Secrets, tact, and broken bones
Who: Roa, K'sar, Aelan, Essdara
Where: Infirmiry, HRW
When: The day after the party
Comment: I dunno, my RP was a bit flat in this one; I don't think Dara quite knew what to do with two injured friends. Thankfully, there were enough people in the scene that I don't think anyone noticed.
(( Aelan and Essdara enter the infirmary from the bowl; Roa and K'sar share adjoining beds. ))
K'sar dozes lightly, fingers still holding Roa's. He is dressed in soft clothes, a bandage around his head and his hair spiky from some of the dried blood that remains even after a wipe or two. A bandage also wraps one hand.
Essdara and Aelan come in from the bowl, the young cook giving a shiver as she passes into the much warmer infirmiry. She moves through the room, neck craning around to find the patient she wants, and eventually does. She moves towards Roa, and can't help a slight smile at the bronzerider holding her hand. "Now, there's something I wouldn't have seen coming." She comments quietly to Aelan. Looking back, though, the smile fades when she notices the bandage on K'sar. "Oh. That explains a lot." She mutters.
Aelan follows Dara in, apparently comfortable with the infirmary air as she looks around until she follows the other firl's gaze to the pair in the beds. "I'm guessing Roa's not the sleeping one," she murmurs, smile flickering for just a moment before she falls behind half a step, trying to look respectable.
Essdara grins over her shoulder to Aelan. "No, that's K'sar. That was his bronze earlier. He's an odd one, but is a lot of fun in the right circumstances." She looks back, and quietly moves to Roa's bedside. "Not sure she's any more awake than he is, though. Did I mention the kind of luck I have?"
Roa is awake? Yes. But she seems quite lost in thought, and though her hand rests in K'sar's, her focus seems to be off on a wall somewhere. A smaller bandage covered her left temple and her left leg is bandaged, splinted, and elevated, bare toes peeping out from the wrapping. She's in her casual clothing, hair up in her usual knot, so things seem to be, perhaps, well enough. Nearby sits an inkwell and quill with a single hide with much writing and just as much crossing out. On the dragon side of the infirmary, on a couch not currently being used by an injured dragon, dozes Tialith.
At the sound of a familiar voice, Roa blinks slowly and, returning to the here and now, looks over towards the arrivals. A grin speads across her afce. "Dara," she says. "Look, you see? For once you're not the one injuring yourself." And then a nod to the other woman and a soft, "Hello."
"Hey," Aelan flickers a small smile in Roa's direction before catching herself, clearing her throat and trying something just a /little/ more formal. "Aelan," she offers in a vague introduction, gaze skimming over the splint as she points to it. "Those hurt, huh?" she mumbles.
Essdara chuckles softly. "It's a rare turn of events, but let's not make a habit of it, ok? I'm expendable, you're not." She glances to Aelan, who beats her to introductions. She looks back to Roa with a teasing smile. "Aelan's new here, but is very nice. Even if she, like you, fails to properly be able to accept my affections." Her smiles fades a little. "Roa, you are ok, right? I've not heard anything but rather confusing rumors. What /happened/ to you?"
K'sar hears voices and stirs slightly, fingers tightening on Roa's before he opens his eyes and murmurs. "She had to rescue her heroes." A quirk of a smile and he releases Roa's hand, tugging on his blankets a little more. "Hello, Dara...Aelan."
Essdara's self-depricating comment only summons a snort from the goldrider. "I think T'zen would heartily disagree. You make far better meatrolls than I do." To Aelan, a name is offered for a name and she simply says, "I'm Roa. Well met, Aelan." Toes wiggle, but that hurts, so they stop. "It hurt when they were putting it on," she admits. "Now it's just sort of itchy. What happened? Well. Shelves. Fell." And her hand pulls free from K'sar's so that both can pantamine the mighty descent of the villianous storage shelves. "On me. My leg, anyhow."
"That /really/ hurts," Aelan commiserates with a wince at Roa's leg. K'sar gets a brief, curious glance before she takes another step back out of the circle and behind Dara, crossing her arms loosely over her chest and watching the others closely as she tries to get her bearings.
K'sar stays quiet for the moment, looking at the visitors before glancing over at Roa. They're /her/ visitors, so he's going to just listen unless spoken to.
Essdara snorts, softly. "Shelves fell?" She repeats, in amusement. "if you say so. Glad you are ok, though. You looked pretty bad when Ashwin took you out to see Tialith. Never seen a dragon try to burrow into the caverns before, she was really upset." She looks over at K'sar. "So, I guess the shelves, then, are why you didn't come back? You're ok, too, K'sar? I know we haven't talked much lately, but I would be sad to lose you."
Roa seems, at least at this point, to not be saying much more about the shelves. As Tialith's escapades are mentioned, however, the Telgari's head lowers into her hands with a groan. "I cannot believe she did that," is moaned into her palms. "I'll never live it down. Not ever." And once upon a time, going into the kitchens with her knot on was her 'Big Embarassment'. Peeping up from her hands, she has at least enough courtesy to make introductions. "Aelan, have you met K'sar? He's a rider here at Reaches, though formerly of Telgar. That's how I knew him."
"The Stores room was rigged with traps." K'sar replies quietly. "One set fell, then a second set that I caught with my back and head." A wry smile and he looks over at Roa. "She used to tell Dananth stories while helping us scrub him. I knew her back when she had freckles and no..." He catches Roa's eye and edits his comment "...no Gold of her own." Yeah, that's what he was going to say. Yep.
"Ah, no, don't think we've met," Aelan says, though she doesn't really step forward, instead raising a hand in brief greeting. "Aelan," she offers again. "Keroon." And then K'sar's description sets in, drawing her attention back with a quirk of her brow and another of those inappropriate sparks of interest. "So it wasn't an accident?"
"Accidents," Essdara comments, "Rarely take the best of the guards away from a gather." She smiles a little, "Don't worry, Roa, most people were gone by the time she tried to come in, and those of us left were just utterly lost on what to /do/ about it. Don't think many there would spead the rumor." She smiles a little bit. "I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to talk to, or dance, with, either of you though. Didn't even notice Roa was gone until the rumors started. It was a lovely gather, other than this stuff."
At K'sar's comment the look on Roa's face as she regards the other two women is one of those eyes-half-shut, brows lowered, half-smirk deals. This one simply screaming 'Bronzeriders. Sheesh.' But then her expression becomes more somber. "It wasn't an accident," Roa agrees, her voice lowering. "But I'm not sure what ought to be public knowledge and what the Captain wants kept private for now. Perhaps, if you want to know more details, it's better if you speak to him?" A rather pointed glance shot K'sar's way. "Everyone's all right though." Well, everyone who isn't a drudge killer, anyhow.
"I still owe you a dance, Dara. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I can dance again. Right now, sitting up is less than pleasant." K'sar offers wryly before glancing at Aelan again. "I remember you from last night. You wore that pretty yellow dress and looked like you were really having fun with Dara."
K'sar lets the 'accident or not' pass - shelf? what shelf?
"The yellow dress looks like it belong on the dessert table, but thanks," Aelan says with a wry smirk, though she looks between K'sar and Roa with a considering, narrowed gaze. "Captain of the guards," she echoes thoughtfully, and she can't quite hide a scheming look as she crosses her arms loosely over her chest again. "So how long are they telling you you'll be out with the leg?" she asks Roa with a small, sympathetic smile.
Essdara smiles to K'sar. "I'll hold you to that, K'sar, when you are better. If you ask nicely, maybe I'll even make myself look nice again. I admit it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I expected it to be." She glances at Aelan, "And yeah, we had a good deal of fun." She looks back to Roa as Aelan asks the question, nodding a bit. "That's a good question. I hope you're not going to be stuck here long?"
Roa peers down at her suspected foot. "I'm told, so long as I'm not feeling dizzy, I can leave the Infirmary tomorrow. The splint and wrappings however..." a small sigh. "Those stay on for a month. And no riding. I wouldn't mind the first, if it wasn't for the no riding bit." To Aelan, she asks curiously, "You seem to be a bit knowledgable about these sorts of breaks? Have you hurt your leg before?"
K'sar looks over at Tialith. "With Tia in here, Roa should be fine. Dananth, however, hates the infirmary and will freeze his hide off outside rather than come in." He looks over at Roa and smirks. "I've not even spoken to a Healer yet. Just apprentices."
"Each one, actually," Aelan flashes a swift grin at Roa. "Right one falling off a runner, left one cliff-climbing. Got my arm that time, too," she adds cheerfully, then pauses, smile slipping ruefully crooked. "That one was /really/ hard to explain to my father. Uncle told him I was spending some time at Igen to make diplomatic ties."
Essdara chuckles. "I saw him earlier, K'sar. He looks very lonely and sad. I think he was trying to tell me you were in here, too, but I was rather distracted at the time." Back to Roa. "That's good, at least. Sounds like this will all blow over pretty quickly, then. Is Ashwin ok? I couldn't tell who's blood was on him last night."
"Maybe you could talk Dananth into going into the baths where it's warmer for a bit?" K'sar asks Essdara. "Please? He..." The rider tries to sit up in his effort to talk and suddenly stops talking, whimpering once and slowly lying back. "Um..he..." he takes a slow breath. "...he needs to get warm. And eat." Wow - tanned to grey in under 2 seconds!
"K'sar," Roa warns, "I'm not above requesting you get strapped down. I'll ask Tia to get Dananth someplace warm. And Tavaly's Immath will likely help too." Then Aelan is stared at. "At Igen for..." a small laugh, "I guess negotiations didn't go as well as had been hoped? Shells..an arm *and* a leg. I can't even imagine..." and then, to Dara, "as far as I could tell, none for the blood was Ashwin's. Some of it might have been mine." The rest? No comment.
"Oh, no, Arinya was great," Aelan grins broadly, and there's more than a touch of hero worship in that expression. "But, uh, y'know. Visit of that length, the excuse was wearing thin by the time everything healed up." Sheepishly, she reaches up to fluff her hair away from her face, a futile effort as she casts a sidelong glance towards the greying K'sar. "Goes quicker if you don't reinjure yourself, though," she offers helpfully.
Essdara doesn't ask; she's learning, apparently. "K'sar, I doubt he'd listen to me if he won't listen to you. Probably only asked for attention in the bowl cause he remembers me, anyway." She looks over to Aelan, and shakes her head with a grin. "You really did get into some interesting bits of trouble, didn't you, Aelan? I feel so boring, having left the weyr all of twice ever, and one of those only a few days ago! It's good that Ashwin's ok, at least. Though a sad day when a goldrider gets injured and the guards walk away intact."
K'sar wheezes softly, trying for humor. "Roa..you want me tied to a bed, all you have to do is ask." He closes his eyes and wets his lips, grimacing as his back settles in the bed again. "Tavaly could get him to go, yeah." A look at Aelan again and mms. "I don't want to reinjure, I just forget how much /is/ injured."
Roa listens quietly, brows lifted as Aelan's story unfolds. "I had heard Igen's Weyrwoman was somewhat...unorthodox. I hadn't realized she was quite that much so." Her voice is not disapproving. Essdara is offered a faint smile and no more answers. To K'sar she says, "I'll send Tialith now, but only if you promise to *lie* *still*."
"Hey, I'm not enrolled in endless hours of etiquette courses because I spent all my time on embroidery," Aelan tosses back to Dara with a rueful grin, moving to perch carefully on the end of Roa's bed as she looks over at K'sar. "Too much numbweed, I bet," she tells him cheerfully. "Makes you forget how much it hurts until you do it, then it's too late."
Essdara shakes her head, grinning. "I always find the most interesting friends." She looks back to the prone pair. "Anyway, I should probably let you two rest. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were and say hi and stuff. Glad I did, if only to know my favourite bronzerider was /also/ hurt." She makes a face. "I still say that's too far to go to avoid a dance, though."
K'sar mmhmms to Aelan. "They coated my back with it. Feel like I got beat with my foster-mother's old rug-beating stick." He makes a face at Essdara. "I would've rather danced than been squished under pots and sacks, thanks."
Roa settles back into her own pillows. "I am a little tired," she admits. "And I still need to finish this letter." A disdainful nudge of her fingers agnst the scribbled-on hide. From the looks of it, she needs to *start* the letter.
Aelan hops up from the foot of Roa's bed as people start looking tired and Dara makes to depart. "And we should probably let you two be before the healers come to chase us out," she admits, brushing her hands off on her thighs. "Nice to meet you both, though. Hope you start feeling better soon."
Essdara grins a bit. "I'll try to stop back later, maybe bring you guys something nice to eat to help you get better faster?" She moves away from the pair, offering a last wave. "Good luck with the letter, and with tying down Kissy there."
K'sar waves a little and makes a face at Essdara. "I'm sure you'd love to help, Essie..." he teases back, but he does sound tired and as the two wander off, he closes his eyes. "So the 'trap' part is a secret? What else should I not talk about?"
Roa lifts her hand n a wave. "I wouldn't say no to something you've baked, Dara," she agrees with a laugh. As they depart, Roa says to K'sar, "i don't know. I'm not sure what's supposed to be a secret, so it seems safest not to say much beyond what's necessary."
Aelan waves once over her shoulder, then starts out of the infirmary, whistling cheerfully.
(( Aelan and Essdara exit to the bowl. ))
Essdara grins a little at Aelan. "Thanks, hon. That woulda been awkward without you there, I think." She stretches a bit. "I should probably let you get back to your day, now I've taken up most of it again."
Aelan shrugs one shoulder, nonchalant. "S'okay," she says with an easy grin. "Found out some interesting things. /And/ I met people. They're both in Caucus, right?" she asks.
Essdara shakes her head, "Roa is, K'sar's a full transfer here though. They're both nice, though K'sar is, ahh, a bit of a flirt at the best of times."
"K'sar's a bronzerider, isn't that a given?" Aelan laughs, smile flashing as she looks over her shoulder towards the infirmary. "They seemed awful close, though."
Essdara follows her glance, and nods a bit. "Yeah, they do. Huh. I know them both pretty well, and yet I never knew they even knew each other. Shows what I know about most of my friends, I guess."
Aelan reaches over to give the other girl a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "I think even here they're supposed to keep those sorts of things under wraps a bit, Dara," she guesses. "You're probably not the only one."
Essdara chuckles and shrugs. "Probably. Just ignore me, it's been a long couple of days and I tend to get weird when I'm tired and stressed. You get used to me after a while."
"Hey, s'okay," Aelan says lightly, though she soon crosses her arms tightly around her chest again, looking around. "So, uh..." She tries to look innocent, but it simply isn't all that effective. "Where are the guard's offices?"
Essdara chuckles a bit, "Off the lower caverns. I was considering heading there myself, though to be honest I doubt Jensen will share much. He's always tight-lipped. But I do have an in with Kierom, one of the other guards. I know I can get him to tell me everything he knows." And her smile there is almost feral. "Hopefully, he will just tell me and not make me get unpleasant."
Aelan quirks a brow, looking towards the tunnel to the living caverns. "Guards aren't usually all that bad if you know how to work them right," she muses, considering. "It's practically bred in them, y'know? Protect and serve and all that. Though some take it differently than others. Kierom, you said?" she asks, refocusing on the other girl.
Essdara nods. "Oh, I know Jensen pretty well, don't get me wrong. I just know he's hard to crack on anything. He knows his work and doesn't let anything get in the way of it. Kierom is... New to being a guard. He's also a very good friend of mine, since he arrived. So I think I can get him to talk."
Aelan nods slowly, smile flashing after a moment. "Don't suppose you'd be inclined to share with a friend once you find things out, would you?" she asks.
Essdara looks over at Aelan a long moment. "I will tell you what. I'll promise to tell you what I can, if you promise to accept that I might not feel comfortable telling you everything. I will be very hesitant with anything Roa might consider personal, you know that much."
Aelan tilts her head, brows rising. Clearly the thought that this might actually be personal had never crossed her mind. "Oh. Well, sure," she agrees then, nodding with very little pause. "That's fair enough."
Essdara relaxes a bit. "Then I will certainly share with you, Aelan. I don't think I really want to keep everything to myself, anyway. I've found that never works well for me, even on the things I hate to talk about."
"Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you tell everyone," Aelan singsongs with a wry, crooked smile. "No, really, I get it. This is important, and serious, and I should be circumspect. Lips sealed, promise," she says, putting a hand over her heart and pressing her lips together tightly through a smile.
Essdara chuckles softly. "One day, Aelan, maybe I'll even tell you the rest of mine, since you seem to like them so much. But I do appreciate you understanding. I don't know what happened in there, but I don't think anyone casually harms a goldrider."
Aelan nods, looking back towards the infirmary again. "Well, maybe...I don't know," she grimaces, letting it go for the moment. "I guess I should let you get back to work, though," she says with a small smile. "At least if I expect there to be anything decent on the tables, right?"
Essdara shakes her head, grinning. "Not today, no. I've the day off, cause I wanted to be sure that if I did get stupid at the party, I wouldn't have to try to be productive afterwards." She moves over and gives Aelan a hug. "But I think I will go and see what I can find out, or at worst, maybe rest a little bit. I didn't sleep very well last night, I fear. Thank you, Aelan, for everything." An impish smile. "And you know if you ever change your mind on that other thing that I will be around."
Aelan returns the hug with a quick squeeze of her own, smile flashing. "I'll remember it. Faranth, one of these days I'm bound to get upset enough at some boy, right?" she laughs, stepping back. "Good luck, Dara."
Essdara grins. "I'll see you soon, Aelan." A wave, and she turns to walk off towards the caverns.
Where: Infirmiry, HRW
When: The day after the party
Comment: I dunno, my RP was a bit flat in this one; I don't think Dara quite knew what to do with two injured friends. Thankfully, there were enough people in the scene that I don't think anyone noticed.
(( Aelan and Essdara enter the infirmary from the bowl; Roa and K'sar share adjoining beds. ))
K'sar dozes lightly, fingers still holding Roa's. He is dressed in soft clothes, a bandage around his head and his hair spiky from some of the dried blood that remains even after a wipe or two. A bandage also wraps one hand.
Essdara and Aelan come in from the bowl, the young cook giving a shiver as she passes into the much warmer infirmiry. She moves through the room, neck craning around to find the patient she wants, and eventually does. She moves towards Roa, and can't help a slight smile at the bronzerider holding her hand. "Now, there's something I wouldn't have seen coming." She comments quietly to Aelan. Looking back, though, the smile fades when she notices the bandage on K'sar. "Oh. That explains a lot." She mutters.
Aelan follows Dara in, apparently comfortable with the infirmary air as she looks around until she follows the other firl's gaze to the pair in the beds. "I'm guessing Roa's not the sleeping one," she murmurs, smile flickering for just a moment before she falls behind half a step, trying to look respectable.
Essdara grins over her shoulder to Aelan. "No, that's K'sar. That was his bronze earlier. He's an odd one, but is a lot of fun in the right circumstances." She looks back, and quietly moves to Roa's bedside. "Not sure she's any more awake than he is, though. Did I mention the kind of luck I have?"
Roa is awake? Yes. But she seems quite lost in thought, and though her hand rests in K'sar's, her focus seems to be off on a wall somewhere. A smaller bandage covered her left temple and her left leg is bandaged, splinted, and elevated, bare toes peeping out from the wrapping. She's in her casual clothing, hair up in her usual knot, so things seem to be, perhaps, well enough. Nearby sits an inkwell and quill with a single hide with much writing and just as much crossing out. On the dragon side of the infirmary, on a couch not currently being used by an injured dragon, dozes Tialith.
At the sound of a familiar voice, Roa blinks slowly and, returning to the here and now, looks over towards the arrivals. A grin speads across her afce. "Dara," she says. "Look, you see? For once you're not the one injuring yourself." And then a nod to the other woman and a soft, "Hello."
"Hey," Aelan flickers a small smile in Roa's direction before catching herself, clearing her throat and trying something just a /little/ more formal. "Aelan," she offers in a vague introduction, gaze skimming over the splint as she points to it. "Those hurt, huh?" she mumbles.
Essdara chuckles softly. "It's a rare turn of events, but let's not make a habit of it, ok? I'm expendable, you're not." She glances to Aelan, who beats her to introductions. She looks back to Roa with a teasing smile. "Aelan's new here, but is very nice. Even if she, like you, fails to properly be able to accept my affections." Her smiles fades a little. "Roa, you are ok, right? I've not heard anything but rather confusing rumors. What /happened/ to you?"
K'sar hears voices and stirs slightly, fingers tightening on Roa's before he opens his eyes and murmurs. "She had to rescue her heroes." A quirk of a smile and he releases Roa's hand, tugging on his blankets a little more. "Hello, Dara...Aelan."
Essdara's self-depricating comment only summons a snort from the goldrider. "I think T'zen would heartily disagree. You make far better meatrolls than I do." To Aelan, a name is offered for a name and she simply says, "I'm Roa. Well met, Aelan." Toes wiggle, but that hurts, so they stop. "It hurt when they were putting it on," she admits. "Now it's just sort of itchy. What happened? Well. Shelves. Fell." And her hand pulls free from K'sar's so that both can pantamine the mighty descent of the villianous storage shelves. "On me. My leg, anyhow."
"That /really/ hurts," Aelan commiserates with a wince at Roa's leg. K'sar gets a brief, curious glance before she takes another step back out of the circle and behind Dara, crossing her arms loosely over her chest and watching the others closely as she tries to get her bearings.
K'sar stays quiet for the moment, looking at the visitors before glancing over at Roa. They're /her/ visitors, so he's going to just listen unless spoken to.
Essdara snorts, softly. "Shelves fell?" She repeats, in amusement. "if you say so. Glad you are ok, though. You looked pretty bad when Ashwin took you out to see Tialith. Never seen a dragon try to burrow into the caverns before, she was really upset." She looks over at K'sar. "So, I guess the shelves, then, are why you didn't come back? You're ok, too, K'sar? I know we haven't talked much lately, but I would be sad to lose you."
Roa seems, at least at this point, to not be saying much more about the shelves. As Tialith's escapades are mentioned, however, the Telgari's head lowers into her hands with a groan. "I cannot believe she did that," is moaned into her palms. "I'll never live it down. Not ever." And once upon a time, going into the kitchens with her knot on was her 'Big Embarassment'. Peeping up from her hands, she has at least enough courtesy to make introductions. "Aelan, have you met K'sar? He's a rider here at Reaches, though formerly of Telgar. That's how I knew him."
"The Stores room was rigged with traps." K'sar replies quietly. "One set fell, then a second set that I caught with my back and head." A wry smile and he looks over at Roa. "She used to tell Dananth stories while helping us scrub him. I knew her back when she had freckles and no..." He catches Roa's eye and edits his comment "...no Gold of her own." Yeah, that's what he was going to say. Yep.
"Ah, no, don't think we've met," Aelan says, though she doesn't really step forward, instead raising a hand in brief greeting. "Aelan," she offers again. "Keroon." And then K'sar's description sets in, drawing her attention back with a quirk of her brow and another of those inappropriate sparks of interest. "So it wasn't an accident?"
"Accidents," Essdara comments, "Rarely take the best of the guards away from a gather." She smiles a little, "Don't worry, Roa, most people were gone by the time she tried to come in, and those of us left were just utterly lost on what to /do/ about it. Don't think many there would spead the rumor." She smiles a little bit. "I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to talk to, or dance, with, either of you though. Didn't even notice Roa was gone until the rumors started. It was a lovely gather, other than this stuff."
At K'sar's comment the look on Roa's face as she regards the other two women is one of those eyes-half-shut, brows lowered, half-smirk deals. This one simply screaming 'Bronzeriders. Sheesh.' But then her expression becomes more somber. "It wasn't an accident," Roa agrees, her voice lowering. "But I'm not sure what ought to be public knowledge and what the Captain wants kept private for now. Perhaps, if you want to know more details, it's better if you speak to him?" A rather pointed glance shot K'sar's way. "Everyone's all right though." Well, everyone who isn't a drudge killer, anyhow.
"I still owe you a dance, Dara. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I can dance again. Right now, sitting up is less than pleasant." K'sar offers wryly before glancing at Aelan again. "I remember you from last night. You wore that pretty yellow dress and looked like you were really having fun with Dara."
K'sar lets the 'accident or not' pass - shelf? what shelf?
"The yellow dress looks like it belong on the dessert table, but thanks," Aelan says with a wry smirk, though she looks between K'sar and Roa with a considering, narrowed gaze. "Captain of the guards," she echoes thoughtfully, and she can't quite hide a scheming look as she crosses her arms loosely over her chest again. "So how long are they telling you you'll be out with the leg?" she asks Roa with a small, sympathetic smile.
Essdara smiles to K'sar. "I'll hold you to that, K'sar, when you are better. If you ask nicely, maybe I'll even make myself look nice again. I admit it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I expected it to be." She glances at Aelan, "And yeah, we had a good deal of fun." She looks back to Roa as Aelan asks the question, nodding a bit. "That's a good question. I hope you're not going to be stuck here long?"
Roa peers down at her suspected foot. "I'm told, so long as I'm not feeling dizzy, I can leave the Infirmary tomorrow. The splint and wrappings however..." a small sigh. "Those stay on for a month. And no riding. I wouldn't mind the first, if it wasn't for the no riding bit." To Aelan, she asks curiously, "You seem to be a bit knowledgable about these sorts of breaks? Have you hurt your leg before?"
K'sar looks over at Tialith. "With Tia in here, Roa should be fine. Dananth, however, hates the infirmary and will freeze his hide off outside rather than come in." He looks over at Roa and smirks. "I've not even spoken to a Healer yet. Just apprentices."
"Each one, actually," Aelan flashes a swift grin at Roa. "Right one falling off a runner, left one cliff-climbing. Got my arm that time, too," she adds cheerfully, then pauses, smile slipping ruefully crooked. "That one was /really/ hard to explain to my father. Uncle told him I was spending some time at Igen to make diplomatic ties."
Essdara chuckles. "I saw him earlier, K'sar. He looks very lonely and sad. I think he was trying to tell me you were in here, too, but I was rather distracted at the time." Back to Roa. "That's good, at least. Sounds like this will all blow over pretty quickly, then. Is Ashwin ok? I couldn't tell who's blood was on him last night."
"Maybe you could talk Dananth into going into the baths where it's warmer for a bit?" K'sar asks Essdara. "Please? He..." The rider tries to sit up in his effort to talk and suddenly stops talking, whimpering once and slowly lying back. "Um..he..." he takes a slow breath. "...he needs to get warm. And eat." Wow - tanned to grey in under 2 seconds!
"K'sar," Roa warns, "I'm not above requesting you get strapped down. I'll ask Tia to get Dananth someplace warm. And Tavaly's Immath will likely help too." Then Aelan is stared at. "At Igen for..." a small laugh, "I guess negotiations didn't go as well as had been hoped? Shells..an arm *and* a leg. I can't even imagine..." and then, to Dara, "as far as I could tell, none for the blood was Ashwin's. Some of it might have been mine." The rest? No comment.
"Oh, no, Arinya was great," Aelan grins broadly, and there's more than a touch of hero worship in that expression. "But, uh, y'know. Visit of that length, the excuse was wearing thin by the time everything healed up." Sheepishly, she reaches up to fluff her hair away from her face, a futile effort as she casts a sidelong glance towards the greying K'sar. "Goes quicker if you don't reinjure yourself, though," she offers helpfully.
Essdara doesn't ask; she's learning, apparently. "K'sar, I doubt he'd listen to me if he won't listen to you. Probably only asked for attention in the bowl cause he remembers me, anyway." She looks over to Aelan, and shakes her head with a grin. "You really did get into some interesting bits of trouble, didn't you, Aelan? I feel so boring, having left the weyr all of twice ever, and one of those only a few days ago! It's good that Ashwin's ok, at least. Though a sad day when a goldrider gets injured and the guards walk away intact."
K'sar wheezes softly, trying for humor. "Roa..you want me tied to a bed, all you have to do is ask." He closes his eyes and wets his lips, grimacing as his back settles in the bed again. "Tavaly could get him to go, yeah." A look at Aelan again and mms. "I don't want to reinjure, I just forget how much /is/ injured."
Roa listens quietly, brows lifted as Aelan's story unfolds. "I had heard Igen's Weyrwoman was somewhat...unorthodox. I hadn't realized she was quite that much so." Her voice is not disapproving. Essdara is offered a faint smile and no more answers. To K'sar she says, "I'll send Tialith now, but only if you promise to *lie* *still*."
"Hey, I'm not enrolled in endless hours of etiquette courses because I spent all my time on embroidery," Aelan tosses back to Dara with a rueful grin, moving to perch carefully on the end of Roa's bed as she looks over at K'sar. "Too much numbweed, I bet," she tells him cheerfully. "Makes you forget how much it hurts until you do it, then it's too late."
Essdara shakes her head, grinning. "I always find the most interesting friends." She looks back to the prone pair. "Anyway, I should probably let you two rest. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were and say hi and stuff. Glad I did, if only to know my favourite bronzerider was /also/ hurt." She makes a face. "I still say that's too far to go to avoid a dance, though."
K'sar mmhmms to Aelan. "They coated my back with it. Feel like I got beat with my foster-mother's old rug-beating stick." He makes a face at Essdara. "I would've rather danced than been squished under pots and sacks, thanks."
Roa settles back into her own pillows. "I am a little tired," she admits. "And I still need to finish this letter." A disdainful nudge of her fingers agnst the scribbled-on hide. From the looks of it, she needs to *start* the letter.
Aelan hops up from the foot of Roa's bed as people start looking tired and Dara makes to depart. "And we should probably let you two be before the healers come to chase us out," she admits, brushing her hands off on her thighs. "Nice to meet you both, though. Hope you start feeling better soon."
Essdara grins a bit. "I'll try to stop back later, maybe bring you guys something nice to eat to help you get better faster?" She moves away from the pair, offering a last wave. "Good luck with the letter, and with tying down Kissy there."
K'sar waves a little and makes a face at Essdara. "I'm sure you'd love to help, Essie..." he teases back, but he does sound tired and as the two wander off, he closes his eyes. "So the 'trap' part is a secret? What else should I not talk about?"
Roa lifts her hand n a wave. "I wouldn't say no to something you've baked, Dara," she agrees with a laugh. As they depart, Roa says to K'sar, "i don't know. I'm not sure what's supposed to be a secret, so it seems safest not to say much beyond what's necessary."
Aelan waves once over her shoulder, then starts out of the infirmary, whistling cheerfully.
(( Aelan and Essdara exit to the bowl. ))
Essdara grins a little at Aelan. "Thanks, hon. That woulda been awkward without you there, I think." She stretches a bit. "I should probably let you get back to your day, now I've taken up most of it again."
Aelan shrugs one shoulder, nonchalant. "S'okay," she says with an easy grin. "Found out some interesting things. /And/ I met people. They're both in Caucus, right?" she asks.
Essdara shakes her head, "Roa is, K'sar's a full transfer here though. They're both nice, though K'sar is, ahh, a bit of a flirt at the best of times."
"K'sar's a bronzerider, isn't that a given?" Aelan laughs, smile flashing as she looks over her shoulder towards the infirmary. "They seemed awful close, though."
Essdara follows her glance, and nods a bit. "Yeah, they do. Huh. I know them both pretty well, and yet I never knew they even knew each other. Shows what I know about most of my friends, I guess."
Aelan reaches over to give the other girl a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "I think even here they're supposed to keep those sorts of things under wraps a bit, Dara," she guesses. "You're probably not the only one."
Essdara chuckles and shrugs. "Probably. Just ignore me, it's been a long couple of days and I tend to get weird when I'm tired and stressed. You get used to me after a while."
"Hey, s'okay," Aelan says lightly, though she soon crosses her arms tightly around her chest again, looking around. "So, uh..." She tries to look innocent, but it simply isn't all that effective. "Where are the guard's offices?"
Essdara chuckles a bit, "Off the lower caverns. I was considering heading there myself, though to be honest I doubt Jensen will share much. He's always tight-lipped. But I do have an in with Kierom, one of the other guards. I know I can get him to tell me everything he knows." And her smile there is almost feral. "Hopefully, he will just tell me and not make me get unpleasant."
Aelan quirks a brow, looking towards the tunnel to the living caverns. "Guards aren't usually all that bad if you know how to work them right," she muses, considering. "It's practically bred in them, y'know? Protect and serve and all that. Though some take it differently than others. Kierom, you said?" she asks, refocusing on the other girl.
Essdara nods. "Oh, I know Jensen pretty well, don't get me wrong. I just know he's hard to crack on anything. He knows his work and doesn't let anything get in the way of it. Kierom is... New to being a guard. He's also a very good friend of mine, since he arrived. So I think I can get him to talk."
Aelan nods slowly, smile flashing after a moment. "Don't suppose you'd be inclined to share with a friend once you find things out, would you?" she asks.
Essdara looks over at Aelan a long moment. "I will tell you what. I'll promise to tell you what I can, if you promise to accept that I might not feel comfortable telling you everything. I will be very hesitant with anything Roa might consider personal, you know that much."
Aelan tilts her head, brows rising. Clearly the thought that this might actually be personal had never crossed her mind. "Oh. Well, sure," she agrees then, nodding with very little pause. "That's fair enough."
Essdara relaxes a bit. "Then I will certainly share with you, Aelan. I don't think I really want to keep everything to myself, anyway. I've found that never works well for me, even on the things I hate to talk about."
"Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you tell everyone," Aelan singsongs with a wry, crooked smile. "No, really, I get it. This is important, and serious, and I should be circumspect. Lips sealed, promise," she says, putting a hand over her heart and pressing her lips together tightly through a smile.
Essdara chuckles softly. "One day, Aelan, maybe I'll even tell you the rest of mine, since you seem to like them so much. But I do appreciate you understanding. I don't know what happened in there, but I don't think anyone casually harms a goldrider."
Aelan nods, looking back towards the infirmary again. "Well, maybe...I don't know," she grimaces, letting it go for the moment. "I guess I should let you get back to work, though," she says with a small smile. "At least if I expect there to be anything decent on the tables, right?"
Essdara shakes her head, grinning. "Not today, no. I've the day off, cause I wanted to be sure that if I did get stupid at the party, I wouldn't have to try to be productive afterwards." She moves over and gives Aelan a hug. "But I think I will go and see what I can find out, or at worst, maybe rest a little bit. I didn't sleep very well last night, I fear. Thank you, Aelan, for everything." An impish smile. "And you know if you ever change your mind on that other thing that I will be around."
Aelan returns the hug with a quick squeeze of her own, smile flashing. "I'll remember it. Faranth, one of these days I'm bound to get upset enough at some boy, right?" she laughs, stepping back. "Good luck, Dara."
Essdara grins. "I'll see you soon, Aelan." A wave, and she turns to walk off towards the caverns.