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Naysi
“I simply don’t understand how you managed this, Naysa!” exclaimed the older woman. “You hid the child for nine turns with not a soul the wiser! And the pregnancy! How did you manage to conceal that from your family and friends?” “I have no friends mother, and if you’ll remember you fostered me for almost two turns. ‘Twas then I met M’ron. He and Mrinalth were on temporary watch duty there. We took a liking to each other and my foster mother, Lady Jilika, agreed to help me conceal the pregnancy. M’ron could only offer me the chance to be his weyrmate and I did not want to raise a child in the weyr,” the woman sighed, playing with the hem of her dress. “I see now that I should have taken his offer. I have sent word to him, mother, you need not worry about me staying here to be a burden to you.” “That’s not the point!” yelled the older woman, Lady Nirila. “What am I to tell people? What reason am I to give them that my daughter suddenly has a nine turn old child and has moved to the weyr with some dragonrider? The child will be shipped back to wherever you’ve been hiding her and you will remain here! That is final!” With that Lady Nirila stalked from the room, slamming the door. Once her footsteps had faded down the hallway the little girl crawled into Naysa’s lap, not saying a word, just curling up there. “Oh my dear Naysi,” sighed Naysa. “Whatever are we to do?” “Don’t worry, Mama,” said the little girl, looking up into her mother’s sad brown eyes. “At least we are together forever now, right?” “Perhaps,” Naysa replied a far off look in her eyes. “But if anything ever happens to me, pet, I want you to get out of this hold and go find your papa. He’s a Searchrider at Tripaldi Weyr. Promise me, dearest?” “I promise, Mama.” The girl woke, tears streaming down her face. She knew now why she’d been living in the barn for so many years, why she’d been so terrified of discovery. She had a name! Naysi, the woman had called her. Naysa was her mother, who had died of a mysterious wasting sickness before M’ron and Mrinalth had managed to come take her and her daughter away. She cried long and hard, and was still crying when Miram came in to check on her. “What’s the matter?” asked Miram daring to come close enough to stroke the girl’s hair. “Don’t let Lady Nirila scare you, you’ll not be thrown out.” “I know my name,” stuttered Naysi, her tongue not used to forming words. “Ah, well that’s good,” replied Miram, a little puzzled. “What is your name then?” “Naysi,” she replied and hid her face in the pillow. Miram just gasped and quietly left the room, leaving Naysi alone with her sorrow. She had forgotten that her mother told her to go to the weyr. In her grief over her mother’s death she had only remembered that she was to leave the hold and that night she had gone running from the hold. She’d only gotten as far as the stables though before she’d stopped not sure where to go. She’d slipped into Nelsi’s stall, not realizing the mare had been her mother’s, only that her mother had taken her riding on the mare once and the mare had seemed kind and sweet. Nelsi didn’t seem to mind that Naysi slept in her stall so she’d stayed there, it had been summer then and plenty warm. Then winter came and Nelsi had kept her warm at night. She wasn’t sure how many summers and winters had passed while she resided in the barn, she’d lost count long ago… Continue... |