I'll Be Coming Back For You

Writers: Eimi
Date Posted: 17th January 2006

Characters: R'mer
Description: Reymer discusses his being Searched with his sister
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 9, day 16 of Turn 3

"Is the dragon gone now?" Imrie asked as her brother walked into the little back room. She shooed the others out.

"He is," Reymer nodded. "He just left."

It would figure that Imrie would be sent to the room she shared with her two sisters which had absolutely _no_ view of the field where the green had landed. She had been curious about the dragon the same as the other children, especially when they found out it was a _Search_ dragon.

"You and Ma sure talked a long while with that man," she said, almost accusingly.

"We had a lot to discuss," he said simply as he sat down on the cot next to hers.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "What was there to _discuss_, Reymer. There's no way you can go. We need you here."

He nodded as he absently picked at the edges of the chord. "We need to tighten this cot again. Do you have the stick? I can do it."

"Don't you dare change the subject, Reymer. You can't go and you know it. So what was there to discuss?" A small fear began in the pit of her stomach as she stared down at her brother's sandy brown head. "Are you deaf now? I asked you a question."

"I'm going, Imrie," he finally said, lifting his brown eyes to meet hers.

"No," she whispered, shakinger her head and backing up until her knees hit the edge of her own cot. "No. Ma wouldn't let you. You have to stay here. The farm wouldn't survive... _We_ wouldn't survive without you!"

"You have Laimer. He can do what needs to be done around here," he said, standing and walking over to the dresser to look for the stick he would use to tighten the ropes.

"Laimer's just a _boy_, Reymer," his sister replied, finding her strength to fight again.

Reymer frowned and looked over at his sister staring at him. "He's older than I was when Pa died."

She flew to his side. "I know how much you did, Reymer. You and Uncle Nadamer, and I know its been hard for you since he died, but you can't give up on us! You can't give up on..."

"I'm not giving up on nothing or no one," he replied emphatically. "I'm doing this for the lot of you."

"What? How?" Imrie demanded. "How does this _help_ us? You leaving us for the Weyr?"

He grabbed the stick off the top of the dresser and walked back towards the cot. "Because if I Impress... maybe... maybe I can come back and take you all away from this back of /between/ farm of ours." She looked down at him as he slipped the stick through a loop of rope and began twisting the chord tight. "Oh Reymer. Do you have firehead or something?"

"Ma agreed to it. The rider, P'jet... Anyways, he says that I can come for you all with my own dragon after Weyrling training is over." He grunted a bit as he pulled the rope as tight as he could. "Sit on that and tell me if its too tight, will you?"

Imrie flopped down on the cot and fixed her brother with a cool gaze. "And if you _don't_ Impress? Then where will we be come spring and you're not here?"

"The Eggs are on the Sands now," he replied calmly, standing up to test the cot himself. "Too tight, isn't it."

"I don't give a flame if its too tight or not," she snapped back. "How can you leave us when you _know_ we'll need you for the planting?"

"I hope to be back before that, Imrie. One way or another." He eased the tension on the rope a bit. "If I don't Impress, P'jet says he can bring me back. And if I do Impress then we don't need to plant because you all will be coming to the Weyr to live."

She watched as he moved over to her cot to check the ropes. "I like my cot the way it is," she spit venehemously. "Just like I like our family the way it is!"

"The way it is? We're dying out here, Imrie!" he finally shouted back. "And least in the Weyr there is some _hope_ for us."

"There's plenty of hope here!"

He snorted lightly. "How old are you now? Sixteen? Sixteen and have you ever heard even the whisper of a man come round to see you?"

"Who would teach the kids if I was gone?" she asked defensively. "There's plenty of time to find a man later."

"You won't find a man out here, Imrie cause there _are_ no unmarried men near your age out here but me!" He didn't look at her as he moved down to the third cot and began pulling on the criss-crossing ropes. "In the Weyr you can find a man your age. The only two who still need teaching is the twins, and they can be taught by real harpers in the Weyr."

"It isn't my fault the harper can't come but once a month! I'm doing the best I can!" Tears of hurt stung her eyes.

Her brother looked at her with eyes filled with compassion and his voice was tender. "I know you have, Imrie. And you've done real well." Reymer moved back to sit on the edge of the cot next to her. "Even the harper says he's impressed with the job you've done teaching the kids. Why, Limrie and Laimer are two of the finest minds he's seen. He's said so. And Marelie too."

She refused to look at him. He was making way too much sense for her comfort.

"Come on, Imrie. You know another bad winter will kill us, even with Laimer and I working the farm. This way Laimer can have a _real_
education at the Weyr. He might even find a craft that will take him. Shards," he said as he picked at her blanket, "I've even heard women can learn at the Weyrs. _You_ could learn. I know you've always wanted to."

"I'm too old for those kind of felis dreams," she mumbled, feeling defeated and deflated.

"Well, you can find work then. Maybe in the kitchen or the laundry. And there'd always be food and clothes and warm rooms. Shards... They say at Dolphin Cove it's warm all year round."

Imrie looked at him, the glimer of a smile in her eyes. It would be nice to be always warm, always full, to have pretty things...

"I won't be gone long. At most four or five months. I'll be one less mouth the feed in the winter, and then when the spring comes I'll be back for you." He reached down to take her hand. "And if I don't Impress I'll be back in a few sevendays. What have we got to lose? At least this way there is a _chance_ at something more."

"A chance?" she asked faintly. "This family has never had a chance. And I doubt we have one now." Imrie closed her eyes against the biting tears. "Five months..."

"We'll be all right, Imrie. You'll see." He gave her hand one final squeeze. "I better tighten Limrie's bed now. I won't have time before I leave in the morning."

She pulled her hand away from his and turn on her side, her back to him.
"I'll do it. I want to be alone a while."

"All right," he finally said. "I best pack."

"You'd best do that then," she whispered. As his feet were about to pass over the threashold she sat up. "Promise me you'll come back to us, Reymer!"

"I promise, I'll be coming back _for_ you."

Last updated on the January 17th 2006

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I'll Be Coming Back For You