Clean Slate

Writers: Devin, Eimi
Date Posted: 14th February 2007

Characters: U'kaiah, N'vanik
Description: U'kaiah and N'vanik make a tentative peace initiated by N'vanik, no less.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 1 of Turn 4

N'vanik

N'vanik hung back after drills and waited while his wingmates went through another round of congratulating U'kaiah on his return. So many smiling faces ringed the younger man and he was given more than a few hugs. Finally, the last of them walked away and N'vanik approached the Wingleader. "Welcome back," he said.

U'kaiah gave the bronzerider a wary smile. It always put him on guard when N'vanik was acting nice. "Thank you."

"I know we don't get along, but after everything that's happened . . ."
N'vanik sighed, thinking of Talryne in particular. "The Wing is what's important."

"Yes, it is." Where was _this_ sudden change coming from? Perhaps the bronzerider is afraid of some sort of retrobution, being that he was involved with U'kaiah's losing his wing in the first place. He couldn't honestly believe he was so petty. "Well, I can assure you, your position in the wing is secure."

"That's not--" He sighed again, this time in frustration. "Look, I was thinking we could just move on. Clean slate."

"I think that's for the best," U'kaiah nodded. He certainly didn't want a repeat of the brawl that happened in the dinning hall. The wingleader very much doubted D'wrayt would be so forgiving a second time.

"Good." N'vanik hesitated. "I didn't mean to cost you the wing."

U'kaiah took a deep breath to calm himself. All right, if he wanted to talk about, perhaps it was good to get it out now. But he had to make flaming sure he kept a check on his temper. "What exactly did you mean by breaking into my office and having sex on my desk?"

N'vanik shrugged. "It was just for fun. Sarian suggested we do something bad, and that was the first thing I thought of." He wondered how different things might be if that one stupid incident hadn't happened.

"Well, I want to make one thing quite clear," U'kaiah said, trying to keep his voice even despite his irritation. "If you ever do that again, if you ever disrespect me to my face or behind my back, you will not fly with Cyan ever again. Is that understood?"

Clenching his teeth, N'vanik fought to stay calm. It would be a waste to ruin his clean slate in a matter of minutes. "U'kaiah, you gotta learn how to talk to me."

"No, N'vanik," U'kaiah replied, exercising an equal amount of patience, "You have to learn to listen. I am the wingleader. I talk and I lead. That's what I do. You listen and obey. That's what a wingrider does. You might not like that arrangement, but that is how a fighting wing works. It _must_ work that way or accidents happen." "It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Talking to me like I'm a weyrling instead of someone who's been a rider for fifteen turns just pisses me off." N'vanik kept his voice even. "I know how a wing works.
I've been in one longer than you have. You're the leader, that's fine.
But respect works both ways." Shards, that was one of the first things V'surin had told him. That man could certainly have taught U'kaiah a few things.

And there he had hit the nail right on the head. "And when did you ever show me respect, N'vanik? When do you show _anyone_ respect? When you yell at your wingmates for mistakes? When you banged my friend on top of my desk? When you tear down people who only ever wanted to care for you?" "I respect Kenza," he muttered. U'kaiah snorted. It wasn't hard to respect Kenza. That woman just walked into a room and demanded respect. Sometimes a little too forcefully. "Then let Kenza respect you. As for the rest of us, we're still waiting."

"Yeah, well. Clean slate, remember?" Why did U'kaiah have to be such a pain in the ass? "I'm tryin', but it ain't easy."

U'kaiah wondered if a clean slate was enough. No matter how prettily you could polish the middle, chalk dust always seemed to cling to the edges. "All right, N'vanik, from this moment on, the slate is clean. Just be careful what you chose to write on it."

Best to leave it at that before they started arguing again. "Alright, Fearless Leader."

U'kaiah wished N'vanik could hear just how snide he sounded. Just how many times did he expect his slate to be wiped? "And while we're at it, don't ever call me that to my face again unless you mean it. My title is 'Wingleader'."

Faranth's name U'kaiah needed to pull that stick out of his rear! Did scolding weyrlings all this time make him more stuck up than usual, or was he desperate to assert his authority now that he had it again?
N'vanik held up a hand. "Ok, ok. It wasn't an insult."

With N'vanik, U'kaiah was never really sure what to believe. "All right. Just, please, don't call me that."

"Ok. See you tomorrow." **I wonder how long it'll take before he starts yelling at me again?** Oh, well. He would try to make the peace last a little longer.

Last updated on the February 17th 2007

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Clean Slate