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The sun was almost set now, the moons already fat and large in the sky. Gibbous, distinctly gibbous. With a sleepy baby dragon and tired himself Aleck had set off for the barracks a few minutes ago leaving Bereck alone outside his weyr, along of course except for Berath and a few firelizards. The big green was lying in the grass with her forepaws out in front of her; Bereck was sitting on one of them with his legs stretched out, watching the orange glow fade from the sky.

He felt good today. He had been dreading the date last night but it had turned out to be a fun day; far too long since he'd had a full day with Aleck to just do whatever came to mind. Mostly they'd just sat around and talked, with plenty of input from Bel of course. Once the pair found their feet he was sure the boisterous blue would be good for Aleck, stop him getting walked all over or ignored.

A good day then, which wasn't yet over by a long shot. Alina ought to be awake soon if she wasn't already and she had promised that she would come and find him here as soon as she could. What could be better than a full day with the two people he loved most? He was glad he had been persuaded by various factions to take the day off.



Bereck looked up at the green, and then the light dawned. "You don't count, you're always there."

Berath's eyes sparkled brighter blue and she dipped her huge head to touch her rider's cheek with her muzzle.

"See! Exactly." There was no need to worry about Berath's feelings in this sort of thing; everything was understood. The recent incident that had hurt Berath had actually turned out perfectly. Her own hatchlings; he had never felt his bondmate happier than she had been since the three of them had adopted her.



Well there was the fact that though he was much improved he still wasn't what he had been, and he never would be, and was still in pain, still didn't have his position, still wasn't a fan of the weather here-

But that was enough of that. He closed the thoughts away from Berath, pushed them away from himself too as best he could. "Today has been close to perfect, yes."



Bereck shrugged, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a slight smile. "There's always room for improvement."

Berath's bass rumble of pleasure reverberated thought the still air, and Bereck's face lit up with a smile. "Alina, I was hoping you get here soon-" She was wearing a green dress with blue embroidery around the bottom, in shades that managed not to clash. She looked lovely, not that she didn't look nice in her normal clothes but.... "The dress suits you." Surely he could do better than that! As Berath raised her paw off the ground to let him just slide off and be upright he looked for better words. "I mean... you look lovely. It's a good cut, and the colour suits you." Bereck took his cane from the pair of firelizards that fluttered over carrying it and wondered if that had been sufficient, he'd never been that good at knowing what to say about clothes; these ones looked good but he was sure there was more he should be able to say than that.

Berath added with a soft rumble of amusement at her bondmate's puzzled pondering on clothing complimenting.

Bereck lent into the kiss willingly, tilting his head back and sliding his arms around the tall woman's waist to give her a gentle squeeze. "I do like it," he said, breaking the kiss and reaching up to brush a rogue lock of hair out of Alina's face. "We're well, even if I am feeling old. We spent the day with Aleck and Belcarrath, and I only went into my office once. I was looking for a paper I wanted to show to Aleck, not sneaking in to work before you ask."

Gifts! Bereck stepped back a little so that he could see them, he hadn't exactly focused on what Alina was carrying at first. One was a small box and the other... looked suspiciously cane shaped. "Thank you," Bereck smiled a little, "not necessary, but appreciated." He would have been happy just to see her but he had to admit that presents were exciting, even when it was pretty obvious what one was. It looked like it was a more elegant shape than he current one, so even if he didn't really want anything to do with canes that was welcome.

Berath rumbled at Alina.

Berath replied with a rumble and a mental laugh.

Bereck meanwhile let go of his cane - which was caught by firelizards - and took the slim package from Alina with some hesitancy. It was obvious what it was and.... Well it was frivolous to want anything other than the one he already had. It worked. He hated it. After a slight pause Bereck undid the string that fastened the gift and pulled the paper away. As he took in the object inside his expression shifted from 'wary' to 'stunned'.

"... Oh 'Lina."

It was beautiful, completely beautiful, a work of art. The handle was silver, elegantly formed and intricately embossed. The shaft of the stick was some kind of rosewood by the look of it and flawless, polished to perfection. There was no comparing it to the cane he had at the moment; that one was ugly in his eyes at any rate, it was a plain crude prop for an old cripple. This was functional but beautiful; not something he would be ashamed to be seen with, seen relying on.

Lost for words Bereck stepped forward to pull Alina into a tight embrace and buried his face in her shoulder.

He couldn't help being pleased when she made a little noise of surprise at the tight hug, mainly because it meant he was actually achieving a tight hug rather than a weak half collapse on her. He was better than he had been, maybe he hadn't realised how much. Not all that long ago he hadn't been able to walk more than the length of a ward without exhaustion. Not long before that his steps had been shuffling and awkward, and he had needed to lean on somebody's arm as well as a cane to get about. Not long before that he hadn't been able to stand at all, and not so very long before that in the great scheme of things he hadn't been able to sit up unaided and without crying out in pain.

He wasn't as pathetic as he often thought he was. He wasn't anywhere near perfect but he was independent and that had looked like a distant dream a couple of months back.

Bereck released his grip on Alina and looked up at her with a smile that spoke eloquently of feelings he couldn't always articulate to his satisfaction. "It's perfect. Thank you.... Oh?"

More?

Giving Bereck something to discover was a bit like giving a four turn old a bag of sweets, a mug of klah, and a free canine pup. The healer's bright blue eyes went huge and exuberantly intent behind his glasses, and he twisted the top of the cane and pulled...

A long slim dagger blade whispered out like silken death in the night.

Bereck whistled softly, turning it this way and that so that it caught the last rays of the sinking sun and gleamed blood red. "Now that is craftsmanship," he murmured, a slightly mad look of glee that Alina was no doubt very familiar with spreading across his face. He liked this, he liked this very much. He was not a violent man in the least, but given recent events he was very glad that he could quietly carry a weapon to defend himself with.

"I do." Bereck sheathed the concealed dagger and found he didn't have any words beyond those two. Well, there were particular occasions when they were considered adequate response to something rather larger than whether or not you liked a (wonderful) gift so they would suffice.

"Would you hold this for me?" he asked a moment later, passing the cane to Alina in order to take the little box from her. It was light, lighter than he had expected. Unlike the last one this one was a mystery, one he couldn't resist speculating about. Deft hands turn the gift over slowly with the utmost care and the healer's eyes fixed sharply on it, squinting slightly as he didn't have his reading glasses on and as he brought it closer to his face it went out of focus. Pulling it back to a distance where it became sharper again he pursed his lips and shook his head.

"No, no idea at all. Not even an inkling of a theory."

Giving Alina a little smile Bereck turned the box right side up again and pulled away first the string and then the wrapping. It was a little box, well that had been obvious; he opened it.

It was padded inside.

The purpose of the padding was to protect a miniature portrait of a couple that looked somewhere around thirty. The woman was tall and willowy with fluffy blonde hair. The man was notably shorter than she and stocky, sporting ruddy auburn hair and bright blue eyes. "I remember this painting," Bereck murmured, "but... but it was yours!" He looked up quickly, and then back down again. "But it looks so fresh after twenty odd turns. Shards, we looks so young." Had he ever been that young?... Well obviously he had been but it was odd to think it somehow. He could never have imagined then his life being as it was now... and yes, his life was better. He had Alina and Aleck, and in fact a scattering of other people he cared about as well. It wasn't all good... but he wouldn't trade life now for a second shot at life back then. Somehow he doubted he would get as favourable as result a second time around.

The light of comprehension dawned and Bereck smiled, closing his eyes as Alina kissed his brow. "Understood; thank you, it's wonderful. As are you." He put the lid carefully back on the box as he spoke and then lent up to kiss her again; his life really was rather good when you got down to the really big important things... and those things weren't things, they were people. Well, work was a thing but the work itself was a lot more important than the title he had once had.

Bereck opened his eyes again when Alina broke away to kiss him on the chin; he brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek to return the gesture of affection. “Oh yes, I did didn’t I?” he affirmed, giving a pleased nod; he liked the idea of getting out of Trine. “Where was it you wanted? Ista?” Just the two of them with no distractions, no people running up to check ‘just one little thing’ with either of them. Well, the two of them plus Berath but she didn’t count.

the green commented to her bondmate with a mental chuckle.

“We were going to take a picnic as well, weren’t we,” Bereck asked Alina rhetorically, choosing to ignore Berath’s input completely.