An Early Morning

Writers: Avery, Dana
Date Posted: 9th July 2006

Characters: L'pin, Traelyn
Description: L'pin and Traelyn have a cup of klah together and talk about past regrets and families.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 9 of Turn 3

L'pin was odd in that he had never required much sleep. It certainly helped when he was teaching weyrlings; it meant that he could easily go to bed after curfew and then, a few short candlemarks later, wake up before they did and prepare a lesson. Therefore, he was always one of the first people in the Dining Cavern. The staff was used to him being there by now-
he was quiet and respectful and always drank at the same table sitting alone.

Today, though, was to be different. L'pin approached the figure he saw sitting there. "Weyrwoman?" he queried softly. "Are you well?"

She turned her head to look at the bluerider, giving him a sleepy smile.
"I am. And you, L'pin?"

"I'm well." he replied easier. And he was...now. Though a few days ago, with that one weyrling...and then the bluerider, who had outright said members of their color shouldn't have his kind of position...well. "I don't usually see you here at this hour." he added.

"Mmm." She took a sip of her hot klah. "Had a restless night. I thought maybe it'd be better if I got up instead of keeping up the sharding tossing and turning ritual." Her brief grin was wry before it disappeared, and she looked up at him again. "Would you like to join me?"

L'pin nodded. "I would be honored to." he said with a smile. "Anything in particular troubling you to cause a restless night?" he asked just to make sure.

The wry smile was back. "A few things. But nothing new." She shrugged a smooth shoulder, awake enough to feel a little uncomfortable about talking about herself. "And you?" she asked, deviating the conversation back to him. "Are you always up so early?"

He grinned. "Always." he replied. "I've always woken up early. It helps when working with Weyrlings- I have a candlemark to get up and awake and prepare lessons before I get them up. Y'sani always laughs at me about it."

Her smile was thoughtful. It really did take such dedication to do the job he had taken up at Y'sani's request. "I forget, L'pin, you've known him a long time, haven't you?"

"He was in my weyrling class- it's been 25 Turns, at least." he said with a laugh. "We've been best friends forever, although looking at us, you'd never think we were friends."

A slender brow rose. "Why not?"

"Well, he's a big tough manly-man bronzerider, I'm..." He shrugged and pointed at himself. "Well, I'm a skinny tall limping bluerider." He laughed self-deprecatingly. "No one would expect that."

"It's sometimes hard not to let what other people think get to you, isn't it?" Her tone was quiet, as if she were remembering some past incident.

He nodded, noting her tone and wondering what caused it. Perhaps the discussions of her unorthodox transfer from Dragonsfall to Dolphin Cove?
The rumors had flown around about _that_ rather cruelly, he imagined.
"It is." he replied. "If you're something new, if you're _different_
from what they expect, if you make a single wrong move... or even," he added "if you're just yourself trying to make the best you can of the life you have, people will criticize you because you don't fit what they think you should be. Sometimes they think it in silence, other times they say it to your face...and sometimes poisonous rumors spread in silence. And they sting, when you hear them." The bluerider had had a lot of time to think on that subject since coming to Dolphin Cove.

The expression in her eyes was distant, a line deepening on her brow.
"And they can be especially painful when they're true." Shaking herself, she took another drink, trying to shove past memories back down. "But life moves on, doesn't it, L'pin?"

He nodded, thinking of how his crush on Y'sani had faded to friendship, and of how most of the rumors had stopped. "They're just words, painful as they are- they don't scar the body, and life goes past it." He laughed slightly, with a bare trace of bitterness. "You always make it through, even if it hurts."

"Mmm. And sometimes...just barely."

He nodded. "Has something in particular been troubling you recently?
You've looked a bit stressed." He didn't want to pry, of course, but he was a bit concerned for her.

"Just...personal stuff." She gave him a small smile, hoping that it didn't look like a wince. Shards, if _he_ could see it, and she hardly knew him... Uncomfortable, she shrugged and took another sip of her klah.
"It'll pass though. I'm fine, L'pin, really. But I thank you for your concern." She reached out and pressed her fingers briefly against his.

He smiled, reassured. "I'm glad that you're fine." He paused. "I see from your knots you never crafted- Impressed too early, or just never found one you liked?" he asked casually.

"I never really found one that I preferred above the others," Traelyn replied, brushing a thumb absently over her knots. "If I never Impressed, I suppose I would've taken to being a dolphineer... But not Impressing...shards, that wasn't an option for me." A soft smile lit her face as her thoughts gently touched those of her sleeping queen.

L'pin nodded, knowing how she felt. "And Impressing was never an option for me, but once it happened- shards! You could never imagine anything else, being anything else. I loved being a harper, knowing how to read people and hides, but Chaneth...he's so much more then that now that I could never have been content."

She smiled. "I've always wondered what dragons look for in the Candidates. When I asked Nyith why she chose me--what she saw in me--all she said was that she just knew I was the one for her. I guess we'll never know... But shards, you're right, L'pin. I can't even imagine how I was ever content or happy before she found me."

L'pin nodded. "I had to explain it to Ruumin once- that you can't explain what a dragon feels like, or how they make your life complete.
he kept saying his was complete enough, so finally I had to say you don't realize you aren't complete until you Impress." He laughed slightly. "Maybe that was when he decided not to Stand. He likes practicalities. And you, have you any children, or still too early for that?"

Shifting in her chair, Traelyn looked down at her half-empty mug of klah. It was getting cold. "No...no children," she murmured softly.
"Not yet." That didn't mean that she hadn't been pregnant before....but he didn't need to know that. No one did. "And you?"

"A son." he said proudly. "Apprenticing to the Harper Hall." He laughed slightly. "I'm so glad they're here because I'll be able to see him.
Children...can be a delight, if a headache at times. I've always liked them, it's why I like weyrlings." he confessed. Being a shoulder, a mentor, a teacher...he enjoyed it.

She smiled. "Ruumin is your son?"

L'pin nodded. "As sure as I can get in a weyr." he qualified with a laugh. "He thinks he's mine and I think he's mine. It's good enough."

Traelyn laughed at that. "Does he look much like you?"

"The eyes and the height, so it's possible." L'pin laughed himself.
"Childhood in a weyr...it's interesting, isn't it? Not knowing always who your parents are...I think thats why the holdbreds have such a time adapting, since blood is so important to them." He paused. "Close to your parents?"

"Mmmm..." She nodded. "Especially with my father when I was growing up. But it's harder now because we live so far...and he has duties and I have duties..."

"Well, at least /between/ makes everything closer." L'pin remarked.
"What does your father do?"

"He's a Wingsecond," she smiled. "And a damn good one, if I do say so myself."

"Honorable position." L'pin said. "Seems exemplary leadership runs in your family."

Traelyn smiled at him. Exemplary. Shards, it was so nice to hear someone tell her that... "Thank you."

L'pin smiled. "It was nothing." he said softly. "Shall I leave you now?
I presume we both have things we must be doing, today."

"Oh... Yes." Faranth, where had the time gone? She stood. "I think we should share a cup of klah again sometime, L'pin."

L'pin smiled even more broadly. "Seek me out anytime, Weyrwoman." he offered quietly. "My shoulder's not just for weyrlings, you know." he added. "Any time you need anything I can provide..."

"Thank you." She smiled at him.

Last updated on the July 9th 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

An Early Morning