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| Lela's weyr |
| Lela looked at herself in the silver-metal mirror. Lessa and she shared it and her taller, younger sister shouldered Lela a bit to move her out of her way. "I think this color goes perfectly with my complexion," Lessa said, indicating the deep russet dress. And while it was true, it did make her skin look lighter than it was and perhaps a little healthier, Lela wasn't fond of the way that her sister usually grabbed up everything, including space in front of the mirror. "It does. You look great. Now could you let me see if these boots go with this dress? Please?" Lela said, holding up the suede grey and graphite colored boots, and indicating her steely-white dress. "You'll be fine." Lessa said, abruptly, and started putting a comb through her short hair. Lela rolled her eyes, and thought the better of sneering at her sister. It wasn't like this never happened before, it was just... now of all times? "Must you be so rude, Lessa?" Lela asked, putting the boot on and examining its contrast without the aid of the mirror. "I'm not being rude, dear sister. I'm being assertive." Lessa said, in her typical manner. "There is a fine line," Lela pointed out without raising her gaze. "Are you saying that I don't know the difference?" Lessa put her hands on her hips, and Lela leaned back on the cot. Her booted feet poked out from the grey-toned dress and looked just fine to her. She barely caught a glimpse of Lessa as she -- "What'd you do that for?" Lela held her face in her hands, suddenly aware that her loving sister had raked her with the comb across her cheek! |
| "Because you're insulting me! I swear, sharding big sister -- you always get everything. I don't want to live in your shadow forever you know. So you can go to the Gather with welts, see if I care." Lessa turned and furiously poked at her hair some more, then stormed out of their weyr to find a ride to the Gather. Long after she had left the room, Lela looked at the doorway with its long leather flap covering it still moving a bit with the breeze she carried on her way out. Though there were tears in her eyes, it was more the sting of the pain on her cheek, than of any real anguish. "'My' shadow," Lela whispered. "Do I even cast one?" Finally she stood and looked at her dress and boots, in the mirror. Satisfied with the clothing at least, Lela then looked to her face. The comb had indeed left five long welts across her cheek, looking more like a wild cat had scratched her than anything else. She was surprised when O'nal entered the weyr and placed his hand on her shoulder. Startled, Lela almost yelped, but she was normally quiet, and this was no exception. "What ... happened?" O'nal asked, and Lela glanced at the dark marks on her face, in the mirror. "Lessa happened. Of course." "Of course..." O'nal breathed. "That girl is awfully jealous of you, Lela. Why do you put up with it?" She furrowed her small eyebrows and looked at her lover, "put up with it? If I did anything else, she'd have reason to complain, wouldn't she? Then I would never hear the end of it. I'd be the bossiest, rudest, most sharding over-cared-for sister ever born. It's not enough that I'm two turns older, but she's half a head bigger than me, no..." Lela was finally on the verge of tears. "Am I really that much to --" "You're a goal she can never live up to," O'nal said, with a soft smile on his heavy lips. "She had to beg a ride outside, you know. No one wants to ride with her, she complains the whole way, so I've heard." Lela sniffled a bit of a chuckle. "I have heard too. Usually all the way across the courtyard..." "That's my girl," O'nal said, smiling. He held Lela's chin up and kissed her tears away. They barely made it to the Gather, before it started getting into full swing. |
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