Hearths Duty - April 13, 2001

Zynassa spends an afternoon on hearths duty, chatting to K'dar, Ariane, Tamina and Avalle.

Zynassa - Friday, April 13, 2001, 12:26 PM
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Ista LC> Ariane laughs, nodding. She sips from her juice with her free hand. "Oh, yes. So far it's the bronze- and brownriders who are suffering, but it's sort of spreading to the rest. You know the drill."

Ista LC> K'dar smiles. "Lev's a bit too distracted with Rhiapeth to be tense now... As long as we don't give him too much time to brood, though, he should be fine"

Ista Weyr Living Cavern(#1100RJMs$)

Contents:
K'dar
Ariane
Linna
Your location's current time: 14:34 on day 26, month 7, Turn 35, of the Tenth Pass. It is a summer afternoon.

Ariane waves idly to Zynassa.

K'dar gives Ariane a grin. "Well, I can't blame it on Qirith. Telgar's duties!"

Zynassa gives a grin and a wave to Ariane, before ducking into the kitchens. She is gone for a few long minutes, and then comes back laden with fingerroots to chop, as well as a knife and bowl to organize things with. The mass is dumped on the table, and she then replies to K'dar, "Ista's duties to Telgar. Did that junior of yours finally clutch? My mother mentioned she was getting close..."

K'dar nods to Zynassa. "Beneth clutched a sevenday or two back - at some positively unpleasant hour of the morning, too. 31 eggs!"

Zynassa's lips curve into a pleased smile. "Good clutch for her, from the sounds of things. And out of a brown too, I think I heard?" She darts a look to Ariane to confirm. "That's a couple of marks I've won then. My thanks, brown rider. I'll have to collect them from my brother later." She grins a bit before starting to chop. "I'm Zynassa, by the way. Jazmin's my mother, up Telgar way."

K'dar nods. "Oh! I see. I'm K'dar, brown Leventh's rider." He grins at Ariane. "You ought to ask for commission for bringing me down here to settle that"

Ariane throws her hands up. "Don't ask me, I'm out of the betting loop these days." She laughs at K'dar. "Perhaps I should get back into it."

Zynassa laughs. "Well, Yaz has had too much on his mind the last few days to ask Gelth bespeak Chaeth. I figured I'd find out eventually. That or he was afraid he'd lose the marks and just didn't want to know." She winks, settling in to chopping. She doesn't, however, offer to share anything out on commission.

K'dar chuckles softly. "It was a brown, yes - Leya's Tovith." He grins at Ariane. "But if you don't have marks riding on it, you can get away?"

Ariane says "I'll drink to that."

Ariane sips her juice.

Zynassa grins at Ariane, "I'd be glad to get you back into wagering, ma'am. Just let me know." The offer is made with a supremely innocent expression.

Ariane says "Uh-huh... Well, looks like we won't have long to wait for the next round, here."

K'dar shakes his head at Zynassa. "So young, and yet so corrupt. Looking forward to having candidates around?"

Zynassa mms, and grins at Ariane, "Well, we could start with a little wager of who you think'll rise first." She grins at K'dar, "I'm not corrupt. I'm Bitran." She chuckles and then says, "If it means that I get to chop less of these," and she brandishes a root at the riders, "I'll be plenty glad."

Ariane says "Uh. Let me get back to you that, Zynassa..."

K'dar laughs, lifting Ariane's hands to his lips to brush it with a kiss. "Good thing I was a guard, and can protect you from Bitra's gamers"

Zynassa waves that root she holds airily. "Oh, I'm harmless, really. I just watch games mostly." It's that mostly part that gets people every time. She goes back to chopping. "Besides, I've not that many marks to wager. Spent most of 'em on a new gather dress."

Ariane says "Gather... Ah, now there is something I wouldn't mind spending my marks on."

Ariane smiles warmly to K'dar.

K'dar's eyes dance, turning to Zynassa. "I'll hold you responsible if a trip to the Weavers appears in my future, you know"

Skye suddenly pops out of <<between>>, seeming to hang in midair momentarily.
Skye has arrived.

Zynassa laughs. "Well, I could definately recommend Radar. I *love* my new dress. I just have to find a reason to wear it. Perfect for the heat down here too. You don't know of any gathers coming up, do you ma'am?" She turns a curious look on Ariane.

Ariane says "Not right away, no. I'll let you know, though."

Ariane stands, and leans over to Kiss K'dars cheek. "I have to get going. Next visit is on me, okay?"

K'dar smiles. "Sounds perfect. Clear skies, Ariane"

Zynassa nods. "I'd appreciate it. If I end up going with Yaz, I'd likely have to end up being all proper." She grins a bit, both at the statement and the affection between riders, "Clear skies."

Skye flits about the room before coming to rest on the table. Glancing from face to face he quickly realizes that Zynassa is the source of the problem here. Chittering loudly he tells her off for making such a disturbance and requiring him to come all this way. Warbling and trilling sternly he advises her to behave better in future and not to cause such situations for him to deal with!

Ariane waves cheerfully, and departs.

Ariane walks outside, into the bowl.
Ariane has left.

Zynassa just goggles at the firelizard, eyes searching for a banding mark. She waves a fingerroot at him, "Shoo! You're not one of mother's, or even one of Jae's or Yaz's. Shards and shells! K'dar, can you see where's he's banded from?"

K'dar smiles at Zynassa over his glass of juice. "I think that the Harper Hall is having some sort of event.. not quite a gather, but good fun. Dark blue and black - High Reaches."

Zynassa tries to talk over the noise, "My sister's at the Hall. I should see if I can't make it there and see her. Do you know what - oh, hush you! I don't know anyone at the 'Reaches, save Br'nal, and he's Istan! - they're doing if it's not a gather?"

Skye blinks at Zynassa. Recalcitrance and rebellion! He launches himself into the air, flying around and around, chitteing in dismay and distress. This will only make the situation worse, young lady, mark my trills! Still scolding Zynassa for her unreasonable and intemperate behavior, he pops <<between!>>

Skye flicks his wings and vanishes <<between!>>
Skye has left.

K'dar's eyes dance. "Truth be told, it sounds like they're recruiting! It's a day of games organized by the two crafts, and then a nice dinner"

Zynassa lets out a relieved breath as the noisy blue pops between. "What in Faranth's name was that all about." She shakes her head and then offers, "Well, Jae's the harper in the family. And Yaz is the healer - albeit dragonhealer. But still, it does sound like fun. Maybe Jae's performing."

K'dar nods. "I don't know all the details of who's performing and such, I'm afraid. Just that it's happening"

Zynassa nods. "Sounds like it should be fun. And if there's gaming..." She grins a bit. "So how is Beneth, and Thregga, wasn't it? I can never remember her rider's name. Are they pleased?"

K'dar chuckles softly. "Benneth is as proud as a stripling is of his first whiskers. Thregga seems to be pretty happy, too, though admittedly I only see her at meal-times. You know what it's like - every minute that's not spent on duties is spent on the Sands"

Zynassa nods sagely, as though she completely understood. "Nice sized clutch too. Should keep the weyrling staff busy. Have the candidates started pouring in yet?"

K'dar chuckles. "Why do you think I'm here? They're flooding in from all over the place, and they'll take a little while to settle in. In the meanwhile, it's hard to step into the Living Cavern without having six of them wanting to get you klah"

Zynassa laughs. "Is it really that bad? I've never been here for a full cycle. Just usually for the clutchings, and the hatchings, particularly if they've been Gelth's clutches. Only been to a couple of Telgar hatchings though since I was fostered."

K'dar smiles. "They're good kids," he says, "and some aren't even kids. The thought of getting a dragon is just so great that it stirs them to.. undue effort"

Zynassa chuckles. "Like doing their chores and being polite to riders decides that." She shakes her head a bit, clearly amused. "How long ago did you impress, may I ask?"

K'dar sips at his juice. "Not if you want to spare my ego. 17 turns past that Leventh found me"

Zynassa shrugs. "That's not so terribly long ago. Yaz impressed over eleven turns ago." She grins and asks, "Were you as anxious to please as a candidate as this lot is?"

K'dar smiles. "Well, I hope not? I was a fairly old candidate, for one, and I'd been living in the weyr for a few turns. Hopefully that took some of the edge off it"

Avalle walks in from the bowl.
Avalle has arrived.

Zynassa asks curiously, "Is there a different between weyrbred and holdbred candidates? I'd imagine there likely is - at least the weyrbred ones know what to expect." She grins, "And maybe aren't as underfoot all the time?" This last is suggested with a sly look.

K'dar considers. "Some difference from weyr to hold. I think most of the difference is age, though - what the weyrbred candidates usually make up in experience, they lack in age, so they come out about even for the most part"

Zynassa goes back to her slicing, making shreds of the fingerroots. "There's that, I suppose. Well, I'm glad it's a good clutch for Telgar." She smiles, "Gives me another excuse to come north for the hatching, and see my family. Though I swear I think the twin's turnday is coming up fast."

"'Ey! 'Ey! Careful, there, huh?" Avalle steps into the cavern but very nearly gets run into by two children on a very hurried way out... only a quick turn of slender body manages to get her out of the way in time. "Faranth's golden /daughters/." The hazel eyes track back after them, and then scan the cavern. "Well, this is it. Right!" They seize upon the first people she spots... that pair there, the blond man and his brunette companion. "'Allo!" Perhaps she's interrupting the conversation, but she heads over in that direction, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

Tamina walks in from the bowl.
Tamina has arrived.

"Telgar's duties," K'dar responds to Avalle bemusedly, broadening the greeting to include Tamina with a respectful nod.

Zynassa looks up at the casual greeting, very nearly missing the fingerroot with the knife and close to shredding fingers instead. She offers a cheery enough, "Hello yourself," to the stranger, gray eyes flickering over her before brightening and offering, "Afternoon, ma'am," to Tamina.

Her usual long stride curtailed, Tamina enters the living caven at a slow pace, a crutch under each arm. She pauses at the doorway then nods toward K'dar, responding with automatic courtesy, "Ista's duties. Hello Zynassa," she adds with a warm smile as she notices A'zric's sister. "How many times have I said to not call me ma'am?" she says half scolding.

K'dar stands with a smile for Tamina. "Can I get a chair for you, Wingleader? I'm K'dar, brown Leventh's rider"

Zynassa looks a trifle sheepish, and then rises, starting to pull out a chair for the wingleader, but pausing at K'dar's offer. "Here, let me get you some juice? Or something to eat? When did the healers say they'd let you off those things?" She includes Avella in that, asking, "And can I get you something while I'm up as well?"

Skinny legs stop, bag swings back off the shoulder, and fingers fumble in it for a moment--Avalle, after a moment, pulls out a carefully rolled piece of hide. "You know Sela? No, wait... Selka. That's a 'k'." She squints, peers at the handwriting on the outside. "Got a message from my mum, for her..." Abruptly, she realizes that somebody's being called ma'am, and straightens, scanning quickly over knots. Wingleader spotted, she offers, "Good afternoon," her first bit vaguely-politeness, then she continues on. "No, not hungry." She speaks far too fast, a mid-alto voice with a bit of an odd accent. "She's my cousin. Selka is, I mean. I don't know her all that well."

Tamina glances toward Avalle with a curious expression then smiles welcomingly in her direction before nodding gratefully at K'dar and Zynassa, "That you both. I wouldn't mind some klah, Zynassa. They say I'll have to use 'em for a little while till it heals up some. I'm supposed to stay off the leg." She glances at Avelle again then shakes her head with a thoughtful expression, "Don't recognize the name. What does she do?"

Zynassa trots off obediantly to get klah and fixings for Tamina, oddly unaware of the irony of the motion, given the last subject she and K'dar were discussing. "How about you K'dar? More juice?" Avalle gets a faintly blank look, and a head shake, to echo Tamina's words.

K'dar draws out a chair for Tamina. "Better that than to have a stiff leg for the rest of your days"

A wide-eyed pause, and Avalle's lips form a small 'o' of surprise. "I think she... um. Right. Well, she... the problem is, Wingleader, I'm not exactly sure," confesses the girl. "I told my mum I wanted to come up here, see? And she says, 'You aren't taking two steps out of this seahold without something constructive to do with your time!'" She's still standing in the same place, but she fidgets a bit, fingers picking lightly at her belt, and she lightly shifts from foot to foot. "No firelizards at home, see, since my father thinks they're worthless, so we usually send messages up with the tithe, but she said she had this one for Selka, extra-urgent, and I could bring it." More shifting, slightly more obvious. "What'd you do to it?" A frown and she looks down at the bandage on Tamina's leg.

Tamina smiles gratefully at K'dar then eases down into the chair careful of her left leg, "You're right, of course, K'dar. Pardon me, I'm Tamina blue Gaudiorth's rider." She shifts in the chair to look back at Avalle, nodding with a bit of a bemused smile at her explanation then she answers with a grimace, "Scored in a recent fall. Gaudiorth wasn't hurt thought," she adds with obvious relief.

Zynassa brings the hot liquid back to Tamina, deftly setting milk and sweetner next to her, and giving the surface of the table a prefunctory wipe. "You sure I can't get anyone anything else while I'm up?" Gray eyes go to K'dar and Avalle, before darting back to the pile of fingerroots on the table.

K'dar smiles. "Sorry, nothing for me. I should be going fairly soon - I've got sweeps to get back to"

From afar, to Avalle, K'dar, and Zynassa, Tamina apologizes profusely, "I've got to scoot as some company has arrive. Sorry!!
Tamina has disconnected.

K'dar chuckles. "You know, you can probably just take a break from the fingerroots?"

Zynassa nods to K'dar, and goes slowly back to her seat and those roots. Eyebrows arch at this one, and she asks the brownrider, "Oh? And do what? I've hearths duty for today..." She gives Avalle a speculative look.

Finally, the offer really sinks into Avalle's head, and blithely ignoring the fact that she turned it down only a few moments ago, she raises a hand. "Would it be a lot of trouble to ask for a glass of water?" One might begin to realize just why it is that she's a walking reed.

K'dar stretches. "Well, I suppose so. Ah, well, time for my sweeps - clear skies to you both"

Zynassa crosses back over to the pitchers, pouring a glass for the girl. "And I'm afraid I don't know Selka, but then, I've only been here for good for a couple of months. I'm Zynassa. Ista's duties to your, uh, seahold, did you say?" She gives a wave to K'dar, "My best to everyone up at Telgar? And tell my mother and the twins I said hello? Zaemina would just gurgle at you." She grins at the brownrider.

K'dar laughs. "I will!"

K'dar walks outside, into the bowl.
K'dar has left.

"Yup. Right on the water, lots of boats, all that." Avalle /almost/ sits down... but then seems to decide against it, pacing a little back and forth. The fact that somebody might want to know /her/ name seems to fly right past her. "Nice place to grow up, but so /small/, everybody-knows-everybody's-darkest-secret kind of place, y'know? Decided to visit someplace a little bigger. See if I was cut out to move."

Zynassa offers the girl the water before taking her place again with the roots. "I don't really - I'm not from anywhere you could call small. And well, there's always chores to be done at the weyr. Just as Grissa, or Mouse. They'll tell you quick enough." She nudges out a chair for the girl with a foot, seeing as she's having difficulty finding one.

Avalle takes the water, then dances back from the nudge, and eyes the chair as if it's a foreign creature before replying. "Chores seem so much like... kid stuff. What I want is a /job/. Not good at much, craft-wise, though. Still thinking about it... what I want to do, all that." She finally takes a drink, not so much 'sip' as 'guzzle', downing a full half of it at once. "So many choices. It's a very big world."

Zynassa asks, "Well, what are you good at?"

"Lots of stuff," replies Avalle vaguely, finishing off her water. "Thanks for this," she offers, raising the glass and nodding before setting it on the table. "Better be off to look for... whatshername." Message is retrieved from the bag, recipient scrutinized once again. "Selka, right. Or maybe that's Sellia... anyhow. See you!" With that, and still not a mention of her name, she heads back out into the bowl.

Avalle walks outside, into the bowl.
Avalle has left.

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