Reflections

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 26th June 2008

Characters: Eliste, Reitha
Description: Eliste makes some admissions to Reitha regarding her rather...peculiar love life.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 10, day 17 of Turn 4

She stared at the river. She had been going down near it to watch it almost every day, save when it rained. It soothed her, its constant motion both predictable and unpredictable. It was a friend, a companion, something she knew would always be there.

Fog and Nico had left. The boat had gone, but they would return.
Already her heart ached. It had ached before, but now that things were out in the open, their feelings, even her feelings for them, it was worse. She wasn't sure what to do. She cared for them both deeply, but she was afraid. And she knew she didn't have forever. She would be leaving after the baby was born, and that made her heart burn even more.
So she sat, thinking, brooding, wondering, wishing as she had been doing so much over the last sevenday.

"Watching the river, dear?" the Holder's wife said as a greeting. She had been looking for the girl for a while, in between the many tasks she had to do during the day. Although she wasn't in the confidence of the young men of the Sungazer she could certainly tell that at least two of them had a lot of on their mind, and it was the two who appeared to be especially attached to their the latest guest at Nettleweed Dock.
Perhaps the Ellina wouldn't have anything to say that would explain the way Fog and Nico were looking - but perhaps she would.

Eliste turned quickly toward the sound, surprised, but then relaxed.
She offered a smile to the woman who had become a friend to her. "Yes.
I find it soothing, especially when I have a lot to think about."

"It's like a family member to us, of course, but some people never learn to love it the way we do." Reitha settled herself beside the pregnant young woman. "How are you today, Ellina?"

"I'm all right." Eliste stated slowly, then added softly.
"Just...thinking."

"Anything you'd care to share?"

"I guess I'm just a bit...confused. Concerned." Scared. Frightened.
Add those in too. Eliste felt a jumble of emotions and she was doing her best to sift through them.

"What are you confused about?" Reitha prompted when the silence dragged out.

Colour crept over Eliste's cheeks and her gaze lowered. "Well...I..."
She stuttered for a moment, uncertain how to explain her dilemma and finally just spit out, "Men."

Reitha tried not to smile. It hadn't been all that difficult to guess.
"Sungazer men?" she suggested.

The colour upon Eliste's face darkened and she nodded slowly. "Yes."

Again the silence lengthened. "Fog?"

Another nod was accompanied by a soft, "And Nico." Eliste reached up to place her hands upon her cheeks, as if to hide the colour.

Reitha couldn't help but laugh. "Oh dear. Both of them?"

Eliste shifted uncomfortably, uncertain how to take Reitha's reaction.
"It was...well, they came to me and..." How could she explain this?

"There were never two men interested in me," Reitha commented, still chuckling. "I'm quite envious."

"I'm not sure what to do." Eliste admitted, almost squirming in her discomfort.

"First things first, Ellina," Reitha said, nodding at the roundness of the young woman's unborn child. "Are you a widow?"

Eliste hadn't told Reitha anything about herself, about her situation and it was a fair question. Slowly, the younger woman shook her head.
"That is part of the problem." She said softly.

"Well, as much fun as it seems to have two men interested in you, I think you had better do things in the right order. If you're not free then that needs to be the first thing you deal with." Reitha's tone was firm. Being the Holder's wife wasn't all about supervising the running of the domestic side of the Hold. All sorts of troubles arose from ignoring the commonest rules of society and Reitha didn't want those sorts of troubles at Nettleweed Dock, no matter how sympathetic she was to the young woman's situation.

"Oh yes, I know that it's just..." Eliste faltered. There was a lot she hadn't said a lot she hadn't told. Reitha didn't understand, for she didn't know her situation, and she didn't know Helvar. "I'm just ... frightened."

"Of Fog and Nico?"

"Of my husband."

"He can't get to you here," Reitha reassured her. "But if you have any intention of staying around here or - to look far into your future -
living aboard the Sungazer you will need to resolve that issue."

"That's just it, Reitha," Eliste explained, finally looking at the woman. "Things were never supposed to be this way. I was going to the seaport, I was supposed to be far, far away from here. But then I got the contractions and since then...since then things have changed."

"And you can stay here and have the babe and then carry on with your plan, if that's still what you want." Reitha surveyed the young woman.
"Is it?"

Eliste's face tightened, worry crossing over it. "No. It's not what I still want. It's what must happen, though."

"Work for what you _want_ to happen, Ellina, even if you need to keep those other options in mind."

"You don't understand." Eliste breathed and as the thought of her husband and what he might do if he found her, much less if he found out that she was being persued by another man crossed her mind, she trembled visibly.

"Well, you can tell me or tell somebody who already knows, but sometime you're going to have to do something to clear up your situation."

"It's complicated." It was all Eliste was ready to reveal, for the moment anyway. "I'll think it over." She had promised Nico to do that much at least.

"And ask for help if you need it. Please."

Eliste nodded slowly. "I will."

Last updated on the June 28th 2008

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