Life Moves On

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 28th August 2015

Characters: Alina, Ikalis
Description: Alina seeks out Ikalis a few days after Satai's death
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 6 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: G'dori, J'ackt

Alina

Ikalis wandered along the weyrbowl and sighed. The sun was warm and the sky pretty today, but the mood of the people didn't seem the same. Was Alina feeling any better after the other day? She'd been worried about her when she'd heard a weyrling had died. She remembered how badly Ikara had taken the death of one of her clutchmates. Her sister had cried for days.

"Ikalis! Wait!" Chores still had to be done, and Imarith wanted a bath. Alina found herself dragged out into the sunshine and the ordinariness of the task was both soothing and at odds with the tragedy that had taken place days before. When she'd seen a familiar figure on the path back to the Weyr, the desire to be around people had suddenly swelled up and Alina found herself hurrying after her friend.

Ikalis took a few more steps before she registered a voice. She turned around and saw Alina. Her heart skipped a beat as she registered Alina's wet tunic against her body. She tried to give a nonchalant smile. "Hey there."

"Sorry about.. the last time I saw you." Alina slowed as she came up beside Ikalis and matched her steps to her friend's. The mesh bag with the scrub brushes and oily rags for Imarith bumped against her leg as she stared resolutely at the path ahead. "It wasn't a good day."

"It's okay," Ikalis said automatically, because that's what she thought Alina needed to hear. "It's not easy. Are you - how's today?"

Angry. Alina felt resentful that Satai hadn't been more careful, and angry that she felt so _guilty_ for not doing more. At least G'dori had tried. She'd just watched as the tableau unfolded before her. And guilty because of how she'd treated Satai and had played a part in making her final days so miserable. Instead of saying it, though, the weyrling just shrugged. "It's... odd, I guess. Routines continue."

"You'll be going to wings by the end of the month, and then you'll have a whole new set," Ikalis offered. She wasn't sure if that was comforting or not.

Alina nodded grimly. "Among other things." Like Imarith rising. J'ackt's words still echoed in her mind amid everything else.

"You'll do great," Ikalis encouraged. "Are you going to go celebrate with your family when you have an assignment? Or with anybody else?"

The weyrling shrugged. "I don't think that it's something my family would really understand." The thought of joining the Wings scared her, anyway. The chances of what happened to Satai happening to her would increase.

"Your weyr friends could do something, if you wanted. Graduating's pretty cool. You're not a weyrling anymore, you'd have freedom." She didn't always want to be a rider, but sometimes she thought about the freedom of dragon's wings, and her heart skipped a beat anyway.

The idea of a party didn't sit well, especially only days after Satai had died.

Alina shook her head. "If the other weyrlings do something I might just join that."

"No worries." Ikalis went quiet for a moment. Her eyes darted back over to Alina's form. She couldn't just ask Alina if she'd gotten ready yet. She didn't have the right to know, really, unless Alina told her. The thought of Alina with a man made her feel vaguely nauseated. But she knew the weyrling had to.

They walked in silence for a while, the usually-talkative Alina struggling to find something to say. She could feel the weight of Satai's ghost sucking the words from the air before they were even said. She wanted to tell Ikalis about what she'd done - or failed to do - and couldn't. Ikalis would understand. She would know the perfect thing to say. Ikalis would probably know the perfect thing to say about everything - Satai's death, graduation to the Wings, and something to ease her anxiety over mating flights. But Alina found herself mute until they reached the entrance to the Weyr. "Well. It was good to see you. I should probably go get changed, though..." She looked down at her wet clothes with a grimace. "Hot as it is, I don't much like this either."

That at least was easy to talk about. "I wonder what it'd be like to live somewhere hot, but not as humid. Like a desert." Though Sapphire Meadows had been hot and not like here. She hesitated, then blurted out, "Look, if you and Imarith don't want to be just you, I can come sleep over like kids do. We can tell stories or something."

Like she'd done with her twin sister. Alina suddenly felt the distance between herself and Elana as an ache in her bones. It would be nice to have company like that... but it wouldn't feel _right_. Ikalis was dear to her, but she wasn't Elana. "I... thanks, but I'm pretty tired," she said instead, not really knowing why. Alina smiled to soften the disappointment she saw in Ikalis' face. "But let's do that another night, sometime soon, all right? I'm just not feeling that fun right now."

"Sure," Ikalis said, fighting to keep her voice calm. "But anything I can do for you, you let me know. I know how Ikara felt and I don't like seeing my friends feeling lost."

"I know exactly where I am." Alina hesitated, then threw her arms around Ikalis and hugged her. So what if she was sopping wet from the weyrlake. "Thank you."

Ikalis hugged back automatically, appreciating Alina in her arms even if it was going to get her shirt wet. "Just have Imarith reach out to Wavecrest whenever. Or you know where I am. Always in the caverns."

The weyrling nodded as she pulled away. "I'll do that. But I should probably go change for dinner," she said, a bit sheepishly. "Maybe I'll see you there for a bit?"

"Sure. I've got cookies," the caverns worker said with a laugh.

"I sure hope so." Alina managed a smile again, then raised her hand in a wave and headed back into the Weyr to make the long climb to her lonely weyr.

Last updated on the September 1st 2015

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Life Moves On