On Edge
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Eimi, Bree
Date Posted: 14th October 2005
Characters: Jarthir, Dalicia
Description: Dalicia agrees to move back to the Hall after several days of enduring Jarthir's ill temper.
Location: Smith Hall (NPC)
Date: month 8, day 13 of Turn 3
Dalicia watch as Jarthir threw the hides he was looking at _again_. He seemed to restless, so on edge. She couldn't figure out what it was that she had done to put him in such a mood. For the last day and a half he snapped about everything. She had tried to make him his favorite foods for dinner. She had tried to entice him into making love the night before but he had turned away. Something was bothering him, and it put a fear deep down in her stomach thinking that it might be her, because if she was not making him happy, she knew he might find someone else who would...
Jarthir pushed himself to his feet with a muttered oath and stomped across the cot, looking highly irritable. "Where is the design I'd drafted for the new comission?"
"I put it in your desk in the bedroom, with the other ones. Do you want me to go find it?" she asked helpfully as she started towards the door.
"Why on Pern did you move it, woman?" Jarthir demanded, moving past her before she could reach the bedroom. "You can't be picking up important things and putting them in different places!"
His wife watched him, hurt and uncertain. "I'm sorry, I was cleaned off the table this morning. I know how you hate things to be cluttered while you are working." She bit her lip, berating herself mercilessly for her lapse in reading him.
Jarthir took a deep breath and let it out, forcing himself to moderate his voice. "No, Dalicia. I'm tense because there is trouble down at the Hold, and I don't like having to spend my days worrying about my wife while I'm away from the cot. It's not making life any easier, you know."
Guilt stabbed at her heart. So he was upset about her. She walked over to her husband and laid a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Really, Jarthir?
Is that what is bothering you?" "What do you think?" he asked, his voice coming out sharp. Taking another deep breath, Jarthir closed his eyes. "I'm sorry... I'm just tired, love.
I'm tired of worrying all the time."
"Oh, Jarthir," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her forehead against the back of his head. "I'm so sorry to worry you so. I didn't know. I didn't know, Jarthir, that you worried so."
"You didn't know?" he repeated, turning to face her. "Shards, Dalicia! I _told_ you I was worried! Did you think I was making it up?" "No, of course not," she whispered, fighting back the tears that threatened.
He said he didn't want tears, and she had done enough to upset him, she realized. "I didn't know that you worried _so much_. If I had known..."
She fell to her knees and rested her cheek against his thigh to hide the moisture in her eyes. "Of course I will move to the Hall if that will take the burden off of you. I never wished to cause such strain." **Please, don't leave me!** her heart cried silently.
It was impossible to stay angry at her when she looked so broken. Jarthir leaned down and scooped his wife up, bringing her to the couch and settling down with her in his lap. "You'll move back to the Hall with me?"
"Yes, Jarthir, if that's what you want," she nodded, her eyes still showing the hint of fear that he might leave without her someday.
His arms wrapped around her, and he tucked her head under his chin. "I'm sorry I was so cross. And I'm glad you're willing to come to the Hall with me. We'll be safer there, you know. And you'll be closer to your friends." "Yes, I know," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him and burried her head unto his chest. The fear was slowly subsiding as she felt the warmth of his arms, and listened to the sound of his heart beating.
"It will all be all right..." Jarthir stroked his hands down her back soothinly, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I'll speak to the Hallmaster tomorrow." Dalicia nodded against him, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of his voice reverberating in his chest. Her arms tightened around him. He was being loving, soothing. Why did she still feel so afraid? Why did the thought of moving back into the safety of the hall scare her more than walking in the dark with a murderer on the lose?
Last updated on the October 15th 2005