Confession Time

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 12th May 2018

Characters: R'fal, O'len
Description: R'fal tells O'len the truth about his extra classes.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 8 of Turn 9

The other weyrlings were returning from lunch when R'fal got back to the
barracks. A few were waiting outside, but most had come into the cool
interior to prepare for drill or just to get out of the sweltering
midday heat for a few precious minutes. No-one was looking forward to
hours of marching and tossing firestone sacks in weather like this.

He found O'len sitting on the edge of Niannath's couch, gently
scratching the young green's eye-ridges as they communicated silently
with each other. As he watched, she yawned and reluctantly uncoiled
herself, while her weyrling patted her nose encouragingly.

"O'len, can I talk to you?" R'fal might have found enough courage to
tell his fellow weyrling the truth, but he didn't think he could do it
in front of the others. "In private?"

"Sure, if you like. I can't leave Niannath for too long, though, or
she'll go back to sleep." He stroked the soft hide between the green's
eyes. "It took me long enough to persuade my lovely lazybones to get up
and come to training."

"Maybe Marlath can distract her," R'fal suggested as they left the
barracks. His brown was already waiting outside. Despite being told that
he wasn't big enough yet, Marlath was always early for drills, hoping
that this day might be the day that he would fly.

}: Of course. I like Niannath. :{

R'fal wondered for a moment if the warmth in Marlath's tone meant he was
attracted to the green. He was still very young - most likely he'd only
meant it in the same way he liked all of his clutchmates. Perhaps he
should ask...but not now. He mentally warned himself not to get
distracted. Delaying wouldn't make his confession any easier.

He took a deep breath. ** I can do this. Maybe he won't hate me. **

"O'len, you remember when I told you I was going to meet a girl in the
evenings?"

"Um, yes. Has something happened?" O'len couldn't quite meet his gaze.
If R'fal hadn't known better he'd have thought his friend looked guilty,
but he was the guilty one here. "Did you break up with her?"

That was a tempting way out, but R'fal resolutely ignored it. He was
here to tell the truth, and he was going to do it, no matter what. "No.
We didn't...well, in fact, she's not actually...real."

To his surprise, O'len didn't seem to be shocked, or angry. Instead, he
stared down at the dusty ground at his feet. "Yeah...I know."

"You do?"

"We followed you one evening. Me and Lydela. We wanted to know who she
was." The young greenrider winced. "Oh, and I told Lydela, even though I
promised you I wouldn't say anything. I'm really, really sorry, R'fal. I
just forgot."

"Wait...you're apologising to _me_?" R'fal was thrown off course by this
turn of events. "But I was the one who lied."

O'len shrugged. "Well, I can see how you might want to keep it quiet,
being holdbred and all. And given what Lydela and I did, seems like you
had good reason. I mean, maybe you should have said you were going to a
class, or something that sounded a little more uninteresting, but..."

"Hang on a minute." R'fal frowned. "I _was_ going to a class."

"You were?"

"Yes, I...oh, no." He ran a hand through his hair, sending the dark
curls springing up in all directions. "You still think that Journeywoman
Rhela and I were..."

"You were going to meet her in secret," O'len pointed out. "And you gave
a pretty convincing impression of being a weyrling in love."

"Not with her! I was thinking of...someone else. Someone not from the
Weyr," R'fal added hastily, before he gave O'len any more gossip to
spread around.

"Oh." Now the other weyrling just looked confused. "So you were going to
a class? But why would you want to hide that?"

This was the hard part. O'len didn't seem to mind that he'd been lied
to, perhaps because he was equally ashamed of the way he'd acted, but
would he still want to be friends with someone who was less educated
than the youngest weyrbrats? R'fal steeled himself and went on. "It was
a class on...um, writing."

"You can't write?" The greenrider's brow furrowed. "Yes, you can. I've
seen you do it. You take notes in class."

"Well, I can write, sort of, but I can't..."

"Can't...?"

"Spell." R'fal spoke in such a low voice that O'len could hardly make
out what he'd said. "I didn't want anyone to know."

"You can't spell?" O'len almost laughed, but managed to suppress it.
"Well, who _can_ spell, really? Besides harpers."

"You don't understand. My first assignment was so bad, the
Weyrlingmaster called me in to his office to talk about it. He said I
had to go to extra classes with the harpers to catch up." Now it was
R'fal who hung his head in shame. "I was lazy when I was little. I never
thought it would matter."

The green weyrling shrugged. "So what? Now you're working extra hard to
catch up, so you're clearly not lazy any more. Plus, you're great at
exercises and tossing firestone sacks."

"Any stupid lunk can throw a firestone sack."

"You wouldn't say that if you were one of those poor holder girls who've
never been allowed to do anything more strenuous than lifting a needle
and thread before Impressing," O'len said. "Look, you weren't here for
very long before the Hatching, were you? So you probably didn't get the
Candidate lecture on how we all come from different backgrounds, with
different skills and abilities, and so we shouldn't think less of anyone
who hasn't had the same advantages we had. Course, that doesn't mean
there aren't idiots around, but most people won't care a worn
thirty-second mark whether you can spell or not as long as you cover
their back in Fall."

"Really?"

"I don't." O'len grinned. "I think you're daft in all sorts of ways,
brownrider, but not because of your spelling."

R'fal punched the other boy's shoulder, though without any force.
"Wherry brain."

"Hey!" That earned him a light shove back. "Holder lout."

"Weyrbred blabbermouth. Sneaking around after a guy when he's with his
girlfriend..."

The greenrider winced. "Okay, I deserved that. Wait; no, I didn't. It
was Lydela's idea."

"Oh, yeah." R'fal made a face. "I'd better go and tell her too, before
she spreads the rumour any further." He was less concerned about losing
Lydela's good opinion, but he hadn't been looking forward to her scorn,
either. Somehow, he didn't think she'd have taken the Candidate lectures
to heart as much as O'len had.

"I'll do it, if you want," O'len offered. "It's my fault she knows,
after all. And I want to see her face when she finds out how wrong she was."

"We could do it together. Now, before drills start." R'fal started back
towards the barracks, where the weyrlings were beginning to emerge,
grumbling about the sticky heat. Lydela was out already and talking to
another girl. He hoped they weren't already too late. "O'len...thank
you for listening to me. I really am sorry for lying to you."

"Already forgotten." The greenrider grinned. "Apart from the bit about
your girl who isn't at the Weyr. Don't think I've forgotten about her."

"Yes, well...another time." R'fal hadn't lied about his passionate (and
entirely unrequited) admiration of Holder Lewin's daughter, but there
was such a thing as enough truth for one day.

"All right." O'len put on his biggest, widest smile and approached his
fellow green weyrling. "Lydela! Can we talk to you? There's something
you simply have to know..."

Last updated on the August 26th 2018

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