Doesn't Seem Right

Writers: AL, Devin
Date Posted: 9th February 2010

Characters: Meledei, N'vanik
Description: N'vanik comes across Meledei reading a sad piece of information
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 11 of Turn 5

N'vanik

Meledei stared at the record in front of her. Her eyes kept going
over each line, but they were consistently drawn back to one little
detail. That detail made her throat catch and her eyes blurr. She
didn't want to read it again, didn't want to copy it or write out the
details, but she couldn't take her eyes away from it.

N'vanik walked in with a stack of hides to leave with the archivist
and stopped when he saw Meledei. Boredom, concentration, sleepiness
and frustration were emotions he was used to encountering in the
records room. Sadness was a new one. "Hey ... something wrong?"

The girl started in surprise. "Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you."
Meledei set down the hide she had been looking over and fixed a smile
upon her face. "Nothing really. I was just...going over these
records."

"In my experience if people look sad and then say it's nothing, it's
not really nothing."

"It really is nothing. I mean, it has nothing to do with me at all."
Meledei shrugged and fingered the hide. "I just...it's a death
record."

"For who?" N'vanik set his hides down on the corner of the table.

"I don't know." Meledei wished she hadn't read it. And really, it
was silly to react that way to it. "I mean, I know his name, but I
didn't know him. A little boy. He would have turned four in a
month." That was what had hit her.

"Recent?" N'vanik asked softly.

"Two days ago." Meledei didn't have children but she wanted them
eventually. But what would it be like to have a child and lose him?
She shivered at the thought. "He fell into the lake and drowned."
Where had been his mother? Had she been distracted? Had he wandered
off?

"Oh," was all he said. With Thread falling, dealing with death was a
constant occurrence. But it was different when it was a child,
especially one so young. Why hadn't anyone been there to save him?

"I didn't know him, don't know his mother or his father. It
just...caught my eye I guess." Meledei shrugged again and gathered
the reports. "I need to file these away."

"Just a line on a hide, filed in the records room. But you start to
think about him, don' t you? Who his parents are, if he had brothers
or sisters." His voice got a little softer as he added, "Who he would
have grown up to be."

Meledei nodded slowly. Death wasn't uncommon, it was experienced many
times through one's life, particularly with Thread in the picture.
But death of one so young, so innocent, it just struck her as...
"Yeah. He wasn't even four. It just doesn't seem right."

"No, it doesn't. Why wasn't anybody watching him?" Especially in the
lake, someone should have been around. He imagined the poor child
drowning while dozens of people were only yards away, oblivious.

"I don't know, it doesn't say. But, it's heart breaking." what would it
be like to be told of your child's death? Worse' what would it feel like
to know you could have prevented it? Meledei never wanted to find out.

Despite the situation, N'vanik smiled a little. "I think you'll make a
good Weyrwoman someday."

The comment caught Meledei offguard and she cast a sidelong glance at the
Weyrleader. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you care," he said. Maybe she would have trouble making the
hard decisions, but most of that responsibility fell under the
Weyrleader, anyway.

"Ah." Meledei gave the Weyrleader a small smile. "Maybe. Not any
hurry though. We've got a Weyrwoman and I'm a bit young yet."

He returned her smile. "Yeah, a few turns down the road. I'm glad
Elleth picked you. I couldn't imagine anyone better."

Meledei was surprised, but pleased by both of the compliments.
"Thanks Weyrleader. That means a lot." And it did. It truly did.

He hadn't given the compliment lightly. Meledei was the sweetest
goldrider he'd ever met, and she seemed to be doing well in her
duties. He was proud to have Loseth's first gold daughter paired with
her. The bronze, on his ledge, echoed his rider's sentiments. "You're
welcome. I suppose I should let you get back to your work." N'vanik
picked up his hides.

"Probably wise. They won't file themselves." Meledei shifted the
hides then nodded politely to the Weyrleader. "I'm sure we'll see
each other later."

"Of course. Good day, Meledei."

Last updated on the February 15th 2010

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Doesn't Seem Right