Chap. 6 The Family Reunion

Chap. 6 The Family Reunion

Kandar saw his sister in amongst the crowd before his family saw him.

His heart leaped in his chest. Until that moment, he hadn't realized how much he'd missed them, well, all of them save his father. He was relieved that Hanliss had not come. He didn't want his upcoming Impression ruined by the tyrant.

Though he'd no name for the feeling, he'd been homesick. The Weyr was so big and confusing, with its warren of tunnels and caves, with more people in one spot than he'd ever seen in his life.

But he'd adapted quickly, as he'd been kept busy and his mind occupied, with all the things and people he needed to learn. 

Now, he felt as if his life on the family cothold was all a dream. Other than the fact that he sorely missed his horse, he was happy living in the Weyr.

Then Glyena spotted him. "Kandarrrrrrrrrrrr!" she yelled, and ran to him. She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. His mother embraced them both, looking happy and relaxed. And his brother, Mardriss had come, too, looking somehow older, too, but as if he had a weight on his shoulders.

"Kandar!"  Glyena gushed, "I was riding your horse bareback and I fell off and he stopped and waited for me to get back on and Mum and Mardriss rode to Singing Waters Hold and I met this boy he is soooooooo cute but he's kinda dumb, and he showed me where some fire lizards had hatched and they're like dragons but littler and I got to ride on Rastabenth and Mum and Mardriss were on a brown and Uncle Fland couldn't come because guess what something went pop! in Dad's brain and  he was face down in the barn and now he walks funny and he can't talk but the healer…."

"Glyena!"  Daryat, his mother cried, momentarily stemming the girl's verbal tsunami.

She looked at him. "By the egg, you've put on some weight and you're so tan!"

"They feed us well, here, Mum."

Mardriss came up and shook his hand. Kandar looked pointedly at him, sensing something had changed in his elder brother.

"Come into the dining hall, it's about to rain. We'll have something to eat and we can talk there. I'm so glad you came today because everyone tells me I'm going to be busy whenever the eggs hatch." Kandar said. IF he Impressed, that is, but he shoved that lingering fear back into its dark corner.

Over klah and meat rolls, Kandar learned more.

"Your father had a stroke," Daryat was saying. "Something broke in his brain. The healer said it's permanent. He can walk with effort and his right arm just hangs down, useless. He can no longer speak more than one or two words." She looked down at the scarred table, idly tracing someone's initials, carved who knew how many generations ago.

"Honestly, it's so much better now. Peaceful, " she sighed. She didn't have to explain.  Being family, they all knew what tyranny meant.

"No doubt, Mum," Kandar said, patting her hand to comfort her. Mardriss took over.

"About a month after you left, he was yelling about something one of the hands had done or not done, who knows. You know how Dad is. Then it got quiet, and eventually Fland went into the barn and found him alive but unable to get up. The healer says there's nothing one can do. Just wait and see if he recovers.  That's all we know. Fland wanted so badly to come to see you, but someone has to run the hold while we're here."

Kandar nodded. "Tell him I miss him, too, and maybe someday I'll be able to come to see him."

Glyena spoke up with "You better! I still want my dragon ride! You promised!" 

He ruffled her hair, loving his young sister to a distraction. "Today's ride wasn't enough for you?"

"It was so quick! I got on, C'val said 'hang on' and then it got all dark and cold, and then we were here and it's raining! I want to see what it feels to FLY."

"So," Mardriss continued, "After his stroke, he acts as if we were to blame for his situation, but can't do or say a thing about it.  Just sits there, looking like a wher. Mum, Fland and I rode up to Singing Waters Hold to talk to Lord Dorn. After his healer told him of Dad's condition and that there was no likelihood of him ever getting better, he formally retired Dad and invested me as cotholder."  He shook his head, the memories of that meeting freezing him despite the warm day.

"It was a close thing, Kandar," he said, slowly shaking his head, his troubled eyes staring into the distance, "Knife edge close."

"Lord Dorn told me the only reason he'd not stripped Dad of the cothold and banished us all was because you and me and Fland drove in that herd of cattle, late for tithing, but still, we did bring them in, without being ordered."

He swallowed hard, still remembering his fear.

"Kandar, I was on my knees, shaking like a leaf before him. Scared out of my mind."

"He'd said he'd known for months that Dad had been cheating him. He said he'd just been waiting for Dad to 'fully stick his head in his own snare'. Then Fland looked Dorn in the eye, man to man, and swore that none of us had any idea, that Dad was responsible for it all, and we were all blameless. He's a brave man, is Fland. I couldn't have done what he did."

He tapped the table to dispel the nauseating fear he still felt.

.

"Lord Dorn is a fair man, but not one to cross, let me tell you. He thanked us for making things right. But as we rode home, I could feel his eyes on my back, like I had a target on it. I kept waiting for an arrow. I have a feeling we'll be on probation for a while. Dad had made enemies."

Kandar felt a cold chill run up his spine. He was so glad he'd missed it.

A young woman came up to their table. 

"Introduce me, Kandar?"

He looked up to see Lindea. And smiled.

Daryat took one look at the girl and joy suffused her face. Such a pretty girl, Kandar!!  Visions of grandbabies danced in her head.

"Lindea, this is my mother, Daryat, my brother, Mardriss, and my sister, Glyena."

"Welcome to Kahrain Steppe Weyr, Ma'am, Sir, Glyena."

"Mum, this is Lindea, my, um, friend."

"Are you Kandar's girlfriend?" Glyena  accused, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She laughed. It made a different chill run up Kandar's spine, but he kept his face noncommittal.

"No, my dear," she said, diplomatically, "I can see that Kandar's girlfriend is sitting next to him."

It took Glyena a few moments to process that, then said, proudly, "That's right. He's my brother."

"And a very nice one, my dear." Lindea said, smoothing the girl's feathers.

She turned to Daryat. "We're just friends, ma'am. We both got here at the Weyr at the same time, and our first ever meeting was shoveling muck in the barn."

Daryat fought to hide her disappointment from her face.

"Never mind the fact, Mum, that once I'm a Weyrling, I’m going to be living like a gelding." he laughed. "No 'relationships'. No drinking or 'carousing'. I'll even have a curfew," Kandar added.

Lindea nodded. Then she said, "I just got off night shift, so I need to get some sleep. I hope to see you tomorrow?" she said to them all. They nodded. She made as to walk away, then turned back.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" she said.

She pulled out two small bundles. "Madam," she handed one to Daryat, and the other to Glyena.

"They're from Kandar."

Kandar shot a questioning look at her. He didn't remember doing anything of this sort.

Daryat opened the bundle to reveal a necklace suspending an irregularly shaped piece of malachite, polished smooth by the action of the surf. It was woven into an intricate web of knotted sail thread. She put it around her neck. The stone matched her eyes perfectly.

"It's beautiful. Thank you, Lindea, and thank you, Kandar."

"The first time we went walking on the beach, Kandar picked these up. I’m a fisherman. We use rope and sail thread to make just about anything. It's called mack rahmay."

Kandar had forgotten that he'd picked up some pretty stones, and then dropped them when they stopped being shiny. Lindea had picked a few back up and kept them, without explanation.

Glyena turned her necklace's stone over and over, trying to fathom what it was.

 "That's amber, Glyena." Lindea said.

"Amber?"

"Hold it up to the light," she said,

"OH! There's something inside!! It's…it's part of a trundlebug!!" the girl cried. "Oh thank you, Kandar!" she cried, throwing her arms around her brother.

Kandar stood up and hugged Lindea. "How did you know what color my mum's eyes were?"

"I didn't. Just a lucky guess," she said. She walked away.

"Kandar," Mardriss warned, "Don't ever bet against her at cards."