So Much is Different

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 21st August 2007

Characters: Arateyka, L'car
Description: Arateyka catches up with an old friend, L'car.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 5, day 19 of Turn 4

"Hey! L'car!" The smith journeywoman jogged along the riverbank to catch up with the bluerider. "Slow down. I'm wearing work boots and I'm going to dislocate a knee running like this."

Reluctantly, the man halted, waiting for her to catch up. "You need something?"

"No, I don't," Arateyka said firmly. "I am checking up on somebody I don't see very often. Somebody I used to know quite well."

L'car snorted derisively, eying her askance rather than turning the scarred side of his face toward her. "So now I need looking after?"

"Not by me," the smith said, matching her pace to his. "So, good afternoon, L'car. How are you today?"

Taken aback by her response, the bluerider paused before replying in a more civil tone. "I've been as well as can be expected. And you?"

"I'm as well as can be expected, too," Arateyka said, finding, as she always did, that the phrase was meaningless. _What_ was expected, and why? "I've been seeing you around more, lately. Here and there. Have you come out of hiding?"

"I've been pronounced as good as I'll ever be and cleared to return to wing duty," L'car responded. "And I wasn't in hiding - I was recuperating."

Arateyka didn't believe that for a moment. "Perhaps some people recuperate more visibly, then. It's like you disappeared for _four_Turns_, L'car. If I hadn't heard the occasional report from Tamaca I would have thought you were -" Dead, too. But she couldn't say it. No matter how well they'd got on before those first 'Falls that had changed everybody's lives. Give him time, people had said. He'd like to be alone, others had suggested. And slowly she had become used to not asking about him, not asking if he wanted to see people.

"I had other things on my mind besides visiting," was the bluerider's retort. "Besides, I don't think most people would care to _see_ me." As he spoke, he turned, the scarred side of his face and body now evident.

"Is your eye all right?" Arateyka asked practically, surveying the damage to her friend's face. "I know the goggles are supposed to save eyes but I can't ever believe that Thread would be stopped by hide and glass."

He was surprised by her reaction, so calm compared to how others responded to him. His reply was slightly more civil, though certainly not friendly. "My vision is fine, but I must use special drops and ointment to make up for lack of tears. If I don't do that, my eyes tire more easily and are susceptible to infections."

"Huh." Arateyka considered that. "Would wearing your goggles help? Around during the day, I mean. You know, stop the evaporation."

He shook his head. "The healers tried something like that but found that having the same moisture within the goggles created more problems. The germs could breed too easily within that heat. Besides that, that would restrict vision in my un-injured eye."

"I guess they do know their stuff then. How's - ah. Sorry. Your blue's name escapes me."

"Tulenth. And he's fine."

"Really fine, L'car? Or not going to burden me with the truth sort of 'fine'?" She couldn't remember L'car being like this before his injury and uneasily thought that she ought to have tried harder to keep in touch during his long convalescence. "You said you're going back to the Wings, so he's obviously flying."

L'car turned to her with eyes blazing. "As I said, he's fine. He has some scarring and he needed to exercise his wing to keep it from stiffening through the scar tissue that formed as it healed. But through hard work, he's fine."

"Thank you," Arateyka said, stopping in her tracks glaring at the bluerider. "Now we've got over the tricky bits, do you think we can go back to just talking? Like we used to?"

His mouth worked as he started to reply, stopped, started again. "Like we used to? Don't you get it - everything has changed."

"Has it?" It was hard to believe that the friendship that had lasted through childhood could just disappear - unless he _wanted_ it to.

He turned to face her once again. "Have you even looked at me? Really looked? How can you question the changes?"

"You think your _scars_ have changed everything?" Arateyka said incredulously. "After four Turns of apparently not wanting to see anybody you think _scars_ matter? If you'd been more sociable, L'car, you might have noticed that Threadscore is becoming the norm around here."

"Yes, but when I look at my scars, I'm reminded that _I_ lived."

"Lots of people lived."

"My brother didn't."

"Neither did my sister."

He paused, looking away from her, torn between his guilt at remembering her loss and his desire to hold on to his anger. His voice rasped as he replied. "We ... we handle things differently."

"Yeah, we do. And it's a sad things to admit but Ykana wasn't the loss to our family that T'din was to yours." She edged around so that his looking away was negated. "Do you want to be friends again, L'car?"

Friends. It was a while since he had considered anyone friend, but the idea of it ... He nodded. "I'll try. I just ... so much is different now."

"I know." Arateyka nodded and repeated again, "I know."

Last updated on the October 13th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

So Much is Different