Back on Track

Writers: Ainsley1, Jane
Date Posted: 21st May 2007

Characters: Lineal, Barli
Description: Barli and Lineal find a moment alone to catch up
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 10 of Turn 4

With a heavy sigh, Barli finished wiping up the table and discarded the rag. What a wonderful but long day!
She was ready to relax with a cup of tea and enjoy the view out the large picture windows here in the dining room. Pouring herself a cup of tea from the pot she'd had steeping, Barli looked up in surprise when she heard someone approaching.

"Jesten said that you'd be the last to leave," Lineal said with a smile for his sister. "So I got everybody tucked up in our room and came back. We hardly had any time to talk."

Meeting his smile with one of her own, she motioned him in, "He knows my habits well. I love to sit up here and look out over the paddlewheel. I'm glad you came to find me. I was hoping we'd have the chance to catch up, just the two of us. Care for tea?"

"Er - klah? Do you have any on the hob? I'll get it.
You sit down."

Barli relaxed back into one of the reed armchairs with a contented smile, "Aye, I always keep some on in case Da joins me. He's not one for tea either." Her brown eyes followed him as he moved around and she thought he looked quite right, as if he hadn't been gone for twenty-five turns.

"My but it's been some time. I am so glad you're home, Lineal."

"I'm very glad to be home," he admitted as he settled into the chair opposite hers, stretching his long legs out in front of him. "The odd thing is, until Jesten wrote I hadn't even thought about it. Once he put the idea in my mind, though ... How is he, really?"

The woman shook her head sadly. It had been so hard to see her once stalwart and seemingly indomitable father decline as he had with the heart attack. "He's not good," she answered with a catch in her voice, "Oh he puts up a good front an' all but, he's not the same. That heart of his..." she bit her lip with another shake of her head.

Lineal rubbed his forehead. "I should have come back sooner. He's lost a lot of weight." Always slim, Jesten was now gaunt. "Let's not talk about it tonight. Tell me about Jezz."

The smile on Barli's face was mirrored in her brown eyes. "Well, you couldn't 'uv picked a better topic so far as I'm concerned. She is a little spitfire! Full of fun and adventure and like as not to end up in a spot of trouble. But she is kind and good-hearted so the trouble isn't usually all that bad."

"She looked like she wouldn't put a foot wrong,"
Lineal protested. "I suppose that helps her in her mischief."

Barli agreed with a nod as she sipped her tea. "And what of those little ones of yours?"

"Nalin - Part of the reason I wanted to come home was that I see so little of them. A couple of days every few months. But Nalin is very clever, sharp-witted and independent. Too clever for his own good sometimes. Lihona's different - loving and silly, often in trouble, often getting out of it because there's no malice in her." He shrugged. "Perhaps it's because I haven't been around much but I think they're both like their uncles - Rahona's two brothers."

"And Rahona? Tell me about her," Barli had had little time to talk with her sister-in-law but was anxious to find out more about this woman with two dragonrider brothers. When Barli first saw her, Rahona wasn't what she had expected for Lineal's wife. Somehow she was quite certain there was more than met the eye, however.

"Oh, she's wonderful - and very brave for coming here so far from everything she's used to. And perhaps brave for taking a chance on me to begin with. She's a great mother, which has been very important since I have hardly been around. I'm sure she'll fit in. You'll help her, won't you? It's not until I got back here today that I really understood how different it will be for her. She's used to being one of thousands at the Weyr. It's an amazing place."

"I'm sure it is! I can hardly imagine. And of course I'll help her fit in!" She scolded a mock scowl on her face. "I'm your sister, aren't I? She'll do just fine here. I'm excited to hear all about her and what the Weyr is like. I always liked finding out about new people and new ideas you know! That's hardly changed. Why, if the river weren't like my life's blood, I might just have to go see the Weyr for myself."

Lineal's expression was rueful. "It's in mine, too, but it took me twenty-five Turns to discover that."

"But discover it you did, and now you're back. You'll make the perfect captain, Lineal, and your time away will serve you well. And your children will get to grow up as we did...finding all the adventure the river has to offer, but under the watchful eye of a loving family.

"I should have written to you more often," the seacrafter said with a grin. "You would have got me back on the right track."

"And then some!" she agreed with a matching grin, giving her brother a wink. "Course there'll be some readjustment, too," she reminded him, in a bit more serious vein. "Don't forget how small this boat can be, with everyone more in your business than you sometimes like. We're all well meanin' mind you but even living here all my life there's times that I'd like to dive right into that cold water and just keep swimming in the other direction."

"I've been on ships all these Turns - but Rahona hasn't. Nor the children. They've always had as much space as they liked to run around in. The whole Weyr
- Am I keeping you up, Sitter?" he said, unconsciously using the long-ago nickname. "You've probably got something to do early in the morning and I daresay Jesten won't tolerate me over-sleeping."

"Not keeping me up," she smiled at the use of the familiar name thinking once again how very good it was to have her brother home. "I'm usually one of the last to bed, but my tea is done now and I expect it's time for us to bid this old paddlewheel as well as one another goodnight." Barli rose and couldn't resist giving Lineal one more hug, "Somehow the flow of the river just seems more right with you home."

Last updated on the May 25th 2007

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