From the Red Star

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 8th November 2010

Characters: Aileyan, U'kaiah, J'nev
Description: Aileyan's thoughts are dreamy, until J'nev brings her back to reality
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 15 of Turn 5
Notes: Follows: "DFW: For He Is The Pirate King"

Aileyan couldn't help it. The way the morning had started, she was
walking around whole day with mysterious smile on her face and a dreamy,
absentminded look in her eyes. She barely noticed what she was doing,
doing her chores like automatic. Kjarliheth found it bemusing.
Some of her friends would it rather difficult to have a cohorrent
conversation with her. She was so obviously off Pern and Kjarliheth
wasn't anywhere near Rising.

On wing meeting, Aileyan sat on her usual place. Her eyes were fixed on
U'kaiah, with intent, luminous, dreamy gaze. She couldn't thing anything
else but her "pirate captain". She nearly drooled.

The Wingleader also was in a rather cheerful mood as he handed out
sweepride assignments. "J'nev, you're with K'baw, Ersa is with Hakeni.
Aileyan, would you be able to switch with A'vel?" He turned his eyes on
the greenrider, schooling his expression to neutral, though it was hard
not to smile when he caught her eye.

"Yes, sir, no problems," Aileyan nearly blushed with the memories those
words woke up.

"Thank you," the bronzerider nodded, and very deliberately carried on
with the business of the meeting. "Now I'll go over the schedule for
the next sevenday."

J'nev glanced over at Aileyan when the bronzerider said her name. It
was habit. Many eyes had turned towards her. They all knew what her
relationship was with their Wingleader. Some thought it was no big
deal. After all, he had probably slept with many of them at some point
as well. Others thought it was rather sweet. He just found the whole
situation very annoying. And he hadn't missed that funny look on her
face. She usually looked so serious, but today... Something was
different about her.

Aileyan just ignored the looks. Usually they made her uneasy but today
nothing seemed to bother her.

Her wingmate's eyes narrowed as he looked at her again. Was she that
tanned before? Come to think of it, U'kaiah was looking a little brown
as well. J'nev's mind took a sudden leap. Had they spent the restday
together somewhere? Did they have some lover's retreat, and that was
why she had that far off look on her face?

The Wingleader read out an another announcement. "Apparently some
riders, not saying it was any of you of course, have left garbage down
by the Weyrlake. The Weyrwoman would like to remind everyone that we
must work together to keep the beach looking beautiful."

Why did he have to talk about beaches? Aileyan sighed wistfully.

That sigh spoke volumes. At least in J'nev's mind. **That sharding
idiot thinks she's in love!** That was the first thought that popped
into her head. Just what was she thinking? He was their _Wingleader_,
for Faranth's sake! A Wingleader can't have special relatioships with
their riders. A little fraternizing on the side was one thing, but
_love_? What a dimglow! And for that ass U'kaiah, no less. Well,
maybe a fool in love couldn't see him for what he really was, but a
fellow bronzerider certainly could!

Aileyan's gaze fell on U'kaiah's backside when he walked across.
It was seriously damaging her ability to pay attention to his words.

"If there are no further questions..." The Wingleader cast his eyes
around the assembled quickly to be sure there weren't. "All right,
sweepriders, please come collect your routes and then you're all
dismissed."

J'nev fell into step with Aileyan as they walked forward to be given
their assignments. This time he watched U'kaiah's face as she was being
handed her sheet.

"Thank's," Aileyan said when she got her hide and her fingers lingered
next to his.

"Do you understand A'vel's route?" U'kaiah asked, nodding towards the
sheet. "Take a quick look at it."

In the Wingleader's neat, harper-trained hand was written a short note
across the top. "I think I left my tunic from yesterday in your room.
Can I come by your room tonight?"

"Sure, no problem," Aileyan replied to both verbal question and to the
written note.

"Glad to hear it," U'kaiah nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.
Truth be told, he wasn't so sure he hadn't just thrown it in a corner as
soon as he got home, but he actually did want to see her again. The
restday had been a special time for him too, and he wanted to make sure
she knew it.

J'nev, however, had already made up his mind. If Aileyan thought
U'kaiah was her special toy, he was going to make sure she knew she was
only one of Faranth only knew how many! Grabbing his sheet with a quick
salute, he followed the greenrider back towards the Weyr entrance.
"Aileyan, wait up!"

"What is it, J'nev?" Aileyan stopped and asked, her tone frosty. She
hadn't forgotten the incident at her birthday party. She had to work
with him but she didn't have to be friends with him.

The tone wasn't lost on him as he held up his hands pacifyingly.
"Listen, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I mean, as much as I
teased you about it, I know how much you really liked him and... Well, I
really did hope you would be happy."

"Thank's, I think," she was still suspicious.

"I know we haven't had the _best_ of relationships, but I hope you know
that I consider you a friend, and if you ever need to talk to someone or
scream at someone, or just need a shoulder to cry on, just let me know.
Times like this can be hard, but you have lots of friends who care about
you." He reached out a sympathetic hand to place on her shoulder.
"U'kaiah wasn't good for you anyway."

"Now I'm confused. What the shells are you talking about?"

His voice was quiet and understanding as he said softly, "I saw him with
the girl. The one from Dolphin Cove. And he's a sharding fool if he
thinks he can do better than you. I saw her, and she's nothing compared
to you."

"What girl?" Aileyan asked, her mood sinking.

"Well, the one who..." He stopped, almost as if he just realized she
really didn't know what he was talking about. "Oh shells, I've stepped
in it, haven't I. Just... forget it."

**That was a cruel trick**, Aileyan thought. Now she absolutely must
know, no matter what or how bad. "Just spit it out all, and from the
beginning," she almost snarled.

"Well, I'm sure it's not all I thought it was now that I know you and
U'kaiah _are_ still..." J'nev sighed, throwing up his hands. "What can
I say? A few days ago I was called to U'kaiah's office after drills. I
took my time, but certainly not that long. When I got there, I heard
strange noises, like voices, and something moving. I didn't know what
was going on in there, if I should wait or knock or what, so I... Well,
I peeked through the hole. U'kaiah had some woman naked on his desk and
they were... In the middle of things."

Aileyan didn't say a word. However, her face turned pale and her insides
were in turmoil. Was she surprised? No, not really. Shocked? Certainly.
Angry, yes, but to whom? One part of her just wanted to claw J'nev's
face out. Other part...well, let's just say it involved a
dull knife and would put end of U'kaiah's fortune with the ladies and to
future children. Third part was giving her a mental kick for being a
fool; she had knewn what she was getting into.

"Anyway, I thought it was _you_, so of course, I backed off," he lied, a
little shy to admit just how much he had seen. "But when she walked
out, it definitely wasn't you. And she gave me a smile like she had
some kind of secret. I recognized the knots, and I asked U'kaiah what a
Dolphin Cove rider was doing there. He lied and said she was just a
messenger, but she certainly didn't come for that. And it's not like he
could have met her randomly in the halls somewhere, seduced her and lead
her back to his office in so short a time. Even U'kaiah isn't _that_
good. So I assumed they knew each other and that her visit was planned.
I could be wrong of course but..." He shrugged again, noticing just
how her face had changed. And J'nev felt a stab of guilt. He had hurt
her. He had cut her deep, and he had done it on purpose.

Looking down at the ground, he felt true remorse for a moment, kicking
himself for having said anything. Why did he have to do that? But then he
remembered why. It had been that soft, loving look she had cast the
Wingleader's way. She must have known U'kaiah's reputation going into
it. Shells, he was doing her a favor setting her straight about him!
The greenrider thought she was something real special! Well, now she
knew the truth. Now she could wake up from the fantasy and see the cold
reality. U'kaiah didn't have feelings for girls that didn't originate
in his pants. She got herself into this mess, and it was time she faced
the truth!

But as justified as he felt, he couldn't help but keep his tone gentle.
"I can tell you're hurting, and I'm sorry for that. But you had to know
that U'kaiah could never love you. He's your Wingleader, after all."

"Oh, sure, you're all good will and sincerity!" Aileyan flared up. Her
anger was suddenly diverted to J'nev. U'kaiah was...U'kaiah. He couldn't
help himself any more than her biological father could. The two of them
were very much alike, weyrbred charmers.. show them a pretty face and they
were out of their pants. Perhaps that had attracted her to U'kaiah in
first place. She stored that insight to her memory for later analysis, when
she would alone and calmed down.

"I'm sorry," he said, actually meaning it, to a point. But she had to
know the truth about U'kaiah. She didn't belong with that womanizer,
and she should have known that. She was supposed to have higher
standards than that!

"You're like the Red Star, always bringing bad news," she stomped off.

"I was just trying to help!" he called out after her. Frowning
thoughtfully, he turned to join the stream of riders filling towards the
dinning hall.

Last updated on the November 20th 2010

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

From the Red Star