Holding On

Participants:

Max.jpg

Date: 2010.08.31
Location: Max's Stall
Synopsis: Response to Ahnika's letter - OOC: From hereon in, the rest of any written communication between the two can be found on Yarnweaver so as not to spam everyone here silly ;)
Rating: PG13
Logger: Max


Despite Indira’s efforts, Max had returned to work as soon as he’d been let out of her office. Although to be fair it hadn’t been of a physical nature but rather spending what was left of the day in a debriefing session with Waine and then going through some of the paperwork that had piled up while he’d been away.

Now, with much of the stables settled down for the night, the beast manager was to be found in his own quarters, bared back leaned up against the wooden siding, hair still damp from having just bathed and a small wooden board leant against drawn up knees with a fresh piece of paper set on it. Ahnika’s letter lay to one side of him, and an untouched plate of meatrolls to the other.

Max frowned and stared at the blank piece of paper, chewing on the end of the stylus set into the corner of his mouth. He’d never been much of a letter writer, as his mother would attest to from his time spent at Tillek. He was more the hands on, in the moment, type of guy.

So much to say and yet…he had no idea how to put it all down on that one sheet of paper. His hand moved to his mouth and plucked the stylus out.

Ahni,

And there he stopped again, his gaze drifting over to her letter and the initials she’d used. He saw the point but couldn’t bring himself to relegate her to little more than one letter of the alphabet when the alphabet four times over wasn’t enough to begin trying to tell her what she meant to him. Slowly the stylus started moving across the paper again…

You didn't let go.

A self-deprecating snort erupted and he crossed the line out. What kind of desperate fool did that make him look like! Max banged the back of his head lightly against the siding of the stall in frustration, his attention wandering away from the words he was trying to put together and down the slippery slope of the incredible sight she’d presented in that Gather gown of hers, lingering there and becoming evermore lusty in their imaginings. The beast manager shifted uncomfortably in his position uttered a low growl and dragged his mind back to the task at hand.

Words fail in trying to tell you how much I love and miss you. I wish you were here right now, so that I could show you just how much.

Aaand there went his mind wandering off again until Max yanked it firmly back and doggedly continued trying to put thought to paper.

Coming home to you again and holding you in my arms was all that kept me going during the time I was away. You are my heart, my soul, my strength. When you’re not here it feels as if the air has been stolen from me and breathing no longer seems a natural thing. I have to believe that we can and will endure and that before long, we can be together again.

I have complete faith in you, baby. This is a purpose I see now that you were born to and that your Jhath was shelled to bring about. You can do this.

And as much as he hated the fact, he couldn’t deny the truth of it. His eyes dropped to her letter again and touched over the lines written of his daughter, open yearning written across his shadowed features in the dimly lit stall and then his lips pursed for all the intricacies not to mention political ramifications that could involve.

There are more pressing matters at hand right now in need of my attention before I can begin to investigate the possibility of retrieving Little Bit (his codename for his daughter). It would be my deepest wish for you to be there with me when the time comes, but I may need to seize whatever opportunity comes my way. I am sure that if we could trust the discretion of dragons, your Jhath would formulate a sound strategy in this endeavor.

Zen seems to have done a good job while I was away. However, I have a mountain of paperwork to catch up with, and it seems that Waine is a bigger girl’s blouse than I’d thought him to be and steered clear of keeping Renegade backed, so I’m back to square one with having to break the bugger in all over again. Did you hear? They’ve finally filled the lake with water! So if Faranth favors us, we might be lucky enough to come across each other at the lake some days when I take him down there to swim the fight out of him. I hear the water is still very cold but it’s closer than taking a dunk in a stream out of Weyr.

(That last intended with humorous double meaning)

Know that I am here waiting for you and missing you. Holding you each night as you go to sleep and there when you awaken every morning in my heart and mind every minute of every day.

Forever yours.

Max
P.S. Brolan (Boxtol’s son) can be trusted as a go between.

Signing his name, Max sat and stared at the letter. It seemed so insufficient, such a futile task in trying to convey his thoughts and feelings but it was better than saying nothing at all. Carefully he folded it and inserted it into the leather padding he’d set into place over the handle of a bucket.

The next morning Brolan was given strict instructions that he was to stay with the young herdbeast calf he’d selected, from the moment it was cut from the herd and sent to the butchers to be carved up. And that the resulting meaty chunks were to be deposited into that particular bucket and given to Ahnika, and Ahnika alone with a whispered instruction to pay the handle of the bucket careful attention.


Closing Credit Theme Song: Seal - Kiss From A Rose


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