Beer and a Brawl

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 1st September 2019
Series: The Hallmaster's New Wife

Characters: Thayde, Doroon, Rindoor, Unamed Tavern Keeper
Description: Thayde gets more than a beer when he goes to the tavern and finally comes face to face with the man who hurt Enamra.
Location: Dolphin Hall, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 12, day 19 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Enamra, Endarin
Follows "The Terrible Truth"
PG-17 for discussions of rape

Thayde

The tavern keeper watched, wiping down a counter as roars of laughter
echoed through the small building. There was a hearty crowd this
evening, filling his coffers with marks, but the group of traders
around the far table was almost on his last nerve. He'd already had to
warn a few of their young men about laying hands on his tavern girls,
but as long as they paid for their cups and bottles, he'd let them
stay. Their conversation on the other hand, left much to be desired.

One young man, a swarthy, almost pretty dark haired lad, clapped
another younger one on the shoulder, directing his gaze away from a
buxom wench. "Not worth it, Rindoor, trust me. She may look soft, but
I'll guarantee you that she's wide enough below to make you feel like
you're swimming." He tipped a cup past his lips, a drunken grin on his
face. " 'Sides, she's too old for you, brother. Now that you've had
your wick dipped, you'll want something better, I promise you."

Thayde barely heard the conversation around him, nor did he care what
the other patrons were saying or doing. The only thing he could focus
on was the mug of beer on the table in front of him. When it got too
low, he would motion for more, but beyond raising it to his lips for a
drink, the dolphineer did not move or speak to anyone else. The drinks
were beginning to quiet the anxious buzzing in his brain.

On the walk from the Hall to the tavern he could not stop replaying the look in
Enamra's eyes when she had called him "Master Thayde." Faranth, she
deserved someone else. How would he ever atone? If it were possible to
divorce her without ruining her reputation, he would do it in the
blink of an eye, not because he wanted to, but because he was sure
there were other men out there who could treat her better than he had.

The men ignored the quiet man at the other table beside them, far too
interested in what the swarthy young man was saying, guffawing as his
companion, Rindoor, flushed in embarrassment. "Now listen, older women
are great when you're first starting," he wiped his mouth on his
sleeve and leaned over, not bothering to keep his voice down despite a
few disgusted glares from other tables, "but what you do...what's the
best thing to do, is find 'em young and dumb, get me? Offer them some
sweets, compliment them, even tell 'em you'll marry 'em and whisk them
away to travel and they'll fall all over you. Give you exactly what ya
want." He took another drink and looked over to the other man at his
side. " Hey, Draban, you remember that one girl at that rundown coast
cothold we had to stay at about a turn ago? A few days travel from
here?"

Draban looked up from his drink, the older trader used to the lad's
stories and bored with them, gave a slight shrug. " Where we broke
that wheel? Yeah, sure. Skinny. Brown hair."

Rindoor wrinkled his nose. "Skinny? Why'd you want a skinny girl,
Doroon? I like, " he held out his hands at his chest, but his brother
waved his hand.

"No no, that don't matter, trust me. Not when you're putting it to
'em. All that matters is down below and let me tell you, fresh girls
feel the best, my boy." His grin was crooked. "This girl, she might
have been skinny, but shards if she fell for everything I said.
Followed me around like a puppy, so I knew that she was willing. And
her father didn't watch her, see? All I had to do was promise her a
few things and I had her in the shed when his back was turned. Had the
cutest little birthmark too on her ass. Looked like a puffy cloud.
And she was like a wild feline once we started. Had to hold her down,
she was bouncing around so much."

Thayde had been letting the younger man's stories go through one ear
and out the other. He had been around enough sailors in his life to
know that men loved to tell tales. Only, the story began to register
to him once Doroon described the birthmark on his victim because
Thayde had seen that exact birthmark on a woman before- his wife.

Anger sobered Thayde just a touch to help him recall what little
Enamra had told him about the father of her child, the one that had
used her and then left her pregnant. The little piece of dung that had
caused Enamra so much pain and heartache was sitting right behind him.

Thayde pushed up from his table and turned to face the group at the
table behind him. He was not certain which man had been telling the
story so he said, "Sounds like rape if you ask me."

A few of the men fell silent as young men turned to look up at Thayde.
Then there were a few chuckles. Emboldened by his company, the swarthy
young man snorted. "Ain't rape if they're willin and lift their own
skirts, now is it?" He laughed as he turned back to his brother.
"Ignore 'im. Like I was sayin', Rindoor. All I had to do was tell her
I needed to be sure she'd be a good wife and those skirts came right
up. Young and dumb, but make sure you wait until we're about to leave
so there's not any angry fathers comin' at you. Done it lots of times
and this is your first circuit, so I can show you how it's done." He
leaned over to nudge his brother. "We can head over that direction.
She had some sisters. Probably getting just about ripe too."

Thayde's eyes zeroed in on Doroon as his spoke. "I've heard about
you," he said, reaching behind him for his mug of beer and taking a
casual sip. "That girl with the birthmark, she showed up at the Hall,
pregnant with your kid. She told me about you, although, she described
it more as a pathetic couple of minutes that ended as soon as it began
but then," he eyed Doroon, "you're still a kid yourself so maybe
you'll grow into it."

There was immediate silence from the table eyes turning to Thayde,
before a soft chorus of "oohs" from the men as Doroon's face flushed.
The young man rose unsteadily and turned to face Thayde, belligerent
in his drunkenness. His brother rose to and put a hand on his
shoulder, but Doroon pushed it off. "Feck off. Don't got no kids and
if that girl _did_ show up at your Hall, " His eyes flicked to the
knots on Thayde's shoulder and he paled just a little, but puffed up a
slender chest,

"Doroon, don't." Rindoor, evidently a young man of about fourteen
turns, tried to grab his shoulder again, but was pushed aside. "Just
come back to the table."

"What's it to you, anyway? She's just a poor cotholder and they didn't
buy anything from us. I just broke her in for next caravan. Made sure
we got our time's worth. She probably spread her skinny ass for every
trader that came by later. It wasn't like she didn't want it anyway."
He mimed grabbing invisible hips and thrust his own, grunting. "She
loved it."

Thayde did not believe in violence, he never had. Growing up he had
always preferred to use his head and let his brothers be the ones to
get in trouble for fighting. His slightly fuzzy brain told him that he
was in a tavern with a group of traders, with only a few other patrons
inside consisting of a couple dragonriders and a few dolphineers, and
the last thing he should do was something rash. His right fist,
however, had other plans as it tossed his drink into Doroon's face and
then drove its knuckles into the youth's handsome nose. Body on
autopilot, Thayde rammed into Doroon, tackling him to the ground and
sending the table behind them toppling over.

Roars erupted as the table crashed, and Doroon covered his nose as he
felt it crunch and an unbelievable pain radiated out from the blow.
Blood spewed and as he fell back, he threw his own punches and elbows,
trying to get Thayde off of him. The group of traders fell on the
pair, some trying to get in their own blows and succeeding while the
older, less drunk men attempted to pull them apart. The present
dolphineers, recognizing Thayde, rushed forward, joining the fray in
an attempt to defend him against the larger numbers of traders.

The tavern owner pulled out a club and gestured to his men, who pulled
out their own. The large men tore through the growing bedlam, throwing
men back, beating them with clubs to get them out of the way, and
tossing more than a few on to tables. They reached the fighting pair,
finding Doroon still covered by Thayde and with a face covered with
blood. The tavern owner, a portly, but still powerful man, grabbed the
back of Thayde's tunic and hauled him off. Throwing him back. He
pressed his club against Thayde's chest with a scowl. "You don't start
fights in my tavern, don't care if you're a Master or not. Don't think
Endarin's not going to hear about this." He turned to the traders,
helping a battered and only half-conscious Doroon up. "Get him out of
here. I'm tired of his filthy mouth. Don't come back, Any of ya. You
ain't welcome here." He turned to the rest of the crowd. "We're
closing! Get your things and get out. You..." He pointed to a
dolphineer in the crowd. "Get your Master out of here before they
chase him down and decide to beat on him for some payback. Fecking
morons, the lot of ya."

Despite an eye that was already starting to swell shut and a split
lower lip, Thayde took immense pleasure in seeing the traders hauling
out Doroon. He had heard of tavern brawls before but he had never
witnessed one and certainly never been the instigator. It felt...
good. His blood was still singing with adrenaline, and his pulse was
hammering in his ears. A small voice in the back of his mind said he
would probably regret it later but for the moment he felt triumphant.

"Thanks boys," he said to the dolphineers who had helped him as they
shuffled out of the tavern together. He might have failed Enamra in a
lot of ways but he refused to fail in defending her honor.

"Yeah, no problem." One helped Thayde as they walked, taking care
not to let him fall over. "But Endarin's gonna rip you to pieces when
he finds out. " He eyed Thayde's face. "And your going to have one
blazing headache tomorrow. Guess classes are going to be canceled."
The last was said lightly, but there was an undercurrent of anger in
his voice. He'd heard what had been said, had figured out why, but
didn't mention it further. "Just go home to your wife, Master
Thayde. Let her patch you up before Endarin cuts a few more pieces."

Enamra. Thayde's muddled brain circled that word anxiously. She didn't
want to see him, he knew, not after his failed apology. He might not
have set out to hurt her, as Doroon had, but what he had done wasn't
much different, was it? The thought killed some of the high that he'd
been riding after the fight. He had been worried before about her
feeling stuck and wanting to give her the option of getting out if she
wanted, but he knew she would never leave, it was against the Southern
way she had been raised. Now she truly was shackled to someone she
detested, he thought.

"Thanks," he said again once he realized he was being propped up in
front of his door. Fumbling in his pant's pocket he fished out his key
and unlocked the door. He couldn't tell if he was being quiet or not,
his ears were ringing.... Had someone boxed them when they were trying
to separate him from Doroon? He couldn't remember.

Thayde made it to the couch in their living room and stretched out on
it with a little groan, not bothering to remove his shoes as he slung
one arm over his eyes.

Last updated on the September 3rd 2019

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Beer and a Brawl