I'm Done For!

Writers: Estelle, Miriah
Date Posted: 27th April 2024

Characters: Aviday, R'fal, Terren
Description: Aviday finds Terren hiding out in a tavern
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 2, day 15 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik, J'ackt

Aviday

The burly man pushed back his chair and stood, glaring down at Terren
from an impressively scarred face. His heavy brows creased as he
examined the cards that lay scattered on the grease-stained table
between them, as if he dimly sensed something wasn't quite right, and
his fingers twitched towards the knife at his belt. The raucous noise of
the tavern quieted, and Terren felt the sweat chilling on his back, but
he summoned an ingratiating smile. "Sorry, friend, but it seems the
cards are fickle tonight. Better luck next time, eh?"

As he spoke, an even bigger shadow fell across the gaming table. The
losing player glanced up at the huge form of the bruiser who was
employed to guard the door, glowered, but backed off, leaving Terren to
breath a quiet sigh of relief, gather up the marks, and slip the pair of
cards he'd been concealing up his sleeve back into the pack when no-one
was watching. The doorman watched him impassively, not moving until
Terren had counted out a generous share of the winnings and pushed it
across the table to him.

**I'm getting too old for this,** he grumbled to himself. His heart was
still thumping uncomfortably in his chest, but it wasn't as though he
had much choice. The marks he'd taken from R'fal's desk had run out
months ago, and he had to earn a living somehow.

"There you are!" The piping voice didn't bother to attempt stealth as
Aviday stood in the doorway, hands on narrow hips. "Where have you
been? We've been looking all over for you!" Her eyes narrowed as she
stomped forward, brazenly brushing past the large bruiser of a man
before standing directly in front of Terren. "R'fal is worried sick
and you're lucky that I don't drag you outta here by your ear!"

"Wha..." Terren stared at the young woman, his disbelief rapidly turning
to horror. There was no doubt that he'd recognized her - he remembered
her only too well. "What are you doing here?" He cast a brief glance at
the doorman, who was glowering at both of them, and felt his stomach
drop. Shards, if they thought he was bringing the attention of the Weyr
to the tavern, his life wouldn't be worth a quarter-mark. He lowered his
voice to a hiss. "You need to leave! It's not safe!"

“I was looking for you!” She shook a finger at the man, completely
ignoring the looks that they were receiving, and did not realize that
the knots on her shoulder were definitely getting noticed. “Of course
you’d be found here. I’m not leaving until you come right back, Terren.”
She stomped her foot. “Do you have any idea of what’s going on right
now? You’re lucky the Weyrleader hasn’t come looking for you and it’s
just me!”

Heads turned at the name of the Weyrleader, and the doorman's stare
blackened. He took a step closer, one large hand on the heavy club that
hung on a loop from his belt. "This ain't a dragonriders' tavern," he
rumbled. "You know her, Terren?"

"No - ah - not really - my son..." He winced. "She was just leaving.
_We_ were just leaving," he added hastily, concluding from Aviday's
expression that he wasn't going to get rid of her that easily. Swiping
the remaining marks into his pocket, he got to his feet and started to
hustle her towards the door. "See, we're going. No trouble."

"Now, wait just a sec..." Aviday allowed herself to be hustled towards
the exit of the tavern, looking up at the big man. "Hey, you're kinda
big. I'm not trying to make trouble, he just needs to come back to the
Weyr. Hey! Stop shoving me, Terren!"

"Shut up," Terren hissed, pushing her out through the door. He felt the
skin at the back of his neck prickling with the stares,
half-anticipating the thud of a blade into his back. "Didn't you hear
what he said? Dragonriders are _not_ welcome in there! If any of those
men think I'm talking to the Weyr, I'm dead meat!"

“You lived at the Weyr!” She burst out angrily. “Your son is a
dragonrider! You should be proud of him!” She whirled on Terren and with
a quick mental direction to Kobeth, pointed to Terren, her finger close
to his nose. “You are coming right home and _you_ are going to explain
exactly what happened!”

With an awkward hop-skip, Kobeth lurched forward and with a surprisingly
gentle taloned hand, gripped wrapped her lanky fingers around his waist.

Terren let out a strangled yelp and flailed his arms in a panic for a
moment before gripping the talons and trying vainly to prise them open.
"Hey! What is she doing? Tell her to get off me..." His wild gaze fell
on the open tavern door, where an ominous group of well-armed and burly
figures was starting to gather. "Oh, shards. This is bad. We've got to
get out of here."

Aviday was many things, sometimes naive, definitely hyperactive, and
sometimes she didn't really understand why certain people behaved
oddly, but she wasn't stupid. Connections were quickly made in her
brain, Terren disappearing, going to a tavern where riders weren't
welcome, his fear of the men gathering... Her eyes narrowed, then
glinted as a smile suddenly stretched across her mouth, showing her
bare teeth. This man had hurt R'fal, scared him, made him worry, had
him be questioned by the leadership... **Kobeth., would you mind?**

Kobeth tugged on Terren, hauling him back, then turned to face the
gathering men while she crouched to allow Aviday to climb up her neck.
Another taloned hand wrapped around Terren to secure her grip on him
before giving a piercing roar.

Aviday waited just for a moment to let the roar fade. "Come on
Terren..." She let her voice purposefully carry to the men "Your son,
brown rider R'fal, needs to see you! You've gotten enough information
about these folks, don't you think?" She grinned as Kobeth leaped into
the air, Terren firmly in her grasp.

A scream of sheer, wordless terror split the air as the green's wings
carried her upward, the man struggling frantically in her grip, too
overcome with fear even to understand that if he got free, he'd fall.
Below, the men from the tavern charged forward - one, the big doorman,
shook his fist at the sky, his mouth open to yell a threat or a curse -
but far too late to catch them.

As they rose higher, Terren's cries turned to desperate pleas and he
stopped fighting, instead wrapping his arms around Kobeth's claw in a
death-grip and screwing his eyes shut. Then, abruptly, his voice was cut
off as they jumped into the frozen silence of /between/. When they
emerged, he was screaming again.

Aviday only felt bad for the man for a moment, but then felt a surge
of vindication as he experienced what she felt was perfect justice for
what R'fal had been through. She sniffed and with a satisfied smile,
directed Kobeth to land and summon Marlath.

The little green was careful as she landed, her grip firm, but not
punishing despite the landing being a bit bumpy. She kept her grip on
Terren as Aviday slid down, then craned her head to look down at the
man. }: His face is all twisted up.:{

Terren whimpered in sheer relief at being on the ground again, even if
he was still in the dragon's grasp - and in the Weyr. He could barely
manage a word, only a meaningless babble of sounds.

"Da!" Marlath glided in to land a short distance away and he'd barely
settled before R'fal was down and racing over to Kobeth. "You're all
right! I was so worried - I thought..." He turned to Aviday, beaming in
gratitude. "You found him! Where - how..."

"He was in a tavern." Aviday put her hands on her hips. "A tavern that
doesn't like riders, looked like. They had a big man at the door with
this club thing and he..." She pointed at Terren, "tried to tell them
that he didn't know me." Crossing her arms over her chest, she made no
apologies for how they arrived. "Oh stop that." She glared at R'fal's
father. "She would never have dropped you. You've been around enough
dragons to know better, you big baby."

The man continued to groan, but he did at least recover the power of
speech. "I'm dead. Oh, Faranth's Egg, I'm done for. Nowhere is safe. And
it's all _her_ fault!" He raised his head and fixed Aviday with a
resentful scowl.

R'fal's brow creased in concern. He knew the sort of tavern Aviday
meant. There had been a similar one that his father had used to visit,
before his flight from the Weyr. That one was now abandoned thanks to
the attention of the dragonriders, but it sounded as though Terren had
found another.

"Kobeth, may I?" He tilted his head politely to the green dragon and
approached his father. "Da, we have to go to see the Weyrleader right
away. You need to tell him that you didn't have anything to do with that
little blue hatchling being poisoned. And if you tell the truth about
what you were doing in that tavern, then perhaps - "

His words were cut off by a howl of desperation from Terren. "Noooo!
They'll send me to the mines. I'll die. Please, you have to get me out
of here. We can go to the North, or to the islands, they won't find me
there."

R'fal looked stricken. "Da, I promised I would tell if I heard from you.
It's my duty."

"But I'm your father! I've already been to the mines once, to protect
you and the family. I can't go back there. Please, son!"

"I can't get J'ackt," Aviday piped up helpfully. "He's still miffed
about everything. Maybe he can help get your Da to N'vanik." She
turned to Terren. "If you loved your son at all, you would have never
done this to him!" She shook a finger at the man. "He was terrified
for you. He might not be able to see what you are," she put her hands
on her hips, "But maybe he can now. You're _awful!"

"Hold your tongue, you meddling little baggage," Terren snapped. "My
family is none of your business."

"Da!" All R'fal's relief at seeing his father alive and well vanished.
"How dare you speak to a dragonrider like that - and someone I care
about?" He stepped between the man and Aviday, protectively. "If you
don't come with me to the Weyrleader this instant then I'll have Marlath
drop you in the lake! And then we'll go to see him anyway, only you'll
be wet!"

Terren let out another wail as the brown dragon, his eyes whirling red
at the insult to Kobeth and her rider, growled a warning. "What kind of
son are you? You'll kill your own father." He flinched as Marlath
stretched out a forelimb towards him, talons gleaming as brightly as his
sharp teeth. "All right, all right! I'm coming."

Aviday sniffed derisively towards Terren and stepped to R'fal's side,
slipping one arm around his waist. "Anything that R'fal does is my
business, you old cranky watch wher." She looked up at R'fal and
leaned against him in a half-hug. "Do you need me to go with you, or
can you get this?"

"I can manage. But thank you." As much as he'd have liked the support,
R'fal didn't want Aviday to have to witness that meeting, or deal with
any more insults from his father. He leaned against her, his arm
squeezing her shoulders gently. "The Weyrleader might ask you to report
afterwards, though - about the tavern where you found him. It sounds
like somewhere he should know about."

"Fine." Aviday made a face of disappointment and returned his squeeze
firmly. "I'll talk to him. Shards, I'll even show him where it's at."
She turned to stare at Terren. "I'll tell him _all_ about it."

The man paled. "I didn't have anything to do with them. I was just
having a drink and playing some cards."

Even R'fal looked skeptical at that. "Da, the best thing you can do
right now is tell the truth. Let's go." He held Aviday closer for a
moment, then reluctantly parted from her. "I'll come and find you when
we're done, all right?"

Aviday nodded and stepped away, turning back towards Kobeth. "I'll be
in my weyr, okay?" She didn't give Terren another look, but her green
lowered her head to eye Terren with a mildly whirling eye. While
anyone who knew Kobeth would have realized it wasn't meant to be
intimidating, the green found Terren's reaction humorous.

Terren whimpered and backed away, nearly colliding with his son, while
Marlath let out a whuff of amusement. R'fal sighed. "Come on, Da. This
way." He silently asked Marlath to report in to Loseth. Better to get
this over with, and then he could go back to Aviday's weyr - that was,
if he wasn't confined to his own and grounded for the next Turn.

Last updated on the April 30th 2024

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I'm Done For!