Unexpected Accord

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 7th July 2008

Characters: Mehan, Menore
Description: Mehan follows Menore and finds out what's on her mind.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 10, day 26 of Turn 4

The moons were bright, giving ample light to the world before. The night found Menore roaming for a bit, then finally settling down upon a spot where she could watch the river. Her hair was down, the light breeze teasing it, her gaze watching the water as it glided through its bed. She had drawn her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, lost in thought.

Mehan stopped when the young woman did. He had followed her from the tavern they were staying, worried about where she was going after dark.
He thought he - probably - would have left her to her own devices had she been meeting somebody; somebody safe, perhaps from another of the riverboats visiting the port. But wandering around alone? This close to the seaport with its variety of people both good and bad? He studied her for a moment, as she sat, and then resigned himself to a long vigil.

It had been a turn. It didn't seem that long, and yet at times it seemed more than a turn had passed. In some ways, Menore felt like she was adrift, not quite sure where she was headed. She felt that if only her father were there...if only her sister were there...but they weren't.

The days were warmer, but the mornings and evenings were still cool and Menore shivered slightly in the breeze. She missed her father desperately. She missed hearing his voice, smelling his sweet scent whenever she walked into a room he had just left. She missed his all encompassing hugs. They used to walk together around the riverboat, talking about their day and chatting about anything, everything, and sometimes nothing. Tears stung her eyes and Menore sniffed, then wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

Then she heard something, a twig snapping and Menore's head jerked to the right, her gaze meeting Mehan's form. Surprise rolled over the expression of sadness, then both faded as she tried to close herself off and she looked back to the river. "What are you doing here?"

"Making far too much noise, apparently. What are _you_ doing here seems to be more to the point."

Menore relaxed visibly now that she knew who was there and turned back to the river. "Just thinking. Remembering."

"Remembering?" Mehan walking over to where she sat and settled himself alongside her. "What are you remembering?"

"My father." Menore's voice was soft, but got even softer as she added, "Today is the anniversary of his death."

"Ahh. Of course it is." He had remembered it was close, earlier in the sevenday, but it had slipped his mind on the anniversary itself. "Sad?"

For a moment, Menore's face seemed to collapse, as if she were going to burst into tears. She seemed to struggle for a moment, then slowly her features inched back into control, though her voice cracked when she spoke even the single word reply, "Yes."

He reached out and patted her arm awkwardly. "He was a great man, Menore. And an excellent Captain."

Menore nodded once, sharply, almost afraid to speak lest the tears she was fighting off break through her defenses. After a moment, she felt together enough to speak, "You don't have to sit here with me."

"Well, I don't think your father would be very happy to think you were sitting out here alone - and neither would I. You might have to put up with me, in this case."

"I'd rather put up with you than some people." Menore drew her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I can handle you."

"Er - thank you. I think."

The hint of a smile played over Menore's lips and she responded, amused, "You're welcome."

For a while the Captain of the Moonflower sat silently, then he said:
"Do you want to talk about him?"

"What's there to talk about?" Menore tried to make her voice sound as matter of fact as possible. "He's gone. Nothing can change that."

"No, nothing can, but that doesn't mean we have to forget him, or avoid talking about him. Was he a good father?"

"Oh yes." Menore smiled a little. She missed him so much and wished he hadn't been taken. It had to have happened eventually, but for her, it had happened way too soon - as had the loss of her sister. "He was a very good father. He always made time for us."

"He never seemed to mind that he had two daughters," Mehan commented.
Some men might have hankered after a son, but Davriel had always seemed happy with his girls.

"He was." Menore nodded slowly. "He wanted us to be happy, taught us all about the boat. He was willing to let us do what we wanted. I could have been an engineer had I had the desire, even the..." She stopped, her mouth shutting quickly and her lips thinning.

"Even -?"

Menore wasn't sure if she should continue. After a moment, she shook her head. "He just didn't want us to feel limited though that's what most of society seemed to say."

"Each riverboat is its own society," he commented. Each of the families that lived and worked on the Nettleweed River were fiercely independent; they made their own decisions about everything, and they knew they had no one to look to for help other than their own kind. "And we're pretty slow to change. The craft ban that changed so many attitudes is only as old as I am. Far too short a time to change the minds of stubborn riverboat folk."

"I know." Menore shook her head. "But that doesn't mean that certain views haven't affected the riverboats at all"

"No." He smiled in the darkness. "Some have made them more determined to do the opposite."

"And some have had to adapt and 'save face'." Menore pointed out with a soft sigh.

"We pretend, if pretending makes good business sense. But you're right, your father didn't set limits on who could do what on the Moonflower."

"But we did." The words were spoken so softly they were barely audible.
She spoke again before Mehan had a chance to respond. "We should probably head back."

"If you're ready to," Mehan said, trying to guess at what she had meant by that muttered comment. Who had set limits? 'We'? Menore and who?

"My bed is calling me. I might as well listen to it." Menore pushed herself to a standing position, then turned to gaze upon her captain.
"At least I'll have company on the way back."

"You had company on the way out, though you didn't know it." He extended his hand to her more as a gesture of accord than out of any need to be helped to his feet. It was nice not to be arguing with her, for a change.

Menore clasped her hand with his, helping him up. Her hold upon him lingered, perhaps a bit longer than normal and she stared up at him for a moment before finally releasing it and letting it drop to her side.
"Well...thanks for looking out for me, Mehan."

"It's what your father and sister would want," he said, though in fact he hadn't thought of Davriel and Dimaya when he had set out to keep an eye on Menore.

A small smile teased her lips, but only for a moment before it faded away. She turned and began to head back toward the boat, crossing her arms over her chest as if she were cold, though the night was warm enough. Yes. It was what they would have wanted. She was sure that Mehan wouldn't have cared otherwise, really.

Silently the Moonflower's captain walked beside the riverboat's owner, guessing that the moment of unexpected accord was over.

Last updated on the July 9th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Unexpected Accord