You're Never Going Home

Writers: Devin, Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 12th March 2019

Characters: N'vanik, Cyradis, Urlene, Y'gel, Grevan
Description: Grevan is faced with the consequences of his actions
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 1 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: J'ackt
Takes place after "Deadly Message Delivery"

N'vanik

Cyradis

Urlene

Y'gel

Grevan woke confused, his head and mouth both throbbing. And worse,
his mouth felt gritty. He frowned, his tongue finding hollows where
two teeth had been on the side of his mouth, and another two missing
in front. Moaning, his eyes fluttered open and as he tried to lift a
hand to rub at them, found that it was both painful to move and very
restrained. He looked around him and with dismay, found that he was
still in the weyr, and even worse, was restrained in some type of
infirmary. Immediate panic set in and he struggled, jerking at the
uninjured hand wildly to try to snap the binding.

A sharp tsk, startled him into stopping and he gaped at the beautiful
woman who now stood over him. She was lovelier than Ennali, and she
was the prettiest girl he had ever met! His gaze followed her as she
secured the bindings on each arm, then calmly offered him a sip of
water through a straw.

A golden brow rose as he stared at her. "You need to stop trying to
break those restraints." Her voice was brisk. "Your wrist had a
compound fracture and I don't think you'll want me to have to reset it
and restitch. If you do it again, I'll sedate you until the
Weyrleaders are ready for you." The cool voice gave no hint that she
was jesting.

He drank, then lisping due to the two missing front teeth, he spoke.
"Let me go."

Urlene considered him. "I think not." She pointed behind her with her
thumb at the large man standing at the entrance to the infirmary as a
guard. "Do you see that man over there? He doesn't like you very much.
He would very likely be thrilled to break your other teeth and I'd
rather not spend more of my time stitching you up or calling in our
tooth specialist."

Grevan swallowed hard as he lifted his head to peer at where she
gestured and paled. He recognized him, remembering that face, a fist,
a bolt of pain, then nothingness. That brought something else to mind
and he fell back. "Did he die?"

Urlene barely lifted her lips. "No. I'm much too good to allow that to happen."

He snarled. "Why didn't you let him just die?"

"Because I don't do that. I treat everyone." She stared down at him.
"Even fools." He struggled against the restraints again, but was
stopped by a quick light fingered slap to the nose. The blow was
similar to that used to correct an errant pup. "I told you to stop
that. I will dose you, young man, and be satisfied doing it. I have
little time to waste with you."

"You dragonman loving bitch! Let me go!" He sputtered angrily and was
infuriated when the calm, mildly amused gaze on him never altered.

"Part of that is correct, the other is not." She turned and raised her
voice just loud enough to catch the guards attention. " Y'gel? I think
our guest is alert enough to see the Weyrleaders now. Would you be so
kind to fetch them before I have to soak him in fellis?"

His eyes unfocused for a moment then smiled at the man on the bed.
"They're on their way," he said. "And they're really not happy with
you."

N'vanik tried to control his breathing as he walked with Cyradis to
the infirmary. "You might need to remind me we need him alive to
answer questions."

"Yeah," she steamed right beside him. "Though I think we'll have to
get in line. I hear Timassa knocked the wind out of him and later
Y'gel flattened him and knocked out a few teeth."

Urlene stepped out to wait for the Weyrleaders, and at their arrival,
nodded to both respectfully. "I'll be out here if I'm needed. I'd
prefer if I didn't have to redo any of the work I've already done."

Inside the curtained area, Grevan felt a surge of fright deep within
his gut. It hadn't supposed to happen this way. He was supposed to be
the hero. He felt the stinging in his eyes as he tugged at the
restraints. What would his mother think? Or his younger brother?

N'vanik's urge to hurt that steaming pile of wherry dung eased a
little when he saw the state of the man. As Cyradis had said, J'ackt
wasn't the only one to get in some good licks. Still, N'vanik stopped
outside of hitting range to reduce the temptation. "You tried to kill
one of my riders." They'd put some of the story together with the
evidence and the attacker's rantings before he was knocked out, but
N'vanik wanted to hear it from the man himself.

Grevan turned his head to stare at N'vanik, his eyes flicking from his
face, to his knots and over at Cyradis. His bladder clenched and it
took all he had not to let it release from pure fear. But youthful
pride made him blurt out the first thing that came to his mind. "He
deserved it!" He pulled on the restraint with his good arm. "He
destroyed my family and he's a rapist and you're protecting him just
because he rides a dragon and you think you're better than us!" There
was a frustrated tear that leaked from the swollen eye. "I'm just
making it right!"

Cyradis shook her head. She was every bit as angry as N'vanik but this
was a kid who barely made sense but she picked up one bit of
information. "How did he destroy your family?"

"My father!" Grenval spat out, his voice bitter. "He came here and you
let that thieving, holdless piece of garbage beat him until he nearly
died and when he came home, he had nothing! He lost his position, he
couldn't take care of us, and he couldn't chew! He had headaches! He
hurt every day because of that stupid, miserable piece of
whershit!" Tears were streaming now, fury and grief mingled as his
words tumbled together. "And then, _then_ that song comes out like
he's some sort of hero and my father's in pain everyday until it gets
so bad that he kills himself! My little brother found him! It's all
_his_ fault and you protect him!"

"I'm very sorry for your loss," she said. "But you don't know the whole truth."

"He pulled a knife on a dragonrider," N'vanik growled. "He's lucky he
went home at all." At least this was confirmation the attack was
personal.

"That's a lie! He was a good man!" Grevan defended his father
immediately. His father had been a good guard, a good father. He
turned his face away, stubbornly refusing to listen as he clenched his
eyes shut. "I hope that Holdless whershit dies." His good hand curled
into a fist. "A lot of people hate him, even here, so I hope he dies!"

Cyradis looked down at the young man and shook her head. She wanted to
be compassionate but he was making it near impossible. "He's _not_
holdless, young man. He is a dragonrider and you tried to kill him.
Your father tried to kill him too. I saw it with my own eyes. J'ackt
had only a wooden practice sword when your father knifed him." Her
eyes were black coals as they burned into his. "So think about this.
The next time Thread falls on your house there could have been one
less dragon to flame it out of the skies, just because you got a
wrong-headed idea that he wasn't worthy of that dragon. But _you_ are
not the judge and he will not die." She leaned closer. "Zith would not
have chosen him were he not worthy. There are very few bronzes to
father the next generation of dragons to protect the whole world and
you would have robbed me of him. As far as I am concerned you and your
family no longer deserve my protection." She was shaking with anger
when she turned away from him and into N'vanik's arms.

Tears leaked from Grevan's clenched eyes. His father wouldn't have
done that. They were lying, they had to be! They had to be! He gave a
strangled sob, trying to muffle it in his pillow. He just wanted to go
home and forget this ever happened. What would happen to his family
now? To him? What if they didn't fly thread over his home? He
swallowed hard. "They didn't do this." He admitted. "They didn't know
why I was coming here. " He finally turned his head back. "Please
don't hurt 'em. I'm sorry I said that, but don't hurt 'em. If you let
me go home, I'll do better, I promise."

N'vanik was shaking too as he held Cyradis against him. "If you're
telling the truth, if they didn't know, if they didn't encourage you,
I _might_ show them mercy. But not you." He couldn't get the image of
J'ackt lying pale and bloody on the stretcher out of his head. Or the
bellows of fear and anger from Zith. Two precious lives had almost
been taken from them and this tunnelsnake _would_ pay. "You're never
going home."

Last updated on the March 19th 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

You're Never Going Home