Insult is Given

Writers: Avery, Suzee
Date Posted: 15th April 2016

Characters: T'shi, Tavia
Description: T'shi gets off on the wrong foot with Tavia
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 5, day 2 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Talwynn

Tavia

The weather outside was foul and T'shi was glad to be done with drills. He
looked forward to having a solid dinner and then retiring back to his weyr
to work on carving. The line was long as everyone else seemed to have the
same idea, and by the time he'd gotten his food, it was difficult to find
a seat. He finally spotted one at the end of the table that looked like a
squeeze, but it was his best bet to eat fast and leave.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked her.

"Not at all," Tavia smiled and pulled her tray fully toward her to
make more room for his.

"Thanks," the brownrider said as he settled down. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well," she said with a bit of a speculative smile. "How about
you?"

"Iberath and I are well." He hesitated for a moment before deciding to
plunge forward. "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

She swallowed the bite in her mouth and picked up her napkin to wipe
her lips before she answered. "Of course," she said.

How could he ask this? He decided to start off with curiosity. "You're
working with Talwynn on her recovery, right? Giving her a physical?"

"I'm working with Talwynn, yes," she said carefully. "But I can't
discuss her treatment if that is what you're asking."

"I'm just worried you're giving her false hope. She seems so confident
that by the time Lissath's class graduates, she'll be flying again.
She told me she'd talked to the Healers, but I saw how badly she was
hurt," he said. "If she gets her hopes up and fails because she thinks
she's better off then she is, I'm not sure what would happen."

"Oh," Tavia said with a narrowed gaze. She was just a little put out
by lay people who thought they knew better than the crafters
themselves. "And are you a healer then? Is this your professional
opinion?"

"No, I'm not a Healer," he said. "But it's my opinion as a rider who
flies active falls, and who knows how hard they are on the body, and
who doesn't want to see his cousin die."

"Well then," she said. "I also fly active falls and know how hard they
are on the body," she parroted back at him. "Talwynn had lost _all_
hope that she could ever be valuable again to the Weyr." She felt
almost angrily defensive of her friend. "And she's worked harder than
anyone I know, including the weyrlings to regain the range of motion
she's got now."

"So don't show me your fear, and don't you dare undermine her
confidence or I'll rip your lips off." Her green eyes were stormy and
intense. "Are we clear brownrider?"

That was way more aggressive than he'd expected from the greenrider.
Even as he recoiled back slightly, he had to find it in himself to be
deeply impressed by how fast she'd stood up for her patient - and
friend.

He raised a hand to pacify her. "Alright, I swear I won't breathe a
word to her,"

She nailed him with her eyes a moment longer before she relented.
"Good," she nodded and seemed to unclench. "I see so much aftermath
of bad scoring and people who just give up. But she wants to come back
and I'm sharding well going to help her get as far as she can."

"For awhile I thought she'd given up. If this is giving her fighting
spirit back, it's a good thing," T'shi said. He realized perhaps he'd
misjudged
Tavia.

"For awhile, I think she did," Tavia said still not convinced the
brownrider wouldn't go blabbing his thoughts and undermine some of the
hard won progress Talwynn had made. "But she's beginning to see a life
for herself and it is a very good thing as long as her confidence
doesn't break." She took a deep breath and sighed.

"Sounds like both the weyrlings and your work has been a part of that," he
said.

"She needed someone to believe she could even try," Tavia replied.
"The will to do it was all her own."

"I don't know if I could have been that resilient," he admitted.

"Me either," she finally allowed a small smile. "And I hope I never
have to learn the answer."

"Same," he said. "Look, I kind of put my foot in my mouth. Can I make
up for this impression?" he said with a charming smile.

"And how would you like to do that?" Her green eyes glittered this
time with amusement and speculation.

"A private dinner, not a public one. I promise to not accidentally
insult your competency," he said with a hand over his heart.

"I think that could be arranged," she smiled at his promise. "Just
make sure you have a nice bottle of red with you."

"I can manage that," he said, resolving to do so.

Tavia stood and picked up her tray. "Can't say it's been a pleasure,
but maybe it will be," she smiled and left.

Last updated on the April 20th 2016

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Insult is Given