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"What?" Bereck looked puzzled. "Oh! No," he shook his head as the light dawned, "I thought you meant joking about lending an arm. I've nothing against your rear... at the moment at any rate, and I certainly haven't got anything against jokes about it." Having cleared that up and riposted with his own strike Bereck smirked a little as he took slice of meat and one of bread.

"Scalpel is watching the corridor," he said once he'd finished his mouthful, "instructions are passed on. If any would be visitors are too persistent he'll call some of the others for back up. More wine though; I think it's an excellent notion... just half again though." He would attempt to drink more slowly this time too; he didn't want to imbibe in more than he could currently handle.

Bereck grinned back, tilting his head to the side as he considered her. "Perhaps it was precognition." The grin went though that softening shift again then though and he shrugged his thin shoulders. "I wondered sometimes about what sorts of things we might talk about, if we were still together. I agree this is more peculiar than my imagination, but then we could scarcely have imagined the world turning out as it has. Still," he slid an arm around her and lent up to kiss her cheek, "I'm glad it led me back to you." Whenever the losses and pain the revolution had caused weighed down on him at least he had that to recall.

He accepted the wine in his free hand and sipped before passing it off to the side, where Sanguine abruptly sat to take it from him. "I'm glad of that as well," he nodded, "had you not come to see me, even now I might not know you were here. Probably wouldn't have approached you. I don't know if I would have been able to say anything had I not been so... well, we already talked about this." Fear, pain and the addled state that strong doses of fellis had left him in had made him open up where normally he would have kept his feelings hidden.

Bereck took a bit of cheese and nibbled on it absently. "Odd how things come together; serendipity. I would prefer things a little differently too; I'd like us both at Malvren, I'd like not to be weak as I am, I'd like for us not to have parted at all... but as things stand as you say, there are bonuses. I think given time I will be happy here, once I can get back to my work... and accept my diminished standing. That still stings." It was arrogant of him and against what he liked to go on about rank not mattering but there it was, unchangeable as the seasons.

Bereck gave a little half laugh and shook his head. "Awkward doesn't begin to cover it; I'm very glad that didn't happen." What would he have thought if that had been the first time he saw her? He honestly had no idea. "You're right of course," he continued, striving to be pragmatic, "I'll soon get most things arranged to my liking I suppose. I've already picked up a new apprentice; Mercy, one of the assistant weyrlingmasters. She doesn't fly with a wing so she's looking for something else useful to do with her time." Bereck said this with a distinct note of approval in his voice; he was always pleased when riders still bothered with their craft, was doubly pleased when it was his craft and even more so that it had been him the white rider came to. That was a point. "Humm. She came to discuss the matter with me, not with the Weyrhealer." He had no desire to created a divided infirmary, that would be beyond foolish, but it was gratifying to discover that at least those who had come from Malvren did indeed still seem to hold him in some regard.

"We shall, I think," Bereck nodded, relaxing a bit and leaning a bit more against Alina. "Berath likes the weather - though I approve less - and at least it's here we moved to not Benden," he mused, starting to tick points off on his fingers. "I like the look of the lakes; calm warm water to swim in will be pleasant, and washing Berath won't be a chore in the winter. The food appears to be alright, if stretched a little thin at the moment, and there's plenty of work to be done." Taking his glass back from Sanguine he gave Alina a gentle squeeze and added; "The women are attractive, too."

"I'm trying not to," Bereck replied honestly with a small shrug, passing his wine back to Sanguine and taking another bit of bread and cheese. "Suffice to say I'm glad things have gone as they have; I don't want to dwell on unpleasant 'could have beens'." If he had seen her then for the first time... no, it wouldn't have gone like this. Bereck ate the bread and cheese slowly, doing his best not to let himself start thinking down that route.

"Mercy," he said once he'd swallow, pleased to shift the topic away again. "She's the white rider; that's probably why you've heard of her. Apparently somebody decided she shouldn't be risked in combat against the Thread. Mmfh. I don't entirely agree but I suppose I can see the logic; the accuracy of her Timing could be invaluable one day, would have been invaluable during the Time Riding. Too many never came back." Berath had wanted to volunteer for the mission but had been forced to agree that it didn't make sense to risk his skills so rashly, and also that it made more sense for him to remain at the Weyr in case riders came back injured. Perhaps more importantly than either of these she had decided that she couldn't stand to think about what would have happened to Aleck had they gone and then not come back; he'd been just sixteen at the time. Shards time flew, it felt like only yesterday that he'd been treating those first Thread wounds and....

...And he had completely got lost in thought.

Bereck shook himself, thoughtful frown giving way to a little smile. "Sorry, I distracted myself there. Food, yes. I've always liked Trine's native fruits so that's another plus, being able to get them regularly." He would probably miss his old favourites from Malvren soon enough, but right now he was trying to focus on the positives. "The wine is lovely too. Heh. I'm sure defending my honour won't be necessary, but I appreciate the offer. I am, after all, only interested in one of the women around here no matter how little a lot of the rest seem to wear half the time."

Bereck paused with a piece of mango half way to his lips, lips which pressed into a flat line as his vivid brows pulled together in a Look. "I do hope you're jesting. Short shorts? Me? pur-lease, I have some sense of style, and self respect!" Snorting his derision at the notion the healer consumed the sweet fruit and sucked the juice off his fingers.

"I was," he elaborated, "not unpleasantly; just mulling. Time has flown over the last four turns; first I was made Weyrhealer and then the world took complete leave of its senses. First it was Benden's healers nosing about in my Weyr, then the drama over at Trine with the Benden dragon killing one of their laying crimsons, Benden bragging about its massive gold, the murders and all the intrigue and suspicion around that, the Thread returning, these youngsters getting promoted with no experience, and now all that's happened recently.... Well, suffice to say it seems like yesterday I was moving into my new office," Bereck said with a shake of his head, a wry little smile on his lips.

The proximity was nice, very nice; companionable and calming. Food forgotten for now Bereck settled more comfortably against the back of the bunk/couch, keeping his arm close around Alina. "Next turn I would like some peace and quiet to get on with some research and catch up on reading," he said with a contented little sigh, closing his eyes and giving Alina another squeeze. "More appealing women would be nice too though, or at any rate the singular of the above." Time for Aleck, time for Alina, time for Berath and time for his work; that was all he wanted. Politics had always tired him and there was just so much of it going around these days; watching people struggle for power and try to toot their ideology was not what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he couldn't afford to just shut himself in his study and ignore it all.

Still, there was no politics here and now; there was Alina, food, wine and rest. Enjoy the moment. "Your style doesn't seem to have changed much either," he observed, opened his eyes again and tilting his head up to meet her gaze. "That's good. It suits you."

Eyes closed Bereck lent into the kiss. When she pulled back to speak again he smiled a little, eyes drifting slowly open again. "So do you," he said softly, reaching up to carefully tuck a few loose strands of blonde hair behind Alina's ear before leaning up for another brief kiss. "I think Aleck will come around, given time; as I said he's... well, I suppose rather protective at the moment," he added as he settled back again. "I can't recommend anything to stop your apprentices scorching themselves though I'm afraid." A touch of humour to light up a slightly saddening topic, and to move them on from it.