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Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 21st August 2019
Characters: Alina, J'ackt
Description: J'ackt gets a verbal scolding from his weyrmate.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 15 of Turn 9
Notes: Takes place after "A Request and a Gift"
Mentioned: Cosani, Grevan, N'vanik, Cyradis, Sh'del, D"hol
----
Only Stumpy was there to greet her when Alina returned from drills.
She bathed, rebraided her hair and sat at the table she and J'ackt
shared, absently petting his canine as she surveyed his weyr. _Their_
weyr. But it felt like his. It was all his furniture, his bed and his
stupid, lewd tapestry on the wall. His riding leathers were gone, she
noticed.
Her stomach rumbled. "Where is he, Stumpy?"
Of course, the canine had no answer. Alina bit her lip, debating on
asking Imarith to find Zith. Except... what if Imarith told her that
J'ackt was in Cosani's weyr? Her breath caught. **Don't think about
it.** Abruptly she stood and strode over to the wardrobe that she
shared with the bronzerider. _Her_ weyrmate. Not Cosani's. **Don't
think about it.**
She pulled her sewing project from the bag she'd left it in and spread
it out over the table. The pieces for the bodice of a dress had been
cut out of a lovely fabric she'd found half-buried in the store rooms.
There wasn't enough for a full dress, but she planned to make the
skirt out of something else. Alina found her needle and thread and sat
down to sew.
J'ackt was probably just... somewhere. Somewhere else, away from her.
With Cosani, probably. Pushing his mistress up against the wall,
kissing her neck the way he kissed her... **Stop it, Alina. Just stop
thinking about it.** She stabbed the fabric with her needle angrily.
They were probably laughing at how boring she was. How stupid and
ignorant and Holdbred. The hurt that Cosani's words had caused
blossomed again and now, in the privacy of J'ackt's weyr, she dashed
an angry tear from her eye. **She's just some stupid herdbeast.**
The ring that J'ackt gave her caught the light. Alina set her sewing
down and twisted it on her finger. **He's _my_ weyrmate, not hers.**
And yet he was gone. He'd left her behind, and was probably having a
good laugh at how easy it was to pull the wool over her eyes. **He's
not. He'll come back. This is just the way Weyrs are. It's fine.**
Alina took a deep breath and picked up her sewing again. It didn't
_feel_ fine. **He'd sharding well _better_ come back.**
It was almost a candlemark later when she heard wings approach and a
dragon land on the couch outside. She could already identify Zith's
wingbeats. Alina jabbed at the fabric, then yelped when the needle
slipped and she viciously stabbed herself in the finger. "Stupid--!"
she threw the fabric aside just as J'ackt walked in. "Where have you
been!? And--" she looked up and went pale. "Why are you covered in
blood-- are you hurt!? Did someone hurt you?!"
"What?" He looked down at his clothes and then back up at her before
holding his hands up. "No, no...I'm fine. It's not my blood. And it's
not human. I just...uh...was helping someone out. That's all."
"Helping someone out?" Alina put her hands on her hips and glared at
him. "Helping _who_ out? And with _what_?!"
J'ackt actually managed to look chagrined and discomfited all at once
as he glanced down at his clothes. "Well...it's hard to explain
really, Alina. I didn't hurt anybody, I swear."
The greenrider stamped her foot. "Then _tell_ me!"
"Well...uh..." J'ackt quickly stripped off the shirt and grunted as
his shoulder gave complaint over the exertions he'd placed upon it.
The tunic was ruined, without hope that he'd ever get those stains
out. He tossed it the bin and then sat, looking up at her. He was
tired, it'd had been a long day and he desperately wanted a bath. "I
don't know that you'll really understand." he rubbed at his face, then
told her exactly what he had done. He told her about Grevan's mother
approaching him, that he'd taken her home and then what he'd done for
her. "I couldn't let those kids go hungry. I know what it's like and I
just couldn't ignore it."
Alina sat for a moment, then shook her head. "You are _such_ a
dimglow. I can't-- it was nice of you to hunt for them, but that's not
your responsibility." She shook her head. "You're not even cleared to
go /between/. If N'vanik or Cyradis find out, they'll keep you
grounded for months! And no matter what that woman said-- I can't
believe you trusted her. They're a nest of tunnelsnakes."
"They're _your_ people, Alina. Holders." He pointed out with a frown.
"Haven't you been telling me that not all Holders are like that?
Besides," He exhaled. "It kind of is my fault." He looked down at his
hands. "Lost my temper with that man. Her husband. Faranth, Alina, I
could have killed him, would have if Sh'del hadn't pulled me of and
D'hol hadn't decked me. Looks like I ruined her family because of it,
and then I got this..." He jerked a thumb at his shoulder. "None of it
would have happened if I'd just controlled myself." J'ackt rubbed his
face. "I just wanted to try to make it right. It is my responsibility."
"You didn't ruin anything, that man did last Turn when he decided to
come all the way to the Weyr to attack you. And then his son made the
same stupid choice. He could have stayed home." Alina shook her head,
her lips compressed into a thin, angry line. "You don't have anything
to 'make right'. _They're_ the ones that can't control their stupid
selves."
He shrugged. "Maybe, but I didn't control myself either. I could have.
And it's not his mam's fault or his brother or sister's. It's done
though. They have food and hides for trade." He paused, rubbed his
temple. "She asked to speak to N'vanik and ask for mercy for her son."
Alina's lips tightened. "What will you do?"
He sighed, rolling his head over his shoulders. "I don't know. I don't
fecking want him to have mercy to be honest. Shards, I'm having
nightmares again and I'm tense the moment I walk out of this weyr. I
thought I was past that and now I feel like I've got to watch my back
all the time again. You have no idea how nice it was to feel safe.
Really safe."
The greenrider looked down at her hands. Grevan didn't deserve mercy.
He deserved the worst punishment that the Weyrleader and Lord Holder
could mete. He'd almost killed J'ackt... but the young man's cowardice
had give her the courage to be sitting here. Even if it wasn't
perfect, even if J'ackt strayed, even if she was so mad at him she
could spit... nearly losing J'ackt had made it very clear just how
dear the bronzerider was to her. Even if she wanted Grevan to hang for
what he did, it wasn't her choice.
Alina stood and crossed the room. She lay gentle hands on J'ackt's
bare shoulders. "Whatever you decide to do about him, it'll be the
right choice and I'll stand with you. I'll go with you, too. To the
trial."
He laid a hand over one of her own. "Thank you. I might need you
there." Admitting that he needed her was difficult, but it was
becoming easier for him to integrate her into his life. "It's not
going to be pretty."
"I'll come with you," she repeated. Then she hesitated. "But for
Faranth's sake, tell me when you're going off somewhere so I don't
have to sit and stew and wait around for you when I don't even know
where you are."
"Sorry about that. Wasn't trying to worry you." He laid his head back,
resting it lightly against her bosom. "It wasn't exactly planned. But
I'll let you know from now on."
"You'd better let me know," she muttered. She was still angry, but she
felt petty about it now. The greenrider sighed. "Go take a bath
already. You stink."
He craned his head back to look at her and gave a hopefully charming,
but tired smile. "Come with me?"
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ew, no. I'll sit with you, but I am
_not_ touching any gross water you go into."
"It circulates," he protested, then with a sudden glint in his eyes,
rose. A slow smile spread over his mouth, flashing teeth as he lunged.
"Come 'ere..."
Alina shrieked and dodged. "Not on your life! You're covered in blood!"
"Oh yes." He was quicker than Alina, so it was with a devilish smile
that he snagged her, pulled her against him and lifted with most of
the weight going on his good arm. Moving quickly to avoid any
potential kicks to sensitive areas, he hurried to their bathing pool
and then held her out over the water. "Bath time." He unceremoniously
dumped her in the water, shucked his trousers, and hopped in after
her.
Alina bobbed up with a startled cry, her hair plastered flat against
her head and her eyes wide with shock. "You-- TUNNELSNAKE!" She lunged
at J'ackt and did her best to give him the slimy, viscera-covered
dunking he rightly deserved.
Last updated on the September 3rd 2019