Warning

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 30th August 2010

Characters: U'kaiah, Telemon
Description: Telemon confronts U'kaiah about what happened in the Gold Flight
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 5 of Turn 5
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik

There were things in the Weyrlife that Telemon did not like. Like this
poor girl who had been brought in. She had gotten a brunt of the
disappointment of a bronzerider after Gold flight. Although her physical
injuries turned out to be less severe than first glance indicated, she
was pretty shaken up and in shock. He had learned to look at the other
way, but some things you could not tolerate. At least the man in
question deserved reprimands from the weyrhealer. When he heard it had
been U'kaiah, he cringed. He considered the wingleader as almost friend
in some level. He sent a message, summoning U'kaiah to his office. As a
Weyrhealer, he did have some authority over the riders, so if he
summoned someone, that someone better show up in his office.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why Telemon had wanted to talk to
him. He didn't even bother with formal greetings. "How is she?" The
bronzerider asked as he walked into the Weyrhealer's office.

"Sleeping right now. Her injuries turned out to be mostly emotional.
What did you do to that poor girl?" the glance he gave was not friendly.

U'kaiah did not like the Weyrhealer's tone. "I'm not sure."

"There is nothing that excuses a rough handling of a woman, if she is
not agreeable," Telemon said.

"It was a Flight, Telemon. I don't expect _you_ to understand," the
bronzerider said, bristling at the accusation.

"The flight doesn't give you a right to manhandle someone. How come I
don't have more patients like her. How all the other bronzerider's seem
to be able to control themselves?" The healer was getting angry.

"I don't know what happened, Telemon. I don't know how it started. I
don't know if it was her, or if it was me. I don't know if it was her
first time in the circle and she didn't expect the intensity. I don't
know if I scared her somehow. All I know is that you can't _fight_
someone with that kind of dragonlust." U'kaiah was more than willing to
admit that he had done it, and that he had been angry when she started
fighting him. But he hadn't been in any frame of mind to stop himself.

"You seem to have a problem of controlling your anger," Telemon said. He
was not giving any signs of mellowing towards the bronzerider.

"_What_?!" U'kaiah growled raising it. "I seem to be having no problem
controlling it now! Just where did you get that from?"

"I've read your history. You beat a fellow dragonrider," Telemon
replied.

"Everyone has a breaking point, especially when they're already
emotionally fragile. I had just lost someone very dear to me, and he
pushed me too far. N'vanik wanted to get a reaction out of me, and I
was in no state to take it." Telemon hadn't been here at the time. If
he had, he would known Jaela, he would have known N'vanik, and he would
have understood. "Yes, I exploded, but does the history also tell you
that not long after _I_ was attacked by a dragonrider, and I took the
beating without throwing a single punch? You base my emotional
instability on _one_ fight in a lifetime?"

"No, I don't. But some people live whole the life without single fight,"
Telemon said.

"Well, then, half the Weyr is emotionally unstable, Telemon, if that's
your measure of a person's mental health." Even here, fights were not
uncommon. Boys would always be boys.

"Yes, that's exactly the impression I've got," Telemon snorted wryly.
Sometimes he wondered if Weyr really was a right place for him.

And U'kaiah could not have been the first dragonrider Telemon had dealt
with who had hurt a girl in a Flight. "I swear on Kalamath's bronze
hide, I didn't hit, bite or scratch that girl. I admit, I did my
business even while she was fighting me, but it was the Dragonlust, not
some mental sickness, that drove me to do it. You can ask any woman
I've ever bedded, and there have been many, and not one of them can
accuse me of being anything but a gentleman with them. I have never
hurt a woman, in need or in anger, in Flight or out. I am very sorry
that it happened. From the moment I realized what happened I knew I had
a lot of apologizing to do. But I am not a bad man."

"Perhaps you should tell that to her," Telemon said. "I wonder if she
believes you."

"I did apologize. But you and I both know there is nothing I can say to
her that can take back what happened." And Faranth knew U'kaiah was
going to always have that experience in the back of his mind whenever a
green or gold rose to mate.

Telemon nodded. "Consider this a warning. I don't want any more
incidents like this. If it occurs, I _will_ ground you," he said
sternly.

U'kaiah was not in the least intimidated by the threat. "If I ever hurt
a woman outside a Flight you can ground me and take my knots, too. But
don't you dare think you can endanger the lives of my wingriders because
of your holdbred ideas of right and wrong. You have never experienced
the power of dragonlust, _especially_ in a gold Flight. Sometimes the
Flights just go wrong. You can ground me from flying in a Wing, but you
can't stop my dragon from rising to mate. That girl knew there were
risks when she stood in that circle, and if she didn't, she sure as
Faranth hatched didn't belong there."

"You're rigth, I'm holdbred and I have holdbred ideas and there's
nothing wrong with them," Telemon said. All his explaining was just
making the healer more angry. Shards, was he now judging the Weyrhealer?

The bronzerider, however, felt completely justified in his opinion.
"When it interferes with your ability to do your job as a _Weyr_healer,
than yes, there is something wrong with them. When they lead you to
make foolish mistakes, such as grounding a _Wingleader_ for a Flight,
then yes, there _is_ something wrong with them! You don't just ground
Wingleaders on a whim. You don't endanger a wing out of vengeance for
something I had no control over!"

"I'm not grounding you ...yet! Just warning you." Shards, hasn't he
heard a thing he said? He couldn't keep the irritation out of his voice.
All the discomforts and doupts he had had since his arrival to the Weyr
were now resurfacing. It was not the first time he wondered if he was in a
wrong place. However, hearing someone else voice it, made him bristle.

U'kaiah gritted his teeth, feeling like they were going around in
circles. "And I am telling you that your warning does _nothing_. You
can't change what happens in a Flight just by grounding someone. That's
something _no_ one can control, not even the rider!"

"I don't think we are getting anyway. You better leave my office,"
Telemon said, taking a control of his temper. That much for being
friends with dragonriders. He worked long days and nights to keep them
alive and this was the gratitude he got!

U'kaiah was more than happy to oblige. Telemon obviously didn't know
what he was talking about in this case. It was unfortunate what
happened, and the bronzerider felt incredibly guilty and remorseful for
what that girl went through, but if he had been himself, it would never
have happened. The Weyrhealer just could not understand, or was
unwilling to listen. With a shake of his head, the Wingleader did as he
was told.

Last updated on the September 22nd 2010

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Warning