Have You Got It In You? | 75.11.27 (Nicole)

[Moo]

75.11.27
an hour after midday, the docks

"But enough about me. You know all that. How's your ol' lady?"

N'kio glanced up, briefly, from the intricate knotting in his lap. "Hah, Elora?" He smiled momentarily, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, what can I say? My house - my new house - is still standing. That counts for something, doesn't it?"

Paka laughed. "That it does. Hate to get on her bad side."

"I haven't seen her since then, though. Been busy. Said she was coming over soon, though I don't know whe--"

"--Wait, wait, you haven't seen her? Then what's she doing over there? Doesn't look like shopping to me. Well, not normal shopping. I dunno," he sniffed and focused his attention back to the rope on his side. "Wouldn't trust that one."

That was a weird thing to say. N'kio looked over to his friend. "What d'you mean, that one? You would't trust her? You say that like it's a bad thing." He laughed slightly, incredulously, trying to not let the edge in his friend's voice get the best of him. He returned to the knot work in his lap. "Have you actually seen her? There's no bad thing about…all of that."

"Aye, that's what I'm saying. But…" Paka pursed his lips in thought, glanced over to N'kio, then tilted his head in the same direction. "It seems to me…if the rest were true…then why's she over there with him and not here with you?"

Confusion cut through him like a cold wave. "Wait, what? Come off it, Paka."
"No, I'm serious now! We all know what she looks like, N'kio, and that's her over there."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hey, ease off it, you know what I mean. Your dragon bent or something? Just -- shells, look - what are you afraid of?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah, right…"

Raising a hand to shield his eyes against the light, he peered out across the way. It took him a moment to find what Paka was talking about, but once he did, his stomach dropped. It was Elora…but who was with her? N'kio squinted. He didn't recognize the man, but from this distance, that was to be expected.

Distracted by the surge of confusion from his Rider, Metanath glanced down at the ships from his flight above. N'kio, what's wrong? Your thoughts are…are strange. Elora? What's going on down there?

Paka nudged him. "See, what I'd tell you?"
"You're wrong. I don't know why we're friends," he murmured and returned to lacing the slungshot.
"Hey, if I weren't your friend, would I have told you? No. N'kio, we all know what that looks like."
"Could be something else."
"Be realistic! You know what it looks like."
Lowering his hand, he sighed softly. "I don't know…maybe."
"Maybes seldom are."

He sighed and let his concern get the best of him. "Fine. I'll…I'll go see what that is."
Paka nodded. "G'luck."

N'kio set down the large, circular knot work on the deck of the ship, pulled himself up from the side and began to make his way down the gangplank. He tried to walk casually, like there wasn't anything wrong, but he couldn't help but feel there was something amiss. It did look an awful lot like…

He glanced up at the skies and watched Metanath pass overhead. I don't know, he replied, quiet even in his mind. But I need to find out. He moved slowly along the docks, watching her from afar, trying to think of a rational explanation for what he was seeing.

Mmmm.

The Black dragon continued his route around the Hold, holding back any comment that formed in his head. His Rider's mind was open - purposefully so, he supposed - so his thoughts and suspicions were laid bare before him. Metanath shook his head and turned into the wind, back toward the entrance to the Thoroughfare. A man's pride was a fragile thing, and there was nothing quite like a man who's pride had been wounded. He had seen many barfights that began in order to win it back.

He hoped N'kio was wrong. But if he wasn't…well, he expected his Rider would not be flying tonight.

[Nicole]

Elora would have thought that her reply to his letter - his obnoxious letter, his stupid letter, the letter that had nearly gotten Saphireth killed by a Tiger - would have been enough to dissuade him.

No, no, he had to follow her here, to hunt her down and try to convince her - as if she would ever return to that lifestyle! It was not her, not anymore, not now that she had Saphireth and N'kio -

And for him to bring up her red-headed sailor, to make snide comments about him and his life, and yes, she had slapped him after that, and then he had pushed her up against the wall and tried to take what she had once offered.

Saphireth's voice in his head sent him walking away. He looked calm, but she could see the panic in his eyes, the tight shoulders. He was terrified of her dragon.

Good. He should be terrified of Saphireth.

He should be terrified of her.

N'kio is coming.
What did he see?
Not the slap. But everything after.
He wouldn't think -

Of course he wouldn't. He was hers, and she was his, and they'd be fine. Just because one wher-brained man had kissed her against a wall - against her will! - didn't mean anything.

Unless he made it mean something.

She took a breath, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and waited for him to come to her.

[Moo]

N'kio couldn't believe what he was seeing. He didn't want to believe what his friend had not-so-politely hinted at.

But there she was, pressed against a wall with some stranger, kissing him back as much as he was kissing her. He swore under his breath and turned around, pacing the other way. So she didn't like it when he had tried that, but it was perfectly fine for some other man to do it? And on top of that - on top of that - she had completely destroyed his house because of it? Because he made a mistake? So what about that man? In what way would she pay him back for his mistakes?

It might not be that way, things might be different, came his own thoughts, quiet and unobtrusive and hopeful.

But he had seen her, seen THEM together, as clear as day. There was no refuting that kind of evidence.

He ground his teeth together and exhaled sharply. He should have known. He should have listened to his friends, to Ralt when he had been around, to everyone who had said it was impossible. The truth was bitter and rest uneasily in his stomach. If he was being honest - which he would be in a minute - the very thought of it all made him feel a bit sick.

By the time N'kio turned around again, the man had already fled - and there Elora stood, watching him in return, as if nothing had ever happened. Whoever the man was, he would get what was coming to him. But first...he wanted to hear it from her. Hear why she had done it. It wasn't fair.

He strode over to where she waited, his hands in his pockets, as quiet as the seas after a storm. He walked right up to her and, before he said anything, he looked her over like a man appraising a particularly valuable item. He had watched her fix her hair as he had approached - it had been messed up prior, and he would bet it hadn't been from the wind. He thought she even seemed flushed, but that wasn't from the sun. It couldn't be.

N'kio finally raised his eyes to hers, and as much as it pained him to even think the words, he knew it would eat him alive if he didn't speak them. He crossed his arms against his chest.

"So...Is there something I should know about?"

[Nicole]

She could see the doubt in his eyes. Every muscle in her body stiffened.

Then he crossed his arms, and when he spoke, every word was slow, too drawn out, too deliberate. Dread shuddered over her skin like a shadow.

And then anger twisted in her, sharp and cold, and it took all of her not to slap him. To yell, to demand what she had done that would make him doubt. To point out that in all of everything, she had shown that she wasn't what she used to be. That she would give up hours for him, days for him; that she would let him stay in her Weyr for days on end, that she thrived on him staying with her.

That there was nothing that made her happier than tracing the muscles on his back when he was still asleep, or watching the smile flash over his face when she gave him a kiss goodbye.

And part of her knew that she could just explain - her former client's obsession, the letter, how he had found where she was, tried to win her over - and that he would let it go.

But the fact that he would doubt her at all - that he would ask her what she had done, rather than ask her why he had been here - think she would willingly betray him rather than think she might have been accosted -

And she knew that she didn't have a mask up, that the anger and sadness and frustration were pooling on her face in ways she didn't know they could; that she was nearly holding back tears at his accusation, that her lips were pulled too tight, her teeth grinding together as she looked at him.

"How could you think that?"

And her voice was an anguished half-whisper, the same sound of the sea as it breaks against the shores.

From her spot on the cliffs, Saphireth looked over at where she knew Metanath was and stared, eyes whirling with anger, and waited.

[Moo]

To his credit, he didn't look away from Elora as he waited for her response. He watched as every flash of anger and confusion rose on her face, as her mouth twisted with a frown, and for the briefest moment he wondered if he had been wrong to accuse her. But how could she deny what he had seen with his own two eyes?

And it hurt; it hurt even more knowing that, out of everything he had tried to win her over, there was still some part of her that kept her searching for something more. Something better. Something, or someone, that wasn't him. And that was the worst part of it all.

N'kio exhaled slowly through his nose while he considered her response. It was a stupid question, a stupid response. A stupid answer for a stupid thing that should never have happened. But it did. When he spoke again, his voice cracked ever so slightly, and his gaze was harsh and scrutinizing.

"Oh, well, I don't know, Elora. You tell me how you couldn't," he sneered. He gestured toward the exact spot where that man had been standing, just moments prior to his arrival.

"I had thought that you had put all of that behind you. What, did you not have enough at the Weyr? You know if you needed something, marks - shards, anything! - you could have come to me, Elora! You know I'd give you anything I have, anything at all. But you come here - here, of all places! - and you do this?"

Some part of him instinctively knew how rude he sounded and appeared. He was never like this, had never felt this possessive, especially not to Elora - he knew she needed her freedom and space, even more so than anyone else - but that was just it. He knew that, and he couldn't stop. He hurt somewhere inside, and he couldn't stop himself.

"It seemed very clear what was happening between the two of you, and it's not just me who thought it as well. So tell me - no, explain to me how I couldn't think that? How it's possible that what I saw never happened? Please, explain that to me, because I…I don't understand."

He hesitated, face was lined with concern. He lowered his eyes briefly, and after taking a breath, began to speak again.

"And if you can't tell me why, then shards, Elora…what have we been doing? I thought there was something more between us, but if there isn't, tell me now and let's be done with it."

[Nicole]

Elora walked away.

It wasn't that she couldn't answer him; the truth of what had happened would have been explanation enough. But the fact that he suspected her at all. He'd been in bars; he knew what men could be like.

That he doubted her first, rather than doubt the situation - that he accused her, rather than ask her!

And that sneer.

So she walked away, without guilt. Just a heavy heart.



On the cliffs, Saphireth waited. It did not take her Rider long to reach her side, and she climbed up onto the DarkBlue's back without a word.

Saphireth sighed and turned and looked at Metanath across the way.

A former client accosted her, and he thinks she did it. Even if she told him the truth, would he actually believe her? Because he was so ready to doubt it. And I doubt he would have believed her anyway. I don't think he trusts her.

And without waiting for him to answer, she leapt up and winked between, knowing N'kio and Metanath would just go back to work.