|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 2:18 pm
Well. That had been a little unexpected. "... Your caravan was at the Gather?" S'van asked, his eyebrows ascending into his hair. Something about the way that Okassis said it suggested to him that it wasn't a good thing. "Say on," he prompted. There were a lot of other comments that he wanted to respond to, but this struck him as important.
Galliath came up beside him and butted his head against his leg, eyes whirling a worried yellow. What's a caravan, mine? Instead of explaining verbally, S'van drew up his memories of the caravan, which satisfied the young dragonet's curiosity, at least for the time being.
He was interrupted from whatever he was going to say next by a sleepy firelizard trill. Apparently Kia was paying attention from her vantage point in the apron. It figured. S'van would just as soon that she went to sleep, or something, and didn't listen in. She was even more of a baby than Gall, and she would understand even less.
Then again... maybe it was a good thing that Okassis had encountered his family at the Gather. Maybe there was something good that he wanted to tell S'van. ... Yeah, probably not. Wouldn't he have said something before now if it had been a positive experience? Well, he'd see anyway.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:26 pm
One thing he could always count on; S'van would pay attention when he said something. And he wouldn't let it go easily. Which was good, this time; Okassis didn't want to have it pass by without him getting a chance to tell his friend what had happened.
"Got into a fight with Jaenel," Okassis answered, drawling in that manner that meant he didn't want to make it sound like it was a big deal, even though it really really was for him. "Almost got bad. Almost turned into a brawl, with Inaari and Jiriar right there." His lips writhed in disgust, thinking of just how bad it could have gotten, if the fight hadn't been stopped when it had, if the Gather really had exploded into chaos....
"I think they hate me now." Those words shouldn't have been so easy, but Okassis delivered them with an angry grin, a determined lack of sympathy to his own emotions. "I knew the old man'd never forgive me, but the rest won't, either. Not even my friends, not even my sister."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:26 am
Okassis had a way of making light of the most sad things. S'van really, really couldn't quite grasp that. Certainly, he couldn't manage it himself. "Oh Kas..." he said, trying not to sound too terribly worried. His friend probably wouldn't want to hear the worry in his voice. If Okassis was making an effort to hide the inevitable hurt, he wasn't going to spoil it by being overly emotional. He couldn't quite keep the concern out of his eyes, though.
"Well, I wish I'd been there. I would've knocked Jaenel good, knocked him between," the young brownrider griped. Of course he hadn't been there. Hadn't been there when it mattered! All because of a stupid rule that said that weyrlings weren't allowed at Gathers. He hated that. Hated it. Obviously, it had mattered that Kas had gone to the Gather, and had met up with his friend (or former friend, it seemed) ... and then that!
Pursing his lips, S'van looked Kas over. Was his friend hurt? Hmmn. "Maybe they hate you, but I hate them," he said, the staunch best friend. He had to say it. It was law, wasn't it? Required by law. "If they're going to hold a grudge... ... wait, Kas, how come they hate you, and all that?" An opening to explain more, because it was obvious that Okassis had kept things from him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:16 pm
It was impossible to smile at S'van's eager siding, the assertion that he hated them for Okassis's sake. The youth felt a flip in his stomach as he shook his head. They were his family, after all, and... who knew, maybe in a few Turns, they'd have gotten used to the idea. Or maybe Okassis would be kicked out of the Weyr by then, who could really say?
"Well, they're Traderfolk, you know," Okassis offered with a vague toss of one hand, as though that ought to explain anything. But one look at his seahold-grown friend, and he realized that it meant nothing to him. So he forced a fresh smile and added, "Folk who live out on the road, you know, some of them, they don't like much about the Holds and Weyrs. My folks more than most by a good deal. Once you live outside the system, it all starts to look...." he hesitated, then shrugged.
Did S'van understand? What it meant when someone was less hateful of Thread than dragonriders? Okassis had never broached the topic with his friend, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to. Now more than ever, their friendship was something precious, something that needed protecting. S'van wasn't just that starry-eyed kid that he'd dream about dragons with now; he was a brownrider, bonded to Galliath. The last thing he'd want to hear were the complaints and anger of people that Okassis wasn't even associated with any longer, and likely, never would be again.
"... Hard to say what I'll do now, though," Okassis muttered. "Don't think I've got any place to go back to."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:24 pm
"You won't have to go anywhere," S'van said, ashamed of himself. Exactly when had he thought it was a good idea to say that he hated Okassis' family? He didn't, really. He hated that they had hurt Kas, but... well, he knew how it was to have disagreements with one's family. Maybe not that extreme, but he had some idea of it. "So... do they, uh... do they think you're deserting them, or something? Betraying them to do something useless?" That was kind of a weird thought. He'd never really considered that other people might think lowly of the Weyr, or Weyrs in general.
Was that the way Kas' family felt about them? "I wonder why... they'd think that. Is it because the system doesn't help them?" He couldn't believe that that was true. ... Didn't it help them? Hmmn. Well, they weren't being sheltered from Thread, were they? What use was the Weyr to them if it wasn't providing anything? Except maybe business. He was pretty sure that the Weyrfolk did provide that. It was a thought. It was definitely a thought, and one he had never contemplated before today. "You know, I never really thought about how they might think of Holds and Weyrs."
It had never come up, not really. "What's it mean to be Traderfolk?" Living out on the road and not thinking well of Holds and Weyrs didn't tell him much of anything. "Far as I know, there's been traders forever." Ever since the first dragon egg had hatched, and the first man had Impressed to it. Maybe further back. He didn't know. "You've got skills, Kas. You can work with wood, and you tell fine tales. Shards, you can lift things and move them... and you're smart. You'll find something, and I'll help. I promise that."
As though he would ever willingly abandon his best friend. "It seems to me that... since you came from Traderfolk, they can't all be bad. I just... don't understand why they'd treat you like that." Kind hearted S'van had never raised a hand against anyone in anger, except in the playful rough housing that he and Okassis engaged in. It never would've occurred to him to do so, which is why it was probably for the best that he'd never had to live in an environment like that one. ... True enough, he had a temper, and he could be sullen, but the idea of being deliberately cruel to someone was anathema.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:08 pm
"Oh, don't get the wrong idea, here. Traderfolk aren't all bad. They're a tough lot, independent and quick-witted, usually quick with a laugh if also quick with a scoff. Most of them are as much in love with Holds as the Lord Holders themselves - they get rich off of them just as well, after all," Okassis assured his friend, his voice rueful and wistful all at once. "But Weyrs, they never left a fine taste in my old man's mouth, you know. He doesn't like the power they've got, that no one else can have. Doesn't trust what they can do with it, doesn't trust what they do do with it."
It was a sentiment that Okassis understood, even if he didn't fully agree. The Weyrs did have a lot of power; it came with their responsibility. And from the Weyrs, a lot of change could be made - some of it terrifying. But that wasn't a reason to demonize the Weyrs the way that his old man did - that was a reason to go to them, influence that change for the better!
But his father would never see it that way.
"You see, the old man's...." Okassis considered his next words carefully, proceeding as cautiously as he was able with them - "My great-grandda on his side was made Holdless. Got tossed out of Ruatha over a bunch of politics with the Weyr," he made a gesture toward his forehead, "marked and all. He used to tell me that story all the time. So he's got a chip on his shoulder about it."
And recalling the story, the ex-Trader was more certain than ever that he had nothing to go back to. He drew his lips together tightly, then expelled a soft sigh. He had skills, at least a few. Nothing that would keep him around the Weyr if he didn't Impress, but he'd find something, live his life in obscure dissatisfaction, accomplish nothing of real use....
Shards, it was depressing to be so optimistic about his future.
"Just can't think about not Impressing, I guess," he concluded. "There's no other good way if it doesn't happen."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
