I Like The Way You Think

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 2nd November 2005

Characters: Traelyn, Karaleigh
Description: Trae and Karaleigh share some dinner
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 13 of Turn 3

"Won't you come in, Weyrwoman?" Karaleigh asked as she stepped aside to let Trae through. The dinner was set, the wine was poured, the feline hair had been removed from her clothes... the harper was ready to learn more about this mysterius goldrider.

Traelyn smiled at her. "Thanks... Oh, it smells so good in here!" She had hardly found the time to eat all day, and her poor stomach was finally protesting against such neglect.

}:You should have eaten earlier. I do not like it when you forget to eat.:{
**I wasn't very hungry earlier, dear heart. But I am now.**

Karaleigh smiled. "I'm glad you think so. I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what kind of foods you liked best."

Trae grinned as she flicked a hand. "I'm not a picky eater, Karaleigh. I'll eat anything...and drink anything."

The harper offered Trae a chair. "Well, I have wine for you, but I also have juice if you'd prefer. I can't drink alcohol, unfortunately."

She looked at the harper in surprise. "How come?"

"Allergy, actually. Just a sip and I lose everything." Karaleigh was used to that reaction. People really couldn't understand that some people just _can't_ drink no matter how much they'd like to.

Pity flickered in Trae's eyes. "Well, if I take a couple sips, I lose everything too," she grinned, "but not in the same way you're saying."

The harper wasn't quite sure how to take that statement. Lose everything? Lose her dinner? Lose her clothes? Lose her inhibitions? Lose her self-control? Well, it seemed Karaleigh was about to find out.
"I'm afraid the cooks went a little crazy with the baked rice casserol. I told them two women could never eat so much, but they didn't seem to listen. There's more here than I could eat in a sevenday."

"I'll help you. Let's see how much we can eat, and then go from there?"
Traelyn eyed the casserol. It looked as good as it smelled.

Karaleigh liked that idea. "Well, then, dig in."

Trae didn't need to be asked twice. They ate in silence for a moment before the young Weyrwoman paused to take a sip of the wine. It was _good_. Smiling her appreciation, she glanced up to look at Karaleigh. "This is excellent."

"I'm glad you like it." Karaleigh had a feeling the cooks were right to give them so much casserole! It was too good for just one helping, she decided. "Are you feeling at home yet?"

"Things are getting a little easier," Trae replied, leaning back in her chair, thoughtfully looking down at the glass she held. "I think it might take a little while yet for this to feel like home."

"I can understand that. It took a while for me to feel as though I fit in myself." Sometimes Karaleigh wondered if really _did_ feel at home yet...

Traelyn smiled a little, glancing up. "Do you visit your family?"

"No," the harper said simply. She knew secretly her family was proud of her, but she had caused quite a scandle when she left them for the Weyr, and not even on _Search_...

"Oh..." She took a sip of her wine. "I haven't seen mine either, though Papa and I do write to each other..."

"Messages from home are always welcome. Have you heard from them lately?"

Trae nodded, a shadow darkening her eyes. "Last sevenday." She paused.
"My sister Atreyn was scored." Her voice grew quiet. "Badly."

Karaleigh looked down at her fork as it picked at stirred her casserole lazily. "I'm very sorry to hear that." The harper had become aquianted with bad Threadscore after the Tragedy. "Will she recover?"

"The healers saved her leg. But it'll be a month before we know if she'll be able to walk..."

Her companion was about to offer words of support and condolences when she noticed a small pink nose stuck in roast wherry. "Nabi!"

Startled, Traelyn looked over. Then she began to laugh. "Your feline has good taste!"

"Nabi, get down from there!" Karaleigh tried to push the white and black fur ball away. The creature lifted his head indifferently, covered in gravy and with a scrap of meat in his teeth. "Nabi! Oh shards..."

Trae grinned. "So _this_ is your feline. What a dignified creature! Despite being covered in sauce." At least the _whole_ wherry hadn't been spoiled!

"I'm sorry, Weyrwoman," Karaleigh said with embarrassment as she picked up the protesting feline and began wiping at his nose with her napkin. "I should have remembered. He has this thing about Wherry with sauce. He can resist temptation when its just wherry, or just sauce, but for some reasont the combination just makes him lose all control."

"I can well understand his lack of self-restraint! _Especially_ if it concerns wherry covered in gravy..." Trae grinned, watching Karaleigh and her feline. "He's quite a handsome feline, isn't he?"

"Yes he is. And he _knows_ it which makes him all the worse." Despite that, the harper smiled down at him fondly.

"Does he like to be petted?"

"Of course! How else is he going to get you wound around his little finger... _paw_," she corrected.

She laughed. "Can I pet him then?"

"You can _take_ him!" Karaleigh laughed as she brought the feline around the table for the Weyrwoman.

Grinning, Traelyn took the feline in her arms, gently holding him against her chest. She ran her fingers through his fur, admiring how soft and thick it was.

Her companion smiled as she watch Nabi bump his cheek against the young woman's hands, demanding attention and calling out her great failings when she didn't provide it fast enough. "He really likes you a lot, I think."

Trae smiled down at the feline as she lightly scratched the place just under his chin, moving her fingers on up behind his ears. "He sure loves attention! Nyith's like this too. If I scratch her in just the right spot, she'll hum til the rocks tremble under us."

Karaleigh regarded the Weyrwoman for a moment. The rumors still flew around her - that she was a usurper, that she was a fool, that she was manipulative and overberring, that Dragonsfall had wanted to get rid of her and sent her here for them to deal with... But the harper could not see the truth in any of those rumors in this young woman. "You know, they say felines and gold dragons are excellent judges of character." **They can't _both_ be wrong...**

She glanced up at the harper, searching her face for a moment. "They're more honest than humans can be about people," she replied softly.

"Trust me, Lady Traelyn, I am a harper. I know not to put too much stock in rumors." She looked at the Weyrwoman a moment longer. "Can you tell me what to believe?"

Trae wasn't sure what made her want to confide in this woman so much. But she did know that she was tired. She was tired of the lies being spread about her, about Nyith, about all those involved in that momentous flight.
She knew that she shouldn't let it bother her so much, and she rather thought she was doing a good job in deflecting most of the falsehoods away from her, but she was only human, after all.

And it was hard to pretend it didn't hurt, because it did.

"Not all those who Impress queens become senior Weyrwoman, Karaleigh. When Nyith found me on the Sands that day nine Turns ago, I never expected to become one." She shook her head. "I never desired to be in such a high-ranking position."

"And yet, you and a bronzerider happen to both be here from Dragonsfall just when your dragon is about to rise, and by accident you become Senior Queen..." Karaleigh let it hang in the air, waiting for her to pick up that part of the story.

"That bronzerider is one of my very good friends. He was getting himself checked by the dolphin's at the Hall."

The harper gaver her an encouraging nodd to continue. She would ask about the nature of that 'friendship' another time perhaps.

"The events leading up to that check-up were...severe...and when I found out that was where he was that morning, I assumed the worst and went after him."

"And were surprised to find that your gold wanted to rise to mate?"
Karaleigh helped fill in.

"Surprised is a bit of an understatement," she said softly, a look of regret flickering in her eyes briefly.

"And now you are Weyrwoman," the harper nodded, searching her face. "And how do you find being Weyrwoman, my lady?"

"Well..." Humor lit her eyes for a moment and she smiled. "I'm certainly not used to everyone being so formal! You can call me Traelyn, Karaleigh." Then her expression became more serious. "But honestly?"
She paused for a moment, thinking. So many things factored in to how she found being Weyrwoman here: her Wing, the people she had met, the responsiblities that kept her for long candlemarks in her office, her Weyrleader. "I'm not... I'm not sure yet."

Karaleigh considered her answer, what was said and not said, as she reached down to stratch Nabi behind his ears. "Is there somewhere you would rather be?"

Was there truly any safe way to answer that? Traelyn didn't want to lie to her though. "Sometimes we all would like to be somewhere else, wouldn't we? But we can't dwell on it... It doesn't do anyone any good."

"Yes, I suppose so," the harper agreed. She still had many questions. Who was the bronze rider? Where did Traelyn really want to be?
Karaleigh decided that Traelyn was not a bad person - maybe confused, overwhelmed, perhaps a bit rash and impulsive, but certainly not a fool or a usurper. Karaleigh's lips finally curved into a small smile. "Do you like klah cake?"

Trae smiled back. "I _love_ klah cake."

"Good, cause the cooks gave me plenty of that too. Let's skip right to dessert. What do you say?"

"I say that I like the way you think," she grinned.

Last updated on the November 2nd 2005

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

I Like The Way You Think