Things Will Be Fine...

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 30th September 2008

Characters: U'kaiah, Harki
Description: U'kaiah goes to Harki after his confrontation with N'vanik
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 21 of Turn 4
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik, Traelyn
Follows "Worth The Effort"

U'kaiah pushed through the door as soon as the greenrider had opened it.
He carried two bottles of wine in his hands and had a sour expression on
his face. "Don't ask questions, just get me drunk and have your way
with me." The bronzerider looked thoughtfully down at the bottles in
his hands. "I hope you have more 'cause I doubt this will be enough for
the two of us."

Harki raised a dubious eyebrow - tomorrow there were early drills. "Umm.
Okay. What bit you?"

"Now, see? That was a question," he said pointing an accusing finger at
her. "I don't want questions, I don't want to think. I just want to
drink."

"Far be it for me to question your unhealthy lifestyle choices," the
greenrider said with a shrug. U'kaiah was obviously in a mood, and
either he'd fess up once he'd downed his first bottle, or he'd pass out
and snore on her couch. Or in her bed. "Sit down. There's a corkscrew
between the couch cushions, and I think there's glasses around her
somewhere."

It didn't take long before U'kaiah's tongue was loosed. "Can you
believe she sent N'vanik of all people to chastise me? _N'vanik_!" His
hand angrily slid between the cushions, fishing around for the corkscrew
and feeling more than a little frustrated when he couldn't find it.

"Who sent N'vanik? And to chastise you for what?" The glasses she found
had the dregs of a previous day's wine in the bottom, but they'd have to
do. Harki returned and set them on the low table by her couch, then
fished the corkscrew out from the couch and handed it to the
bronzerider.

"Well, I don't know if Trae actually sent him or if he just likes to be
an ass all on his own," the bronzerider grumbled as he gave the
corkscrew a sour look. Everything was working against him today. "I
suspect the latter, to tell the truth."

Harki flopped down onto the couch and put her feet up on the table. "Oh,
probably. What did he say?"

"That I'm a stupid fool for not leaving Dragonsfall to be Dolphin Cove's
Weyrleader." He turned the cork screw over in his hands. "Is it my
imagination or is this thing bent?"

U'kaiah, leaving. _Leaving_. Even if he was just thinking about it...
Harki suddenly found herself speechless; he was as much a part of
Dragonsfall Weyr as the rock that it was carved from. They'd grown up
together, Impressed together, and had built a home for themselves
together amid the rock and dragons and Thread. If he left... it had been
his dream for as long as she'd known him to be Weyrleader. And Traelyn
liked him, which could make things... easier. "You- you're not going,
are you?"

"Of course not. Which is why Trae's pissed at me and N'vanik is
sticking his nose where it doesn't belong." U'kaiah flicked the
corkscrew onto the table in frustration. The thing was useless and he
really needed drink.

Relief made her head swim. Harki smiled as she picked up the corkscrew
and applied it to the first bottle of wine. "You just have to treat it
gently, and you'll be rewarded. And really, you have _got_ to stop
letting N'vanik get under your skin like this."

"Oh I don't know if it's so much what he _said_." He held his glass out
to be filled, more relieved to have a drink on its way than frustrated
that she had been able to work the temperamental screw. "I know I hurt
Trae, but really, what choice did I have?"

"I can't believe she even _asked_ you. You're a Dragonsfall rider,
through and through. Same as me." The greenrider shook her head as she
poured him wine, then poured herself a glass. "Although you probably
would win the Flight."

He nodded as he brought the glass to his lips. It was entirely
possible. "But why would I win? Because I earned it or because her
gold is familiar with me? It would be a hollow victory. Of course, she
doesn't see it that way."

She probably just wanted a Weyrleader she liked, Harki thought. Every
woman who rode a dragon had to deal
with flights and their consequences, and even if a gold's flight was a
little more permanent than a green's, it didn't change the fact that
deep down, everyone wanted to roll over and see someone familiar. Being
a goldrider, Traelyn probably thought that if she crooked her finger,
he'd come running. Goldriders always did. "Of course she doesn't. Just
because _she_ won her knots by default it doesn't mean that
it's right. Shells, U'kaiah... we need you here. If you go, D'wrayt
would probably give Cyan to J'nus again."

"Well, when I become Dragonfalls Weyrleader, I promise I won't make
J'nus your Wingleader." Though U'kaiah actually didn't think J'nus had
done that bad a job. But if he beat D'wrayt, the Weryleader would need
a new role to fill. "I just wish she didn't take it so sharding
personally. I mean, what did she expect? My friends are here, my son
is here, my whole _life_ is here. I couldn't just give that up. Not
even for her."

"It was selfish for her to ask, and if you ask me, it's even more
selfish to hold it against you!"

"Alright, she's not selfish," he quickly interjected, feeling a need to
defend her. "I mean, it was probably the only chance she and I would
have to be together until the end of the Pass, if we both survived that
long. She just wants me there. And I want to be with her, but... We
all had to give certain things up when Thread returned, and sometimes
the sacrifice is sharding hard. She's not selfish, she just... wanted
to be with me."

"Oh yeah? She's asking you to give up your home, your son, your friends,
your Wing, your Weyr, and your life-long dream." Harki said ticking them
off on her fingers as she went. "She wants to be with you, but what's
_she_ giving up to make that happen, hmm? And then she's mad when you
don't find the idea of abandoning your entire life attractive."

"She can't, all right? She can't just stop being Weyrwoman to follow a
man to another Weyr." U'kaiah didn't quite like Harki's attack on Trae.
It was fine when he made all those arguments in his own head, but he
hated hearing them coming out of anyone else's mouth. "You don't know
what it's like. You've never been in love with anyone."

"Maybe so, but I also don't like seeing my friends hurt out of
thoughtlessness." The greenrider bit her lip and looked down at her
hands, scarred and calloused by sharp stone and various mishaps, and
windchapped from the cold winter air. She'd always been clumsy. "I know
you care about her, U'kaiah."

And U'kaiah knew that what he had always loved most about Harki was that
she never hid how she felt. You always knew were you stood with her.
She called it like she saw it, and he couldn't help, deep down, to agree
with her assessment just a little. Trae should have known him better
than to think he would ever leave his people behind. "She's just
disappointed is all, and I'm sure having a proddy gold isn't much help.
Things will be fine between us after her new Weyrleader has been decided
and she's settle again."

Harki smiled and sipped at her wine. "I hope so." For U'kaiah's sake
she'd hope, but hopes and beliefs were different things.

Last updated on the October 1st 2008

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