It's Complicated (2/2)

Writers: Aaron, Estelle
Date Posted: 10th May 2020

Characters: R'fal, Lorican, Brennault
Description: Brennault meets Lorican at the Weyrhold, but he seems to be behaving strangely
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 4, day 8 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Urlene, Lusilk

Brennault

"A short break will have to do," said Brennault, though he smiled to
show there were no hard feelings. "The place looks amazing already. I'm
really proud of you for putting in the work. And don't worry – I brought
work of my own to do, so you won't be wasting my trip if you need to get
back to it."

"That's good, and it's no trouble for me to take a short break. I'm glad
you get to see the place." Lorican felt a sense of pride that he'd
played a part, however small, in making the Weyrhold such a fine place
for dragonriders to live. "I suppose there must be a great deal of
letters to carry back and forth between here and Dolphin Cove. Now that
the new Weyrleaders are in place, there are transfers coming in all the
time."

"I don't know who's in charge here, but I'll be meeting with them before
I start delivering what I brought. It would be a little tacky of me to
go around delivering without letting the new stationmaster for the
weyrhold know I'm here," said Brennault. "Most of the regular letters
will probably still be delivered on foot the usual way, but R'fal was
kind enough to bring me out. And since I was going to be here anyway...
no sense in not bringing what I could."

"Have they made you a master yet?" he asked.

Lorican laughed. "No, but I'm working on it. I've got some ideas for a
project to send to the Masters at the Hall, but it'll take some months
to complete, what with my regular duties here. Then it'll be up to them,
I suppose. How about you? You're still based at Dolphin Cove?"

"For now!" said Brennault. "Still living the dream and all that. Work
and play abound at the weyr, as they say. Do they say that? They should
say that. I bet there's not as much play here yet. But someday! I hope
you get ample vacation once this is all set up. Maybe a few days back at
the Cove?"

"Well, perhaps. I hope so." There was a wistful note in the smith's
voice. Lorican knew he couldn't return to Dolphin Cove until he'd dealt
with all the troubles in his own life and made amends to Urlene - if
that was possible, after what he'd done.

"I'm happy to bring you, any time," R'fal offered.

"Thanks. Maybe when the technicians have finished their work, our order
list will ease up and I'll have time." He smiled. "Oh - where has Marvel
got to? Did he come with you? He must have grown since we last saw each
other."

"He did," Brennault confirmed as he realized Marvel had gone off on his
own. "He must have flitted off somewhere just as we got here, actually..."

**Marvel. Come see Lorican.** Brennault added a mental image of the
smith to show who he meant.

A moment later, the bronze popped out from between and chittered happily
at Lorican.

"You haven't filched any more jerky, have you?" Brennault asked. Marvel
hissed at him and landed on Lorican. "This little wonder ate most of a
bag he stole from Master Urlene with a little help from one of hers."

Lorican kept very still as the firelizard perched on his shoulder,
watching in delight as the small head with its many-faceted eyes turned
to regard him. When he heard Urlene's name, though, he caught his breath
in surprise.

"You've seen her?" he asked with unguarded enthusiasm. He'd not had word
from her since his visit to Dolphin Cove had ended their correspondence,
and he longed to hear about her, whether she was well and happy. It was
a constant torment to him that he couldn't even so much as ask about
her. That reminded him that he might be putting them both in danger by
speaking to Brennault about her, and he hastily focused his attention on
his friend. "I mean, you've not been ill, have you?"

Brennault arched an eyebrow. That seemed like an unusual deflection. But
he knew well enough when someone was avoiding a subject and did not want
to discuss it. He could not imagine why Lorican would want to keep his
interest in Urlene from R'fal. Or from him. Something weird was going
on. Between the two of them, maybe. Or maybe just with Lorican. It would
not be the first time something weird was going on with him. Weird
seemed to follow him around.

But Brennault would respect his privacy while they were in public.

"I had a message to deliver to her. And I'm lucky she didn't make me pay
for the jerky Captain Hungryface over there devoured. She said she
wishes you all happiness and good fortune in the future," he said aloud.
He had marked her exact words.

"Marvel knows how to get here now. And he likes you. We're still working
on the training, but I think I can get him to pop over to see you. I
miss you. So if you wanted to write... You know, tell me about how
things are going here..." Brennault gave him A Look. Tell me what's
going on. He hoped Lorican would get the idea. "He could carry messages
between us."

"I'd like that, but - perhaps when the building work is nearly done, and
it's not so busy." Those words of Urlene's went straight to his heart,
as he wondered whether she'd been concealing pain with formal reserve,
or if they were simple truth and she'd not cared for him as much as he'd
thought. Hard as it was, he knew he had to hope for the latter.

Either way, he couldn't put Brennault in danger, too. He was risking
enough just talking to them. "I promise, when it's all over, I'll write
properly."

"When you're not so busy," Brennault agreed. "But. You know, if there's
anything you need before then – anything at all I can do to help, please
don't hesitate to tell me. You don't have to wait until it's all over."

Coming from anyone else – anyone else without the unusual misfortunes in
their history Lorican had experienced – Brennault would have taken
Lorican's words as too polite to be honest about how little he was
interested in Brennault's company and attention. But this seemed like
something else. Maybe he was wrong, but he would not give up just yet.

"I will. And I do mean it, about writing. It's just, at the moment
it's...complicated." He wished he could tell his friend everything, but
it would be hard without revealing Lusilk's secrets. He couldn't do
that, and not just because he was afraid she'd murder him.

Instead, he turned to look at Marvel. "Is he hungry now? There might be
a few cold meatrolls in the smithy, left over from lunch."

"He's always hungry," laughed Brennault. He would accept Lorican's
answer. If he could say more, he likely would. So Brennault would just
have to wait.

Marvel chittered excitedly at the offer of food.

Lorican laughed. "All right. But you'd better go back to Brennault while
I fetch them," he said to the little bronze on his shoulder. "I don't
think you'd like it in the smithy. It's hot and very noisy."

Marvel looked to Brennault, who did his best to translate the sentiment
behind what Lorican said into images and feelings the firelizard could
understand. When he got enough of an idea of what unpleasantness lay
inside where the smith was going, he flitted back to wait with Brennault.

Though Brennault had to assure him twice that Lorican would return with
the treats.

"Not always a bad combination, but I think this particular variety of
hot and noisy is not the good kind." Brennault winked.

"Ah, no, it's not. Not unless you're a smith." Lorican smiled, his
cheeks coloring a little as he saw the brownrider's grin, then turned
to head back into the smithy.

"He looks well," R'fal said as they waited for the man to return. He was
certainly relieved to see that he'd recovered from his injuries and the
flight back from the sea hold with Marlath. He glanced at Brennault.
"Though...did he seem nervous to you?"

"He did," Brennault confirmed. He was not sure how much he wanted to
risk violating Lorican's privacy, but his safety was more important.

"He's had a bit of bad luck," he said. "More than I'd like. And I'd like
to hear more about how he's doing, but..."

R'fal couldn't help feeling curious about whether there was more to the
smith's misfortunes than that, but he kept it to himself, telling
himself it wasn't his business. He did know what it was to be kept apart
from someone you cared about. "If I can help in any way...Marlath and I
will always be happy to bring you for a visit. Or him."

"Thanks, R'fal," said Brennault. He smiled warmly at the brownrider.
"And I know I don't have much to offer a guy who can go anywhere, but if
there's anything I can do for you, I'll do my best."

Marvel honked impatiently.

"Oh, cool it, you. He'll be back when he gets back," Brennault chided him.

Sure enough, Lorican soon returned from the smithy with a cold meatroll
in his hand. "Marvel's in luck, most of the time the apprentices polish
off everything down to the last crumb. Here." He held out his hand,
offering the roll to the firelizard.

Marvel tweeted happily and took the roll. He had luckily learned to take
food carefully rather than snatching and grabbing. He was clever when he
wanted to be.

"I like to think that sound means, 'thank you'," said Brennault. "Well,
I don't want to keep you if you need to get back to work. But we're not
leaving just yet. I can swing back by if you want to send a letter back
to Dolphin Cove."

"Ah." A brief look of distress appeared before the smith could conceal
it. He wanted to write, more than anything, but knew it was impossible.
"I'd be happy if you can drop in again before you go, if there's time,
but - I've no letter, not today."

R'fal glanced at Brennault. "I'm in no hurry. Come by the lake whenever
you're ready, I'll be there with Marlath."

"It's no problem." Brennault smiled at Lorican, hoping to offer what
little comfort he could in the face of whatever was bothering him. "I'll
see you again before we go. And thanks, R'fal. You're the best."

"I'll see you later, then. Safe flying, R'fal, and thank you for coming,
once again." Lorican raised a hand in farewell before he returned to the
smithy. He was glad to see Brennault, but he couldn't help the uneasy
feeling that even being seen here, talking to him, was enough to put the
two young men in danger. He could only hope that one day he might be
able to explain.

R'fal watched him go. There was something odd going on there, but he
couldn't quite put his finger what it was. Maybe the master smith was
strict, and Lorican was worried about getting in trouble if he stood
around chatting? Somehow, that didn't seem enough.

"Well, I'd better get down to the lake and see what Marlath's up to," he
said, trying to sound reassuring.

"Yeah," said Brennault with a worried grimace even as Marvel returned to
his shoulder. "And I've got things to get delivered. Listen, I think
we're both a bit worried about... Well, you know, all that." He gestured
after Lorican. "But I don't know what to do about it. If there's
anything, you know... If you know what to do, just tell me."

"I wish I knew." R'fal frowned. "I mean, he's a grown man, older than
us. And maybe it's personal. If there is something between him and the
Weyrhealer, it must be hard for them, being separated like this." If
that was the case, surely they shouldn't interfere. "I could bring you
here again, if you want, on a restday. Maybe he'll have more time to talk."

"Maybe," Brennault agreed, and then he nodded. It seemed somehow that
there was something more than just a lovers' quarrel, but that was only
because of Lorican's previous misfortunes.

But Lorican would share what he could when he could, and Brennault would
just have to be content with that.

"That's a good idea. I really appreciate it." Brennault smiled. "It's a
nice place to take a rest day. Imagine how much nicer when it's all
finished, eh?"

"Yes, it's beautiful here! I'm so lucky that Marlath can take me to
visit places like this," R'fal said as they walked together, back around
the lake towards the dining hall and staff quarters. "Although," he
added loyally, "not quite as beautiful as Dolphin Cove..."

"Nowhere is quite as beautiful as Dolphin Cove."

Last updated on the May 31st 2020

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It's Complicated (2/2)