Chomp

Writers: Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 10th August 2015

Characters: Eionen, Bailan, Falior
Description: That's the sound of the past biting someone on the [bleep].
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 13 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Aluka

Eionn wasn't sure why the route this new trader caravan had chosen seemed familiar, but that bent tree and the fork in the road, along with the climate, definitely tugged at his memory. He stared out the small window cut into the side of the wagon he was riding in, trying to piece the clues together. Finally, he gave up and opened the window to call to the driver. "Excuse me, where are we headed?"

"Minor hold Bex," the trader replied. "We should be there by early evening."

Ah, now he remembered. Bex was where he had met Shaystia, or whatever her name had been. "Thank you," Eionn said, closing the window, and leaned back on the cushions he was using as a seat. Was that woman still a resident of the hold? Would she come to him again if she was? If she did extend the intimate invitation another time, he would have to turn her down. He never knowingly dallied with a married woman, and surely she was married with a passel of kids by now. It had been eighteen years, after all.

Still, Eionn allowed himself to indulge in a flight of fancy as the trip progressed. Maybe she would still be very beautiful; maybe she would smile and nod at him in the way people do when they share a secret, and introduce him to her husband before inviting him to dinner for old time's sake. Eionn had always parted on good terms with his one-night lovers; they had never shown him hostility on the rare times he had met a few of them again. This would be no different.

The daydream was a pleasant one, and he was in quite a good mood when the wagons parked near the new tavern when the sun was beginning to set. The journeyman harper collected his bag and hopped to the ground, glad for the chance to stretch his long legs and get an unimpeded view of the hold. Not much had changed when it came to the buildings and fences and other structures, but the people had changed a lot. There were children everywhere, and those who had been children eighteen years ago were adults, and those who had been adults had gotten older.

Despite the passage of time, Eionn recognized one of the men approaching the caravan. He was tanned, of average build, and wearing harper blue, with short, straight dark blond hair, blue-green eyes, and calloused hands. Though there was a little gray at his temples now, and small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth, Eionn recognized him. How could he forget a fellow harper who could play a gitar with such talent and grace? The red-haired harper had been able to dance and sing his best thanks to Falior's music. "Falior! It's such a pleasure to see you aga-"

The next thing Eionn knew, he was on the ground, head ringing in pain and nose streaming blood. Falior was kicking his stomach and chest over and over, screaming "You monster! You beast! You swine! You stole her from me! You ruined her! How dare you ever come back here! I should kill you for-"

"Falior, stop! Stop it now!" a woman's voice shouted over a chorus of other voices.

But Falior didn't stop, and moments later there was a feminine shriek of pain. The noise ebbed and Falior left off his assault. Through eyes blurred by tears, Eionn could see the other harper grasping the shoulders of a young black-haired lady, who was doubled over and clutching her softly rounded stomach. "Bailan, what's wrong?! Is it your child?!" Falior asked anxiously.

Bailan straightened and shoved his hands off. "No, ya idiot! I learned how t' do that t' get my brother in trouble when we were li'l 'uns." She hurried to Eionn's side, grabbing one of his arms and taking it across her shoulders, then hauled him to his feet and dragged him away. The haze of pain he was swimming in didn't start to lessen until Bailan sat Eionn down in a small hut's kitchen chair and fed him a bit of fellis juice. She took off his tunic and started palpating his torso. It seemed she had an understanding of first aid. "Don' think your ribs're broke. Tha's lucky."

"I might have to lodge a complaint with your head holder," Eionn muttered foggily as Bailan began to prod his nose. "He had no reason- ow, ow!"

"Looks like your nose's broke."

"Oh, curse it. Still, he had no reason attack me. What was he talking about?"

Bailan took Eionn's face in her hands and tilted it up to examine his pupils, and froze. Her fingers trembled as she moved her hands away and examined him even closer. Then, for some reason, she peeled his lips away from his teeth.

"Hey," the redhead complained, pulling his head back.

"Your name Eionn, by chance?" she hazarded. "Harper by trade?"

"Yes, actu-"

"Fardles," Bailan hissed. "Ya stupid son o' a bitch! Why'd ya come back here?"

"It wasn't my idea!" Eionn protested. "I didn't know where the caravan was headed until two hours ago! Why have two of you insulted me?"

"I'm also the one tryin' t' patch ya up, so shaddap an' listen," Bailan snapped. "Eighteen Turns ago, Falior was engaged to a woman named Shastia. Reme'ber her?"

"Shastia! That was her name," Eionn exclaimed, pleased to finally recall the correct way to say it. "She was a lovely woman, and-" He stopped dead. "Wait, _engaged_?!"

"Tha's right. She cheated on Falior with ya."

Eionn's jaw dropped. "Wha- How- She didn't tell me that!" That explained the guilt in her eyes when she said she couldn't run away with him. "Oh, Ancients, this is terrible. No wonder he attacked me." If this woman was telling the truth -and there was nothing to suggest she was lying- then Eionn deserved to get his arse whipped.

"There's more." Bailan took the harper's face in her hands again and made him look right in her eyes. "Shastia had a son, Aluka. He wasn' Falior's, an' she had no other man."

Pern seemed to stop spinning and his heart apparently stopped beating. The cold fog of shock descended on Eionn's mind and heart, rendering him numb. He couldn't think; he could only sit there as Bailan washed his face, delicately packed his nose with scrap cloth, and slathered numbweed on his midsection with supplies from a kit. It wasn't until she gave back his tunic that Eionn spoke again. "How do you know?"

Bailan almost smiled. "'Sa small hold, harper. _Ever'one_ knew, an' they made sure we kids knew. Falior broke their engagement an' ever'one gave Shastia grief for the rest o' her life, includin' her own da."

Eionn swallowed hard. "W-Where is he?"

"Gordione or Aluka?"

"Aluka."

A shrug. "Dunno. He ran away 'bout two Turns ago after Shastia drank herself t' death."

A boulder of agony not incurred by Falior's kicks dropped into the tall redhead's stomach. Shastia was dead, and his- his child- his _son_- was missing. There could only be one reason for all that. "This is my fault, isn't it?" Eionn asked, barely audible.

"Sure is," Bailan told him. "Nearly ever'one hated Shastia, almost ever'one hated Aluka, and no one ever let 'em forget it."

"Where could he have gone?"

"Dunno. He didn' tell me," Bailan said wistfully.

Eionn rubbed his temples, trying to make the pain lessen so he could think. All the time he had been traveling, all the women he had been with, and nothing like this had ever happened before. "Would you mind telling me about him?"

Glad for the chance to twist the knife, the young woman did so. All her former lover's flaws, his personality, how much he hated life in the hold, the things he liked, how well he had treated Bailan and Shastia, and other assorted details as she packed up the medical supplies. Eionn listened, absorbing the information, and finally wet his lips. "I don't suppose I'll be very welcome in the hold proper, so I'm afraid I must throw myself on your mercy and ask to stay here until the caravan rolls out. I can pay you Marks and help out around the house, and if there's a comfortable chair, I can sleep in that."

"Tha'd put my husband on edge, so sure," Bailan said agreeably.

"I would also like to ask you to refresh my memory about the holds and Weyrs around this area."

"Why?" The woman caught on a second later. "Harper, no offense, but goin' lookin' for Aluka's a real stupid idea. I'm not kiddin' when I say he's always hated ya and would cut your throat wi'out a second thought. At the very least he'd put ya through a poundin' tha'd make Falior's attack look merc'ful. 'Sides, he could be wand'rin' holdless for all I know. Maybe he even stowed 'way on a ship an' went north."

"I have to try. There has to be something I can do to make this right. At the very least, I need to apologize."

Bailan sighed. "Well, now I know where he got the 'stubborn as a dray beast' part," she mused.

"If I do find my- my son, is there anything you would like me to tell him?"

"Lots o' things, act'lly."

Last updated on the September 6th 2015

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Chomp