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Post by erin on Aug 21, 2008 13:42:47 GMT -5
Fort Drums #17
A Little Walk In Threadfall
Erin A. Tidwell
21.11.10, Fort Weyr Lower Caverns
Karreina had not been fond of children in her youth. Even as a child, herself, she'd avoided them, joining her mother and father, and later, her grandmother, in adult gatherings. It wasn't that she didn't like children, but adults were so much more predictable. Sensible. Mature. It had, therefore, been more than a little ironic when she’d found herself offering to foster Aileena after her cousin brought the girl to the Weyr.
Poor Aileena; the girl couldn't be more than thirteen and was so obviously out of her depth. The girl couldn't read, she'd probably never had a new piece of clothing to call her own, and she'd obviously never spent more than a night away from her tiny cothold home. Karreina had felt an immediate need to help her out, which must've been why she'd so blithely offered to foster the girl. Karreina had a holder background herself, so she’d thought she could help the girl navigate the different culture of the Weyr.
Sometimes she regretted that she’d ever thought she could figure motherhood out. This morning was the perfect example. All she’d done was comment that Aileena’s hair was getting ragged and unmanageable and offer to cut it. Aileena had balked at the idea.
"I could trim it before my shift," Karreina told her fosterling with utmost patience. "It would only take a minute; I'd just have to borrow some shears."
Aileena frowned above her crossed arms. "I don't want to have it cut. It's not really that long."
It was that long. Aileena’s pale brown locks fell halfway down her back and were ragged at the ends. The problem was that Aileena firmly believed that long hair was proper on a girl. They’d argued about it once before, right after Aileena had come to the Weyr. Aileena had lost a lot of her small-holder regimented values in the full Turn she’d been at Fort Weyr so far, but the hair had stayed. "You're getting split ends and tangles, and it takes you twenty minutes every morning to get it combed out and pinned out of your face," Karreina reasoned.
Aileena raised her chin, putting on her best 'no matter what you say I'm not changing my mind' look. "It doesn't bother me."
Karreina let out a long, silent sigh. She'd gone from demanding to reasoning and was swiftly on her way to cajoling. Her entire maternal repitoire, exhausted in one morning. Karreina stuck her tongue between her back teeth to keep from grinding them together. She'd try again later. Aileena was stubborn, but she'd cave in eventually. Karreina gave the girl’s hair a pointed look and shrugged. "Fine. I'm due for the morning shift, so I'd best get going. But you think about it, all right? I only want to trim a few inches off. Enjoy your breakfast."
###
Healer Apprentice Zoe was manning the morning shift, and when Karreina came in, she was obviously in the middle of a crisis. "Two riders who've re-opened their 'scores, a drudge who burned her finger on the porridge, and one of the lower caverns women—Stavi, I think?--has gone into labor," she confessed breathlessly as Karreina skimmed the night shift reports.
"Who's treating them?" Karreina asked, shuffling the sheets.
"Paysha is treating T'mond's score. Marria and Nella are waiting. Paysha said Stavi is fine, but Paysha's mostly a dragonhealer." Zoe looked unsure of Paysha's analysis. "Shae was up all night with Wyretta's baby, and we didn't think we should wake her yet."
Karreina smiled a bit. "Why don't you go fix up Nella's burn. I'll go check on Marria, but first I'll have a look at Stavi. Good girl."
But she changed her mind and went to check Marria first. Sure enough, the young bluerider's freshest Threadscore was bleeding again. Karreina shook her head and gave Marria a lecture while she rebandaged it, even though she suspected Marria wouldn't listen. The bluerider was one of the patients who was always coming in for the same problems over and over because she never changed her ways.
Speaking of people who never mended their ways, Stavi was one of them. The woman had a half dozen brats already, and here she was producing another.
Karreina didn't end up checking on the Stavi, though, because Paysha came in to tell her that she'd checked on Stavi herself, and then sent Zoe to fetch the birthingwoamn, Shae. "There isn't a single other woman due this sevenday, so she'll get plenty of sleep afterwards," Paysha confided.
Then H'bik came in with a blackening eye, and Karreina was busy again.
###
Aileena brooded through breakfast. She so hated to admit it when she was wrong and in the arena of hair, she knew she was wrong. She’d known for sevendays that she’d have to have it trimmed and she’d been trying to find the courage to ask Karreina to do it. It was bad enough that she knew Karreina would be delighted, but at least it would be her own idea.
Then Karreina had had to go and TELL her it needed cutting before she could bring it up herself.
Why, oh why, couldn't Karreina just have kept quiet? But no. Now her only choices were giving in to Karreina or sticking it out until her hair was long enough to scrape the ground, and she thought she’d rather race a dozen rampaging whers than let Karreina be right.
She leaned over to grab the klah pitcher and refill her cup, only to find she was dragging her hair through her plate. Again. "Black between," Aileena muttered, dispairingly. "I can't live with this hair any more!" If only there was another way out.
Just then, Karreina’s greenrider sister Kurisa sauntered into the Dining Hall, fairly bowling over anyone who was between her and the nearest platter of food, which happened to be near Aileena. The girl nodded in return to Kurisa’s terse ‘good morning,’, then narrowed her eyes as an idea appeared.
###
"Karreina?" Shae yawned a greeting as she appeared in Karreina's office doorway. "Stavi's getting pretty far along. Would you mind coming in now?"
"No problem at all," Karriena said, setting down the file with relief. "She's certainly taken all morning," she commented to the Weyr's birthingwoman, joining her.
"Way too long for me," Shae replied, lowering her voice so Stavi wouldn’t hear her last comments as they walked into the birthing room. "I hoped she'd be done hours ago so I could get back to bed. Shells, I'll never get a nap if I don't get back before the kids do."
Karreina nodded sympathetically, then smiled in greeting to Stavi. She found herself a low stool and took a seat at the bedside, then took the damp cloth from the bowl on the room's bedside table and wiped Stavi's forehead. "Better?"
"Thanks," Stavi said, sounding tired. She grimmaced for a bit while a contraction came, and then let out her breath. "I can't wait 'til this is over. This is awful. I wasn't in labor half as long as last time."
Shae cracked a smile. "It never seems that way, does it? I checked your records, though, and you haven't beat your last labor yet. It just seems like it's taking. Where's K'nelan, anyway?" she asked. "He's the father, isn't he?"
Stavi, between contractions, nodded. "Weyrlingmaster T'sum was pretty upset about it. He won't let K'nelan anywhere near me. What's worse is that Lilly from the laundry just got Searched, so I don't have anyone to foster the baby to. I'm going to have another baby on my hands and K'nelan can't even help me out."
"Lilly was Searched?" Karreina was surprised. "She's such a bright girl. I'm glad to hear it."
Stavi nodded unhappily. "She would've been a good foster-mother, too. Now what am I going to do?" She fell silent as another contraction swept her.
Karreina held Stavi's hand and Shae checked the woman. "Won't be long now," Shae said encouragingly.
"Thank Faranth." Stavi was out of breath, but she didn't look convinced.
Karreina opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind. She rinsed the damp cloth and mopped off Stavi's forehead again. And then, with a sudden feeling on conviction, she spoke. "Stavi, I'd be honored to foster you son--or daughter--if you'd be willing..."
###
"Are you really sure about this?" Kurisa asked, sounding doubtful. The flame-haired greenrider held the shears loosely in her right hand, her left hand in a ball at her hip. "I mean, I don't mind doing it, not at all, but I might not be the best person for the job. Katia has much more experience."
"She was busy. I didn't want to bug her." More to the point, Aileena knew Katia, the Headwoman, kept Karreina up to date on everything Aileena did. If Katia cut her hair, Karreina would know about it within a quarter hour. Besides, she couldn’t be sure her foster-mother hadn’t told Katia about their argument that morning over her hair and she couldn’t bear to have anybody who knew do it.
"Well, all right, then," Kurisa said.
Aileena positioned herself in front of Kurisa's polished-steel mirror while the greenrider took up position behind her. Kurisa pursed her lips and hovered behind Aileena for several long minutes, picking up one lock, considering it, then picking up a different one. Aileena’s heart was flutering, but she squashed her lips together and stared resolutely into the mirror.
Kurisa finally lifted Aileena's hair and started cutting. She worked silently, face tight with concentration as she snipped away.
"There," Kurisa said at last. She stood back and looked at Aileena with satisfaction. "You know, you don't look bad with short hair."
"Thanks," Aileena said. She twisted in the mirror, examining her hair from both sides. It was shorter, and Kurisa hadn't done a half-bad job, though it was awfully blocky along the bottom. Still, she’d seen much worse. "I really appreciate it, Kurisa."
Kurisa beamed, pleased. She handed Aileena the shears. "Anytime! Here, let me give you a ride back down to the bowl, all right?"
###
"Uuuungh!" Stavi cried, and barely a minute later, Shae was depositing the squirming baby in the towel Karreina held ready. Karreina held the baby while Shae cut the umbilical cord, then took the baby to the waiting basin for a quick rinse.
"Is it a boy?" Stavi asked, breathlessly, when Karreina finally to the baby to her mother.
Karreina shook her head. "A girl. She's lovely, Stavi." She watched Stavi cuddle the child and smile wearily. "Have you picked out a name?"
"Yslan, I think." She looked up at Karreina and Shae a little defensively. "It's really the best thing I could get out of 'Ystavia' and 'Kanelan'."
"It's a fine name." Karreina smiled reassuringly. "I'm going to be in the way pretty soon. Shae will want me out of here, foster-other-to-be or not."
Stavi nodded. "I'm not about to leave this quiet bed for my rooms for a while. We'll work out the details tomorrow, all right, healer?"
"Certainly." Karreina couldn't help but stand there looking at Stavi's baby--soon, hers to raise!--for another long moment. She was so excited she fairly danced out of Stavi's little room. Of course, the baby would remain with Stavi for a few sevendays yet while she nursed every few hours, but before long she'd be Karreina's to raise. How she looked forward to it! She'd have to make sure the Headwoman and the Weyrwoman approved, of course, but why wouldn't they?
The only obstacle was finding a break it to Aileena that she wasn't going to be the only foster-child anymore. Karreina considered how to tell the girl for the rest of her shift.
###
Aileena's knuckles were white on the handles of the shears as she fingered her hair. Kurisa had done a pretty good job, but upon her return to the rooms she shared with Karreina, she'd noticed that it was crooked along the bottom. The left side looked about a half-inch shorter than the right. She examined her hair carefully in Karreina's mirror, trying to decide what to do.
As she considered the problem, she grew more and more certain that it wasn't really a problem. Kurisa had cut off all the nasty split ends, and the middle of the back was fine. It was just a few longer locks on the right side that needed trimming now.
Aileena picked up the shears and turned her head so that her right cheek faced the glass, rolling her eyes as far to the right as possible. She grabbed the offending locks with her left hand, and took aim with the shears in her right. With care, she cut the ends off, then brushed the hair away. Then she turned to compare the freshly-cut right side with the left and found that it was still a tad too long. She turned away again and repeated the process, only to find that she'd cut it the smallest bit too short.
She sighed and reached for the left side to trim the smallest bit off, but again, when she looked in the mirror she found she'd cut too much. Once more, and the ends looked the same, only she'd made the forward part of the bottom edge hang at a funny angle from the rest. She reached for it again.
By the time Karreina came back, she was staring at her crooked and ruined hair in the mirror, with tears dripping silently down her face.
###
Karreina floated on a cloud for the rest of her shift, even after H'bik returned to complain that the painkiller she'd given him for his black eye was useless. H'bik was an altogether unpleasant person, and usually she'd have given him a few thoughts on brawling with fellow riders, but instead, she just told him to use a higher dosage and went merrily on her way.
She was still trying to decide what to tell Aileena as she returned to the set of rooms she shared with the girl. She hoped Aileena would be as excited as she was, but with that girl, one never could tell. Karreina recalled that Aileena had at least a half-dozen blood siblings, so perhaps for once the girl's cotholder background would work to her advantage and it would turn out that Aileena was comfortable having a new baby foster-sibling.
Hopeful at the thought, she opened the door to their rooms with a bounce in her step. Then she stepped throught he door and found Aileena standing in a pile of golden-brown hair, weeping.
Karreina stopped short, brows raising in surpise. "Aileena? Whatever are you doing--?"
The girl's free hand flew to her face, wiping her eyes hurridly. She looked at Karreina from behind her hand. "Oh, Karreina..." She flushed, then paled, and finally she snuffled.
Karreina crossed the room in four steps. She took the shears from Aileena's limp right hand, and leaned down to look at her fosterling. Her hair looked about six inches shorter than it had started out, and it was a mess of uneven edges. Of course, she just tell Aileena outright that it was the worst haircut she'd ever seen; that would never work. "It's a little shorter than I would've recommended, but not a bad look on you," she said, calmly, and pulled her handkerchief out of her skirt pocket.
Aileena took the offered cloth, and hid her face in it as she wiped her eyes. "Kurisa did it to begin with," she admitted in a quavering voice. "But she did it crooked. I was just going to straighten it a bit…"
Karreina managed not to let her amusement show. "It might've worked, if you could use the shears in either hand. Actually, I think you've got the sides cut straight. The back just needs shortened a little."
She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to her fosterling without comment, then compelled Aileena to turn back to the mirror. A few quick snips evened out the back. She straightened the sides just a bit, and layered the ends so the hair wouldn't hang so flat. When she was done Aileena's hair hung just past her shoulders. "How's that?"
Aileena nodded, peeking over the handkerchief. "That's better. Thank you." The last was said meekly.
Karreina sighed softly. Crisis averted… for now. She looked down at the hair on the floor. "We need to clean this up. But first, I have something to tell you. You're obviously getting old enough to take care of yourself, and this is going to be good experience for both of us." Karreina was smiling already, excited again.
Aileena was giving her a look of wary skepticism. "What is it that's good for us, exactly?"
"I'm going to foster another child. A baby girl, born just this afternoon." Karreina watched Aileena's face, hoping to discern the girl's emotions. She hoped Yslan would be less willful, but at least Aileena had taught her patience--in a rough, headlong sort of way, rather like going out for a str oll and suddenly realizing she'd walked right out into Threadfall. Fortunately, she'd managed well enough so far, and Aileena was stubborn, but also independent, hardworking and adventerous--in her own way. Karreina didn’t regret fostering her, not for a minute. "I'm going to need your help, though. I've never had to take care of a baby before."
Aileena shrugged, nonchalantly. "I had to watch my little sister and brother all the time." She looked interested behind her stubborn facade.
"I'll definitely need your help," Karreina nodded. And maybe, just maybe, taking care of a little sister would give Aileena something to worry about besides herself.
One could always hope.
THE END
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