Homework

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 8th October 2014

Characters: J'ackt, Alina
Description: Alina helps J'ackt with his homework
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 25 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik, Sh'del, Saibra

J'ackt

Alina

The first week of weyrlinghood had been exhausting, and the second week was turning out to be equally bad. Alina finished writing her answer to the
final question from the morning's class on the Weyr's chain of command, then rested her forehead on ink-stained fingers. She was so _tired_... how the rest of the weyrlings managed to do all their duties _and_ the endless exercises that the Weyrlingstaff forced upon them was a mystery. All she had to do was sit around and--

Alina woke with a start. She rubbed her eyes blearily and realized that she was still in the lunchroom with a half-eaten plate of bread, cheese and fruit at her elbow. She glanced at the candle in the corner and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw she wasn't late for the afternoon's classes. If only there was more _time_...

She rose, wincing as her stitches were tugged by her stupid trousers. Even after a sevenday she hated the things-- the way they clung to her body, the way they irritated her still-healing wounds from Zith, and the way they made her look like a boy. The way people looked at her because of them…

Her appetite disappeared. She threw out the remains of her lunch and decided to walk to class a bit early but stopped when she spotted J'ackt hunched over a hide with a half-eaten lunch at his elbow. Sighing, she retraced her steps and slid into the seat opposite his. "You should eat something."

There was only a grunt of a response as letters were laboriously written out. They were neater than they had been before but some of the letters still tended to be backward. His brow knit as he wrote another word and exhaled before finally glancing up. "Hm?" He looked back at his plate and shrugged. "Don't really have time to eat and write. 'Sides, gone without food before and I've been fine." He hunkered down a little, then glanced back up at her, pausing. "Fell asleep at the table again?"

"What? No." Alina felt herself start to flush with embarrassment. He'd _seen_ her?! Oh shells, what if she'd drooled?!

One brow arched up and he tilted his head as he sat a little straighter. "Liar." His lips curled up to take any potential sting from his words. "It's actually a little cute. You wrinkle your nose."

She touched her nose self-consciously and felt the beginnings of the flush blossom into red. "I do not. Don't be absurd. And aren't you supposed to be done this already?" Reaching across the table she tapped the hide J'ackt had been working on. "Have you finished the chart for the Weyrleader's duties yet?"

J'ackt didn't bother to hide the crooked lift of his lips. "Oh yes you do. But, at least you don't snore." He looked down at the hide and his smile faded. "I guess it's supposed to be done, but I've not finished it." He shrugged. "Nope. No chart. I figure I'll just work on it tonight."

Alina crossed her arms. "No you won't. The moment you're done feeding Zith you crawl off to bed. I haven't seen you out in the yard _once_ before lights out."

His brows snapped down. "I've gone without sleep before. I can do it again." His chin lifted in immediate response to the challenge in her voice. There was a passing thought that it was surprising that she was actually looking for him out in the yard, but his mind was too focused on meeting her head on.

"You're all talk _now_..." She rolled her eyes, then glanced at the candle in the corner. It was nearly time to go to class, but maybe... "Here. Give me your hide and tell me what you want to say."

He frowned a little, but pushed the hide her way, guessing at what she intended. "Thanks. I'll repay the favor sometime." J'ackt scratched behind his ear. "I got as far as Weyrlingmasters." He hadn't been overly kind in his description of their position, but at least he had refrained from cursing. "I guess next is uhm... Weyrwomen."

"Well, _that_ should be easy enough for you," Alina said tartly. She arched her eyebrows, quill poised above the hide.

That made his smile widened. "Oh...it was." He didn't even attempt to deny it. "And very, very good," he included, just to prick at her sensibilities a bit. "Weyrwoman spend much of their time teaching and on top of the rest of the Weyr's....activities and tithes."

Alina snorted and tried her best to pretend that she hadn't heard the first bit. "Was that all you managed to pick up during your 'lessons'?" she asked once she'd finished writing.

He kept his smile. "Actually, I learned etiquette. Learned not to say shit and wher balls as much as I used to."

"And you _clearly_ were a good student." She made a disgusted face, her mind shying away from the thought. And he had a whole heck of a lot of nerve, to be bragging about it like that. "Did you pick up anything useful about the Weyrleadership at _all_, or were you too busy doing-- other things?"

"I was actually. I say it about half as much as I did." He eyed her face, still amused by the pink in her cheeks. "Besides, if I didn't, you'd not blush." He turned back to the hide and fell silent for a moment before speaking softly. "Weyrleaders...They're ....mentors I guess you'd call it. They take care of their people. Take risks for them. Back them up."

Mentors. As if. J'ackt was a favourite with all the Weyrleaders, and his view of them was _entirely_ skewed. For the rest of them, the Weyrleader was
the ultimate authority, the man who made the decisions and planned the attack against Thread. He wasn't a mentor. He was a leader who didn't have to spend checking up on everyone.

She scribbled it down anyway, then passed the hide and quill back to him. "I have to get to class. If you need more help, come find me later." She wasn't sure why she added the last part. Pity, maybe. His handwriting was terrible.

"Thanks." He rose and tucked the quill away. He then paused and gestured with his head. "I'll walk with you down there. Come on."

She hesitated. It was one thing to snark at J'ackt in the dining cavern, but another to be out walking with him. Even to class. But... it was lonely, now that she'd impressed and her friends were all... elsewhere. " I walk slow. You might be late."

He shrugged in response, clearly not bothered by the possibility. "Oh well."

Alina shook her head. "You're not going to endear yourself to the Weyrlingstaff that way," she said as she slowly stood.

One brow arched. "Have I ever even tried to endear myself to them?" J'ackt snorted. "Besides, what're they going to do? Spank me?"

"'The Weyrlingmaster's duties include the training and _evaluation_ of all weyrlings,'" Alina quoted. "Weren't you paying attention in class?"

"And...I really don't care." J'ackt replied with a shrug. "I don't care what Sh'del thinks of me." He began walking down the corridor, shortening and slowly his stride. "He can kiss my holdless ass."

She shook her head. So much for his boast about etiquette lessons-if they'd actually happened. "And you really think that if Sh'del thinks you can't follow orders or defer to those with greater rank, he won't keep you from graduating?"

"Oh, shaffit, you mean I'll have to wait before I become Thread fodder and spend my time protecting the very people who helped kill my mam and sister?" His voice became dry. "Oh no. The agony."

Alina stopped in the hall, then hurried as best as she was able to catch up. "You can't be serious."

He stopped to wait for her, both brows rising. "Sure I am. Eventually we'll fly Thread, I know that, but I'm not going to be in a rush to save those miserable bastards. Thread could drop on Corowal or Sarban's head and I'd not piss on it to kill the stuff."

Her mind immediately supplied an image of flesh melted from screaming faces, gleaming bone, and silver wastelands where fields of wheat once stood. She shuddered and shyed away from it-- and what it implied about J'ackt. "What happened to your mother and sister?"

His lips thinned. "Mam died having her. Couldn't go to the Hold for help because they would have rather tossed us in a cell rather than help a holdless woman. I watched her die and then had to watch them burn on a pyre." His words were short, clipped.

Alina felt a flash of pity, more for the woman than for J'ackt, but it was tempered by what J'ackt had said about Emerald Falls Hold moments ago. "How old were you?"

He frowned at the memory and had to think for a moment. "Eleven, maybe twelve Turns. Shards, I'm not sure. I don't even know what my birthingday is, so that's my best guess."

"I'm sorry," she said, although Alina wasn't sure how she felt about it all.

"Why? It didn't happen to you." He replied briskly, then his face became somber, but surprisingly gentle. "My mam...she had bright red hair and big blue eyes. She had a soft voice and I remember that she was absolutely beautiful. She was gentle and kind." He suddenly cleared his voice and his stride lengthened just a little. He'd never spoken of his mother in such detail to anyone and he wondered why he had even started.

"You must have loved her very much." Alina was quiet a moment, thinking of her own mother. And missing her. But then her thoughts turned to her sister and the ache became palpable. Elana had red hair...

"Of course I did. She was my mother." J'ackt replied, a little sharply. "My Da said I had her looks but not her coloring. I think he hated that."

"I'm glad you didn't. You'd have looked terrible with red hair," Alina said lightly, taking a cue from J'ackt's tone to try to steer the conversation into somewhat lighter territory.

He blinked and looked down at her with an quirked brow, then suddenly flashed a quick smile. "Aye. Probably. And my tempers bad enough as it is. Can you imagine what it would be if I was red-headed?"

"You'd probably breathe fire like a dragon," she told him, then sighed as the next candle showing the time came into view. "We're late."

"Probably." He glanced at the candle and then down at her. Thinking quickly, he scooped her up gently in his arms and lifted. "Don't squirm. We'll get there faster and you can blame me for keeping you so long." He began making quick strides to the classroom. "And I'll put you down before we get to the door."

"Put me down _now_!" Alina covered her suddenly flaming red face in embarassment and hoped that nobody saw them. J'ackt had a _terrible_ reputation and there was _no_ way she wanted _any_ part of that, nevermind how good he felt or how-- oh shells, this was so bad!

"Oh please, it's not like I'm feeling you up." There was a pause as he looked down. Thankfully, her face had been covered, or she would have seen the appreciative gaze he gave her. Instead, he grinned. "Did I ever tell you that you're cute when you blush? And you do it so often." His hand patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. You're safe. The evil holdless boy isn't going to molest you." He got close to the classroom and gently set her down, careful not to jar her side. "There. Was that so bad?"

Alina planted two hands on his chest and gave him a hard shove. "Don't _ever_ do that again! _Ever_!" she hissed, careful to keep her voice down lest anyone overhear. She felt as though her face was going to burn off.

He stepped back with the shove, and his brows rose. "What? Help you? Faranth, girl, you act like I was aiming to get in your skirts. If I'd wanted to, I'd have already tried." He shrugged and gestured to the door. "Suit yourself. We're here."

Alina made a disgusted noise, stuck her nose in the air, and marched past him into class doing her best to pretend that nothing had happened. Arrogant, no-good Holdless idiot with no manners-- he'd get what was coming to him sooner or later. She should have known better than to help him with hidework.

He rolled his eyes and followed, a slight smile lifting his lips. There were eyes that noticed their entrance, but he sat far from Alina, near the back and stretched out his legs. Shards, but she was fun to poke at.

Last updated on the November 16th 2014

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