Brotherly Love

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 12th January 2021
Series: This is How a Heart Breaks, The Hallmaster's Ladies

Characters: Thayde, H'riv
Description: H'riv tries to cheer Thayde up... he's bad at it.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 8, day 20 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Enamra, Jalodwyn

Thayde

"She finally decided to go, huh?" H'riv said as he and Thayde sat on the beach, a couple of bottles of wine between them, both covered in condensation.

"Yep," was Thayde's solitary response as he lifted one of the wine bottles to his lips.

The ocean was a dark grey despite the sunshine, and it roiled with what Thayde knew was an indicator of an incoming storm later that night.

"But you... wanted her to, didn't you?" H'riv clarified, also taking a drink from the bottle.

Thayde shrugged his shoulders, his face blank. "I guess."

H'riv rolled his eyes at his brother's moodiness. "Come on, then. Out with it."

The Hallmaster shot a glare at the brownrider. "When she was first Searched by that bluerider, I told her she should go. Not because I _wanted_ her to but because if she stays here and never makes any decisions of her own, I'm afraid that someday she'll come to resent me and this life. She's just barely sixteen, after all."

"But then you... changed your mind?"

"That was before my big-mouthed-brother told me about Jalodwyn being in trouble at Jade Harbor." Thayde's glare was hotter this time.

H'riv's flash of a smile was unrepentant. "Yes, well, my adultering brother needed to know the consequences of his actions."

Thayde punched H'riv in the shoulder. The brownrider grunted, but didn't retaliate. Brotherly love.

"So when Jalodwyn came here to live, things went to 'fall in a handbasket, of course. The last thing I wanted was Enamra going to the Weyr because she was running from me and the mess with Jalodwyn."

"Do you think that's why she went?" H'riv asked.

"I don't know," Thayde shrugged, because he didn't know. "Me and Enamra patched things up a little before she left but... There is already so much water under that bridge that I'm not sure the dam will hold."

H'riv nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, I can understand that. She's a finely put together little package, your Enamra. Now she'll be at the Weyr, probably wearing those skin tight leathers that they wear... And there will be dragonriders there, of course, noticing her for the first time. And you know dragonriders, they won't consider an Enamra a 'married woman' since there's no marriage at the Weyr."

Thayde's eyes had grown to the size of saucers as H'riv talked. He punched the brownrider in the shoulder again, harder this time.

H'riv hissed and grabbed his arm. "What was that for?"

"As if my imagination weren't running away as it was, thanks for painting such a clear picture of how my wife might be enticing other men at the Weyr!" Thayde barked.

"Oh, yeah, and hopefully someone has told her to steer clear of the flight rooms during flights. The 'losers' have a hard time keeping their hands to themselves afterwards, they might just assume she's a flightmoth."

Thayde shot to his feet. That's it! He was going to the Weyr to collect his wife.

"Whoa now," H'riv reached up, hooked a hand in the waistline of Thayde's shorts and yanked him back down to the sand. "You might as well relax."

"Relax?!" Thayde practically shouted.

"This is what you signed up for when you gave her 'permission' to go to the Weyr, remember? You wanted her to make choices for herself. If she goes to the Weyr, has sex, finds other men, and realizes that she doesn't want to be tied down to a man over half her age for the rest of her life... isn't that something you want her to realize now?"

Thayde stared out at the ocean, tight-lipped, before bringing the bottle of wine up to his mouth again and putting down another couple of generous chugs. Curse H'riv and his stupid dragonrider logic!

"I could go and visit her, if you want? See how she's doing." H'riv offered.

It was on the tip of his tongue to accept the offer, but Thayde immediately shot it down. "No, I don't want her to think I'm checking in on her. That I don't trust her."

"But... you don't, do you?"

"I do," Thayde said with a stubborn lift of his chin. "She's just so naive that I'm afraid she might get into something without realizing it."

"You made your mistakes and she was there for you afterward," H'riv pointed out. "Now you have to let her go out and make her mistakes, if she does, and live with the consequences afterward."

"Easier said than done," Thayde replied, lifting the bottle to his mouth again. The rational side of him could accept what H'riv said as logic and truth, but the other side of him, the husband side of him, could only see his wife in the arms of another man.

Last updated on the February 19th 2021

[Prev: Double Trouble] Series: This is How a Heart Breaks [Next: Unspoken Words]

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Brotherly Love