Armchair Criticism

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 13th August 2015

Characters: Kapera, J'nus
Description: J'nus and Kapera discuss J'ackt's song and share a dance.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 13, day 29 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: J'ackt, Cyradis, N'vanik

Kapera

"I still cannot believe that they wrote a sharding song about him,"
J'nus murmured in Kapera's ear. At the other end of the room the 'he'
in question was busy making an escape to the Hall's balcony. Even
without being able to see his face, J'nus could tell that J'ackt was
not impressed. "Did Cyradis suggest it?"

"Now that was a slap in the face to the holders," Kapera said. She was
stunned as well. As for his question... "I don't know if that's her
style. N'vanik's the one championing his reputation."

J'nus eyed the room, but it was hard to tell what the crowd thought
when everyone was wearing masks. "I didn't think N'vanik cared that
much about reputations."

"He never seemed to before. But he was an angry hard-case. Maybe he
sympathizes with the kid."

"Maybe." If N'vanik was behind it, then he'd probably commissioned it
as a way of protecting the weyrling. J'nus could imagine the
intentions behind it, although he had no idea how it would be received
by the holders over the coming weeks. Then the bronzerider grinned as
a thought struck him. "I wonder what N'vanik would think if someone
wrote a song like that about him?"

"Oh, _that's_ an image." Kapera coughed twice to hide the laugh that
wanted to burst out of her throat. "He'd probably fall over."

"Here. Don't choke." J'nus handed her his glass of water.

"Although I don't know what they'd sing about." She took a sip of the
water, grateful. "I hope it'll do something for the unhappy folk."

"The dragonriders or the holders?" J'nus asked.

"The holders. They can't go around disrespecting us."

"No. But a song isn't going to fix everything either." J'nus took his
water glass back from Kapera. "The only way I can see it getting
easier is to give this whole episode time to blow over. They'll
remember soon enough that we're not the enemy-- we're their cousins
and sons and daughters."

"You have a good point. Maybe you should be the one dealing with them."

The bronzerider snorted. "No thank you. I prefer sharing my opinions
and armchair criticism than actually making the decisions. I'm sure
that our Weyrleader has it figured out." Maybe. The music ended and
there was a brief pause as the masked audience applauded. Once the
sound had died down, the Harpers on stage struck a chord and launched
into another song. The opening bars made J'nus grin in recognition. It
was the same song that he and Kapera had done the toss dance to at
Dolphin Cove Weyr months earlier. He turned to the goldrider beside
him and held out his hand. "Remember this?"

"How could I forget that you leave me breathless? We should stun the
holders," she said, taking his hands and ready to move.

"You already do," he said shamelessly.

She chuckled at the flattery, appreciating it. Then her mind was too
busy with the dance to think too much about anything other than the
way she needed to move her feet, how J'nus' hands felt against her
skin, and how to not terribly embarrass herself in front of the whole
hall.

Last updated on the August 13th 2015

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Armchair Criticism