncrossing her legs; Zesa took to wing, landing neatly on top of the end of R’wign’s bed and peering down into the trunk curiously as her Bonded took the few steps necessary to end up in front of the trunk as well before she sat down, legs curled to one side, propping herself up with one arm. “I like Meiawin the best,” she answered. “Meiin’s nice, too…and…thanks?” She glanced sideways at R’wign, half-smiling; personally, she wasn’t immensely fond of her name, but…meh. “Umm…” She could think of anything else, so Meira leaned forward to absently smooth the blanket on the top of the pile. “Is this whole trunk full of blankets…quilts…?” She flipped back the corner of the first one, and then commented, straightening to touch the blanket beneath with her other hand, “I like this shade of green…”

[glamourie]

R’wign nodded slightly. He wondered, privately, what Ellie’s response would be if she found out it was possible to feel a baby inside of someone. His little gold would probably react similarly… that, or want to and stop because she’d deem it rude to be touching Zesa’s person. Ellie was pretty odd about who she landed on; only D’nar, as far as he knew, of people with fire lizards. She almost never perched on him directly, either. The little gold liked children though and she’d made that painfully clear by her fondness for Kalerary. Ellie had all but claimed the little girl as her own, so fond of her was the fire lizard… though she also seemed to feel Kalerary belonged to Ophelie; it was strange, it was. He’d never seen her willingly perch on Meira, or anyone else with a flit aside from D’nar. He strongly suspected that Ellie didn’t like touching other people. She always wanted to perch on him, or children. Babies of all kinds, actually. She was fast growing sad that Checkoth was an adult himself. Heh.

“I sure hope she sings better than my fair,” R’wign said with a wry grin; not a single one of his flits was capable of singing with any level of skill. Ellie had a pretty ‘voice’ but she couldn’t hold a pitch, though neither could he. “Marra’s green Mona tried to teach Ellie, before. She’s the only one who’s decent of the group.” He cast Zesa a playful smile and then drummed his fingers against the top of the trunk. Hmm, hmm. Maybe he could get a harper to teach his fire lizards to sing decently? But none of them would obey anyone but him. Some wouldn’t even listen to him, like Stumpy. Shards, but Stumpy was very forgetful when it came to instructions, silly beast…

Meira’s explanation about Meisk’s feelings had him nodding. “Worrying is understandable. I just wondered if I needed to worry about an angry wher trying to eat my face in a fit of jealousy or something,” he said with a shrug. He didn’t know anything about Meisk, to be honest, and he wasn’t that eager to learn. If he encountered the wher, he’d be nice enough, but -- it wasn’t like he’d go seeking him out. “Check doesn’t understand how it can be anything but a good thing either, but then -- he thinks you’re a gold. To use his explanation, Golds fly so they can clutch, and he doesn’t understand why you would be surprised at being egg heavy after Flying. I can’t make him understand that it’s different for humans. Either he doesn’t want to, or being a dragon limits how much he can fully comprehend. I’ve tried. Ellie’s the same way though. She keeps flashing me pictures of Hero, I’m sure it’s her way of comparing.” He rolled his eyes and glanced up onto the bed.

Purring, Empress hopped across the bed and came up next to Zesa before sitting directly next to the fire lizard. She perched and watched her human with an inquisitive look, her blue eyes focused intensely on his actions. The fire lizard next to her was all but ignored as her tail flicked back and forth and she put one paw on the top of the trunk possessively, as though to claim the lid for herself. It was hers. Everything in the room was hers, because he was hers, and they’d do well to remember that, they would. All of them were hers~ Except the gold thing next to her and the one sitting with Hers, but she ignored them anyway. It wasn’t as if they were of any interest to her, so long as they didn’t do anything to harm Hers. Daintily, Empress lifted a paw and then took to grooming her face, though her gaze was still on R’wign - possessive and protective all at once. She’d keep him safe.

Looking over his shoulder at Meira, R’wign scrunched his nose. “I don’t plan on using it. It’s too short for me. It was made when I was nine, so it’s kind of old, but it’s held up well as you can see. But around twelve I hit a growth spurt and yeah - it’s way too small now. If you want to unfold it you can take a look and see; it’s designed for children, not a grown man.” Her next question made him laugh and he shook his head. “No, underneath this one --” He lifted one of the fluffy black quilts to reveal a brown leather bag, “-- is my bag of healing supplies, and I’ve got a second compartment under this first one that is full of various notes I brought from healer hall. It’s just mostly blankets, because I have so many. I’ve actually got more in my wardrobe, but those are the ones I swap out when mine get dirty.” He squinted at the shade of green she indicated and then nodded. “There might be some like that in here, we’d have to look. A lot of these are from before I came to Selenitas. I remember when I walked the tables, that’s what everyone gave me as gifts -- blankets. I was really happy. Healer Hall is kind of chilly.” Both physically and emotionally, since he’d spent the entire time treating war victims. Best not to mention that.

[Avu]

”Singing” wasn’t, perhaps, an entirely accurate term, but there definitely was something very musical about the way Zesa had been trilling to Savitri’s baby – the gold had a lovely voice to start with, and she could definitely manipulate it to her will; the sound had been…airy, almost literally flute-like, or like some other soft piping wind instrument. “She’s pretty good,” Meira answered, shrugging slightly and flicking a glance towards the gold. “But – I mean, I’m biased, and she’s the only firelizard I’ve heard even trying to sing, so…” She trailed off, quirking one eyebrow at Zesa, who fluted pleasantly back at them; the gold found absolutely nothing strange about crooning and trying to feel a baby inside of its mother. She couldn’t remember feeling her eggs move inside of her; that confused her very much. Maybe she’d just overlooked it; hmm, she’d have to check the next time she was eggheavy; didn’t it feel odd…? To have something moving inside of you, hmm.

Meira smiled absently at Zesa, but there was a slight look of startled, dismayed amusement; she’d forgotten that R’wign had…never met Meisk. The blue wher kept to himself more often than not, vanishing into the jungle like a ghost when His was busy in the Infirmary and then emerging only to escort her back, and then collapse in her arms. He really was sweet, and the idea of him getting angry enough to…attempt to eat someone’s face was almost amusing in its impossibility. Even if he was jealous, likely Meisk would just sulk, especially after the Siege: His wings had been torn open courtesy of some Benden Rider’s knives, and he was even shier than usual. She shook her head, dismissing the idea silently. Meisk wasn’t jealous – she didn’t think. She’d have to ask, just to make sure…

R’wign’s explanation on Checkoth’s take on the pregnancy made Meira crinkle her nose slightly, almost despairingly; was the idea of a human pregnancy being unplanned something that dragons and their cousins simply could not comprehend…? She was starting to think so, between Meisk, Zesa, and now Checkoth. Zesa was usually quite adept at understanding human concepts – or at least, she didn’t question them, because Meira usually wasn’t upset about them. “Well…I’m flattered?” Being a gold was a good thing, wasn’t it…? Hrm. “But…I mean, I know whers and firelizards aren’t as intelligent as dragons, but I don’t think Meisk and Zesa understand, either…both of them have been trying really hard.” She shrugged, pulling her mouth to one side expressively. It’d be much…much easier if they did understand; Meira didn’t want to explain that sometimes being “eggheavy” was a bad thing for fear that they might take it badly, especially Zesa, since she was a gold firelizard and therefore was eggheavy at regular intervals; what if she thought it was a bad thing when she was eggheavy…?

Said gold seemed unperturbed by the thoughts; Zesa turned her head away from the trunk, Hers, and R’wign in order to peer curiously at the newly-named Empress. She had just been named…? She didn’t look like she’d just Hatched, she didn’t: Hatchlings came out wet, and she wasn’t. Or at least, she didn’t look it…with a soft twitter, Zesa squirmed, tilting her head to watch as Empress began to groom herself; he looked like the really fluffy thing that had been on Hers last time, only…less fluffy, and…hnn. A little haughtier, too. Zesa lowered her head, flicking her tail one more time before she turned her attention back to the trunk, craning her neck forward in order to see what shade of green Hers liked.

It was a bright, kind of soft green, with a tinge of yellow – maybe lime. Meira pushed back the top layer to expose the blanket farther, head tilted curiously, though she glanced at R’wign as he spoke, and then she smiled slightly at the idea. “I’ll take your word for it…but yeah…it’s still pretty.” The brownweyrling’s explanation of what, exactly, was in the trunk drew a nod from the wherhandler, and Meira half-smiled. She supposed it was a good thing that R’wign…collected blankets, since they hadn’t actually bought anything at the Gather, but past that – it was kind of sweet, even if, as he said, most of the blankets had been from Healer Hall. She nodded, and then, only half-succeeding in disguising the amusement in her tone, she asked, “Have you actually used all of these…?” Obviously he had quite the stack on his bed right now, but…there were a lot of blankets…and – and they were supposed to be trying to think of names.

Meiwign. Rameir. Meiin. Meiawin.

“Umm…d’you like Merawin…? Or…” She was trying to think of R-names. “Um…Raien…? For a boy?”

[glamourie]

He’d have to let Meira listen to his fair sometime. No doubt she’d find their ‘singing’ pitiful. Marra had. Then again, Marra had the voice of something out of a fantasy and listening to her sing was like a dream come true. Most of the time she was busy yelling/fussing but when he could coax her into sitting down, relaxing, and just singing, he’d always been enthralled; it was one of the few things she’d do for him if he asked nicely enough, especially after a really bad day, and it always boosted his mood. Nothing like hearing someone sing just for him with that kind of voice. Many people over the Turns had asked him what he saw in her - because, well, he could face it, Marra was not the easiest woman to get along with. Little moments like those were what he saw in her, when he could lay with his head in her lap, relax after working in the infirmary, and she’d sing for him. That made every argument worth it, because in those moments he knew without a shadow of a doubt that she loved him, and would do just about anything to see him happy. Such confidence couldn’t be achieved without a level of trust - they had it. He missed her, but sometimes it was less. Ellie tried to sing to him when he was upset and they were alone. It wasn’t the same, but the thought meant the world.

“It doesn’t really surprise me that they don’t understand. Human emotions are… different. From what I’m told, salamandyrs understand it the best, and even then it’s on a limited scale. Dragons really only understand what humans can explain to them… or Checkoth does, anyway, and I can’t explain -- I can’t explain to him why I’m scared.” It felt… weird… admitting that to Meira. He didn’t want her to think badly of him. The very thought made his hands freeze, lingering above the blankets, and he cast her an almost shy glance. “I mean - not that - not that it’s a bad thing - please don’t take that wrong - it’s just -” He turned his face away and fingered the top blanket on the trunk awkwardly. “I’m just not sure I’m going to be a very good father. You I don’t have any worry about, I mean, you’re remarkably composed and mature -- I - this is rambly and awkward. I just - I don’t mean there’s anything wrong. I’m told it’s normal to be nervous, I mean, isn’t it…? I’m sorry; I’ve been trying not to tell you, I don’t want you to feel bad… it’s not - sharding - look, blankets, let’s discuss blankets…”

Right. She asked if he ever used the blankets in the trunk. That made him flash back on his time at healer hall, which was much easier to think about than the idea of being a father for the first time. Much less intimidating, too, in retrospect, though at the time he was petrified of failing and costing someone their life. That was a fear he still had, though it was no longer at the forefront of his mind. He was a good enough healer that most of the time he could confidently say that he saved way more lives than he lost. That in itself was enough to make him feel like his time at the Hall was worth it. Besides, he knew his own worth: he was a good healer. Kalierre wouldn’t have considered him an equal if he wasn’t, and she did treat him like an equal - more than anyone else on the infirmary staff, anyway, though that wasn’t saying much (she was notoriously bossy).

“I used a lot of them. I’m from a fishing hold in Southern Nerat. I don’t know if you know where that is or not, but being from a fishing hold, I’m used to warmer weather - like here. There were actually wild flits where I was from too, though they’re a lot more common here in the south.” Rubbing his nose, R’wign looked at the blankets. “When I was nine, I ran away from home. I don’t think anyone else alive at Selenitas knows that -- my father wanted me to be a fisherman and I… didn’t want to be; I hated it. So I ran away, and I ended up in Ruatha, or so I’m told, sick and malnourished. Ka’rys of Bronze Ciceroth found me and took me to healer hall. He was stationed at Fort Weyr back then, that’s where he’s from. Anyway, he took me there, they helped me get well, and I convinced them to let me be an apprentice… but the climate was really hard for me to adjust to. A lot of the senior healers took pity on me and would give me quilts, nothing expensive, just some nice quilts from the Gathers we held, and then I just bought the rest. So yeah, I’ve used them, but they’re not like… stained up or in bad condition. I take good care of my belongings, even if I am kind of messy…”

The names she suggested made him blink and he paused, then smiled. “You’re suggesting mostly R names.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement. “Rameir, Raien. Though, I suppose Merawin counts too. Got a fixation on the first letter of my name? You can have it, I don’t want it, it’s an ugly letter.” Obviously teasing, R’wign leaned over and batted a strand of Meira’s hair before pondering. “I think I like Meiwign and Rameir best so far… I’m really not good at this though. Hnn…”

[Avu]

Hmm. It sounded…strange, that Salamandyrs would understand human emotions better than dragons did; most people would have probably said that dragons were much smarter than Salamandyrs. The bond between Salamandyr and human was…much the same intensity as that of dragon and human, but from what Meira had heard, Salamandyrs…tended to grate on peoples’ nerves; she’d bias towards dragons, too. – scared? Meira raised her head from the blankets, almost questioningly glancing at R’wign before she glanced away again, slightly embarrassed. Unlike R’wign, who had…more or less frozen, she was still absently flipping through the blankets, though she wasn’t really concentrating on them anymore. Was it…incredibly selfish? She’d expected R’wign to be surprised – but he hadn’t acted like he was afraid, and she…she didn’t want him to be afraid. Admittedly, it was for her sake: It was easier not to be afraid if R’wign wasn’t – but – hmm. She bowed her head slightly, biting the inside of her lip, though the brownweyrling’s…stammering made her want to say something – to reassure him that she didn’t mind, or something – but she didn’t know what she was supposed to say…

Zesa moved, then: The gold firelizard sprang into flight and circled them both once before she landed on R’wign’s shoulder, light as thistledown, to croon reassuringly to him. Just because she didn’t know why Hers was upset didn’t mean she couldn’t try to comfort her, and since R’wign’s fair was currently absent, Zesa had decided that since he was upset (or acted like it, anyway), she should…adopt him, as it were. Just for time being, of course. She trilled, low in her throat, and nudged R’wign’s cheek with her head, her tongue actually coming out to lick the brownweyrling, a single, quick, dry motion that very clearly proved that Zesa liked R’wign. Silly Healer, though, what was he being so nervous about? Clearly she had to educate them in the fact that being eggheavy was good – that was what he was nervous about, wasn’t it? Humming quietly, the gold firelizard glanced at Hers curiously, and the wherhandler half-smiled, the expression intended as much for R’wign as it was for Zesa.

“It is normal…I don’t – I don’t mind…”

Meira didn’t want to say that it was actually somewhat reassuring – in a different way – that he was scared, too; it made her feel less…less neurotic. It sounded…very selfish, to her; wasn’t that just more or less saying I know you’re upset, but it makes me feel better that I’m not the only person who’s upset? That’s what it sounded like, and Meira didn’t want to say that, so she settled for trying to just…reassure R’wign without it. It was…very weak as far as comfort went, but she didn’t know what else she could do. And…well, Zesa seemed to be determined to make them both happy and not scared, so…? The gold firelizard’s enthusiasm was…actually quite contagious; Meira was sick of being terrified: It made a nice change to actually be semi-excited, which she had been, trying out names and looking through blankets (even if they weren’t displayed nicely at a Gather) – but…meh…her stomach had just flipped again. ”You I don’t have to worry about”… – did that mean he expected her to be a good mother…? She wasn’t – she didn’t know how to be a mother, and…she was confusing herself.

Focusing on the blankets again, Meira flipped back the corner of another one before she half-tilted her head to one side to make it clear that she was paying attention to R’wign, even though her eyes were still for the blankets in the trunk. Southern Nerat – she knew more or less where that was. As she listened, her motions with the blankets became more or less absentminded again; when R’wign finished, she tilted her head to look at him curiously. He’d run away…? R’wign had never struck her as someone to run away, but…meh. Meira bit her tongue: She didn’t know how to respond to R’wign’s story – admittedly, she was curious, but she didn’t like to press for details (ever, not just in this situation), didn’t want to make him uncomfortable…the wherhandler looked back at the blankets again, touching a soft lavender-colored one with one hand. “Firelizard magnetism starts young…?” she commented softly, and then smiled slightly. “You brought them all to Selenitas with you…? That’s…I think that’s kind of sweet …” Hmm. It really was, though.

What – R names? Meira shrugged, crinkling her nose slightly. She liked R’wign’s name – better than she liked her name anyway…“I feel the need to compensate for your suggesting all M-names,” Meira commented mildly. She didn’t move as he…batted at her hair, though she did watch him, slightly amused. “Anyway, I don’t like my name…” Shrugging, Meira tapped on another blanket, a mint-green shade, glancing questioningly at R’wign. “Was this the shade of green you liked…? I like Rameir too – I think Meiawin’s pretty, too, for a girl, though…”

[glamourie]

Zesa’s weight on his shoulder made R’wign turn to look at her, and in the process he turned into her licking motion -- making him actually blush in embarrassment. He wasn’t used to being licked, though Empress did it often enough (she liked to be touching him at all times, it was a wonder she was behaving so well). He lifted one hand to stroke the gold’s head knob affectionately. He liked Zesa well enough - as much as he liked any fire lizard. He was just… nervous. Nervous and prone to babbling because of it. He didn’t mean to be, though. He felt like he was doing Meira a massive disservice by being nervous. She was clearly frightened, and - and he needed to be strong because she needed someone strong to lean on. Babbling like an idiot wasn’t appropriate… She probably thought he was ridiculous. At least she didn’t run away in a rage though. Pregnant women could be somewhat unpredictable in that respect and he was constantly worried that he would offend them. Meira, he worried a little less than others, but -- he still worried. Zesa didn’t hate him so maybe that meant that Meira didn’t, either. If Meira was furious, surely Zesa would be biting him or something? His fire lizards tended to mirror his moods, at least, and Zesa was rather protective of Meira.

“Thanks,” he said quietly, but it was more to Zesa than Meira. Her words made him offer her a weak smile and he bowed his head. He wanted to apologize again, stammer out some explanation, but it felt ridiculous, stupid even. She surely knew he didn’t mean to - to be awkward. Lingering on the topic was worse still though because it forced them both to address it, and he didn’t want to do that just yet. He was working on it. He was. It was just going to take time to adjust to the fact that his life was… fixing to change dramatically. Or already changing. Not in a bad way, but changing nonetheless, and change was always difficult for him. He’d taken half a turn to get used to living at Selenitas from living in the north, after all.

Since Meira didn’t dwell on the subject, neither did he. R’wign’s posture unfroze and he went back to looking through the blankets curiously. Her question made him smirk and he actually nodded. “When I ran away, I ran along the coast, because I was raised a fisher, like I said. Fishing meant food, so that was how I traveled. I fell asleep on a ridge by the ocean and woke up with a blue fire lizard on my face begging for food. He was my first one. He -- he didn’t make it through the fire lizard plague, though. His name was Beggar,” he explained, then pulled out another blanket. It was pale blue with black patches along the sides. “So I guess it does start young, though it didn’t really get -- I mean -- the first hatching, formal hatching, I attended, I walked away with Roxie and Li, as well as Beggar still. And then Aslath pitched me off the Sands, and I didn’t Impress a dragon or a wher for turns. Only fire lizards. If I hadn’t lost Li, Beggar and Ennayoh, I don’t think I would’ve Stood for Checkoth at all. Five really was too many. Now I have seven of ‘em.”

Not that he minded them that much. He was never alone, after all. Still, it was odd, the way fire lizards seemed to flock to him. It was as though he had some kind of censor that told them he’d take care of them and spoil them rotten. And his fire lizards were spoiled rotten, as evidenced by the positive glow of their hides, and perfect sheen. He took very good care of them all, even Grouch and Collision, both of whom had the worst temperaments of his fair. Roxie was definitely up there for foul-moods though. How had he managed to Impress so many dramatically different flits? It was wild, it really was. The most normal one he had was Ellie. Hazard, too, but he was mad at Hazard for Chasing and CATCHING a salamandyr. How dare he not fail.

She thought his blanket hoarding was… sweet? That was a little strange. R’wign tapped the blanket in his hand and shrugged one shoulder. “I became an apprentice when I was nine. That was right when Benden launched their first attack on Fort. I -- learned quickly about burns and how to treat them. I hate treating burns, I don’t know if I told you that. Anyway, some of the Fort riders I treated were actually nice enough to give me blankets. Save someone’s life, they’re suddenly grateful -- especially when they find out you’re from Benden territory, but treated them without hesitation. This blanket -” He indicated the one he was holding with his index finger, “- was given to me by Kalerary’s mother, Leradi, after I treated severe burns down her back. She became pregnant with Kalerary about a month after she gave me it. At the Hall, they usually broke us up into treating one Weyr or the other, to avoid conflict -- Healer Hall is neutral, I don’t know if you knew that, but they basically gave both Weyrs an ultimatum: they’d send healers to both Weyrs so long as neither tried to dominate and control them. Anyway apprentices there had to treat one Weyr or the other to maintain neutrality. I was always on Fort.” Folding the blanket up carefully, R’wign handed it over toward Meira. “It’s hand-made. I have another one she gave me that’s red and brown that I intend to give to Kalerary herself when I can dig it out of here, but this one is one I want us to keep. It’s kind of special, as it was the first gift I got. You mind?”

He was rambling. He knew he was… but Meira didn’t talk much; it felt better to tell someone the stories of his blanket collection, too. He’d never gotten to share the tales before…

Ooh, she was sassing him a bit, too. R’wign smirked and looked back at his blankets before sniffing indignantly, “I think your name is very pretty.” M names were easier. Meira sounded a lot like Marra. He didn’t tell her that. It would’ve been rude, and insulting. “Meiawin, Meiwign, Rameir… what about Riaren, since you say I’m only suggesting M names?” It was an off-the-wall, teasing sort of name, but nice enough, he supposed. “That one’s an R. For a boy. We should consider how they can be elided, too, since we are at a Weyr… R’meir… hnn… Let’s just have a girl, girls are easier to name, clearly.”

[Avu]

Oh dear, he was turning funny colors, too.

The gold firelizard crooned, and Zesa would have flapped her wings if she could have managed without hitting R’wign in the face. As it was, she settled for shifting her weight, her tail settling around the brownweyrling’s neck as she chirped in a decidedly conciliatory tone. Both of them were being silly, they were. They’d already been silly; he didn’t need to turn funny colors to add to it…they were going to be parents soon, because Hers was clearly a gold and not a blue like Meisk had thought~ Rather ironically, Zesa still thought of R’wign as a brown, though that was less because of Checkoth and more because her preferred mate – Jabari – was a brown, and therefore R’wign was surely a brown, too…she flicked her tail once, glancing at Empress (she didn’t know about the fluffy; did they Impress…? Was R’wign Hers…?) before she crooned again; the fact that R’wign had reached up to stroke her reassured the queen immensely; that meant he wasn’t completely nervous, surely…? He oughtn’t to be; they’d have a hatchling soon!

Thanks? Was it strange that she felt like she’d just granted R’wign permission to be scared…? Meira nodded silently, biting her tongue, bowing her head back to the trunk again. If somebody had told her before that R’wign was scared, she would have been even more terrified. This was…this was not how she’d expected herself to react. It was very, very close to relief, that he cared enough about the baby to be scared when he could have purportedly left it all to her, that she wasn’t the only one who was terrified…but at the same time, Meira didn’t want R’wign to be scared. Hmm. Her head was protesting slightly, whether from the contradicting feelings or from the pregnancy was uncertain; it was safer not to think about the queasiness that accompanied the fear – easier. Six months…couldn’t it be longer…?

At least R’wign had unfrozen. As soon as the brownweyrling had moved again, Zesa left his shoulder; her job was, for the moment, done, she thought. The firelizard came to land directly between Hers and R’wign, and reared up onto her hind legs to peer into the trunk as well, eyes whirling rapidly in a mixture of excitement and curiosity. Meira reached out to stroke Zesa absently, R’wign’s story making her smile despite herself. Some people just…attracted firelizards, apparently…? Even firelizards not their own; Zesa made no effort to hide the fact that she positively adored R’wign – part of the affection was the fact that he’d tended to Jabari after the Siege; part of it was because of Collision and Hazard, but there was a very large part that was just because. The ending statement – seven firelizards – made Meira crinkle her nose slightly, rather embarrassed. “Yeah…sorry, about Crash…how’d you Impress the blue – Grouch…?” Not everyone went to Gather with five firelizards and came back with seven and two felines, hnn.

R’wign’s explanation made Meira lean back from the trunk, nodding as the brownweyrling spoke. Hmm, Kalerary – she remembered the little girl from before the Siege – or, more specifically, remembered R’wign dancing and singing in a purple skirt in the Infirmary to teach her the alphabet; she’d never considered Kalerary’s mother until this point, though. Taking the folded blanket as he passed it to her, Meira nodded, examining the pattern absently. It was kind of hard to pick out a blanket – or really, any decorations – without knowing the baby’s gender, but that was okay; it was a pretty color…like Meisk, as far as coloring went, not counting the black patches along the sides, anyway. Meira shook her head at R’wign’s question, absently passing one hand over the fabric. It didn’t necessarily need to be smoothed any, but she barely even registered making the motion. “It’s really pretty – why would I mind…?” Another thing she didn’t mind was R’wign talking about his past, even if she wasn’t actively curious about it. She wouldn’t have necessarily minded the silence, but Meira didn’t want things to become…awkward, either. Even if R’wign had decided to ramble on about something entirely meaningless, she still would have listened.

His smirk made Meira quirk one eyebrow. To be fair, he’d only suggested two names – Meiin and Meiawin – but those were both M-names, weren’t they? And she hadn’t suggested many more…Meira crinkled her nose slightly, setting the blanket down on her lap absently. Hnn. She kind of leaned towards Meiwign for a girl, if only because Checkoth had seemed so eager to name the baby and the brown had been the one to suggest it. And – Riaren? Hmm. That really was nice…Meira clicked her tongue thoughtfully, and then smiled at the attempt to elide ‘Rameir’. R’meir…hmm. That wasn’t too bad…”I really like Riaren,” she answered, deciding to ignore the fact that R’wign had seemed to be teasing when he’d suggested said name. “That could be elided to…mm…R’en?” The first suggestion would have been ‘R’ren’, but ‘R’en’ seemed…more dignified.

[glamourie]

How had he Impressed Grouch? Err -- the story was… embarrassing. The brown rider bowed his head nervously and tapped his fingers against the side of the trunk. His gaze remained snared on the wood and an entirely unrelated thought occurred to him: the trunk was made by Ka’rys. Definitely not a woodcrafter (it didn’t look half as fancy as some) but it was a nice enough trunk of dark wood, with copper clasps. It sealed completely, it had a secondary compartment for him to put things he liked, and it had lasted since he arrived at Selenitas. As far as craftsmanship went, it was nice enough. Not fancy, but who needed fancy? It worked. The thought made him want to hunt down the bronze rider and ask him what else he was capable of making. What other things he was able to craft. Other things like… cradles and cribs. He was betting Ka’rys knew how to make those, given that he liked children so much and was having one of his own again soon. It would take some wit to actually convince him to do so, though. Ka’rys was ornery, and prone to being difficult just for the sake of it. Odds were, he’d refuse… unless the idea was presented to him just right. Hmm.

Oh, but Meira’s question, right. He’d meant to answer her, but he was distracted with his train of thought. Crinkling his nose, he flushed a slightly darker pink.

“I… walked by as his egg was hatching. Literally. Ciara had bought it, I think for her baby, and -- and he hatched and flew over to me. I was mortified. I can’t even walk near hatching fire lizards without accidents,” he said, exhaling with a sigh. “I felt so bad. I bought the little girl a feline cub to make up for it, but I don’t know - I think that greenrider hates me. I guess it’s just as well because K’lir is one of my best friends and he loathes her… and well, Grouch’s temperament is not suited well to children, all things considered. He’s just flat out mean.” Probably not an accurate description of the fire lizard, but close enough. Grouch was temperamental; he lived up to his name well. He didn’t like people, he did like fussing, and he had little to no patience. He would have been very poorly suited to any child, but he got along with R’wign fine normally. R’wign was good at tuning out the long-winded lectures his blue was fond of. He’d learned to ignore fire lizards from Roxie.

Running his fingers over the edge of the trunk, R’wign clicked his tongue. He decided not to tell Meira about his plan to ask Ka’rys about cradles. If it worked out, they’d have one without anything to worry about, and if it didn’t, he wouldn’t have to live with the knowledge that he got her hopes up for nothing. Either way it was a win-win situation in his book. Instead, he chose to pull out one of the last remaining blankets. It was white with canary yellow patches, followed by slightly darker, nearly gold shades. He set the blanket up on the side of the trunk and then looked at Meira curiously. “Well, you get a choice in what we decorate with, color-wise. The baby’s bed will be in your room, after all… unless for some reason you’d prefer it to be here, but I imagine he’ll - she’ll - be spending more time with you. I don’t mind either way, I’m just - trying to meet you halfway here?”

It sounded awkward and he felt awkward, but - at least he was trying. R’wign could think of worse things. He would have invited Meira to just stay in his weyr, but it would have been awkward for her wher. Where, exactly, would he sleep? While Check would doubtlessly share his couch, it would still be odd, since there was no protection from daylight. He was diurnal after all, as most dragon riders were. So, the baby would be switching between two homes. A little awkward, but they could make it work, they could. Things would work out all right. Beka and K’lir had made it work, but they both had baby beds in their rooms. That was an idea too, he supposed… or moving to a family weyr and setting up a secondary room for the wher. But it seemed easier to just let the baby sleep with Meira, and when it came to visit him, it could crash in his furs. It was safe enough…

“You what? I was joking,” R’wign said with a blink, before shrugging slowly. “R’en is nice enough. I guess we have time to think about it still. I like Meiawin and Meiwign best for girls… I still say we should just try to remind the baby to be female and save us trouble. Ka’rys told me girls also have worse aim than boys.” He grinned weakly, hoping she… understood the joke. It would’ve been embarrassing to explain it… “Which does Zesa like?”

[Avu]

The silence was…decidedly awkward.

Meira didn’t usually mind silence – she didn’t – but when it directly followed a question, especially a question that she thought wouldn’t require too much thought to answer…the wherhandler glanced up curiously at R’wign and found him staring at the trunk of blankets. Well…um, okay…? She crinkled her nose curiously, though she didn’t comment. Zesa, too, was following R’wign’s stare, looking from brownweyrling to trunk and then back again curiously; what was he looking at…? It was a nice trunk, but it didn’t really require such examination, surely? The gold firelizard didn’t protest, though, nor make a sound, taking the opportunity to step towards Meira and to nose at the blanket that she was holding; Meira absently pulled the first two folds apart for Zesa to examine it, wondering if she should say something to break the silence when –

Explanation. Meira turned her head slightly, and almost laughed at the thought of such a blatantly accidental Impression. Crash – Collision – Hazard – well, R’wign had actually been aware of the possibility of Impression, hadn’t he? Grouch was…completely unpredictable, clearly…? She couldn’t help scrunching her nose up slightly at the idea of Ciara hating R’wign; it seemed…a very melodramatic reaction. Just because a firelizard hadn’t Chosen the way he was supposed to…hnn. “Well,” she commented, “I don’t think she should hate you – I mean, it’s not your fault that you…um, magnetically attract…firelizards…” Hmm. Somehow, she didn’t think that was all too reassuring, but…well, it was the truth? “At least you didn’t Impress at Ellie’s Hatching,” she added, and wasn’t quite able to keep the note of amusement out of her tone – how quickly the brownweyrling had fled was amusing. What was not so amusing was the huge crash that had ensued from his desire to get away as quickly as possible.

The blanket that R’wign pulled out earned a peremptory examination from Meira. Pretty colors, and yellow, too – she’d always thought yellow was a pretty color, and it didn’t learn towards either gender, though the almost-gold shade could probably be twisted into feminine. Ah well; it was pretty anyway, and it wasn’t really true gold. The brownweyrling’s comment made Meira shrug, and she dropped her gaze to Leradi’s blanket, refolding it, since Zesa had curled up right next to her, apparently content with the blanket, and offering it back to him; it wasn’t like the baby was due tomorrow and she’d need it at once – it was probably safer (as far as stains and rips went) in R’wign’s trunk. “It’d probably be easiest to keep it in my room,” she admitted, shrugging. “But…I mean, I don’t really have many decorations in my room, so it’s not like – it’s not like I absolutely need to match anything up…” She crinkled her nose slightly; Meira didn’t spend a lot of time in her room. She usually stayed outside with Meisk, or at the Infirmary – her room was a place to sleep, and that was…about it.

But…it didn’t really seem fair that – “Won’t the baby be asleep for most of the time that I’m up…and awake for most of the time you are…? I – that seems kind of unfair, especially with your Infirmary shifts and all…I mean, I’ll stay up and all, but…that still takes up a lot of your time…” She shrugged slightly, biting her lip slightly. The baby – she didn’t want the baby to be nocturnal, but she could hardly become diurnal; Meisk wouldn’t be able to adjust, but – but…she bowed her head, biting her lip slightly. She liked babies well enough in general, and she – she didn’t want to be waking her baby up in order to actually have contact with her – him…she didn’t want to get rid of Meisk, and she was…starting to get excited about the baby; she didn’t know. Infirmary shifts messed up everything…

She did like the name Riaren. Meira didn’t want the baby’s name to be too similar to her own, and Riaren was nice, even if R’wign had just been joking, as he pointed out. Crinkling her nose slightly, Meira shrugged. “I like it,” she repeated, and then she smiled despite herself. “You have any gender-controlling herbs or teas…?” Meira kind of…wanted it to be a surprise, especially if they could find nice unisex decorations; asking the dolphins seemed like cheating in a way…R’wign’s comment on Ka’rys made her roll her eyes, grinning slightly as she shook her head. “Probably,” she admitted, absently stroking Zesa with one hand before she added, “I’ve heard girls are faster learners, though…” The firelizard peeped in surprise at R’wign’s question as to her opinion, and the gold flicked her tail thoughtfully before she crooned quietly, eyes whirling almost apologetically. What if she didn’t have a favorite? – she liked all of the four names – Rameir, Riaren, Meiawin, and Meiwign…