His Birthright

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 25th March 2007

Characters: Rahona
Description: Rahona's weyrmate tells her about a decision they have to make that might change all their lives.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 7 of Turn 4

There might be a storm raging outside the bluffs, but in Rahona's rooms deep within the rock were undisturbed by it other than the occasional rattle from the doors as the wind affected the air pressure in the corridor.

They could be in bed but they hadn't moved off the couch they had collapsed into when the children had finally been herded off to bed.
Lineal was stretched out, his feet resting on one arm of the couch, his head on the cushions at the other, and Rahona was tucked under his arm.
He was silent, thinking, wondering how to tell her his news, and at the same time appreciating just how wonderful it was to be being lazy with his weyrmate.

But the 'weyrmate' issue was another they would have to deal with.
There was no point in putting it off any longer, since all his thoughts wandered back to the same thing.

"Got a letter the other day, from my father."

"On the riverboat?" Rahona asked, smiling at the thought of Lineal's stories about life on the Nettleweed river half a continent away.

"The Sungazer, yes." He thought of his home, for the riverboat was the only home he had known until he had apprenticed. Lively looking in its yellow and orange colours, with the tall chimney stacks towering over the structure and the paddlewheel threshing away providing the background noise of his childhood.

Rahona pushed herself up on one elbow to get a better look at Lineal.
There were still moments when she was distracted by her man's exceptional looks, but this time it was his which caught her attention.
"Is something wrong? We can ask R'harne and Guieth to take you home."

No matter how much time he spent at the Weyr – at any of them – that was always a surprise. The easy offer of transport half way across the Southern Continent, something that he could never imagine taking for granted in the way Rahona did. "Not now, but perhaps soon. It's his heart. Won't live forever, after all, he said." She snuggled into him in a wordless sympathy that he appreciated. "But that's not what you and I need to talk about."

"No?"

"No. He offered me the Sungazer. Captaincy of her."

For a moment Rahona's heart seemed to stop, then she told herself sternly that Lineal had promised to be with them for life. He wasn't going to abandon them and go home. "And?"

"And I thought you should know. Thought we could decide about it together."

"Decide what?" she asked, her voice perhaps betraying her.

Lineal curled his arm around her, holding her close. "Nothing awful.
Just carry on as we are – because there are plenty of people on the Sungazer who could be Captain – or ... maybe ... Maybe we could move.
To the Sungazer. Live on her on the Nettleweed."

"Leave the _Weyr_?"

Lineal had seen more of life outside the Weyr than Rahona had and wouldn't suggest moving his weyrbred weyrmate or his children to many of the places he'd seen. But life on the river was different.

"It's not like hold life," he assured her. "Not like anything else, really."

Rahona's thoughts were racing as she tried to recall every story Lineal had ever told them about his childhood. They were happy stories but they were exactly that – stories! How true were they? How much had he adjusted them to make them make sense to her and their weyrbred children? How much had he censored attitudes so that she wouldn't be offended?

Lineal could almost see her fears in her expression. "Don't panic. We won't go unless you're sure. I promise that. And I would never put you and Lihona in a situation where you didn't have a similar sort of freedom to what you have here. It's just something to consider."

"Why? Why is it? Aren't we happy here?"

"Very happy." He held her close and kissed her forehead. "But on the river we'd be together all the time. Every day, every night." Instead of him passing through every couple of months. They would truly live together; him and Rahona. Him and the children. "And I loved growing up on the river. It was a wonderful life and if you thought it was suitable, I'd love Nalin and Lihona to have it too."

"They have a wonderful life here. Freedom. Dragons! My family."

Lineal grinned. "I can't offer anything to match dragons," he admitted.
"Let's just leave it for tonight. I'm not asking you to decide right away. Take some time to think it over."

"And if I say no – won't you always regret missing the chance?"

The journeyman seacrafter gave that some thought, testing out what he would feel if that was her decision. "Perhaps a little. But not more than I'd regret losing you and the children, or taking you somewhere you were reluctant to go. It's a decision for us as a family. We need to talk about it, and think about it, and then decide."

Was there any other choice? Other than to wish Lineal's father's letter unwritten? She nodded. "What about you, though. Do you _want_ to be the captain of the Sungazer? There's no point in discussing anything if you'd rather not."

Lineal could remember his dreams of getting away from the riverboat.
He'd wanted a life that wasn't always paddling along the same river; fast downstream, slow upstream, but always through the same places on the same twenty-six day cycle. He'd wanted adventure, and he supposed he'd had a little of that as a seacrafter. But the river was home, and the Sungazer his birthright.

He shrugged. "If it suited us all, I would," he admitted.

Captain of the Sungazer.

It suddenly seemed more of an adventure to go back than it had ever been to leave.

Last updated on the March 28th 2007

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His Birthright