Where Were You?

Writers: Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 7th November 2017

Characters: J'ackt, Timassa
Description: J'ackt finally meets his aunt Timassa.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 17 of Turn 9

J'ackt

Timassa

Leaning against Zith's side, J'ackt stared over the small bay and
listened to the water gently lap at the shoreline. The sound of nature
soothed him and he closed his eyes, allowing the rhythmic lull of the
waves to calm the emotions from the past week. It had almost been too
much to handle and he had been embarrassed at the reaction he had
given to L'pin's news. He hadn't expected all of those carefully built
up walls to come crashing down at the discoveries that were so much
more than he had expected. Why hadn't anyone come to check on his
mother? If they knew...

The gentle nudge from Zith pushed him away from that thought and he
rubbed at the soft hide. He pushed away and picked up a stone,
bouncing it in his hand before sending it skipping over the water. He
watched the ripples silently, his brow knit. }: A green lands. :{

**It's probably Saidrene and Ashareth.**

}:No, I do not recognize them. :{ The bronze was interested, didn't
move from his spot, instead peering at the pair.

J'ackt shrugged. The little bay was away from the Weyr, but it
wouldn't have surprised him if other riders knew of its existence.
There was room.

Saryolth had touched down a fair ways up the beach from the bronze
pair as her rider had instructed. Now Timassa strolled toward them.
She knew he'd been told about Ocktima's history and while they hadn't
summoned her to meet him formally, she just couldn't wait. So she'd
watched the beaches around Dolphin Cove for just this kind of
opportunity. Her long red hair was tied back in a braided runner tail
as was her normal habit when flying and she'd slung her jacket over
her shoulder and carried her shoes as she walked through the warm
waters.

Her eyes were wary as she approached and then she stopped and just
stood there so he could take a good look before he decided if he would
stay or go. "Hello J'ackt," she called.

Zith watched the rider as she approached, finding her a bit familiar,
but not knowing why. He did know that his rider wanted his solitude,
and was about to block her with his tail, when she spoke.

The voice stilled him from tossing another rock. "Look I really
don't..." His voice trailed off as he turned and looked at the woman
who had spoken. His face paled and his eyes widened, the stone in his
hands dropping from numb fingers. "Mam?" The voice was small and
choked, believing for an instant that some how, in some way, his
mother had returned to him. That she was there. Actually there. All he
could do was stare at her in disbelief as his hand reached out on its
own but stopped, wavering.

A sad look crossed her face. "No, I'm sorry J'ackt," she put up her
hand to try and stop that thought. "I'm your aunt." She stopped just
out of reach. "I'm Timassa."

Realization struck him visibly; a look of grief flashed over his face
before he quickly stepped back. Anger quickly swelled and his jaw
clenched as his hand dropped, trembling with repressed emotion. "What
do you want?"

"To talk," she said. "To tell you more about your mother if you want."
She tilted her head but didn't take a step closer. "I'm so sorry
J'ackt. I didn't know."

"You didn't care." The sharp snap of his words were flung with bitter
force. "If you had, you would have checked on her. Come and gotten
her." Unspoken was the accusation that she not only had abandoned his
mother, but he too had been abandoned. That she could have gotten him
as well as his mother. His fists clenched as he struggled not to
scream at this woman, the woman who looked so like his mother, if only
a few years older. "Do you have any idea what you left her to? What
you and that...man...left her to?" His eyes narrowed. "I watched my Da
hit her, beat her, let her die and then burn her! ...but he's not
really my Da, either, is he?" He fumed, shifting from foot to foot as
tried desperately to maintain his composure. "Where were you? Where
the feck were you?!"

Timassa got physically ill as he spoke of what her beautiful sister
had gone through. She turned green and ended up on her knees retching
up her breakfast. They hadn't told her that part of what had happened.
Only that she'd died holdless and in childbirth. When she could
finally speak she croaked. "We didn't know. She told is to go away and
leave her alone. She was so broken when she lost Marloth, J'ackt."

He watched as she fell to her knees, his hands tightly clenched into
fists. When she retched, he turned his face away. "At least now I know
why he hated me, 'cause when she wasn't there any more..." His voice
trailed off as he turned back and his voice broke. "None of you even
tried. I had no one. And now...now you want to talk to me?"

"He was a piece of shite," she spit back at him. "I warned her away
but she wouldn't listen. She didn't listen to anyone. Not me, not our
mother. No one. She never told us about you, and when I tried to find
her again she was gone." Now Timassa was angry. At her sister, at
J'ackt, and at the sharding wherry's ass she'd picked for a husband.
"Yes I want to talk to you so you can tell me where he's buried. I
want to go dig that bastard up and kill him all over again."

He snarled at her, his eyes flashing. "Fine," he spat. "Mount up." He
stomped to Zith, who lowered himself immediately. Climbing up, he
strapped himself in with vicious yanks. **Give her green the bloody
image.** Without waiting, Zith leaped into the air, gaining altitude
with each sweep of his wings.

She strode back up the beach and mounted after shoving her feet into
her shoes. Fast as greens were, soon she was in the air and formed up
on his wing. Moments later they followed him through /between/.
Before they hit the ground she was unbuckled still burning with anger.
She might be physically small but she had a dragonriders tone to her
muscles and she began looking for sticks and stones so she could break
some bones. "Show me," she called as she slid off onto the ground.

J'ackt slid off of ZIth and hit the ground with both feet, the bronze
rumbling a quiet growl of displeasure at the memory of the place. He
kneaded the ground with his talons, digging furrows as his rider
walked through the tall grass towards a clearing of trees. He didn't
wait for her to follow him, he too was fuming with repressed anger and
tightly knotted grief. He stopped before the clearing and stood still,
staring at the two cairns that lay on opposite ends of the small area.
Shoulders stiff, he pointed at the larger one on the left. "He's
there."

He couldn't bear to look at it any longer and strode to the other,
smaller pile of stones. He left Timassa to do what she liked to the
larger. Moss was growing on the small pile of stones and grass growing
tall. He crouched, pulled at the grass to clear away from it.

She watched him as he went to the other, smaller grave where she
longed to go but she had other business first. So she picked up a big
stick and walked over to the larger one and loosed a string of
invective that would have done a seacrafter proud. She pounded the
rocks with the stick to punctuate her tirade. She left nothing to the
imagination. "Enjoy your dirt nap," she said finally and flung the
stick toward a nearby tree. Then she looked closer and saw wild
flowers growing near the tree and walked over to where they were. She
plucked a handful and brought them to where the remains of her sister
lay. She looked down at her nephew. "Sorry," she said sadly and knelt
down on the other side of the cairn. She laid the flowers on it where
it had already been cleaned. She took a deep breath. "I have a bit of
a temper."

He snorted, not looking at her, but glared at the flowers. He wanted
to toss them aside just out of spite. "She didn't. She was gentle." He
laid his hand on the stone, then looked up at Timassa. "Satisfied
now?"

"Thats right," she agreed "she was gentle." She told herself she'd
come back to this glade another time and perhaps make some additions.
Then she looked at him "I was the older twin by several minutes." She
took a deep breath and looked back at the damage she'd done... "Not
really," she said. "But I feel better."

She reached out to touch one petal of a flow. "These were her favorite
you know. Yellow was always her favorite."

"I'm glad you do. I don't." He rose, looking down at her. "She never
told me about you at all." He glanced down at the flowers and his jaw
clenched. " I know that too. She was my mother. Why wouldn't I know
that?"

"J'ackt," she said. "I don't know what you know or what you don't
know. All you've done so far is yell at me, and she never told me
about you either."

"You don't want to know what I do." He didn't look at her; she looked
far too much like his mother. He didn't know what to say next, but
stared at the cairn that held his father's remains. He swallowed hard.
"Is it true? Was he my father?"

"He was the man that raised you," she said. "But he wasn't your
natural father. You don't look anything like him." She didn't want to
speculate how that might have affected Jenasome's treatment of J'ackt.
No he'd been unlikeable from the moment she'd met him.

J'ackt snorted. "Raised me. Aye, with his fist." His lips thinned.
"Taught me to use a sword, and how to steal, kill, and survive, but
little else." He finally looked at her, his face taut. "He knew, you
know...now that I think about it. Never called me his son. I was
always 'boy' or 'bastard'. Blacked my eyes and broke bones more often
than I can count." His voice hinted at the pain and anger still
simmering inside of him.

She shook her head. "I wish I'd known." She looked at him for a moment
longer feeling the anger rising off him in waves. "What he did was
awful but don't let him keep hurting you by giving in to all that
anguish and rage. If you can, dismiss him from your mind. He's no
longer important."

J'ackt snorted softly. "Just do what you came here to do and we can leave."

"Alright," she said. Then with a quick motion she launched herself at
him and wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug. "I didn't know
about you but I do now, so you can't get rid of me," she said softly
in his ear.

The sudden lunge had made his muscles coil, ready to lash out at a
perceived attack, but when her arms went around him, he stiffened. Too
stunned at the unaccustomed affection to immediately react, he just
stood there, uncertain as to how to respond. He wasn't used to overt
displays of affection and certainly not from strangers. His first
instinct was to step away, to get away from that embrace and his arms
lifting to push her away from him. But her voice sounded so much like
his mother's that he was stilled by memories and he hesitated. His hug
was stiff and uncertain at first, then tightened as he buried his face
into her shoulder with a barely choked off sob.

She held on to him with all her love for her sister and when she
finally let go she couldn't quite meet his eyes. Hers were moist and
she almost didn't trust herself to talk. She cleared her throat.

He didn't look at her either. Instead he hurriedly wiped at the
moisture in his own eyes and stepped away, making similar clearing
sounds. He shoved his hands in his pockets and hurriedly walked
towards his dragon, embarrassed by his own display of emotions.

Timassa watched his back for a moment and then trotted off toward her
own life mate.

}:Mine will see yours another time.:{ Saryolth sent to Zith. }:We will
come if you ask:{

}: Give Mine time. :{ The bronze replied. }: These past few sevendays
have been very difficult. He won't ask. He doesn't ask.:{ He peered at
his rider who leaned against him. }:Just come. :{

Last updated on the December 10th 2017

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Where Were You?