The Stupidity of Men

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 6th December 2008

Characters: Lineal, Menore
Description: Lineal tries to talk to Menore about Mehan.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 13, day 8 of Turn 4
Notes: Riverboat Sungazer

It was dusk. Tomorrow night at this time they would be tied up again, but in the seaport. Menore would probably leave them - go back to her own riverboat.

Or she might not.

Lineal slowed down as he approached the Moonflower's owner, then leaned on the rail beside her. Above them could be heard the happy chatter of the passengers on their deck; aft the voices had less of the laughter and enjoyment but were familiar ones - those of the crew gathered around their common room and on the deck beside the now-stilled paddlewheel.

The Sungazer's captain looked down at the river flowing lazily past the cargo deck below and supposed this was where riverfolk always stood. On the river-side, watching the silty water flow by, rather than the land-side with the unchanging view of wherever they had tied up.

"Looking forward to getting back to the Moonflower?" he asked after a while.

Menore's lips twitched into a hesitant smile. "I suppose. Yes and no." She cast a sidelong glance upon the Sungazer's Captain. He was quite handsome, most would agree more so than Mehan, though there was just ... something about Mehan that seemed to draw her eye more than Lineal. "I have to admit, I enjoyed getting away more than I thought I would." And keeping busy without Mehan around all the time kept her mind away from him more often than not.

"Has it been strange on somebody else's riverboat?" he asked, though he suspected he had little of that extreme loyalty that made others seldom travel on any boat but their own. His Turns as a seacrafter, seeking and finding work on any suitable ship, had probably cured him of that.

"Very strange. She's a lovely boat, but she's just not the Moonflower." Menore sighed softly, wistfully thinking of the boat that was her true home. "I do miss him."

"Mehan?" Lineal hoped so. The other captain was in for a difficult time of it if it was somebody else she was missing.

"Huh?" Menore seemed startled at the mention of the captain. "What about Mehan?"

"You miss ... him?" Lineal said with belated caution.

"Him? I didn't say him, I said her. The riverboat." Menore shrugged as if dismissing the mistake. "I'll be glad to get back on board to the music with which I'm familiar."

Lineal was sure he wasn't of an age when his hearing was diminishing and he was _certain_ she had said 'him'. "So," he said thoughtfully, "You _don't_ miss Mehan?"

"I miss the riverboat." Menore insisted, turning her gaze away from the Sungazer's captain. "And the river." And Mehan.

"Menore ... Do you want some advice?" he asked. He could keep his mouth shut if she didn't want to hear anything he had to say, but it seemed silly to waste almost a month of journeying on the Sungazer to have resolved nothing.

"What sort of advice?" The young woman asked cautiously.

"Er - about you and anybody you might love but are not sure about marrying," Lineal said, rather reluctant at the last moment to make bald statements to this young woman. He was sure from what Mehan had confided in him, and what Kellin had been muttering about, that it was Mehan Menore had on her mind, but he suddenly felt a bald statement to that effect would not endear him to the Moonflower's owner.

The corner's of Menore's lips turned down. How had he known? "Well, go on."

"Ahh." Lineal looked at the river as if it would provide inspiration; and in a way it did. "When I met Rahona she didn't want to have a thing to do with me, you know."

"So I've heard tell." What did that have to do anything? Menore wished the man would just get to the point.

"But she learned to like me and then love me even if I didn't behave the way she was used to. There's got to be compromise and understanding." Was he making any sense? Would she take any notice of anything he said?

What was he trying to say? That Mehan would eventually come to love her? It didn't make any sense and she honestly wondered why he was bothering with this in the first place. "I think the lack of understanding is on Mehan's part."

"Well ... Do you understand why he's not doing what you want him to?" the Sungazer's captain asked.

"Because he doesn't have feelings for me." It was painfully obvious, wasn't it? If he truly did, it wouldn't have been a marriage of convenience to him - that was the conclusion she had come to.

"How do you know he doesn't?"

"Because then I would think his offer of marriage would mean more to him than simply convenience." Menore heaved a sigh. "At the moment, that's all it is to him."

"How do you know that?" The man had come and talked to Lineal and not for a moment had the Sungazer's captain thought it was just a convenience for Mehan.

"Because that's what he said." Menore leaned half over the rail, looking down into the water but all she could see was little more than a shadow. She wrinkled her nose at it. "To be honest, I don't want to marry for convenience."

"Sometimes men don't - er - always say exactly what they mean. Embarrassed, perhaps?" He was mumbling now, embarrassed himself and wondering why he was doing Mehan's work for him.

"He didn't seem to mean anything else." Menore shrugged, trying to brush it off, but it bothered her. She had feelings for Mehan and she wanted him to have them in return. She wanted to marry him - she just wanted him to want her for more than simply a convenient arrangement.

Lineal didn't want to see the pair make a mess of a relationships that _would_ be a convenient solution as well as a rewarding life partnership but he also didn't want to betray too much of Mehan's confidences. "Do you think it might be hard for him to say things ... some things ... to you that he said to your sister? That would feel strange, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know. I guess I never thought about that." Menore was as different from her sister as night was from day, however. Wouldn't that help? "But why would it be strange to say 'I love you'? How hard is that if that's how you feel?"

"That's the thing, Menore. You know what he's saying - or not saying - but that's not the same as what he _feels_. Are you prepared to discover what he feels or are you going to give up because of what he doesn't say?"

"And how would you know how he feels?" Menore turned to level her gaze at the Sungazer's captain, arms crossing over her chest. He sounded like he had some sort of insight. Had Mehan talked with him?

Lineal grinned. "I'm a man. I know how stupid we are."

"Well then, maybe a certain man should wise up." Menore shook her head and turned. The conversation really wasn't going anywhere, especially since Mehan wasn't there to hear it. "I'm tired and going to head to bed."

Lineal was tired too, but he felt he'd done all he could. No doubt when he checked in the pilot house before going to be Kellin would want a report on how things had gone in his talk with Menore. And no doubt she would think he hadn't managed to get the message across any better than Mehan had.

"Good night, Menore. I hope you've enjoyed your time aboard the Sungazer."

Last updated on the December 7th 2008

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The Stupidity of Men