Mother and Daughter

Writers: Vix
Date Posted: 14th July 2007

Characters: Tamaca
Description: Tamaca helps her mother in the infirmary and lets Tambila know her plans.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 4, day 25 of Turn 4

"Hello, Mum. You needed me?"

Tambila turned to find her daughter behind her, defiant look on her face. "Good afternoon, Tam." The healer smiled at the young woman. "I hadn't seen you for a while and thought that if I requested your help I could at least see that you were healthy."

"I'm not pregnant, if that's your concern." Tamaca tossed her head. "Though if I didn't take care of myself, I suppose that I could be."

"No, that's not my concern," her mother assured her, though the thought did cross Tambila's mind that it was just as well that the girl get over this wild streak before she actually did have a child. "I simply wanted to see that my daughter was doing well."

"I am, so no need to concern yourself." Tam glanced around. "So what job did you have for me to do?"

Tambila sighed, knowing better than to push her daughter. Until the age of seventeen turns, the girl had been pleasant enough toward her, but then things had changed. It had started with that first Fall, the Fall that had changed Tambila's entire family. Her dragonrider sons had scurried to join their Wings, as had their father. While A'car had returned unscarred, both of the younger men had been 'scored. T'din, until then Tam's best friend, had gone /between/ with his dragon, while L'car and his blue lifemate remained, seriously injured. Tambila had been busy with her own grief and the lengthy healing regimen assigned to her remaining son and had failed to see the changes in her daughter.

However, looking back she could recall first the silence and then the slide into a new personality, one less open, less loving, leaving her with a new daughter, a stranger in the familiar form. Though Tamaca never seemed to be alone, her supposed fun-loving attitude was forced, and her attachments only skin-deep. She had pushed her mother away, distancing other family members as well. The only one who still seemed able to attract her concern was L'cal, the brother who remained, the brother who seldom spoke to others but carried his own grief and guilt at living.

The healer smiled again at her daughter. "I though perhaps you could help me with my supply list. It needs to be completed and most of the apprentices are assigned to other duties."

Tamaca shrugged. "Whatever you want - it _is_ my job."

"Yes, it is." Tambila led the way into the general storeroom where bandages and splints were kept. There she walked through the shelves and noted what bolts of cloth were needed, the sizes and amounts. Behind her, her daughter followed, noting the items on a tablet of paper.

As they finished in that room, the mother turned to the daughter. "Vilarth should be Clutching soon."

"That usually follows a gold flight," noted Tamaca.

Tambila asked the question that was so much on her mind. "Are you planning to Stand?"

"Of course. I'll Stand as long as I'm able."

The healer took a deep breath. "It means this much to you - to Impress?"

"No." Tamaca looked her mother directly in the eye for the first time. "I don't expect to Impress, Mum. But I'll not have a dragon die because perhaps I should have been on the Sands. They gave too much for that." She blinked against the tears that stung her eyes, steeling her expression and holding up her hands to ward off the embrace her mother offered. "I'll Stand because it's proper, because we owe those who have been injured or have died to protect us. But you needn't worry - you'll not lose me to Threadfall." She took a deep breath. "Was there anything else?"

Tambila's shoulder's slumped. "I wanted to ask you - you have a birthingday coming up. Was there anything in particular you wanted?"

There was a long pause, during which Tambila could see . . . something, some play of emotions, some feelings that almost broke through the young woman's stony expression. But then it was done and Tamaca handed her the paper with the list of supplies.

"I can find my own fun for that night," Tamaca told her mother. "I just want to be left alone."

With that, the girl was gone, and Tambila was left feeling drained, tears in her eyes. She wished that her daughter could get over her hurts, but at least with her mother she could express the anger that she kept from showing others.

Last updated on the July 14th 2007

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Mother and Daughter