Why Did You Do It?

Writers: Aaron, Miriah
Date Posted: 23rd April 2022

Characters: K'don, Enali
Description: K'don speaks to the imprisoned Enali to ask questions
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 19 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Cyradis

K'don

Having delivered the sandwich to Cyradis and spoken to her about the
woman from the Hatching, K'don felt... well, perhaps _better_ was the
wrong word. But he felt placated. More or less. The whole situation
was bigger than he was, and whatever happened to the woman, justice
would be done.

:{What if you _did_ go to talk to her?:{ asked Maciath. The brown was
not yet satisfied. There was still too much room in K'don's mind for
empathy and understanding for this monster who tried to kill
hatchlings and mothers. But if he talked to her, he would see that
what he did was absolutely right and that what she got, she would
deserve.

**Mash, that's wild, I couldn't possibly. How would I even get to her?
Someone would see me and tell me to bugger off.**

}:She is in one of the seaside weyrs. Covalath watches her now. She
would let us go by.:{

**Why do you want me to do this?**

}:I want you to hear from her mouth why she went to do this.:{

**I don't care. It doesn't matter.**

}:Maybe not this selfsame tide, but soon, you will care again. It yet
eats at you, and I want you free of it.:{

**Fine. _Fine_. Meet me there, and I'll go over with you.** He sent
Maciath a mental image of where to meet him, and within a few minutes,
they were flying across to the other side of the bowl to the weyr
where they were holding the woman.

When he saw Covalath, he patted Maciath's hide, and he bespoke her.

}:He agreed to come and speak to her. May we land and go in?:{

Covalath grunted softly from her own ledge near the seaside weyr that
held the woman. An older, retired green, she didn't mind watching the
tiny weyr during the day, though it was a bit boring. At Maciath's
voice, the green lifted her head and peered at the young dragon. }: No
one has said you may not enter.:{ She reasoned. In truth, she was only
supposed to make sure that the woman inside would not leave. Little
was said about visitors, not that there had been more than the
Healers. }: You may land. My rider sleeps, so be quick about this. Do
not stay long. The Healers will be here soon to speak to her again.:{

Maciath relayed Covalath's instructions, and when he landed on the
ledge, K'don slipped quickly inside. He was not thrilled to be doing
this, and having agreed to do it, he wanted it over with as soon as
possible.

"I'm here to talk to you!" he called further into the weyr from just
inside, not wanting to risk barging in on her while she was indecent.
"It's... the boy from the Hatching." He kicked himself for sounding so
lame.

There was a dull voice that answered from inside the weyr, not bright
or fiery like he may have remembered. "Oh. You. What do you want?" The pregnant
girl emerged from the small weyr, hugging herself tightly. She was now
pale, her face pinched and her belly larger. "Come to gloat?"

K'don blinked with confusion for a moment before he could collect
himself. What in the world did he have to gloat about?

"No," he said. Shells, but she looked so... downtrodden. He supposed
she had every right to look that way after what she did. Tried to do.

"Maciath made me come. My dragon," K'don clarified once he realized
the girl might not think to assume as much, being holdfolk. "He wanted
me to ask you..."

His first instinct was to finish that sentence, â€˜why you tried to kill
my mother?â€™ But if he was going to get her to talk about anything, he
probably would not have much success if he came in swinging.

"To ask you why."

Enali stared at him blankly for a long moment, then slowly blinked,
not answering. She frowned, then sniffed audibly. "I would have
thought that everyone knew that by now. That's all I've been asked.
Did they send you to see if I was going to give a different answer? I
won't." She rubbed her arms. "I'm going to die once this brat is
born, so what's the point of changing my answers to suit any of you?"

K'don's eyes widened. He had to stop himself from exclaiming that
Cyradis had said they were _not_ going to kill her, because
technically, that was not what she said. And he should not tell her
so, anyway.

"I'm not supposed to be here," he said. "And they haven't told me
anything. If you won't say, I can't make you. I only came because my
dragon made me."

"You tried to kill my mom," he said with a little bit of a nudge from
Maciath. "And I've already lost two moms before her. I just. I don't
know why anyone would do that."

Her eyes shot to him again and she bared her teeth in a false, pained
smile. "It's painful losing someone, isn't it? Someone you love?
Someone who loved you?" Her rictus of a smile faded to an expression
of pained grief. "And then when you think you're fighting back, you
find out that it was all just a big lie. And...that you're nothing.
Everything you sacrificed and did was for nothing." She turned her
face away, then her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. She flicked a
gaze at the weyr ledge and then at K'don.

"F-fighting... Fighting back? What did my mother ever do to you? What
did a _baby dragon_ ever do to you? What did you ever have that was
worth..." K'don was trembling, and his voice broke as tears began to
stream down his cheeks. "All we have done for you _all my life_ is
stop you from getting eaten by... by nasty, deadly, flesh-eating
monsters out of the sky! And you should kill us for that? Maciath was
right. I never should have begged her not to hurt you."

"She helped send my Grevan to the mines." She snapped back. "He died
there and he was my..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. None of you would care or even understand. We feed
you lot and give you everything you want for protecting the Holds. But
you don't care about that either....I..." She shook her head again.
"It just doesn't matter any more. " Her voice became flat,
emotionless. "Nothing does." Her hand laid on her stomach, round and
bulging and then looked at the ledge for a longer moment.

"I didn't even know you, and I went to Cyradis, and I asked her â€" I
asked her as her son even though she didn't bear me and she didn't
nurse me, I asked her not to kill you because I was... I... because...
I chased you down because I thought you looked at me weird after all
that happened, and... _just based on that_, I..." K'don wiped his
face.

"The woman who bore me abandoned me. I guess that's what she would
have said about me if she were stuck in a weyr like this with me in
her belly. That nothing matters."

"I don't care about you." Enali said dully, turning away from the
ledge with an almost wistful sigh. "And you don't care about me. So
why bother being here at all? I did what I did. Even if I had gotten
away, it wouldn't matter." Her lip curled. "I'd still be bearing this
brat and now I know that I wouldn't exactly have been welcomed back at
home either. Nothing I was told matters." She had been lied to, used.
Been a fool. A part of her wanted to burn the Hold too. Her shoulders
sagged, the pretty young woman's face drawn in a mask of hopelessness.
"Let them kill me. I don't care anymore."

"What do you want to name the baby?" asked K'don. If this woman wanted
to put herself so far beyond redemption, he could not stop her. The
thought of her dying, of anyone dying still turned his stomach. But
the baby would live. And the baby needed people in their life who
cared.

That question visibly startled Enali and she blinked, her hand
suddenly cupping the mound of her belly gently. Her brow furrowed and
she looked down, her fingers slowly stroking her abdomen before she
spoke slowly and softly. "No one's asked me that before. " She
swallowed as she felt movement inside of her and she felt a sudden
sting of moisture in her eyes. Her lower lip trembled as she answered
him. "I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. I hadn't thought of
names, really. " She was quiet for a time, then gave a fuller answer.

"Grenal for a boy. Vanali for a girl." Those would have been the names
of her children with Grevan, had they been able to marry. She would
not honor that bronze bastard who planted the child in her. But she
could honor the man she loved.

"Grenal or Vanali." K'don committed the names to memory. "I'll make
sure. I'm sorry that..." He sighed. He was _not_ sorry that he had
caught her. But. "I'm sorry that all of this happened. I'll leave you
be now."

There was a soft snort. "Sure." Enali stepped back into the tiny weyr
and into the dark shadows without turning on the glows.

K'don ran as fast as he could without clomping back to the ledge,
scurried up onto Maciath and was gone.

Last updated on the July 15th 2022

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Why Did You Do It?