Denial

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 24th January 2006

Characters: Nineba, Parna
Description: Nineba and Parna talk about life and love
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 4 of Turn 3

The dirty water swirled around Nineba's wrists and soap bubbles clung to her forearms. For a moment she caught her reflection, washed out and pale, but it was quickly lost. "Nineba! Stop daydreaming. These aren't going to clean themselves."

The young woman sat back on her heels and ran a tired hand across her forehead. Her hair stuck to her wet hands and she sighed; this was not what she imagined her life would be like at Dragonsfall Weyr. At Dolphin Cove, things had been different. Marrying had cemented her life into an immutable path that lead nowhere... and then in the time it took to go /between/ she was in love again and everything changed. "Nineba!" Nineba looked up to see Parna giving her a sharp look above the steam. "Stop dawdling!"

"Sorry. It's just..." Nineba sighed.

"Just what?"

She looked back down at the dirty water, then plunged her hands back in.
Somewhere in that mess was a shirt with a wine stain on it. "Did you ever think that your life would be... different?"

Parna shook her head. "Not really." She picked up a pair of trousers and pushed them beneath the wash water. "I grew up knowing that I'd marry, and I did."

"But do you _love_ Loklan?" Nineba asked wistfully.

The other woman paused, then resumed scrubbing the trousers. Water sloshed against the side of the vat and her hair hid her face. "What does love have to do with it? We're living in a Pass, and it's our duty to our families and future generations to support the people around us. Loklan is a good match for me."

Nineba sighed and began scrubbing the shirt again. In the laundry, there were over four dozen large vats where unstained clothing was turned in the water using giant paddles. Stained clothing was scrubbed against boards and treated with various concoctions, and that was where she had been assigned by her request. When she'd first arrived at the Weyr she'd been too shy to go out much, but Parna had sought out her company almost right away. Sometimes Nineba wondered why - they didn't have too much in common.
She was a dreamer. Parna was too practical for that. "Sometimes I wonder if I've made a mistake, coming here."

Parna glanced up sharply. "Well... you did leave behind your husband. I bet he misses you."

"I don't mean him." Nineba wiped errant strands of hair out of her eyes a second time and tried to cement them behind her ear using a finger full of foam. "I know he does, and sometimes I miss him too. But then I think of K'far..." She sighed dreamily.

"I still can't believe you followed a _dragonrider_ here." Parna inspected the trousers again and judged the stain as faded as reasonably possible, and set them into the wet laundry basket. "They're the most fickle folk on Pern, and he's no exception."

"I know. But not K'far. He loves me."

"He has a funny way of showing it," Parna muttered.

Nineba stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "I know he does. He's just...
confused. It's a new Weyr and moving unsettles everyone. And I know he cares for me. When that greenrider attacked me out of jealousy he protected me."

Parna grunted and grabbed another shirt. "I suppose."

"And he rescued me from Dolphin Cove. And everyone says that actions speak louder than words, so that says a lot. Especially because he does tell me that he loves me."

"When?" Parna asked.

Nineba shrugged. "A lot. But he doesn't always have to _say_ it. Actions speak louder than words, remember?"

"And yet he's banished you from his weyr and he won't sit next to you at dinner. And he never comes down here to visit you."

"But he _loves_ me. I know he does. It's like in those stories - sometimes you don't know it at first, but then love sneaks up on you and just...
surrender. Poor K'far is so used to being in control he just doesn't understand what's happened to him. He just needs time. I know that's it.
He just needs time." Her voice wobbled a little as she spoke, and Nineba blinked back the tears that suddenly pricked at her eyes. A hollow pit opened up in her middle - sometimes, when she was loneliest and the night was at it's darkest, she sometimes _did_ wonder if she'd made a mistake.
But K'far...

Parna sighed and sat back on her heels. "Oh, darling. What are we going to do with you?" She reached out and put a water-logged hand on Nineba's arm, and the younger woman smiled. "It might not be too late to go back to Dolphin Cove, you know. To make things right with a man that _does_ care about you."

Nineba smiled and shook her head. "You really don't know a thing about love, do you Parna. I just need to be patient. Things will work out in the end."

"Just don't wait too long, darling," Parna said gravely. "Sometimes you have less time than you think."

Last updated on the January 24th 2006

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