A Thousand Journeys

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 15th August 2007

Characters: Rahona, Jesten
Description: Rahona sits with Jesten as the Sungazer leaves Emerald Falls Hold.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 17 of Turn 4

"You still find it exciting," Rahona said.

The old man nodded, quite taken with the woman his son had bought home as his wife. "I do."

"Even when you're not ... completely in charge?"

"Hardly in charge at all now," Jesten said, satisfied that it was so. "Lineal's worked hard these last sevendays." He would have liked to be in the pilot-house, watching his son and the pilot steer the Sungazer out from the wharf at Emerald Falls, but the womenfolk were fussing over him, trying to keep him from using the stairs. Making him take breaks and sit down to rest during the day. They cared, he knew, and they were trying to keep him going even if sitting in the early morning sun watching the Hold recede as they got underway wasn't the way he wanted to spend the limited time left to him.

"Yes, he has. Worried about taking over."

Jesten looked away from the Hold to study the woman. Rahona. She was older than his son, but not by very much. Not pretty exactly, but there was nothing wrong with her rather ordinary looks. Plain, his mother would have said. Green eyes, though. And his grandchildren had them too. "Are you happy here?" he asked, following his own thoughts.

"Very." Rahona had no doubt her being settled into riverboat life was almost as important to the old man as Lineal's ability as captain. If she left, Lineal would too. He had promised that, and assured her that his father knew how he felt. "I'll stay, Jesten," she promised. "The children might go back to Stand for Hatchings – as is their right – but I'll stay. This is my home now."

The captain nodded, pleased that she was so certain but unable to refrain from voicing the reason for his caution. "Marrying-in isn't easy. It's such a small community; so very involved in each other's business. Even men and women from other riverboats struggle to adjust to their new home."

Rahona nodded. "I can understand why." She grinned. "In my case there are compensations, though. At the Weyr, with Lineal at sea, we saw him so seldom. Once every couple of months. Here he's with us every day. The children see him more than they would have had he taken work at the Weyr. He's always there; they can see him working, they can work alongside him."

Jesten chuckled. "That's the children. What about you?"

"Oh, yes. I like having him around, too," the weyrbred woman said with a laugh. "Ahh! Here's the sleepy-head."

Jesten watched her pat her shoulder, encouraging the fluttering firelizard to land. It was a beautiful thing, even if it never proved of any practical use, and the enhancement to the Sungazer's reputation just by having such a creature aboard was enormous. Never mind that it would later have clutches of eggs for them to sell - Distribute, he corrected, having seen Rahona's frown when people talked about selling the eggs. Apparently there was more to finding a home for an egg than just accepting marks. Well, it wouldn't be his problem. The creature was young, yet, and he wouldn't be around much longer.

He looked back at the Hold. How many times had he pulled away this wharf in his life time? Thirteen or fourteen times a Turn, for seventy-six Turns? About a thousand. A thousand journeys up and down the Nettleweed River. Not a bad achievement, he thought. Something to be proud of. He felt like he had another couple to go, right now, sitting watching the Hold grow distant through the spray thrown up by the paddlewheel. Perhaps the women were right and he wouldn't feel that way if he kept using the stairs to the pilot house to check on things.

Nevertheless he was going to wander along there soon. Not so soon that Lineal thought he was worried about anything, but soon enough that he could tell how his son and the pilot were getting along.

"Look at that!"

The soft-spoken exclamation distracted him from his plans and he glanced first at Rahona where she sat with the young firelizard rubbing its muzzle against her cheek, and then to where the woman was looking.

He smiled. "Haven't you seen it before? It's a sunbow," he said, nodding at the arch of colours in the paddlewheel spray.

"A miniature rainbow."

"Yes. The same thing – with spray instead of rain. We can get them on any sunny day when the wheel is turning."

"It's beautiful – and just the thing."

"Just the thing?" he repeated as she looked away from the magic in the spray.

"I wanted a name for her that had something to do with the riverboat – a 'Sun' name."

"Sunbow?" It was a pretty name for a very pretty little creature. He nodded. "And it's a riverboat name, all right."

Last updated on the October 5th 2008

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