Checking Up On A Friend

Writers: Cali, Jane
Date Posted: 24th December 2008

Characters: B'lamick, Tey
Description: B'lamick realizes some of his feelings about Tey are more than just friendly.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 13, day 3 of Turn 4

"Tey?" B'lamick said uncertainly as he cracked the door to her room. He'd knocked but she hadn't answered, and Latarth assured him that she was inside. What little of the room he could see was dark, and it being after breakfast was odd enough for the bright and early girl, but he didn't want to just barge in.

"I'm asleep," Tey said firmly, though the words were slurred by her face being buried in her pillow.

He grinned, she sounded horrible. "Want some company?"

"No," she said without moving. "I want to sleep."

"Oh come on, let me in, I'll help you clean your weyr?" he offered, it only seemed fair to crash in on her sleep like she'd done so many times to him before.

"You're already in and my weyr is spotless." It had to be as it was one of the smallest rider's quarters River Bluff's dragonweyrs boasted. She liked that.

"You said come in?" He took her muffled tone as an invitation and entered. He found the lights and turned them on, blinking slightly at the increased in brightness.

"What are you doing here?" Tey asked, thinking about turning over but now the lights were on she was even less inclined to do so.

He flopped down next to her on the bed, "I came to check on you. You never showed up at our card game last night."

"Ugh. Was busy." The greenrider eased her head around and squinted at B'lamick. "Thank you for checking, though. Is it really morning already?"

"Like I said, after breakfast." He repeated with a grin, "Abhorrently late for you."

"Had a crisis. Not mine. A wingmate's. It was horrible." She paused for a moment, then asked: "Do I have drills this morning?" There was almost no candlemark of the morning that was too early for her but missing even a little sleep always affected her badly.

He sat up, concern deep in his voice as he looked down at his friend. "What happened, are they okay?"

"She. She had a miscarriage. Aborted the pregnancy and it might have been a bit late for that." Tey sighed, remembering the pain and shock Mabrina had gone through. "It took a long time. I didn't know that it could."

"Shards! Who? Is she okay?" B'lamick tried to think of anyone in the wing mentioning or looking pregnant, but everyone seemed healthy and happy at drills yesterday.

"Mabrina. She's all right now, I guess. I hope I never get pregnant," the young greenrider said mournfully. "Am I late for drills?"

"Shells Tey," he exclaimed in annoyance, "forget the drills, they aren't till afternoon. What do you mean 'I guess'? Is she still in the infirmary? Is there any lasting damage?" He'd been flying with Mabrina for months now, she was a sweet girl.

"The healers said she could go back to her weyr later today, after she'd had a good sleep and that she'd be fine in a while. I don't know how anybody could be fine after that. It was more scary the Thread, that's for sure." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the young bronzerider. "You were a healer, before, weren't you? You know about that sort of thing? How to stop it being that bad?"

He frowned as he thought back to the times he'd assisted his father in the smaller holds. "Miscarriages usually happened early enough that the baby wasn't very large so things went okay. I don't know much about miscarriages from betweening though. Maybe it's different. Have your sisters ever mentioned it before?"

"No. And it occurs to me that nobody talks very much about it. Aborting babies with a short hop /between/." She thought it odd that it would be called that - a short hop - when in fact certainty required a _longer_ wait /between/.

She rolled onto her back, cuddling the pillow to her. "I'm just tried, I guess, 'cause I was up all night. Thinking odd thoughts now." She glanced at B'lamick. "Thanks. Sorry I missed the poker game. Did you win?"

He felt bad for waking her up, she really did look tired. But she was awake now, and he'd missed her last night so he was going to be selfish and stay with her. "No. I played horrible. I owe F'naren two night watches, payable at _his_ convenience."

Tey's smile was less than sympathetic. "Don't you hate it when those supposedly loyal and supportive brownriders forget their role in life and take advantage of others ... especially bronzeriders? I wish I'd been there."

"Oh you were there in thought." he offered as he laid his head back down on the pillow beside her. She couldn't get off without a bit of retaliation, "the boys had quite a lengthy discussion about your mating flight habits since you never showed up."

"My _what_?" Tey laughed. "That would have been a _short_ discussion, don't you think. since Isleth's only risen once and F'anren's Jzeth didn't even chase her."

B'lamick stared at the ceiling in shock. He thought at first that he'd heard wrong, but the sentence after it confirmed he'd heard correctly. He felt a large hollow pit forming in his stomach as he tried to speak. "Isleth already rose? When? Why didn't you tell me?"

"_Tell_ you?" Tey grinned. "If Latarth didn't _tell_ you then what did you want - me to wait around to issue you with a personal invitation?"

He frowned at the mention of his dragon and in a rather irritated tone woke the bronze, **Why didn't you tell me Isleth rose? Why didn't you chase after her? You like her, and you know I like Tey. We should have been there for her.**

}:We were in drills. You like the way you feel during drills better than the way you feel when I want a green.:{ Latarth replied sleepily. He didn't understand why B'lamick was upset with him, but he hoped he could go back to sleep.

"Shards" B'lamick breathed as he heard his dragon's reply. He made himself look at Tey, noticing that she didn't seem upset at talking about it. "You're okay then? He didn't... didn't hurt you did he?" He'd heard about bad experiences during flights, especially during the first ones. If anyone had hurt Tey...

Tey chuckled. "No, of course not. You Holdbred men are all the same. Worry, worry, worry about mating flights."

He frowned at her blase attitude. "I'd worry if I was weyrbred too. I'm sorry we couldn't be there though, I'd think it'd be better for you with friends there."

"Do you? Why? I know most people here. This is my home, after all. They know me and my family. I know them." She shrugged. "Don't fret about it."

He had a brief flare of jealousy as he wondered who had made her flight such a easygoing event, but then he realized that that was just Tey. She probably wouldn't have cared if it had been some seventy year old, she made it sound like she'd just had lunch with the guy.

"Tey..." He paused, not sure what he would say. He realized then what he _wanted_ to say and it scared him. He was sorry that he wasn't there for the flight not for her sake, but for his. _He_ wanted to win Tey's flight. He'd never wanted to win a flight before, not even the ones that Latarth had actually chased in, but he did want to win _hers_.

He couldn't think about it, not now, not laying in bed next to her. B'lamick sat up and tried to joke it off, he needed to change the subject fast. "You're right. No more fretting. I forget sometimes that you're not really a girl. Which I'm thankful for by the way because if you were one of those types that dragged me off to go shopping all the time, I don't think we could be friends any more."

"Not really a -" Tey laughed and sat up so that she could swat him with the pillow. "B'lamick, I honestly don't know why I put up with you some days!"

"Because I'm awesome." he replied with smug laughter as he readied himself in case another pillow attack was imminent. "And because you need someone's weyr to clean."

"Awesome would be somebody who would be willing to get me a snack from the dining cavern while I'm getting washed and dressed."

B'lamick jumped off the bed as the mental image of Tey getting washed appealed to him just a bit too much for comfort. "Awesome snack coming up. Get dressed fast, I won't be gone long."

"No cake, though," Tey said, scrambling out of bed and feeling very much happier. Messing around with B'lamick always lifted her mood.

**A bowl of frosting** he thought mischievously "Coming right up!" he finished out loud with a grin as he closed the door behind him.

Last updated on the December 28th 2008

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Checking Up On A Friend