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Writers: Aaron, AmajoS
Date Posted: 4th April 2019

Characters: Brennault, Dorana
Description: Dorana almost mails a letter and winds up getting some advice from Brennault instead.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 9 of Turn 9
Notes: This is Dorana's introduction post! Feel free to send coposts her way! :D

Brennault

----------

Dorana spotted the Runner and reached into her pocket to feel the
letter once again. This was a new one, of course. She had a new one
each time. This one was about the recent fall she had recovered from,
the new position she'd been given by the Headwoman, the way her
roommate snoring was slowly driving her insane. It asked how her
brothers and sister were. It asked if her father had forgiven her yet.
It said she wasn't sure she'd forgiven him. She fingered the letter in
her pocket as Brennault approached.

Brennault had noticed the woman before and had been almost certain
more than once than she had a letter for him, though if it was a
letter, indeed, it had remained in her pocket. But then she never gave
it to him. It was possible he was imagining things... but there she
was again. Hand in pocket...

"Hi," he said to her as he approached, offering a smile. "Everything OK?"

"Oh, yes," Dorana yanked her hand out of her pocket, blushing. She did
it so quickly however that the letter which had been tucked inside
came with the hand and fell to the floor between them. She stared at
it, wide-eyed before glancing up at the Runner.

"Did... you want to send a letter?" asked Brennault tentatively, his
eyes going to the letter on the ground. He bent down to pick it up to
return to her, but before he could move very far, Marvel popped in
from between and scooped up the letter. He landed on Brennault's
shoulder, and Brennault took the letter from Marvel's mouth gently. If
he had to guess, he would suspect that she wanted to send the letter
but did not have the postage fee.

Did she want to send the letter? She always wanted to send the
letters, until it came time to actually send them. What about this
one? He already had it, it would be so easy to just say yes, hand over
the fee, and walk away. But the words stuck in her throat.

Marvel cheeped impatiently.

~~I did the thing! More!~~

"Oh. Sorry, buddy." Brennault fished a dried meat bit from his pouch
and fed it to Marvel, whose demeanor instantly shifted back to
delighted. Then he looked back to smile at the woman.

"It's OK," he said. "I'll make sure it gets where it's going. Don't
even worry about the fee. I've got this one. I'm Brennault, by the
way."

Easier and easier. Now she could just walk away and let the letter go
on it's way to her mother. The first correspondence she'd had with
home since she left it on dragon back eight turns ago.

"Dorana," she replied absently, eyes still on the letter. She forced
her gaze off of it and onto the man holding it. She gave him a weak
smile, "Thank you."

Then, she forced her body to turn and her legs to move. Before sh'd
taken three steps, however, she stopped and said, "Wait!" She
couldn't do it. She just couldn't be the one to make the first move.

Brennault tilted his head curiously. So, perhaps it was not about the fee.

"Yes?" he asked, pausing as he was amid slipping the letter into his
messenger bag. "Is everything alright?"

Marvel cheeped again. Even he was curious now.

"Yes, I just...," she trailed off, not knowing what she wanted to say.
Finally, she settled on, "Can I have it back, please?"

Brennault fished the letter back out and handed it over.

"Of course," he said. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
he offered. "No pressure. I'll buy you a drink, even."

She signed before putting the letter in her pocket. "It'll sound
daft," she warned with a grimace.

Brennault smiled and replied, "At this point, I think I'd be
disappointed if it didn't." He winked. "No judgment, runner's honor."
He held up a hand.

She narrowed her eyes at him a moment before sighing. Then she grinned
a little wryly, "I suppose I owe you and explanation for acting like a
sunstroked wherry. Alright." She gestured for him to lead the way.

"Alright." Brennault smiled back and then turned to walk beside
Dorana. Marvel turned on Brennault's shoulder so he could watch her
curiously.

"What can I get you?" he asked as he pulled out a seat for her once
they reached their destination.

"Oh, tea is fine," she said with a sigh. She waited until he placed
the order and then grinned a little, saying, "This isn't the first
time, you know. I've almost given you letters before."

"I recognized you," said Brennault. "I kept thinking you wanted to
send a letter but couldn't decide whether you wanted to spare the
fee," he explained. "That was why I offered to cover it. It seemed
like sending the letter was really important to you because you kept
coming back."

"It's not the same letter. I have a new one each time. I've got a
whole drawer full of them now," she paused, as their drinks were
delivered. Then she took a sip of her tea. "I told you it was daft,"
she grinned and shrugged.

Brennault blinked. He felt as though he were used to hearing unusual
things, but he could think of hearing nothing that was quite like
this.

"Is... did..." Brennault had guesses, but he did not want to be right
about any of them – especially if it would upset her. "Why not send
them?"

Marvel climbed down to the table to peer into Brennault's cup, but
seeing only liquid, he curled up to close his eyes.

She couldn't help but giggle at his reaction as well as the
disgruntled look the firelizard had gotten when he peered into the
cup. She shrugged after her giggles subsided, "It's hard to explain."
She sipped her tea again and tried to think of a way to explain it
that would make sense. It barely made sense to her.

"We fought when I left, my father didn't want me to come when the
Search rider found me. I came anyway. That was turns ago and we
haven't spoken since. I haven't gotten a single word from any of
them." She sighed, her amusement vanished.

"It's like I've died or something instead of just moved to a different
place. I write letters, mostly to my mother, but my brothers and
sister too. But... why should I send them if they don't want to talk
to me?" She shrugged again. She wasn't sure why she was telling this
stranger something she'd never actually told anyone before. Maybe she
felt like she owed him and explanation for her odd behavior.

"Hm..." Brennault furrowed his brow and nodded as he listened. It was
not the first time someone had told him something like this –
something they might have kept from someone else. In the holds, he was
almost like the closest thing to both an insider and outsider at the
same time. He was there often because of his delivery routes – or had
been, before he got his weyr posting – so he was known enough to be
trusted, but he did not live there, so there was no worry the
information could be dangerous in his hands.

"Do you want my advice or just someone to vent to?" he asked.

"I can't promise I'll follow it, but I'm happy to listen to advice,"
Dorana replied with a grin and another shrug.

"I'd say, send them all. I'll consider it one bundle and honor my
offer to cover the fee," said Brennault. "You have things to say to
them still, or you wouldn't have written. And it's not up to you how
they respond. Just what you say to begin with. If it were me and my
mom, I know she'd be missing me as much as I miss her, and we'd be
counting the days until we saw each other again. Even if she didn't
say so."

They always did, actually, long as it was between each visit.

Dorana thought about it for a moment, finishing her tea. "I'll keep
the offer in mind, thank you. And thank you for the tea." Maybe she
would take him up on the offer sometime, but she couldn't bring
herself to do it yet. Not yet.

"You're welcome," said Brennault. "And the offer stands, any time. The
tea and the letters." He smiled. "It was nice to finally meet you."

Last updated on the April 12th 2019

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