The Dimmest Glow (2/2)

Writers: Estelle, Yvonne
Date Posted: 19th July 2024

Characters: Gienah, R'hil
Description: R'hil's other reason to not drink klah.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 3 of Turn 11
Notes: This is part two of two of R'hil's flashback to a weyrling mistake.

A full sevenday had passed since R'hil had started taking the tincture he'd bought from Wyomu, and he felt... smarter. Maybe. Classes had shifted from history, politics and dragonrider-holder responsibilities to hand signals and making riding straps, which was both easier to pick up and more interesting overall. Or maybe that was just the effects of the tincture.

The downside of the tincture was how hard it was to get used to. He took a few drops in his klah every morning, just like the trader had told him to, but it made his stomach hurt. R'hil sighed as he sat down next to Gienah, klah mug in one hand and plate in the other. The last few days he hadn't even been able to eat much breakfast, so he'd only grabbed a piece of dark brown toast and a bit of cheese to snack on. "Mornin'."

"Mmmhhnng," Gienah replied through a mouthful of porridge. With all the exercise she'd been getting, not to mention caring for Esieth, she'd never had such a good appetite - which was why, when she glanced over at her fellow weyrling's plate, her brow creased.

"Is that all you're having?" She was all the more shocked when she saw that the plate belonged to R'hil. His stomach was even more of a bottomless pit than most boys. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Why?" R'hil blew on his klah to cool it.

"You usually eat heaps more than that for breakfast. Have you got a stomach ache?" Gienah narrowed her eyes and examined him more closely. "Wait a minute. Is it the light in here, or - are you _yellow_?"

"Shut up! You're yellow," he shot back without really thinking about it.

"No, I'm serious. You're yellow!" Gienah held up her hand next to R'hil's face, comparing their skin tones. She appealed to the boy across the table from them. "Look. Gr'gan, isn't he?"

The blue weyrling looked up from his plate, blinking groggily. "Uhm. Yes. You kind of are. Did you eat too many fingerroots?"

"I'm not yellow." R'hil held his hand up and examined it. Perhaps it did look a little yellow... but Gineah was right, it was probably just the light. He shrugged and pulled the little bottle of tincture out of his pocket and added a drop to his klah. "You're imagining things."

"No, we're not. You are totally - " Gienah watched the liquid drop fall from the bottle. "What's that?"

"Herbs." A bland answer. He stirred the klah and licked the spoon when he was done. "You done cutting out your flight jacket pieces yet, or do you need help?"

"I'm doing fine. What kind of herbs?" Gienah persisted. She knew an attempt to change the subject when she heard one. "Herbs that make you yellow?"

R'hil shrugged. "Dunno. It's to make you smarter."

"What?" She blinked. "Herbs can't make you smarter. Where did you get that?"

The brown weyrling shrugged. Of course she'd say that; the merchant had said it was a secret formula. "Just because you don't know it doesn't mean its not true. Why are you so interested anyway?"

"Because you don't look very well," Gienah said, her brow creasing in concern. "You're not eating, which is totally out of character, and your skin has turned a strange color. Did a healer give you those?"

For the first time, R'hil felt a small wriggle of worry. His stomach _did_ hurt. But... he looked at the mug of klah that steamed beside him. His Ma had always said hot drinks would make you sick. He'd started drinking klah because it seemed like _everyone_ here at the Weyr drank klah so his mother might have been wrong... but maybe she was right after all?

Still, he didn't want to seem weak or whiny in front of Gineah. "Maybe I'm just a bit... I don't know. I should probably stop drinking klah."

Gienah followed his gaze to the mug, baffled. "Have you been drinking a lot lately?" It was possible, if his class had had long assignments to work on, but she'd thought they'd moved on to more practical tasks. "Usually people are more twitchy when they've had too much klah, and I've never heard of it affecting someone's skin color. Maybe you should see a healer."

"NO! Uh-- I mean, no." R'hil tried to appear calm. There was no _way_ he'd see a healer. They were all full of nonsense, and anyway his Ma would kill him if she found out. "I probably just ate something funny. I'll be good tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Gienah persisted. "It couldn't hurt to get checked over, just in case. It might be something serious."

Gr'gan kicked her under the table. "Hey, leave him alone. It's probably personal, you know?" At her blank look, he went on. "Something, uh, embarrassing, that he doesn't want to talk about. A boy's problem."

"A boy's..." Gienah thought over what that might mean, and her cheeks flushed pink. "Well in that case, he should definitely see a healer!"

"Shut up! That's not-- everything's fine!" R'hil glared bloody murder at Gr'gan even as his own face went as red as Gineah's. He was _definitely_ not going to see a healer for that! ...unless it was a female healer. A very pretty female healer. There had to be pretty healers, right? He'd make an exception to his "no healer" rule for someone like that...

Gr'gan held up his hands in surrender. "Sure. Everything's fine. Changing color is perfectly normal and healthy."

"I really think you should go to the Infirmary." Gienah sounded worried now. If whatever he'd put in his klah hadn't come from a healer, then where? What if it was poisonous? She remembered that some people were scared of blood or needlethorns or other things found in the infirmary. "I'll come with you if you want. It'll be fine, they'll probably just give you some herbs."

R'hil sighed. "Fine. I'll go. But only so you'll stop picking on me."

"You'd better, or I'll snitch on you to the Weyrlingmaster," Gienah warned him. "Just see if I don't."

"Yeah, we don't want you dying in your sleep and stinking out the barracks," Gr'gan agreed.

Gienah pulled a face at him. "He's not going to die, and anyway, even a dead body couldn't be as bad as when you take your boots off, Gr'gan."

"My feet don't smell!"

"Oh, please. It's like someone unwrapped a month-old cheese that's been left out in the sun. Pooh!" She pinched her nose and crossed her eyes. But as the other weyrlings joined in the bickering, she gave R'hil a meaningful look. She wasn't going to forget those strange herbs.

~*~

R'hil had no desire to revisit the memory of his humiliating experience with the Infirmary. Another dumb mistake from the dimmest glow in the Weyr. He stared down at his breakfast plate, still heaped with food, and reluctantly picked up a fork when his stomach growled impatiently.

The Healers had laughed at him and taken his herbs. He'd felt better after a day or two though, and his weyrling classes hadn't suddenly gotten harder. He'd even graduated. Not at the top of his class, not to the prestige of the Weyrleader's Wing, he'd graduated all the same and been put into the same Wing as Gienah so he'd hadn't made a complete runner's ass of himself.

As if thinking about his Wingmate had summoned her, Gineah appeared at the door to the Dining Cavern. R'hil raised a hand to wave her over. Perhaps she'd have breakfast with him. And he'd tell her, yet again, to skip the kah.

Last updated on the July 21st 2024

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The Dimmest Glow (2/2)