Keep Trying

Writers: Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 12th July 2014

Characters: Ninaine, N'call
Description: The bronzerider tries to be friendly but things turn wrong as always with the hard headed little greenrider
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 6 of Turn 7

Ninaine

N'call

Luneth was finally asleep and Ninaine breathed a sigh. As the days
passed, the little green was getting to be not-so-little, but had lost
none of her insistence that Ninaine be with her at all times; she
hadn't even been to the dining cavern since the Hatching. The one time
she tried to go in without her, Luneth had thrown such a tantrum of
distress that she had simply had to turn around and go back to the
barracks. She ate her food there now, with Luneth pressed tightly
against her leg as if worried of a repeat occurrence. But now she
slept and Ninaine slipped away from the barracks to go outside. As
much as she loved her, Ninaine needed a few moments away.

N'call had been working in the crafting room for several days and
finally had his gitar finished. He sat in the dining hall with a plate
of meatrolls and fruit while he strung the instrument. "Nina," he
called when he saw the greenrider come in. "Good to see you," he added
as he plucked the out of tune strings.

She blinked and turned, her brow knit. The bronzerider was looking at
her, but she'd never been called by a nickname, so she couldn't be
sure. "My name's Ninaine, bronzerider N'call." Her voice was polite,
without inflection. Perhaps he had simply forgotten.

"Sorry," his smile belayed any hint of contrition. "Force of habit,
dragons shorten your name which is why I'm N'call instead of
Nicallen."

"For men perhaps. Luneth doesn't shorten mine." She admitted. "But its
perfectly alright, Bronzerider. I'm not offended."

A small smile quirked the side of his mouth. She certainly was a
prickly little thing. No wonder they were having difficulty with her
and her dragon in the current class. "Hasn't anyone ever called you
Nina? Its just a nickname meant to indicate friendliness and
camaraderie. And you don't need to call me bronzerider or My Lord in
the Weyr. N'call is just fine."

"No, no one ever has." She affirmed lightly and folded her hands
primly in front of her. She tilted her head and arched a brow. "Use of
a title conveys respect. I would not be so bold as to address you
informally. You outrank me a great deal, Bronzerider N'call."

"I didn't ask you to be bold, nor do I expect you to be, Greenrider
Ninaine," he replied. "You are far too concerned with _not_ being a
part of the Weyr society to even take a compliment when it is
offered." His face was deadpan as he looked at her. All humor gone he
said "sit down."

She immediately sat, but spoke. "I can't stay long, Bronzerider
N'call. I'll have to go back to Luneth soon." She adjusted her skirts
and laid her hands primly in her lap. "If I've offended you, I
apologize."

"I know," he said seriously. "I have Haloth listening for her and
he'll tell me as soon as she stirs or begins to wake." He tilted his
head and his eyes narrowed. "But before I release you to return to
whatever it is you were doing we will get something straight between
us. I will acknowledge your preference and call you Ninaine and you
will extend me the same courtesy and call me N'call because it is what
I wish you to do as long as we are at the Weyr. If at some point in
the future we visit a hold for some reason _then_ you may call me
bronzerider or My Lord. Are we clear?"

She blinked rapidly and then slowly nodded. "Yes. We're clear." She
didn't understand why he was so upset; she'd just been trying to be
proper and polite. It was a little frustrating, trying to be so at the
weyr. People just took proper civility so _poorly_.

"Say it," he said with a level gaze. "Say my name." There were so many
lessons this one needed to learn and she didn't even realize that part
of her problems stemmed from her need to cling to hold ways.

She blinked again and slowly spoke. "N'call." She knew his name but
speaking it without an honorific seemed to be far too familiar. Why
was he so insistent on that? Did he not want respect? He was a
bronzerider after all.

"Better," he said and his face relaxed slightly. "There are new rules
for you to learn here at the Weyr and you'd best learn from your
Weyrlingmasters girl. Stop fighting everyone and everything." he
warned. "If you persist in clinging to your Hold ways, you and your
dragon won't survive. And that's the truth of the matter. Haloth is
worried about his daughter and her rider."

His eyes unfocused for a moment. "She's beginning to wake, You're dismissed."

Ninaine schooled the frown away from her face. She wasn't fighting
anyone. She was simply behaving as she ought. Could no one see that?
She rose and then spoke softly. "If everyone keeps trying to force me
to be something I'm not, then we won't survive either. Excuse
me...N'call." She curtsied and turned on her heel, resolving to simply
eat in the barracks from now on.

"You'll be forced," he sighed. "One way or another, and that's the
problem," he said softly as she left. Stubborn little chit didn't
understand a blasted thing they were trying to teach her. Moreover she
judged them all as wrong in their own beliefs because of course at her
age she knew everything and it was all black and white, right and
wrong.

He shook his head suddenly feeling a bit old as he thought about her
future. When her lifemate finally rose the girl would be raped and he
pitied the rider who won that flight. It wouldn't be him, that much he
knew for he would take Haloth out of the weyr rather than be that man.

"I'm sorry Ressa," he said under his breath as he remembered a
weyrling in his own class who had gone much the same way. Her end
hadn't been pretty. "I'll keep trying. thats all I can do."

He signaled one of the drudges to bring him a drink. He needed one.

Last updated on the July 14th 2014

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