Where's the Ring?

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 11th August 2019
Series: The Hallmaster's New Wife

Characters: Thayde, Enamra, Finlon
Description: The lack of a worn wedding ring causes some issues
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 12, day 3 of Turn 9

Thayde

Enamra

Finlon watched as Enamra bent to dig through the shallows along the
beach, placing one mussel and then another in the bucket. The swimsuit
she wore was barely covered by that old shirt, and he could see the
taut line of her slender thighs and the taut curve of her buttocks. It
made the young man's mouth water. As a new arrival to the Hall, he
didn't know everyone yet, but by all the dolphin pods on Pern, he
wanted to get to know _her_.

Confident, the young man approached, his eyes on her buttocks as she
bent over before he cleared his throat. "Hey, need any help?"

Enamra looked up quickly at the voice and went still. The young man
looked a bit older than her and the smile he was giving her instantly
made her cheeks flush. It was a wide, bright smile that gleamed in
blue eyes and she couldn't help but noticed that he was very very
bare, with only brief shorts covering him. "Oh...uh...hello. No, I
think I'm okay. I'm just collecting some mussels for dinner."

"I can help with that." He quickly offered, moving to crouch beside
her, his smile warm as he dug his fingers down in the shallows, but
brought back nothing.

Enamra giggled. "You have to look for little mounds." She pointed out
one and then with her fingers, dug up a small one. "See?"

"I guess I need the practice." He offered his hand. "I'm Finlon. I
just got here a few days ago."

She hesitated and after putting the mussel in her bucket, took his
hand. "I'm Enamra and I..." Her voice trailed off as he brought her
hand to his mouth, giving a kiss on her knuckles. Her cheeks reddened.

"It's very nice to meet you. I haven't met many people yet, but I saw
you and thought...why not introduce myself?" Her blush and flustered
look was adorable, especially the way she dropped her eyes and looked
at him through her lashes. How could anyone who was so pretty be so
shy? "Do you do this often?"

"At least once a week." She answered, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Maybe you could teach me." Finlon tilted his head down trying to look
at her face. "And maybe after we can go for a swim."

Further up on the beach, Thayde was just finishing with a class of
apprentices, whom he had taken out and shown how to remove bloodfish
from the dolphins. "Good lesson, everyone," he said, a hand through
his hair to help it dry a little faster. "I will see you all next
week. We will be in the infirmary then." A collective groan rose up
from the group of youngsters, who always preferred to be out in the
water. "Yeah, yeah, there's more to being a dolphineer than just
swimming in the ocean." He said with a laugh, waving them off, and
watching as they trooped back up toward the Hall.

Looking up, Thayde's eyes automatically zeroed in on his wife's figure
up the beach. She was one of the only women at the Hall who wore
something to cover up her swimsuit, so it wasn't hard for him to pick
her out, even at a distance. His brown eyes flicked to the young man
standing with her- Finlon. Thayde felt frozen in place, watching the
two interact, a tightness spreading across his chest as he watched
Enamra tucking her hair behind her ears in that shy way she had.

He did not remember making the decision to go over, but Thayde quickly
found himself approaching the pair, just in time to hear the last bit
of the youth's offer. A date! Thayde's pulse pounded in his ears.
Possessively, Thayde put an arm around his wife's shoulders, and
pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I see you have gotten quite
the haul," he said with a smile, looking pointedly at the bucket of
mussels before he lifted his eyes to the young man. ""Apprentice," he
greeted with a tight, but polite, smile.

Finlon couldn't miss the protective posture from one of his
instructors."Master Thayde," he straightened, but kept the charming
smile on his face. "I didn't know you had such a pretty daughter. I
was just introducing myself and offering to help her out. Since I'm so
new, it wouldn't hurt to get to know people in the Hall."

Enamra's cheeks flushed both at the compliment, but also out of
embarrassment over the assumption. She glanced up at Thayde,
uncertain as to what to say.

Many thoughts raced through Thayde's mind, one of them being, had
Enamra purposefully avoided saying that she was married, or that she
was his wife? Maybe she was interested in Finlon, he was around her
age, after all. Thayde glanced at her hand and noted that he did not
see her wedding band on. "Actually, Finlon," Thayde said pleasantly,
"Enamra is my wife."

The charming smile immediately faltered as Finlon glanced back and
forth from Thayde to Enamra. "Oh...uh...sorry." His _wife_? "I didn't
realize." But...he was so much older than her. He'd thought she was
another apprentice like him and Faranth, how had the Master Dolphineer
managed to snag her? "I was just being friendly. "

Enamra chewed on her lower lip. She enjoyed feeling Thayde's arm
around her and had enjoyed the affectionate kiss, something he'd not
really done outside of their quarters, but something about the
tenseness she felt about him threw her. "It's okay, Finlon. You've
just got here, like you said. I thought you already knew."

Thayde could read the look in Finlon's eyes, the one that showed his
surprise that he and Enamra were husband and wife. **I'm not even
forty yet,** Thayde said to himself to assuage his bruised ego. "No
apology needed, you couldn't have known." The Master Dolphineer said,
to keep things cordial.

Finlon gave a sheepish grin and in an effort to curry some sort of
favor and not completely ruin a relationship with Master Dolphineer,
let the next words quickly emerge. " Well, uh... you're a lucky girl,
Enamra. Im just going to go back to my swimming... with your
permission of course, Master Thayde. But if she needs help with
anything or... you know...I can help. When I'm not doing my duties of
course. Just to be friendly. "

Enamra smiled, still embarrassed and slightly confused. "Thank you.
Maybe sometime. "

"Heh, yeah." Finlon gave a little wave and backed away before turning
and walking quickly away.

"He was nice. It was a nice offer." She looked up at Thayde.

"Where is your wedding ring?" he asked, looking down at her now that
Finlon was gone.

Enamra looked down at her hand. "Oh, I take it off if I'm digging for
mussels or swimming. I almost lost it the first time because it
slipped off in the water and I don't want to lose it. It's in the
little dish on the table." She looked up, her expression questioning.

"Looks like we will need to get you a ring you can wear in the water
then," he said as he bent and lifted up her bucket.

Now she was confused. "Why? If I had a tighter ring, it would hurt my
finger. There's not really a ring that you can wear just for water,
Thayde. I can carry that. I have to go clean them anyways."

Thayde smiled. "I don't mind carrying them for you. As for another
ring, I mean one that you can wear and if it gets lost it's no big
deal."

She frowned, but let him take the bucket. In a moment of clarity, she
realized something. "Thayde, everyone knows I'm married to you. Well,
except Finlon, who's new and even if he hadn't realized right off, he
would have heard about it soon enough." She was sure some of the
drudges would be glad to share the reason why they'd married to anyone
who asked.

"The Hall receives new people all the time. I would feel better
knowing you were wearing a ring." He said as they walked.

She studied him as they walked, mulling over what he was saying. "But
why?" She felt her stomach quail for a moment. "Thayde, I'm not going
to do anything. I promise I wouldn't. I meant my vows, I swear."

"I know you do and I know that you wouldn't," he told her, and he
meant it. Even if she wanted to pursue something romantic with someone
her own age, Thayde felt sure that she would not because of their
vows, which was part of the reason he had hesitated from actually
consummating their union. He wanted her to have options, if _she_
wanted them. "But I would understand if you wanted to, it is not as if
you had a choice in who your husband was."

Enamra's jaw dropped as she drew to a halt, staring at Thayde. Her
face flushed, not in embarrassment but in an anger that surprised her.
"I don't want to. And I had a choice. I could have gone to the Weyr or
I could have refused." She pulled the bucket from him. "And even if I
hadn't had a choice, I would still hold to my wedding vows just like
any proper or real wife." Upset now, she started walking back to their
shared home, lugging the bucket along side her.

"Enamra," Thayde called, striding after her. He could not recall a
time when he had actually seen her angry before, at least not directed
at him. "I never meant to insinuate that you were not a real or proper
wife- you are. That's why I know you would never break your vows. I
just didn't want you to feel... I don't know. Stuck?" He did not try
to retrieve the bucket from her, he only hoped she didn't wield it at
his stupid head.

But she wasn't, not really, and they both knew it. His next words
made her step a little quicker. "I don't feel stuck." It came to her
that maybe he did, and it hurt. She could see why he would,
especially considering where she came from and her history. Of course
he probably felt stuck with her. It wasn't as though she had been his
choice either. There were much prettier women who he could have
chosen to be with, not a poor, ruined drudge that had had to rely on
the kindness of the Hall to survive. "I'm going to make dinner,
Thayde. Just...I'll see you at dinner. "

Thayde wisely nodded and watched her walk away. He changed courses and
headed for the dolphin infirmary instead. The root of the problem, he
thought as he walked, all stemmed back to her not wearing her wedding
ring. If she had been wearing a ring then Finlon would never have
approached her, and if he hadn't, then he and Enamra would never have
had to have this conversation.

Last updated on the August 19th 2019

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Where's the Ring?