The Benefits of Pointless and Silly

Writers: Noola, Paula
Date Posted: 27th April 2010

Characters: Im're, Elleanna
Description: Elleanna discovers that she still has a friend.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 8, day 24 of Turn 5
Notes: This follows 'The Why of It' and 'Lucky.' I'm gonna be turning
Elleanna into a real girl sometime soon, so who else wants to berate
her for her foolishness, give her a cold (or warm) shoulder or
whatever?

Elleanna pushed her food about on her plate and sighed. Her fellow
weyrlings - well, former fellow weyrlings, she supposed - were giving
her the cold shoulder for the most part since the disastrous flight
lesson. In fact, most people were ignoring her except to give her
disappointed or disgusted looks. Word traveled quickly in a Weyr, at
the speed of dragon-talk, in fact. Even the lowliest of drudges knew
about it before nightfall.

Im're really didn't know how he should treat Elleanna. He wouldn't
have dreamed for doing something like that. Yet part of him felt sorry
for her, when he saw how she was pushed aside and ignored. He glanced
her, she looked so lonely. He stood and chewed his lips, wondering if
he should join her or not. Would he get branded too, spending time
with her? On the otherhand, since he came from Dragonsfall, he hadn't
that many friends here and there were people who thought he had stolen
their dragon. So he knew exactly how she felt.

The greenrider noticed Im're staring and tried to ignore it, though
her eyes shifted over to meet his more than once of their own accord.
They'd been friends before this and she wondered now if he was going
to shun her like everyone else was. She found the idea more painful
than she thought she ought to. After all, what was one more person
thinking the worst of her? Except that it was -one more- person
thinking the worst of her, and a friend at that. She felt tears sting
the backs of her eyes as she stabbed a slice of baked tuber with more
vigor than necessary.

That one look did it. Never mind what others thought, he couldn't
leave a friend alone. "Is this seat taken?" he asked with a smile,
sliding to sit the chair opposite of her.

She shook her head, swallowing a bit to get her emotions back under
control. "You sure you want to sit with me though? I almost killed my
dragon, didn't you hear?" Her tone was bitter, but she was really
getting tired of being punished. Yes, what she did was wrong. Faranth
knows she'd change it if she could. But it seemed like no one was
willing to consider she might be sorry.

"Yes, I heard about it," Im're replied.

She pushed some food around on her plate, unable to look at him as she
asked, "And?"

"And what? You're punishment was also made public knowledge," he
looked her seriously. "I felt it was harsh enough, you don't need
social isolation on top of that."

Elleanna met his eyes and couldn't see any evidence of deceit in them.
She smiled, "Thank you. You might catch some flack for this," she
added, her smile fading.

"I tend to catch flack anyway, coming from Dragonsfall Weyr and having
this," he fingered his orange-red hair. It was the exact colour of
fingerroot.

She brightened again, "Well, thank you." She regarded the bluerider
for a moment as she took a bite of food. "You know, I kind of like
your hair. It's interesting." Her own hair was a very ordinary brown.

"It's a family thing. My father has exactly same coloured hair and
some of my siblings too," Im're told her. He hoped his chatter would
take her mind out of her current predicament.

"I bet the bunch of you together is a sight to see! The only really
striking thing about my family is that one of my brothers is very
tall." She grinned, "I mean, -really- tall. He stands at least two
heads taller than everyone else in the family. The rest of us are
average or on the short side. It's just a really good thing he looks
so very much like our father, because otherwise people might wonder."
Part of her wondered why she was rambling about her brother, but
mostly she was just so glad to talk about anything even semi-normal,
that she was running with it.

"Yes. Some of my siblings do have mother's hair, which is ordinary
-brown as she herself calls it," Im're nodded.

Elleanna grinned, "Like mine?"

"Yes, about the same, perhaps tad bit lighter shade," Im're studied
her hair with mock-seriousness.

"Well, I feel for her then, and your brown headed siblings. It must be
a trial to be noticed next to all the striking red heads in the
family."

"Yeah, s'pose so," Im're just shrugged, being one of the red-heads.

Elleanna smiled brightly at her dinner companion, feeling more
grateful than she could express. Their conversation was a little
pointless and silly, but that was the point. After everything, she
needed some pointless and silly. It wouldn't change what she'd done or
make anyone else forget it, but it did take the edge off a little.

Im're replied to her smile, happy he could cheer her up a little.

Last updated on the May 3rd 2010

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The Benefits of Pointless and Silly