On Watch Duty

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 5th November 2017

Characters: Riveenata, C'rin
Description: C'rin visits Riveenata on watch duty.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 3 of Turn 9

C'rin

}:She has watchduty.:{ Dasveth informed C'rin, which changed the
direction the brownrider was walking.

**I should have guessed that.** C'rin responded as he climbed the
stairs to the watcher's quarters. He'd heard, through Dasveth, who'd
heard from other dragons, about the incident that had taken place in
the Queen's Wing.

"Riveenata?" He knocked and cracked the door open to peek inside.

Riveenata opened the door to the tower, wondering if it was a
goldrider coming to check on her. It had been busier earlier in the
evening, but now it was fairly quiet.

"C'rin, hi," she said with some surprise, stepping back to let him in.

C'rin closed the door behind him. "Dasveth blabbed, so I thought I
would come by and see if you needed anything."

}:I did not "blab"...:{ Dasveth sniffed.

"Yeah, Kapera grounded us and set us on watchduty," she said, making
her way back to the chair and sitting down heavily in it. She'd trust
Savith to keep her eyes out for anything interesting, for now.

C'rin pulled a wooden chair from the tiny table within and sat down
facing Riveenata, "What happened?"

She didn't really want to talk about it, her emotions still feeling
raw...but then Savith crooned from outside and reminded her that
Dasveth's rider was good, and made her feel better.

"A weyrling was delivering us firestone and missed. A Thread tangle
fell...Savith tried to flame it, and the weyrling got hit. Kapera
called me out for being out of position."

"Hey," he reached out and put a hand on her knee, "we fly Thread a
lot, a mistake is bound to happen here or there."

"A mistake bad enough to ground me over?" She sniffled. Kapera's words
about her having a good reputation and then totally failing to live up
to it were stinging her bitterly.

"All Wingleaders seem to handle things differently. A different one
might not have grounded you at all, you might only had some extra
drills. Don't let Kapera get to you, she doesn't have to catch stone
and flame the way you do, it's different when you're wielding a
flamethrower." C'rin knew that Riveenata was already hard on herself,
but to have her new Wingsecond punish her, had also been a blow to her
already fragile demeanor post River Bluff's ruin.

"That's something I hadn't considered," Riveenata said. She'd just
expected to be punished harshly for the mistake and never thought
about the fact that goldriders wouldn't know about judging stone
levels and flame.

"I have sessions with a mindhealer, too," she added. "Not sure how I
feel about that. They're trying to tell me that everyone needs it
sometimes, it's not a sign I'm a total failure..."

"Riveenata, you are not a failure." He didn't think that the
mindhealer was such a bad idea, though, not with the way she'd been
acting lately. "How long do you have to see a mindhealer?"

"A whole month," she said mopily. "I know they're important. I'd be
bad at my profession if I didn't admit it. I just didn't think I was
ill enough to need one."

C'rin hesitated to say it, but admitted slowly, "You haven't been
yourself lately. It might be for the best."

She stared at him with eyes wide, mute and looking like she'd been slapped.

"Riv, come on, you know I don't mean it like that. You haven't been
yourself since River Bluff, and you know it." He remembered how she'd
been when he'd first met her, back before trouble at come to their
Weyr. Right now, she was nothing like the woman he had known then.

She closed her eyes briefly, still feeling hurt by it. But Savith's
love lifted her and gave her the ability to step back and think about
what she was saying. "You're right," she conceded after a moment.

"I care about you, a lot," he didn't think that was a secret. "I just
want the best for you, that's all."

"I'll tell you what they say. And if they ever let me out of
punishment duty," she added.

"They will, you're a great rider." C'rin stood. "I should let you go,
I know you're on duty."

"I'd ask you to stay so it's less boring, but I'd be worried if Kapera
came up here and caught you and then yelled," she said.

C'rin pulled the greenrider in for a quick hug. "If you need anything
just have Savith speak to Dasveth."

"I promise I will," she said, resting her head briefly on his
shoulder. She'd have Savith reach out. But maybe she'd wait until
after all her punishments were over.

Last updated on the November 7th 2017

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