Baby-Sitting for Dummies (Kila!)

[4horseshowgirl4]

Out of every single person in the Weyr, it was the person that Fajra least wanted in charge of her child that somehow ended up babysitting him that night. Pratyba had been born a Weyrbrat, so she knew how Flights worked. Even if Fajra was the most concerned mother in the world, it was almost impossible for her to come back to her senses before tomorrow morning, which meant it was up to Pratyba to take care of her son from the last Flight, Osro, until then. Pratyba could have taken him down to the creche, of course, but somehow babysitting Osro for a whole eighteen-ish candlemarks was too good an opportunity to cause mischief to pass up. Actually, Osro was the only child of 'Riders at this Weyr so far. Did they even have a creche? Pratyba wasn't entirely sure. The drudges usually just raised their children themselves. It was only the Dragonriders and the occasional Wherhandler who were so busy with their duties that they wouldn't be able to rear children. How did Fajra do it? It wasn't like she was going to ask O'sho to help her very much, and she had to be the busiest person in the Weyr, keeping records and running everything, and, Pratyba thought with a smile, doing her best to win the scavenger hunt.

Oorth had already told Eccolath what had happened, and Pratyba was sitting on her bed, bouncing Osro on her knee and waiting for Sol to arrive. She hoped the Cyanrider would hurry it up! Pratyba had never been in charge of a child this young, but, then again, neither had Fajra before this, and she was the least maternal person Pratyba knew, and she was coping just fine! Oh, wait, what did he eat? She really hoped he was eating solid food by now, or they could have some problems. Baby humans had to eat almost as often as baby dragons, right? Pratyba fretted about her utter lack of knowledge of how to care for a toddler, but she was almost incapable of worrying about anything for long, and it didn't take her more than a moment or two to be back to her cheerful and optimistic self. Everything would work out!

She peered at Osro, smiling widely. "Do you know how to talk yet, little one?" she cooed, tickling him under the chin. "I think we need to decide what your first word is going to be..." she said, giggling. "You're so cute, aren't you?" She set him down on her cot while she strode outside to peek outside her weyr. "What is taking Sol so long?" she sighed impatiently, somewhat to Oorth (though the Pink would have certainly told Pratyba immediately if she'd heard from Eccolath. She kept one eye on Osro while flipping through the pile of records Fajra had left along with her son up on the rim. There was probably some juicy information in there, but Pratyba's mind wasn't disciplined enough to make it through all the flak first.

She sat down on her cot again and pulled Osro back onto her lap. Hmm... there was so much she could teach him, but she only had this one day... Sol could help her decide what to do, when she finally got her slow butt over here!

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[Kila]

Mine, I've never see you run so fast. You look as though you might take off in flight, Eccolath remarked as Sol tore across the Weyrbowl and towards her best friend's weyr.

Didn't you hear what you said to me just now? Don't you understand? Pratyba has the Weyrleaders baby! she exclaimed as she ran. Do you have any idea of the sort of things she could do?

She of course should have known better than to ask Eccolath any such question. Any invitation to have her mind wander and come up with speculation produced a flood of results. What do you think she would do, Mine? Take him flying? Teach him songs? Give him food?

Sol tuned out Eccolath's continual stream of thoughts and continued to beat her path down halls and up stairs until she slid into Pratyba's weyr. She skidded to a halt at the sight of Pratyba sitting on her cot, in all actually holding the Weyrleader's child. You.... you actually have Osro," she said between breaths. Taking in the enormity and irony and absurdity of the situation, she broke down into a fit of laughter, barely making her way safely to the cot before collapsing on it next to her friend.

"Fajra is going to be livid!" she exclaimed when she had regained her breath. She reached out and took Osro, setting him down on her lap and and peering into his face. She had never actually gotten close to him before. O'sho and Fajra were both doting parents- the lower cavern women were hardly even tasked with watching him.

The toddler beamed up at her and placed his chubby hands on her face. "Ah!!! He's s cute! she exclaimed, putting her hands on his waist and bouncing him as Pratyba had before. "How on Pern did you end up with him, Pratyba? You'd be the last person in the Weyr I would think Fajra would hand him to."

[4horseshowgirl4]

Pratyba had expected fast, frantic wingbeats in response to Oorth's urgent summons to Eccolath, but, instead, she head footsteps, unmistakably Sol's. She could recognize the Cyanrider's tread from quite far away. "Sol! You're finally here!" Pratyba said in mock reprimand for her friend being late, but grinned when she saw she was so out of breath. "You do know that the point of a dragon is to never have to run anywhere ever again, right?" Pratyba teased light-heartedly before Sol broke down into a fit of laughter, which took all of Pratyba's self-control to avoid mimicking. It wouldn't do it she fell on the floor while Osro was still in her lap! But, it was difficult; this situation was completely absurd. If Fajra had to choose between letting Pratyba take care of Osro or letting him take care of himself, she was fairly sure the Weyrwoman would take the latter option. Pratyba wasn't arrogant enough to think that her pranks and silliness were very high Fajra's list of worries, but she herself had to be one of the Copperrider's least favorite people, hence why this was so much fun!

Finally, Sol settled down, and Pratyba reigned in the last of her errant giggles. "I know!" she said cheerfully, happily relinquishing the toddler to Sol. But as long as we manage not to, you know, keep him mostly intact, she can't actually be mad!" Pratyba said impishly, lifting an eyebrow and grinning. "Just 'cause she doesn't like us doesn't mean she can't be a wee bit appreciative of us taking care of him!" Pratyba laughed again, more freely now that her heaving torso wouldn't upset the Weyrbrat. She hoped that she could earn a bit of favor with Fajra to slightly chip away at the headache she'd undoubtedly caused her in the past, though finding some way to turn baby-sitting into trouble-making would likely soon prove far more worthwhile than simply behaving!

"Well, it's a very long and exciting tale, you see," Pratyba said, linking her hands behind her head and reclining back onto her cot. "Involving a renegade Bronzerider, a strange old man raving about how his home was being destroyed by Thread, and, of course, me heroically keeping both away from Kalith's Flight and Fajra giving me charge of Osro in her extreme gratitude. But it's a long tale, where do I begin?" Pratyba began dramatically, pretending to think hard. "Ah, you know I'm making that up. It's pretty simple, actually. Fajra yelled for B'nyur to come get Osro when Kalith went up, at least, until Oveth decided to go up after her! So, obviously, B'nyur had a problem. I just happened to be the one around at the time! He hollered for me, told me what to do, went to Fajra's weyr, and left me with Osro. Fajra doesn't even know I have him!" Pratyba said happily. She was going to quite enjoy surprising Fajra and the bonded of Kalith's winner in the morning.

She turned to Osro, toying with his hair affectionately. "Now, what should we teach you to say? Oh, he doesn't know how to speak yet. His first word needs to just ooze us!" she said, addressing Sol for the latter half. "A curse word isn't good enough-- he could have picked that up anywhere. Hmm!" Pratyba mused. "Anyways, who d'you think is going to win the Flight? Unless something freaky happens, it has to be Daidoroth, right? Embraeth hasn't done a thing for the Weyr, and Kalith hates Shoth. Besides, I'm sure Fajra would be happier than she'd admit to have O'sho back in her furs," Pratyba prattled on, giggling as any self-respecting, gossiping teenage girl would with her best friend.

However, she shut up quite abruptly, sitting up straighter suddenly. Then, a slow grin spread across her face and she began to giggle again. "Oh. This is perfect," she said enigmatically, snatching Osro from Sol's lap unapologetically and bending down to touch his nose with her own. "Now, listen here, you!" she said with mock seriousness. "I'm going to sing a song for ya, and you make sure you sing it as often as possible in front of your mommy, preferably with lots of people around, okay?" Pratyba wasn't sure if Osro was even taking in a word of what she was saying, but he was getting old enough that he could do the things toddlers were supposed to do. Maybe he did understand.

"C'mon, Sol, let's sing, shall we?" Pratyba said, grinning before breaking out into song.

"Mommy and Daddy, sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First comes love, then comes weyrmateage,
Then comes Mommy with the baby carriage!"[/font]

[Kila]

”Yeah, yeah, just because Eccolath and I can fly doesn’t mean that I can’t run around where I want to go,” Sol said, waving her hand as if to smack away Pratyba’s teasing reprimand. ”But…. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even think of that!” she pressed her fists up against her mouth to keep from laughing again. This was all just absurd. ”I was so shocked that I had to get here as soon as possible to see this for myself. Running didn’t require any thinking! And here I am, and it’s actually true.” She shook her head in disbelief.

”B’nyur gave him to you?” she repeated aghast. Surely the Healer had more sense than that. But- ”Oveth flew after Kalith!? Sol was shocked. Wasn’t that a weyrmate violation or something? On the off shot that Oveth won, what would B’rak think? Sol bit her lip. B’rak. B’nuyr flirting with Fajra in flight was a disaster; B’rak flirting with HER was a disaster. She quickly shook her head to clear these thoughts. Her now-complicated relationship with both of the two men was a matter for another time.

”And Fajra doesn’t know that you have him?” she backtracked. ”Oh, this is brilliant! Contrary to what you think, my dear friend, Fajra CAN be mad at you for having him, even if it was B’nyur who passed him off to you. She can do whatever she wants!” She paused and covered Osro’s ears. ”Scary isn’t it? She could be unappreciative and mad, but I hope it’s to the contrary. Looks like i’m in on this too, after all,” she said, flashing Pratyba a smile. Like she’d let her best friend go through this exciting and potentially traumatic ordeal alone. ”We’re definitely going to have to make sure he’s not physically scarred in any way. If you want to teach him something he’ll be mentally scarred for sure!” Sol grimaced at the idea of their teaching the Weyrleaders’ son a curse. It was terrible- but brilliant. ”We’re dead for sure,” she moaned with the faintest hint of glee.

”Who do I think won? she asked, sobering up when Pratyba ventured into the results of the flight. Hopefully not B’nyur… for B’rak’s sake. Her stomach did a sickly little flip so she quickly moved on. ”It has to be Daidoroth,” she agreed. ”It would be weird to have someone other than O’sho be Weyrleader, y’know? Besides, I don’t think Daidoroth would let anyone else catch Kalith. He just adores her. Have you ever seen them together when she’s in a good mood?”

That conversation was short-lived, however. Sol trailed off and looked at Pratyba inquisitively when the other girl went stock still. A tell tale smile spread across her face and she began to giggle deviously. ”Uh-oh, I’ve seen that look before! What do you have in mind? What’s perfect?” Sol asked with mock seriousness. She raised her hands in surprise when Pratyba snatched Osro from her lap and put his little face right up against hers. Sol listened intently, leaning in to be included, as Pratyba spoke soberly to the small child. A song? The explanation dawned on her and a smile of understanding grew slowly all the way across her face. ”Oh yeah, let’s sing!”

“Mommy and Daddy, sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First comes love, then comes weyrmateage,
Then comes Mommy with the baby carriage!”

Sol finished the song with a thunderous round of applause for herself and Pratyba, punctuated with tearful laughter. Osro burbled and clapped his hands too, which only caused her to laugh more. She eventually managed to get ahold of herself and wiped tears from her eyes. ”I don’t know about you, Pratyba, but I think he got it,”’ she said. Sol wriggled down onto her stomach and pushed her face next to Osro. ”It is perfect. Did you get that, cutie pie?”