Kill the Messenger (1/2)

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 3rd September 2025

Characters: Ketlyn, Mintaren, Aralyn, Verraki, Nevalyn, Trisalyn, Vekal
Description: Ketlyn goes home without her brother and faces the consequences of his actions on his behalf.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 8, day 17 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Thiseta

**I think I'm going to be sick.** Ketlyn's stomach lurched at the sight of the cothold beneath them, with its neat slate roof and looming barn. Smoke curled from the chimney and the sky was blue as the ocean.

}:We can go back to the Weyr if you want,:{ Varinth examined the cothold below with glittering eyes. }:They do not know we are here.:{

**No.** She put a hand to her stomach and took a deep breath. **Let's get this over with.**

The green dragon rumbled her reluctant assent before circling gently to land in the courtyard. The door to the cothold was immediately flung wide and her mother charged out with Tris, Vekal, Verraki and Minteran in her wake. Tris held baby Aralyn in her arms and smiled when she saw her sister.

Her mother, on the other hand, looked like a thunderhead. "Where is he!?"

Ketlyn pulled off her helmet and smiled tentatively in greeting. "Hi Mother."

Nevalyn reached Varinth's knee and only paused her rampage at Varinth's warning rumble. "Why isn't Kemmin with you?"

"Ma, let her come down before you yell at her." Tris caught up to their mother and put a soothing hand on her arm.

Nevalyn shook it off. "I demand that you go back and bring Kemmin here at once! Your father and I never said he could leave us like this! He _can't_!"

}:Are you sure that you do not wish to go back to the Weyr?:{ Varinth's eyes sparked with the barest hint of warning oranges as she regarded her rider's mother. }:This woman is very angry.:{

Ketlyn winced. **No, I have to do this. It'll be worse if we leave now.** To her mother she said, "Let me come down and we can talk."

Nevalyn vibrated with anger as her daugher undid her straps and slid to the ground. The moment Ketlyn's boots touched the ground her mother drew herself up to her full height. "Get talking, girl. You have a lot of explaining to do."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that Kemmin was going to stay at the Weyr," the greenrider said. "I--"

Nevalyn cut her off with an angry finger wagging in her face. "Don't you lie to me! You _let_ him run away. You _helped_ him! He planned this with you ahead of time, didn't he? The ungrateful--"

"He's nineteen"! Tris cut in. "He's an adult and adults can't run away!"

Nevalyn swung around to face Tris and the baby, who started to fuss with all the angry voices swirling around her. "Go inside and take care of the baby. And take the rest of this lot with you!" Nevalyn snapped.

The younger kids, Vekal and Verraki, both flinched. Mintaren scowled at their mother. Tris turned deliberately to Ketlyn. "It's good to see you, _sister_. Let's talk before you go."

"I will," Ketlyn promised, then watched as Tris and the kids retreated back to the cothold. She noticed that Tris didn't shut the door all the way behind her, all the better to eavesdrop on what was happening outside. "Let's go sit under the trees."

"I demand answers!" Nevalyn's voice warbled and broke on the last word. "Kemmin can't just _leave_ us like this! What are we supposed to do?"

**She's scared,** Ketlyn realized. Knowing that her mother was more hurt than angry didn't erase the sour taste of fear on her tongue or the queasiness in her belly. The greenrider tried on an encouraging smile as she sat on the grass in the shade beneath the nearest tree, laying her helmet gently on the ground beside herself. "He's fine, Mother."

Her mother perched beside her vibrating like an upset wherry. "I don't care if he's fine. He should be _here_."

"He knew if he came back, you wouldn't let him go back to the Weyr again." Ketlyn was proud of how little her voice shook. "He knows that you and Father didn't want him to go."

"Then why did he leave us?" Nevalyn twisted her hands into knots in her lap. "And you-- you could have sent word. You could have _come_ and told us instead of just abandoning your family like that."

Ketlyn ducked her head. "I know. Every day that passed I hoped would change his mind. But he is determined to stay at the Weyr, and the Weyrwoman has accepted his transfer request."

Nevalyn looked aghast. "She can't do that! She never consulted us, and we are part of Dolphin Cove's territory!"

"He's building himself a new life at the Weyr and doing well." It was a bit of a lie, but Kemmin still had time to find his way-- and she was still too angry at him to be objective. It wasn't fair that he'd sent her here alone. "Here," she said, pulling a bit of folded paper from her flight jacket. "He wrote you a letter."

"A _letter_?!" Nevalyn screeched in outrage but grabbed the letter from Ketlyn's hands anyway. "He leaves us to go galavanting around the Weyr while we are struggling to meet our tithe obligations and get work done and all he sends us is a letter?" She held up a hand to forestall Ketlyn's reply and unfolded the paper.

Ketlyn craned her neck to read over her mother's shoulder, but her mother caught her doing it and angled the letter so she couldn't see the page. She nibbled her lip as she waited. She'd composed half of the letter for Kemmin anyway, and checked the rest over for spelling errors. She'd caught two.

Finally Nevalyn refolded the letter and tucked it into her dress. Tears shimmered in her eyes. "He _hates_ us."

"He doesn't!" Ketlyn put a hand on her mother's shoulder. "All he said is that he feels like he needs to leave to be happy. He doesn't hate you at all!"

"It _does_. He _hates_ us and he hates the life we've built for you. You all do!"

Ketlyn winced. "He just wants to find his own way--"

"You _read_ his letter?!" Nevalyn leaned away from her daughter in disgust. "That was private!"

"Mother--"

"No, I'm done with you. You stole my son from me. You ran away to the Weyr and stole Kemmin and you're going to steal the rest of my family from me, too. You were always such an ungrateful daughter."

The words felt like a slap. "That's not true!"

Nevalyn looked down her nose at her daughter sitting in the grass. "Of all my children, you're the one that I wish had never been born. You're not welcome here anymore, greenrider."

"Mother--!" Ketlyn scrambled to her feet as her mother stomped back to the cothold. Nevalyn didn't turn back, and she slammed the cothold door behind herself.

Last updated on the October 3rd 2025

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Kill the Messenger (1/2)