[Log] You've Stood Before?
Who: Olwyn, R'dur, Ronari, Tenli
When: Day 6, Month 1, Turn 11
Where: Living Cavern, Telgar Weyr; Candidate Barracks, Telgar Weyr
What: R'dur searches Olwyn.
Telgar Weyr's Living Cavern
This huge cavern is sufficiently roomy to hold a large portion of the Weyr's population without feeling cramped. There's always a bustle of activity here. Fragrant dishes are constantly in prepartion for mealtimes: currently for the evening meal. Drudges are always present, either cleaning under Pierron's watchful eye, or helping fetch and carry. A myriad of glowbaskets and many ever-lit hearths make the cavern warm and inviting despite its size. The scents of cooking meats, baking breads and pastries, and the pungent aroma of spices hang mouthwateringly in the air. It is little wonder that those seeking to relax nearly always find their way here to do it. Branches of evergreens and glistening winter berries are ornaments of the season.
A short tunnel jaunts northward out to the bowl and the merry sounds of cooking, chores, and laughter echo from the kitchen at the southeast end of the cavern near the easterly passage to the rest of the lower caverns. Within the lower caverns is an entrance to the infirmary weyr to care for injured dragons and riders.
Contents:
PLAYERS: R'dur Pierron Olwyn Ronari Tenli
OTHER: Telgar Serving Tables
Obvious Exits:
Inner Caverns Kitchen Bowl
Ronari waves goodbye to Graedin, a good-natured chuckle escaping her. This turns to a laugh when Olwyn asks what her crime was. "I got Searched." She says, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "I hear that's a crime worth banishment, but the people here are quite forgiving...mostly." She catches sight of a new arrival, but can't make out who it is through the crowd.
"No thanks to Pierron," Tenli notes aloud, bemusement coloring her cheeks as said man humphs. She lowers her voice in an attempt to be faux discrete and slips a wink to the girls at the table, "He's a fixture here, has exacting standards and I believe he'll outlive us all into the next Pass. Banishment?" The rider's eyes blink up at Ronari.
Olwyn is sitting at a table with Ronari and Tenli, helping herself quite enthusiastically to the midday meal. "Oh!" she says in surprise. "Well...congratulations. On not getting banished, that is," she adds, joining on on the joke. "Such exacting people always do. They can't stand the thought of other people doing their jobs wrong and so hold on to life endlessly. Right, ma'am?" the nanny begins in response to the greenrider, but by the end, has to anxiously make sure she didn't step over any boundaries with the elderly woman.
Up from the lower caverns, R'dur still has vaguely damp hair from a recent bath, and his cheeks are flushed with the bathing cavern's heat. In the comparatively cooler living cavern, this translates to a quick shiver, then a quest for something good and warm to fill himself with. The serving tables are eyed, picked over, but with a rather unhappy expression he ignores the food in favor of a mug of klah, not his usual drink choice at all, and then heads toward a seat, finding one near Olwyn, Ronari, and Tenli. He offers a distracted smile to them.
Ronari can't help but nod in return to Tenli's query. "Haven't you heard ma'am? It's a high crime now that the Interval's over." She leans back in her seat just as R'dur joins them. She nods greeting to him. "Isn't that right R'dur?" She asks, knowing that he probably has no idea what she's talking about. "There was a farmer like that my mother and I knew. Worked his fields until the day he died. I think he was into his eight decade then. Well into it."
"Oh, Pierron will definitely outlive all of us. He'll never be able to give up his iron fist of our kitchens and caverns." Pause. "Is it now?" Tenli doesn't seem to know whether to take Ronari's words at face value or as a joke. So, the elderly rider instead flags down the Weyrsecond. "Duties, sir! I nabbed one of your brood the other day."
Olwyn relaxes as Tenli agrees with her and doesn't take her to task for disrespect. Such relaxation doesn't last long, however, as the Weyrsecond ends up near them. "Sir," she greets him with a nod, entirely respectful, but with more than a hint of wariness about her thanks to his presence. While she seems to get Ronari's joke, she tries to rescue the greenrider now. "I think only some of the more ungrateful holders would say such a thing, Ronari. From my experience, candidates are usually quite welcome around a Weyr, even if they try to make you think otherwise with chores like cleaning the guest weyrs."
R'dur isn't paying much attention to the conversation, his hands wrapped around his drink as he sits; the sound of his name is all that alerts him to the fact that people are actually talking to him. "What? Oh, I'm sorry," he apologizes. "Did you need something?" A glance from Ronari to Olwyn and then Tenli, looking a little lost. Then: "My brood?" Somebody's not quite with it today.
Ronari nods to Olwyn in agreement. She has more to say about it--her most recent travels having painted a picture quite different from Olwyn's and most people's understanding. But R'dur seems a bit out of it today, and so Ronari had to quickly hide a bit of a snigger behind her hand, turning it tactfully into a cough. She thinks quickly, trying to remember who all had been Searched. "I hadn't heard of it. Unless Cyrra's one of yours, sir?" She remembers at the last second.
"Cyrra," Tenli promptly fills in the gap, "One of your nieces, I think? Or was I confused? Sometimes, my grandchildren say I do that, but I've all my senses about me. Iridith sees to that. Oh!" Easily distractible, or else it's the half mug of klah already in her belly, the greenrider catches sight of someone. Apology in her eyes casts about the table and her vacated seat is pointed out for R'dur's benefit, "I've got to catch up with my wingleader and give in a report. See you later."
"Cyrra, oh, that's right!" says R'dur, blushing. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. My neice, yes. She's my neice." He nods, as though to fix that thought in his mind today. "I knew she'd been searched but I didn't realize it was you, ma'am. But, ah. Oh. Yes, well, have a good day," he sends Tenli off with a half-smile, before he finally takes that sip of klah and glances back to the two girls. "So, ah. How are you?" he asks, still a little flushed.
Tenli walks towards the inner cavern.
Tenli has left.
As Olwyn catches up with the conversation and the mention of 'R'dur's brood,' she stiffens a bit. As an unfamiliar name is bandied about, however, she relaxes a little bit. "Congratulations on your niece, sir," she says formally. "I'm doing quite well, thank you." Still rather subdued, she gets back to the pleasant task of eating, though keeps her ears open for anything else that she might add to the conversation.
Ronari notes Olwyn's discomfort and leans close, whispering to her as she pours herself some more juice. "Don't worry. I don't think /Cyrra/ will attempt to beat the snot out of anyone." She winks to the nanny and turns back to R'dur. "I'm well enough, thanks. Though if I live past this afternoon it'll be a miracle."
"Thank you," R'dur tells Olwyn, with a small smile. "I'm very happy for her--both her parents are riders, and... Well, most of her family, as I understand it. I keep wondering if one of the dragons will show an interest in Jaethe or Tiriana, but not as yet, not even Alidaeth." He sounds a little wistful about this, but shrugs, then glances sideways at Ronari. With another sip of his klah, he seems more awake. "What's this afternoon?"
"Thank you," R'dur tells Olwyn, with a small smile. "I'm very happy for her--both her parents are riders, and... Well, most of her family, as I understand it. I keep wondering if one of the dragons will show an interest in Jaethe or Tiriana, but not as yet, not even Alidaeth." He sounds a little wistful about this, but shrugs, then glances sideways at Ronari. With another sip of his klah, he seems more awake. "What's this afternoon?"
Olwyn's caught off guard by Ronari's whispered comment, but grins in complete understanding before returning her attention to R'dur. "I hope she has good luck on the sands," she says, tactfully not mentioning anything about Tiriana. "More weyr cleaning or some other nasty chore?" she goes on to ask Ronari about the upcoming killer afternoon.
"Latrine Duty." Ronari says with a shiver. "I thought when I left Igen that my bedpan days were over...guess not." She shakes herself and turns to R'dur, echoing Olwyn's wishes for Cyrra. "She's a sweet thing. I rather like her."
Sympathetically, R'dur offers Ronari a smile, nodding. "It's... not so bad? ... It's necessary, anyway," he amends. "There are, I'm sure, worse chores." He doesn't volunteer what those might be, however, and instead clears his throat and changes the subject. On Cyrra: "Yes, she is. She's... Well. She reminds me of myself? And Jaethe is very nice, too." He doesn't mention Tiriana, either, though it's a safe bet that his brief grimace is in relation to her.
Olwyn winces at Ronari's declaration. "Ouch. Good luck surviving that indeed. I have to deal with diapers and such in the nursery, but latrines duty...ewww. It's definitely a matter of scale." She raises an eyebrow at R'dur's vague suggestion that there might be worse things, but doesn't comment further except to murmur, "I don't believe I've met either Cyrra or Jaethe."
"It's doable...just not pleasant." Ronari agrees. "And yes, I'm certain the latrines will be worse than bedpans, but one does what one must." She says with a dramatized air of resignation. "I've met Cyrra a few times, and had a run-in with Tiriana, but I don't think I've met Jaethe..." She thinks for a minute. "No, I take that back, he was here with Stav warming up when I swung by between 'Reaches trips. I'dve thought he'd be one of the first Searched, sir."
"Cyrra is about your age," says R'dur, for Olwyn's benefit, "your size, with brown hair--very quiet. And Jaethe is a couple of turns younger than her--he falls between her and Tiriana." Pause. "You had a run-in with Tiriana. I'm sorry. She's--she's... I'm sorry." This, to Ronari, as R'dur just sighs, unsurprised by the news.
As R'dur apologizes for Tiriana, Olwyn relaxes back to how she was before the Weyrsecond joined the crowd. "Maybe she'll grow out of it?" she suggests, though without any real hope for such a thing in her voice. "Maybe you can find something to plug your nose up with. That might make things a little more bearable. Either that, or eventually you will become used to it-it's the first few minutes that are the worst," she tells Ronari, more helpful on this subject than that of R'dur's niece.
Ronari shrugs. "It's my own fault. I felt bad for the lad she'd just attacked and stepped in where I shouldn't have. She's quite a scrapper, your neice." She adds with a grin, no hard feelings here. However, as far as the latrines go..."I'm almost regretting this. Human waste is one thing I've never gotten used to." She takes a bite of tuber and follows it with a drink of juice. "Oh well, this too shall pass, and then I'll never mess with one again." She promises herself. To R'dur. "I understand the chores part of it, but are there classes or something I should be attending as well?"
"Once can hope," says R'dur, longsuffering. "Though, her father never did." He smiles tightly, then shakes his head, dismissing the subject of his errant niece. "Anyway. It's, ah. Well. I believe it becomes worth it, in the end, if you impress? Or... I impressed my first time standing, admittedly, but I think it's worth the experience even if one doesn't. And at least the chores rotate?" Pause. "Classes?" R'dur seems surprised by the idea. "No, nothing like that."
"Explains so much about her," Olwyn mutters under her breath, then considers the other topic of conversation for a long moment. "Once is definitely worth doing. Beyond that...it becomes stressful, I think. Some of the nastier chores, being pulled away from things that you might be better at and contribute more doing as well as enjoy more. So, enjoy it if it's your first time, Ronari, latrines and all. If it's not...well, you have my sympathies," she finishes thoughtfully.
"So there's no preparation for possible dragons? Just chores and the occaisional egg-touching?" Ronari asks incredulously. Why, she could have done all these things without the added pressure of the title Candidate! Oh well, such was life. "It is my first time. I'd never thought about it much really--beign Searched. I had too much to do as a kid to daydream much." She chickles to herself. "Which probably explains why I do so now, and usually in unfortunate moments."
"You've stood before?" asks R'dur, cocking his head curiously and glancing sideways at Olwyn. He glances back to Ronari, brows knitting, but he's silent for a moment on that venue.
"What preparation could there be, really?" Olwyn asks Ronari. "If you Impress, it's something that can't possibly be described or understood beforehand, and if you don't, well, any preparation that could have been made would prove to be a waste of time. It's only a short while, though, so you'll make it," she adds encouragingly. She hesitates a moment, then nods to the Weyrsecond. "I have, at Fort Weyr."
"I guess you're right. But it just seems, well not as bad as it's always been made out to be. I'd honestly expected grueling classes and long hours of work, kind of like apprenticeship at one of the Halls, but aside from the unpleasantness of some of the work, this is not really that bad."
"Oh," says R'dur, and leans back, quiet again, frowning. He looks between Olwyn and Ronari again, thoughtful, nodding absently a moment to the latter before he glances sideways again at the former. "Would you like to again?" he finally asks Olwyn. "Here?"
Olwyn shakes her head. "No, it's not like a candidate is a slave or something. You're kind of like a guest, but one that needs to be kept busy for a while before the big event," she suggests by way of analogy. The implication of R'dur's words don't hit her for a long moment. "What!" she finally blurts out, more an exclamation than a question. "I mean, sir, I'm honored, I just...I was done...I just hadn't thought I'd be doing something like that again," she finishes a bit lamely, honestly bewildered and taken off guard by the question.
Ronari is excited for her friend, and hopes that Olwyn will accept, but remembering her own struggle with accepting, she says nothing. She offers her friend a warm smile and squeeze her arm lightly before turning back to her lunch in silence.
"Oh," R'dur says again, leaning back, frown lingering at Olwyn's answer. He blushes slightly. "Well. You don't--you don't /have/ to, you know, if you don't want to. It won't hurt my feelings. Or Alidaeth's. Really."
Olwyn glances at Ronari at the squeeze, returning the other girl's smile, then nods at R'dur. "I know I don't have to," she says before falling into a long, thoughtful silence. A brief flurry of emotions crosses her face as she toys with the remainder of her lunch with her fork. "I guess I should have realized this was a possibility, huh? I mean, the Fortian adult dragons seemed to like me even if none of the dragonets did," she comments on her own lack of foresight.
Ronari chuckles softly at Olwyn's logic. Most dragons had liked her too. She hoped this wasn't an omen of some sort.
Ronari pages to Olwyn and R'dur: sorry for the shortness, but I've really nothing to add right now. XD
"I... can't speak for the Fortian dragons," confesses R'dur with a shrug. "I don't really know any of them. But Alidaeth tells me he'd like you to stand, so..." He offers her a small and hopeful smile.
"Well...," Olwyn hems for another moment. "Since I'd like to stay here, I suppose I should do my best to stay in Alidaeth's good graces. I suppose I can give it one more shot," she says slowly, hints of both reluctance and excitement warring in her voice. "Thank you, sir. I am honored," she says with more certainty in the act of being polite.
R'dur's smile broadens, relief and happiness evident there. "Oh, really? Thank you! I mean, wait. Congratulations. Yes, congratulations," he gets his words in order, blushing only a touch in his cheeks. "Would you--I mean, should I--the barracks? Would you like to see the barracks?"
Ronari beams up at the newest Candidate, quickly slurping up a bit of tuber still in her mouth. "Congratulations Olwyn!" She says earnestly if quietly. She scrapes the last bit of food from her plate and looks to R'dur. "I can take her to the barracks if you're busy, sir. I've got to back and feed TObi anyway."
Olwyn looks a bit unsettled as she chases the last of her food onto her fork and eats it, then downs the dregs of her juice. "Thank you, sir, I would," she says, then shakes her head as if to clear it. "Yes, I would like to see them. I've been spending so much time in the nursery I haven't fully re-explored the Weyr yet and don't know where they are." She pauses as Ronari makes her offer, waiting for the Weyrsecond to indicate who is to be her guide.
"Ah," says R'dur, glancing from Olwyn to Ronari. "Well. It's my job, really, so I shouldn't push it off on you, though thank you. You can walk with us, if you like?" He's already moving to stand, picking up his half-forgotten mug of klah for a last sip and a grimace as he realizes it's cold.
Finding this acceptable, Ronari rises as well and places her things on a nearby tray for the drudges to pick up later.
Olwyn gives Ronari a warm smile as a thank you for the girl's offer, then pushes back from the table to join the Weyrsecond as he stands. A quick shove puts her chair back under the table, puts her own dishes on the tray, then nods to R'dur. "I'm ready when you are, sir."
"This way, then," R'dur says, then, offering another smile, then turning to lead the way further into the caverns.
Leading the way through the caverns to the barracks, R'dur stops just inside the entrance and glances back at the girls following him. "These are the barracks, and you're welcome to whichever cot you'd like, of course. You remember the rules, don't you, from the last time you stood." Pause. "They have the same rules at Fort, yes?" he asks, biting his lower lip.
Olwyn follows the rider obediently through the caves to the one serving the candidates as home. She takes the room in at a glance, her eyes pausing here and there as she tries to ascertain which cots are taken and which are not. "Thank you, sir. I do remember the rules, but...I couldn't say if they're the same at both places. I've only ever stood at Fort," she says a bit apologetically.
"No drinking fighting or sex." Ronari sums it up nicely as she walks in behind Olwyn and scoops up her cat. "There's an empty cot here Olwyn, unless you fancy somewhere else." She gestures to the one neaest her own.
"Yes. Those," R'dur says, blushing and clearing his throat as Ronari spells the rules out for Olwyn. He offers a small smile, though, and nods. "We post chores here," he notes, gesturing to the board, "and... that's about it, I suppose. I don't think you'll have a problem, but if you have any questions or anything?" He glances expectantly to her.
"Ahhh, yes, that's pretty much the same, then," Olwyn says with a grin at Ronari's brief summarization. She considers for a moment, then shakes her head. "I can't think of anything right now, sir, unless there's something run drastically different here than at Fort."
"I doubt it," admits R'dur with a sheepish shrug. "I think these things are rather standardized. But if you can't, I think I'm going to slip out, and... Well. Probably, take a nap," he notes wryly of his earlier distracted state.
Ronari waves to R'dur. "Sleep well." She calls to him before sitting on her cot.
"Thanks again, sir. I think I'll go grab the rest of my stuff and get it moved in here," Olwyn says. "Enjoy your nap." To Ronari, she gives a bit of a wave and notes, "I'll be back soon."