The Point is We Worry

Writers: Rochelle
Date Posted: 1st March 2009

Characters: Tatitem, M'nex
Description: Tatitem visits with her injured son.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 1, day 16 of Turn 5

"This really stinks." M'nex moaned. "Two turns, _two turns!_, without a single score, and then I bite the big one on the last Fall of the Turn."

Tatitem snorted softly, but didn't say anything. She'd gotten accustomed to the complaint in the past few sevendays since M'nex had been scored. Her foster son was still in the infirmary and on several medicines, but they had finally lightened the dosage enough that his personality had started to show through again, to Tatitem's relief. Without M'nex's cheerful presence and surprising maturity -not to mention his peculiar knack for dealing with her other son- the new Turn had seemed to be more of an arduous trial.

"And then I get to spend _all_ of Turn's End stuck in here flat on my back and drugged out of my skull. Without a single pretty girl or handsome man to distract me and no access to the feast..."

"Nonsense." Tati said simply. "I know for a fact you were appreciating the healers, M'nex."

Her son eyed her from the bed, propped up slightly on a small pile of pillows to keep him from aggravating the slowly developing scar tissue crossing his chest and shoulder. His eyes were still a little fogged from the fellis, but there was enough of him there that she was able to push her worries -and painful memories of J'ritem's scoring and Jerase's lingering illness- aside. "You sicked Jatati on me. I refuse to 'appreciate' my own sister." He said dryly.

Tatitem chuckled. "At least you had visitors. It's not like you were great company drugged out of your mind."

"I suppose." M'nex conceded grudgingly. "But that's not the point!"

"And you couldn't have eaten anything at the feast anyway." Taitem continued reasonably, a smile touching the ends of her lips. "Not when you had so much fellis in you that I had to send for more from storage."

"Did not." M'nex frowned at her, his reaction a little slower than normal as it worked through the extra medicine in his system. "I'm not that bad."

"No, but it doesn't matter." Tatitem pinned him with a 'look'. She'd lost turns off her life when the drudge had come running up to her during that Fall. They needed M'nex, and he knew it. Somehow, the bluerider had become a major part of the glue holding the family together after J'ritem's scoring. If anything happened to him... Tatitem hated to admit it, but she didn't think she would be enough to keep J'ritem sane. The tenuous balance they'd all created since the First Fall would fall apart, and she was terrified that she'd lose J'ritem as well as M'nex.

It was a lot to put on the shoulders of a young man barely twenty-one turns and already risking his life for Pern, and she knew it. She hated it, hated that M'nex had been forced to mature and take on such a heavy burden so young. But he had been the one to step forward and fill the breech when J'ritem had been scored, been the one to cajole his sisters into maintaining an upbeat outlook and his foster mother into stepping forward and becoming the commander they'd always known her to be. He'd refused to give up on J'ritem no matter how surly or bitter or depressed or even dangerous her son had become, and bit by bit had been slowly pulling him back to the land of the living.

"If it doesn't matter, then why are you glaring at me?" He asked shrewdly. When Tatitem didn't answer, presenting him with an impassive expression, he sighed lightly, wincing. "Never mind."

Tatitem shook her head, stubbornly shoving her guilt down for another day. They both knew what was going on, and there was no point in discussing it while M'nex was still in the infirmary. Besides, what was the point? It wasn't a new revelation. "The point is that it doesn't matter whether I'm Headwoman or not. I still worry about you. We all do."

M'nex smiled twistedly at her. "I've noticed. Some of my neighbors have started trying to talk to J'ritem when I'm asleep."

Tatitem raised an eyebrow. This was news. She'd known that her broken son had spent a great deal of time sitting with M'nex -he'd told her with a bitter smile that it wasn't like he had anything else to do, and turnabout was fair play because M'nex never left him alone when he was in the infirmary. It had actually been encouraging, as it kept him out of trouble and showed at least a hint of the fiercely loyal boy she'd once known. But she hadn't realized he'd spent so much time there that he'd stopped making the other patients nervous. "Does he answer them?"

"Not yet. He's still glaring at them. I don't think he believes they're actually talking to him." M'nex admitted with a weak chuckle. "But I'm hopeful. I told them to keep trying." He winced again, muffling a groan.

"Perhaps you should spend less time encouraging them to talk to J'ritem and more time resting." She said sternly, concern leaking through her tone. "Should I call someone over?"

"No." M'nex said hurriedly. "I'm fine."

Tatitem sighed. If there was one place where her two sons were perfectly matched, it was in their desire not to have others do things for them that they felt they should be able to do themselves. M'nex had created an artform out of recognizing when to help J'ritem and when not to, and now that he was injured himself he was rapidly developing the same annoying habit of putting off assistance until the last possible moment. "M'nex, if you're starting to feel worse you need to tell the healers."

"I'm fine." He repeated, letting out a shaky breath. "It's just a... twinge."

"M'nex, I've sat with J'ritem more than you have. Just a 'twinge' would not have you turning the color of fresh milk." She turned to flag down a healer. If nothing else, she knew the schedule the healers had been drugging M'nex on, and he was due for another dose soon. She suspected that had delayed it a little to give her more time to talk to him since she was able to break free of her Headwoman duties so rarely.

"Mummmmm." M'nex groaned, drawing out the last syllable as if the sound fascinated him. Tatitem glanced down at him, stifling her irritation at the childish tone. "I promise you. I'm fine."

"Even so." She said noncommittally, gesturing for a nearby healer's attention. "I want a second opinion. Journeywoman?"

The woman glanced up at her words, and nodded to show she'd be over in a moment. Tatitem smiled her thanks, and then settled down beside her foster son again, ignoring his grumbling.

Last updated on the March 15th 2009

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The Point is We Worry