All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright © Anne McCaffrey 1967,2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited. For more information, visit the Worlds of Anne McCaffrey.

22-02-02: All my children
Lydiere's already the mother of one, but there's always time for a second, especially with a new love in place.

"Fardles, Keid, if you grow any more your father won't recognise you!" Lydiere grins ruefully towards the aforementioned child - the eight turn old is standing beside the table, whilst she sits atop it. "'course he will," retorts the boy, nose wrinkling, "He's my dad." Lydiere grins, watching her son with amusement. "Of course. Be off with you, though! I've work to do." Keidire wrinkles his nose, but leans up to kiss her on the cheek, and darts for the door, Lydiere watching after him.

G'wain swings his hips wide as a darting form rockets from the room, Keid not paying much attention to those coming in the other direction. Turning his head to watch the departure of the lad, G'wain keeps moving into the weyr. "When does he go to his father?" G'wain asks carefully. He remembers well that Lydiere wasn't all that happy with him having to go.

Lydiere grimaces. "Tomorrow," is her slow, somewhat rueful response, as she turns her head to the other man in her life, favouring him with a far broader smile than the conservative, thoughtful expression worn in watching her son go. "I'll be dropping him off mid-afternoon, I believe. That's the arrangement, anyway." She swings her legs, thoughtful for a moment more, as she attempts to banish those thoughts. "But anyway. How's the day been?"

G'wain nods his head slowly. "Make the day count..." He advises. "You going to take him? Or would you like me to... or something?" The question comes before she continues, and he shakes his head. "You know, I thought you said you had work to do, hmm?" He asks, chuckling. He doesn't blame her. Any excuse. Still, he responds to her question. "It's been fine. /I/ had hidework to do." Pulling a face, he grins. He's got the same opinion of it as she.

Lydiere sits up, attention caught by this possibility. "Oh, would you? On second thoughts, it's probably better - although," she shifts her gaze once more, grimacing, "Keid's father may not take very well to you. That might not be a good idea." Mildly rueful, and even repentent, she glances down at the table, and the hides sitting there. "I had good intentions, until you walked in. Promise!" Her head tilts to the side, as she nods, "Ah. How...nice for you." Sarcasm suits her well.

Another nod of his head at this, and he thinks. "All I'd be doing is dropping him off. He need not know anything more than the fact that I'm the messenger?" Glancing at the hides himself, he grins. "I didn't have a pile that large," And her pile isn't that big, is it? "But I'm glad they're finished with, now. At least for a couple of weeks. That is, unless J'ran gets me to do things again." He doesn't /seem/ to mind. Tilting his head to the side, he considers something for a while, looking at Lydiere. "You... love Keid, right?" G'wain asks. Where /is/ this going?

"That's true," agrees Lydiere. "He knows that there's--someone else, in my life now, but he doesn't have to link the pair of you. If...if you could spare the time, I'd appreciate it. I hate Keid having to see the two of us together. It honestly isn't pretty." She gives her pile of hides another grimace, and then nods. "J'ran should do them for himself. He must be just lazy." She pauses, drawing her own head to the side, watching G'wain hesitantly. "Yes. Of course I do."

G'wain smiles a little. "I don't mind the hides as much as you seem to mind them, but then, I don't have the workload you do." It's the simple truth. If he had as many as she had to do, then he might find himself steadily moving towards hate for them. "He should." What's next though, he's thought about. "D.." He falters slightly. He doens't really know how to broach this. "Does... Keid want a little brother, or a sister, at all?" Oh look. He's red again. Only slightly, mind.

Lydiere pushes the pile of hides rather surrupticiously away from her line of sight, nodding. "You're probably more patient than I am. I can't stand the idea of having to sit still, all the time." She pauses, eyes noting, rather with amusement, that face suddenly turned red, although her response itself is less bright. "I'm sure he does. And I certainly wouldn't begrudge him one - if I could actually, somehow, manage to get pregnant again. Unless, of course, you objected."

G'wain is hopeless when it comes to actually talking about things 'of an indecent' nature, for all he doesn't mind the act itself. "I don't sit still. I pace." He grins a little, and this calms him. "What about you, though?" He asks. "I... I wouldn't object. I'm the one bringing this up." And he doesn't really like bringing it up, either.

"At least you don't run. As in - far, far away." Lydiere says this with a wry note to her voice, although her expression indicates amusement. "Would I object to having another child? No. Never. I like kids, and I even like pregnancy, sort of." That's not entirely true - she likes pregnancy, entirely. "The question is, why are you bringing it up? I'm curious."

G'wain tilts his head to the side, considering his motives as he moves to sit rather innocently on the bed. "I... well..." He starts, unsure himself why he brought it up. So, he thinks about it. "I... see what you have with Keid. And it's wonderful. He loves you..." And he wants part of it, too. "I'll never be Keid's father..."

Lydiere swings about properly, so that she's facing G'wain, straight on - and whilst their positions, with her legs swinging easily over the edge of the table, might not be so serious, she is, nonetheless. "And you want to experience that, for yourself," she finishes, her head nodding. "I can understand that. And--well, I don't object. I can't say I object to the idea of having a child with you, the man I love, either."

G'wain purses his lips, just as serious. After a moment, his posture relaxes. "I love you, too..." He says, the start of other words as well, perhaps, though they don't come for a while. "All this... I don't object. Do you want to, though?" He asks, feeling uncomfortable with her use of words, though only a little. "Because... I don't mind if you don't want to. I just thought about it, and..." Has he been thinking much? "And I want to... if you want to." It's all such a decision...

"I want to." Lydiere attempts to make it simple, or as simple as she can, slipping down from her seat to cross the cavern, sitting down on the bed, although a chaste - serious discussion here, after all - distance away. "I want to, very much. If we can manage to...get it started. In eight turns, after all, I've not had a single moment of belief that I was pregnant again."

G'wain nods his head slowly. That makes it nice and simple. She wants to... But what might not be so simple is getting her pregnant. Not like they havn't been 'trying' hard enough. He /is/ smiling now, though. Almost as good a news as if she just out and told him she was pregnant. "Well..." He thinks about this. "Maybe there's something the healers can do? Or... maybe now that we want to...?" He's not too cluey on this side of things.

Lydiere is always willing to 'try' harder, and more often, but...Well. "Maybe. I'll talk to them." Much as she dislikes healers, as a rule. "I'll also try and avoid going between, as much as possible, just in case that makes a difference. With Llysereth likely to go up, in the not so distant future, that'll become easier, I guess." She grins wryly, reaching across to grasp for G'wain's hand, to squeeze it. "I guess we'll see what happens."

G'wain takes Lydiere's hand willingly and squeezes back. "I didn't mean to make this all serious." But it /is/ serious. "I just..." He's said it all already, and she's agreed. Why worry anymore? "She will?" He asks, a little concerned. What if... Ahreluth doesn't win? "Are you alright? No headaches?" He asks, concerned. He'll have to have a little chat to Ahreluth. "We will. I'm sure you wouldn't mind... trying more often, or something." There's a sly grin there.

"It's a serious issue. Not to be rushed into. Not like I'm one to talk, of course, getting pregnant with Keidire whilst still an apprentice." She sighs, nodding. "I try not to count, but...Well, the weyrlings from her clutch with Ahreluth are getting closer to graduation, and if you'll remember last time...It was about that time." She shakes her head, adding, "Not yet. So we've still a while - a few sevendays, maybe." And then, she's distracted, sly grin matched with sly grins. Deadpan: "Oh. I suppose. For...the sake of this very good cause."

G'wain laughs aloud at what she says last, a broad grin. He's lightening up, now. "Only if it's not /too/ boring for you." He does however, nod his head. "You're right. I... didn't want to rush into anything, either." Scratching his ear as he considers the possibility of Llysereth rising, he repeats, "A few sevendays."

Lydiere winks, unable to keep her poker-face up any longer, her lips collapsing into her usual smile. "I think, somehow, I'll manage to get around that fact." She nods, in response, still smiling. "I have no qualms, though, about doing this with you. I don't think we're rushing it at all." Her gaze turns, briefly, more serious. "You're concerned, about this next flight?"

G'wain chuckles softly and makes the distance between the two less 'chaste' though his actions are such, at the moment, a hug for Lydiere, and a quick kiss. At her final words though, he pauses. "Am I that... see-through?" He asks, leaning back. "I am... a little." A lot... "I mean, I know. Ahreluth can go in flights, and if he doesn't win, that doesn't mean that you, or Llysereth don't like me any less..." He knows it, but he can't help feeling. Heart and mind are seperate things, at times. "But it still bothers me."

Lydiere accepts, and reciprocates, the hug, wrapping arms about G'wain whilst it lasts, the kiss equally treated. Pulling back, her hands moving once more to rest within her lap, she nods. "You are. That, or I know you too well." Explanation is met with tight lips, her eyes turning down to follow her boots in their rest upon the floor. "Ah. I--I'm not entirely sure how to respond to that. I don't know how I'll feel, if I wake up with someone else. Or how you'll feel. It's awkward."

G'wain nods his head as she explains her take on the situation. "It is... I know that what I'd think, and what I'd /feel/ would be entirely different things. You're right, though. It /is/ awkward." He bites his lip and smiles. "Whatever happens, though... We still love each other, right?" He's convincing himself of this, too.

"Of course. Always. Llysereth's flights have nothing to do with my own emotions, and that's the way it's going to stay." She expresses a quietly rueful smile, adding, "I guess it'll get easier, flights, after we've gone through it, once or twice." Her face forms a grimace at the thought. "First time, and all. Feels - almost - as if I might be unfaithful, even if I have nothing to do with it."

G'wain nods his head. "That's how it feels..." He agrees. "You know how we were talking about Ahreluth taking part in other flights? That's how it feels. Like I'm not being true to you. But... it's the dragon, not the rider... So don't worry about it." The shoe's on the other foot, here. "I'm not going to mind... too much." He's being exceedingly helpful, here, isn't he? "She's going to rise whether you like it or not. I will say, thogh, Ahreluth will be there. Or so he tells me."

Lydiere smiles ruefully, admitting, "Easier said than done, though, as we've agreed. Never mind! Though--" she pauses, nose wrinkling. "If someone else wins the flight, I'm going to have to make sure I go between, just to make sure I don't end up pregnant with anyone else's child, by mistake." Horror of all horrors. "Good. I'd be disappointed - at least, after the fact, if not during - if he wasn't, and you weren't."

And that's part of the reason why G'wain was worried - Lydiere getting pregnant from someone not himself. That would be... something akin to a nightmare, for him. He nods his head slowly, shuffling closer to Lydiere once more. "Wouldn't miss it for all of Pern." And he wouldn't, either, even if he had to be insubordinate. No-one's sending him away at all for a while. "Thankyou."

Lydiere'd be pretty worried herself, even if it is something easily fixed. She draws her arm comfortably around G'wain, leaning up to kiss him - even if it is just quickly - before she responds, "For what? Although - you're welcome, regardless."

G'wain holds Lydiere close after the kiss, a smile on his face. He's not looking towards anything at all, content to sit there. "For... everything. For understanding." Squeezing her lightly, his smile remains. "For being you. As I said... for everything."

Lydiere snuggles in, settled in the most comfortable place there is. "Oh. In that case, thank you, as well. Not, I suppose, that I even need bother to say it - I hope it shows, regardless." Another short kiss, and then she's content to settle there.