Come To Me

Writers: Clancey, Dana
Date Posted: 27th October 2005

Characters: Traelyn, J'darin
Description: J'darin and Traelyn have a conversation about responsibility, though if it's a good sign or a bad sign, no one knows. Least of all, THEM!
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 14 of Turn 3

J'darin

While his visit with Traelyn had gone well enough, he supposed, he still
had many concerns. Not only about her, but about his _own_ capabilities.
Unable to think straight, he left his overflowing office, cursing
T'moran all the while for not winning the Flight and staying Weyrleader
with all these sharding headaches.

**Ask Nyith if I can come by for a visit, Hasaarth, please?**

A few moments passed, and the answer was sent along.

}: She says yes, now would be a good time for her own rider to take a
break. :{

Impressed with his own ability to -ask- first, J'darin made his way to the
Weyrwoman's Weyr. Summoning his professional face, the bronzerider
knocked politely.

"Come in!" she called from her seat on the sofa. Trae smiled at him as he
entered, and she held up two glasses of wine for him to see. "I thought
we might need some... Nyith tells me that Hasaarth says you feel about
the same way I do right now."

J'darin smiled back, glancing about the weyr. It was looking more and more
lived in and neat, which was good, wasn't it? Unsure of the answer, he
took the wine glass and joined her with a faint sigh. "I do feel pretty
scorched." He said quietly, taking a sip of wine before he looked at her.
"I wanted to talk to you about a few things that have been bothering me."
Despite both of their need for a break, it wasn't a social call, not truly.

"Oh?"

J'darin nodded. "I just can't understand how you ever left Dragonsfall
with Nyith so close to Rising. It keeps bothering me. I worry because I
don't want to lose you to another Weyr because of the same lack of
responsibility." He was speaking quietly, but seriously. This was the one
fact he could not get around.

Traelyn looked away. Well, she should have known it was coming. Everyone
else had asked except for him. She took a sip of wine, wondering why she
was so sharding hesitant to tell him. The more she relayed what had
happened, the hows and the whys, the more foolish it osunded. Shards and
shells. "You remember U'kaiah, rider of bronze Kalamath?"

J'darin nodded, his expression shuttered, guarded. "I remember vaguely
thinking that if your gold was Rising on our soil, one of _our_ bronzes
should catch her."

She glanced at him at that remark. "He also flew with Dolphin Cove's
Wings last month."

"I remember. I respected he and his bronze for being so willing to
sacrifice for another Weyr, though I worried his own work would suffer. It
was him I suggested to T'moran for tradition searches on you and Nyith and
your ..situation." He nodded to her, his eyes searching her face a
moment. "And were you disappointed it was not Kalamath that caught your
gold?"

"Nyith chose Hasaarth. Why should have I been disappointed?"

J'darin peered at her again, considering his answer. "I didn't ask if it
was Nyith who was disappointed. After all, you and U'kaiah must have
..ahh.. known each other, and perhaps more?"

Well, shards. Who was _he_ to ask her that? "That's a rather pointed
question, isn't it?" she asked with the barest of grins, trying to cover
up her slight irritation.

"I was merely curious. You brought him up, remember?" J'darin's eyes
shuttered closed a bit more. He had been more than merely curious, but
she appeared not to notice one way or the other, so he would move along
past it in his usual fashion.

"He's my good friend, J'darin," she told him quietly, meeting his gaze.
"The day Nyith rose, he'd been getting himself checked by the dolphins of
the Hall...because the healers feared that the strain of timing it damaged
his heart."

"That doesn't explain why you were here, only why _he_ was." He found
himself more pleased than expected when she said friend, though friend
meant many things to women, he'd found. His tone, though, was back to
faintly distant.. and disapproving.

"We... He didn't tell me that he was going to the Dolphin Hall that
morning, and when Nyith told me that was where he'd gone...I followed him,
assuming the worst." Her voice had gone soft.

"Traelyn, you're old enough to know we have to put our dragon's needs
above our own. You being here with him would not have changed the
outcome... You charged after him like some half-wit girl without a dragon,
nevermind a queen. I don't understand that lack of responsibility at all,
and it worries me."

Her jaw tightened, her eyes becoming hard and guarded. "You don't need to
tell _me_ that I acted rashly. I know I did. I know it, and I regret
it." She looked at him. "I've told you before that that was the only
time I've ever acted with such irresponsible impulsiveness."

"Of all the times.." He shook his head, watching her for a long moment.
"That's why I thought you must have been in love with the Wingleader from
Dragonsfall. Only love makes us do such out-of-character things. It _is_
out of character isn't it? I spoke with B'ram and.." J'darin started to
say but she interrupted him at the word 'B'ram'.

"_B'ram_?" Her eyes widened, then grew cold. "So you _spoke_ with B'ram,
did you? And just what did the brownrider have to say about me?"
Traelyn's voice had gone quiet. Too quiet.

"He said several things. The biggest being that you liked to be the
center of attention." J'darin didn't flinch from the quiet, he only met
her icy stare for icy stare. "You certainly accomplished _that_ with your
stunt with Nyith. Everyone knows who you are now." Sometimes J'darin
just didn't know when to _quit_ being an arrogant arse.

Stupid bronzerider.

"Oh, so he said that about me, did he?" Her eyes flashed. "And just who
do you think _you_ are to go snooping around for _gossip_ about me,
Weyrleader? Isn't idle gossiping about your own Weyrwoman beneath you?
Aren't you a bit too _old_ to act like such an adolescent?"

"Aren't you just a bit old to take your dragon out of your Weyr when she
is about to Rise?" He countered smoothly, his voice chilling but not
rising. He'd learned from Kalina that yelling back only made things worse.
"As Weyrleader of this Weyr, I need to know just what kind of Weyrwoman I
have. And he was a source that knew you." He paused, his eyes narrowing
at her. "After all, you're going to get earfuls about me."

"That may be, bronzerider, but I don't go searching specifically! Nor do
I sharding _ask_. And believe me, I've had plenty of opportunities to
ask. But I haven't. And do you want to know _why_ I haven't?" She
didn't wait for him to reply. "Because peoples' own _biased_ opinions
come into play. That's why. And I wanted to form my own opinion of you
_myself_. Not have someone else do it for me."

He drew himself up and off the couch. "I did not say his opinions would
become my own, Weyrwoman. Only a sharding silly weyrling would act that
way." He paused. "But he does know you. And I was curious." His voice had
an odd tone to it now, but his eyes were as cold as her's. For a moment
his expression had softened on the word curious; he had wanted to know
about her as a woman too. "_Was_."

"If you were so curious, you could've come to me yourself." Her voice had
gone quieter, and when she looked at him, disappointment flickered in her
eyes.

His eyes lost their cold chill. How do you explain that? Finally he said,
just as quietly, "I came to you now."

"You coming to me here today doesn't seem like curiosity. It seemed
like...you were here to judge me." She shrugged a shoulder. "Judge me
because of my irrational mistake. Am I completely off on that? If I am,
please tell me, J'darin. But that's...that's just the impression I get
from you."

"I did, in a way, I suppose." He said honestly. Courtesy to women
extending to not lying to them, it was just that his truths were so
arrogant sometimes it might be better to lie! "I don't understand what
could possess a woman like you to do such a thing, and I do not approve of
it in the slightest, despite the amazing Flight Nyith gave Hasaarth, and
you gave me." His eyes burned with the memory a moment, then he went on.
"I am and was bothered because it was due to chasing after a man. One of
my biggest problems in dealing with women is the foolishness they get into
because of men they love..." He chuckled dryly, remembering several fights
with Kalina over this very subject, except in his case it was applied to
_him_ not her! "I don't want a Weyrwoman who will chase after men that
way... I just don't." The trouble he and Kalina had had over that ...

"But I also came here to find out if you're going to do something like
this again." He paused, still looking at her and speaking in that quiet
voice. "I will take your word for it until I am proven wrong."

Traelyn returned his gaze levelly, though her expression was no longer
hard. "I've never acted so irresponsibly in my life than the day when
Nyith rose, J'darin. And I don't ever plan on acting like that again."
Gently she patted the seat next to her, inviting him to come sit with her
again. A tentative truce of sorts, perhaps. "But when you're curious,
come to me." Her voice was soft. "Don't go to anyone else."

He nodded, once. "I will do so, Weyrwoman." He smiled lightly at her,
sinking down enough to cover her hand with his just briefly. "I can't
stay any longer, duty calls me. But perhaps we might speak again soon,
Traelyn?"

She nodded, returning his quiet smile. "Yes, J'darin...yes."

Last updated on the October 29th 2005

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