Never Far Away

Writers: Devin, Noola
Date Posted: 25th March 2010

Characters: N'vanik, Yalloa
Description: N'vanik finds a wayward candidate and helps her find her way.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 5 of Turn 5

N'vanik

Yalloa huddled deeper into the small dark nook she'd found. It was
very late and she really ought to be sleeping, but she just couldn't.
She couldn't sleep with all of those other girls. It wasn't so much
that she had never slept with anyone else in the room before. She'd
shared a room back home with her two sisters, after all. But they were
her sisters. She'd known them her whole life. She knew the way they
breathed and how they moved and there were only two of them.

Here, there were dozens of girls and the noises were all different.
Everything was different. She'd never in her life spent the night away
from home and now she going to be away from home for turns and turns.
When she'd left, she'd been so excited! The blue dragon who landed
outside her family's small cothold had picked her. Thought that she
would make a good match for a dragon. How could anything be more
wonderful?

But the excitement of the day had long since worn off, and now Yalloa
was simply a miserably homesick girl, afraid she'd never be able to
sleep again. She couldn't help the tears that began to fall though she
tried to keep her sniffles quiet.

N'vanik was on his way to get klah, thinking about the hidework he
needed to get done tonight. Just a little more, and he could go to
bed. The klah and the walk down to the kitchens to get it would keep
him awake enough to get the work done. His thoughts were interrupted
by a noise. He stopped, and heard it again. It sounded like ...
crying? He took a few steps back and tilted his head. It sounded like
it was coming from the supply closet. He considered going on and
leaving whoever it was alone. But ... what if they needed help?

N'vanik knocked on the door. "Hello?"

The girl was so surprised by the knock at the door that she jumped,
banging her head against the shelf she was sitting under and causing
several boxes to fall off of it, making a good deal of noise.

That didn't sound good. N'vanik opened the door and looked in. Boxes
of supplies littered the floor, and a girl stood in the middle of it.
"You okay?"

Yalloa whirled around at the sound of the voice, her eyes widening at
the sight of the Weyrleader. She quickly wiped the moisture from her
cheeks and nodded, "Yes, Weyrleader. I was, well I," she didn't know
how to explain why she was in the storage room to begin with without
sounding like a fool. So, she skipped that part. "I was startled, sir.
When you knocked. I'll clean it up."

She recognized him, but he didn't recognize her. "I didn't mean to
scare you. Do you want to be left alone?"

The girl didn't, actually, now that someone was here. But how did a
thirteen turns old girl ask the Weyrleader to keep her company? "It's
alright, sir."

He waved a hand. "Forget about the 'sir'. Call me N'vanik. What's your
name?"

Suddenly feeling both shy and grateful as she realized he was going to
stay, the girl looked away, crouching down to begin picking up the
mess she'd made, I'm Yalloa, s... um, N'vanik."

"What are you doing in a storage closet in the middle of the night,
Yalloa?" His tone was curious, not accusing.

"I couldn't sleep," she answered quietly, placing a stack of boxes
back onto the shelf.

"Bad dreams?" N'vanik guessed.

She finished cleaning up the boxes and finally turned to face the
Weyrleader, "There's too many noises." Then feeling a little defensive
all of a sudden, like he might laugh at that or something, she added,
"I don't see how anyone sleeps with so many people they don't even
know in the room and all that noise."

His eyebrow went up. "You're a Candidate?" That, or an apprentice
crafter of some kind.

"A Candidate, yes. I just arrived today."

"You're going to be in trouble for leaving the barracks. You're
supposed to stay there after lights out." Someone might be looking for
her right now.

She hadn't even thought of that. She'd only wanted to get away from
all those girls she didn't know and had wandered around aimlessly
before finding this storage room. She'd been tired of wandering by
then and had decided to take refuge in the small room. Now she was
going to be in trouble her first night here. Would they send her back
home? In spite of her homesickness, she didn't want -that-! "I'm
sorry, I just... couldn't sleep." She felt tears coming again.

"How about I walk you back? If I tell them not to punish you, they
have to listen to me." N'vanik gave her a smile.

Yalloa felt herself blush a little as she returned the smile.
"Alright." She stepped out of the storage room to follow the
Weyrleader back to the barracks, hoping that he was right about being
able to keep her from being in too much trouble. She really hadn't
meant to be, after all.

As they walked, she felt emboldened by his kindness and asked, "Did
you live here all your life?"

"This is the fourth Weyr I've lived in," he said.

"Oh." Not exactly the same sort of situation, but still... "Do you
miss any of them?"

"Not really. There's a few friends I miss, but I don't miss the places
much." Dragonsfall had felt like home, but most of that was due to
Talryne. As long as she was with him, he thought anywhere could feel
like home.

The young girl nodded and was quiet for a few moments as they walked.
She was homesick, but the Weyrleader's words helped her realize it
wasn't -really- about the unfamiliar noises and people as much as it
was about the -lack- of familiar ones. "Does it get easier? Missing
your friends?"

"It does. But being a dragonrider, my friends are never far away." He
pushed open a door that led out into the warm night.

And she was here to become a dragonrider. The excitement of that idea
had filled her all day, it was only at nighttime that it had ebbed,
replaced by the sense of loss and worry that had made the sounds of
the other girls, as well as the general noise of a Weyr, intolerable.
But, if she Impressed, she wouldn't ever need to worry about missing
her family and friends. Like the Weyrleader said, they would never be
far away. "Thank you, N'vanik." The girl smiled brightly at the man as
they continued their way towards the Candidate Barracks. Then she
stifled a yawn, realizing suddenly that she was really quite tired.

Last updated on the May 3rd 2010

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Never Far Away