Sejith glides low, wings half-spread in from underneath the grand Archway.

From Sejith's neck, T'rell spots Kaeryn easily; she's the only figure in the courtyard, with everyone else at lunch. With a call of greeting, he grins broadly as he unclips straps and adjusts, on his shoulders, a backpack carrier with a beaming, bundled face peeking out.

Kaeryn glances up from the book that's spread open in her lap at the sound, jumping to her feet as she recognizes the pair, ooh, trio, that has arrived, causing her book to drop to the ground and lose her place within. "T'rell!" she calls out, scrambling across the courtyard toward Sejith.

T'rell smiles broadly as he strides across the courtyard, listening to a happily babbling Brencia riding in his backpack. "Hey, you dropped something," he points to the book, unrecovered, on the ground by the bench Kaeryn just left behind. Even so, he embraces the harper warmly as soon as she's in reach.

Kaeryn throws her arms around T'rell's neck as she's pulled into T'rell's embrace, squeezing him closely. "I didn't expect you for at least another candlemark or so, but I'm happy you're hear early, of course," she mumbles against his cheek before planting a kiss there. "And how is our little girl, or.." she pauses, stepping away from the hug and walking around to the little one dangling from T'rell's back, "not so little girl, doing?"

"She's missed you," T'rell turns a shoulder, allowing their daughter's reaching hands to grab at her mother's sleeve happily. "Her eyes just lit up when I told her we were coming. And she's talking dragonlengths, but," he admits with a wink and a chuckle, "I don't think it's Harper standard Pernese, yet."

Kaeryn carefully scoops Brencia out of the bag and holds the toddler close, giving her a gentle but squeezing hug. "I've missed her as well," the harper-mother replies, turning once again so she can slip both dauther and father into an embrace, "both of you. I'm definitely ready to go home again."

T'rell hugs Kaeryn enthusiastically -- well, as much so as possible without endangering the little girl. "We're ready to have you home again." He quickly scans the courtyard, eyeing the bench. "Need help carrying anything?"

"Probably, considering the fact that I'm taking half of the archives I found here home with me," Kae points at the oversized bag that stands upright beside the bench. Shifting Bren slightly in her arms first, and getting the little one settled, the journeywoman slips her spare hand into T'rell's, lacing her fingers with his and giving it a squeeze as they begin to walk toward her things, "What kinds of things has she been saying? What have I missed?"

T'rell jogs over to the bench, hoisting Kaeryn's bag to his shoulder with an exaggerated heave. "What've you got in here, lead?" He staggers a few steps before making a miraculous recovery, striding back to Sejith's side. "She calls Cirrus by name now -- I think she'll be sad to give Brencia back, I do." He grins, always pleased at his daughter's social coups. "And she's been trying to work on a nonsense rhyme that George taught her, with, I'm afraid, not much success."

"Books and hides," Kae replies sourly, giving him a grimace as she picks up the other, smaller bag that is filled with her clothes and other personal items. "I was serious when I said I was taking half of the archives with me, you know. I've a great deal of work left to do, but I figured it would be best to do it at home, so I can be with the two of you." As she and Bren reach Sejith's side, the harper drops her bag to the ground and dedicates a long moment to rubbing her hand across the bronze's warm hide, "Been taking care of this pair for me it seems, Sejith. Thank you."

Sejith lowers his head, resting his muzzle on the ground beside Kaeryn. With sapphire eyes, he blinks slowly.

"I must say, I've missed you too," Kae adds quietly, touching Sejith once again as she waits.

T'rell laughs lightly, slapping the dragon's smooth hide affectionately. "He takes his job seriously, you know." He clips the heavy bag to a ring of the fighting straps, reaching down to take the next item. "And he's missed you, which is actually saying something. We've both got used to having you around." The thought trails off; he shrugs, then steps down off of Sejith's shoulder again.

Kaeryn smiles brightly as she passes the next bag up to T'rell, with a teasing comment, "Don't worry, this one is lighter, so I think we'll still be able to make it back home with my bags." As her eyes meet his, she winks, "It just doesn't seem right to *not* have the three of you around anymore. Let's not make it a habit, alright?"

"Agreed." Bag secured, T'rell lands next to Kaeryn and extends his hand for a businesslike confirmation of the agreement. "So how long do I get you for this time?" So much for the diplomatic 'we'.

Kaeryn stretches her arm out so she can fill T'rell's hand with her own, "Not long enough, unfortunately, but at least the next time I'll be much closer, right?" Her fingers squeeze his, and she steps toward him, planting a small kiss on his cheek, "If you aren't careful, you're going to be stuck with me for good, you know."

T'rell pumps Kaeryn's hand vigorously, then steps in closer to redirect Kaeryn's kiss to a more strategic location of lips instead of cheek. "I'm beginning to think I might not mind that so much," he finally shrugs, grinning unabashedly as Brencia tugs at his epaulet. "Ready to go?"

"I'm more ready to get back than I ever thought I could be," Kae replies with a laugh as she motions for him to turn, Brencia mimicking the motion. "You're the toddler-transport, need to turn around so we can get this little one settled first."

"Oh, yeah," T'rell turns, grinning, to allow Kaeryn to insert the child into her seat. "Fasten her in snug, there, she's way too curious about flying." Okay, he doesn't really mind that she's so interested. But don't tell her mom.

"Are you telling me we have a rider wannabe on our hands already?" Kae shakes her head from side to side as she begins to fasten their daughter into the seat made especially for her. "Not that I can blame her for loving to ride but the idea of her..." she pauses, her blue eyes doing the usual search of T'rell's body for scoring while he isn't watching. "Well, anyway, there we go. All ready."

T'rell chuckles. "Don't worry, I think she's still malleable." As he turns to mount, Brencia's head swivels to keep a suddenly worried gaze on her mother, struggling to get out of the backpack with a protest. "Ma!"

"Looks like she's worried you're leaving me behind," Kae remarks as she quickly begins to follow up on her own, trying to sooth the little one at the same time. "It's alright, love, I'm right behind you," she mumbles, her voice soothing and smooth.

"Just hang on, friend," T'rell reaches a reassuring hand back before he vaults upward; even so, if it weren't for her fastenings, the girl would've gladly tumbled down in hopes of being caught by mom. Stymied, she cries loudly in her own personal anguish, brown eyes fixated on the figure below.

From Sejith's neck, T'rell quickly reaches down, a small child beating her fists against his shoulders as he extends a hand. "Hurry up, Kaeryn! She's wearing me down up here!"

Kaeryn can't help but pause on her climb up to Sejith's neck, her laughter causing her to shake her head from side to side. Quickly enough, though, she follows, grabbing his hand and being pulled up behind the pair. "See, here I am, Bren, I'm right here. Don't worry, love." One of her hands reaches up to touch T'rell's cheek affectionately, "she has more energy than anything her size should, don't you think?"

From Sejith's neck, "You've noticed," T'rell replies, wry sarcasm twinkling in his eyes although his tone is bland. "See, 'cia, she's coming with us." With Kaeryn behind her, Brencia gradually calms, gulping back her sobs as she reaches out a hopeful hand toward her mother's hair.

Kaeryn leans forward enough to allow the little one's hands to touch her face, laughing happily, "It's amazing that I missed having my hair pulled out of my scalp, but I did. So, let's get us home, so we can enjoy being together again without this one thinking we're going to be separated again."

Brencia stifles a cry at her sudden emergence from ::between::, regaining her composure quickly although she still has a death-grip on Kaeryn's hair.

T'rell unclips the straps once more with a satisfied sigh. "Here we are," he proclaims; as if it weren't obvious enough. "No, but she's better about it when you're there. Okay, friend," he addresses the girl, "let go of Mommy's hair so we can all get off Sejith."

"Moving us into your weyr so we can't leave without you?" Kae comments softly, her voice only half-teasing as they work together to get the tiny fingers out of her hair. As soon as she's free, she slips easily down to Sejith's foreleg and drops to the floor beside him.

"That was the idea," T'rell admits with a grin, pausing only to unclip the harper's baggage from Sejith's neck. "At least I can make sure I get you first, before you get back to work."

Kaeryn reaches up to accept the bags as they're unclipped, shaking her head slightly at T'rell's grin. "So, have you been keeping her up here at night at all, or just letting Cirrus keep her in the evenings? I know you've been having to fly fall so often lately, so..." she pauses, taking the lighter bag and tossing it toward the inner room, "how has that been. It looks to me, at first checking anyway, neither you nor Sejith were hurt. How's your wing?"

T'rell shakes his head in both negation and reassurance all at once. "We're all fine, so far so good." To illustrate and with perhaps mild superstition, he knocks upon his head. "Knock on wood. But no, I've left her with Cirrus in the evenings, down in the caverns. She liked the company of the other kids, I think, and for all it's home, well..." He looks around, eyeing the precipitous drop from the end of the ledge, "I thought she'd be safer there."

Kae's own blue gaze shifts around the weyr, and she nods, a little sadly, "I suppose it is best that she stays down on the ground level, especially now that we can't expect her to actually stay in her crib while we're sleeping. Ah well." With a shrug of her shoulders, her other bag is gathered and she slips into the inner room, "It looks like the three of us are stuck having three different homes for a while, doesn't it?"

"Not for too long, I hope." With the bags unloaded, T'rell unshoulders the knapsack with the baby in it, unbuckling her. "Of course, she loves the edge," the man notes ruefully. "Keep an eye on her while I make this guy more comfortable?" Brencia, loosed from her seat, struggles free of it in record time and begins pulling herself up by Kaeryn's skirt.

Kaeryn gathers Brencia into her arms, holding her daughter close enough to breathe in the sweetness of the toddler's smell. "Well, I know this weyr is the perfect place for the two of you, complete with the hotspring which we both enjoy, and the height is nice, but without the benefit of wings, she and I can't really live up here, right? And you can't live in our room, since there isn't a way for Sejith to be there." As the little one squirms, trying to get away and toward the edge, Kae attempts to sooth her, digging around in her bag to find one of the toys that are usually kept nearby. "And I won't ask you to give *this* up, especially since.. well, it will just be this way for a while. Until she's old enough to know better than to run off the ledge at least."

T'rell shrugs, hoisting the bronze's straps better onto his shoulder as the dragon shivers the last of the wherhide from his neck. "I guess so," he replies noncommittally. "I guess we'll just have to see how tired we get of the arrangement." He hangs the straps up on their pegs, the same as always, and Sejith retires to his favorite corner, curling up and observing. "Are you hungry? Looks like you skipped lunch," the man returns to harper and daughter, a guiding hand on Kaeryn's back to urge her toward the inner chamber.

Kaeryn pouts, just slightly, at the lack of interest T'rell shows in the discussion she was attempting to start. At the mention of food, she shakes her head, allowing herself to be guided into the other room, "Not really. I had Gitran bring me a couple pieces of fruit before the mark for lunch, had that while I was working. Missed Annly's cooking while I was gone, I suppose, haven't been nearly as hungry since I left."

"Well, I'm sure she'll fix that, given half a chance." T'rell pulls aside the curtain; nothing has changed, although the place might be a bit dustier. "But make yourself comfortable. With the random threadfalls, I've barely had time to brew, but I think I've got some left from that good batch last month," he offers, smiling.

"Looks like we might should ask George to come up and give your weyr a look," Kae teases softly as she makes her way across the room and settles on the edge of the bed, gently setting the toddler on the floor so she can wander around the room as she pleases.

T'rell moves across to the cupboard, opening a door to retrieve a pair of small glasses and a colorful, misshapen bottle. "Are you kidding? George has never been higher than the Council Chamber, and he got dizzy there." He chuckles, closing the door with an already full hand and setting the glasses down on a flat storage chest, long used as a table. "Half or full?" He unstoppers the bottle, hovering it over the glass.

"Half, preferably," Kae laughs, shaking her head, "I'm afraid I don't drink more than that now. I guess I'm a little afraid that I'll drink too much or something." As Brencia makes herself at home in the room, toddling around on her own, Kae gets to her feet again, pulling the bedcovers straight and collecting things scattered here and there. "I suppose I'll just have to do it then, won't I?" she teases, slipping past him and planting a kiss on his cheek.

And amazingly enough, T'rell simply pours half a glass of purple-tinted liquer for Kaeryn while she messes with his stuff. "Half it is. So," he moves on to his own glass, pouring slightly more before stoppering the bottle again, "you didn't happen to see records of random Falls while you were at the Hall, I suppose." Placing the bottle on the table, he takes his glass and waits to present the harper with hers. "Leave that, I'll take care of it later," he finally insists.

"I can't say that I did, unfortunately," Kae replies solemnly, shaking her head quickly enough to send her curls in a whirl around her face as she continues to straighten things. "It's alright, I guess it makes me feel needed, or something. I don't mind doing it. Besides, you've been busy..."

T'rell nods distractedly; he's looking out past the curtain, tense for a fraction of a second before he relaxes again with a sigh. Taking a seat on a convenient trunk, he raises his glass. "A toast -- let's hope we see less of Thread and more of each other," he proposes, one eye again on the wandering Brencia.

Dropping the bed fur she was folding to the end of the bed, Kae moves to his side, collecting the glass and lifting it toward his, "Two things I can definitely hope for," she agrees, her words softly spoken before she takes a small sip of the purple liquid. "It's been hard around here, hasn't it? I wanted to come back, to be here for you, but then I thought maybe it was best that I wasn't."

T'rell's features soften into a smile as he lowers his glass. "It's always good to have you here," he tells Kaeryn. "So don't think like that. But all in all, it's not so bad. We're used to Thread, really, and these odd falls aren't even all that thick." He shrugs. "So it's just uncertain, that's all."

"Oh, it isn't that I don't feel wanted," Kae reassures him, reaching a hand out to touch his arm, "it's just that I thought if it was hectic and you were having to fly more falls than usual that you might need a little time to yourself." With a soft sigh, she slides down to the bed again and shakes her head, "How can it be falling as it is, with no hint of where it's going or when. I'm making plans for the Turnover Gather to be indoors, in case it keeps falling so...out of control."

"Let's hope it goes back to normal before then," T'rell fervently replies. "It doesn't make sense, all scattered. It's not normal -- but it's odd," the man muses, fingering his glass. "Sejith knows when it's coming, and even though it's off schedule, I almost think it has a pattern, just a different one." Brows furrowed, he shakes his head and sips again.

Another small drink is taken from the purple liquid in the glass before Kae sets it aside and slips behind T'rell, her strong fingers touching his neck and shoulders, "I'm supposing you haven't had nice gentle fingers to rub those stresses away lately." With a teasing voice she adds, "Or have you?"

"Don't I wish." T'rell groans softly, leaning his head forward to stretch the muscles out. "Even Kara's occupied with Ilsinth's latest captive," he jokes, peeking back at Kaeryn playfully. "Ahh -- that's the spot. Have I told you lately how much I missed you?" he wonders, stripping off his jacket and tossing it aside in favor of a shoulder rub.

Kaeryn's fingers pinch teasingly at the back of his neck at the Kara comment. Little does she know that *she* is the one Kara has more interest in... "Missed me, or missed my massages?" she teases back as her fingers actually work toward relieving him of some of the tense muscles that dot his strong frame.

T'rell's tight shoulders take some work, but begin to relax under Kaeryn's tender ministrations. "Both." He drains the last of the liqueur from his glass, setting it down again on the chest. "Mostly just you. Brencia--" his voice takes on a stern tone of warning, and the girl, about to test the water in the spring, hesistates. "You're not allowed in the water. You know that." He starts to rise, following up just in case.

Kaeryn releases her touch on his shoulders for a moment, leaving him free to catch their daughter if he needs to, just resting the palm of her hand against the middle of his back. "Just another reason why she shouldn't be here, right? Of course, I can't really blame her for wanting to be in there, it is relaxing."

T'rell completes the two steps necessary to bring him to the edge of the spring, kneeling by a recalcitrant Brencia. "That water's too hot," he reminds her. "It'll hurt you." He looks earnestly into her eyes until he gets a minute nod, the girl retreating just the slightest from the edge of the pool. "Good girl." He smiles, scooping her up to bring her back to join Kaeryn. "She's not a bad kid, all in all," he grins, a touch crookedly, to Kaeryn.

"Just curious and mischevious like her father?" Kae reaches out a hand to touch Brencia's foot, shaking it gently, her blue gaze meeting T'rell's for a short moment before looking toward the curtain separating them from Sejith. "Maybe she just needs a brother or sister to keep her out of trouble," she whispers softly, keeping a carefully schooled look of seriousness on her features.

T'rell laughs. "I heard that," he scolds lightly. "And let me tell you, siblings do _not_ keep you out of trouble." He grins, sitting down with his little girl on his lap. "I say this from experience."

Kaeryn blinks slowly, trying to look innocent, giving him a small grin and shrugging her shoulders. "I won't lie and say I haven't thought about it. I know, now isn't a good time, besides, that green," she wrinkles her nose in distaste, "stuff has plenty of time left on it, don't worry."

"And that brings up another question," T'rell waggles a finger in Kaeryn's direction. "Why is it always green?" Brencia unwittingly mimics the expression on her father's face as she mimics the gesture.

Kaeryn rolls her eyes skyward and shakes her head. "I'll take that as an answer in itself," she notes softly, wrinkling her nose at her daughter to see if that gesture is mimicked as well. "I think being away from my family made me think too much about my family," she admits ruefully.

T'rell grins, catching the little girl's finger. "See, 'cia? Told you she'd miss us. Here," he hefts her up, her short legs dangling as he transfers her to Kaeryn's lap instead. "You haven't seen mom in too long."

Immediately upon being transferred, Brencia wrinkles her nose, Kaeryn-like, at her father.

"As if I could do anything but miss you guys," Kae shakes her head at the pair of them, "and if you would think otherwise, then we need to work on communication a little better and..." she laughs as her daughter wrinkles her nose.

"I actually had to break out the oboe to calm her down a couple of times," T'rell admits; indeed, the instrument case is out of its usual dusty nook and looks cleaner than it has in a while. "She missed your music."

"You've played for her?" Kae pouts sweetly, trying to pull a trick that their daughter has already learned. "*I've* never heard you play and I've known you much longer."

T'rell raises his eyebrows, honestly surprised. "Never? Surely..." He thinks back. "There must've been some time. I mean, I bugged you for reeds and stuff. I thought for sure I'd played for you. Or maybe that was just with Caramak." He shrugs. "Well, there's a lot of rust to shake off."

Kaeryn shakes her head, "Not a single time. I think I would have remembered." With a shy grin, she shrugs, "Back then, I thought your time was too important to ask you to waste it playing for me. And since then, it has been to important, life has been hectic."

"We'll just have to fit it in," T'rell concludes simply. "I'd been meaning to play more often, just hadn't gotten to it. Finally doing it..." he smiles, ".. made me realize how much I missed it. It's been months, I think, since I more than sucked a reed."

"I purposefully stay away, far away, from the oboe, you know. I just *can't* get a decent sound out of it. Usually sounds like somethings dying pitifully when I play," Kae admits, her cheeks lightly with embarassment at this confessional. "It's the only instrument I *can't* play."

"It's the only instrument I *can* play," T'rell laughs softly. "Decently, anyway. Don't ask me why." He tugs lightly at Brencia's forelock; the girl has started vocalizing quietly, making random syllables that sometimes connect into strange variations on what ought to be words.

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