fairytales. (tags; savitri)

[glamourie]

He really, really, really hated positions of authority. That was the worst part of impressing a bronze – the expectation that came with having a shiny dragon was that he step up any time things went wrong and try to fix them and he hated that feeling of responsibility lingering over his head. It became personal, that everything get fixed was a necessity, it was his job to make sure that things went well. Ka’rys was, in short, a control freak of magnificent proportions and he was mentally panicking over the fact that things were completely out of his control. Instead of doing the freak-out-meltdown thing that most people did when they panicked, though, he’d settled for forcing himself to relax. Forcing. After reorganizing the wings to accommodate the new wingleaders and the deaths of K’roi and T’rid, and then settling down to finish up the paperwork, schedules of drills, various meetings (it wasn’t his job, he mentally groaned), and then helping out in the infirmary whenever he could (because he didn’t like seeing his weyrmate so overworked without helping but he’d be damned before admitting that), Ka’rys decided he was taking one day – one day! – to himself. That one day, he was going to enjoy himself. The disease sweeping Selenitas was finally coming to a close (he’d even let Kale out of the weyr, see how nice he was?) and most of the people who were sick were starting to get well. He’d earned a day to chill out.

His plan, currently, involved laying in bed reading. With sunrise, he’d gone down to get breakfast, ate, got various hides from the Archives, then he came back to the weyr just in time to catch Savitri scurrying off for her first infirmary shift. Once she was out of sight, he gave Keravi and Samera a bath and then literally plowed himself out in the furs on his stomach reading the scrolls he’d filched out loud. Most things from the Archives would bore two little girls, but Ka’rys, thankfully, had some sense: he’d picked out harper records, or more specifically, documented explanations of the inspiration for harper songs, as penned by the harpers themselves. Thus they were much like the fables of old, especially since most harpers had a stylistic way of telling their stories – even the most mundane tales seemed like more grand adventures. The whole thing was probably wasted on the two babies (Samera was staring, enthralled, but Keravi was much more interested in trying to wiggle her way over to one side) but, eh, it was a lot more relaxing than work.

Would’ve been better if he’d had some food, though. Three stories in and he was getting pretty hungry again. Not surprising, really, since it was fast approaching midday and Ka’rys never slept more than a couple hours; to stay awake, he usually had to snack. Unfortunately, acquiring something delicious meant getting up and he was really very content; he had Keravi on one side of him (wiggling like a maggot on a hot rock) and Samera who was staring at him with a contented smile (and he wondered silently if she fell asleep with her eyes open – she was suspiciously quiet). He’d have to get up eventually, but for the moment, he was… not going to. He just wasn’t.

Of course, his refusal to move was probably heightened by the form out on the weyrledge. Sprawled out and taking up as much room as he possibly could, Ciceroth was the epitome of lazy. He hadn’t moved since waking up, either, and… odds were, the bronze had fallen back asleep. Ophelie was curled up on his back, in between his ridges, soaking up the sunlight. Merce, on the other hand, was perching on Keravi’s stomach and trying to eavesdrop on the story. No one ever said he wasn’t a smart little monster – just that he was a little monster in general. But he was very fond of Keravi, and exceptionally fond of listening to Ka’rys talk (when he wasn’t being thrown around and/or yelled at for something). The baby made an excellent perch.

The pads of his fingers drummed the top of the hide that he was reading before he turned to look from one kidlet to the next. “So then, in order to keep the baby firelizards safe – both from the Fall and from each other – she started feeding them… unknowingly Impressing each one that she gave food to in the process…”

[kysseh]

“And then she realized how overrated Impression is, as she managed to land herself with an obnoxious green firelizard that couldn’t keep herself out of mischief.”

Savitri’s voice was mistakably tinged with exhaustion and a hint of something not entirely happy that she could not seem to eradicate. Still, she managed a smile for her beloveds, setting down her tray of offerings on the table before she moved to get rid of the pestilence that threatened to disrupt the lovely scene of familial bliss. The wind chimes hanging near the entrance to their weyr were a scene of utter chaos, in which dangled a disgruntled green flit that was rapidly approaching her boiling point. Ras, in her brilliance, had toyed with the chimes and hopelessly snagged herself in the strings, and Savitri could sense that the green was about to let loose a scream.

Luckily for all, having opposable thumbs, a decent brain, and much practice made untangling the flit a simple task, and after watching Ras alight on her arm for a moment to regain her dignity, Savitri had to spare a chuckle when the flit finally disappeared with a huff. Apparently, the weyr was an unworthy throne for such a queen. She was off to find shinies in a place that did not make her life difficult. That should have worried the goldrider, but… well, Saraswati (named for Savitri’s not-so-beloved and equally-ridiculous mother) would be back. It was just a matter of time.

“I see that I leave you for a few candlemarks, and everything fun happens,” the goldrider continued, depositing her healer’s bag on a chair before sweeping her way over to the bed. The scene made her smile, and she had to lean over and plant a kiss on each of the three snugglers. “Please, don’t stop on my account. I did bring food, though. I was hungry.” Actually, she felt mildly ill at the thought of eating, still unsettled by her recent expedition. Regardless of the fact that the insults to her were borne out of fear (and, admittedly, some justified anger), they stung. Immeasurably so, in fact. She was determined to not let it ruin the occasion, though, and smiled down at the trio, lightly tickling one of Keravi’s little hands. Would the child ever be calm? Probably not. She had a strong suspicion that the little girl got that from her mother.

Her frame of mind was not improved by Hepaticath’s arrival on the weyrledge, and she cast a glance at the gold to see that she received a rather baleful look. The gold was harboring some kind of resentment for Savitri’s lack of self-defense, apparently, and her body language made it quite clear how upset she was with Hers. Still, Hepaticath took it upon herself to settle daintily beside her mate, attempting to not disturb him from his rest.

The young woman opted to ignore her mindmate’s huffing. It would only encourage the gold to continue. Instead, she eyed the bed and wondered where she could squeeze in for the story to be finished. The food could wait a minute or too, unless one of the girls was positively starving. Babies had small stomachs. Small stomachs meant smaller meals, which led to a need for frequent feedings. Her own sleep schedule proved this. Shadow reiterated the inconvenience of this, curling up tighter in his perch on Samera’s chest and making a point of informing Savitri that he disliked being frequently awoken. Couldn’t she just feed the babies more? It would make so much more sense, would it not?

[glamourie]

“Not all green firelizards are obnoxious. Just yours. Maybe she takes after you?” Ka’rys inquired, not missing a beat; it was really difficult to sneak up on him, even when he was distracted. He’d heard Savitri come in, but he was mid-talking, so he didn’t acknowledge it; her speech made him look up with a smile that faded slightly as his gaze shifted up to Ras. Such an irritating little creature. He was lucky, he was; his little green Ophelie was, for the most part, well-behaved. The only bad thing she did was insist on picking Worm continuously (he’d tried threats, bribes, and then begging – none of it seemed to sway the firelizard against her salamandyr mate), and that… well, he only faulted her for the first few days after she Flew, then he got over it. The length of time he stayed mad was directly reflective of how long he stayed sore. Which really depended on where S’rei managed to jump him. Yes, logic dictated he could lock himself up, but half the time he didn’t trust S’rei not to maul a random stranger. It wasn’t that S’rei would ever mean to but Worm was evil and Ophelie had absolutely horrible timing.

He was teasing, despite the harsh nature of his words. That much was made obvious in the way that he quickly rolled over onto his back to watch his weyrmate untangle her little green menace from the wind chimes (who knew that purchasing those would drive the firelizard so berserk? – he always just left her, she had it coming). His arms wrapped around the babies at his side and he watched Savitri move in interest – very quickly detecting from her movements that something was wrong. Maybe she could hide it from a lot of people but not him; they lived together, he could read her like a text book. His instant worry was generated by her actual presence. Savitri never came home from the infirmary early if it could be helped. It was possible that she was fussing over the babies, but… still, wouldn’t she have simply had Hepaticath ask?

The gold’s behavior was answer enough and Ka’rys sat up, arms wrapping around his knees as opposed to the children. “I’m hungry too, actually. I was fixing to tell these two ravenous listeners to let me take a break to eat, but you know, they just keep insisting that I not stop until I get to the end and then they insist they want another story. Quite the problematic little beggers.” Because infants could talk and insist on things, yes. Ka’rys was ignoring the obvious flaw in his logic as his gaze followed Savitri inquiringly; it said without words that he knew something was wrong and thus, she needed to get to spitting it out and letting him know, preferably in a timely basis so that he could make it right and they could go back to being a happy family, complete with squalling kids. Except neither of them was squalling but point remained.

“I’ve decided that today, I refuse to get out of bed if it can be helped.” He hadn’t actually told Savitri about his plan to not move, but it seemed like a good one, and since she was there, he had no problem sharing. “And Keravi and Samera will be my bodyguards to make sure that I remain safe in my slothful state. They will let me know if anyone comes in by squealing slightly louder than normal and Keravi, in her infinite wisdom and skill, will kick anyone who dares to come too close… entirely accidentally, but she’ll still do it. And no one can survive a baby foot to the face. I’d know. It demolished me the first time she did it.” Ka’rys thumbed his nose and eyed Savitri, an amused look passing over his face; he really didn’t believe that the kids could “keep him safe” but hey, if it gave him a justified excuse not to move he was all for it.

Pushing his hair out of his face, he jutted his chin toward Hepaticath before finally turning to meet Savitri’s gaze squarely. “You’ve got five minutes to tell me why you’re upset and then I wake the terrible bronze beast and he’ll coerce Hepaticath into telling him, and I’ll find out. And then I’ll be annoyed at having to wake Ciceroth. Your choice.”

[kysseh]

Savitri had to admit that she’d set herself up for that one. There was no way she would deny the fact that she shared some bossy tendencies with her obnoxious firelizard. There was a reason the goldrider had named the green after her own mother. Still, she had to pretend to scowl just a bit for Ka’rys’ sake. It seemed to please him to tease her, and she enjoyed making her weyrmate smile. He seemed content enough without her teasing for the moment, though. The girls seemed to have that effect on him, and she perched carefully at the foot of the bed to keep from disrupting their peace.

“They’re just working on wrapping you around their tiny fingers,” the goldrider commented in amusement, choosing to not acknowledge the fact that he was watching her. It made the hair on the back of her neck prickle, even when she was not looking at him to notice. She just knew when he was giving her that look, and it made her feel guilty to hold out on him, even for something so… silly. Hopefully, he wouldn’t press, and she could just curl up with him and the twins for a brief few candlemarks. With the dramatic decrease in new plague patients, the infirmary was less busy. Surely, they could spare her for a bit, and if not, then they knew where to find her. She needed a bit of a break from the place, though. Desperately.

The way he spoke so affectionately about their children made her smile, and she resisted the urge to lean over and kiss him. She had cleaned herself up after leaving the infirmary and so was not afraid of giving the illness to her mate or her children, but kissing him would have made her hungry for more. And, really, he was trying to relax by the sound of it, and so was she. Still, she chuckled softly at his description of just how their babies were guarding his relaxation. Such good little guardians, they were, and she glanced from one to the other, her light eyes unmistakably gentle. She still occasionally had trouble processing that they were hers. Granted, some of the extra fat still clung to her thighs, hips, waist, and breasts, but it was going away, active as she was. And the stretch marks were fading, but… it still seemed unreal. If one of the twins had looked anything like her, perhaps it would have been more real. But… oh, they were Rys’ daughters, through and through.

So absorbed was she in adoring her daughters that she failed to notice that Rys had tried to make her laugh… and then dove right into the subject she had been trying to avoid. His gaze was squarely on hers, and she wilted a bit in the face of such resolve. Had it been anyone else, it would only have served to stiffen her resolve to keep her mouth shut. Not many people got right into Savitri’s face about things, or else they learned quickly. Her weyrmate, however, was a different story. Her gaze flicked accusingly toward Hepaticath, but the gold silently broadcasted utter innocence as she curled beside her mate on the ledge. She had not told RysCiceroth’s anything, so if he had deduced that Savitri was off-kilter, it was all on his own. Blame him.

Ever so helpful, that dragon.

“I promise that it’s nothing important. It was just not the best morning I’ve had. The spread of the plague is slowing down, but… there are still sick patients. K’von is sick,” she said quietly, reaching out a hand to touch his leg. Her gaze dropped from his, mostly out of guilt that she did not tell him everything. “Kalierre is really worried for him, but he’s much better than he was. His fever has broken. He’s awake, though he looks… awful.” Not that Savitri could say much about that. She was hardly the picture of flawless health either. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion did that to a woman. “Don’t you have a story to finish…?”

[glamourie]

Having a lot of success, they were, too. Ka’rys did not say that, though he did offer Savitri a pleasant smile that made it clear what he was thinking. He’d gotten good at it – letting Savitri see most, if not all, of his feelings while the world saw virtually nothing real. It was a constant balancing game, turning on and off again, but he was getting very good at it; his paranoia wouldn’t let him show his feelings constantly (people were not to be trusted!). The twins and Savitri were the only ones who got unabridged, full emotions. Even with Kalerary, he was somewhat guarded. The girl didn’t really know that, but she reminded him too much of himself, and he couldn’t let her see every one of his emotions – it would be too hard on her. When the twins got older, he’d almost certainly start guarding his feelings around them, too; there wasn’t much option, since protecting them from his harsher behaviors was a necessity. But… he had some time left, yes, where he would be able to be open and honest with them. As long as they were babies and cared more about the sound of his voice as opposed to the words that he was saying, things would be safe. Why he was honestly worried about his kids knowing anything was another story – but even Ka’rys didn’t want to analyze that.

Climbing onto his knees, Ka’rys actually crawled across the bed (no doubt to the amusement of all the eyes on him) and then settled for sitting right next to Savitri. He kept himself turned, half-way, in a blatant show of paranoia: what if Keravi managed to actually turn over? Had to be watching for that, had to pay attention – even if he did want to nag Savitri until she talked. Multitasking was a skill that he was quickly learning to refine. His arms went up to wind around the goldrider’s torso and he leaned his head against hers in obvious affection. His eyebrows raised and he tilted his gaze down to look at the line of her face visible from his position, the silent inquiry obvious. Did she really think that the explanation of “bad day” was going to cut it? Would she have accepted that from him? No, she’d have insisted he explain more about what was wrong and Ka’rys believed firmly in the statement “turnabout is fair play.” She had his refusal to drop the topic coming.

“K’von and you are not close enough for you to be this upset,” Ka’rys said softly. He knew the plague was slowing down; R’wign was finally out of the infirmary, and he was fairly close to the brownrider, so he’d noticed when he was released. ‘Close’ being close in Ka’rys terms – which meant most people would see them as associates, but R’wign knew better and so did Rys, even if he did his best to disguise that knowledge. “I know you two are friends, but you’re giving yourself away and Hepaticath looks furious. This is more than just a bad day.” No, those words weren’t a question. They didn’t have to be. Ka’rys thought it made it pretty obvious what he wanted to know. His arms tightened around her, though; that one touch was meant to be comforting. Even though he was sure that pressuring her to answer wasn’t the nicest thing to do, Ka’rys also was aware that Savitri generally liked being touched. He was more observant than he let on most of the time.

His mind brushed Ciceroth’s, though; since Savitri was putting up a fuss on explaining, he fully intended to make good on his threat to poke the bronze awake. It wouldn’t hurt Ciss to get up and function anyway. He slept too much.

Guhhuurysknowsup, Ciceroth asked of Hepaticath, still plowed out unmoving; it didn’t dawn on him that his question was probably hard to understand or indeed that he was babbling jibberish. His tail gave a slight twitch, the only indication of his rousing, and he otherwise remained still. It always took Ciceroth quite some time to wake up, especially when he was as comfortable as he was right then. It wasn’t that he was tired – far from. He just liked to sleep, and Ka’rys was mostly content, so there was nothing eating at his mind. I don’t wanna ge’up why sulking not my fault…

[kysseh]

His smile was a boost to her spirits, and Savitri offered her mate a lopsided smile in return, a smile which became far more curious in expression as Ka’rys crawled carefully over to her. This was… unexpected. She had planned on edging into his lap herself, but this… this would work. She leaned against him with absolutely no shame, letting her gaze remain on their infants as she slipped an arm around his waist. She liked it when he held her. He was warm, and his presence was comforting, especially as he leaned his head against hers. This was what she had wanted, and the goldrider wasted no time on words for the moment, even as she could tell that he watched her. Perhaps she could claim to be watching her children. It wasn’t a lie. Samera seemed to be content and watching her right back, but Keravi was such a squirmer. She briefly toyed with the idea of seeing if the babes were hungry, but that would have required getting out of Ka’rys’ embrace.

No, she was comfortable right where she was.

Except, of course, when he had to push for answers she was unwilling to give. Shard the man. “Hepaticath looks furious because she feels my place--which means her place--in the weyr’s hierarchy was disrespected. That’s her ego talking,” she admitted, pressing closer to the bronzerider. Her lips pressed together firmly, her face a picture of reluctance. She didn’t want to make a spectacle out of it. Yes, the pointed insults had hurt her feelings, but this was a bit over the top. “Really, it’s not…. I don’t want to go there, Ka’rys. I just wanted to come back and be with you and the girls. I was hungry. They haven’t eaten in a bit, and... oh, no, you didn’t.”

Savitri’s dismay was echoed by Hepaticath’s concerned croon. The gold was now anxiously licking the top of her mate’s head, obviously alarmed by his nonsensical speech. Ciceroth, are you quite sure you are all right? You sound as though something is amiss. the gold said very matter-of-factly, her tail flopping over the bronze’s in a clearly possessive gesture. Her bronze, he was, and she was not going to let him fall prey to any illness, thank you. Still, at least he was starting to sound more coherent, and she peered down at him with some curiosity. What are you talking about?

“You didn’t have to wake him up,” Savitri grumbled softly, though it was a bit late now. Ka’rys was blowing it out of proportion, though that did not stop her from trying to bury her face against him. Now she was embarrassed. Fabulous. He was manipulating her dragon to get to what he wanted. “Kalierre just found out that K’von was sick today. She overreacted.” Understatement of the Turn, it was. It shouldn’t have bothered her that much. “Well… not really overreacted. She just… was angry. Justifiably.” Justifiable. Of course it was.

[glamourie]

“Are you sure that’s why she’s upset? And not because someone upset you?” Ka’rys asked, a touch of interest in his voice; he didn’t know Hepaticath that well, but she didn’t usually display gold egotism. In fact, it was one of the many reasons that Ciceroth liked Hepaticath so much – she didn’t command him or act as if she thought she was superior at any time; he appreciated that about her. (The bronze, being extremely cocky, could not indulge being commanded; he’d obey because he had no choice but oh did it enrage him.) Intellectually, Ka’rys also knew that Hepaticath was very protective of Savitri. He remembered, even if the dragons did not, how upset the gold was when he and Savitri first started talking – she’d been quite bothered that Savitri was so upset, and Ka’rys remembered Ciceroth’s irritation at him in response. He had a remarkable memory for the negative at times, and that day wasn’t one he was liable to ever forget; he had the scar on his arm to remember it by quite vividly. Not likely to ever fade, that memory. “It’s funny how quick you are to disqualify her agitation; last I checked she was more prone to being protective of you than she was to fits of vanity… has that changed?”

Well, it was flattering that she wanted to be at home with him and the girls, at least, though Ka’rys would have liked it a lot more if Savitri came back solely for that reason and not because she was unhappy. He’d thought that was her motivation at first, but… sigh. Savitri and her workaholic tendencies; he knew he was prone to working too much, but he had nothing on her. He’d always put his family before anything else. “Selfish” was the word that Ka’rys thought fit him best – for a bronzerider, he lacked in ambition completely; he was happiest doing exactly what he was: sitting around with his children and weyrmate, pretending that Pern wasn’t in the middle of an explosive war tearing the north apart. Turning a blind eye meant he didn’t have to deal with that knowledge, and anyway Savitri felt better in his arms, see, see?

As for waking Ciceroth – “Actually, I kind of did. He’s been sleeping all day long. Literally. There is no reason for any creature to sleep as much as he does.” Those words earned a light brush of agitation through his mind; Ciceroth did not agree. Sleep was wonderful, you see, and His should try doing it more often. Ka’rys ignored him. “As for the ‘screamers’”- Yes, he was deliberately using Kalerary’s word for them, “- they’ll be fine. They’re actually not fussing for food so I’m pretty sure neither is hungry right now. Even Keravi is fussing less than usual, which should tell you something.” Keravi always squirmed about, though Ka’rys noted that Savitri’s presence seemed to have earned two stares as opposed to continual squirming (but he wasn’t oblivious to the slight twitching of toes from the more active of the babies – even when trying, she couldn’t hold perfectly still).

His head tilted to the side as Savitri explained, and Ka’rys nodded slightly. “And why didn’t you tell her as soon as he came down to the infirmary, assuming that she’s unobservant enough to have noticed her own weyrmate having gotten ill?” Yes, he faulted Kalierre for that; if Savitri so much as sniffled, he noticed it, so it was her fault for not paying attention. There really wasn’t any excuse to miss something that obvious. Maybe she was busy with the epidemic, but really? Really? It wasn’t like the diseases were so easy to overlook, and a healer should have been more observant to them than the average person. If she was ignoring her weyrmate entirely in favor of her craft, that sounded to him like a relationship problem, not one that had anything to do with Savitri – so the response that she was ‘justifiably’ angry only made him think that Kalierre should have been most furious with herself.

The licking helped to wake Ciceroth up and his tail uncurled, stretching out behind him before the rest of his body followed suit; his claws curled along the edge of the ledge as he pulled himself as long as he could go and yawned – loudly; the sound was half a roar due to him waking up. His eyes whirled awkwardly and he nudged Hepaticath before replying, What? No – I am just waking up. I was asleep, he said, and the pink tinges of his eyes showed his embarrassment. I do not wake up so quickly as Rysmine does. He wanted to know why Yours is upset and she was fussing and not telling him. I am not ill. His wings twitched and he flopped against Hepaticath before adding, You wake up much more elegantly than I do. Obviously.

[kysseh]

Savitri did not bother to hide the fact that she cringed and pressed her face against Ka’rys’ chest, out of a combination of embarrassment and chagrin No, she did not like the fact that she had been cruelly insulted, even if there had been grounds for anger and resentment. Still, she was reluctant to make a fuss about it. The hand that was not at her bronzerider’s waist was currently slipping up his chest to his shoulder. Okay, so she was just trying to bury herself in him. Perhaps that was the end result of being upset. Or perhaps… perhaps it was just at the memory of Kalierre weeping over her sick weyrmate as he lay thin and wasted in an infirmary bed.

“No, you’re not wrong. She’s being protective of me. I just think she’s… blowing it a bit out of proportion,” the goldrider admitted, her voice muffled against his shirt. She punctuated this with a sigh, alerted by the fact that Hepaticath was giving her a distinct sense of annoyance. Of course the gold was annoyed that she had let someone belittle her. It’s called having compassion, love. It’s her weyrmate. she silently scolded the gold, getting nothing but silence in response. Hepaticath did not deem that comment worth of response, apparently, and she seemed much happier fussing over her mate for the moment. Well, fine. They would apologize to each other later, her and her her mindmate. For the moment, she was content to peek up at Ka’rys with a look of mild dismay. Honestly, waking the bronze had not been necessary.

Hepaticath agreed with Savitri on that count, but she, out of some perverse desire to be difficult, decided to not voice that. Instead, she devoted her attention to thoroughly and unnecessarily licking the top of her mate’s head, pausing only as he decided to make a great show of waking. Vira, who had been curled between two of the bronze’s toes, gave a sudden yowl of dismay and darted across the weyr, hopping up onto the bed and burying herself in Ka’rys’ lap with all of the fluffy indignation that accompanied being so rudely evicted from one’s sleeping spot. How dare he! Unfortunately for the young feline, the gold was disinterested in taking up her cause. Silly feline, sleeping between a dragon’s toes. Now, the gold just watched Ciceroth stretch, crooning with amusement as he finally flopped down against her.

I am glad to hear that you are not ill. she said graciously, deciding to not make a statement about how silly he was when waking. No reason to embarrass him further, after all. Mine is upset about Dohulth’s and Phremath’s. Hopefully, she will tell Yours this. I am sorry he had to wake you up. Not that I mind you awake. The gold could not help her rumble of pleasure at that fact, twining her tail gracefully around that of her mate. Hers. All hers. I wake up more elegantly? … I suppose I do. Mine teases me that I snore, though. Not that Hepaticath really cared. The gold pressed herself against the bronze, grateful for his easygoing nature. How was your nap?

Savitri caught only bits of Hepaticath’s thoughts, so focused was she on Ka’rys and her children. Quiet children, they were now. And staring at her too, which made her smile. It wouldn’t last. Soon Keravi would start wriggling and trying to eat the furs, Savitri thought wryly. And Samera? Who knew? Shadow seemed content to lay on her, though, and she sensed just how smug the little white beast was about claiming the younger twin. Strange creature, that ‘mandyr. She glanced up at Ka’rys at his question, frowning a bit at his implication.

“No, she… K’von came in as Phremath was Rising, and we knew he was… really sick. He didn’t want us to tell Kalierre. He was afraid she would get sick, and if she’d known about him… she’d probably have just sat by his bedside. It’s been two sevendays, and she’s been so busy that she didn’t realize, I suppose. I was leaving to come home here, but I wanted to check on him, just to be safe. I was coming out of the room when she found me. And… found him. She wasn’t pleased. She was… really upset.”

[glamourie]

Why was it that when he insulted Savitri, she felt vindicated in setting Hepaticath on him via Ciceroth, yet someone else did it, and she justified their behavior? Ka’rys twitched slightly in agitation. That he disliked Kalierre was no secret, nor was it anything that he was ashamed of. She treated him like a northerner… which he was, but the way she reacted to him just wasn’t something that he liked. She didn’t treat him with the cool respect that most women treated northern bronzeriders (in the north) but instead with an almost hostile distance that said she mistrusted him. Normally, Ka’rys didn’t care whether he was trusted or not but he’d never given anyone at Selenitas a reason not to trust him – he’d made his allegiance very clear. He was on Selenitas’s side. Maybe not originally, but he’d burned his bridges with the north and he’d be damned if he liked being treated like he was an enemy. That sort of treatment brought out his own inherent hostility. Did people think that he didn’t know that he was weird for a bronzerider at Selenitas? He knew very well that he was colder, more temperamental, more vicious than most – someone had to be, didn’t they? He couldn’t imagine R’aro being willing to rip open someone to keep Selenitas safe, even if his loyalties were with the Weyr; he didn’t have the stomach for it. S’rei probably didn’t either. Someone had to have the stomach to do the dirty work, and it made him angry that Kalierre seemed to hold it against him that he was that someone. It wasn’t like he liked having to be colder than everyone else, he was just practical enough to accept that it was inevitable. Part of him was extremely annoyed that of all the people that Savitri could make justifications for, she picked Kalierre. The woman certainly didn’t make justifications for anyone else.

“Considerate of K’von,” Ka’rys said with a sickeningly sweet tone that made it clear he didn’t believe that for a second. “Let’s put someone else’s head on the chopping block in a misguided attempt at chivalry. It’s not you that Kalierre should be barking at, but of course, it’s much easier to be angry at other people than acknowledge those who are really at fault. Is he doing better now?” Because as soon as K’von was well, he was going to get an earful. Or perhaps a face full of fist. Whatever suited Ka’rys’s mood at the time. He was not happy at K’von putting Savitri in the line of fire in some stupid attempt to ‘protect’ Kalierre. It didn’t really matter to him what the man’s motivations were, he put Savitri in a bad situation and it annoyed Ka’rys immensely. That was one thing he took pride in: he didn’t put other people into danger or awkward positions on purpose, or in some show of selfishness. He wouldn’t ask someone else to hide something from Savitri, for instance; if they chose to it was their own decision but he wouldn’t ask it of people. So selfish.

Most of his anger was pushed aside, quite pointedly, and Ka’rys wrapped his arms tighter around Savitri’s torso – mainly to prevent her from squirming away and glaring at him or something. She liked doing that. Somehow she didn’t seem to understand why he got as angry as he did, yet if he did the same things that others – Kali, K’von, in this instance – did, she’d hold it against him. Being held to separate standards was not something that Ka’rys enjoyed in the least.

“I would love to know how Kalierre missed her weyrmate becoming really sick. Being busy in the infirmary really isn’t an excuse, and K’von is obviously not very intelligent if he didn’t think to ask her if it was something more serious. I question whether or not their relationship is anything more concrete than the physical – they’re obviously not very observant with one another.” He shook his head. As far as he was concerned, in a relationship it was a two-way street (so K’von was as much to blame as Kalierre) of trying to give thought to your partner’s health, feelings and safety. He did pay attention to Savitri’s, after all. If she so much as sniffled, he noticed it, no matter how busy he was… and of late, he’d been very busy. He’d be glad when Millieth Rose again. He knew Savitri would notice such things with him as well.

Sprawled on the ground, Ciceroth really had no objections to being licked, even going so far as to sprawl more. He crooned pleasantly to his mate, his eyes whirling happy shades. It was good. I like to nap. Rysmine is very annoyed at Dohulth’s and Phremath’s; not that this is terribly odd as he’s usually annoyed at Phremath’s, but he really wants to have a tantrum at Dohulth’s for putting Yours into a bad situation. He doesn’t like that he didn’t think about that, Ciceroth explained seriously. He twitched one wing before looking up at Hepaticath. Is the bad diminishing at all? It’s very nerve-wracking with Gareth’s gone... Rysmine is tired often. I don’t like that. He won’t tell me either, so unhelpful…

[kysseh]

Savitri did not have to be looking at the bronzerider to feel him twitch. A sigh was just barely contained. He was agitated with her… again. That seemed to happen a great deal with the two of them, though both of them seem to have an uncanny gift for finding the other one’s touchy spots. It was usually unintentional. Sometimes, though, she swore each of them had a perverse need to irk the other. What that stemmed from, she was unsure. Perhaps that she tried to explain, and he preferred to not.

“K’von’s fever broke. He’s more conscious than he has been,” she admitted, deciding to not call attention to the suspicious tone in his voice. That spelled trouble, and she was certain that calling attention to it would only make the issue that much larger. Ka’rys seemed determined to be agitated, and though Savitri would not say that she was unaffected by Kalierre’s insults, she knew well enough that the anger had been misdirected. Just as she was about to point this out, though, Ka’rys’s grip on her tightened, and she reacted by squirming as close to his torso as she could decently get away with. The contact was welcome, comforting. When she was busy at the infirmary or in the kitchens or trying to work out some thing or another, she forgot how nice it was to just rest in her weyrmate’s arms and let the world take care of itself for a few minutes. Now that she was back, it was hard to process having to get back up and go back to working. That feeling would pass, of course. She would get restless thinking about her list of things to do, and then she’d squirm away to go do things. It was how her life worked.

At Ka’rys’s observations, the goldrider hummed softly beneath her breath, obviously mulling it over in her mind. Kalierre and K’von… she was not sure of the exact details of much of anything, but she knew they shared a weyr. Every time she saw K’von, he seemed absolutely, ridiculously, and nauseatingly fixated on what would make Kalierre happy. Were she and Ka’rys that bad? Hmm. “I really don’t know, unless his symptoms came on all of a sudden. Maybe they don’t spend much time together; Kalierre is in the infirmary a lot. But sharing a bed with someone… I’d know if you had a fever or were sniffling and coughing in your sleep. And you’d know that I knew.” There was a distinct hint of laughter in her voice, and Savitri snuggled her face against the bronzerider’s chest, determined to not let him see the smile spreading on her face. Oh, her weyrmate would know if she thought he was ill. There would be a spectacular overreaction of worry and mothering, and he would rapidly find himself bundled in furs and being spoon-fed wherry broth. Her own overreactions were something Savitri knew well, but she would scarcely apologize for caring.

Ciceroth’s amusing posture had Hepaticath quite distracted and entertained for the moment, and the queen took the liberty of nuzzling her head against her mate’s for the physical contact. She liked being in contact with him. Mine is annoyed with Dohulth’s and upset with Phremath’s, but I do not think she will hold it against them. She should speak to them about it, but… I doubt it. I am glad that RysYours is annoyed as well. Indeed, it was comforting to have RysCiceroth’s on her side, if not for all the same reasons. I am glad your nap was well. she added graciously. The… the sickness is starting to slow, I think. Mine has been thinking that they are having fewer sick people, and people are starting to get well. Some, though. Not all. Yours is tired too? Ours should take naps together more often. Perhaps they would both feel better. Because, yes, naps cured everything.