I have something to tell you (tag: Ari)

IC Time: 12th month, late-spring
IC Setting: Rider's quarters, early evening

For the third time Sashike started down the hallway and then stopped to turn around and walk back. She didn't know why she was so nervous, she shouldn't be, but she was. She'd been standing in this blasted hallway for probably fifteen minutes just trying to gain the courage to walk down to the other end. This wasn't like her at all. Sashike was the calm, collected type and not the type to be so scared of something. 'Delanth I'm so nervous. I don't know if I can do this.'

'Come now. Surely it is not that hard? You are a queen rider, you should show a bit more courage.' Delanth replied giving her some tough love.

'You're right.' Sashike said pulling together some courage. With that she finally walked all the way to the end of the hall to the quarters of the person she was needing to see. She softly knocked on the door and waiting for an answer.

Morganath had not really been sleeping in his weyr for the past few days; not since Delanth had Clutched their eggs. It amused M'urn endlessly, even though he'd grown to expect it. Do not laugh at me, Mine, Morganath interrupted, a little sad. Oh, dearest, you know I'm not laughing AT you. Just the way you behave about eggs, specifically your eggs, amuses me. The bronze lay above the entrance on the Hatching Sands on a ledge that was, for the most part, parallel to the ground. In response to his riders comment, he only harrumphed mentally and returned to sunning himself blithely.

There was a soft knock, one the young man barely heard above his own humming as he went around folding his laundry. He had barely any clean clothes that morning, an oversight that M'urn had been eager to alleviate by washing them in the thermal lake. Leaving them out on the ledge of his weyr, they were dried by the time he'd gotten back from an early supper. Now it seemed he had a visitor. Laying down his last two shirts on his bed, the bronzerider went to open the door.

When he caught sight of precisely who had come to call, M'urn stepped back and smiled a welcome. "Goldrider Sashike, do come in." He took a glance at his slightly messy weyr and winced inwardly. Shutting the door behind her he cleared off a chair for her and pulled it closer to his bed, where he took his own seat. "And to what do I owe this immense pleasure?" he asked, hoping that nothing was wrong that required her to seek him out.

'Be strong now. You can do it. I know you can.' Delanth said giving her more courage as she felt her rider's bravery begin to leave her. The gold would have come with her herself, but she couldn't leave her clutch.

Sashike gave her a silent thanks. "Thank you so much. Please, you can just call me Sashike." She said as she stepped into his weyr. She didn't care whether it was fully clean or not. M'urn politely pulled a chair out for her so she took a seat. Kazuma decided to pop in then and landed on Sashike's shoulder and chirped angrily at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said to M'urn about Kazuma's interruption. "I left him in my room asleep. He must have woke up and realized I was gone. I hope he doesn't bother you." Silently she thanked Kazuma for his interruption for it gave her the short distraction she needed to calm down. With the thanks she gave Kazuma calmed down and curled himself around her neck.

"Actually I have something I need to tell you. Something that maybe important." She stated, figuring it was best just to tell him and get it over with.

M'urn returned her smile genially. "Sashike it is then." She seemed quite nervous and not a bit troubled. Whatever was bothering her had to be important to the goldrider. The young man was slightly concerned by Sashike's behavior. He was about to ask if she was alright when a blue firelizard flashed in to his weyr. He sat back and watched the annoyed firelizard with intrigued blue eyes. He had never managed to get one himself, but then, most people didn't have one in his time. Firelizards were notoriously shy of people, as far as he was aware, though it seemed that in the past they were quite happy to be with human counterparts.

When Sashike tried to apologize for her flitter's behavior, he waved it away. "Don't worry about it, he's just as welcome here as you are," M'urn replied honestly. He always had wondered about the dragon-like creatures. "Now that he's rather calmed down, he looks like a unique piece of jewelry there about your neck." Keeping an eye on his guest, he wondered once again what was on her mind.

"I see," he replied, understanding clear in his voice. "What would this important thing be that you need to tell me?" M'urn was willing to wait for her to come around to telling him in her own time, no pressure needed. If it really was as important as she thought it was, she wouldn't back out of telling him.

Sashike laughed politely. Even though in the last year or more she had not been able to practice her arts she had not lost all her manners and training in the way of socializing. "He can be a bit difficult sometimes, but he is very lovely." She said feeling a bit calmer now.

She wasn't quite sure how to start this conversation. She didn't know hardly anything about this man except that he was from the future. So she didn't know how he would react to what she had to tell him. It was important to her, but what if it wasn't to him? All sorts of questions ran through her mind, some made her worry more than others. It felt as if there were ants in her pants and butterflies in her stomach both. So to try and alleviate the feel she got up and began pacing, Kazuma chirping a small protest for being jerked about.

"Well, I really don't know how to say this really. Which you have no idea how bad that makes me feel. I'm a geisha for goodness sake, I'm never suppose to be tongue tied or speechless. I'm sorry, I'm rambling, I shouldn't ramble." Sashike said wringing her hands together nervously. "I talked to a doctor today. You see I haven't been feeling the best lately so I decided to see if there was something wrong with me. There is in a way, but not a bad wrong. At least I hope it's not a bad wrong, it's not to me. Anyways I guess what I'm trying to tell you through all this rambling is that I'm pregnant. I just figured you probably should know about it."

There it was out in the open, but it would be a wonder if he even heard the news amongst all that rambling nonsense she had spoken. 'Way to tell him, love.' Delanth said a bit sarcastically, but with love none the less.

M'urn watched her, trying to grasp the meaning behind her nervous ramblings. And then she said it. He blinked, once, twice, three times. And then it hit him. The blinking and surprised expression continued. It wasn't that the bronzerider wasn't aware how babies were made or that fathering a child could very well be a result of Flights, but the women he'd flown before had either not conceived, or told him after betweening to be rid of the child. And now Sashike was telling him before doing anything else. He cleared his throat, trying to regain the proper way of thinking and speech.

M'urn opened his mouth, shut it, frowned, and then opened it again. "I, okay....Thank you." He figured that was the best way to start. He didn't want her to think this was something terrible. Children weren't generally terrible, it was just that he'd never been a father before. Goodness, he was going to be a father! "No, no, it's not a bad thing." A pause and then he went on, "It's natural, completely." In his head, M'urn was screaming, dancing, and utterly flabbergasted. He was twenty-four Turns, but was he really ready to be a father? His own father hadn't truly done much fathering besides looking in on him at the Creche every once in a while, but M'urn had the feeling that things like this were handled differently here, in this time.

Morganath's attention piqued at the sensations he was getting from his M'urn. Sitting up, the bronze stared austerely across the bowl to where his weyr was. What is this about a baby, Mine? The young man gave his dragon an offhanded reply. Sashike just told me she's pregnant. If Morganath had eye brows they would have shot up towards his head knobs. As it was, he peered down into the Hatching Cavern to catch a glimpse of golden Delanth and their eggs. Did you know about Yours's pregnancy? Why did you not tell me she was coming to see Mine today?

Rubbing at the back of his neck, M'urn's free hand twitched in his lap. He tried to give Sashike a reassuring smile but wasn't sure it came out as more than nervous and at a loss of what to do. "What do you think you will do?" He didn't mean for the question to come off as distancing or uncaring, just curious. He hoped she wasn't upset with him.

'Of course I knew. You think my own rider would keep something like that from me? Please. I didn't tell you because she was nervous enough as it was. She didn't need others knowing about it until she was ready. Man or dragon.' Delanth replied, though she acted as if she shouldn't have to explain herself to a bronze. The fact that she did explain showed how much she actually respected him.

Sashike stared in fretful silence as M'urn seemed to be at a lost for words. She was a bit taken aback as he thanked her for it, but then she realized that he was thanking her for telling him, not the actual pregnancy itself. Or at least she hoped that's what it was. He didn't seem upset at least. Kazuma chirped softly and Sashike gave him a small pat.

"Um..what do you mean? What am I going to do? Do the female riders in your time not have children?" She asked a bit confused by his question. She never thought about the riders aborting the unwanted babies they got pregnant with. Abortion was something that was severely frowned upon in her family she would never consider it. "I know we aren't friends even, we just had the one time..encounter. I just thought you should know about it. It's up to you how involved you want to be with the child." She said, hoping she wasn't sounding too cold. She always thought she'd be telling her husband or at least lover about their child to be, not a complete stranger.

Morganath harrumphed and settled back down to his ledge above the cavern, tail swaying idly back and forth. He accepted Delanth's answer, but still felt she could have told him that Hers was going to pay His a visit today. I could have at least warned Mine to expect a visit from Yours. Still, could-have-beens would not change how things were going now and M'urn maintained his equilibrium so far.

M'urn looked at her confused when she asked about female riders not having babies. In the first place, there were very few female riders in his time and Lerato was the only one in their Weyr. "Well, we don't exactly have very many female riders on fighting dragons to begin with. But taking a trip between is how the weyrfolk women abort unwanted babies. They'll ask a rider friend to do them the favor, or the father of the child if he's willing to help." His brow furrowed, as far as he was aware the goldriders he'd had encounters with had either not gotten pregnant or aborted the baby before their dragons were too egg-heavy to take a trip between.

M'urn ruffled his black hair. It sounded like she was a bit upset and he wasn't sure why. "I know. It's up to you how involved you want me to be, really. I know I'm not a weyrmate to you, but, well, it'll be my first child, too." Part of the bronzerider's mind was deep in thought. Things were so different here and from what he knew of Sashike, she would raise the child her self, not give it up to the creche when it was old enough. M'urn had grown up a weyrbrat; he didn't remember the time he spent with his own mother and felt that the Lower Caverns folk were his real parents, the ones who had raised him.

'Oh please, bronze one. Do not sound so offended. If yours did not wish mine to know something you would not tell me. It is the way of us dragons. If it had been something more serious I would have mentioned something.' Delanth said sensing the hurt in Morganath.

Sashike was even more curious now. "Really? The greens don't impress to women in your time. That's rather odd isn't it? I mean they seem to predominantly choose women now." She said veering off subject for a moment. "They abort the children? That's awful." She said a bit horrified. "I can promise I'm not going to do that. I was raised to cherish all life."

"I want you to be as involved as you want to be. I'm a rider first and for most, I know that. A part of it saddens me to know that I won't be able to raise this child solely on my own, but I am going to have as much to do with it as possible. " Sashike answered him. She wasn't going to force him into anything he didn't want, but the fact that this was his first child as well gave some hope that her baby might have a chance to know both his parents. She would like that a lot. "If it's a girl I do plan to teach her my arts. That's the one thing I promised my mother."