Broken Vows

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 26th July 2009

Characters: T'vanen, Briata
Description: T'vanen visits Briata again and finds her upset.
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 3, day 21 of Turn 5
Notes: Mentioned: Ishek

Briata

"In her quarters?" the bronzerider repeated. "Could I visit her there?"
he asked diffidently, not sure of the protocol of such things.

The woman assured him that such a visit to her public rooms of the Lady
Holder's suite would be fine and gave him directions. He climbed the
stairs and followed the corridors and finally knocked on the door the
woman had indicated.

"Bri - Lady Warder?" he called. "It's T'vanen."

There was a long pause, but eventually Briata answered the door. She
greeted him with a smile, but the flush upon her face and the puffiness
of her eyes betrayed what she had been doing previous to his
interruption, as much as she had tried to hide it. "Oh, hello T'vanen."
Normally she would have known of his arrival prior to coming to her
quarters, but she had been rather preoccupied.

"Briata -" He followed her into the room. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing's wrong." Briata insisted as she closed the door
behind him. The smile stuck on her face, forced and out of place. "How
are you?"

"I'm fine," he said dismissively, "But you're not. What's happened?
Briata - don't try to say it's nothing. You've been _crying_," he
accused with a young man's horror of tears.

Briata visibly winced at the words. "It's nothing." She insisted
despite his caution. "You know how we women are. We're over emotional."

"Are you pregnant?" he asked, remembering his mother's tears in his
childhood. Even is she hadn't been unhappy she had certainly been
emotional when another sibling was on the way.

Briata's cheeks brightened and she turned her gaze away from her friend.
"No. That's impossible." She had admitted more in that short sentence than she had meant to. The girl turned and began to rearrange
the pillows on the settle.

"Oh?" T'vanen decided he really shouldn't ask. She wasn't a greenrider
wingmate - she was a holdbred Lady Warder and he'd better remember it.
"You remember what I told you the other day, though, don't you?"

"Yes." That single world trembled into three syllables and Briata burst
into tears, unable to hold them back any longer.

"Ahhh." Tentatively the young bronzerider put his arms around the young
woman. "Don't cry, Bri. Well, not unless you _have_ to," he amended,
remembering his sister's complaints about men's insensitivity.

"He...he...he lied to me!" Briata managed to sputter after a moment of
sobbing. She leaned into T'vanen's embracing, basking in the comfort it
tried to afford.

"That's not right. Do you want me to -"

"He's...he's cheating on me." Briata sniffled. "With a greenrider who
comes here."

"Oh." That was a little more difficult a point. Didn't holder men
always do that? "Well, lying. That's not good, But are you _sure_?"

"I'm _very_ sure. I found out through the dragons..." Briata deflated
in his arms and a sob escaped before she could choke it back. "He
promised...he took vows."

"_Yes._" That was as true at the Weyr as at the Hold; people needed to
stand by what they promised. "I forgot about the dragons ..." he added,
thinking that Briata's talent of being about to hear the dragons would
resolve a problem he'd recognised last visit when he had offered her an
escape if she needed it. "You can make yourself heard by dragons, too,
can't you?"

"Yes." Briata wiped at her eyes, though more tears sprung in their
place. At least she wasn't sobbing uncontrollably any longer. She
would probably do that again later.

"Can you bespeak Qwarith now? Have you tried to bespeak him when he's
at the Weyr?"

"I don't know if my ability extends that far." To be honest, Briata had
never tried but she doubted it was that strong. "But I can talk to him
now if he's here."

"If I'm here, he's here," T'vanen said with a brief smile. Really,
people just didn't understand the bond, and the physical closeness that
came of it.

"Well...yes." Briata had figured that but she decided to drop it. "But
yes, I can speak to him now."

"Good. So, if you ever wanted to contact me, you could ask a dragon -
any dragon - to pass a message along, or try to contact Qwarith at the
Weyr."

"O...okay." To contact him. For what? To take her away. Briata had
made a promise, but Ishek had made that same promised and he had broken
it. The girl closed her eyes, another tear escaping as she did so.
"What do you think I should do?"

"I -" For a moment T'vanen battled with what he wanted to say and what
she _should_ say and finally settled for: "It's your decision, Briata.
Completely. All I can do is make it so there's no problems with
deciding one thing, or the another."

It wasn't any help, but really, what did Briata expect? He couldn't
make this decision for her, it was all her own. There was no one she
could really talk to other than her mother, and Briata wasn't sure if
she wanted to burden her with that. "I'll think about it, then."

"But you'll remember about Qwarith and I? We can't always come right
away -" he said, thinking of Threadfall and drills that he couldn't just
abandon without explanation and he felt this might be best done without
explanation, "- but if you need us we'll be here as soon as possible."

"I'll remember." Briata managed another smile, one that was more
genuine, glad for someone who cared about her enough to be willing to
help her no matter what. "I won't forget. Ever."

"That's what I want to hear," he told her, relaxing for the first time
since he had seen her face. "So, what are we going to do now? Leave,
stay? Go for a walk in the gardens? Talk about this - or other things?"

"A walk...that sounds good." She could do with a bit of fresh air.
Briata had calmed down appreciatively and it would, hopefully, not be
obvious that she had been crying. "Will you walk with me?" And yes,
talk about other things.

"Of course I will. Anything for, my Lady Warder," he said lightly,
though there was a promise in the words that he hoped she wouldn't forget.

Last updated on the July 26th 2009

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