A Time to Leave - Kaelu

[stolenhart]

T'ran glanced around the weyrbowl, taking in a sight he doubted he would see again. The reason for his capture was gone and he was leaving, with a fight or without one. He had a Weyr to return home too, a flight to win and somehow he had to free said Weyr from the Overholder. He shook his head sadly, Northern had some good points about it but he was Southern through and through and even if he hated some parts of his past, he had to support what he felt was right. He had never hated Northern riders but men have to do what they have to do and sometimes that leads to death.

"Well Knymawth do we say good bye or do we simply leave?"

[shouriko]

Since the moment she had been born, Kaelu always had to fight to garner attention. From her parents, her brothers, the people around her. She had always strived to be the center of attention and it earned her a loud voice and a 'look-at-me' stance. She hardly cared for rumors and always met them face on. Being Weyrwoman meant that she was fighting the whispers and the accusations about her all the time. Yet she was always proud. It just so happened that scandals would abound her whether she liked it or not and Kaelu would deal with them as necessary. In fact, she had one right now.

T'ran, Southern Weyrleader held captive, though partially of his own free will.

With Kyrieth on the sands, she spent many candlemarks there. The gold didn't really need her there, but she knew that it was a comfort for the protective dragon to have both eggs and rider together. Preparations, daily duties, meetings... so much to do. It was no wonder she took his leaving as if he were sneaking away. It was why she was confronting him as she always had confronted everything in her past.

"I'd hope you'd have the sense of honor that Southerner's are renowned for to say farewell to the one who has been assuring your protection." Kaelu was indeed there and there was a mixed tone of jesting and agitation there in her voice, a sort of sarcasm.

She wore her usual compliments of tight fitting pants and long-sleeved top with a loose sleeveless tunic and paired belts, one wide and tight on her waits and the other hanging loose on her hips. Today the longer hairs that hung just past her chin where tied a bit on both sides while the rest from the ears back hung free. Her hands were on her hips and she leaned to right, head cocked in the opposite direction and of course, she was smiling.

"Did you think you could go without being missed?" Kaelu couldn't help teasing a bit playfully with the older foreign rider. After all, there had been a time when he had tried constantly to court her and it seemed he finally gave up. She was not a girl who had a heart she could freely give anyway, it belonged to her Weyr.

[stolenhart]

"It is only a small matter of honor to leave without saying good-bye, something along the lines of an unspoken, 'I'll return soon', ", he replied, stepping around Knymawth's large head so he could look at Kaelu. The bronze tilted his own head so he could watch her. Like others of his kind, Knymawth respected strength, perhaps as an offshoot of T'ran, and often knew it when he saw it. While he could not verbalize whether he liked Kaelu or not, he didn't dislike her and that said a world of words to his rider.

T'ran adjusted his flight jacket, buttoning the bone buttons just so before taking his helmet and goggles in hand. "You miss me? Your aim is better than that", he replied, giving her a slightly crooked half smile. The scar on his face made it impossible for anything else but a strange smile. "I don't think you'll miss me in fact if you knew what I know you'd probably keep me here longer", which she would. She had not accomplished half so much as she thought she had. She had not changed his mind, only cemented more firmly in it what he had to do.

[shouriko]

Kaelu's smiled shortened and her deep green eyes flashed a little at T'ran. This was becoming a 'good bye' between friends to a 'good bye' between enemies who had a brief truce. She didn't like it. Her sense of duty was too great to ignore what he said, though, and she almost took it personally that it sounded like a threatening warning in his words. Her head bowed a little and she stood straight. Always straight-forward, always reactionary, always so easy to read her emotions...

"So when we meet again it will be the same as the first, in battle." Kaelu looked up, "You know in the past, every time Southern attacked Northern, we always rose up to meet you. We are happy to live in quiet peace, why can't you? I don't understand it, I don't." She shook her head and squeezed her eyes, hands balling up into fists as anger rose easily in her.

Why was it like this? How did it get to be like this? Dragonriders and Weyrs used to work together. Now they fought and scraped by so furiously.

"The words of women hold little sway in the ears of men. Our actions are always given sharp scrutiny, but I will not yield. My duty is to my Weyr." Kaelu could feel Kyrieth's strong and calming presence as she spoke the truth of her position. Even as Weyrwoman she was limited in what she could do and could only accept it and try to change it little by little.

Her green eyes softened and her smile was a little sad, "I understand your position and I know your character. You are only doing what you feel is right according to your duty to your Weyr. Yet for all our similarities and desires, for all we may wish for, none of it matters. We are enemies." Kaelu paused and titled her head to the side, her hands clasped together so tight that her knuckles were white. A part of her wanted to hug this man and she really didn't understand why.

Kaelu repeated the words again, a little more quietly, "We are enemies." Suddenly she laughed without warning, "But I will be foolish and naive and think and act as I want, because I am not afraid of what others say. I will miss you, T'ran, though I cannot say why. I just know that I will and it makes me sad to say these words." She paused and then said them again, "We are... enemies."

[stolenhart]

He lifted an eyebrow at her reaction to his words and hid a smile, always so easy to prod into anger, never reading anything into something but what must be the truth. "And did I say that hmmm? Did I say anything that might lead you to thinking I'd be back and on the attack when I came?", he asked, watching her ball her fists up. How she ever became Weyrwoman was beyond him, she was always so emotional, like a woman. He heard Knymawth snort behind him, and half turned to the dragon who had fixed his rider with a knowing eye.

"Are we really enemies?", he asked softly. He took a step towards her, "What will you say and do a turn from now when Kyrieth rises again and Knymawth comes to chase her? Will you still cry enemy? Will you cry enemy if you wake up and I'm in your bed? That would end this war, me being Weyrleader of two Weyrs. Hallek would not think to come to North as long as I wore Northern Knots. My oaths to him concern only Southern Weyr", he took another step forward and was in easy reach. "There are some in your Weyr who would welcome me as Weyrleader, despite my background. I've heard the talk in the Lower Caverns. Some of your riders do not consider me an enemy anymore. If Knymawth catches Kyrieth, what will you think?"

[shouriko]

"But you..." Her brows were bent and changed as the confusion swelled in her. Kaelu always thought she had a person figured out and found out she was wrong the hard way. It was just the way she was to jump to conclusions. She had not aged and experience enough in her life to learn to stay calm and think things through just yet. Kaelu finally manged a full sentence, "But why would you come back?"

All her assertiveness began to drain from her as T'ran continued to speak. Her green eyes widened a little and somehow she managed to keep herself from gaping like a fish. What he said, they were thought she had once had. That if the Weyrs were joined then Southern could possibly be freed from Hallek like T'ran wanted and there would be no more battles and needless losses like she wanted. She didn't dare to hope that was possibly, though, their Weyrs were enemies and by default it made them enemies though she would rather them be friends.

Furthermore, why was her heart beating so fast? Why did the blood flood her cheeks and her ears stop hearing? Kaelu didn't understand this and if she had, she would be furious with herself for allowing it to happen.

She quickly lowered her face, deeply wishing her hair was free so it could cover some of her face. Her hands were clasped together this time and she looked off to the side as she said quietly, "I'd prefer us not to be enemies, but by our association to our Weyrs we are. I do not like being enemies with a person I like."

Her eyes widened further. Quickly she shut them tightly and lowered her head further. She should have used a different wording, it might be meant wrong, or maybe it was right, she didn't understand. It was confusing to her so suddenly and she instantly reacted and went on the defensive. When she looked up, her mouth opened and words rattled out with an almost uncontrollable force as she attempted to drown out what she had said already. "I would not mind so. I do not mind who is in my bed. But you must go to Southern to win again, to be Weyrleader if this plan were to work.You have to protect that place and the people in it from Hallek until such an opportunity comes. Yet, not everyone here supports you, there are many who suspect you, and would hurt you and I wouldn't want you to be hurt I... I... I don't know what I would think. Not really. Why are you asking me this? Would you really...?"

Again the strange look of lost and confusion appeared, but there was another. Fear. Had she done something she had sworn not to do? That she had even promised her mother. That she would not allow her heart to be swayed by a single man. Her heart belonged to her Weyr. One day a man's dragon would catch Kyrieth and the Weyr would agree that he should remain leader time and time again and all would expect her come to love him. It would be like she was betrothed to him with no choice. Kaelu wasn't supposed to feel such things. Not even for a man who could indeed be her enemy whether she wanted him to or not.

[stolenhart]

He shrugged. “Why not? Northern is a bit cold for my tastes and Knymawth does not care for sleeping inside, but it is not so bad for all of that. There are reasons a man would come back, were he welcome”, was all he said as he watched confusion and other emotions move her body in a silent language. He almost let his surprise show when she claimed to like him, almost because he did not want the game to be up just yet. It was easy for the soldier to hide his emotions, he had been tested and experienced enough of life to have that skill.

He listened to her go on the defensive and nearly laughed, so quick to defend herself and hide away when she had been quick to jump to the wrong conclusion before. “I go to Southern now, to win back my place so that I may protect my Weyr from my half-brother’s schemes”, he took a step back to give her breathing room. “I would really, no matter who hated me. I’ve fought my share of battles and am still alive to fight more. I am not a hard or an evil man and when your riders get to know me, they will respect me at the very least”, this was said with the confidence of a man who had been around other men who did indeed hate him but respected him despite their personal feelings.

“I will come back for Kyrieth’s flight. Bet on it”, he turned to Knymawth’s shoulder, set a foot on the strap to climb up and added, “Bet on it that he will win too. I will be Weyrleader of two Weyrs”, it had the sound of a promise as he climbed up, strapped himself in and tapped the bronze’s shoulder. Knymawth gave Kaelu a very subtle nod before leaping into the air. And within minutes the pair had vanished into between.

[shouriko]

She began to calm down as he spoke of her home. She nodded a bit in agreement and her posture became more relaxed. The tension in her face abated. "True enough, Northern is truly lovely much of the time."

Again he dumb-founded her, but in a way she was hurt. It was about position as always. She had always known that for the great many who would pursue her, it was for her position. A fragile one, but a position that many desired. She folded her arms over her chest and defiantly raised her nose up in the air, "I know that. I've spent quite a lot of time shadowing you to know the manner of man you are."

He was up on the bronze's back and he was going to leave right then and there, but Kaelu was persistent in having the last word. She half-ran a few steps toward the pair and shouted with all her capacity to assure he could hear her, "If that is a promise, I will hold you to it! You had better keep it, T'ran!" and with that he was gone with her muttering to herself, "I might be very disappointed if you don't."

Though there was one problem that neither she nor T'ran might have considered. What if she wasn't Weyrwoman by Kyrieth's next flight? Kaelu knew it was possible that her position would be revoked, but she would challenge it with all her might. She had to, so that there was that one chance that two goals of two people could be met.