Drinking Less

Writers: Devin, Dana
Date Posted: 27th March 2006

Characters: Traelyn, N'vanik
Description: Trae talks to N'vanik about his drinking, and finds out something more disturbing
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 6 of Turn 3

N'vanik

Traelyn frowned, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back
against the cool, stone wall of his weyr, not liking what she saw one bit.
The bottles of ale that had been scattered across the table in front of
his sofa seemed to have sharding multiplied since the last time she had
been here - which hadn't been too long ago. A few even lay forgotten on
the floor.

The line in her brow deepened as her eyes traveled up to the brooding man
lounging against the arm of the couch - who was taking a rather healthy
swig of what looked like a fresh _new_ bottle. And he hadn't even
_noticed_ her yet. Traelyn wasn't sure if that was because he was too
intent on his thoughts, on his drink, or that it was too sharding dark in
this room. She rather thought it was the former two.

"N'vanik."

The voice surprised him, especially since it was coming from inside the
weyr. The door hadn't opened, or at least he hadn't heard it open. N'vanik
turned toward the voice, already knowing who it was. "Trae! I wasn't
expecting you."

She pushed herself away from the wall, coming more into the dim light. "I
know. I thought I'd take Nyith out to stretch her wings..."

"You should have let me know. I might have--" he looked around at the
mess, "cleaned up a little." Shards, it _did_ look messy. He hadn't
noticed how bad it was until now.

A pale brow rose as she perched on the edge of couch. "You mean hide all
the evidence?"

N'vanik rolled his eyes. "No." He moved to put the bottle he was holding
on the table and realized there was no room for it. He took one of the
empty bottles and set it on the floor, replacing it with the full one.
"There were plenty of bottles last time you were here."

"Yeah. There were." She looked at him. "But I figured that they
wouldn't have multiplied the second I left."

"The second you left?" he asked, annoyed. He shook his head and went on in
a calmer tone. "I suppose it wouldn't help to tell you that I've been
drinking less since your visit?"

"You call _this_-" Traelyn gestured to the clutter of glass before them,
"drinking less?"

"Most of that's been there for a while. I haven't been cleaning." **I've
been _adding_ to the mess.**

She leaned back, folded her arms loosely across her stomach and fixed him
with her dark eyes. " 'For a while' meaning since the tussle you and
U'kaiah had?"

"Since I was grounded," he said, wanting to make a distinction.

"I see." The frown was back. An annoyed frown. A concerned frown. "And
so you've been drinking steadily like this for the past sharding _month_?
Is that what you sharding _do_ when something happens to you, N'vanik?"

N'vanik's jaw tightened. "This is what I do when I'm grounded and I can't
fight Thread, and the sharding dreams won't-" he stopped, sitting back
against the couch with a sigh.

The admonishing tirade that had been building up inside her suddenly
paused abruptly in its climb. What did he sharding mean by that?
"Dreams?" she asked, keeping her voice quiet.

Although he wasn't drunk, he'd had time to drink a good amount of alcohol
before she arrived. It made it easier to talk. "Nightmares," he said. "Bad
ones."

Her expression grew even more concerned. They must be - if he was
_telling_ her about them. He never openly admitted anything to her unless
she kept going at him. But now... Shards. "Nightmares?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I keep seeing my wingleader dying,
and other stuff." His voice dropped almost to a whisper. "Sometimes I see
you die."

**...Me?** Shaken, she stared at him.

N'vanik reached for the bottle on the table. He took a large swallow and
glanced at her. Seeing her expression, he turned away. "Nevermind. I
shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't give me that," she whispered.

"What? Do you want to know about your gruesome death by Thread? Or how
about the one where you just _died_ for no reason?" he said.

Words failed her. Instead, her hand moved, fingers brushing gently
against his arm...and they didn't stop at just one caress.

He set the bottle back down on the table. It wasn't helping anyway.
Shifting on the couch, he pulled her closer to him. "I'm glad you came
back."

Traelyn smiled. Then she closed her eyes, pressing her cheek against the
dip of his shoulder. "Promise me something?"

"What?" he asked cautiously.

She tilted her face so she could meet his eyes, the look in her own
serious. "Ease up on the drinking."

"I will," N'vanik said. Having her here, with him, made the nightmares
seem more distant.

The soft smile was back and she leaned up to lightly kiss him on the lips.

"How long can you stay?" he asked, his fingers rubbing gently at her neck.

"Mmm..." Her eyes lowered as she let out a relaxed sigh, enjoying his
touch. "I can stay for a while."

"Good." He smiled and leaned down to kiss her, wishing they could spend
every night together.

Last updated on the March 31st 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Drinking Less