A little surprise (Raebeli)

[Rowana]

Porita hesitated a little as she came into the infirmary. It was quiet these days, with fewer healers rushing about than had once worked here. Porita hardly came here herself unless she had too, which was why she was here now. Normally she cared for her own aches and illnesses unless they were bad. It was an old habit where she preferred not to trouble people. Yet this time she couldn't make this problem go away. Her stomach felt odd and she was sick most mornings now. At first she'd thought it was only something she'd eaten, but the symptoms persisted.

Finally she decided she would come see Raebeli, the healer assigned to Selenitas Weyr. At least she was nice and a woman. Porita still felt more at ease with women, though she could talk with most men now without turning pink. "Excuse me?" Porita's voice was soft as she entered. "Raebeli? Are you busy?"

[Lotty]

Even if Raebeli was busy she would probably lie and say she wasn't. The woman could be delusional at times and refused to admit that she could possibly get in over her head - a personality trait that was not at all remedied when she had a dragon that was even worse in that regard than she was. So when Porita so happened to pop her head around the corner and ask for her, well Rae was not going to be the one to send her away. It seemed almost dangerous to turn down work anymore, and she was always half worried that word would get back to the hall about one little mistep that would lead to her being shuttled off to a Hold. That she wouldn't be able to handle... she needed her spot there at Selenitas with E'rro, she was far too comfortable to go rearranging things.

Of course Quixoth wouldn't let her think that way, crooning in reassurance, Nonsense Raelove, whatever makes you think like that? Now do help the good lady. She is one of the night cousin's handlers... Ah but of course... and Raebeli did love her wherhandler collection, just the thought of it made her smile crack large and bright for Porita.

"Of course not," the healer replied, wiping the side of a mason jar, before screwing on the top and placing it back amongst the other vessels holding their various poultices and potions. It only took a split second of distraction before her blue eyes flittered back onto the other woman's visage. With quiet contemplation she took in all those vital nonverbals, finding the concern typical of a patient who hadn't a clue what was wrong with them. It didn't seem all too inappropriate then to skip some of the small stuff to ask outright, "What is it that is ailing you? I can't tell if you are sick or just worried about being sick... which is a disease onto itself I suppose... anyway..." she had nearly just drifted off into another conversation with herself right there, but stopped short to wait for a response from the wherhandler.

[Rowana]

Porita moved further into the infirmary with a small smile. Raebeli always seemed so cheerful it was hard not to relax a little. "Well, I...I'm not sure," she admitted slowly. "My stomach feels strange." She rubbed it absently. "And I'm sick in the morning. I thought perhaps it was something I ate but..." she trailed off. Maybe she did just worry too much. Though she couldn't imagine what could have made her so anxious as to cause this.

[Lotty]

"Hmmmm" Raebeli replied with consideration. There were a lot of things that caused stomach aches and pains. For all she knew it could be a digestive issue. She had to rule out a whole lot more before she could jump to any kind of conclusion, and with a tap to her chin, she eyed Porita before asking, "But what? I take it, it hasn't gone away any? Have you been sick every morning? How long exactly?" It would be a lie to say that she hated playing twenty questions. The woman had made a living out of it, but there were always those questions that seemed so crude no matter how she put them. Hopefully she wasn't going to scare the woman out of coming back again ever.

"Do you have a regular cycle? When was the last time you had that?" Pregnancy was all too common in a weyr that it seemed like an obvious direction to go. After all, it was so rare to run into someone with something horribly wrong with them. The Pernese were far too hardy people, and for the exception of wild strains of plague, or another anomaly, the vast majority of their time was dealing with occupational injuries, like cuts and threadscores. Chuckling a bit to ease herself every bit as much as the wherhandler she added, "Not to be nosy of course... Just another one of those healery type questions we all have to ask." She scrunched her nose a bit and her eyes squinted close for a minute before her face relaxed again.

[Rowana]

Porita shook her head, trying to think back. She didn't usually vary her diet all that much and she couldn't remember eating anything strange. The kitchens were pretty good too, so she didn't think it could have been something under cooked. "I don't think so..." she began wrinkling her nose. She rarely went to healers, but she should have anticipated so many questions. "Most mornings, but not all. It's been over a week, maybe two..."

The next question shocked Porita out of her focus, however. She stared, rather like a deer caught by a wild feline. "My...my cycles?" she squeaked. Raebeli couldn't possibly think she was pregnant. That was impossible, wasn't it? Hadn't Wrohnol tried and tried when they were married? "I..." Porita turned pink and looked at the floor. When was her last cycle again? "Two months...I think..." She shook her head. Posk had won Tekivisk in a Run that far back, but that couldn't be it, could it? She was probably just stressed, overworked maybe, that must be it.

[Lotty]

Poor thing. Raebeli was getting the feeling she was going to crush Porita under the weight of such enormous questions. The very squeaking sound she made in response to her was evidence enough of this, and Rae leaned forward to pat the woman on the shoulder. It wasn't going to be that bad no matter what she answered, though hearing that it had been two months was starting to turn the healer woman's radar away from obvious suspects like the stomach flu, "Is it normal, for you to go two months?" A legitimate question, and it was quite common for one to skip their cycle every so often. Especially so for dragonriders who were always flitting through between.

But Porita wasn't a dragonrider. A fact that she knew all too well. Now, dragonriders did have many similarities to wherhandlers, one of them being that their draconoid mindmates needed to mate, and for this the brunette gave the other woman something of a curious gaze, "When was the last time your wher ran? I mean.... I don't want to alarm you Porita..." she already seemed beside herself, and the last thing the journeywoman wanted to do was revive the woman after fainting to the floor, "But it could just be that you're pregnant..." she tilted her head at the handler and then asked a bit more quietly, "Would that be a bad thing?" She after all didn't know much of anything of the other woman's life, and while she had began to find a place in her life where a baby would be welcomed, she couldn't speak for anyone else.

[Rowana]

"Well...um...no..." Porita admitted, her voice trailing off. Was it possible? It was hard to imagine, but she was almost daring to hope. She had always wanted children, even before her husband grew insistent. Her mind drifted back to Posk and Tekivisk. She remembered waking with Tekivix in bed, but she'd left so quickly she hadn't thought to ask if anything happened. Not that the other handler would likely know either. She'd been too frightening and embarrassed to stay though. "Two months ago," she went on, wringing her hands. "Posk...he's never won...before."

Porita's eyes started to grow brighter, even as they watered. All this time she was sure it couldn't happen. The angry and cold words of Wrohnol still haunted her, and yet, now she had some hope. What if it hadn't been her? Porita took a hold of one of Raebeli's hands. "Truly?" she asked, her voice growing higher with excitement. "Could I be? I mean...I never thought...we tried so hard..." her voice trailed again as she shook her head. The past didn't matter, she wouldn't dwell on it. She wasn't sure how Tekevix would feel about the idea, but she could hardly contain her joy.

[Lotty]

Well it was always relieving when Raebeli was breaking good news to people, and as Porita took her hand, the greenrider couldn't help but light up. Her entire face was brimming with a big toothy smile as she nodded her head in rapid agreement. It actually took everything in her power to not begin jumping up and down with the woman excitedly. Thank science for gravity! Instead she was forced to sort of wiggle in place with the wherhandler, trying to soak in some second hand happiness from the other, "Anything is certainly possible Porita! Sometimes it is when you don't try that things come your way anyhow..."

Rae didn't know everything of the woman's backstory, but she was quick to sort of piece some of the big things together. The quiet brunette... apparently had tried so desperately before that she had all but given up. No wonder it was such a surprise! To think that you couldn't and then all of a sudden here comes baby when you least expect it, "You probably stressed yourself silly before, and that is no good for making babies anyhow. Kidlets don't like stress you know..." her eyebrows bounced up and she let go of the woman for a moment to start scurrying around the infirmary again to collect ingredients for a tonic, "which reminds me, if you are going to have a baby and you want it to grow up big and strong you have to first off take it easy! Which I know seems hard since..." Oh yes, there was that little matter to take care of...

"You probably have to go tell the father now don't you?" At least that seemed to be rather narrowed down. It was whomever Posk caught right? Well, that was none of her business, "Just. Don't worry about that. If he happens to get his feathers all in a ruffle, then tell him he has to deal with me ok? I am a pretty scary person, and I can be very persuasive." The scariest part about Raebeli was typically the fact that she was weyrmated to E'rro, which meant it was rarely a good idea to test the boundaries and attempt to get on her bad side. Not that anyone had ever achieved that feat anyway - now it seemed like it was something nobody would dare try.