Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

"Drinking. Shouting at Merrill. Arguing with Beth. Telling Beth she needs to do or not do, uh, anything really. Talking too much. Not talking enough. Saying the wrong things. Saying the right things at the wrong time."

[Tethras Clan]

"Drinking you solved- don't. Simple. Shouting and arguing aren't bad by themselves. Sometimes that's what's needed. Shouted at you a bit ago, didn't I?" Aveline plates the eggs carefully, methodically. "Talking about what? What wrong thing? What right things?"

[Carver Amell]

"When I try to talk to Beth about things that bother me it all goes wrong. When I don't talk to her, or Dad, or anyone, that makes it all go wrong too."

[Tethras Clan]

"Then it sounds like the real problem is you don't know how to talk about things that bother you,' Aveline suggests.

[Carver Amell]

"I guess," he mutters. "I don't... I don't think there is a good way."

[Tethras Clan]

"If there's no good way to say it, then it means the listener is at fault," she says simply, putting the plates on the table and moving to the cold box.

[Carver Amell]

He lifts his head. "What?"

[Tethras Clan]

He has to wait a moment as she rummage around for a sealed wax box and yanks it out. "If there's no right way to say what needs saying, then it's the listener that has a problem," she repeats. 

[Carver Amell]

"What do you mean? How is it their problem?"

[Tethras Clan]

Carrying the box to the counter, she gets out a pair of bowls and sets them on the counter. In the hallway, just out of the kitchen, Beka watches intently, noise quivering. "How can I... if you have a cadet that can't shape up, then either she or the trainer is at fault. If there is no possible way for the trainer to reach the cadet, no matter what she does or tries, then it's the cadet refusing to learn."

[Carver Amell]

"So if... so if I can't talk to Beth, then it's Beth who can't hear me?" he says, slowly. 

[Tethras Clan]

"If it's not you, then it's her, yes," Aveline says simply. "Like as not, it's both of you," she adds, dishing out two generous ladlefuls of mince meat and rice into each bowl. Silence cocks her head, sniffing the air with appreciation- she normally gets rice boiled in meat broth for breakfast and mix for dinner. If we eat at this den in the morning and the den-den at night.... hmmmm.

[Carver Amell]

"It's not her. She's... She's Beth. It's gotta be me."

[Tethras Clan]

"If the gods aren't perfect, neither is she." Sealing the box back up, she returns it to the cold box. "Come get Silence's bowl," she instructs him, solidly of the belief that feeding one's own mabari is an important part of being their master. "Also, that's dangerous- for both of you."

[Carver Amell]

Carver, already getting to his feet, hesitates. "Feeding Silence is dangerous?"