Be Good [Treyjen/Nalyra]

[Zen]

About a turn before Tying Knots
Treyjen: 16, Nalyra: 8

“How many times do we have to do this before you learn, boy?” Treylok snarled, his hand clamped around Treyjen’s arm as he dragged his son after him, to his quarters.

Nalyra took a few steps after them, “Treyjen!”

“Go, Nalyra! Find mother!” he called back to her desperately, pulling back on his father’s grip as the two of them fought their way across the deck. Nalyra didn’t go. Instead she huddled outside the door after it slammed shut behind them.

Don’t do it… please… just leave him alone! she closed her eyes tightly, hoping as she hoped every time her father dragged Treyjen away that he would somehow miraculously change his mind. She never quite knew why she stood there and listened. Maybe because she knew there was nothing she could do, but that even if he didn’t know she was there, she was there for him. It was all she had to offer her brother in the midst of their father’s wrath.

“Hurry up, boy! I don’t-” Her father’s voice was cut off, there was stumbling, scuffling, “How dare you!”

“I’m done with this!” More sounds she couldn’t place.

“GET OUT! GET OFF MY SHIP YOU THREADSPAWN!” Her father’s voice, more enraged than she’d ever heard it.

“GLADLY!” her brother screamed back. She’d never heard him scream like that.

The door was flung open and she stumbled back as Treyjen rushed out, brushing past her without seeing her as he hurried off the ship. Her father’s voice followed him, “AND DON’T COME BACK!”

What? No, no no no! He had to come back! She turned and raced after him. His strides were far longer than hers, but she did her best to keep up, weaving around people on the docks as she tried to keep him in her sights. Eventually he disappeared between two houses and she hurried her steps, afraid she would lose him, but she almost tripped over him as she slipped between the houses herself, “Treyjen!”

He was huddled against one wall and his head snapped up to look at her, and for a moment it seemed like he didn’t even recognize her. Then he reached out for her and she took his hand, “Nalyra… why…?”

Tears slipped down his cheeks and she moved to his side to kneel there, wiping at his face as he had so often wiped at hers when she cried, because she was hurt, because she was mad, frustrated. It didn’t matter. He was always there for her. So now it was her turn. But instead of helping it seemed she only made it worse. A sob wracked him as he pulled his knees into his chest and the tears came faster. He buried his face in his arms as he just let it all out and she didn’t know what else to do but sit with him and rub his back, trying to be of some comfort.

She sat with him there for a long while, completely at a loss. Treyjen was always strong, unbreakable… she had never seen him cry. She might have heard him cry out in their father’s quarters but… this was different. Eventually he quieted, but she still didn’t know what to say, exactly. “Please… please don’t leave.”

Drawing in a shaky breath, he turned his head slightly to look at her through tear blurred eyes, “I think I… I really screwed up this time, Nalyra. I… I just… I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t let him… I couldn’t just sit there and take it. I couldn’t…. I can’t do it anymore. I won’t. I didn’t even do anything…. He just… he just blames me for everything and I can’t… I can’t….”

A little afraid to ask, she did so anyway, “What… what happened…?”

Treyjen was silent for a long time, his eyes closed tightly before he drew in another shaky breath, “I… I fought back. I hit him. Right in the jaw. It felt… it felt so good.” He lifted his head, staring down at his arms over his knees and his jaw clenched, “I won’t… I won’t ever let him do that t'me again. I’m done. I’m….” His face contorted again and he buried it once more in his arms, “I don’t think I can go back, Nalyra. I don’t… I don’t know what t’do.”

She certainly didn’t know what to do either. He had hit their father? Shells… that was bad. She chewed on her lip thoughtfully, desperately trying to come up with some sort of solution, because she couldn’t lose him. She needed him. She loved him. She drew in a deep breath, “Well, wherever you go, I’m going too.”

He peered over at her again, saw how determined she looked, and couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped him, “Oh yeah?” She nodded resolutely and he reached over to ruffle her hair. For once she let him without swatting his hand away. He slid his arm around her and pulled her in close beside him, “What’ll we do then?”

She shrugged, “Whatever we want. No one can tell us not to anymore.”

He laughed again, rubbing at his face, “Suppose that’s true.” He took a deep breath, looking down at her, and wished it was that simple. With a sigh, he glanced past her, to where people were still passing by on their way to or from the docks. “Will y’do something for me, Nalyra?”

She nodded, “I’ll try?”

He offered her one of his rare, tender smiles, the ones he reserved for her, “Fetch mother for me? Bring her here, I… I need t'talk t'her.”

Nalyra hopped to her feet, “I’ll be right back!” When she reached the ship and sought out her mother, she was with her father, and Nalyra was no longer certain this was as easy a task as it had seemed. Treylok was raving about Treyjen to her. Nalyra chewed her lip, glancing back the way she’d come. Should she just go back to Treyjen? How much longer would they be? Listening to all the things her father was saying about her brother, she really wanted to just scream at the man to shut up, but she knew better. She didn’t want him to do to her what he did to Treyjen, and she had no doubt he would if she spoke so disrespectfully to him. Her mother was doing her best to calm him down, but it wasn’t going terribly well. Nalyra was left with little to do but wait, settling outside her father’s quarters and sitting against the wall, growing more and more angry the more she listened.

Eventually the door opened and her father stalked out. He didn’t notice her sitting there, to which she was glad. She waited until he disappeared off the ship before she stood and stepped into the doorway, “Momma?”

“Nalyra? Where have you been?”

“With Treyjen,” she grabbed her mother’s hand, tugging her forward, “Come with me. He wants to talk to you!”

Jenara followed her daughter willingly enough, to where her son was still huddled not too far from the docks. Treyjen looked up at her, eyes red, and Jenara knelt to pull him into an embrace which he returned with a desperate sort of intensity. “I don’t know what t'do, mother,” he murmured, holding her tightly, “I didn’t take it… I won’t… I won’t be punished for something I didn’t even do!” He held her just a bit tighter, his tone dropping to a fearful whisper that Nalyra almost didn’t catch, “He’s gonna kill me if I go back.”

“If Treyjen can’t come back then I’m not coming back either!” Nalyra insisted.

Jenara glanced at her daughter in surprise and sighed, turning back to cup her son’s face in her hands, “I will not let that happen. Stay in the hold for a while, let him calm down. I’ll find a solution. I’ll put it to him when he’s more… more receptive.”

Treyjen made a noise of disbelief at that, “And it’ll be a warm day Between too.”

“I’m staying with Treyjen,” Nalyra spoke up again, her hands balling into fists as though she expected to have to fight her mother for the right.

Jenara sighed again, pushed to her feet, “That is probably for the best, for now. Stay together. Meet me at Jeylokar’s ship at sundown. And Treyjen… try not to get into any more trouble, please?” He looked away from her, mildly hurt and annoyed by the admonishment when he hadn’t done anything wrong in the first place. Not this time anyway. Just because something happened to go missing on the ship, it had to be his fault, didn’t it? It couldn’t have just been misplaced, or taken by any of the myriad other men on the ship. She turned and ran her hand over her daughter’s hair, “Stay with your brother. Be good.” Nalyra nodded and then Jenara was hurrying off again.

Treyen leaned back, resting his head against the wall as he looked up at the sky for a long moment, “Y’believe me, don’t you?”

Nalyra tilted her head, confused by the sudden question, and came to sit beside him again, “About what?”

“It wasn’t me… I didn’t take anything,” he looked over at her, desperately searching his little sister’s face.

“You always show me when you take stuff. You didn’t show me, so…,” she shrugged, leaned into him a little, and he wrapped his arm around her again. They were quiet for a while before she added in a small voice, “And… you only fight back when you didn’t do it.” In all the times she’d watched her father drag him to his quarters for a beating, she had noticed the difference. When Treyjen had stolen something, he followed their father quietly. There was still fear on his face, but he didn’t pull away, try to escape what was coming. It was only when he was innocent that he fought it.

He sighed and pulled her a little closer, “I wish y’wouldn’t watch… or listen.”

“I can’t do anything else…,” she murmured, resting against him, hating how helpless it always made her feel.

He laughed softly, “Y’might just be the best thing that ever happened t’me, y’know?”

She grinned up at him, “You’re my best thing too.”

~~~

Treyjen was apprehensive when the two of them finally returned to the docks that night to find their mother waiting for them near his brother’s ship. She had a bag at her feet, stuffed full, and Treyjen could only imagine it was to give him some of his things because he wouldn’t be going with them when they left port. Jenara reached for her son’s hands, taking them in her own, “I spoke with your father. And your brother. They’re in agreement. You’ll be allowed to live and work under Jeylokar, but you are barred from stepping foot on your father’s ship for the time being.” She released his hands to reach up to cup his face, “Please, Treyjen… you must prove to your brother that you can stay out of trouble. Your father will trust his word. If you can’t… if you can’t, you will be sent to live with your uncles in Tillek, with Rey. I… I don’t want to leave behind another son. This is the best I could do for you. Please don’t waste it. You won’t get another chance.”

Treyjen gritted his teeth. It was honestly more than he’d hoped for, but it was hardly ideal. Working under Jeylokar? Shells, kill him now. He couldn’t stand the insufferable ass. When his brother had been named captain of his own ship and he’d finally been free of him, it had been one of the best things that could have happened. Now he had to go back to living and working with him, and not only that, he’d be the one in charge? He looked down as Nalyra grabbed his arm, “I’m going with too!”

Jenara sighed, “No, Nalyra… you need to come back with me.” She glanced up at Treyjen and back down at her daughter, “Your father wants you away from him.”

“No! You can’t make me!” she clung harder to his arm, putting herself behind him, because surely he wouldn’t let their mother take her away.

“Nalyra-”

Treyjen held up his free hand and turned, crouching down so he was eye level with his sister, “I’m not going away, Nalyra. I’ll just be on a different ship. And… and once I prove I can stay out of trouble… everything will be fine.”

“I don’t believe you,” she narrowed her eyes up at him, “I don’t want you to go. I need you!”

He pulled her into a tight hug. This would be the first time they’d ever spent any real time apart since she was born, and it felt wrong. He had promised to always protect her… how could he do that from an entirely different ship? What if their father turned his anger on her while he was gone? He wanted so badly for her to come with him, but disobeying Treylok in this would end any chance of them staying together. “Just be good, alright? Y’have to be good,” he pulled back, held onto her shoulders as he looked at her seriously, “Please. It will be over before y’know it. I’ll be back with you. I promise.”

She wiped at her eyes, “But he won’t let me see you… I’ll miss you.”

Treyjen was sure she was right. He reached up to wipe away tears that escaped down her cheeks, “Aye. That’s real likely. And y’can’t sneak off t'see me, either. Y’have t'be good, Nalyra. Promise me.” His hand squeezed her shoulder, “Y’can’t give him any reason t’raise a hand t’you. If y’do I’ll… we might never see each other again.” Because he would kill him. If that tunnelsnake of a man laid one finger on his sister, he would end his miserable existence and he didn’t care what happened to him after, “Promise me.”

Though she was doing her best to hold it back, a sob escaped her as she pushed toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck, “I promise. But you… you better come back!”

“In no time at all, little sister,” he murmured, hugging her tightly, “As long as y’keep your promise.” He let her go, and after a moment she tore away from him, running past her mother and back toward their father’s ship. He watched her go before turning back to his mother with a clear warning for her, “If he hurts her while I’m gone… it’ll be the last thing he does.” Jenara wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. She’d never seen Treyjen looking quite so serious. She didn’t think it was an empty threat.

He leaned down to pick up the bag of his belongings she had brought him, “I’m only doing this for her. She’s the only reason I’m still here at all. Father may not want her, but I do. And I won’t let him take her from me.” Jenara looked away at that, unable to deny her husband’s disdain for their last born, for the fact that she was a girl, rather than another son as he had wanted. He took a step closer to his mother and she looked up at him again, “So if you don’t want to lose a husband and a son, you better keep her safe from him. Like you never did for me.” She flinched at that, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was Nalyra’s safety. He turned and made his way up to the deck of his brother’s ship without another look back at his mother. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could return to his sister.