Sneaking Out to Plan

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 3rd July 2019

Characters: J'ackt, Elibra, Palinon
Description: J'ackt approaches Alina's parents about an idea.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 11, day 13 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Alina, N'vanik (not by name), Urlene

J'ackt

Imarith had been most helpful, though the green had no idea why Zith
had so carefully questioned her. Waiting until the wings were
occupied with drilling outside of the Weyr, J'ackt suited up in his
riding gear and before anyone realized, they had /betweened/ out of
the Weyr and to the area Imarith had described. His shoulder ached
from the utter cold, but it was no where near as bad as he had
expected. If Urlene found out, he reasoned, this excursion might be
well worth the chewing he'd receive.

Zith circled over Nadol cothold, flying low enough to catch the
attention of those below. J'ackt too studied the small area, marking
it firmly in his mind, memorizing it, making adjustments to what had
been his own assumptions to what the place might look like. This had
been Alina's home. It wasn't like he pictured it; it actually looked
rather pleasant. ** Land in that clearing.** Zith made a rumble of
assent and banking towards the indicated area, landed smoothly. J'ackt
felt his nerves prickle as he felt several pairs of eyes landed on
him; these were Holders, and his history with those like them hadn't
ever been pleasant. He dismounted Zith carefully and as he found the
ground again, kept his back to Zith and his hand near his sword.

There was a shout from the Cothold as a boy of about ten tuns dropped
his bucket and ran headlong toward Zith and J'ackt. He skidded to a
stop at a somewhat respectful distance, his focus entirely on the
dragon. "Are you here on Search!?"

"Davron!" One of the women near the building gestured to the boy even
as she hurried toward the pair. "Get back here!"

J'ackt looked at the young boy and felt a surprising inward sense of
amusement. Zith glanced at the boy with a bit of interest, but kept
scanning the surroundings; he had picked up on his rider's wariness
and wings half mantled, watched for any sign of danger. "No Search
today. I'm looking for the father of Alina and Elana. Can you direct
me to him?"

The boy made a face. "Palinon? All the men are in the north west
fields today. I could show you-- you could take me on your dragon!"

"Davron, back to the cot!" The woman reached Davron, took him by the
shoulder, and pushed him toward the cothold. "Shoo!" She waited until
Davron reluctantly started to go, then turned to J'ackt. Her
expression was grave as she eyed him up and down. "Elana's gone to
Emerald Falls, bronzerider. And as Davron said, Palinon is in the
north west fields today. I can give you directions."

It wasn't hard to orient himself to the direction, but he didn't turn
to face the way she indicated. He didn't want to speak to the man in
the middle of a field. Instead, he frowned. "Can he be summoned? I
need to speak to both her mother and her father. If you can direct me
to their home, I can wait for them."

Her eyes widened, and she put a hand to her throat. "Oh. Oh... yes,
he-- he can, dragonrider. I can send Davron to fetch him. But it will
take at least half a candlemark for him to return. Would you like to
come inside? While you wait? Elibra is there."

J'ackt shifted on his feet, then nodded. "Alright. That should be
fine." He remembered then his manners. "Thank you." He followed the
woman inside the building, his muscles tight. He'd not been inside a
hold building such as this without stealing from it in the evening,
so long ago. As it was, his gaze flicked around, studying his
surroundings and instinctively keeping his back to a wall.

The inside of the main cothold was a pleasant enough place. The door
that the woman led him through was tall and opened straight into the
kitchens, where two other women were busy chopping root vegetables and
stoking the large fire in the open hearth that took up half of one
wall. They both looked up as J'ackt entered. J'act's escort cleared
her throat. "Ah-- Elibra? The bronzerider is here to speak with you
and Palinon. I'm just about to send Devron to go fetch your husband."

Elibra went white and slowly sat. The kitchen went silent. After a
moment, the other woman set her knife aside and reached across the
table to squeeze Elibra's arm. "I'll come back in a bit," she said
quietly, then picked up her skirts and left with a respectful nod to
J'ackt. His escort left as well, meaning that J'ackt was alone with
Alina's mother.

Elibra stared at him with wide brown eyes. She blinked, cleared her
throat, and looked away. "My hus-husband... it will take some time for
him to return. Can I... get you a glass of water?"

His brows rose as the other women quickly left, but his gaze returned
to the woman, studying her face. He could see Alina in her features,
but the sudden paleness in the face disturbed him. "No, thank you." He
approached her slowly, then bowed. It was not something he had done to
any holder, even Corowal. "J'ackt, rider of bronze Zith." He
straightened, looking again at her pale face. Then, it clicked. The
alarm when he'd been introduced, the quick blinking of the eyes.
**Sweet Faranth, I should have said...** "Alina's not hurt. She's very
well."

Elibra closed her eyes and slowly began to smile, then laugh. Her
shoulders relaxed and shook her head ruefully. "Bronzerider, my heart
nearly stopped. I'm very, _very_ glad to hear that's not what brought
you here today."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry." J'ackt shifted on his
feet and spoke softly. "I'm Alina's weyrmate and I'd like to speak to
both you and her father about it."

The silence stretched. "Well," Elibra said softly. "Well." She stood,
studying J'ackt with an inscrutable look on her face. Then she stepped
forward and hugged him.

The response was completely unexpected and unused to physical contact
except from those he most trusted, J'ackt stiffened in the embrace.
Awkwardly, he patted the woman's shoulder and cleared his throat.
He'd been expecting Alina's parents to be upset, perhaps even angry,
but certainly not to show affection towards him, especially given his
well known reputation.

After a moment, Elibra stepped back, smoothed her hair and sat down
again. "I remember you from when Imarith hatched," she said quietly.
"Your dragon sent Alina to the Infirmary."

That brought a wince. "Yeah. He did, but he didn't know better.
Honestly, he doesn't even remember it." He shifted on his feet. "Uhm,
Alina doesn't know I'm here. She'll probably skin me just for coming."
That brought a flash of a smile and the brief glimpse of warmth in his
eyes was evident. "Thing is...she's had to give up so much doing what
we do and it took me two turns just to convince her to weyrmate me.
It's not a marriage like you folks do even though I know she thinks of
it that way. We don't really celebrate that at the Weyr and I think
she's always kinda wanted that. I want to be able to give that to her."

Elibra studied him, her hands folded in her lap. "Why did she choose you?"

Perhaps he should have expected that question, but there was only one
answer he could really give and it was a simple one. "She loves me.
And I love her."

After a moment Elibra shook her head, a small smile tugging at the
edges of her lips. "Well. I suppose there's not much to say about
that, is there."

The kitchen door banged open and a dirty, grim-faced man wearing a
straw hat stepped in. Elibra leaped to her feet when she saw him.
"Palinon, it's not what you think," she said quickly. "This is J'ackt,
from Dolphin Cove Weyr."

Palinon's grim expression melted into relief. "I-- yes. I know who he
is. Why is he-- are you here?" he asked, turning to J'ackt.

Elibra put a hand on her husband's arm. "He's here because he has news
about Alina. Good news." She gave J'ackt with an encouraging smile.
"They've weyrmated."

Palinon blinked. The silence stretched. He put a calloused, dirty hand
over Elibra's where it still rested on his arm. "I..."

He watched them, standing away from the couple as he studied their
expressions. He saw the relief but also what he thought was confusion.
"It's been recently. She chose it. But I'd like to give her something
of what she would have had here should she have married."

There was another pause, then Palinon shook his head. "She belongs to
the Weyr. She can follow the Weyr's duty and customs."

Elibra smiled at her husband. "He's just suggesting a celebration.
Maybe a feast at the end of the month?"

"And will the Weyr pay for it?" Palinon turned to J'ackt. "My
gratitude to you and yours, and I gladly pay my share. All the cothold
sends its tithes gladly-- including its children. We don't have much
left."

That made J'ackt's brows shoot upwards, then down to a frown. "She
follows the traditions you've taught her. Sometimes to her detriment
and pain." His voice was brisk. "She might seem to belong to the Weyr,
but believe me, she very much still is beholden to the values here."
He frowned, mind working. What was a small dinner and dance to the
man? He knew little of actual costs of such things. He had scare few
marks of his own but... His hand fell to the blade at his side and he
looked down at it. It had cost him dearly but...quick flicks of the
his fingers undid the belt and the scabbard. "The Weyr will not." He
hefted the blade in his hands, then presented it to Palinon, hilt
first in the scabbard. "Take this, sell it to get what you need."

"Palinon." Elibra squeezed her fingers briefly on her husband's arm.
"I'm sure that we can find enough for a celebration without charity."

"It's not just us, it's the others," he said quietly. "It hasn't been
an easy spring."

Elibra's lips tightened. "And I will deal with them. This is good
news, and it's not as if good news comes by that often. A day to
celebrate will be good for all of us." After a moment, Palinon's
expression softened and he nodded. Elibra smiled triumphantly and
turned her attention back to J'ackt. "Put your sword away. We'll do as
we're able But with all the news, I'm forgetting my manners. Please
stay for tea? I feel as if we have much to discuss."

He arched a brow, but inclining his head, he buckled his sword back in
place as he shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't." His smile was brief.
"I can't be gone long and I'd rather this be a surprise for her.
She'll be due to be out of drills soon and her Imarith will know if
Zith isn't in the Weyr." And he really wasn't supposed to be going
/between/ yet, but they didn't need to know that. "Our rest days are
the sixth day of a sevenday unless there's Thread falling. "

Elibra looked at her husband, then back at J'ackt. "I don't know about
Thread... does it fall everywhere at the same time?"

J'ackt shook his head. "No. If it's not falling here, it's falling
somewhere else. There's a pattern to it and charts. If you can just
let me know how long it will take to arrange what you need, I can look
and send you a message when we could surprise her."

"Three sevendays?" Elibra guessed. It would take time to convince the
rest of the cothold to hold a celebration, and it took time to gather
enough food for a feast. "I think three sevendays would be enough."

Nodding, J'ackt offered his hand to both parents. "I'll send a message then."

Elibra clasped his hand in her own, calloused one. "This is all
happening so fast. You're sure you can't stay for tea?"

He smiled then, but it was a crooked rueful one. "I'm afraid not this
time. Maybe the next." He lifted his free hand to tug at his ear in a
bit of embarrassment. "I'm really not supposed to be here and Alina,
well, she might ask questions if I'm not where she can find me right
now. I'd rather keep this a surprise."

"Why?" Palinon asked suddenly. "Why won't you tell her?"

Elibra hushed him. "It doesn't matter why. We can talk about this
later." She turned back to J'ackt. "And I suppose we will speak more
in a few sevendays time."

He had been about to answer, Palinon when Alina's mother had hushed
him. Taking her lead, J'ackt nodded. "Yes, thank you. Thank you both."
He inclined his head in a bow. "I'll see you then."

"Clear skies," Elibra said. Palinon nodded. They watched from the door
to the kitchen as J'ackt mounted Zith and took to the skies. Elibra
sighed, then turned to wrap her arms around her husband. "I don't know
what to think about all this," she said quietly.

Palinon pressed a kiss onto his wife's temple as he watched Zith
disappear /between/. He wondered at his foolish daughter, and whether
it had been a good idea to tithe her to the Weyr without her twin to
watch over her. But then he'd have lost them both. "I suppose time
will tell."

Last updated on the July 22nd 2019

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Sneaking Out to Plan