Bittersweet Goodbyes

Writers: Chelle, Eimi
Date Posted: 25th July 2010

Characters: Parale, Apeline
Description: Apeline and Parale say goodbye as she leaves Garnet Valley.
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 10, day 12 of Turn 5
Notes: Mentioned: Briata

Standing there, she looked at her empty rooms. She was a Garnet
Valley girl through and through, but now she was starting a new life.
Pulling her jacket against her, she tried her best not to cry. It was
finally hitting her-just how much she was going to leave behind.

Apeline stood in the entrance to her quarters, completely unnoticed.
Her eyes scanned the bare walls and floors of her oldest friend's room,
and suddenly she too understood that this was it. This was permanent.
Parale was leaving her. "You can't seriously mean to go through with
this," her voice echoed off the stone walls.

"It's time for me to grow up, Line. I have to go and make my own
family." Deep down, she was scared to death. Still Parale was the type
of person that once she promised something, she followed through. "I'm
going to miss it though."

"You don't have to go thousands of miles away just to grow up. Plenty
of women have managed it right here," her friend protested. Apeline had
a tendency to lash out when she was upset about something. It was a bad
habit of hers still left over from childhood, but as the person who had
known her the longest besides her mother, she knew Parale could handle
her mood.

"So they have, but somehow I couldn't." She idly wondered who would be
living here after she left. "Maybe I'll be able to come back sometimes.
The girls will be fostering age after a few turns pass."

Apeline frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't like it,
but Parale's mind was made up. "I'll watch after your mother."

"Thank you. She wouldn't leave here no matter what I did." Alie was one
of the old guard and Parale knew enough not to disturb her with requests
to go with them. "I think sometimes she misses father and doesn't want
to leave the memories of him."

"Not everyone can leave the memories of their true love as easily as
your smith has," Apeline grumbled, pushing herself off the wall and
running a finger over the table. That was another thing! It wasn't
even like Parale was doing this for _love_! For love she could
understand, but just what was it all for?

"Not so easily, Line. He carries her with him." She wasn't stupid-she
had seen it in Ioven. He was reluctant for himself, but was doing it for
the girls. "He's a good man and he has offered me more than anyone
else. So stop pouting. Let's go."

She heard her footfalls echo on the heavy stone corridors. So many
turns. Parale had met the world here. She had become a woman here.
Garnet Valley had been her world behind its walls. She reached for
Apeline's hand, knowing she might still lose it.

Her friend took it and held on tightly, wishing there was something she
could say to keep her from leaving. It seemed so permanent. It _was_
permanent. Apeline knew deep down in her heart that from this moment,
nothing was certain. Perhaps, if they were lucky, they could look on
each other's faces two or three more times in their lifetime, but the
distance was so far, and their obligations too many. And for all the
good things Parale could say about Ioven, Apeline hated the man and was
determined that she always would, merely for the fact that he was taking
the best friend she had ever had away from her.

"Do you remember when we used to pick up our skirts and take off
down through the halls?" Echoes of past giggles went through her head.
"We thought we knew everything."

"I thought we didn't know everything until we spied on those boys skinny
dipping in the river." Apeline smiled slightly at the memory. They were
both so horrified at the time.

Shaking her head, she wondered what sort of memories she would make at
the Seahold. "Briata said she would stand for me." She let slip that
small secret. Not many knew what Parale had done and how much she could
have lost if Ishek had ever realized.

"Briata? Why?" If anyone should stand for Parale, it should be _her_!

"You said you couldn't make the trip and mother isn't going. She's
getting a ride from the Weyr. She was the Lady. That counts." A small
piece of Garnet Valley would be in evidence at her wedding.

"Well, would it be so hard for her to get a ride for _us_ too?" Apeline
snapped, feeling more sorry for herself than ever. It wasn't fair that
a girl who had known Parale a fraction of the time she had could see her
any time she wanted, but she would be separated from her best friend for
turns on end.

"Apeline you of all people know that it wouldn't be polite for me to
ask!" She gave her a look of shock. "And anyway, I would never seek to
impose on a dragonrider in such a fashion without being able to pay
them. Briata has a friend who offered to bring her."

"I bet she _does_ have a 'friend'," Apeline grumbled, not feeling the
least bit charitable towards someone who would be taking _her_ place at
her best friend's side. And she knew she was being childish, but she
couldn't help it. Parale was leaving her, and that scared and saddened
her to her core.

They came out of the Hold then and she saw the rest of them there,
waiting for her. She was anxious and excited to be finally doing
something with her life instead of sitting around and waiting. At the
same time, she felt the Hold behind her pulling. She squeezed Apeline's
hand hard. "It'll be okay."

Her friend's bottom lip was already beginning to quiver as her hand
gripped Parale's with equal intensity. The two girls were already in
the carriage and were looking at them expectantly. The smith was
standing beside the open door, just waiting for his bride to be to say
her final goodbyes. Apeline could feel the finality of the moment.
"You'll write every day?"

"Of course." She turned to her and embraced Apeline. After some time,
Parale let go and stepped back. "I have to go now, or I might not." She
turned again and started walking. She couldn't look back, knowing
what was behind her. Instead, she focused her eyes on the girls. They
were her future.

Last updated on the August 4th 2010

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Bittersweet Goodbyes