You'd Better Stop

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 4th December 2020
Series: The Hallmaster's Ladies

Characters: H'riv, Thayde
Description: H'riv confronts Thayde
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 7, day 24 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Jalodwyn, Yasha, Mertin, Enamra Follows "SWE: Tell Him to Stop"

Thayde

"Now do you understand why you can't ring the dolphin bell whenever you feel like it?" Thayde asked.

Two hallbrats sat in his office, heads bowed, hands clasped in front of them as they peeked through their hair at the Hallmaster.

"Yes, sir," they chimed in unison.

"Good, now you may go." The children scampered off, leaving behind a grinning Hallmaster.

He remembered being a part of such pranks when he had been a child. Turning back to his desk, Thayde sighed at the hidework that had accumulated there, but dutifully took his seat to begin working through it.

"You got a sec?"

Thayde looked up, eyebrows raised in surprise. "H'riv? What are you doing here?"

The brownrider entered Thayde's office and closed the door behind him. "We need to talk."

Thayde's brow furrowed. The tone of H'riv's voice was too serious and the normally good natured sparkle was missing from the dragonrider's green eyes.

"Okay." Thayde said, giving his brother the space to gather whatever it was he wanted to say.

"You know I've been visiting Jal."

"Yes...." Thayde answered slowly. "Is she okay? Is it the baby?" He refrained from saying 'my daughter' because those sort of thoughts led to trouble. As long as it was 'the baby' he could remain detached.

H'riv exhaled slowly, his eyes finally raising up to meet his younger brother's. "They're healthy, but they're not okay. Jalodwyn's reputation at Jade Harbor is... not good. The hidebound zealots that live there either think she's scandalous because she has a dragonrider coming to see her, or because she's a slut who was exiled by the Hallmaster."

Thayde was surprised by H'riv's choice of words and the tone of voice. There was an accusation lying in those words. "And you have come to tell me that it's my fault?"

"Isn't it?"

"Yes." Thayde said, surprising his brother in return. "That surprises you?"

"In the past you always took only partial blame for the situation." H'riv replied evenly.

"She came to me on that beach," Thayde said, "and I didn't have to persuade her to open her legs, brother, but I was a married man who should have had the sense to put a stop to things. I didn't. It's my fault."

H'riv thought back to what Yasha had said. "Are you still punishing her then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Yasha, that woman she lives with, said that the Master at Jade Harbor told Jalodwyn she's not allowed promotions, she can't partner with a dolphin, or work salvage. Was that your orders?"

Thayde's eyebrows rose. "He told her what?"

"You heard me. You didn't instruct this Mertin guy to keep Jalodwyn under his thumb?"

"Of course not," Thayde replied quickly, but then he wondered if that had been implied by his 'exiling' of Jalodwyn. He certainly hadn't meant for her to be hindered in her craft just because he didn't want his illegitimate child being raised under his wife's nose at Dolphin Cove.

H'riv sighed. "Well, that makes me feel some better. But you're going to have to figure something out. Jalodwyn's miserable, Yasha says, and no one at the hall at Jade Harbor wants to work with her because of her reputation." The brownrider stood. "Fix this, Thayde."

Thayde stood as well. "What do you expect me to do?"

"Fix. It." H'riv brought his face closer to Thayde's. It was a tone of voice that was reserved for rare occasions, and Thayde had only heard his brother use it a handful of times over the Turns.

"I'll talk to Mertin." Thayde reassured the brownrider.

"Good," H'riv relaxed a little. "Give my best to Enamra, I have to get back to Barrier Lake."

Thayde nodded, troubled by his brother's behavior and words. To think that H'riv, the sibling he was closest to, could think him capable of so completely ruining Jalodwyn's life hurt, but there was also an underlying guilt in the entire situation that made Thayde ashamed of his past actions.

Last updated on the December 7th 2020

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You'd Better Stop