Justifications

Writers: Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 5th May 2016

Characters: L'exan, Ashuli
Description: A daddy-daughter chat.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 20 of Turn 8

"And then Narba got his hand pinched by the spiderclaw. He screamed like a baby," Ashuli giggled from her spot across one of the dining cavern's many tables.

"There, see? That's why you need to be careful on the shore even when the tide is out," L'exan laughed. "The food animals can get pretty touchy for being not-so-smart little things."

"Like Demos," Ashuli teased, motioning to the blue fire-lizard perched on her papa's shoulder. The little guy was chewing on a lock of L'exan's hair and grumbling to himself, as was a common habit with him.

"Exactly. Maybe he's eaten too many touchy spiderclaws and it rubbed off on him," L'exan joked, and got a hard tug on his hair in response. All he did was say "Ow."

Ashuli had a drink of tea, then drummed her fingertips on the table.
"Papa, can I talk to you about something else?" she ventured.

"You can talk to me about anything, sugarpie," L'exan assured her.

The girl fiddled with her fork. "Tameira was really upset about what you did to her," she finally said. "She's mad at you."

"I know she is," L'exan said. "I'm guessing you talked to her recently?"

"Aye, yesterday. I wanted to apologize for what you did."

The bluerider leaned forward. "Sugarpie, that was not your responsibility," he said firmly. "You shouldn't ever feel you have to apologize for things I do."

"I was worried she wouldn't wanna be my teacher," Ashuli mumbled, looking down at her plate.

L'exan reached across the table and touched her shoulder, making her look at him. "If she got mad at you for something I did, she's not much of a teacher or a mature adult, now is she?" he asked. "So was she mad at you?"

The dark-haired girl shook her head.

"There, see? You had nothing to worry about." The bluerider patted her on the shoulder and moved his hand to tempt Demos with a piece of cooked pork, which the grumpy blue abandoned his hair to grab with both forepaws. "And I'm guessing Tam didn't tell you exactly what she said that I pranked her?"

Ashuli shook her head again.

"It was a very bad joke about Threadfall, sugarpie. I found it highly disrespectful."

The girl gave him a wide-eyed look. "W-Why would Tameira do something so mean?" That didn't sound at all like how her favorite harper normally behaved.

L'exan shrugged, causing Demos to "mrrrr" at him. "I honestly don't believe she said it to be mean-spirited. From what you've told me about her, and from what I know about her, she's too nice for that. I think she was hoping to one-up me while we were bantering," he said. "People say stupid stuff when they wanna get the upper hand and don't always think about the consequences of what they're saying. They just wanna win too bad. And I know that's rich, coming from me," he added, wagging a finger at his daughter. "But it's 'cause of all the stupid stuff I've done that I know what I'm talking about. If Tam is still mad, she should take it up with me, but for myself, I'm satisfied. I got to pull a good joke, and now she'll think before she makes a Threadfall joke in front of a dragonrider."

Ashuli's lower lip pushed out. "You should still say you're sorry. She's my favorite harper and I like her a lot."

"I know she is, sugarpie. I'll think about it, okay?"

"Okay, Papa."

"Now, it looks as though you're done with dinner, so howzabout we get some dessert? If we're clever, we can probably sneak an extra one for you," L'exan said, and was rewarded when his precious daughter's eyes lit up in excitement. "Just remember not to tell your mama, or she'll tan my hide."

Ashuli giggled another time. "I'll remember!"

Last updated on the May 27th 2016

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Justifications