Morning After [Kaegan]

[Ruby]

Morning. Sunlight. The Weyrleader of Selenitas - Weyrleader now in truth, not only in name - squinted his eyes shut again, rolling sideways and lifting the arm draped across Kaegan's waist to lay it over his eyes instead. His other arm was trapped underneath her, the fingertips just starting to tingle. Luckily the Weyrwoman wasn't a particularly big woman. In fact, with his knees tucked in behind hers and his arms around her from the back, H'nes felt practically huge. Soon, though, H'nes changed the forearm over his eyes to a hand massaging his forehead. He had a headache, and his mouth tasted like cotton. Flight hangover, he supposed; he'd only had a glass of wine or two before Millieth took to the air, after all. Well, he thought he'd only had a glass of wine or two. Honestly, he couldn't be sure.

Removing his hand, H'nes squinted again, letting his eyes adjust this time. As far as he could tell, he had two choices now: try to slide his arm out and sneak away before she woke up, or stay and try to make sure that everything was ok between them, to forge an alliance, or at least a working relationship. At best... well. He'd work with at worst, for now, and at worst their relationship - or lack thereof - could hardly get much worse. So, as much as he might like to sneak off to his own Weyr to catch another hour or two of sleep, it was potentially far more profitable to stay, so he would stay.

Laying on his back, one arm trapped under Kaegan and the other flung out across the bed, H'nes took a moment while the Weyrwoman slept on, composing himself. After a minute, he glanced over at the two dragons (still sleeping), reached up, tousled the hair that flopped over his forehead (fully aware that doing that softened his usually harsh features), let his eyes droop into that sexy, just-woke-up look, and rolled back over, returning his free hand to Kaegan's waist. She wasn't awake yet, or if she was she was faking sleep, which was just a stupid, juvenile thing to do, so he slid his hand up her side, tracing the scars that twisted up her back. When he reached the scar and the back of her neck, he leaned in to kiss it ever so lightly. The touch was firm enough to wake her, but light enough that she wouldn't be totally sure what he'd done. "Morning," he murmured, voice a sleepy, sexy growl. "What happened here?"

[Tashe]

She stood, hands balled at her hips and feet spread apart, at the edge of the Drum heights. The Weyr was beautiful, the tree houses teemed with life, and the little forms of Weyrbrats ran back and forth between trees on the bridges that connected them. Kaegan took a moment to look behind her, inspecting the men the men of her past. On her right were Selenitasians, her eyes wondering between the faces of S'rei, Ka'rys, K'roi, F'rah, G'tor, R'wign, and M'ta. Once she'd had her fill she looked to her left, these were the men of Benden or Fort she'd encountered. And, just like the others, had in some way changed her life, for the best or the worst. J'em, Ja'kin, R'ra, F'rel, Er'ian, even C'leon was there. But she hesitated on the last face, why was H'nes there? Even so, she drew her eyes away and settled them back onto Selenitas. A touch to the back of her neck and an enveloping feeling made the dream start to fade, she turned, expecting to see J'em but instead saw...

A incoherent "Mmnnn", was her response to the half heard, 'Morning'. Kaegan started to stretch but stopped as she felt her body press even farther into someone. Changing the direction of her stretch she finished before sliding her eyes open. That's right, Millieth had Risen... and been caught by Quarth. The Weyrwoman really did feel like sighing, so much for her hopes that a Selenitas Bronze would wing itself in to the flight and win. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she remembered the Bronzerider had said something else. But what had he been referring to? The fact they had ended up together? No, that had been orchestrated so that wasn't it. So then, by process of elimination (even though her mind shouldn't be doing anything right after waking up) he had to have meant her scars. Was he purposely trying to rile her?

Using her arm as leverage, she propped herself up so that she was almost in a sitting position. "You already know, so no use will come out of a retold story." Swinging her legs out of bed, Kaegan clasped her hands out in front of her and stretched again with a yawn. Urg, she was sore. Over a turn of not having sex did that to a girl, maybe it was time to find a partner after all. Kai was old enough now to get along with just about anyone, so it improved her chances... this time, she did sigh. Not the time to be thinking about this. "Anyway, I'm going to have breakfast brought up. Want anything? If you don't, go or stay as you please. The bathroom is yours to use if you need it."

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Kaegan closed her eyes and centered herself before standing up to search for her robe. If it had been turns earlier, the Weyrwoman would have darted around trying to quickly find something to wear, but now... now she really didn't care. H'nes had already seen her body and she knew where her robe was, so there wasn't a lot of use running over to get it. Picking it up off of the chair, Kaegan pulled the black silk around her shoulders before sliding her hands through the arms of the robe. She tied it closed around her as she called for her pets. Azaran and Dash scampered out of their hiding places to perch on her shoulders. "Dash, you and Azzie go to the kitchens please." Morningfood you want? Normal amount you want? "Yes please." Even if H'nes didn't want food, she always ordered for two the morning after, since the men always seemed to want to stay. She watched as the two disappeared, with Dash clutching onto Azaran's back, Between.

Kai was gone already, so she didn't need to worry about getting him ready for the morning. Maeriad had taken him as soon as Millieth had risen, he was probably off playing in the Creche right now with Terilyn and the other kids. Crouching as Soleil padded up to her, she smiled, petting the Canine with affection. "Good morning, honey. You'll get fed in a minute." Shau'ri and Scara were off on their own somewhere, the cats liked to hunt for their own meals. Kaegan had decided to let them roam as long as they had their collars on with the identifying colors. Standing she looked back toward H'nes, her face displaying something between tiredness and purpose, and managed a small smile.

Well, if they could build a relationship that was anything close to what she had worked so hard for with Ja'kin, she'd be spared some tension. It would be a relief actually. But for some reason, Kaegan couldn't shake the feeling that she was dealing with something entirely new. Azaran and Dash's arrival heralded the arrival of the food. "Thanks, you and put it on the table, Teonya." She knew the girl, Kaegan had been slowly learning the names of all the Weyrfolk she ran into on a daily basis. Ah, they made tea! Wonderful.

[Ruby]

The vaguely confused look that flitted momentarily over H'nes's features only conspired with the floppy, uncoiffed hair and early morning light to make the Weyrleader look much more like a vulnerable little boy than a fearless, deadly leader. A second later, though, the confusion passed, turning into a frown. "Oh. That." He looked away, pulling the sheet over his lap less out of modesty and more in case she was uncomfortable. The look on his face was pure distaste, and each word seemed to taste of acid. "I had nothing to do with that... folly, if that's what you think. C'leon may have been a great leader, but at times he was a stupid little man. That was one of those times." Of course, had H'nes been there, he would have slit the Weyrwomen's throats first and burned them after, but Kaegan didn't need to know that. And anyway, he hadn't approved of the gesture.

Sliding out of bed, H'nes left the sheet behind, leaning sideways to crack his back before leaning down to retrieve his undershorts. Her offer of breakfast paused him momentarily, although not even a hitch showed in his smooth movement. Or maybe it would be better to show surprise, with Kaegan. He figured she might like to think she had the upper hand, here. So he paused visibly before straightening all the way, casting another of those oh-so-fetching, slightly confused looks her direction. "What? I thought... well, I thought you'd want me out. The bathroom would be a kindness, and if you don't mind, it might be nice to talk, over breakfast? I know you believe we are at cross purposes, but I think it would be... well. If you don't mind?" He gestured to the bathroom; they could speak in a minute. As she'd already offered, H'nes didn't hesitate more than a moment, retreating to the small room.

A few minutes later, H'nes heard the door open and close, and Kaegan said something, although the door and splashing water muffled her words. By her tone, H'nes guessed a drudge or other Weyrfolk. Sliding out the door, H'nes smiled a bit - he'd been right. Running a hand through his newly slicked-back hair, the Weyrleader straightened his undershorts- it seemed only fair that he, too, was allowed to be half-dressed if all Kaegan was going to wear was that skimpy little robe - and pulled out a chair, gesturing for the Weyrwoman to sit in it before taking one of his own. H'nes was nothing if not courteous.

"So many pets," he commented, smiling over at Dash and Azaran before reaching down to try and get the canine to come close enough for a scratch behind the ears. Whether or not the canine decided to oblige him, H'nes straightened back up, reaching for the teapot. "Thank you for inviting me to breakfast; it is refreshing, after a flight. Tea?" he asked, although he started pouring a cup for her before she'd answered. He'd seen the way she looked at the teapot. Once he'd finished pouring for himself, too, the Weyrleader helped himself to a serving of breakfast, although he only toyed with it momentarily before focusing on the tea. Settling back in his chair, he looked at Kaegan over the rim of his cup, waiting for her to begin.