Have You Heard?

Writers: Ames, Paula
Date Posted: 17th June 2013

Characters: U'das, Uetia, U'fouinn
Description: Uetia goes to tell U'fouinn the news.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 13, day 16 of Turn 6
Notes: Simultaniously/follows: Wing meeting and Words out of my mind; Mentioned: R'sedel, D'arvn

Uetia did knock but didn't wait for answer before bursting in to
U'fouinn's and D'arvn's weyr.
"U'fouinn!" she called her cousin, not caring if she was disturbing or
what he was doing with his mate. Her voice carried urgency.

He heard the call, recognized the voice, and heard the urgency to her
words. "Uetia?" He called out, moving out of the bedroom area, his
shirt in his hand. "What's wrong?" He frowned. He could sense her
anxiety. His heart clutched in his chest as he waited for whatever the
news must be.

"Have you heard, about your father, uncle U'das?" Uetia asked.

U'fouinn frowned. He hadn't talked to U'das in a few days. What had
happened? "What happened Uetia?" He could feel his heart and mind
racing as he thought of possible outcomes and injuries.
"He's going blind," Uetia just blurted the words out. She was herself still
in shock after finding it out.
"And if he's not told you yet, he hasn't told about it for his other
children either. Damn stuborn bronzeriders."

"What?" U'fouinn replied. "You're joking? U'das is going blind? I don't
believe you. How is this possible? How did you find out?" The questions
just came pouring out of him as he tried to understand exactly what Uetia
was telling him. He knew U'das was getting up there in years, but he still
could have many years fighting Thread ahead of him, but not if he was going
blind.

"I wish I were joking. Obviously it's some sort of gradual thing, your
sight just gets worse and worse. I mean, I knew he used glasses to read but
I had no idea it was that bad," Uetia said, pacing back and forth and
tugging her short blond hair.

U'fouinn contemplated her words for a few moments. "If he's losing his
sight, what will that mean for him as Wingleader?" He wondered aloud.

Uetia shrugged and shook her head, "I don't know, but probably means it's
over," she sounded gloomy.

"What? That can't be!" U'fouinn declared rather loudly. He was shaken to
his core. Would U'das do something stupid like take Zackariath /between/?
_That_ thought sent his heart racing.

"We have to go to him _now!_" He didn't wait for her to respond as he
headed out of his weyr and called for Amizth to find U'das and Zackariath.
He burst into the room where U'das was without knocking or even stopping to
think.

"You go! I go to Far Island to inform the rest!" Uetia called after him,
not sure if he heard her. She contacted Sirjath and asked: ** Speak to
Zudorth and ask if it's all right to come.** Last she wanted was to burst
in there middle of a a Fall.

U'das had just gotten R'sedel out and was cleaning off the glasses when
U'foiunn just bursted in. "What?" he stared him in disbelief.

U'fouinn had the looked of one half-crazed. He marched up to his father,
eyeing him up and down as though to check that he was still there.

"Uetia told me about your eyes. What's going on? I don't know what to
believe." He knew his voice was louder than it normally was, but the
greenrider was amass with worry and anxiety as the uncertainty of things
weighed heavily upon him.

"I have degenerative eye sickness which slowly makes me blind," U'das
replied. "It's already progressed to the point where I don't recognize
people from a distance. I can't continue as a Wingleader."

U'fouinn just stood there for a moment, gaping at his father. "Eye
sickness?" He'd heard of things but never really bothered to pay any
attention. "Can you see me now?" He knew it had to be a foolish question,
but for some reason U'fouinn needed to know the answer. "How bad is it?"

"Of course I can," U'das replied. "But if you have some embroidery in your
tunic, I can't see them," he continued. "There are better days and worse days.
I think being tired affects it."

U'fouinn breathed a sigh of relief. He felt a bit foolish for his over
reaction.

"I...well...I was ... worried when I heard the news," was all he found he
could say. How could he express that he'd feared something far worse could
happen if U'das decided to end things here and now?

"I'm touched," U'das said and meant it.

U'fouinn smiled slightly. Then added. "Well, just don't go doing anything
rash or stupid before you come to see me, okay? And if you need _anything_,
anything at all, you know D'arvn and I as well as our dragons will be here
for you." U'fouinn meant every word of it. He cared deeply for this man,
even through the rougher times when he'd been growing up. U'das was family,
and family always came first.

Last updated on the June 22nd 2013

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Have You Heard?