A Good Thing

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 8th June 2007

Characters: Lineal, Jesten
Description: Lineal talks to his father early in the morning.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 16 of Turn 4
Notes: Mentioned: Rahona, Nalin, Lihona

"You're up early," Lineal commented when he entered the pilot house and
flipped the glow basket open to find his father sitting in the captain's
seat. "Are you feeling all right?"

"I am now," Jesten murmured. "Don't worry about me, Lin. My heart's
wearing itself out and it's not an easy thing to sleep through. I feel
better if I sit up while it's misbehaving."

"I should have come back sooner."

"Perhaps. But since I didn't invite you sooner, you didn't have much
choice."

Lineal sat down in the unoccupied pilot's seat, peering out into the
pre-dawn darkness trying to see the river as it flowed past them. "I
always knew I could come back at any time," the seacrafter said. He and
his father had written frequently, a habit that had been set during his
early apprenticeship and never broken.

"Before you met Rahona, maybe, but afterwards you wouldn't have left her
and she - Well, she was a little nervous about leaving the Weyr, wasn't
she?"

Lineal grinned. "Did she tell you that?"

"She was very apologetic." The smile on the old man's face matched that
on his son's. The boy looked like his mother, for the most part, but in
personality and in some mannerisms Jesten knew he and his son were
almost identical. "Did they have a very good life there? Rahona and
the grandchildren?"

"Yes. A lot of freedom but lately always the threat of death to people
they know. The riverboat life is better, I think, but their Weyr's not
a bad second choice."

"Huh." Jesten nodded. "How are they adjusting? This is a small space
to live in for people who are used to things being on a dragon's scale."

"They're doing well. Having me underfoot all the time is the biggest
change for Rahona but she's even managing to deal with that without
yelling at me. Lihona's made friends with the other girls her age."

"And my grandson?"

"Hmm. Nalin's made friends, too."

"With the engineers, I'm guessing." Jesten smiled at his son's
surprise. "I might seem to be spending all my time supervising you, but
I do keep my ear to the deck. Well, don't worry about that. You don't
need to be worrying about succession for a few Turns yet. Might even be
your girl, anyway." For a moment he met his son's eyes, then they both
laughed at the thought. "Perhaps not. She's a charmer – a
people-person – but there's more needed to be captain of the riverboat
when the crew's all family."

"Yes. I didn't know that when I left. Hadn't realised." Lineal looked
out the glazed window, finally able to see the river in the dawn's
light. "Have I got what's needed? If I haven't - I'm willing to stand
aside."

"Don't be ridiculous. You've always had what's needed and don't let
anyone tell you otherwise."

"All those Turns away, though."

"Hmm. A good thing, wouldn't you say? To be able to come back as
family but without Turns of bickering with them day in, day out?
Nothing could work better."

"I hope so." Lineal looked out at the river again, glad in his heart
that he was back on the Nettleweed. His river. The place he hadn't
been able to wait to escape at twelve and thirteen; the place he hadn't
realised how much he had missed until he was in his thirties and had a
family of his own. "Emerald Falls tonight."

"Indeed. And when we're there you take some time off to show your
family around. A few things have changed but you'll recognise most of it."

"That's what it's felt like every day I've been aboard," the
captain-elect said to his father, his expression now lit more by sun
than the light of the glows.

Jesten unconsciously rubbed his chest where the pain came most often.
"And you're happy with that?"

"Yeah," Lineal said, his eyes on the river as it flowed toward them.
"Very happy with that."

Last updated on the July 18th 2007

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A Good Thing