I Would if I Could
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr (NPC)
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall
Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 14th November 2013
Characters: Vell, Narona
Description: Vell and Narona chat about Prucius` offer-- and Vell`s missing husband
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 3, day 10 of Turn 7
"I hear Prucius offered for you." Vell's sister Narona sat comfortably close beside her on a sunny bench in the solar, their elbows bumping companionably as Narona spun fine woolen thread from a drop spindle and Vell continued the embroidery on the scarf. "The whole Holding is talking about it."
Vell frowned at her scarf. "About him or me?"
"Both." Narona cast a sidelong glance at her sister. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know." Vell side and lay down her embroidery. "He brought me flowers yesterday."
"No!"
Vell nodded. "It was hugely embarrassing. I cannot believe that Father's put me into this position!"
"Well, you need a husband," Narona said.
"I _have_ a husband."
"Then where is he?"
Vell sighed again. She was turning into bellows with all this sighing, but she couldn't seem to stop. It was as if her body was trying to exhale all her misery. "I don't know. You know I don't know."
Narona bumped her sister's knee with her own, clearly wishing she could put an arm around Vell's shoulders but unable to without breaking the thread. "Maybe it's for the best?"
"It's for the best that he?s not back yet?" Vell asked, stung.
"That he hasn't come back at all. He'd be beaten to bits by Father and Elor, and I know how much you'd hate to see that." Narona smiled weakly, but it quickly faded when Vell turned back to her embroidery with a frown. "You can't wait for him forever."
Vell stabbed the hapless scarf with her needle. "I can. I love him?"
"Love doesn't mean much," Narona said bitterly, and Vell realized her mistake. She wasn't the only of Eron's children to suffer being set aside. Narona had been fostered at a nearby Holding and their parents had intended for her to marry the Holder's second son. The son had other ideas, and Narona ended up back at Stony Field with no prospects after almost eight Turns away.
"Narona, I'm sorry?"
Her sister shrugged. "It's no matter. What does matter is what you're going to do about Prucius. I doubt you're interested."
"No." Vell's hands stilled on her embroidery. "I have to let him know my intentions, still. I just hate to be cruel."
"It's not cruel if you let him down gently."
"Maybe I'll offer your hand to him instead." Vell sighed again and mentally berated herself for it. It was such a stupid habit. "I just wish someone would find Yarron. This would all be cleared up if someone found him."
"I don't know, Vell. It might be too late."
"What do you mean, too late?"
Narona pursed her lips, thinking. "I mean that what will happen if Yarron is found? Do you really want to hear why he's left?"
"Of course I do!" Vell said at once.
"Maybe it's better if he just disappears. Do you really want to know that he left because he wanted to? That he no longer wanted to be with you? What if he left because he got a better offer elsewhere, and is happily remarried to a pretty girl with pink lips and long black hair?"
"What if he's lost his memory, or is being kept from coming back? What if he accidentally Impressed a dragon and his dragon isn't old enough to fly? What if his message got lost, and he's waiting somewhere for me to come to him?" Vell shot back.
It was her sister's turn to sigh. "You read too many Harper tales. It's more likely that for whatever reason, he doesn't want to come back. He hasn't sent word, and what sort of thoughtless man would let you suffer without letting you know where he was, or at least when he intended to return? And that doesn't even take into account the business with the Harper Hall."
"You're mean." Vell stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.
"You're impossible!"
"I just hate waiting," Vell finally admitted as she stitched a leaf. "I'm angry at him for that." It felt duplicitous to admit that Yarron's silence hurt after so many months defending him from slander, but it was true. Narona was her sister, and aside from Elor, the only person at Stony Field who she could be honest with. "The not knowing is worse than the knowing, to me. And all I can do is wait. The Harper Hall isn't doing anything, and Father's not going to spare a man to go look for an errant Harper, not when it's shearing season for the rams, and there's lambs to geld and flocks to mind."
"Hold first, family second," Narona intoned. "I wish I could ride out myself and go find him for you."
"I know you would, if you could." Vell smiled at her sister, cheered by the impossible offer. "But I wouldn't even know where to send you looking first."
Narona thought for a moment. "The Harper Hall. At the very least, you could see what they've done to find Yarron. They must have records of their actions, even if they have no record of Yarron himself."
If only she could send Narona off to look. Vell finished her curling leaf and started on the next one. If only she could go herself to look, but there was no way her father would allow her to go to the Harper Hall a-dragonback. He hadn't even sprung for a dragon to take Yarron from the Hold, and besides, there were ovines to shear and wool to card and spin, mutton to salt and lambs to mind. The Beasthold wouldn't pause because she had broken her heart over a missing husband.
Last updated on the November 21st 2013