Log: Checking In With Saliqa
Who: Saliqa and Milani
When:
Where: Kitchen, High Reaches Weyr
What: MIlani chats Saliqa up about the state of things.
Kitchen, High Reaches Weyr
Polished marble and granite surfaces, gleaming metalwork and pale woods characterize the vaulted fastness of the kitchen. Several large hearths gape red-mouthed against the outer wall of the cavern, their fires almost always stoked for the constant cooking the Weyr requires to feed its denizens. Sinks line the wall to one side of the hearths, providing ample space to wash large quantities of dishes, while to the other, cabinetry and a deep pantry provide storage space for items commonly needed on a day-to-day basis.
The remaining wall space is taken up by passageways and extra seating: swinging doors that lead variously to the main living cavern, the inner caverns and the storage rooms, a counter-height pass-through for food service to the Snowasis, and a series of nooks equipped with tables and benches for quick, out-of-the-way meals any time of day.
It's pretty settled into the afternoon, meaning that the lunch food has gone out and the plates are already starting to come in. Situated along the side of the cavern with all the sinks, Saliqa is part of a row of workers, all candidates, seeing to the washing of dishes as they come in. A few of the candidates glance over their shoulders at the kitchen ladies sitting down to enjoy their meal at the various off to the side benches, but the Cromite has both hands submerged and her arms pumping in that scrubbing motion as if nothing exists but the work to be done.
Stepping in from the caverns rather than the living cavern, Milani's got her ubiquitous clipboard and yes, check, baby today, one chubby fist wrapped around a string of large colorful beads that dangle from the straps of the sling she's tucked into. The headwoman pauses to have a word with the head cook, some back and forth about what's for dinner tonight and what from lunch can be set out on the buffet and in the nighthearth, then Milani asks something else in an undertone, looks over at the line of helpful candidates and spots Saliqa, gives the cook a little nod and steps over that way. "Good afternoon candidates! Everything going all right?" Bright.
There's a chorus of this or that from the line of candidates, all pleasant and respectful to the Headwoman-- though one seems to over-anticipate that Milani's going to okay them for a break and does an odd step out of place, twirl, end up back at the sink maneuver when he realizes no one else is leaving. Saliqa glances briefly along her shoulder to spot the other woman and the beginning of a smile looms in her otherwise concentrated expression. Twisting slightly at the sink so she can keep one hand in but still give Milani a proper look, she nods, "Just picking up for the busier part of the day, ummm--" If she wants to say more, she doesn't let herself.
"Good, good," Milani says with a smile and props her hip up against the side of the sink near Saliqa. "The evening went pretty well the other night," she starts in with. "It's a shame about the collapse though, all that more upbeat morale and now people are hurt and scared again," the headwoman says quietly. "How're you holding up?"
Saliqa's hands appear, one arm going to wipe along her forehead in a clumsy attempt to push her hair away without getting suds in it. The other fingers she wiggles at the baby experimentally, that dorky grin one uses with small children apparent until she straightens to speak with the child's mother. She sighs, hand rubbing irritably against her apron. "I went to see how it was going in the earlier hours of the rescue, but they sent me away eventually. I... it's a terrible thing, anyone working in those conditions. I feel like I should do something but I did and now this happened and I can't, I'm not a miner, but..." She may have been thinking about this a lot already.
Milandra eyeballs the movement, but doesn't give up on her beads, one foot kicking as she bounces a little in the sling. Milani pat pats gently at the baby's back. "No, not all that much we can do except try to make everyone comfortable," the headwoman says with a little grimace. "And hope the miners get everything fixed up and sorted out."
Saliqa shakes her head miserably, "I was just telling one of them he'd get to see his family soon..." But, with a bounce of the shoulders, she aims to stand a little straighter. "I believe in the miners, I do. Poor fellows have had a run of rotten luck way I've heard it, about time they had some good. Kind of thing that'd make you feel like baking a big cake with 'we support you' on it, if you were a cook." Right after that decisive nod and the mincing turn she does to dip back into the soap-filled sink, her nose wiggles up her face. "Oh. That was a /terrible/ example."
"And we had good news from the starcrafters just the other day," Milani says with a little shake of her head and reaches down to wipe a bit of drool off the baby's cheek. "I'm not sure about cake," she answers with a laugh. "But we might see about extra blankets and maybe shifting more people out to weyrs. Something along those lines."
"Oh, good news?" She repeats, testing the weight of it, "About the rebuilding? I admit I'm mighty curious, with only a moderate knowledge of stones behind me." Saliqa pauses to lean to the side, flash Milandra another funny face. She's not at all embarrassed to be doing this in front of the other candidates, who take varying degrees of interest in the conversation depending on how gossip-worthy parts of it sound. "Out to the weyrs..." she considers lightly, almost dreamily, eyes wandering to some distant spot at the ceiling that must represent these so-called weyrs.
"Apparently now that the rubble's been cleared up enough the position of the stones can still be figured out," Milani says as she resettles Milandra a little and the baby bumps her head into her shoulder chortling at Saliqa's funny face. "So even though they have to be remade still, we know where they need to go so they line up right." The dreaminess on Saliqa's face as she mentions weyrs quirks Milani's brows upward. "Have you ever been up to one?"
And, just like that, the dreamy quality is instantly gone. "Ohh no, no, no, no," Saliqa assures like one accused of something preposterous. Her hands pop out of the work to shake expressively, tossing little suds here and there on the two women's shirts. "Definitely not. I'm a good girl, I am." There's some chuckling behind her that distracts the girl into shooting a dark, scowling and silencing look at her fellow candidates where the Headwoman can't see it. Turning to Milani with no trace of that anger, "Only been on the one dragon what brought me here. There was that dragon got mighty close at the clutching party, but that's it."
That reaction draws an even more amused look from Milani. "You know that for riders it's just like someone's cothold you know. Visiting the neighbors," the headwoman suggests mildly. "Nothing to do with being good or bad. If my mother invited you up for tea, for instance, it'd probably be in her weyr." She nods though about dragons and considers the Crom girl for a moment. "Would you like to meet more?"
Saliqa puts in a good deal of effort to accept what Milani's saying with an open face, but there's too much wariness around the corner of her eyes. "I can see what you mean," she ventures in the polite tone of 'let's agree to disagree', "It just seems... well, let's just say that, if things weren't to go pleasantly, it's not like you can just excuse yourself off the ledge." She tilts her head, an invitation for the Headwoman to consider this while she contemplates her own next words. "Seems proper for candidates, I suppose. Also suppose I'll be meeting a few of 'em come those eggs hatching."
"No, not the higher up ones anyway," Milani agrees about that. "But that's what the signal flags are for. You know, asking for a ride down if you want one. And if things /were/ to get kind of tough, well most of the Weyr would know about it pretty quickly. Dragons and all," the headwoman says with a little pull of her mouth to the side. "They gossip a lot or so I understand it." A pair of nods follows. "You'll all be touching the eggs eventually and might get to see Iovniath then too, that's something we'll be talking about: how to behave on the sands."
The signal flags sound new to Saliqa, earning a keenly appreciative look with those raised eyebrows but otherwise no verbal comment because the idea of gossiping dragons is an eyebrow-tug in the other direction. "Dragons gossip." Stored away with all the wariness it deserves. But even the sour turn of her mouth can't make her speak up, or maybe it's for it. She wisely, instead, tucks all that criticism away behind her eyes in favor of rapt concentration. "Iovniath," she practices, "Is the queen mother. Is there a proper way to address dragons? Ma'am or sir, perhaps..." Hopeful. The same emotion with which she rolls her lips together and asks, low-toned, "I don't suppose you have a booklet with all of this written down for study."
"When we go around cleaning, we use them to catch the eye of whomever is on elevator duty," Milani explains with a little grin. "It's part of what weyrlings and older riders do - provide transport around the bowl. It's not exciting duty, but it's good practice for young riders I guess." That question earns a shake of Milani's head. "Just her name if you do speak to her, though a lot of dragons don't pay any mind to any but their riders. Some do, some don't, depends on the dragon." A pause. "There's all kinds of things in records, from different points of view."
"Practice is important," Saliqa approves, growing comfortable enough to begin again at the dish washing while she's talking. "If they don't pay any mind," she ventures, tossing a rag into the water with her, "Where does the gossip come from? Oh, but you say it's different with each... my, I always had such a different picture in my head..." A head which she shakes before calming into a thoughtful stare ahead of her. "If I may have permission," glance at Milani, "I'd like to take those things from records, see what I can't make of it. Feel it's my duty to help any that come after in my position."
"For learning a lot of things," Milani agrees about practice and bounces Milandra as the baby fusses. "Amongst themselves from what their riders are doing," the headwoman say with a little lift of shoulders. "Or I guess they have opinions about things that are going on around them too. But it depends yes. Dragons ... they're like people more than they are like runners for example." The headwoman offers up an alternative to taking things from records: "You could just read there. A lot of people do and there's lots of different things to read."
Saliqa completes a few more rounds of scrubbing, pulling up the scrapped-clean plates and blindly handing them to the candidate next to her for rinsing. "I never thought they were like runners, I guess I just... always seemed like they were the people who rode them. Like... feeding off of their rider-- that's also a terrible example. So there's no dragon hive mind?" Because this is all blowing /hers/. It's easier to perk up for, "Oh? I wouldn't be the way doing that? I wasn't sure. All those records, seemed like none of my business."
"I ... don't know about a /hive/ mind, but from growing up here, it's more that they're in touch with each other, sure, they talk, have conversations, like people. But they're not always connected to each other. And they definitely have their own personalities. They often seem to balance or you know, complement their riders in some way." More bouncing of the baby who is bumping her face into Milani's shoulder more. "You can borrow things, sure. But you can also just sit there to research. A lot of people do." She looks down at Milandra then shoots Saliqa an apologetic look. "I should probably step out and feed her."
"Oh, of course, don't let me keep you," Saliqa excuses her immediately, helped along by the person who comes by to dump several more dishes into the candidate's sink. "We'll speak again later, perhaps. I'd like to keep updated on the work out there and the overse-- well, we still owe each other tea, don't we? Goodbye, goodbye~" The second, higher-pitched farewell is aimed to Milandra.
"Yes we do," Milani says with a laugh about the tea. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon after chores? It's supposed to be a quiet day," the headwoman indicates and gives a little wave, tucks her clipboard back under her arm and turns to go, speaking soothingly to Milandra. "Don't worry, just a minute and we'll get your tummy all filled up," as she ducks away for a quieter corner for nursing.
When:
Where: Kitchen, High Reaches Weyr
What: MIlani chats Saliqa up about the state of things.
Kitchen, High Reaches Weyr
Polished marble and granite surfaces, gleaming metalwork and pale woods characterize the vaulted fastness of the kitchen. Several large hearths gape red-mouthed against the outer wall of the cavern, their fires almost always stoked for the constant cooking the Weyr requires to feed its denizens. Sinks line the wall to one side of the hearths, providing ample space to wash large quantities of dishes, while to the other, cabinetry and a deep pantry provide storage space for items commonly needed on a day-to-day basis.
The remaining wall space is taken up by passageways and extra seating: swinging doors that lead variously to the main living cavern, the inner caverns and the storage rooms, a counter-height pass-through for food service to the Snowasis, and a series of nooks equipped with tables and benches for quick, out-of-the-way meals any time of day.
It's pretty settled into the afternoon, meaning that the lunch food has gone out and the plates are already starting to come in. Situated along the side of the cavern with all the sinks, Saliqa is part of a row of workers, all candidates, seeing to the washing of dishes as they come in. A few of the candidates glance over their shoulders at the kitchen ladies sitting down to enjoy their meal at the various off to the side benches, but the Cromite has both hands submerged and her arms pumping in that scrubbing motion as if nothing exists but the work to be done.
Stepping in from the caverns rather than the living cavern, Milani's got her ubiquitous clipboard and yes, check, baby today, one chubby fist wrapped around a string of large colorful beads that dangle from the straps of the sling she's tucked into. The headwoman pauses to have a word with the head cook, some back and forth about what's for dinner tonight and what from lunch can be set out on the buffet and in the nighthearth, then Milani asks something else in an undertone, looks over at the line of helpful candidates and spots Saliqa, gives the cook a little nod and steps over that way. "Good afternoon candidates! Everything going all right?" Bright.
There's a chorus of this or that from the line of candidates, all pleasant and respectful to the Headwoman-- though one seems to over-anticipate that Milani's going to okay them for a break and does an odd step out of place, twirl, end up back at the sink maneuver when he realizes no one else is leaving. Saliqa glances briefly along her shoulder to spot the other woman and the beginning of a smile looms in her otherwise concentrated expression. Twisting slightly at the sink so she can keep one hand in but still give Milani a proper look, she nods, "Just picking up for the busier part of the day, ummm--" If she wants to say more, she doesn't let herself.
"Good, good," Milani says with a smile and props her hip up against the side of the sink near Saliqa. "The evening went pretty well the other night," she starts in with. "It's a shame about the collapse though, all that more upbeat morale and now people are hurt and scared again," the headwoman says quietly. "How're you holding up?"
Saliqa's hands appear, one arm going to wipe along her forehead in a clumsy attempt to push her hair away without getting suds in it. The other fingers she wiggles at the baby experimentally, that dorky grin one uses with small children apparent until she straightens to speak with the child's mother. She sighs, hand rubbing irritably against her apron. "I went to see how it was going in the earlier hours of the rescue, but they sent me away eventually. I... it's a terrible thing, anyone working in those conditions. I feel like I should do something but I did and now this happened and I can't, I'm not a miner, but..." She may have been thinking about this a lot already.
Milandra eyeballs the movement, but doesn't give up on her beads, one foot kicking as she bounces a little in the sling. Milani pat pats gently at the baby's back. "No, not all that much we can do except try to make everyone comfortable," the headwoman says with a little grimace. "And hope the miners get everything fixed up and sorted out."
Saliqa shakes her head miserably, "I was just telling one of them he'd get to see his family soon..." But, with a bounce of the shoulders, she aims to stand a little straighter. "I believe in the miners, I do. Poor fellows have had a run of rotten luck way I've heard it, about time they had some good. Kind of thing that'd make you feel like baking a big cake with 'we support you' on it, if you were a cook." Right after that decisive nod and the mincing turn she does to dip back into the soap-filled sink, her nose wiggles up her face. "Oh. That was a /terrible/ example."
"And we had good news from the starcrafters just the other day," Milani says with a little shake of her head and reaches down to wipe a bit of drool off the baby's cheek. "I'm not sure about cake," she answers with a laugh. "But we might see about extra blankets and maybe shifting more people out to weyrs. Something along those lines."
"Oh, good news?" She repeats, testing the weight of it, "About the rebuilding? I admit I'm mighty curious, with only a moderate knowledge of stones behind me." Saliqa pauses to lean to the side, flash Milandra another funny face. She's not at all embarrassed to be doing this in front of the other candidates, who take varying degrees of interest in the conversation depending on how gossip-worthy parts of it sound. "Out to the weyrs..." she considers lightly, almost dreamily, eyes wandering to some distant spot at the ceiling that must represent these so-called weyrs.
"Apparently now that the rubble's been cleared up enough the position of the stones can still be figured out," Milani says as she resettles Milandra a little and the baby bumps her head into her shoulder chortling at Saliqa's funny face. "So even though they have to be remade still, we know where they need to go so they line up right." The dreaminess on Saliqa's face as she mentions weyrs quirks Milani's brows upward. "Have you ever been up to one?"
And, just like that, the dreamy quality is instantly gone. "Ohh no, no, no, no," Saliqa assures like one accused of something preposterous. Her hands pop out of the work to shake expressively, tossing little suds here and there on the two women's shirts. "Definitely not. I'm a good girl, I am." There's some chuckling behind her that distracts the girl into shooting a dark, scowling and silencing look at her fellow candidates where the Headwoman can't see it. Turning to Milani with no trace of that anger, "Only been on the one dragon what brought me here. There was that dragon got mighty close at the clutching party, but that's it."
That reaction draws an even more amused look from Milani. "You know that for riders it's just like someone's cothold you know. Visiting the neighbors," the headwoman suggests mildly. "Nothing to do with being good or bad. If my mother invited you up for tea, for instance, it'd probably be in her weyr." She nods though about dragons and considers the Crom girl for a moment. "Would you like to meet more?"
Saliqa puts in a good deal of effort to accept what Milani's saying with an open face, but there's too much wariness around the corner of her eyes. "I can see what you mean," she ventures in the polite tone of 'let's agree to disagree', "It just seems... well, let's just say that, if things weren't to go pleasantly, it's not like you can just excuse yourself off the ledge." She tilts her head, an invitation for the Headwoman to consider this while she contemplates her own next words. "Seems proper for candidates, I suppose. Also suppose I'll be meeting a few of 'em come those eggs hatching."
"No, not the higher up ones anyway," Milani agrees about that. "But that's what the signal flags are for. You know, asking for a ride down if you want one. And if things /were/ to get kind of tough, well most of the Weyr would know about it pretty quickly. Dragons and all," the headwoman says with a little pull of her mouth to the side. "They gossip a lot or so I understand it." A pair of nods follows. "You'll all be touching the eggs eventually and might get to see Iovniath then too, that's something we'll be talking about: how to behave on the sands."
The signal flags sound new to Saliqa, earning a keenly appreciative look with those raised eyebrows but otherwise no verbal comment because the idea of gossiping dragons is an eyebrow-tug in the other direction. "Dragons gossip." Stored away with all the wariness it deserves. But even the sour turn of her mouth can't make her speak up, or maybe it's for it. She wisely, instead, tucks all that criticism away behind her eyes in favor of rapt concentration. "Iovniath," she practices, "Is the queen mother. Is there a proper way to address dragons? Ma'am or sir, perhaps..." Hopeful. The same emotion with which she rolls her lips together and asks, low-toned, "I don't suppose you have a booklet with all of this written down for study."
"When we go around cleaning, we use them to catch the eye of whomever is on elevator duty," Milani explains with a little grin. "It's part of what weyrlings and older riders do - provide transport around the bowl. It's not exciting duty, but it's good practice for young riders I guess." That question earns a shake of Milani's head. "Just her name if you do speak to her, though a lot of dragons don't pay any mind to any but their riders. Some do, some don't, depends on the dragon." A pause. "There's all kinds of things in records, from different points of view."
"Practice is important," Saliqa approves, growing comfortable enough to begin again at the dish washing while she's talking. "If they don't pay any mind," she ventures, tossing a rag into the water with her, "Where does the gossip come from? Oh, but you say it's different with each... my, I always had such a different picture in my head..." A head which she shakes before calming into a thoughtful stare ahead of her. "If I may have permission," glance at Milani, "I'd like to take those things from records, see what I can't make of it. Feel it's my duty to help any that come after in my position."
"For learning a lot of things," Milani agrees about practice and bounces Milandra as the baby fusses. "Amongst themselves from what their riders are doing," the headwoman say with a little lift of shoulders. "Or I guess they have opinions about things that are going on around them too. But it depends yes. Dragons ... they're like people more than they are like runners for example." The headwoman offers up an alternative to taking things from records: "You could just read there. A lot of people do and there's lots of different things to read."
Saliqa completes a few more rounds of scrubbing, pulling up the scrapped-clean plates and blindly handing them to the candidate next to her for rinsing. "I never thought they were like runners, I guess I just... always seemed like they were the people who rode them. Like... feeding off of their rider-- that's also a terrible example. So there's no dragon hive mind?" Because this is all blowing /hers/. It's easier to perk up for, "Oh? I wouldn't be the way doing that? I wasn't sure. All those records, seemed like none of my business."
"I ... don't know about a /hive/ mind, but from growing up here, it's more that they're in touch with each other, sure, they talk, have conversations, like people. But they're not always connected to each other. And they definitely have their own personalities. They often seem to balance or you know, complement their riders in some way." More bouncing of the baby who is bumping her face into Milani's shoulder more. "You can borrow things, sure. But you can also just sit there to research. A lot of people do." She looks down at Milandra then shoots Saliqa an apologetic look. "I should probably step out and feed her."
"Oh, of course, don't let me keep you," Saliqa excuses her immediately, helped along by the person who comes by to dump several more dishes into the candidate's sink. "We'll speak again later, perhaps. I'd like to keep updated on the work out there and the overse-- well, we still owe each other tea, don't we? Goodbye, goodbye~" The second, higher-pitched farewell is aimed to Milandra.
"Yes we do," Milani says with a laugh about the tea. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon after chores? It's supposed to be a quiet day," the headwoman indicates and gives a little wave, tucks her clipboard back under her arm and turns to go, speaking soothingly to Milandra. "Don't worry, just a minute and we'll get your tummy all filled up," as she ducks away for a quieter corner for nursing.