Learning the Wrong Lesson

Writers: Miriah, Paula
Date Posted: 28th October 2014

Characters: Ninaine, E'naer
Description: E'naer talks to Ninaine about the "incident".
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 6 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: N'call, Teseada, J'darin, D'kere
Notes: Occurs after "Two At Fault"

Ninaine

Ninaine trudged with slumped shoulders towards the barracks and the
offices beside them. She did not want to do this. She did not want to
talk about the incident. But she could hardly disobey Teseada. So who
should she approach? J'darin was her first thought, but he had worked
so hard with her that she hated the thought of disappointing him yet
again. D'kere she barely knew. She supposed the one person who might
understand would be E'naer; he rode a green afterall. She took a deep
breath, closed her eyes and stood straight as she knocked lightly on
the office door.

"Please, enter," E'naer called and put aside the hide he was working
with. "Ah, Ninaine. How can I help you?" he greeted when he saw who
stepped in.

Ninaine kept her gaze lowered, but her back was ramrod straight and
stiff. She dreaded this. "E'naer, I was told by Teseada to come and
speak to you about an incident that happened between N'call and I."
Her face flushed in humiliation. "I ... I made a very bad choice."

"Sit down and tell me about it. You want me to lock the door for
privacy?" E'naer said and asked, keeping his tone kind.

She nodded in response to his question and sat down, hands clasped at
her lap. She bit her lower lip until he had returned to his desk and
then spoke softly. "I.." Her face flushed and she stared down at her
hands before taking a deep breath. She had to accept the consequences
of her behavior. In low, dull tones she described what happened
between her and N'call, leaving nothing out, especially her
disgraceful behavior. As she finished the story, she swallowed hard.
"I'm so sorry for what I did. I should have let him leave. I should
have said no. He would have stopped. But..I didn't. It was shameful.
And I promise you that I will never act in such a way again or
endanger Luneth like that again."

"I'm glad to find out you realize how serious that was. Yes, you could
have been endangered Lunath's development. Fortunately, you're almost
senior weyrlings," E'naer said, keeping his tone serious yet kind. No
need to scare her, she seemed to be shaken enough. "You're both in
trouble now, although N'call is in worse trouble. He's the older one,
he should have know better than let things get out of hand like that,"
He continued. Ninaine was young, she didn't have the control yet. She
obviously hadn't been prepared to the way your body just could take
over.

"It wasn't just his fault." She spoke immediately, then looked down
and nodded slowly. " I know I'm in trouble, but I'll learn my lesson,
I swear it."

"Obviously it wasn't just his fault, otherwise we would be dealing
with attempted rape here," E'naer said with serious tone. His eyes
glazed over when he communicated with his dragon. "Now, Eillispeth
assures me Luneth's not harmed. She's confused but otherwise fine."

Ninaine nodded slowly, staring at her hands. "She...she was upset
because he stopped. She didn't understand." Her face flushed. "She
didn't want him to stop."

"Well, that's certainly better than have her try to bite N'call's head
off because he touched you," E'naer tried very hard not to smile.
Sounded like Luneth's first Mating Flight was going to
be...interesting.

She didn't look at him, but just nodded. She really didn't have
anything else to say. All she wanted to do was go back to her weyr and
curl up under the warmth of Luneth's wing.

"When Luneth is bit older but before she Rises for first time, you and
I need to have a long talk about Mating Flights and sex. Unless you
prefer to talk with a woman, which can be arranged," E'naer told her.

Her eyes bulged before she quickly cleared her throat. "I know what
sex is." She glanced at E'naer. "And I paid attention about mating
flights in lessons."

"Look, I have that private discussion with most of the green- and
blueriders. I have to be sure you're ready when Luneth Rises," E'naer
said.

She nodded and looked back down at her hands. "I'd prefer...uhm...to
talk to a woman about that."

"Alright. I let you know exact date when it's set. It will be some
time after your first /between/," E'naer said with neutral tone.

She didn't look enthusiastic about his insistence, but she nodded
again. "Yes, sir."

"Cheer up, Ninaine, it won't kill you," E'naer said, **Thread might, though.**

"I can't cheer up when I know I'm in trouble." Ninaine finally looked
up at him again. "Or when I'm ashamed of myself. I know what I did was
very wrong."

"The most important part is that you do know yourself what you did
wrong," E'naer said.
" Several more days and it wouldn't been wrong to do it."

She frowned and then shook her head. "So a few days would have made
all the difference? That doesn't make sense to me. Especially since
Luneth didn't mind..." her voice trailed off as she realized that it
sounded like she was actually wanting what had happened and was
arguing for it. She hurried to correct herself. "I mean...uh...she
wasn't ready. Of course she wasn't."

"Like people, dragonets grow up with different rates. Some are ready
earlier and others. But since we don't know exactly when they hit that
particular phase of maturity, we keep all under the same ban for same
time. By the time they learn to /between/ even the slowest maturing
dragonets had reached the phase when they can understand human sexual
relationships. Some early bloomers start Rising very soon after
learning to /between/. Even if your dragonet happened to be early
bloomer, we still don't allow you to break the weyrling ban," E'naer
explained.

She hoped with all sincerity that Luneth was not one of those early
risers. She wasn't ready for that. Not by far. "I understand."

"I do hope so. Frankly, you're the last person I expected to see in
this kind of trouble," E'naer said and flashed a wry grin.

That made her cringe with shame, not finding the humor in it at all.
"I'm sorry, sir."

"And what did you learn from this?" E'naer, always the teacher, asked.

"To practice self control and don't let a man touch me like that."

This was one of those moments that made E'naer want just to scream
with frustration.

Last updated on the November 2nd 2014

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Learning the Wrong Lesson