Logs:Don't Start
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| RL Date: 14 September, 2015 |
| Who: Ebeny, E'dre, Laurienth, Wroth |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Returning from Southern, Weyrlingmaster reports to Weyrleader. Or is it weyrmate reports to weyrmate? |
| Where: Autumnal Eventide Weyr, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 21, Month 10, Turn 38 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Dee/Mentions, Lilah/Mentions, Paislie/Mentions, Ali/Mentions, Elayne/Mentions, Eden/Mentions, Eryn/Mentions |
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| Wroth had cut his connection with the majority of the dragons at Fort after Taeliyth's announcement of where Dee and her ended up from Between, though not from Laurienth. He keeps his mind there in the background, his storms a distant threat that he does not release on the green. He knows she must be as angered by the situation as he is. He's taken to the skies to work out some of his pent up frustration as he waits. E'dre has finally returned to his own weyr near the end of the day and he's calmed his own need to pace by opening a skin of wine as he waits. It's hours before Laurienth and Ebeny return from Southern, one matter dealt with after another, until returning home is a safer possibility than the journey there was. The green's anger, likely born of different causes than Wroth's, has long ebbed since its initial spike as a smokescreen for her fear, and it leaves her in a weary heap just outside the ground weyr so near to the weyrling complex. When Ebeny clambers down, she brings a ragged, stretched thin length of leather with her, and spends a minute or more stripping the rest of the straps away, before she and her lifemate take a quiet, if distant moment together. The greenrider turns for the weyr, while Laurienth is unable to summon the will to move and stays right where she is. Wroth angles himself down to the ground and lands beside Laurienth once Ebeny has headed towards their weyr. He doesn't cuddle - that wouldn't seem appropriate. He settles down near enough to her should she wish it, as his gaze settles on the entrance to the weyrling complex. Inside the weyr, E'dre's been signaled to the pair's arrival and has poured a glass of wine for Ebeny and set out a plate of small edibles that may entice her. He's settled at their table and is staring at a chair that Elayne used to sit in, sipping his wine with a distant gaze. All Laurienth currently possesses the wherewithal to do is to prop her head against Wroth's side, the fight gone out of her and her eyes closed. Ebeny is slightly more mobile, though she looks the worse of the two of them, the white of her complexion now faded to a sickly grey. She plants the broken strap down on the table as she passes it, the rest of what's intact of the others left on a hook in the outer weyr, and though she eyes the wine and E'dre both, her greeting is an uncharitable and uncharacteristic, "Don't start." Her gaze lingers on the glass, but wine evidently isn't going to cut it, for she goes to retrieve something stronger from the cabinet that little fingers cannot find their way into. E'dre's response isn't uncharacteristic as he snaps back, "I wasn't planning to start. I was planning to ask for a report." He watches where she goes and leans back in his chair. A hand drifts up to scrub down his face and then he's reaching for the wine. The wine is lifted more than once towards his lips, perhaps in an effort to still any further words that may find their way out. He continues this tactic as a piece of bread and cheese is grabbed. His concern for her safety and wellbeing is lost in the tension that rides his shoulders and keeps his lips in a thin line. It isn't until she's poured the glass and downed half of it that Ebeny is prepared to speak again. "She made the wrong jump," is an obvious statement. "The image was right and then I don't know what happened, but I can only assume that she messed it up. It could've been a lot worse. If she did it on purpose, to prove Fort isn't her home or to get some holiday, then she's succeeded, but I'd rather not think that." Down goes the rest of the glass. "Ali said she can stay for the seven before we attempt getting her to jump back, and even if she's ready sooner than that, I'm not sure I will be. So, the seven. I'm going to visit her each day." She goes to drink again, only the glass is definitely empty, then definitely full again. "Sir," she adds for good measure, like she'd draw a line beneath that 'report', even if she's not bothered with anything of the sort before. "I assume she's shaken by the event and so punished enough for her slip?" E'dre asks, for as Wroth had indicated to those who listened earlier, the belief that Dee was at fault and needs to be treated accordingly must be shared by the brown's rider. "Or, as you said, she's won her vacation and break from the stress of weyrlinghood at Fort." Her use of the word 'sir' has him reaching for her stronger drink to dump in place of the wine he was sipping. This is taken down and then he doesn't bother to care that when he sets his glass back down it's with enough force that the stem breaks. Cursing, he throws a napkin over the broken glass and finds his attention drawn back to Ebeny. "And what of you? You jumped just as precariously - we felt it. Do you have no concern for your own safety? What would a few more minutes have done?" "Laurienth wasn't impressed by Taeliyth's attitude to the whole thing, though the incident itself is probably instruction," she won't use 'punishment', "enough; I don't think action taken against either of them is going to serve any proper purpose." Ebeny shrugs. "If she's desperate enough for a break to risk her life, the more fool her." The shattering of the glass is watched dispassionately, until she lifts muddy-green eyes back to E'dre, her focus unnaturally sharp despite her alcohol intake. "Are you asking as my Weyrleader or my weyrmate? Not that I guess it matters. I'm not losing another one. If it's a choice between her and me, then of course it's her. And if either of you don't like it," the Weyrleader and the weyrmate, presumably, "you can fuck off and let me cry in private." It would be more venomous if she didn't hiccup and all but burst into tears immediately. Whatever E'dre might've been prepared to say is silenced by Ebeny's tears. He watches her for a small fraction of time, uncertainty on how to proceed there and then overcome as he rises and moves to her side. He stands beside her and rests his hand on her shoulder, offering physical comfort without forcing the issue. A sigh escapes his lips as he looks at the wall furthest from them. He doesn't begin to speak until he thinks she's nearly done crying, not bothered by how long that may take. When he does, all earlier traces of anger is gone from his tone. "It should always be you and not them," he tells her, speaking as her weyrmate, and then: "You handled the situation well. Thank you. We are lucky to have you and that you took such a risk -- I hope Dee can fully grasp what that was." His hand tightens on her shoulder. His own fear of losing her is held in, though he takes more than a few audibly large intakes of breath to steady himself. "If I thought it should always be me and not them, then I wouldn't have the right to wear my knot," Ebeny eventually insists, taking deep breaths to try and regain control after crumpling beneath delayed shock, her forearms lifted awkwardly to conceal her face. "...If I'd handled it better, maybe it wouldn't have happened at all. Maybe Paislie would be still be here. Lilah too." She shakes her head, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes. "If--" But that's one too many ifs for her right now, and she doesn't manage to continue. "It's better she doesn't realise. She probably won't; she's the right to be self-involved. Her world'll be bigger one day, but I don't think it's now." "Lilah wasn't under your care. If anyone.., well, it could be very easy to see where I failed on that one," E'dre reasons, bending down to press his lips to the top of Ebeny's head before he makes his way back to his own chair. He falls into it and slouches, continuing to fall into patterns more usual of a weyrmate and not the Weyrleader. He holds his head briefly with his hands and then shakes it, freeing himself from further thoughts as he stares at the broken glass with another grimace. "Life is hard," he says as he gathers himself up once more to clean the mess he's made. "And the sooner they learn it perhaps the better. Being coddled won't help. But her training is not my responsibility. And it shouldn't be. I have no aptitude for it." He wanders around, depositing the shards, gathering another glass, puttering before he eventually returns to his seat. "I trained Lilah." It's a weak protest, but one nonetheless, and though Ebeny watches E'dre head back to his own seat, she finds herself unable to follow, and so she flops down onto the couch, the only colour in her features that left by the exertion of crying. "I don't think anyone is coddling them, but they're kids. She's a kid and her gold's a kid. You know how that age are. Half the time, the most pressing thing is whether this boy or that girl likes them." She passes one hand over her face again. "It's not their job to worry about me, besides. None of them. ...If nothing else, it's another lesson for the others, and you get a break from having a trainee goldrider around the weyrleaders' complex." "Because her presence is such an inconvenience," E'dre drawls, eyes tracking Ebeny's movements to the couch. He doesn't follow, remaining at the table to pick at another piece of bread. "And you know the idiom, 'you have to grow up sometime'. She stopped being allowed to be a kid when she was chosen by a dragon, and that is even more relevant by that dragon being gold." He pours himself another glass of wine and after he plops the last of the bread in his mouth he rises again to go and join Ebeny on the couch. He settles near her feet, lifting and replacing them on his lap to rest a hand on. "Can Aislara and the others handle the responsibilities tomorrow? I think you should take the day off to regroup and go visit the girls." "I thought you might like the chance to shout really loudly without any deep, reproachful stares." Sarcasm doesn't suit her, and today is no exception. Ebeny waits until he's settled beside her on the couch before she murmurs, "...I'm sorry I'm a bitch." Not that that word sounds any better from her either. She glances down into her lap for a moment, hesitant, then says slowly, "...I thought Laurienth was gathering herself to rise soon, but maybe she'll be too tired for it to be in the next few days now." It might explain the swearing. "I figure it won't be... as soon as I thought it might be." "You just went through a very traumatic experience," E'dre takes a sip of his wine before he leans forward and sets it on the table. He settles back and begins to take off her boots, preparing to rub her feet. "And it's not as if my response was overly diplomatic. I still don't know how I feel about it. It makes me," he pauses, focusing for a moment on massaging out a few kinks from the arch of Ebeny's foot, "very frightened about how young Dee is and what that means for the Weyr. Especially if some upstart, grabby, ill-timed bronzerider becomes our next Weyrleader." He shakes his head and sighs, looking sideways at her for a moment before he focuses back on her feet. "If she does, Wroth'll be ready. If she doesn't, you and I can still," he trails off, letting a devious smile lift his lips as he tilts his head in the direction of their bedroom. "I don't want to think about it," Ebeny insists, whether the whole Between debacle or the possible future of the Weyr. Or Laurienth rising. "I just... don't." She drops her head back against the couch, and though she doesn't protest the removal of her boots, she draws her feet out of E'dre's lap as he tilts his head towards their bedroom. "Let's just... not be frightened or worried or upset about anything for a while." Swinging her legs back over the side of the couch, she stands and holds out a hand for him, her path one meant to take them to that bedroom door. E'dre rises, accepting that hand once he's up and he squeezes it. He doesn't head towards the bedroom, choosing to step closer and drop her hand as he enfolds her in a fierce hug. He holds Ebeny tightly enough it could be uncomfortable for her as he allows the fear to fully leave him. "I can't imagine my life without you," he murmurs into her neck before he presses his lips there and pulls back enough to allow them to walk. He grips her hand and heads towards the bedroom. There are no kids to worry about interrupting them nor do they have to keep silent. Plenty can be shown that can't be said and E'dre allows that to be the focus for the rest of the evening. |
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