Make Everything Be Wonderful Again

Writers: Halyonix
Date Posted: 7th August 2025

Characters: Hesbia, Haseba
Description: Hesbia tells her sister what happened
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 23 of Turn 12
Notes: Listen to Everclear's "Wonderful" for musical inspiration

Hesbia

Eventually, once the shock wore off, familiar anger filled its place. Well, it was helped by a definite lack of sleep. Hesbia had stayed up for hours after her uncle had disappeared, her mind trying to figure out what the shells she and her sister were going to do.

It seemed obvious to stay at the Weyr. Hesbia had that Search token that said she could stay. And a job in the kitchens. Haseba wasn't causing trouble in her lessons so that was promising. They could keep their heads down, be good, and no one would know.

Right?

"Shard it," she muttered viciously for the umpteenth time. Just when she thought her uncle could _fix_ something, he was making a possible bigger mess for them all. It had been one thing to get kicked out of the Holds for drunken brawls. There was no way the Weyr would let someone murder a dragonrider and stay. The only question in Hesbia's mind was what happened to anyone who knew the truth.

She didn't kill A'len. But she felt like she was guilty by her uncle's association. That's how it always went. _She_ didn't do anything wrong but she still had to pay for her uncle's shit.

Not anymore. Maybe. If she played her cards right.

By the time her sister woke up, Hesbia had a plan. Haseba didn't need to know the truth. Hesbia could craft enough of a half-truth so that her sister, if the truth ever came to light, could claim ignorance. "Where's Uncle?" her sleepy-eyed sister asked.

Getting ready for her shift, Hesbia stomped around in her usual manner as she dressed. That part was easy. She could lean into her anger any day. "He's gone."

"Out?" came the confused question.

"No," Hesbia snapped. "Gone. He left. He got too drunk, said he was leaving us. Because he's a piece of whershit. He probably pissed one of his drinking buddies off and doesn't want to sober up like an adult. So he left. Good riddance."

There. That was close enough.

Hesbia continued to stomp around while she let her sister process that. Eventually, in a scared little voice that punched the fight out of Hesbia, her sister asked, "What...what are we going to do?"

Exhaling as she sat on her sister's bed, Hesbia said, "We stay here. I've got that token and a job. You're in your harper lessons. We haven't done anything against the rules. So we can stay. And if we eventually decide to go somewhere else, then...then we'll figure that out too." Hesbia draped her arms around Haseba. "I'm not leaving you, Has. I promise. I'm going to take care of you." Somehow. She still thought dragonriders weren't worth the dragons they rode on but there was food and shelter here and that was a better start than most days before.

Haseba leaned into her sister's embrace and began to cry. Hesbia let her. The poor girl had been through so much. They both had! The only difference was that Hesbia refused to let the world see her tears. "Hey, good news. If I keep up my job, we'll actually be able to get birthingday gifts this Turn. Won't that be nice?" she said, trying to cheer her sister up.

Her sister sniffled and wiped her face. "I guess. I can't remember the last time I had a real birthingday gift. Aside from that little doll Dad tried to make for me that one Turn."

"A real mess it was. One eye, a few strings of hair. Fell apart in a sevenday," Hesbia remarked with a fond smile. A pang of grief beat in her heart. They'd never get gifts from their Dad ever again.

She slammed the feeling down. She was going to get her sister the best gifts ever from here on out. No more scraps. Hesbia kissed Haseba's forehead. "It's scary, Has, but you'll see. We're going to be better off now. It'll be wonderful."

She hoped she wasn't lying to her sister by saying that.

Last updated on the August 29th 2025

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Make Everything Be Wonderful Again