This Too Shall Pass

Writers: AL, Vix
Date Posted: 26th August 2008

Characters: Eliste, Vaheri, Jardon
Description: Vaheri and Jardon both come to visit Eliste and Eliste finds out something about Jardon's feelings.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 11, day 22 of Turn 4
Notes: Takes place after lunch, early afternoon.

Fog had left not long before. He was trying so hard to make his time off the riverboat profitable, and he had done a good job of it thus far. Still, he was eager, perhaps because Lineal had been so lenient in letting him stay with her. Eliste hoped him not being on the boat didn't cause too much of an inconvenience, but she was just so glad that he was able to stay. Having him around made things a little brighter.

The knock at the door came to know surprise. Eliste had quite a share of visitors since the baby's arrival, and she knew that the boat had docked the prior evening. So when she called out for whomever it was to enter, she was not shocked to see Vaheri and her grandson entering. She cradled Follen, the child asleep after a particularly long bout of nursing. "Vaheri, Jardon, it's so nice to see you both."

"I can never resist a visit with a new babe," Vaheri told her as she neared the young mother. "There seem to be too few of them on-board." "Well, hopefully we'll be on board soon enough so you will have plenty of time to visit then." Eliste's gaze slid from grandmother to grandson and her smile brightened. "Hello Jardon, I'm glad to see you. You haven't come by so much as of late."

The woodcrafter's face reddened at her comment. "I've been a bit busy." Sensing her grandson's tension, Vaheri stepped closer. "May I hold him?" "Of course." Eliste shifted the baby, then passed him into Vaheri's waiting arms. She glanced over at Jardon. "You can hold him too if you like."

Jardon shook his head with a grin. "I'd be afraid that I'd drop him. Besides, I doubt that she'll give him up easily." He indicated his grandmother with a nod of his head.

"They can talk all they want," Vaheri murmured to the baby, her eyes studying the tiny child's face. "You and I will just get acquainted and ignore them." "I'm sure when he gets hungry she'll give him back." Eliste's eyes twinkled in amusement. "I've missed your visits Jardon. What has kept you away?"

The young man smiled and shrugged. "I've been very busy." Of course, his cousin had been spending so much time with the woman that there had been no time for him.

"I hope it's been a good kind of busy." Eliste's smile was sincere, "I've missed our conversations."

"I have, too," he admitted, "but I've taken on a few extra projects and they've claimed most of my free time."

"Jardon." Vaheri's voice interjected softly. "That package I was carrying ... I think I left it near the front door. Would you get it for me?"

The young man nodded at his grandmother's request and hurriedly left the room.

Vaheri watched him go before returning her attention to the baby. However, her words were unrelated to the child. "It's difficult for him, you know."

The smile upon Eliste's face faded. "Has something happened? What's wrong?"

The older woman studied her for a moment. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"You brought out their protective sides and made them care – not just Fog, but him as well."

Eliste let Vaheri's words ring in her mind for a moment before whisper, "I care for him too, Vaheri." It was true, she did. She wasn't going to lie about that.

"I know you do," the woman told her, "and I'm not blaming you. You befriended both of them, nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, Jardon allowed himself to hope for more."

"I never meant to hurt him." Nor had she ever meant to hurt Nico, but it seemed as if she had done so anyway. "Jardon is a wonderful man. He deserves to be happy."

"He does and he will be," Vaheri answered. "He's sad now, but it will pass." She glanced up at a noise from the hallway, smiling as her grandson re-entered with a packet wrapped in fabric. "Just give it to Eliste, please."

Jardon managed a quick smile as he held the package toward the new mother.

Eliste's puzzlement was obvious as she accepted the package and carefully unwrapped it. As soon as she saw the outfit, her eyes lit up as bright as her smile. "Oh Vaheri, it's lovely!" Eliste held up the patchwork jacket, mostly sky blue with darker blue and yellow accents. "Oh it's wonderful. Thank you."

"Sewing is all that I do," Vaheri told her. "I tried to crochet a few times but I don't do well with yarn, just thread." She glanced toward her grandson. "And Jardon has a gift for you as well."

"I don't really have it," he told her, his cheeks reddening. "I mean, it's finished, but I didn't bring it here."

"That's okay." Eliste turned her smile to Jardon. "It will give you another excuse to visit me."

"It's not that, I. . ." Jardon looked toward his grandmother for help.

"It's rather large," Vaheri told her. "He needs to know where you want it to be delivered."

"Oh...well, I won't be leaving until next month." Eliste wished it could be sooner, but she wasn't going to risk her son's health by travelling too early. "So I suppose you can have it delivered here." Now what could he have gotten her that would be so large as to be unable to bring it? "Or do you think I should send it to the boat?"

"The boat," was the headwoman's reply. She turned to look at Jardon. "The babe will still be small for that time and it won't be needed until she's on the boat."

The man nodded solemnly. "It was made in riverboat style, so that's easily enough done."

"My curiosity is piqued." Eliste looked from Vaheri to Jardon as if trying to read their thoughts. "I'm eager to see it...whatever it is."

Vaheri waited for his answer, sighing when Jardon offered no reply. "He made a crib for the babe. 'Riverboat style' means that it's easily assembled and disassembled. It can probably wait until you're ready to move aboard the Sungazer and placed in your new room."

"Oh Jardon!" Eliste's face lit up with a bright smile that she cast upon the woodworker. "I bet it's just lovely. I can't wait to see it! You said it's easy to move? Could you bring it here?"

"Any time you want," he replied, though he had been hoping to set it up while she was not around and be done with it.

"I just can't wait to be on the boat to see it. Please Jardon, I would love it if you brought it." Eliste was speaking the truth. A crib for her son and while he wouldn't use it much in the first few months, he would eventually.

He nodded in resignation. "How about if I bring it over tomorrow?"

"That would be wonderful." Eliste wondered if Jardon would be willing to talk. She didn't want to leave and not be friends.

"That's settled then." Vaheri's remark was made softly as she rose to her feet. "And this one is asleep." She gently transferred the baby to his cradle. "We should leave you to get some rest while the baby sleeps."

"I suppose you're right." Eliste couldn't help but be hesitant. She enjoyed their company, but sleeping when the baby slept was the wisest thing to do. "Please visit again before you leave."

"I will," Vaheri told her, "and Jardon will visit you while I'm on the river."

"I hope so." Eliste looked back to the young man and smiled a little. "Please do. I miss our visits together." Should she tell him? No. No, that would only make things worse. But she wanted to be his friend, wanted to keep that which had become so precious to her. Hopefully he would be amenable to that.

The man nodded, knowing that with both Eliste and Vaheri expecting him to visit, he had little choice but to comply.

"But now we _will_ go," Vaheri told her, offering one last gentle stroke to the baby's arm before heading for the door. She paused and looked back. "Jardon?"

"I'll see you tomorrow," he told her with a sigh and followed his grandmother.

Last updated on the August 26th 2008

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This Too Shall Pass