Cave Geeks II, Chapter 33
Title: Clan of the Cave Geeks Book II: The Warrior of Honor
Author: Taylor Dancinghands: taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters/Pairings: Zelenka/McKay, Beckett/Lorne, and eventually Sheppard/Weir, plus: Teyla, Ronon, Stackhouse, Markham, Miller, Kavanagh, Cadman, Halling, and Jinto, and a big ol’ pile of OCs
Category: slash, drama, action/adventure, h/c, AU
Warnings: Sloppy Paleolithic history, anachronistic technological leaps and funnied up names.
Rating: NC-17, explicit M/M and eventually M/F sex depictions!
Summary: So what does a bonafide genius do in an era of stone knives and bear skins?
Spoilers/Season: none
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, never will, not claiming to. Just wanna play with 'em a little. Can't I, can't I, huh?
Beta:Many thanks to my most worthy betareader
smingus for her encouragement and feedback. We loves our betareaders we does.
AN: Okay, I said I'd have this wrapped up by chapter 33, and, as is too often the case, I lied. It *seems* like I might be able to really finish this up in ch 34. Fingers are crossed.
Chapter 33
Rodne woke to the sound of rain on the roof, and voices speaking softly nearby. He was warm, wonderfully comfortable, and he had a pleasantly warm and slightly heavy R'dek curled into his side, his head resting on his shoulder. This was Rodne's favorite way to wake up, enjoying the sound of the rain even if it did mean that there would be no stargazing that night. It was only when he identified the voices, and remembered everything about the night before, that he felt a little blush of embarrassment.
"I really don't mind going to get breakfast, love," Caresn was saying when Rodne finally woke enough to track what was being said.
"Every morning?" Loren asked, his tone a mixture of sorrow and frustration. "Because this is never going to get better, and there are some things I'm never going to be able to carry one handed."
"Ye'll find other ways to make up for it love," Caresn replied. "Just because ye don't know what they are yet doesn't mean it won't happen."
Now Rodne was wide awake, and he could feel R'dek waking beside him, uncurling and yawning loudly enough to attract Loren and Caresn's attention.
"Actually," Rodne said when both of them looked their way, "we may have something for that."
Aberam was just finishing up when the four of them appeared at his hut after breakfast that morning. He stepped out into the chilly drizzle to greet them, holding the finished masterpiece of leatherwork in his hands. "Who gets it first?" he asked. "The designer or the wearer?"
"May I have a look at it?" R'dek asked. "I am quite certain you have done it perfectly, I am only curious to see how my designs have been realized."
"Our designs, you mean," Rodne preempted as Aberam passed the boot over to R'dek. Rodne crowded close to get a good look himself, standing shoulder to shoulder with R'dek as he turned the completed boot over slowly in his hands. The bracing and cross bracing they'd specified had all been carried out perfectly, the carefully carved yew struts sewn into sturdily crafted leather sleeves, and the heavy buffalo hide he'd used for main parts of the boot was all but flawless. "Not bad," Rodne offered.
"I made a mate, in the more conventional manner," Aberam said, offering a second boot to Loren, "so you'd have something like a matched set."
"Wow," Loren said, looking a little overwhelmed. "That's, um... that's some serious boot."
"Well, I do like to make my work to last," Aberam said as R'dek passed the special boot up to Loren.
"This..." R'dek began, "well, I have never designed anything like it, so I cannot make any guarantees, but it was my hope, our hope, that you might be able to walk, while wearing this boot, without the assistance of a crutch."
"Damn," said Loren, handing the first boot over to Caresn in order to closely examine the second. "I guess if anything would work for that, this would." He took in the various straps and supports, his expression tentatively hopeful. "Guess there's nothing to do but try it, eh?"
Loren seated himself on one of the big stumps in front of Aberam's hut that he sometimes used for a work table, and put on the right boot first, flexing it experimentally once it was on. "It's a good fit," Loren said approvingly.
"Well, I've made boots for you before, Master Hunter," Aberam said with a pleased smile.
"I suppose you have," Loren said, looking down a little uncertainly as Caresn unwrapped the bandages and supports around Loren's left foot. Together he and R'dek eased the injured foot into the new boot, and then Loren listened attentively as R'dek showed him the various fastenings and how to adjust them. Rodne stood back to let them do this, knowing R'dek to be much better -which is to say, much more patient- with explaining things to people. Also, the designs had mostly been his.
"Well alright," Loren said once all the adjustments had been made to everyone's satisfaction. "Let's, ah, give this a try." He drew a deep breath then, steadying himself on Caresn's and R'dek's shoulders, and pushed himself up off the stump. He stood for a moment, getting his balance, then let go of his two supporters, drawing another, more relieved breath when he found himself able to balance easily.
"So far, so good," he said, shrugging his shoulders to relax himself further. R'dek stepped over to Rodne's side now and Rodne could feel his nervous tension, fingers clutching at one another as they waited for Loren to hazard his first step. Careson bit his lip anxiously as well.
"Take all the time you need, love," he tried to reassure Loren. "There's no rush."
"No point to waiting, either," Loren replied, then carefully lifted his left foot, moving it forward a half a pace and setting it down. He let his weight rest on it for a heartbeat, then took another quick stride forward with his good foot. No one said a word as the five of them exchanged hopeful glances, then Loren took another handful of halting steps. His gait was uneven, of course, but when Loren looked back at all of them, gazing over the distance he'd crossed without the assistance of a crutch, he was beaming.
"Damn..." he said, all but speechless in astonishment. "It really works... I can walk... I can actually fucking walk again!" He limped the handful of steps back to Caresn then, growing more confident with every step, and wrapped the man in an ecstatic embrace. Rodne could not help but grin himself at Caresn's joyful laugh, or the surprised yelp that R'dek gave when Loren crossed to him and enveloped the toolmaker in another crushing hug.
Loren even had a hug for Rodne, acknowledging his hand in the design of his supportive boot. "I take back every time I might have implied that you weren't a complete genius," he said as Rodne blushed and spluttered a reply.
"I owe you... all of you, more than I can ever repay," Loren continued, returning to Caresn's side as he regarded his circle of friends. "I knew this injury would change my life, and nothing could change it back, but you... you have changed it again, into a life I know I can live with dignity and there's... there's just no words for what that means to me."
Aberam shrugged. "Well, I've been paid well for my time and materials," he said with a smile. "And it's been my pleasure all the same. You don't owe me a thing, Master Hunter."
"You have my thanks, at least, Aberam," Loren replied to the leather worker, "but you guys," he gestured toward Rodne and R'dek, "I can't begin..." Rodne cut him off with a dismissive gesture.
"And do you think you should be owed anything for saving Shef'hred's life yesterday?" Rodne asked, "not to mention standing up for me the way you did." The drizzle was starting soak into his clothes and he shivered, stepping closer to R'dek for warmth.
"You're... you're a good man, Loren, and... and a good friend," Rodne continued, almost surprised at his own words, though they were undoubtedly true. "R'dek and I... we saw a way to make things better and so we did. It's what we do."
"I'm starting to get that," Loren said as Caresn wrapped an arm around his waist to pull him close. "And if nothing else, I'll do what I can to see that other people here understand that too."
The two of them decided to pay a visit to Li'bet and Shef'hred after that, and so bid farewell to Rodne and R'dek for now. Rodne crossed his arms over his chest as he watched them go, grinning with satisfaction. "So," he said, turning to R'dek. "I believe our work here is done."
"I believe you are correct," R'dek replied, every bit as satisfied. "We should have no difficulty packing up the rest of our things so that we may be ready to leave tomorrow morning, first thing."
Of course, they hadn't come with much, Rodne reflected, but they'd managed to acquire quite a bit in the time they'd spent in Lakeside. R'dek had his new rabbit fur blanket, and over the last few days Rodne himself had been very mindful of the coming winter. To that end he'd made a number of trades for food and other supplies that he'd be able to collect today. He and R'dek would be carrying heavily laden packs on their journey home, but they were both fit enough for it, and they'd be happy for every last crumb they carried with them, in the long, cold months to come.
It seemed that word of their impending departure had gotten around Lakeside and people started dropping by with the goods they owed Rodne and R'dek at about the time that the two men got back to Caresn's hut. Meera came with a basket full of dried fish and a promise of firewood that Yinte would deliver sometime before the next full moon, and Sitakahus came with Marak'm and a basket full of random trade goods he'd acquired in his last trip. R'dek spent most of their mid day meal with the two men, settling accounts between them and planning their next voyage.
Rodne, for his part, spent his afternoon repast with Dirneer and N'lara, with whom he'd done a lengthy consultation about auspicious times to start a family. He left this meeting with two large bags of dried fruits and vegetables, and two big blocks of smoked goat cheese, and feeling very pleased with life indeed. He felt even more pleased when Kadam dropped by, bearing a bag of dried forest mushrooms and, seeing as R'dek had stepped away to take down the hides they'd used as a shelter, samples of some of the pelts she'd just cured, that were to go into R'dek's midwinters gift.
The drizzle had let up by the time their respective mid day meals were done, and after Kadam had gone, Rodne went to join R'dek in taking down their shelter and returning the mostly dry hides to Aberam. They found Li'bet there, along with Teleya and Fenilly, who asked Rodne and R'dek if they couldn't travel with them a little ways tomorrow morning.
"R'non and I have decided to make our home in Lakeside," Teleya said with a smile, "for as long as Lakeside remains the place where the tide of the Raiders may be turned back. You may recall, however, that I pledged myself to aid the women of Twin Groves when I first heard the tale of their sorrows, and so I am going to travel back with Fenilly, and do what I can there for a moon or two."
"Where, if I may ask," R'dek began curiously, "will you be staying once you return to Lakeside?" It was a reasonable question, Rodne reflected, seeing as winter was coming and there was no housing for unattached women in the village.
"I do not mind your asking, Toolmaker," Teleya answered agreeably, "and it is with Kadam that I will be staying. She and I have become good friends since I came here, and I believe R'non is planning on staying in the bachelor's lodge for the winter. It is my thought, however, that he has not failed to notice Kimma's attentions, nor are they unwelcome, so it may be that R'non will soon be starting a household of his own here."
"Oh, that would be wonderful," Li'bet said with a wide smile. "And I am more than pleased to have you become part of our village. In fact, I would like to invite all of you to join me for dinner tonight, in my hut, to welcome our new Lakesiders, and to say farewell to our most treasured guests."
That, of course, really was a no-brainer, and Rodne and R'dek both accepted enthusiastically. It was only a little while later, when they had gone back to their campsite beneath the wingseed tree to do a last clean up, that they learned what was to be the main course.
Rodne supposed that the residents of Lakeside would soon become used to the sound of horses coming into the village, but to him it still seemed an odd sound, and a little startling. He and R'dek both looked up sharply, therefore, at the sound of approaching hoofbeats, but were pleasantly surprised to see Shef'hred and -more surprising still- Loren, mounted respectively on Jumper, and a sandy brown mare with one white foot, introduced to them as 'One Sock'. Serendipitously, the mare's odd colored foot was on the left as well, making her a perfect match for Loren.
The hunter was also carrying his new longbow, and grinned ecstatically as he held up the brace of waterfowl he'd obviously just used it to acquire.
"Well done, Master Hunter," R'dek said, his own grin matching Loren's. "I am most pleased to see my work put to its proper purpose at last, and that you are clearly mastering it."
"It might be more accurate to say that this bow has mastered me," Loren said with a laugh. "It all but entices the game to fall in to my open hands."
"Don't let him fool you," Shef'hred said, seeming just as pleased. "He handles that thing like a pro, and he handles old One Sock there like he was born in the saddle. You sure he doesn't have some raider blood in him?"
"You impugning the virtue of my foremothers?" Loren asked archly, looking as though he might threaten Shef'hred with a dead goose.
"No, no," Shef'hred back-peddled instantly, holding both his hands up in surrender. "Absolutely not. Never entered my mind."
"Well, good," Loren said, "because you might take a little credit at least for finding me the most obliging horse ever born."
Shef'hred laughed at that. "Well I wasn't going to put you on Spark," he said, "but 'obliging' just isn't the word I'd use for any of these beasts."
"No, you know who should get Spark," Rodne said, struck suddenly by an odd idea, and thinking of the stallion's unique color. "Kadam, that's who. Her hair is almost the same color... and she won't put up with any kind of nonsense from him."
"You know, he may have a point," Loren concurred. "I think the temperament and the hair color may go together."
Rodne grimaced at Loren, then stepped close to Shef'hred's mount, cupping one hand by his mouth to whisper loudly up to him. "He says that now," Rodne remarked conspiratorially, "but if you ever let Kadam hear you say that she will have little bits of you for bait in her traps."
"Thanks for the heads up," Shef'hred said with a laugh. "And now if we want these birds cooked in time for our dinner, we need to take 'em over to Li'bet, yes?"
Loren agreed, and the two of them urged their mounts forward, making their way through the village to the headwoman's hut. Rodne watched them go, thinking how much things were changing, mainly for the better, right before his eyes. R'dek's smile, as he watched along side him, said much the same thing.
"We have come to live in remarkable times, my friend," he said. "Very wonderful, remarkable times."
Rodne could not agree more.
Dinner was just as fine as anyone could have wish, both in the quality and quantity of food, and the very fine quality of the company. It was crowded in Li'bet's hut with R'dek and Rodne, Li'bet and Shef'hred, R'non and Teleya, Loren and Caresn and Fenilly, but there was room enough and the sheer number of bodies kept the place quite warm, in spite of the autumnal chill outside.
The birds were roasted to perfection, cooked with wild onions and garlic and stuffed with rice and dried fruit. There were fresh greens and cooked ones as well as herbed bread and roasted apples for dessert and everyone ate their fill. After the meal there was tea and a little of R'dek's lighting water (and tea with lightning water in it, which immediately became Rodne's favorite way to enjoy the potent beverage) and more pleasant conversation, which Rodne enjoyed as much as the meal.
Still, when he reflected that he was soon to be leaving all this behind, Rodne found himself not so much dreading the loss of it, as storing it all up in his mind, to provide comfort and sustenance in the long winter to come, along with the smoked goat cheese and the dried fruit he would be carrying with him tomorrow morning. The memories of this pleasant evening would certainly weigh a great deal less, but would provide their own quality of nourishment, and would keep the loneliness at bay until midwinters, when they would come together again.
Loneliness, of course, had never trouble Rodne much in the past, as he had always cherished his solitude, and had never recognized his own loneliness until R'dek had come into his life. He had never thought to know the pleasures of friends or family either, until recently, but the events of the last few moons had brought those things to Rodne, much to his astonishment.
Those events had changed not only Rodne's life, of course, but those of everyone in Lakeside as well. The whole world, as they knew it, would seem to have changed, but now, as Li'bet's guests began to feel the lateness of the hour and prepared to depart, Rodne had the satisfaction of knowing that those things which lay at his core had not changed.
The night stars, though they shone in a cold, dark sky, countless leagues distant, still greeted him as friends when he stepped outside. Though the light shining from Li'bet's doorway beckoned warmly, it was not regret that Rodne felt as he stepped away, but longing for a place too distance for his eyes to reach, where the lights were fewer, and the voices those of night insects and other wild things only. Of course, there was one other voice he was altogether pleased to hear among those wild ones in his mountain solitude, and Rodne wrapped his arm affectionately around the slight form of the owner of that voice, pulling him close to keep him from the cold.
"Ready to go home, lover?" he asked, seeing R'dek's eyes drawn to the same distant spot as his had been.
"That I am, beloved," R'dek said softly, tilting his head to meet Rodne's lips briefly with his own. It was just then that more light spilled forth from Li'bet's door as Caresn and Loren bundled out into the chill night air.
"Pleasant night to you all," Li'bet said as they turned to depart, their breaths clouding around them, "and I will see you all in the morning." Rodne thought he might have been imagining the sudden haunted look in Caresn's eyes at Li'bet's last words, but Loren seemed to have seen it too, for he lifted a hand to the healer's arm and turned him to meet his eyes.
"What is it?" he asked, intent. "Those... it is the same words I spoke which wounded you before, is it not?"
Caresn shook himself, then pulled Loren close and began walking back toward his hut. "It is and it isn't," he said, "but it's a tale I've promised you some time back, and not such a long one. Let's head home and when we've settle for bed I'll share the whole of it."
****
Ha ha, got you for one last little cliffhanger. And now: Carson's Tale.
Author: Taylor Dancinghands: taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters/Pairings: Zelenka/McKay, Beckett/Lorne, and eventually Sheppard/Weir, plus: Teyla, Ronon, Stackhouse, Markham, Miller, Kavanagh, Cadman, Halling, and Jinto, and a big ol’ pile of OCs
Category: slash, drama, action/adventure, h/c, AU
Warnings: Sloppy Paleolithic history, anachronistic technological leaps and funnied up names.
Rating: NC-17, explicit M/M and eventually M/F sex depictions!
Summary: So what does a bonafide genius do in an era of stone knives and bear skins?
Spoilers/Season: none
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, never will, not claiming to. Just wanna play with 'em a little. Can't I, can't I, huh?
Beta:Many thanks to my most worthy betareader
smingus for her encouragement and feedback. We loves our betareaders we does.AN: Okay, I said I'd have this wrapped up by chapter 33, and, as is too often the case, I lied. It *seems* like I might be able to really finish this up in ch 34. Fingers are crossed.
Chapter 33
Rodne woke to the sound of rain on the roof, and voices speaking softly nearby. He was warm, wonderfully comfortable, and he had a pleasantly warm and slightly heavy R'dek curled into his side, his head resting on his shoulder. This was Rodne's favorite way to wake up, enjoying the sound of the rain even if it did mean that there would be no stargazing that night. It was only when he identified the voices, and remembered everything about the night before, that he felt a little blush of embarrassment.
"I really don't mind going to get breakfast, love," Caresn was saying when Rodne finally woke enough to track what was being said.
"Every morning?" Loren asked, his tone a mixture of sorrow and frustration. "Because this is never going to get better, and there are some things I'm never going to be able to carry one handed."
"Ye'll find other ways to make up for it love," Caresn replied. "Just because ye don't know what they are yet doesn't mean it won't happen."
Now Rodne was wide awake, and he could feel R'dek waking beside him, uncurling and yawning loudly enough to attract Loren and Caresn's attention.
"Actually," Rodne said when both of them looked their way, "we may have something for that."
Aberam was just finishing up when the four of them appeared at his hut after breakfast that morning. He stepped out into the chilly drizzle to greet them, holding the finished masterpiece of leatherwork in his hands. "Who gets it first?" he asked. "The designer or the wearer?"
"May I have a look at it?" R'dek asked. "I am quite certain you have done it perfectly, I am only curious to see how my designs have been realized."
"Our designs, you mean," Rodne preempted as Aberam passed the boot over to R'dek. Rodne crowded close to get a good look himself, standing shoulder to shoulder with R'dek as he turned the completed boot over slowly in his hands. The bracing and cross bracing they'd specified had all been carried out perfectly, the carefully carved yew struts sewn into sturdily crafted leather sleeves, and the heavy buffalo hide he'd used for main parts of the boot was all but flawless. "Not bad," Rodne offered.
"I made a mate, in the more conventional manner," Aberam said, offering a second boot to Loren, "so you'd have something like a matched set."
"Wow," Loren said, looking a little overwhelmed. "That's, um... that's some serious boot."
"Well, I do like to make my work to last," Aberam said as R'dek passed the special boot up to Loren.
"This..." R'dek began, "well, I have never designed anything like it, so I cannot make any guarantees, but it was my hope, our hope, that you might be able to walk, while wearing this boot, without the assistance of a crutch."
"Damn," said Loren, handing the first boot over to Caresn in order to closely examine the second. "I guess if anything would work for that, this would." He took in the various straps and supports, his expression tentatively hopeful. "Guess there's nothing to do but try it, eh?"
Loren seated himself on one of the big stumps in front of Aberam's hut that he sometimes used for a work table, and put on the right boot first, flexing it experimentally once it was on. "It's a good fit," Loren said approvingly.
"Well, I've made boots for you before, Master Hunter," Aberam said with a pleased smile.
"I suppose you have," Loren said, looking down a little uncertainly as Caresn unwrapped the bandages and supports around Loren's left foot. Together he and R'dek eased the injured foot into the new boot, and then Loren listened attentively as R'dek showed him the various fastenings and how to adjust them. Rodne stood back to let them do this, knowing R'dek to be much better -which is to say, much more patient- with explaining things to people. Also, the designs had mostly been his.
"Well alright," Loren said once all the adjustments had been made to everyone's satisfaction. "Let's, ah, give this a try." He drew a deep breath then, steadying himself on Caresn's and R'dek's shoulders, and pushed himself up off the stump. He stood for a moment, getting his balance, then let go of his two supporters, drawing another, more relieved breath when he found himself able to balance easily.
"So far, so good," he said, shrugging his shoulders to relax himself further. R'dek stepped over to Rodne's side now and Rodne could feel his nervous tension, fingers clutching at one another as they waited for Loren to hazard his first step. Careson bit his lip anxiously as well.
"Take all the time you need, love," he tried to reassure Loren. "There's no rush."
"No point to waiting, either," Loren replied, then carefully lifted his left foot, moving it forward a half a pace and setting it down. He let his weight rest on it for a heartbeat, then took another quick stride forward with his good foot. No one said a word as the five of them exchanged hopeful glances, then Loren took another handful of halting steps. His gait was uneven, of course, but when Loren looked back at all of them, gazing over the distance he'd crossed without the assistance of a crutch, he was beaming.
"Damn..." he said, all but speechless in astonishment. "It really works... I can walk... I can actually fucking walk again!" He limped the handful of steps back to Caresn then, growing more confident with every step, and wrapped the man in an ecstatic embrace. Rodne could not help but grin himself at Caresn's joyful laugh, or the surprised yelp that R'dek gave when Loren crossed to him and enveloped the toolmaker in another crushing hug.
Loren even had a hug for Rodne, acknowledging his hand in the design of his supportive boot. "I take back every time I might have implied that you weren't a complete genius," he said as Rodne blushed and spluttered a reply.
"I owe you... all of you, more than I can ever repay," Loren continued, returning to Caresn's side as he regarded his circle of friends. "I knew this injury would change my life, and nothing could change it back, but you... you have changed it again, into a life I know I can live with dignity and there's... there's just no words for what that means to me."
Aberam shrugged. "Well, I've been paid well for my time and materials," he said with a smile. "And it's been my pleasure all the same. You don't owe me a thing, Master Hunter."
"You have my thanks, at least, Aberam," Loren replied to the leather worker, "but you guys," he gestured toward Rodne and R'dek, "I can't begin..." Rodne cut him off with a dismissive gesture.
"And do you think you should be owed anything for saving Shef'hred's life yesterday?" Rodne asked, "not to mention standing up for me the way you did." The drizzle was starting soak into his clothes and he shivered, stepping closer to R'dek for warmth.
"You're... you're a good man, Loren, and... and a good friend," Rodne continued, almost surprised at his own words, though they were undoubtedly true. "R'dek and I... we saw a way to make things better and so we did. It's what we do."
"I'm starting to get that," Loren said as Caresn wrapped an arm around his waist to pull him close. "And if nothing else, I'll do what I can to see that other people here understand that too."
The two of them decided to pay a visit to Li'bet and Shef'hred after that, and so bid farewell to Rodne and R'dek for now. Rodne crossed his arms over his chest as he watched them go, grinning with satisfaction. "So," he said, turning to R'dek. "I believe our work here is done."
"I believe you are correct," R'dek replied, every bit as satisfied. "We should have no difficulty packing up the rest of our things so that we may be ready to leave tomorrow morning, first thing."
Of course, they hadn't come with much, Rodne reflected, but they'd managed to acquire quite a bit in the time they'd spent in Lakeside. R'dek had his new rabbit fur blanket, and over the last few days Rodne himself had been very mindful of the coming winter. To that end he'd made a number of trades for food and other supplies that he'd be able to collect today. He and R'dek would be carrying heavily laden packs on their journey home, but they were both fit enough for it, and they'd be happy for every last crumb they carried with them, in the long, cold months to come.
It seemed that word of their impending departure had gotten around Lakeside and people started dropping by with the goods they owed Rodne and R'dek at about the time that the two men got back to Caresn's hut. Meera came with a basket full of dried fish and a promise of firewood that Yinte would deliver sometime before the next full moon, and Sitakahus came with Marak'm and a basket full of random trade goods he'd acquired in his last trip. R'dek spent most of their mid day meal with the two men, settling accounts between them and planning their next voyage.
Rodne, for his part, spent his afternoon repast with Dirneer and N'lara, with whom he'd done a lengthy consultation about auspicious times to start a family. He left this meeting with two large bags of dried fruits and vegetables, and two big blocks of smoked goat cheese, and feeling very pleased with life indeed. He felt even more pleased when Kadam dropped by, bearing a bag of dried forest mushrooms and, seeing as R'dek had stepped away to take down the hides they'd used as a shelter, samples of some of the pelts she'd just cured, that were to go into R'dek's midwinters gift.
The drizzle had let up by the time their respective mid day meals were done, and after Kadam had gone, Rodne went to join R'dek in taking down their shelter and returning the mostly dry hides to Aberam. They found Li'bet there, along with Teleya and Fenilly, who asked Rodne and R'dek if they couldn't travel with them a little ways tomorrow morning.
"R'non and I have decided to make our home in Lakeside," Teleya said with a smile, "for as long as Lakeside remains the place where the tide of the Raiders may be turned back. You may recall, however, that I pledged myself to aid the women of Twin Groves when I first heard the tale of their sorrows, and so I am going to travel back with Fenilly, and do what I can there for a moon or two."
"Where, if I may ask," R'dek began curiously, "will you be staying once you return to Lakeside?" It was a reasonable question, Rodne reflected, seeing as winter was coming and there was no housing for unattached women in the village.
"I do not mind your asking, Toolmaker," Teleya answered agreeably, "and it is with Kadam that I will be staying. She and I have become good friends since I came here, and I believe R'non is planning on staying in the bachelor's lodge for the winter. It is my thought, however, that he has not failed to notice Kimma's attentions, nor are they unwelcome, so it may be that R'non will soon be starting a household of his own here."
"Oh, that would be wonderful," Li'bet said with a wide smile. "And I am more than pleased to have you become part of our village. In fact, I would like to invite all of you to join me for dinner tonight, in my hut, to welcome our new Lakesiders, and to say farewell to our most treasured guests."
That, of course, really was a no-brainer, and Rodne and R'dek both accepted enthusiastically. It was only a little while later, when they had gone back to their campsite beneath the wingseed tree to do a last clean up, that they learned what was to be the main course.
Rodne supposed that the residents of Lakeside would soon become used to the sound of horses coming into the village, but to him it still seemed an odd sound, and a little startling. He and R'dek both looked up sharply, therefore, at the sound of approaching hoofbeats, but were pleasantly surprised to see Shef'hred and -more surprising still- Loren, mounted respectively on Jumper, and a sandy brown mare with one white foot, introduced to them as 'One Sock'. Serendipitously, the mare's odd colored foot was on the left as well, making her a perfect match for Loren.
The hunter was also carrying his new longbow, and grinned ecstatically as he held up the brace of waterfowl he'd obviously just used it to acquire.
"Well done, Master Hunter," R'dek said, his own grin matching Loren's. "I am most pleased to see my work put to its proper purpose at last, and that you are clearly mastering it."
"It might be more accurate to say that this bow has mastered me," Loren said with a laugh. "It all but entices the game to fall in to my open hands."
"Don't let him fool you," Shef'hred said, seeming just as pleased. "He handles that thing like a pro, and he handles old One Sock there like he was born in the saddle. You sure he doesn't have some raider blood in him?"
"You impugning the virtue of my foremothers?" Loren asked archly, looking as though he might threaten Shef'hred with a dead goose.
"No, no," Shef'hred back-peddled instantly, holding both his hands up in surrender. "Absolutely not. Never entered my mind."
"Well, good," Loren said, "because you might take a little credit at least for finding me the most obliging horse ever born."
Shef'hred laughed at that. "Well I wasn't going to put you on Spark," he said, "but 'obliging' just isn't the word I'd use for any of these beasts."
"No, you know who should get Spark," Rodne said, struck suddenly by an odd idea, and thinking of the stallion's unique color. "Kadam, that's who. Her hair is almost the same color... and she won't put up with any kind of nonsense from him."
"You know, he may have a point," Loren concurred. "I think the temperament and the hair color may go together."
Rodne grimaced at Loren, then stepped close to Shef'hred's mount, cupping one hand by his mouth to whisper loudly up to him. "He says that now," Rodne remarked conspiratorially, "but if you ever let Kadam hear you say that she will have little bits of you for bait in her traps."
"Thanks for the heads up," Shef'hred said with a laugh. "And now if we want these birds cooked in time for our dinner, we need to take 'em over to Li'bet, yes?"
Loren agreed, and the two of them urged their mounts forward, making their way through the village to the headwoman's hut. Rodne watched them go, thinking how much things were changing, mainly for the better, right before his eyes. R'dek's smile, as he watched along side him, said much the same thing.
"We have come to live in remarkable times, my friend," he said. "Very wonderful, remarkable times."
Rodne could not agree more.
Dinner was just as fine as anyone could have wish, both in the quality and quantity of food, and the very fine quality of the company. It was crowded in Li'bet's hut with R'dek and Rodne, Li'bet and Shef'hred, R'non and Teleya, Loren and Caresn and Fenilly, but there was room enough and the sheer number of bodies kept the place quite warm, in spite of the autumnal chill outside.
The birds were roasted to perfection, cooked with wild onions and garlic and stuffed with rice and dried fruit. There were fresh greens and cooked ones as well as herbed bread and roasted apples for dessert and everyone ate their fill. After the meal there was tea and a little of R'dek's lighting water (and tea with lightning water in it, which immediately became Rodne's favorite way to enjoy the potent beverage) and more pleasant conversation, which Rodne enjoyed as much as the meal.
Still, when he reflected that he was soon to be leaving all this behind, Rodne found himself not so much dreading the loss of it, as storing it all up in his mind, to provide comfort and sustenance in the long winter to come, along with the smoked goat cheese and the dried fruit he would be carrying with him tomorrow morning. The memories of this pleasant evening would certainly weigh a great deal less, but would provide their own quality of nourishment, and would keep the loneliness at bay until midwinters, when they would come together again.
Loneliness, of course, had never trouble Rodne much in the past, as he had always cherished his solitude, and had never recognized his own loneliness until R'dek had come into his life. He had never thought to know the pleasures of friends or family either, until recently, but the events of the last few moons had brought those things to Rodne, much to his astonishment.
Those events had changed not only Rodne's life, of course, but those of everyone in Lakeside as well. The whole world, as they knew it, would seem to have changed, but now, as Li'bet's guests began to feel the lateness of the hour and prepared to depart, Rodne had the satisfaction of knowing that those things which lay at his core had not changed.
The night stars, though they shone in a cold, dark sky, countless leagues distant, still greeted him as friends when he stepped outside. Though the light shining from Li'bet's doorway beckoned warmly, it was not regret that Rodne felt as he stepped away, but longing for a place too distance for his eyes to reach, where the lights were fewer, and the voices those of night insects and other wild things only. Of course, there was one other voice he was altogether pleased to hear among those wild ones in his mountain solitude, and Rodne wrapped his arm affectionately around the slight form of the owner of that voice, pulling him close to keep him from the cold.
"Ready to go home, lover?" he asked, seeing R'dek's eyes drawn to the same distant spot as his had been.
"That I am, beloved," R'dek said softly, tilting his head to meet Rodne's lips briefly with his own. It was just then that more light spilled forth from Li'bet's door as Caresn and Loren bundled out into the chill night air.
"Pleasant night to you all," Li'bet said as they turned to depart, their breaths clouding around them, "and I will see you all in the morning." Rodne thought he might have been imagining the sudden haunted look in Caresn's eyes at Li'bet's last words, but Loren seemed to have seen it too, for he lifted a hand to the healer's arm and turned him to meet his eyes.
"What is it?" he asked, intent. "Those... it is the same words I spoke which wounded you before, is it not?"
Caresn shook himself, then pulled Loren close and began walking back toward his hut. "It is and it isn't," he said, "but it's a tale I've promised you some time back, and not such a long one. Let's head home and when we've settle for bed I'll share the whole of it."
****
Ha ha, got you for one last little cliffhanger. And now: Carson's Tale.