Just Sad

Writers: Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 11th September 2007

Characters: Lihona, Linli
Description: Lihona and Linli talk about the captain's illness.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 6, day 3 of Turn 4

They were away. The steam whistle called a farewell and the two girls swung on the rail around the main deck watching the distance between them and their dock at the pier widen.

The harper was long gone, and lessons didn't start until the afternoon on the day they left a major port. The girls might have been given chores, if anybody had looked around and caught sight of them, but for the moment they were completely free of any obligations or responsibilities.

Not that they weren't engaged in something serious; they were.
Yesterday the old captain hadn't left his bed and the adults were ...

"Not worried," Lihona explained to her cousin. "More like just sad.
They're whispering a lot. My mother always tells me that it's rude to whisper but all the grown ups have been whispering. Psss, wsss, wsss."

"I know, and m'Dar has been really quiet himself this last couple of days. Tahna and Neke are f'rever telling me to be quiet. S'not as if I make much noise, but I've been trying to stay out of their way for days now."

"Yeah. Your father's always quiet, though," Lihona pointed out.

"Yeah he has, but s'different now. He looks sad, too. He didn't look -
sad really, before." She found it hard to put into words the way her father was, compared to the way he had been.

"My father's sad, too, I think. But he hasn't been crying," Lihona said, lest her friend think her father was a baby.

"I think my Dar has." Linli said quietly. "He keeps his hand around his eyes a lot, and I know I heard him talking to Neke and he sounded like we do when we try not to cry, but it doesn't work."

"Aww. Jesten's not his father, though, is he?" Lihona asked, having not quite put all the crew in their rightful place in the family.

"No, Barr's my granda." Linli shook her head, "But I think Dar liked Jesten an awful lot, too." She looked down into her lap and began fiddling with the hem of her tunic where a thread had come loose. She looked up at Lihona again, "Have they let you in to see Jesten?"

"I go and see him with my mother. He talks to me a little bit, but then he falls asleep. Rahona says his heart is tired."

Linli nodded. "Yeah I know, I heard Neke talking to Tahna." once again she had found if she stayed quiet they forgot she was there; it was how she had noticed her dar's reaction when talking to Neke about Jesten.

"They haven't let me in to see him, but he's not my grandda so I guess they don't think I need to see him." She shrugged. She would have liked to see him. She liked Jesten, liked his eyes, kind eyes he had.

"Oh, no, that's not right. Shall I take you in to see him? I'm sure he won't mind if we're quiet."

"No." Linli shook her head, she didn't want to be told off for disturbing Jesten. ""No, I can't. Dar and Neke would take me, if they thought I should go."

"Well you should ask them. He knows you better than me, anyway, even if I am his granddaughter."

Linli gave a shrug, "May be. But I don't want to upset them by asking."
She thought for a moment, "I s'pose I could ask Tahna - she might take me?"

"Yeah. Everybody treats her like she's almost grown up." The Weyrbred girl didn't think that was quite fair because Tahna wasn't much older than they were. Not _that_ much.

"Yes I know." Linli nodded, "she doesn't play with me as much as she used to. Too 'grown up', I s'pose."

"Probably just too big to fit in some of the best places in the cargo bales," Lihona suggested. "We came here because Jesten was sick, you know," she added, still not sure whether that meant they shouldn't mind so much.

"So your dar could take over from him." Linli nodded, "I heard Neke and my dar talking one night." She fiddled with the tie from the bale, "Someone had to be Captain and it wouldn't be my dar."

"Did your father _want_ to be captain?" Lihona asked, surprised. She knew there was something not quite right about Linli's father but hadn't found the right moment or the right person to ask about the details.

"Oh no." Linli shook her head, "Dar knows he couldn't do it - he's not ............. well enough," she finished.

"No ... No. I suppose one of the other men could have been captain if we hadn't come here." Lihona remembered her life at the Weyr every now and then, but wasn't sure she would like to go back to it. Here, on the riverboat, she had two special friends, something she hadn't had at her old home. And her father was always with them, which she loved.

"Probably grandpa Barr, until uncle Nico was ready," Linli replied, musing what life under her own grandpa would have been like. He was a lot sterner than Jesten and his eyes never looked as kind.

"He's very grumpy, your grandfather."

Linli nodded, "I know. He's not like Jesten _at all_." she agreed. "He's doesn't talk to us much. He talks to my dar sometimes but only 'bout work."

"Engines." Lihona frowned thinking of the rooms she was glad to stay out of. "I'd rather be the captain. He's always working up in the pilot-house where he can see everything."

Linli nodded, "Me too. My granda is always covered in oil and dirt,"
she said pulling a face, "and its loud down there too."

Lihona made a valiant attempt at the noises of the engine room and boilers. "And steamy hot. Do you think I could be captain one day?"

"You could be, I s'pose?" Linli wrinkled her nose as she considered the idea, "but you'd needed to work a little harder in classes." she shrugged. "I think a Captain would need to be real smart." she didn't add that that would be one reason her father may not have been chosen if Lineal hadn't returned, but it was in the back of her mind and she didn't like the way that thought made her feel.

"Oh. Oh well, perhaps I can be a dragonrider, then," Lihona said, happy that she had easier choices in her life than something that required study and smart-ness.

"Don't dragonriders have to be smart?" Linli asked, a frown marring her face, this was something of a disappointment to her, she had always imagined to be a dragonrider meant to be smart and brave and just -
better at everything.

"I don't think so. My uncle's fun - not smart. I think the dragons just have to like you."

"Oh." Lihona's answer surprised her. "I think I'll stay on the Sungazer, like Vaheri - and just travel up and down every Turn."

"Do you need to study hard for that?" Lihona asked, always having an eye for the easiest path.

"I don't know." Linli shrugged, "I think Vaheri is smart, she always knows what needs to be done. And always finds work for me to do when I don't want to do anything but play."

"Oh. Oh no. I was supposed to be helping in the galley after we got underway," Lihona said, suddenly remembering at the mention of the woman who had set the task. Lihona got to her feet. "I _forgot_!"

Shaking her head Linli released her hold on the rail, "She won't be happy." She followed Lihona along the deck, "S'pose I could help," she conceded loudly, "that might make her a little happier, since I finished all the chores she had for me, this morning."

"I'm _sure_ she'd like it if you helped," Lihona assured the younger girl. "Really sure."

Last updated on the September 17th 2007

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Just Sad