Chap. 145 Lunch Break

Chap. 145  Lunch Break

"THIS is where you grew up?" F'mart said, looking at the vast steppe spreading from the edge of the cothold.

K'ndar nodded, his heart swelling with pride. He loved the steppe, now, more than ever, as he'd been from this end all the way to the southern edge of the continent.  Now he understood it far better, now he was able to appreciate the wild, wide beauty of the open steppe. Far out, he could see his family's horses and cattle, knee deep in the late summer grass. Over their heads, birds swooped, feeding on the insects the stock had flushed. Their plaintive calls carried on the wind.

He inhaled deeply, the scent of the prairie merely intensifying his deep love of it.  Behind him, he heard raised voices as his family and the ranch hands reacted to the sight of dragons landing.

He loved being independent, loved being a dragonrider, but he could very easily return to the steppe forever.

"Yes," he said, hoping it didn't convince F'mart to bring his entire clan-which, apparently, was enormous, to this paradise.

"Shards, man, what a desolate place. You must have to have light brought in, what?" F'mart said, sarcastically.

Oh.

 "Well, um…, K'ndar started, wondering if it was worthwhile trying to convince the decidedly urbane F'mart that he was mistaken.

"I'd go insane in fifteen minutes. There's NOTHING here!"

"Well…you're right, but I liked it." K'ndar said, defensively.

"Well, you can have it. Me, growing up in a Hold meant there was always something to do," F'mart said. 

K'ndar's family approached, calling his name.  His brother's two fire lizards suddenly appeared, cheeping at Siskin, who was perched on K'ndar's shoulder. 

"Don't go too far, little one," K'ndar said, shrugging the lizard into the air. The blue joined the bronze and gold fire lizards and vanished. 

"You're just in time for lunch!" Daryat said, beaming. She gave him an enormous hug, then stopped and ran her hand over his face.

"You've grown, I swear it," she said.

"Dumber and fatter, for sure," F'mart snarked, unwisely.

"And YOU ARE?" Daryat hissed, whirling swift as a snake and crowding into F'mart's face.

F'mart flushed.

"Sorry, ma'am, it just came out. We were classmates. I'm F'mart, rider of bronze Kenth."

K'ndar smirked, knowing his mother was more than willing to skin F'mart alive if he pushed her just a little bit harder. F'mart had toned down his attitude a lot, but there was still a lot of asshole in him. 

"That's MY SON, F'mart, and this is MY cothold," Daryat hissed, in her best Alpha Female's  Tone Of Voice. "No one makes fun of my family, especially HERE!  I suggest you keep a civil tongue in your head-yours definitely needs SOMETHING to fill it," she snapped.

F'mart paled. He dropped his head and mumbled, "Yes'm. Sorry, ma'am. Won't happen again." 

The others had joined them by now.

"Better not cross her again, dragonrider. You do that, you won't be fed, and it would be a pity, indeed, to miss her cooking," Mardriss, K'ndar's eldest brother said, as he joined them.

K'ndar smirked. It was a treat to see F'mart's head handed to him.

Sandriss, his middle brother, came up, holding a little girl.

She took her finger out of her mouth long enough to point it at K'ndar and said, "Who dat?"

Sandriss joggled her. "Don't you remember Uncle K'ndar?" he asked her. Looking warily at K'ndar, she reinserted her fingers and shook her head. 

"She turned shy?" K'ndar asked, remembering the child as being garrulous and outgoing.

"She's turned three," Daryat said, "They change a lot while they're growing their brains."

"What brings you?" Mardriss asked. 

"We're conducting a sweep, and I asked for this sector, mostly because I know it…but also because, well, I wanted to stop and say hello," K'ndar said. 

Daryat's hackles smoothed. "You timed it perfectly. Fland saw the dragons coming in and said we're about to have company, so the girls threw in some extras for lunch," she said.

As they headed to the main cottage, K'ndar introduced everyone. He could see his uncle Fland standing near the kitchen door.  He knew why he kept his distance from the dragons.

Are you hungry? K'ndar asked Raventh.

Not really, I fed very well yesterday. I remember being here during the survey.

We'll stay here for just a little while.

Siskin has joined the others for hunting. He's not too hungry, it's just for fun.

Tell him to not stray too far, we are just stopping for lunch, then we need to continue sweeping.

__________________________________________________________________________

"It's about time you riders found the time to do sweeps," Mardriss said, "It's been a while since we've seen any dragon riders." 

"Have you had problems? With raiders or conmen?"

"We haven't personally had trouble with raiders," Mardriss said, "But I attribute that to how remote we are, rather than a lack of bad 'uns."

"It's that, for certain," F'mart said, "remote, I mean.I don't know how you manage, this far out from any form of civilization." 

"It's alright. We like it that way," Daryat said, having forgiven F'mart. Her daughters-in-law had taken firm charge of feeding the guests, insisting Daryat sit and enjoy the unexpected visit from her son.

"Things have changed a lot, haven't they, since Thread ended?" Fland asked. 

"Yes," K'ndar said, "and we're busier than we ever expected to be. I thought that once we were out of the thread killing business that we'd be, well, forgotten. But no, we're always on the move, doing SOMETHING. It was only in the last, what, week, that we suddenly realized that we'd let sweeps fall by the wayside. So I volunteered to do this sector, and F'mart, too."

"Does that include Searches? You're still doing Candidate Searches, aren't you?" Fland asked.

F'mart and K'ndar looked at each other.

"Hmm. I hadn't thought of that, but no. Mirth clutched about, oh, almost a year now? and there's a Weyrling class about to graduate, but since then, no clutches, at least not in our Weyr,"F'mart said. He finished off a meat pie. "This is very good, ma'am, better than my foster mum's," he said.

Daryat smiled. "Thank you, F'mart. Speaking of fosters…"

"She's doing very well, Mum," K'ndar said, of his sister Glyena. "She's happy. She misses you, yes, she does, but she's doing well in school.  She's ravenous for learning. And quick to catch it. She's gaining a reputation as being a dab hand at leather work. She stays busy. Her foster mum says she can be "mouthy" and 'bossy' to the other fosters, but…" he grinned, wryly.

"Oh, that's Glyena!" Daryat laughed.

"I'm taking her to the Ruatha horse races this weekend," K'ndar said.

"She'll like that, I know," Daryat said. "I wish she'd write, though."

"I'll tell her. We can always send messages via fire lizard," K'ndar said.

"Isn't anyone at the weyr concerned about only one clutch in almost a year?" Fland asked, troubled.

K'ndar thought. "Uncle Fland, I don't…I don't know for sure. I know that this last clutch, it was Mirth's first, and they had problems finding enough candidates for all of her eggs. She had a BIG clutch.  


The other issue is that we've lost several dragonriders, all moving out, and only a few moving in. There was talk about limiting the number of clutches, because we have TWO golds, not just one, now that we're no longer needing to field an entire weyr of riders. As it is, we're busy all the time, but a lot of that is voluntary work. If we had a full compliment, though, I'm thinking there would be times when there wouldn't be enough work to keep everyone 'gainfully employed', as M'rvin says," he said.

F'mart nodded. "This summer we learned what THAT meant. We helped with harvest, for the first time in MY life, at least. I never worked so hard in my life. I have a new respect for the farmers, now. They work their hands to the bone during the summer. I'd much rather do just about anything, 'long as it meant riding my dragon to do it," he said.

The others laughed.

"Well, something needs to be done. Sweeps have been let slide, as you mentioned.  We've not been attacked, but some of the hands have told stories about their kin closer to Singing Waters having raider and con man problems," Fland continued.

"I know. In fact, a trader I know was up in Northern and had his wagon torched by a con man," K'ndar said, casting a knowing glance at his brother Sandriss. No names were needed. They both knew who he meant.

"How far is it, by land, from Singing Waters?" F'mart said, "I’m assuming you're beholden to Lord Dorn?"

Mardriss nodded. "Peripherally, we are, but he gives us a lot of freedom to do as we please, as long as we don't despoil the land, or, of course, make our tithe. THAT we do without fail," he said.


He made no mention of Hanliss, their deceased father, trying to cheat the Lord Holder. Those days were gone.

"As for distance?" he continued, "K'ndar can tell you that. It's a full days' ride, sunup to sundown, if you're on a good horse and don't dawdle. If you're driving a herd, two…sometimes three days, if the animals get stupid. Which they do on a regular basis," he said, ruefully.  

"Not to sound dismissive, but I'm amazed Lord Dorn even bothers with you, this far out," F'mart said.

"He likes our beef," Mardriss said, "says it's better tasting than a steer that was raised in a small pasture. I have to agree with him, but then, we let our animals grow out before we slaughter, and they live a fairly happy life beforehand."

Daryat nodded. "That, and he wanted someone on the far edges of his Hold, to stake his claim to it. We were smart enough…or stupid enough, some would say, to take him up on it. I haven't regretted it. Yes, it makes for a secluded existence, especially for kids, but…none of mine seem to have hurt by it."

____________________________________________________________________________

He was about to mount Raventh when Sandriss put a hand on K'ndar's shoulder.

"How is Lizard?" he asked, in a low voice.

"He's doing well. There's a lot to tell you, I don't want to discuss it right now," K'ndar said, his eyes indicating F'mart.

"I was wondering, I'd not heard from him in a while.  Are you sweeping tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure," K'ndar said, "At this moment, I think not. Is there something important I need to know about-that you'd rather not discuss in front of?" again, he indicated F'mart.

Sandriss shook his head. "Not really, just, well, I would love to just have a long conversation with you. We know you're happy and busy, but it would be nice to have you come and visit now and then, and even bring Glyena," he said.

K'ndar felt a twinge of guilt. His life was full, every day was a new adventure, or something fun, or thought provoking. Studying, writing his journals, reading, learning as much science as he could, added to his duties as a dragon rider, and the freedom to go where and when he chose-these were things he wasn't willing to give up, now.

"I..well, look, Sandriss, you were gone for what, six years? I hardly know you, I mean and now, I have this life all apart from the cothold-I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, I'm just…living my life."

"Aye, I know. I know. You're not wrong. You're free now, a grown man, and I do know that feeling. I ran without heel ropes for a long time, and enjoyed every minute of it.  It's heady stuff, freedom, especially for men, and most especially for a man who can go anywhere on his dragon.  


But now, well, I have Liana, and Nattana, and we have lots to do here. It's not fair of me, I suppose, to insist you not do what I did. But that was when Hanliss was alive. It was survival, on both our parts."

K'ndar nodded.

"So, forgive me, but I would like to get to know you better, and I know Mum would LOVE to see more of you and Glyena."

"It's okay, there's no need to ask forgiveness. It's,well, I'll see that Glyena writes to Mum and we'll use our fire lizards as couriers. And I'll see about coming for a visit, more often." he said.

"Don't bring whatshisname, okay?" Sandriss whispered, "I don't like seeing Mum riled up."

They shared knowing smirks. F'mart would probably not want to return.

K'ndar nodded. "She looks wonderful, Sand. I've never seen Mum so joyful, so content. Fland's made her that way, She's happier than I would have ever hoped for."

"That she is,"  Sandriss agreed.

He looked at Fland and Daryat, standing arm in arm, just outside the cottage. Liana, next to them, Nattana in her arms, held the girl's arm out to get her to wave bye-bye.

"It's amazing how one person can make such a change in the life of another," he said, savoring the sight of his family.

"Fland's done that for her," K'ndar said.

"I was talking about Liana changing me," Sandriss said, waving back.