Tag-a-long

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 19th October 2005

Characters: B'ram, Traelyn
Description: B'ram and Trae finally meet again
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 6 of Turn 3

B'ram

**Now was I supposed to turn right of left back there?**

}: Didn't I say you should bring the map? You know you always get lost. :{
**It's just a Weyr! How hard can it be to find the _dining caverns_?**

}: Ask someone. :{
**That's no help, Girifith, I think everyone is already there. No one is in the halls. I'm not even sure what floor I'm on anymore.** B'ram ran his fingers through his spikey red hair in frustration. **I'm not even sure where those stairs were... Oh wait, I see someone.**

The brownrider called out the young woman standing at the next intersection, "Excuse me, miss? Can you point me to the dining cavern?"

Traelyn grinned wryly to herself as she turned around. "I would if I knew where it was..." she trailed off, her smile turning into an expression of incredulity as her eyes met the man's in front of her.

B'ram's face turned to one of wary surprise as recognition flickered in his eyes as well. His eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms across his chest as he regarded her. "I heard you were here."

"Not surprising," was her reply, and there was a hint of dry sarcasm in her tone as she folded her arms over her chest as well, looking back at him.

"Who would have thought that our little Traelyn would be Weyrwoman some day. Your family must be so proud." He said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Her lip curled. "Wouldn't you know? How was my family doing when you last saw them? How is Atreyn?"

"Fine, last I saw. I don't know about Atreyn, though. Your sister and I parted ways not long after you left." **And won't that bit of news just make your day!**

One brow rose in mocking surprise. "I see." She wanted to claw that sickening expression off of his sharding face. Sharding bastard. How _dare_ he look at her like he knew her better than she sharding knew _herself_...

His jaw clenched as he heard her condescending tone. "I was rather surprised to hear the news when I got here. You, a _weyrwoman_. And you just left us at Far Island Weyr... what... four months ago? And I had to wonder to myself, how ever did _that_ happen?"

Trae's eyes flashed. "You think me incompetent, brownrider?"

His eyes responded in kind. "Oh, no, not at all. You've been playing the queen since we were kids."

"Back to this again, are we?" She lifted her chin with a hint of a snarl.
"As much as I'd love to stand here in the middle of the corridor and exchange snide remarks with you, B'ram, I really should make better use of my time." **Sharding bastard.** With that, she turned from him and began walking away.

**Sharding girl,** B'ram thought as he watched her back move further down the corridor.

~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~

Benram rolled his eyes as he heard the girl's plea for him to slow down.
He quickened his pace instead. "Traelyn, go home! We're not sewing dresses out here, you know. Go find some girls to play with!"

"Who wants to sew _dresses_? That kind of stuff's for fostermothers," a twelve-Turn-old Traelyn retorted as she finally caught up with the longer-legged youth.

"Ah let 'er come, Benram," Orobo said as he turned back to look at the approaching group.

"Yeah, Benram, she can help," Kokaran said pleadingly.

"Come on, I've let her tag along since we were kids." Benram didn't like the way his friends seemed to always be on _her_ side. "Go home, Traelyn.
Isn't it about time you learned how to be a girl?" He turned to the one boy he could always count on for support. "This time is just for us guys, right, Lakub?"

The tall youth looked at his best friend and then at the blonde girl a good two inches taller than Benram. "Ah, she won't get in the way. Besides, if we _do_ find firelizard eggs we could use all the hands we could get."

Trae beamed at him before turning to look at Benram again. "Better to have more hands than not!" She wriggled her fingers at him for emphasis.

"Oh, _fine_," Benram spit out, annoyed to no end that _none_ of his friends backed him up.

"Here, Trae, you can carry one of the sacks if you like," Kokaran said shyly.

She took it from him and smiled back. "Thanks, Kar. Now come on!" she grabbed his hand. "We have to find some eggs!" Pulling him with her, Trae began to climb up the sand dunes, heading towards the treeline where the rocks were.

Two other boys raced ahead of them. Orobo scurried up one of the trees and then climbed out onto the lowest branch. He straddled it, grinning devilishly down at the rest of the group as he plucked a ripe fruit. "There's no reason why we can't get some snacks while we search!"

"Orobo, we have enough snacks to feed us for a sevenday!" Benram protested, holding aloft the havesack of pastries they had swiped from the kitchens. "Come on and stop wasting time!"

Kokaran was not to be outdone. He let go of Trae's hand and scrambled up the tree, higher than Orobo had. "Look! I found more fruit up here!"

"Kokaran!" Benram was begining to lose patience with this game. "Come on guys, we're losing the light!"

"Ah, come on Benram, a couple fruit won't hurt," Lakub cried as he made for the tree too. "Do you want to climb up, Trae? I can give you a boost if you like."

"Sure!" Grinning, she eagerly went to Lakub's side. "Do you want me to put my foot in your hands or something?"

"No, it's all right. I'll just put my hands here," he said as he wrapped his fingers around her hips with only the slightest blush, "and now jump and I will lift you up so you can grab the branch."

"Oh, what a pile of crack dust," Benram mumbled as he picked up a stone and flung it out to sea.

Trae jumped just as Lakub lifted her higher. She reached out and her hands grabbed onto Orobo's instead of the branch. Grinning, the youth pulled her to him and slid his hands down her sides to help steady her. "How's that, Trae?"

She shifted until her thighs tightly straddled the branch. "Good!" She glanced down at Lakub. "Aren't you coming up?"

"Hurry it up already!" Benram called after them, his frustration mounting with every minute that passed. "Are we here to find firelizard eggs or to climb trees?"

"Um..." Lakub looked up at Trae apologetically. "Maybe I'd better stay down here and catch the fruit for you."

"Okay." She glanced up and plucked one from the leaves above her. "How's it going up there, Kar?" she asked loudly, peering up into the thick foliage above her, trying to get a glimpse of him. Brushing flecks of dirt off the fruit, she tossed it easily down to Lakub.

"I have a whole load of them. I'm coming down." The young man held onto his branch with one hand and carefully eased himself down to the next, the other hand holding the folds of his tunic closed around their precious cargo.

"Careful, Kar, don't step on Trae now!" Lakub said as he watche the boy's decent.

"Don't worry, I got it. Right, Trae?" Kokaran said triumphantly as his toes landed on the branch behind her.

She grinned at him. "Right! Oh...you got a lot! I don't think we'll be going hungry," she smiled, swinging her other leg over the side of the branch. "You guys ready to go looking for the eggs now?" Then, under her breath to Orobo and Kar, she added, "Before Benram decides to throw a hissy tantrum?"

Lakub reached up to help Trae back down to the ground. Benram looked over in thier direction and rolled his eyes. "Finally! Shards, how long does it take to get a couple sharding fruit! Now lets get going!"

Kokaran smiled at Trae as he brought out on fruit that he has been guarding especially. It was the largest and sweetest looking fruit that had been within his reach. "Here, Trae. This one I picked for you."

She beamed at him as she took it. "That was sweet, Kar...thanks!" She leaned forward to lightly brush her lips across his cheek.

The young man was caught somewhere between revulsion and elation at the reward for his gift. His first instinct was to pull away and wipe at the place his his sleeve. Instead he just smiled and said, a bit breathlessly, "You're welcome, Trae."

Lakub shot the pair a look, but it was more envy than reproach. Benram just groaned. "Oh for Faranth's sake. Will you two knock it off. Get a weyr if you have to do that."

Traelyn rolled her eyes at him. "For Faranth's sake, Benram. Show a little maturity about things, would you? It's not like he and I were sharding making out or anything."

"Now you're just being disgusting," he replied and gave a dramatic shiver to back it up. The other two boys eyed Kokaran, almost suspiciously, as if they were going to keep their eye on him and see if he didn't try to get Trae off into the dunes somewhere and try just that. And if he did...
Benram broke in. "All right you guys had your fun. Can we please just get going?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Trae rolled her eyes slightly again behind Benram's back and smiled at Lakub, who was still looking at her.

Lakub's smile turned soft as he smiled back. A slight flush could be seen on his cheeks as he followed her. Benram just grunted. "Sure, _her_ they listen to," he grumbled to himself.

Benram never did like having Trae along. Everyone acted differet when she was around. The other guys couldn't seem to concentrate. And then there was that uneasy feeling when he looked at her. It felt like his stomach was tightening into knots when he looked at her, and when she looked back... well he just felt funny. Kind of light headed and nervous -
twitchy even. He decided to look straight ahead and keep walking. Maybe the annoying fluttery feeling would go away if he didn't look at her.

~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~

But the annoying fluttery feeling never quite left. In fact, it was back as he watched Trae walking away. "Wait a minute. Please?"

It was the "please" that stopped her. He had never said that word to her.
In all the Turns that they had known each other, he had _never_ said "please." Traelyn turned around and looked at him, the look in her eyes warily curious.

"Listen, I think we can try to handle this in a bit more of an adult fashion. After all, you _are_ the Weyrwoman now," **No matter how you _got_ the position.** "Can we try to forget that we have a past for a few minutes?" **At least until you can help me find the dining hall?** he told himself.

Trae studied him, then nodded, but the wary look in her eyes didn't fade as they began walking, together, down the corridor.

"So, the weather here sure is different, isn't it?" It was a lame attempt at smalltalk, but safe for the moment. Who knew how long it would last...

Last updated on the October 19th 2005

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