Post by tovaana on Apr 22, 2020 16:05:12 GMT -5
Muze;
“You okay?”
Muze looked up at her brother walking beside her.
“I’ve been talking for the past five minutes and you haven’t said a word – or made a sound, if I think about it.” Vavithan eyed her with a raised eyebrow.
Muze chuckled nervously, “Oh, it’s nothing. Sorry.” She cleared her throat and blushed, having been caught thinking about the handsome weyrleader and the way he had looked at her.
“Uh-huh. You did that - blushing - a lot during our conversation with A’zael. So, nothing being – not about a certain handsome Weyrleader?”
Muze looked up at Vavithan, trying to keep her composure while trying to read her brother’s face. It was hard and unreadable. She gulped lightly and managed a small laugh. “Handsome? Is that what you think of him, Vavi?” Vavithan rolled his eyes at this.
“I spent years around fisher and boat men – guys will do anything to… ah, well, just be careful around these weyr people. Especially the men.” He hadn’t actually thought much of their interaction with the Weyrleader until looking back on it – how Muze had flushed and paired with the casual way he had conversed with them… he hadn’t paid attention to how the leader’s words would actually effect Muze, as many an older fisher had flirted with Muze back at home. She had seemed rather obtuse about it, scoffed them off – he hadn’t thought she’d actually take any flirting seriously, especially from a Weyrleader…
“Whatever. No man would ever want me like that anyways.” Vavithan looked at her surprised at this. He opened his mouth – but closed it when she shook her head. “No, nothing you say will change my mind, you’re my brother, you’re supposed to say nice things to me.” Vavithan wanted Muze to think better of herself, but at the same time he didn’t feel comfortable encouraging any relationship. He didn’t know a man that deserved his sister.
“Want to help me with my reading before classes start?” Muze asked, wanting badly to change the subject. Vavithan was also glad for the change, but he still felt bothered about their conversation. They walked casually toward the library, taking a few wrong turns before they actually made it.
For the next week Muze anticipated each mealtime with a quick pulse. She was in denial of what she was hoping for, staying in the dining hall for as long as she could before the cooks started cleaning up. She’d chew on her lips, feeling frustrated – almost trapped by the feeling… what was it? The last time she had felt it was when she was a child when she had followed the fisher boy Ulysius around, who was a few years older than she. She kept trying to beat the feeling down, trying to convince herself that she really didn’t care – but every meal time that ended with no song, felt like the world was going to end. Muze was not a dramatic person – she hated the feeling and wanted it to just. Go. Away.
On the seventh day she groaned as she got up from the table, Vavithan had eaten the mid-meal with her in silence because he had sensed her irritated mood. “Do you… want to talk about it?” Muze shot a glare at him, “no.” But her tone wasn’t irritated, more defeated. She thought about going to Joia, they didn’t know each other very well, but she had mentioned something about having her own man… but theirs seemed two sided. This wasn’t even…was it one sided? Muze didn’t care if she ever saw the Weyrleader again… She gulped, knowing this wasn’t true. She groaned again, “I’m going to go take a nap before classes.” She said quietly.
Vavithan frowned as he watched her go off. They had taken to reading lessons before their candidacy lessons; it surprised him that she was opting out of that today. He watched until she turned the corner – and watched as she came back and turned around another corner, as she had realized she had gone the wrong way. They were new to the maze like tunnels of the weyr, but even that was absentminded for his sister.
Muze had almost given up, coming into the dining hall one day for the end day meal – not really registering the sound of a gitar being played. She hadn’t bothered to hurry to meal times anymore, feeling tired and slightly overwhelmed from learning so much new material from their lessons…not to mention the new culture to adapt to. Muze slid into a bench of one of the tables and looked up and froze. The music had stopped and A’zael was there looking at her. She felt frozen, unable to move- shocked and unprepared for the moment she had been waiting for for more than a week.
“This song is dedicated to a special lady, you know who you are.” He gave her a wink and started to strum his gitar softly and play the Firelizard Song. She didn’t smile, just stared, feeling her heart loud and distracting from the sound of his voice when it started. Vavithan slid into the seat next to Muze, glancing at her frozen face. He glanced at the Weyrleader playing, more girls than boys that surrounded near him to listen. Though the man's eyes looked around at others, smiling and giving a performance to everyone – it kept landing on his sisters. His jaw tightened, but didn’t say anything, instead he cleared his throat to get Muze’s attention. She glanced over at him, a deep red blush rising into her cheeks.
“He sure does have admirers, doesn’t he?” Vavithan said lightly, but Muze still wasn’t seeing the way the present ladies were giggling and talking in hushed tones. When the song ended, Muze let her eyes drift down to her food, staring at it- unable to eat.
“I’m uh, gonna go eat in the candidate quarters.” She said, gulping lightly. Without looking at the Weyrleader or her brother, she stood up with her plate and walked brusquely out of the dining room. She felt silly for leaving, but she couldn’t stand the way he was looking at her. Muze had felt more frustration than pleasure in his attention. She had hardly enjoyed the song he had practiced for her. When arriving to the barracks she put her plate of food on her clothes trunk and then dove into her furs, burying herself and her feelings.
