Logs:Delifa Sent Them Packing
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| RL Date: 17 July, 2011 |
| Who: Delifa, Madilla |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Delifa sends Madilla and Lilabet away. Briefly. |
| Where: Ista Weyr |
| When: Day 28, Month 3 - Day 6, Month 4. |
| Mentions: B'tal/Mentions |
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| Delifa sent them packing. "You need some time," she told Madilla, firmly. "You look wretched, like you haven't slept, and frankly, you look ill, and I don't like that in my healers. Take Lily and go south for a few days. A seven. Longer, if you need it. There are holiday cottages at Ista, and I know you've at least one friend there. Don't come back until you're ready." It was a better option than going to visit her family, something she'd decided she didn't want to do, even if it was plausible, now, for the first time in turns. Banished from the Infirmary, from the workroom, from the Greenhouse, there didn't seem to be many options for her, except to take her superior up on the offer, and go to Ista. She wasn't sure that Lily understood what was going on, but she understood the beach and the waves, and remembered her last trip here: with B'tal, only a few months ago. I didn't think we'd be taking this trip without you, she thought, wearily. We were all going to come together, this time. But Delifa was right: she did feel better, away from home, and from all the memories bound into those familiar places. Ista was lovely and warm, and Lily flourished in the sun, eating fresh foods that were largely foreign at this time of turn, at home. The played at the water's edge, and in the rock-pools; they hunted firelizard eggs on more distant beaches, though came up with nothing. It was the most time Madilla had ever spent with Lilabet in a single stretch. At home, she was always handing her over to the nursery, or to Delinda, or to Delifa herself; here, it was just the two of them, coexisting without pause day after day. It was hard work: Madilla missed adult company, missed being able to step away and do something else. She found the evenings long. It made her wonder. She wanted another child; that much hadn't changed, probably never would. But did she want a Varens - a man who wanted to marry her, to raise her children with her, to adopt Lilabet and make one big happy family? She'd refused him, last turn, partly because she didn't want to take Lily away from her father. Now... Would it be safe, now? Or would it feel like betrayal? He might be dead, but B'tal was still Lily's father. Would it be easier, if the father wasn't involved at all? If he provided what was needed and then stepped away? If he stayed around to be father - even part-time - to this hypothetical child, would it be unfair to Lily, who would never have that? It made her head spin. Not for the first time, she wondered if she'd over-complicated her own life, having Lilabet. If she'd been patient-- but what would her life be, without Lilabet? Without that piece of B'tal who would keep walking around, breathing the air, growing up. Never. They returned home at the end of the seven, well-rested and brown from the sun. Lily rambled enthusiastically about everything they'd done to Delifa; Madilla gave her mentor a wry smile. "Feeling better?" the older healer asked. Madilla nodded. "It hurts, and I miss him, and I hate that Lily isn't going to remember him, when she's older. But we're going to be okay." And they were. |
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