A Needlethorn

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 15th May 2008

Characters: Menore, Mehan
Description: Riverboat owner, Menore, and her captain, Mehan, talk.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 9, day 16 of Turn 4

Menore stood off the port bow, staring down into the river, the water churning beneath. The hum of the engines vibrated, almost massaging her feet. She closed her eyes. The boats did not go fast enough to cause a great amount of airflow, but there was a nice wind that day, not too gentle, but not overpowering. She let it caress her face, her hair tossing behind her after having let it loose. It was a gorgeous day, the sun beaming down, the water gleaming as if there were thousands of tiny diamonds dancing upon its surface.

This was the last real trip they would make before the overhaul. One more trip up to Emerald Falls and back, and then, when they did this next time it would be another four months before they would be able to board the Moonflower again. She would miss her old girl. At least she would be almost like new once they boarded her once more.

From the pilothouse Mehan's brown eyes watched many things, the river (here, so close to the seaport it was wide enough that sand banks weren't the threat they were in other areas, but still, it was hard to look away), the banks, the pilot, and Menore down on the main deck. His eyes flicked from view to view, but perhaps they lingered longer on the young woman and, while the river, the banks, and the pilot gave him no reason to give them a second thought, Lenore always did.

Unlike most riverboat captains he hadn't inherited ownership of the boat at the death of his father. Hadn't inherited. Didn't own it.
Wasn't born aboard.

Menore had. Did. Was.

On the very few riverboats that did have a captain who wasn't the owner it was usually an older person who retained ownership; somebody who had chosen to employ a younger mind and body to do the day to day running of the riverboat. Not in his case. Menore was half his age and if she had chosen to stick with a male captain for her riverboat then she did it only for pragmatic reasons not because she couldn't manage the job. She probably could. She had turned her hand to being the headwoman without any problems he had noticed and if it seemed better for the ***** to have a male captain when they dealt with the Holds and cotholds from where their livelihoods came, then she had put up with that and got on with the job.

And probably expected him to get on with his.

Menore turned, ready to go back under. There were some things she should be taking care of and had only allowed a brief respite from the day's work. She paused when she saw Mehan standing on deck, his eyes upon her. Her arms crossed over her chest as she regarded him in return. "Something wrong, Captain?"

"Not a thing, Headwoman," he said formally. There was something about the girl's attitude that made it difficult for him to speak naturally to her. Everything seemed to be a challenge -

He sighed and started down the stairs from the pilothouse to the main deck because he wasn't going to shout the riverboat's business across three decks.

"Oh?" Menore straightened up from where she had been leaning against the railing and closed the distance between her and the captain.
"You look like you have something you need to tell me. So tell me."

Was there a bite in that 'tell me'? Did he tell her more often than he asked her? "Do you still plan to visit the Sungazer when she gets in tomorrow evening?"

"Yes, I do." Menore cocked her head to the side as she regarded her captain. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wanted to know if you would like me to come along, or not." He was the one who usually provided a public face of the riverboat when dealing with outsiders, but the Sungazer was another riverboat and its crew were river-born and hardly outsiders.

It was a thought, and perhaps a good one. Menore straightened, looking off behind the captain as she thought about it. Well, it couldn't hurt would it? And...well, there were other considerations. After a moment, she nodded. "That...that would probably be good, Captain Mehan," she clipped.

"I'll come and get you as soon as the Sungzaer docks, then," he said as curtly, adding a nod to punctuate the end of the brief conversation.
Nobody would say they worked well together - but they managed.

This wasn't how he had expected his captaincy would be. He was to be Captain and his wife would have been the owner; their son would have reunited the two roles. But there had been no children and Dimaya had died. He was left with Menore; intelligent, hard-working, _prickly_
Menore.

Their conversation - if it could be given such a title - was over. He headed back up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and wondered if he had his late wife's sister would ever get along any better than they did now. Perhaps the four months of overhaul when they would be holed up in bankside accommodation with most of the crew dispersed onto other riverboats or back to the waypoint would give them a chance to get to know each other better.

He wasn't sure he was looking forward to that. A needlethorn was still a needlethorn, no matter how well one got to know it.

The thoughts that Menore ran around her mind were similar to Mehan's.
She didn't know why she felt so defensive whenever he was around. She watched him silently until he disappeared from site, then she turned to look out at the river for a moment longer. She supposed things had gotten a little better, but not by much. This wasn't how things should have been, and she wondered if in some way he blamed her. With a sigh, the young headwoman turned and strode off of the deck. She had work to do and her standing around and pondering wasn't going to get it done.

Last updated on the May 18th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A Needlethorn