Turned Around

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 27th February 2009

Characters: Eliste, Rahona
Description: Eliste and Rahona talk about their former and new lives.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 1, day 17 of Turn 5
Notes: Riverboat Sungazer

Most of the crew were around, since the weather was fine. Sitting on the arm chairs and couches and small, easily moved stools all made from reeds and ropes that littered the balcony space between the crew dining room and the now-still paddlewheel. Rahona had found the seating unusual when she had arrived; its creaks and groans as one sat in it a little unnerving, but now she was used to it and settled her wider-than-ever self in one of the armchairs, hoping her husband would be along before she needed to get out of it.

"I see you're out and about." A friendly voice interrupted the silence and Eliste smiled down to Rahona, Follen tucked away in his carrier, the sight a familiar one by then to crew and repeat passengers alike. "How are you feeling?"

"I am feeling like a gold dragon in her last days before clutching - and I have a month yet to go!" Rahona's complaint was good-natured. This pregnancy was too special to complain in any seriousness. "How are you and Follen, Eliste?"

"We are absolutely wonderful." It was amazing how much her outlook had changed since the death of her husband and the marriage to Fog. She was so happy, happier than she could ever remember being before. Fog was gentle and treated her like a person, not an object that he owned. For that very reason, he _did_ own her, truly and completely, and she was glad to give herself to him. "He's going through a growing spurt right now."

"Is he? I'll have to have a cuddle when he's unwrapped." Rahona patted her own well rounded bulge. "I think we've got growth spurts going on in here, too."

"You do seem to be popping out a bit more." Eliste agreed cheerfully. "But that's a good thing. I think pregnancy suits you."

"That's probably because I'm always wide across and when I'm pregnant I have a good reason to be that way!" Rahona exclaimed with a laugh. "As much as we wish it, we can't all look as small and neat during pregnancy as you did."

"Small and neat?" Eliste's eyes grew wide at the description. "I didn't look anything of the sort. I think I could have been a riverboat myself."

"Well you didn't look like it," the older woman protested with a sigh. "At least this time I've not go so far to walk around. The Sungazer's hardly been built on the scale of the Weyr."

"This is true." Though Eliste had never seen a Weyr, she knew they were larger than Emerald Falls, and that was big enough to behold! "Do you ever wish you could go back?"

"I can go back," Rahona said simply. "Any time I want. That's why my brother or his weyrmate visit every time we're at the waypoint. And why he gave me Sunbow."

"Oh." She wouldn't leave Lineal, though, would she? "Do you want to go back?"

"No, no. Not at all. It's just that weyrfolk think that life outside the Weyr isn't _kind_ to women - well, in the South. And my brothers refuse to take a chance that I may get stuck here." Rahona's face lit with a smile. "They're protective. Not a bad thing in moderation."

"No, you're right." Eliste's smile faltered a bit. "Life isn't always kind...but that's turned around for me. Certainly it can't be the same for every woman outside the Weyr."

"Not as bad for riverboat women as they imagined." She chuckled, leaning forward as much as she was able to, to say more quietly: "As I feared, I must admit. Despite all Lineal's protests."

"There does seem to be more freedom here." Edele agreed. More freedom, and a sense that women were more than just property. "It's refreshing."

"It's only what women ought to have all over the South," Rahona said firmly.

"It is, unfortunately, not how things are." It was truly regrettable, but what could be done about it?

"There were - and they can be again. The Weyrs are sanctuaries for many women - which is probably why I had a biased view about hold life. Most of the women who arrived at the Weyr had been in dire situations."

"It is very possible that I would have found myself at the Weyr had complications not arisen in my pregnancy." Would she have? Possibly - even likely. If that had happened, then she would have never been with Fog. No matter what sort of sanctuary the Weyr offered, Eliste was glad that they had gotten the chance to fall in love. "But I'm happy with the way things turned out."

"Of course you are! You can paddle up and down this river until your children are grown and running the riverboat yourself. It's idyllic." It was hard work, too, and there were sacrifices needed from all family members to keep things running smoothly, but most of them were made willingly.

"That sounds lovely." How many children would they have? Eliste couldn't say. For the moment, she would simply concentrate upon Follen. "Perhaps my son will become the future captain."

"Perhaps he will," Rahona agreed, because certainly Lihona didn't have the attention span for it and Nalin was obsessed with the engines. "We'll have to keep an eye on him and see."

Last updated on the February 27th 2009

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Turned Around