Not Asleep Today?

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 30th June 2009

Characters: Zelle, K'hetah
Description: K'hetah visits a slowly recovering Zelle.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 16 of Turn 5

"Not asleep today, Zelle?" K'hetah commented as he entered the room the greenrider was occupying.

"I should be." Zelle muttered, fatigue clouding her features. "They've been making me do exercises all morning, but I'm so achey I can't fall asleep."

"I was sure you'd done enough sleeping at the beginning to last you a lifetime," he said, crossing the room to take her hand and study her as she lay in the bed. "You do look tired, though, I'll admit. In pain?"

"Yeah." The pain was better, but it still hurt enough to require help in dealing with it. "Especially after all the exercises I've done today."

"They're so important, though, if you want your mobility back." He squeezed her hand and then released it, settling down in a chair beside the bed. "Do all the healers say that?"

"Yes." Zelle wished he hadn't let her go so quickly, but she didn't say anything to him. Instead, she gave him a small smile. "Including you. They gave me a bit of fellis just before you came so hopefully it will start to work soon."

"You might try asking for a different pain reliever. Sometimes people can build up a familiarity with one and they need more and more for it to work." He had given up healing to be a bronzerider in a Pass - but apparently all those Turns of craft work weren't as easily dismissed.

"Maybe." There were other pain relievers? Zelle didn't know that. "For now, this will do. So tell me about the outside world."

"It's still there. Thread Falls - " She must know about that. Rillith would be beside herself to go and fight. "- We meet it. The rest of the time we drill to meet it. Nothing changes."

"Surely there are other things." Zelle knew that Thread still fell, but she wanted to hear about the lives of those outside of the infirmary. "Tell me what you do to keep yourself busy outside of that."

"Is the fellis muddling your brains? You _know_ what I do. I keep the hidework under control, I keep myself out of people's way, I stay in the dining cavern one night a sevenday in case somebody wants to talk to me. Did you think the world had changed while you were in here?"

"I had hoped." Zelle managed a small grin. "Thought maybe you might actually come out of your shell without me around to drive you into it."

"Aww, Zelle. You know it's not you. But that brownrider - now he's going back into his shell without you."

"He never really left it." It was a shame, really. He had visited her though, and that gave Zelle some hope. "But you're not as bad as he is."

"Because I've had you around for longer!"

"Maybe." Zelle's smile brightened a bit. "But I know you're glad to be rid of me for a while."

"Not glad! It's even a bit lonely up on the cliff, there, without you to call out goodnight to."

"Without fear that I might try to sneak into your weyr?"

"Ahh, well, you wouldn't have done that, would you?"

"Well, no." Zelle knew that would have betrayed K'hetah's trust and that was something she never wanted to do. "But sometimes I like scaring you."

"You scare me with things like _this_" he said, waving a hand to indicate the room and the infirmary. "Threadfall I can understand - but this?"

"I didn't plan on this." Zelle reminded him. No one had, it had just happened, an accident that both parties would liked to have undone - but life didn't work that way.

"Nobody would, but it's just so ..." He knew 'pointless' might sound harsh to her so left the sentence hanging. "You face so many dangers in Threadfall."

"I'll be all right." Zelle assured him though it seemed like she would never get out of there at the rate she was going. "I'll be up and about in no time."

"Well I wish no time would hurry itself along. Are you doing _all_ your exercises? _Properly?_" He was afraid she had settled in to life in the infirmary and perhaps wouldn't try as hard as she needed to to get herself mobile again.

"Oh yes, properly and even a little more than asked of me." Zelle assured him. She made a sweep around the room with her hand. "I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"That's good to hear. Now, is there anything I can get you? You only have to ask, you know."

"A bubbly?" Zelle asked tentatively, trying to put on big, pathetic eyes just in case he needed a bit more persuasion. "Please?"

"Of course." He looked at her suspiciously. "You are allowed to eat anything, aren't you?"

"I've been off of restrictions for a while." Zelle stated adamantly. "They just aren't good about serving dessert here."

"I'll go and see what I can find _right_now_," he said, getting to his feet. "If you're hungry now?"

"I'm always hungry for bubbly pies." Zelle giggled softly. "Who isn't?"

"I'll be back soon," he promised with a smile for the greenrider. "Don't do anything silly while I'm away."

"I'll try." Zelle heaved a sigh. "I'll try really hard, but I can't guarantee anything."

Last updated on the July 4th 2009

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