The Benefits of Friends (2/4)

Writers: Sia, Yvonne
Date Posted: 13th June 2025

Characters: Ketlyn, J'cello
Description: J'cello visits Ketlyn after her injury
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 8, day 5 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: K'lvin
Notes: Follows 'Blooded'

All the weyrlings could talk about was Ketlyn's injury. The initial panic of almost losing a classmate morphed into concern by the time J'cello was done checking Bairelth for injury and wiping the ash from her hide, and he quickly washed before heading to the infirmary to see if the healers were done and she was awake. He didn't ask, per se, but pulled back the curtain to her cot and scooted a chair in so he could sit.

"I heard you threw up on K'lvin." J'cello said lightly by way of greeting. "You're my hero."

Ketlyn winced. “Um. Yeah. I didn’t know people had… heard that…”

J’cello grinned, settling into the chair with a practiced slouch, as if they were just back in the barracks and not tucked into a quiet corner of the infirmary where the air still smelled faintly of redwort and bandages. "That's the best part. I bet you aren't the first weyrling that's thrown up on him, and you won't be the last. How are you feeling, besides that? You look like you tried to fight someone with your face."

“I lost my balance and smashed into Varinth’s neck when she landed,” Ketlyn admitted. “That was the most terrifying flight of my life. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it down.”

"Ouch, neckridge to the nose." J'cello's hand went to his own nose without thinking about it, feeling for a wound that wasn't there. "But you _did_ make it down. That's not a small thing. None of us have been perfect since we started flying 'Fall. Some of us have been luckier than others, that's all. I'm hoping for a sick scar, myself."

Ketlyn gave him a sharp look despite the swelling and fellis. “No, you absolutely do _not_ want a ‘sick scar’, d’you hear me?”

J'cello held up his hands in mock surrender, though he grinned at her. "Hey, you aren't my real Mom. Just a little scar that makes me look hot and brooding. I don't ask for a lot."

She rolled her eyes and winced. “Scars are overrated. And don’t jinx us. I’m just glad that I’m the only one who ended up in here. It could have been so much worse…”

"I'm not jinxing it, I'm manifesting it." J'cello said, though he did lean forward and continue quietly, "But yeah, it could've been much worse. You scared the breath out of us, Ket."

“Me too,” she admitted. “I didn’t… I wasn’t sure that we were going to come out from /between/.”

J'cello's breath hitched in his chest. He hadn't let himself think about that; how close they might have come to losing her and Varinth entirely, how empty the Weyr would've felt without them. He'd tried not to notice how close it could've been.

“You didn’t, huh?” he said softly, dragging one hand through his damp hair. “Faranth. That’s… yeah. That’s the part none of us want to say out loud, but we all think about it every time we go /between/. That it might be the last time. But you didn't, and that's no small thing.”

**This time.** It hung in the air, unspoken. Ketlyn managed a small smile. “How was today for you and Bairelth?”

"Oh, pff. Fine. She flipped into a roll after dropping off some firestone and I nearly lost my lunch. Thought I was going to fall onto the bluerider below us. Not the kind of meet-cute I want, believe me."

The bruises on Ketlyn’s thighs ached in sympathy. “I hate it when Varinth forgets I’m on her back. What else happened?” She settled back and let J’cello’s voice wash over her, only half-listening to his story over the pounding of her head.

Last updated on the June 22nd 2025

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The Benefits of Friends (2/4)