Reminiscing On An Old Life

Writers: Stasha
Date Posted: 12th March 2008

Characters: Alasha
Description: The sisters enjoy their reunion before reality catches up with them
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 8, day 18 of Turn 4

Rhasha groomed Hedona, brushing through her waves of black hair and admiring its soft texture. She recalled a time when she was younger when she would brush Hedona's hair, as Hedona tended to Edana, and little Alasha... Rhasha released a soft laugh. The young girl would play with her own hair, brushing through Rhasha's own thick locks, the same dark brown nearly black locks that they had all inherited from their mother. Alasha would fold small braids out of the strands of Rhasha's hair before clumping them all together, and then added small clips to accent her master piece. Oh, it had been so long ago, yet Rhasha continued to dwindle on the sweet memories. She cast a glance at her youngest sister as she cared for their mother, cleaning the grime that had collected on her skin from the journey.

Alasha had already been taken care off. She was dressed in her sleep ware, while her own thick locks where braided down her back for the night, and her skin glowed with the fresh oils that had been applied to it. She took the cloth and rubbed the soft sweet sands into her mother's back, removing any imperfections the soil and sweat could have caused. She was so soft and elegant for her age, Alasha noted to herself. She only hoped that she could age as gracefully as her mother had.

"So why did you run away?" Rhasha finally dared to ask her sisters, and their mother.

Alasha and Hedona quickly turned to their sister, but neither of them knew what to say. Murasha, however, as alway, remained composed as she answered. "Your father was going to sell Alasha as a mistress."
Murasha would remain truthful with the girl, for Rhasha had come to the point in her life that she understood what a family meant. She would understand.

"What?" But how could he do that? Rhasha looked to Alasha who only cast her eyes down. She could hear the gentle comforting croons from the bronze firelizard that rested on the furs of their bed. "How can this be?"

"The prospects that he brought found out that Alasha's father was a dragonrider," though Murasha would not mention that she was the one that told them.

Alasha and Hedona said nothing.

"And I'm assuming that they did not take it well." Was it that hard for a man to swallow his pride and see her sister for what she was? A beautiful, kind, caring young woman? Rhasha sent an apologetic glance at her little sister. "So why a mistress?"

"Desamin has had difficulty _ridding_ himself of her, and he could not find suitors for Hedona and Edana, so he thought he would do the next best thing." Murasha could see the look of disapproval that shadowed her daughter's face.

"How dare he," she revolted. "Oh, Alasha," the dear thing. She felt so sorry for the girl that she had to go through the ordeal.

"They would have taken her by this morning, if I hadn't intervened."
Murasha stood from the water. Alasha was done with her now. Murasha took the closest linen and wrapped herself in it as she removed herself from the tub. "Alasha would be gone by now, and Faranth only knows what."

Rhasha turned away. She did not want to hear it anymore. Instead she buried herself back into grooming her sister's hair. She could hear no more, yet she had to know. "And where will you go?"

"The weyr, with my family," Alasha finally spoke for herself.

"And a life as a dragonrider?" Rhasha was not amused by the path her sister was deciding to go down. "Hedona? What about you?" Was her other sister also driving herself down the same course?

"Me? No," she was only in it for the adventure. "Rhasha, my life doesn't belong in the cothold. Alasha and I, we're meant to fly free like the dragons." Hedona could only beam proudly at her sister. "Her life belongs in the weyr on the back of a dragon, and mine," she turned to her mother with a grin across her face, forcing the dimples in her cheeks. "I belong on the road. You know, see the world as I've always wanted to."

Rhasha never would have been able to make the same choice that her sisters were choosing to follow. Life in the weyr? Life holdless? Both were a life that so many holdbred looked down upon, but she still loved both her sisters and would respect the decisions that they made.
"Where will you go? What will you do?"

"I don't know," Hedona respond, but she had an idea. "I was thinking of Dolphin Cove Weyr, so I can be in the Dolphin Hall." She had heard so much about the weyr and the dolphins. She was completely captivated by the idea, even in her youth, and she longed to see it some day, traveling by dolphin fin exploring the rest of Pern.

Hedona was much like Alasha, Rhasha realized, free and alive in a way that most women in the hold only dreamed of. "I understand," she replied as she pushed the lose strands of hair away from Hedona's face and kissed her forehead. "Well, you'd better get your rest for your journey tomorrow."

Alasha and Murasha also bid Rhasha goodnight before she departed from the room, and for the first time in the beginning of their journey they felt safe knowing they had some one else to trust.

Last updated on the March 12th 2008

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Reminiscing On An Old Life