Tit for Tat

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 8th November 2014

Characters: Ikalis, Alina
Description: Alina ropes Ikalis into a plan to get revenge on her twin sister
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 5 of Turn 7
Notes: Follows 'DCW: Sisterly Affection'

Alina

"You got my message!" Alina sat down with a thump next to her friend. It was after dark, in the free candlemark the Weyrlings had before their curfew. The night air was soft and warm and carried the light scent of dragon musk. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Anything for you. I brought an extra cookie, too," Ikalis said, holding up a small bag.

"Oh, wow. Thank you so much!" Alina eagerly accepted the bag, then held it open for Imarith to stick her snout into and inhale.

**That's not meat,** the green said sadly. She flopped onto the ground at Alina's feet. **I'm hungry.**

"It wasn't that long ago that you were eating flowers." Alina shook her head and turned to Ikalis. "Anyway. You won't _believe_ what Elana did."

Ikalis tilted her head. "What happened?" Had her sister gotten in some kind of trouble?

"She actually, _actually_ burnt all the letters I've written to her, and sent me a bundle of ashes." Alina snorted, her earlier hurt having settled into a space somewhere between anger and laughter. "Can you believe it!? It's so-- I don't even know what to say!"

"It's very Harper-dramatic. Like what you'd read in one of those terrible stories where the hero destroys his memories of his old family so that his new wife will love him." Ikalis said, having read a few too many bad harper tales herself.

"I know!" Alina rolled her eyes. "You _have_ to help me get back at her. Please!"

"You want to get back at your own sister?" Well, if her siblings had done something so ridiculous, she would too. "Too bad you can't send dragon dung."

Alina laughed. "Oh, don't I wish. The runner would boot the package out of his mail bag as soon as the sun hit it and it start to stank. I cannot _wait_ until Imarith can go /between/."

"You won't miss the glamorous dragon-dung duty?" she asked with a laugh.

"But seriously, what might offend her back? I mean, were you offended by the burning?"

"Who wouldn't be? I mean, it's just so--" Alina threw her hands up in the air. "Ugh. It's just so _ugh_. Anyway, I had this idea, but I need your help getting supplies. I have no time to go rooting through the Headwoman's store rooms, and I'd do it on my restday but by the time I find someone who is actually on duty and then go find my things, the day will be _over_."

Ikalis tilted her head. "What do you need to find? I know where everything is and I'd be happy to help out."

"Oh goody! I don't know how I'd live without you. Okay. I need a pair of pants that would fit me, yellow embroidery floss, an embroidery hoop, a crochet hook, and some thin wool-- maybe blue, or pink." Alina ticked off the items on her fingers as she talked.

"Pants I can do, I think I know your size." Ikalis decided to not say anything about how she thought she knew. ""But why do you need wool and floss?"

"Well." Alina grinned widely. "I'm going to embroider giant yellow flowers on each side of the pants bottom. To give to Elana-- don't tell the Headwoman! But I'm going to send her a pair with a nice note about her new reputation."

Ikalis choked a laugh out. Wavecrest chittered loudly, picking up on her amusement. "That's quite a revenge setup. What do you think she's going to say?"

"I _wish_ I could be there to see her face!" The thought made Alina's smile slip. She hoped that Ikalis didn't notice. "She'll be mad. But she already is... and I have to do _something_. If I do nothing..." She'd lose every bit of contact she had with Elana, and maybe never get it back. The thought was unbearable. The weyrling cleared her throat. "If I do nothing, I'll never be able to show my face at Nadol again."

A slow smile spread across Ikalis' face as she considered something and realized it might work. "Actually, you might be able to see her face. Remotely. Hey, what's Imarith doing?"

"Imarith!" Alina turned to find her dragon's tongue deep in the cookie bag. The young green froze, then slowly let the bag drop to the ground.

}:I'm hungry...?:{

"No, you're not!" Her rider put her hands on her hips and glared at her. "I thought you said you didn't like cookies."

}:I just said a cookie isn't meat. I wanted to taste...:{ Her green looked up at her through sorrowful eyes. }:I'm sorry.:{

"Honestly." Alina rolled her eyes, but was smiling a little anyway. Imarith crept over to sit beside her rider and put her head in her lap, as if she were a large canine. "Maybe Ikalis will bring you a cookie next time she visits. Then you can have one all to yourself instead of licking at crumbs like a beast."

}:I am not a beast. Beasts are food!:{

Ikalis couldn't help it. She started laughing deeply. "I didn't know dragons ate cookies. Uh, can dragons eat cookies? I can ask around and find something to bring her."

And on that note...she concentrated on Wavecrest, trying to get the little blue flit to send the little green dragon an image of the cookie. **Push this to Imarith.**

~~cookie?~~

Imarith jerked like she'd been stung. She swung her head around to examine Wavecrest suspiciously. }:It did something! Cookie. I want a cookie!:{ she told the flit. }:Can it talk? It sounded funny.:{

Alina laughed. "I don't know. I don't think so. Imarith's not sure what to make of Wavecrest," she translated for Ikalis.

"So I have an idea, and you might think it's a terrible one. But if you _really_ wanted to see your sister's face..." She took a breath and plunged ahead.

"Instead of sending the package in the mail, Ikara could fly it there. And I could go with her. And Wavecrest could show Imarith."

It was a very convoluted plan, and would the images even translate across that many minds? Oh, but _she'd_ get to see Alina's sisters' face!

Alina held her breath. It would be _so_ good to see Elana, even second hand. But forcing her to open something like the package she'd planned, out in the open and in front of a pair of strangers _and_ the entire Holding-- because everyone would turn out to see a dragon... She was mad, but was she that mad at her twin? "I... don't know. Can I think about it?"

"Of course you can. I don't even know when my sister would be free. Or if she'd be up for it, come to think about it."

"Are you and Ikara close?" Alina asked, suddenly hungry to hear about other sisters, as if hearing about others might shed some light on her own situation.

"Relatively speaking. She's a few Turns older than me. I used to follow her and her friends around all the time," Ikalis admitted. "But we're like night and day. I'm bouncy and talkative, she's calm and placid, doesn't speak much. Good listener. But she's got spine - you can't just walk on her. I'm closer to Kalanes. She's a Dolphineer," she added with pride.

"Is Kalanes older or younger?"

"Older by a couple Turns. And she's prettier." Ikalis sighed.

"Elana is too." Alina shared a small, knowing smile with Ikalis. "It's so annoying."

"Isn't it? Ikara was the serious, good one in our family. Did everything right, you know? Trained as a dragonhealer, Impressed a green, one of the leaders the whole way through her class, on track to be a wingthird. Kalanes was the wild child who always sought adventure, I think the seas satisfy her."

"Good that she's a dolphineer then. It sounds... freer than being a dragonrider like Ikara." Or herself.

"I think it's a nice craft. Have you met the dolphins yet? We could fix that. And I can introduce you to my family sometime, if you want?" Ikalis offered.

"I'd like that." Alina smiled. Perhaps she'd miss her family less if she could spend a little time with someone else's.

Last updated on the November 30th 2014

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Tit for Tat