After Searching

[Memorie]

K'leren arrived back at the Weyr with several strapping young lads and pretty young ladies. The Search had been highly successful. Some of the lads were sure to Impress, and even if some of the girls didn't...well, they'd be fodder for the other riders. As for K'leren, he had his one and only woman. He smiled at the thought of her.

Still, although the Search was more than successful, something still weighed on his mind. Something Rakken had said when K'leren had Searched Ponaa Hold Proper. K'leren needed to talk to Ruet. He was fairly smart on his own, sure enough, but Rakken had said something to him that he just wasn't bright enough to dissect. When one will steal from another weyr?

He walked into their weyr. "Ruet? Are you in here?" He hadn't seen her in the Weyrhall, but that didn't mean she wasn't down with the clutch. She had been spending a lot of time there since the eggs were stolen. He frowned. He was sure Rakken's seemingly blithe statement had regarded the theft of the eggs. "Rue?"

[hrsegrl]

Ruet was a patient person but waiting for the search to be over and the clutch to hatch seemed like forever. After another long day she had gone to bathe. There had been little time earlier in the day for anything let alone a bath. Sharieth was worrying over her eggs constantly, making it had for Ruet to even concentrate on little errands.

She was nearly finished with her bath when she head K'leren's voice. After rinsing her hair out one more time she slipped a towel on and walked out of the bathing room dripping wet. "K'leren. I'm so glad you are home." She smiled even though she was freezing and soaked.

The goldrider wasted no time moving closer to him. She was a bit reluctant to get him wet however her excitement got the better of her and she threw her arms around him holding on as tightly as she could. "I've missed you."

[Memorie]

K'leren watched her emerge from the bathroom, hair dripping and towel wet. She came and hugged him, and he grasped her tightly in return. He hadn't realized how much he had actually missed her. "I'm glad to be home with you, Rue. I missed you too." He refused to let her go, but leaned back far enough to kiss her. After all, his news could wait. She smelled good, and now he was all wet from her bath water. "What have you been doing today, Love?" he asked, smiling at her and still holding her. They were both rather clingy, cuddly people.

[hrsegrl]

There was no denying she loved this man. He was so concerned for her she wanted to stay where she was forever. Of course that was one way to get them both ill. Really they ought to both change into something dry and warm.

She had no idea he would be home tonight but she was glad he was. "My day was normal, other than Sharieth's constant thoughts on her eggs. Its very distracting having her worry about the eggs so much." Her eyes met his a moment. If anyone saw her with her mental barriers down they would see she was a very tired young woman. "Did you find some good Candidates for them?"

That at least would make her happy... seeing them hatch would mean Sharieth could stop fretting. It was enough to drive a person mad. At least Nemenath was back and could help watch them. Sharieth trusted no other dragons to watch her clutch. She had not left them once while he was away.

[Memorie]

K'leren took Ruet by the elbow and led her over to their clothes chest. "You get dressed. I won't have you catching a death of cold, Rue. We can talk after we're both in something far more comfortable...and less wet." He smiled and reached for his own clothes. Soft, warm pants and a good-looking shirt, just what he needed. K'leren was a laid-back man, it was true, but he ran a tight wing. That meant he believed the riders were in full glory on Search day, and that meant full riding leathers. "I don't know if you've ever spent a full day in leathers, but they get uncomfortable." He stripped down, and couldn't resist taking a peek over his shoulder at Ruet to "check on if she was changing."

"I did find a lot of good boys for the clutch, but the girls are...well, mostly vapid. We picked up one or two good ones, but the rest are fairly worthless." He pulled on the pants. His hard, muscular body was still moist from her hugging him after her bath. He decided to leave the shirt off for a moment. The bronzerider, while far difference from the rest of his "ilk," still had a bit of arrogance to him.

[hrsegrl]

Rue reached for a light blue dress that was soft and warm. She was freezing after all. Letting her towel slip to the floor she pulled the dress on over her head. When she had finished she picked the towel up, fully prepared to dry her hair out, though more distracted by the man at her side. Did he need to put a shirt on? Only if he wanted her to pay attention to what he was saying. She realized she was looking at him too long and immediately went back to drying her hair with the towel. The curls were unmanageable when wet.

"I'm sure that the girls will be fine. We don't need many of them anyway." She siged a moment, before walking to the laundry basket. Her towel was thrown in a small pile including the incredibly dirty clothes she had been wearing earlier. She walked back to where he was changing and kissed his bare shoulder from behind him.

[Memorie]

She kissed his shoulder and he smiled and sighed. "I know we don't need a lot of them...but maybe Amenth will clutch a gold. Or next time Zharieth flies..." He didn't want to bring up their own stolen egg. "Oh, that reminds me..." He led her over to their bed and sat down. His feet were aching from standing all day, and he needed to rest them. "Lord Holder Rakken said something interesting to me today. I need to you apply your sharp wit and see if you can figure out his meaning."

He sighed. The whole thing had been ridiculous and uncomfortable. Then, when he'd made the riders attend Rakken's dinner, the Lord had absented himself on "Hold Business." It was such an obvious disrespect that Nemenath had roared from the hold's heights. "We were discussing the theft of our eggs, and he said something of interest. He said 'a sad day it is indeed, when one will steal from another weyr.' Now, there's something not quite right with that...but I can't pick it out from the rest of his smarm."

[hrsegrl]

Ruet sat next to him quietly. He did seem to be upset about something. Rakken was an awful man and she had hoped K'leren would not have to deal with him too much. She repeated what he said, "a sad day indeed , when one will steal from another Weyr." She put an intonation on another. "Another Weyr!" She shot up from her seat. How dare they!
"Why would another Weyr want our eggs? They have their own Queens and..." She stopped.

It was common knowledge that Ista's only Queen was old and had not been rising to mate. "No." She said softly sitting back down on the bed, almost resigning herself to the fact that Ista could have done it and would have done it. She didn't realize she was leaving K'leren in the dark about it all. Rakken had helped, obviously, to know so much but the true culprits were dragonriders. She just couldn't comprehend why anyone would do that. Ponaa could have sent them dragons if they had wanted some...why do this? The more she thought about it the more it made sense to her and the less she liked what was happening. If the eggs were safe and warm on Ista's sands, did she really want to risk bringing them back?

[Memorie]

"Rue! What? What?" K'leren whirled and looked at her. She was deep in her own thoughts; she had obviously figured out Rakken's little riddle. K'leren grabbed Ruet's shoulders and made her look at him. "What, Ruet? Tell me," he said, suggesting more than commanding. Whatever they figured out, they needed to take to Lyrai, and N'mos, though he hated to say it. He understood the "another weyr" part now, that was the part he hadn't been able to dissect, but he could only grasp straws at what other weyr.

Words floated through his mind: Ista will not take your insults! He sat back as fully as Ruet had. "Ista..." he mumbled. He turned to his weyrmate. "Ista." He stood. "Well, we can't very well go take the eggs back! Not after Amenth killed Aerilith." He sighed. It had been such a nice day. "What do we do now, Rue?"

[hrsegrl]

She looked at him then, sadly shaking her head. "We can not risk bringing them back at this stage in their developement. We can only be reassured by the fact they are on the sands, waiting to hatch. Even if they are not on ours." Sharieth would be so disheartened but perhaps she would understand it all better than humans. Dragons were always much more logical.

"I guess it will be interesting that a Ponaa bred Queen will be leader of Ista Weyr." She found that incredibly funny for some reason. As much as it pained her to not have her dragons only Golden daughter here it made her proud to know she would be a young Senior Queen. "Ista may mold her as they will but Sharieth will no doubt find a way to talk to her."

[Memorie]

K'leren sighed. "Yes, and I know Ista will care for the gold...but scorch and sear it, that was our gold, Rue!" Still, there was nothing that could be done. She spoke of the humor of an Istan senior queen being Ponaasian, and K'leren could also read the irony of that situation. "And at least the old blood at Ista will finally breed out. You know they haven't allowed transfers of new bronzes in years. They've been getting a little to close-knit."

Sharieth and I will keep watch on the gold egg. And the goldling, when it hatches. Nemenath sounded a trifle angry, but sadness overruled. K'leren relayed the message to his mate.

Finally, his resistance broke down and he hugged her close to him. "Ruet, I love you." He kissed her hair, and then her lips, but more in a reassuring way than in a sexual way.

[hrsegrl]

K'leren was obviously concerned and for good reason. There was nothing to be done now. They had to wait and maybe someday seeing the Gold would give them a sense of happiness. As long as the other Weyr took care of the eggs, Ponaa would have to let them keep them. Rather than start a civil war among the Weyrs. Besides there was the bigger threat of thread upon them.

She smiled and held him tightly in return. "I love you too." The soft kiss she left on his lips was enough to reassure him of that. They had so many more clutches in front of them, this surely would not be the last time that Sharieth laid a Queen egg, not with the Ponaa Queens being so prolific. Rue smiled again. "We better get to bed if we are to function tomorrow."