Log: Hot Springs with Leova
Who: Milani, Leova, Vrianth
When: Late morning, Day 1, month 12, Turn 15, of the Interval
Where: Hot Spring, High Reaches Weyr
What: Millie and Leova talk weyrs, limericks and letters.
Hot Spring, High Reaches Weyr (#420RIJs)
Tucked away against the unrelenting rock of one of the mountains of the High Reaches range is a large hot spring surrounded by trees. The pool resulting from the spring is several dragonslengths accross providing space for perhaps a half-dozen people and their lifemates. Apparently accessible only from the air, a nearby clearing is large enough for a small number of dragons to land. Some distance below the spring, at the abrupt end of a steep trail is another, larger clearing. Heated by a natural geothermal vent, the lightly bubbling spring maintains a comfortably hot temperature all Turn, even when there is snow almost up to the edge of the hot pool.
Late morning, winter, the mountain air is chilly except for right here by the springs where the steam rising makes it bearable to hang out even wet from a soak. A blue dragon stands knee-deep in the water at one end of the spring where his rider assiduously pours water over his back and scrubbing with a brush. Milani is all the way at the other end of the pool, well away from draconic scrubbing, up to her chin in the water, hair damp up top, trailing in long wet strands around her otherwise. A towel and her clothes are folded up not too far away, a hair brush and comb and a little basket of bathing supplies perched right on the pool's edge ready for use though the assistant headwoman's eyes at present, are closed.
As the morning stretches on, the youngest green dragon descends, Vrianth all too proud of herself though it's been over a sevenday since she began flying with her rider. She makes a neat landing in the clearing and then follows her rider towards the pool with uncommon quietness, her greeting to the older dragon mental rather than physical. It doesn't take long to get off the straps and Leova's outer clothes, leaving only the same sort of suit Shanlee had had her borrow, and likely the first notice of their presence is the slow wave of Vrianth entering the water.
The blue's head swivels around and he takes Vrianth in thoughtfully before rumbling softly, his greeting audible, echoing the mental return. Millie cracks an eye open at this and then both as the water moves there's a brief sour look from her as she registers 'dragon' but this clears rapidly as she notices /which/ dragon. Sitting up a little, the assistant headwoman clears her throat and lifts a hand to wave. "Hey Leova! Hey Vrianth!" Both bright greetings accompanied by a smile. Lacking the modesty of the holdbred, Milani's wearing her birthday suit, but the water's still got her covered mostly.
Leova calls her hello back, but Vrianth just pushes off and floats as though she were gliding, that eloquent tail of hers waving in her wake. She looks at the other dragon sidelong without coming too near, eventually coming to rest in the midst of the pool without even demanding such scrubbing services of her new rider. Leova can't keep her eyes off her even now, at least until the green goes quiet, and it's then that she eases into the pool herself and wades around to where Milani is. "Warm. So nice and warm. Is it true some of the weyrs have little pools like these?"
The blue's attention is caught by the eloquence of that tail and a little croon thrums his throat, the tenor of his thoughts turning sunny, extending warmth Vrianth's way. Millie eases back on the stone shelf she's perched on and draws knees up to chest. "Yep they do. My dad's has one actually, a really big one. Mum's weyr doesn't, but she has a bathtub on her ledge. Have you gotten a weyr yet? Hoping for a pool?"
Appreciation will get Vrianth's attention six days out of seven, and so it is today. She shifts in the water, one wing swept forward and the other back so she's partly on her side but still mostly submerged, floating. But that and a moment's pleased mind-spark is the extent that she acknowledges him. Just resting. Not on show today, not prowling, not even exploring. Just resting. "No weyr," her rider says in a similarly slow tone. "Just came to mind. Don't think I'd like a tub out there like that. A pool, though." She stretches out her arms, not so close that she'll come near touching, and just lets the moving water rub between her fingertips. "Fresh water. That would be nice. All sorts of things would, though, right now."
Subsiding a little, the blue remains companionable, though the bulk of his attention shifts back to being scrubbed. "There's no room for it in the weyr because it's too small." About the tub. "I guess somebody gave it to mum. Mostly she uses the pool in the big weyr. Her weyr's more like ... well she sews there and she's got pictures of the family on the walls and stuff. And I guess she takes company there sometimes. Mostly she lives with dad though." This at least, is Milani's partial view of things. "Hope you get one soon anyway, bet it's getting kind of tight in the Barracks with the dragons growing. Vrianth is looking pretty good." A glance for the green and then conspiratorily: "L'vae's already looking for furniture. If you want some good stuff, might want to come reserve something soon rather than later."
Leova rolls her head from side to side a few times, stretching there too. "Just trying to imagine filling it up. Keeping it hot. Great that she could keep a place even after, after weyrmating. Your father. Didn't know that." Her eyes are nearly closed. So are Vrianth's. Every now and again they look at each other, though they don't have to, and Leova gets that little smile again. "Thanks for the tip, too. No surprise he'd be first," amusement there in her voice for her friend. "Any recommendations?"
"Oh no, she was with my dad before she Impressed. And my brothers' dad too." Helpful corrections from Milani as she draws fingers through hair and tilts her head to the side to dip it more deeply into the water, wetting it further and further up the long strangds. "And Sionath fills it for her. Picks the whole thing up, dips it in here, carries it back to the ledge." The girl slips off that shelf-ledge suddenly, resurfaces with completely wet hair and reaches for one of those bottles of supplies she brought, pours out shimmering liquid into her palm to work in. "Depends on your weyr really when you get it, and what kind of stuff you like. There's a couple of armchairs that're comfy down there right now. Table and regular chairs for company maybe. A rug. Definitely a rug. And hangings. To keep out the chill from the stone.'
Leova does look at Milani now, a sideways loll of her head that doesn't lift it at all. "But she still got her own weyr? How come?" At the explanation of Sionath's technique, her eyes do slide towards Vrianth consideringly. "Guess they can carry more than I realized. Stick my name on the armchairs, would you mind? Table. Rug. Whatever. Hear people talking about chutes for food or for laundry, real big ledges, little ones, extra rooms, places where you can go up even higher, windows even. Don't know how much is true," and that a question in its way. A little while later, "Vrianth would like a rug."
"They all had their own weyrs," Milani explains with a bit of a puzzled expression as she continues to work suds into her hair. "Most riders I know don't actually move in together even if they're weyrmated. Space you know. I mean dad's weyr /is/ big enough, but most weyrs aren't big enough for two dragons." Practical. A blink. "So you want me to pick for you? Okay." A little nod. "I'll put together a little set for you. Vrianth's green so your weyr probably won't be that big. I'll be careful about what I think'll fit so it'll be cozy and comfortable but not too crowded." With her hair piled atop her hair in a corona of suds: "Sure, two rugs then, makes the wallows more comfortable."
"Oh." There's a blink. Leova submerges, and it's the work of a moment to rub water through her hair, followed by more blinking when she gets her head out of the water again. Rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes, "Seems lonely. For the other dragon, I mean. His rider. But if you don't mind picking? Don't want them all to be gone," as though right this minute, half the weyrling class were racing towards the storerooms, all in a hurry to be first. Some time later, thinking it over, "Small's good, least if it's enough room to breathe right. Less echoey. They all have decent-sized ledges, though? When people stop by." She has to laugh at herself, a little. People visiting. On dragons. Her and her dragon. So different.
"Lonely how?" Milani tilts a further puzzled look Leova's way before ducking her head down to rinse her hair out. When she comes back up, her face is streaming water and she presses fingertips into the corners of her eyes to wipe them clear. "Sure, I'll tag some things for you like I did for L'vae," she says agreeably and hikes her bottom back up onto that shelf-ledge. "Not all of them do. Mum's ledge is tiny. Sionath has to go curl up in the wallow to let anyone land. There's barely room for another dragon there let alone a bunch. If you want lots of visitors I hope you pull one with a decent-size ledge then."
"Thanks," Leova says once Milani's done with being dunked and all, and she lifts her shoulders, the thin dark material clinging to her skin. "Just, away from his rider? Don't know that Vrianth would stand for it." Which means that she likely wouldn't. "Not liking the curling up bit, either. Visitors are good. The bed, it's already there, or we have to tag that too?" Two seconds later her mouth tightens away a laugh. "That is, I mean. Two separate things." Finally the chuckle escapes.
Oh, well you know, rider could sleep in the wallow too, whatever," Milani shrugs loosely, perhaps still not quite understanding what Leova's getting at. "Guess you guys are really close. You and Vrianth. Like Paddy and Jek." Milani's turned to reach behind her again, this time for a pretty, sweet-smelling bar of actual soap, not sweetsand. "Depends on the weyr, some of them have beds in them still, some have alcoves, you know a stone shelf for furs and some of them don't have either. I can tag a bed for you too, just in case. Simple? Fancy? Don't care?"
Leova's moved to idly watch Milani pick out her toiletries, the chuckle lingering in the form of a bemused smile. "Don't know about like them. But we like being with each other, all right." Need to. Even with Vrianth floating, drowsing, they're still together. "The alcove thing sounds pretty great, but you're right, nothing to count on. Comfortable's the main thing, I guess. Drawers underneath, that's good too if there are any." Her tone shifts. "Not one where somebody's been hacking names, or notches, into the posts."
"They're like ... best buds. Always connected or something." Milani shrugs again not being intimately familiar with such things, just what's been described to her. "Anyway, yeah, I hope you get some choices that you like, that'll let you guys get set up the way you want --" blink. Notches. "If we had anything like that, it'd get sanded off. Hayda doesn't hold with having sub-standard goods around, even for Weyrlings. Worst you might get is a patched leg, or something that's been repaired, but no visible /damage/ or um ... de- " beat for the wordsearch "defacement." As she soaps up both arms and hauls her leg up to do that.
"See what you mean," Leova says. And then simply, tone not as flat, "Good." Her glance slides back down, away from Milani and towards Vrianth, eventually up to the trees, then higher yet. She tries to give the girl something back, "Read any good books lately?"
"Yeah, I guess some riders are really really close with their dragons-like and others not so much? My mother - she says she had a really awful time with Sionath at first. So I guess it's like, different for everyone." Because Milani's always happy enough to natter on and fill up a space with chatter. All soaped, she dunks again, comes back up rinsed and leaves the soap on the edge of the pool again. "Picked up a bunch of new ones yesterday actually, L'vae recommended this guy, Ikonnen for history-as-story stuff and it's nice, sort of brings stuff to life, you know? And I'm taking a plunge and trying some poetry too." Beat. Big eyes. "Can you imagine? Never thought I'd get into poetry, but so far so good even if I like the funny ones, the limericks best so far. There's some pretty stuff too. Like ... about snow and wind and stuff."
Leova murmurs a sorry-to-hear-that for Milani's mother, sliding deeper into the water with her head tilted to still look up, up, up. Her ears are above the surface at least, even with the mild wave from Milani's self-dunking. She says, "All sorts of things," just barely energetic enough to approach an exclamation. "Remember any of your favorites, the limericks?" She yawns, says a couple moments later, "Wonder if it's people around here who write that, all snow and wind, or more people where it's so hot it's too hot and the air's not going anywhere."
"Yep," Millie agrees cheerfully and settles an arm apiece to either side of herself, letting her legs float free in the water. "Umm .... let's see," and she laughs suddenly, recites one about firelizards forgetting their own names. "This is like, a collection from all around Pern, so maybe? Couple of different harpers and other people's names are in there."
Leova's chuckle is soft, slow, the heated water lapping up her arms when that blue over there shifts, Vrianth rising languorously on the water's slight swell and sink. "Funny. Could get you writing stories, one of these days. What would you write about?"
Shifting indeed, up out of the water though his rider moves to lounge, with a curious look over at the girls, floating in the water to relax after all that scrubbing. "Me? Write? Oh I dunno. I mean I write letters I guess. I write all about life in the lower caverns and all the Weyr news." Beat. "For Ays. A'son."
"Do you?" It's enough of a change that she looks back over the water again, in time to see Vrianth's wings draw in somewhat though the dragon herself doesn't look up. "Must be nice for him. Getting those." She yawns again, followed by a rumble of her stomach that at least the water has the decency to dull. "Hope he keeps them. Ten Turns later, read them all over with you, think back."
"He asked me to write, so I hope he likes them, yeah. I mean it's got to be hard to be away from home, right? Even if it's a big honor to be Weyrleader and everything," Milani muses thoughtfully, eyes fixed on the sky now. That last from Leova though drops her gaze down and she blinks a couple of times. "You think?" Clearly this thought has never occurred to her. "And don't fall asleep in here. Wouldn't do to drown from fatigue."
"Think so," Leova says. "Least, I'm keeping the ones from Jasvie and them." Her voice drops, threaded with the lightest touch of resignation. "Hope I remember them in ten Turns, anyway." Again she stretches, and if that mood's not gone entirely, it's not to the forefront at least. She even chuckles. "No drowning for me. My turn to get the meeting notes turned in, don't you know that? Anyway, if his helpers are good, if they do help them, it makes a big difference. Learned that much. I'll get back soon enough, and one of these days, we'll be able to fly you when you need a lift."
"A good friend, Jasvie?" Milani queries, pushing toes up from under the water and eyeing how the droplets run off skin. "Mm. I have trouble imagining ten turns from now, honestly," the assisstant headwoman muses. "So much could happen between now and then." That bluerider's sliding out of the water and moving to dress and Millie makes a little face: there goes her ride. "Good, I'd feel awfully guilty if I left you here asleep and you drowned, because sadly, I gotta go. I'll go tag your stuff in fact as soon as I get back down." So saying, without an inkling of shyness, Millie hauls herself out of the water to dry off. "Here's hoping for good helpers for everyone," Milani says with a little grin. "I'm a helper myself, so, I hear you there." She's quick about dressing, fastening what needs to be fastened. "I'll look forward to that, you're a lot more fun to talk to than T'prel!" Of the bluerider who hasn't been talkative at all. And who's rolling his eyes as Millie gathers up her stuff and moves to catch up with him. "See you around Leova."
"She's the one who talks like you," Leova says with another of those chuckles, lighter, letting her eyes slip back to drowsy next-thing-to-sleeping Vrianth as she listens. "You too, Milani." Quieter, "You too." And she lets her dragon rest longer, well after the older dragon's taken Milani and his rider off. When they do get back, lunch is mostly gone, but a kitchen worker particularly thoughtful to the ways of weyrlings had saved some for her. And it was still hot.
When: Late morning, Day 1, month 12, Turn 15, of the Interval
Where: Hot Spring, High Reaches Weyr
What: Millie and Leova talk weyrs, limericks and letters.
Hot Spring, High Reaches Weyr (#420RIJs)
Tucked away against the unrelenting rock of one of the mountains of the High Reaches range is a large hot spring surrounded by trees. The pool resulting from the spring is several dragonslengths accross providing space for perhaps a half-dozen people and their lifemates. Apparently accessible only from the air, a nearby clearing is large enough for a small number of dragons to land. Some distance below the spring, at the abrupt end of a steep trail is another, larger clearing. Heated by a natural geothermal vent, the lightly bubbling spring maintains a comfortably hot temperature all Turn, even when there is snow almost up to the edge of the hot pool.
Late morning, winter, the mountain air is chilly except for right here by the springs where the steam rising makes it bearable to hang out even wet from a soak. A blue dragon stands knee-deep in the water at one end of the spring where his rider assiduously pours water over his back and scrubbing with a brush. Milani is all the way at the other end of the pool, well away from draconic scrubbing, up to her chin in the water, hair damp up top, trailing in long wet strands around her otherwise. A towel and her clothes are folded up not too far away, a hair brush and comb and a little basket of bathing supplies perched right on the pool's edge ready for use though the assistant headwoman's eyes at present, are closed.
As the morning stretches on, the youngest green dragon descends, Vrianth all too proud of herself though it's been over a sevenday since she began flying with her rider. She makes a neat landing in the clearing and then follows her rider towards the pool with uncommon quietness, her greeting to the older dragon mental rather than physical. It doesn't take long to get off the straps and Leova's outer clothes, leaving only the same sort of suit Shanlee had had her borrow, and likely the first notice of their presence is the slow wave of Vrianth entering the water.
The blue's head swivels around and he takes Vrianth in thoughtfully before rumbling softly, his greeting audible, echoing the mental return. Millie cracks an eye open at this and then both as the water moves there's a brief sour look from her as she registers 'dragon' but this clears rapidly as she notices /which/ dragon. Sitting up a little, the assistant headwoman clears her throat and lifts a hand to wave. "Hey Leova! Hey Vrianth!" Both bright greetings accompanied by a smile. Lacking the modesty of the holdbred, Milani's wearing her birthday suit, but the water's still got her covered mostly.
Leova calls her hello back, but Vrianth just pushes off and floats as though she were gliding, that eloquent tail of hers waving in her wake. She looks at the other dragon sidelong without coming too near, eventually coming to rest in the midst of the pool without even demanding such scrubbing services of her new rider. Leova can't keep her eyes off her even now, at least until the green goes quiet, and it's then that she eases into the pool herself and wades around to where Milani is. "Warm. So nice and warm. Is it true some of the weyrs have little pools like these?"
The blue's attention is caught by the eloquence of that tail and a little croon thrums his throat, the tenor of his thoughts turning sunny, extending warmth Vrianth's way. Millie eases back on the stone shelf she's perched on and draws knees up to chest. "Yep they do. My dad's has one actually, a really big one. Mum's weyr doesn't, but she has a bathtub on her ledge. Have you gotten a weyr yet? Hoping for a pool?"
Appreciation will get Vrianth's attention six days out of seven, and so it is today. She shifts in the water, one wing swept forward and the other back so she's partly on her side but still mostly submerged, floating. But that and a moment's pleased mind-spark is the extent that she acknowledges him. Just resting. Not on show today, not prowling, not even exploring. Just resting. "No weyr," her rider says in a similarly slow tone. "Just came to mind. Don't think I'd like a tub out there like that. A pool, though." She stretches out her arms, not so close that she'll come near touching, and just lets the moving water rub between her fingertips. "Fresh water. That would be nice. All sorts of things would, though, right now."
Subsiding a little, the blue remains companionable, though the bulk of his attention shifts back to being scrubbed. "There's no room for it in the weyr because it's too small." About the tub. "I guess somebody gave it to mum. Mostly she uses the pool in the big weyr. Her weyr's more like ... well she sews there and she's got pictures of the family on the walls and stuff. And I guess she takes company there sometimes. Mostly she lives with dad though." This at least, is Milani's partial view of things. "Hope you get one soon anyway, bet it's getting kind of tight in the Barracks with the dragons growing. Vrianth is looking pretty good." A glance for the green and then conspiratorily: "L'vae's already looking for furniture. If you want some good stuff, might want to come reserve something soon rather than later."
Leova rolls her head from side to side a few times, stretching there too. "Just trying to imagine filling it up. Keeping it hot. Great that she could keep a place even after, after weyrmating. Your father. Didn't know that." Her eyes are nearly closed. So are Vrianth's. Every now and again they look at each other, though they don't have to, and Leova gets that little smile again. "Thanks for the tip, too. No surprise he'd be first," amusement there in her voice for her friend. "Any recommendations?"
"Oh no, she was with my dad before she Impressed. And my brothers' dad too." Helpful corrections from Milani as she draws fingers through hair and tilts her head to the side to dip it more deeply into the water, wetting it further and further up the long strangds. "And Sionath fills it for her. Picks the whole thing up, dips it in here, carries it back to the ledge." The girl slips off that shelf-ledge suddenly, resurfaces with completely wet hair and reaches for one of those bottles of supplies she brought, pours out shimmering liquid into her palm to work in. "Depends on your weyr really when you get it, and what kind of stuff you like. There's a couple of armchairs that're comfy down there right now. Table and regular chairs for company maybe. A rug. Definitely a rug. And hangings. To keep out the chill from the stone.'
Leova does look at Milani now, a sideways loll of her head that doesn't lift it at all. "But she still got her own weyr? How come?" At the explanation of Sionath's technique, her eyes do slide towards Vrianth consideringly. "Guess they can carry more than I realized. Stick my name on the armchairs, would you mind? Table. Rug. Whatever. Hear people talking about chutes for food or for laundry, real big ledges, little ones, extra rooms, places where you can go up even higher, windows even. Don't know how much is true," and that a question in its way. A little while later, "Vrianth would like a rug."
"They all had their own weyrs," Milani explains with a bit of a puzzled expression as she continues to work suds into her hair. "Most riders I know don't actually move in together even if they're weyrmated. Space you know. I mean dad's weyr /is/ big enough, but most weyrs aren't big enough for two dragons." Practical. A blink. "So you want me to pick for you? Okay." A little nod. "I'll put together a little set for you. Vrianth's green so your weyr probably won't be that big. I'll be careful about what I think'll fit so it'll be cozy and comfortable but not too crowded." With her hair piled atop her hair in a corona of suds: "Sure, two rugs then, makes the wallows more comfortable."
"Oh." There's a blink. Leova submerges, and it's the work of a moment to rub water through her hair, followed by more blinking when she gets her head out of the water again. Rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes, "Seems lonely. For the other dragon, I mean. His rider. But if you don't mind picking? Don't want them all to be gone," as though right this minute, half the weyrling class were racing towards the storerooms, all in a hurry to be first. Some time later, thinking it over, "Small's good, least if it's enough room to breathe right. Less echoey. They all have decent-sized ledges, though? When people stop by." She has to laugh at herself, a little. People visiting. On dragons. Her and her dragon. So different.
"Lonely how?" Milani tilts a further puzzled look Leova's way before ducking her head down to rinse her hair out. When she comes back up, her face is streaming water and she presses fingertips into the corners of her eyes to wipe them clear. "Sure, I'll tag some things for you like I did for L'vae," she says agreeably and hikes her bottom back up onto that shelf-ledge. "Not all of them do. Mum's ledge is tiny. Sionath has to go curl up in the wallow to let anyone land. There's barely room for another dragon there let alone a bunch. If you want lots of visitors I hope you pull one with a decent-size ledge then."
"Thanks," Leova says once Milani's done with being dunked and all, and she lifts her shoulders, the thin dark material clinging to her skin. "Just, away from his rider? Don't know that Vrianth would stand for it." Which means that she likely wouldn't. "Not liking the curling up bit, either. Visitors are good. The bed, it's already there, or we have to tag that too?" Two seconds later her mouth tightens away a laugh. "That is, I mean. Two separate things." Finally the chuckle escapes.
Oh, well you know, rider could sleep in the wallow too, whatever," Milani shrugs loosely, perhaps still not quite understanding what Leova's getting at. "Guess you guys are really close. You and Vrianth. Like Paddy and Jek." Milani's turned to reach behind her again, this time for a pretty, sweet-smelling bar of actual soap, not sweetsand. "Depends on the weyr, some of them have beds in them still, some have alcoves, you know a stone shelf for furs and some of them don't have either. I can tag a bed for you too, just in case. Simple? Fancy? Don't care?"
Leova's moved to idly watch Milani pick out her toiletries, the chuckle lingering in the form of a bemused smile. "Don't know about like them. But we like being with each other, all right." Need to. Even with Vrianth floating, drowsing, they're still together. "The alcove thing sounds pretty great, but you're right, nothing to count on. Comfortable's the main thing, I guess. Drawers underneath, that's good too if there are any." Her tone shifts. "Not one where somebody's been hacking names, or notches, into the posts."
"They're like ... best buds. Always connected or something." Milani shrugs again not being intimately familiar with such things, just what's been described to her. "Anyway, yeah, I hope you get some choices that you like, that'll let you guys get set up the way you want --" blink. Notches. "If we had anything like that, it'd get sanded off. Hayda doesn't hold with having sub-standard goods around, even for Weyrlings. Worst you might get is a patched leg, or something that's been repaired, but no visible /damage/ or um ... de- " beat for the wordsearch "defacement." As she soaps up both arms and hauls her leg up to do that.
"See what you mean," Leova says. And then simply, tone not as flat, "Good." Her glance slides back down, away from Milani and towards Vrianth, eventually up to the trees, then higher yet. She tries to give the girl something back, "Read any good books lately?"
"Yeah, I guess some riders are really really close with their dragons-like and others not so much? My mother - she says she had a really awful time with Sionath at first. So I guess it's like, different for everyone." Because Milani's always happy enough to natter on and fill up a space with chatter. All soaped, she dunks again, comes back up rinsed and leaves the soap on the edge of the pool again. "Picked up a bunch of new ones yesterday actually, L'vae recommended this guy, Ikonnen for history-as-story stuff and it's nice, sort of brings stuff to life, you know? And I'm taking a plunge and trying some poetry too." Beat. Big eyes. "Can you imagine? Never thought I'd get into poetry, but so far so good even if I like the funny ones, the limericks best so far. There's some pretty stuff too. Like ... about snow and wind and stuff."
Leova murmurs a sorry-to-hear-that for Milani's mother, sliding deeper into the water with her head tilted to still look up, up, up. Her ears are above the surface at least, even with the mild wave from Milani's self-dunking. She says, "All sorts of things," just barely energetic enough to approach an exclamation. "Remember any of your favorites, the limericks?" She yawns, says a couple moments later, "Wonder if it's people around here who write that, all snow and wind, or more people where it's so hot it's too hot and the air's not going anywhere."
"Yep," Millie agrees cheerfully and settles an arm apiece to either side of herself, letting her legs float free in the water. "Umm .... let's see," and she laughs suddenly, recites one about firelizards forgetting their own names. "This is like, a collection from all around Pern, so maybe? Couple of different harpers and other people's names are in there."
Leova's chuckle is soft, slow, the heated water lapping up her arms when that blue over there shifts, Vrianth rising languorously on the water's slight swell and sink. "Funny. Could get you writing stories, one of these days. What would you write about?"
Shifting indeed, up out of the water though his rider moves to lounge, with a curious look over at the girls, floating in the water to relax after all that scrubbing. "Me? Write? Oh I dunno. I mean I write letters I guess. I write all about life in the lower caverns and all the Weyr news." Beat. "For Ays. A'son."
"Do you?" It's enough of a change that she looks back over the water again, in time to see Vrianth's wings draw in somewhat though the dragon herself doesn't look up. "Must be nice for him. Getting those." She yawns again, followed by a rumble of her stomach that at least the water has the decency to dull. "Hope he keeps them. Ten Turns later, read them all over with you, think back."
"He asked me to write, so I hope he likes them, yeah. I mean it's got to be hard to be away from home, right? Even if it's a big honor to be Weyrleader and everything," Milani muses thoughtfully, eyes fixed on the sky now. That last from Leova though drops her gaze down and she blinks a couple of times. "You think?" Clearly this thought has never occurred to her. "And don't fall asleep in here. Wouldn't do to drown from fatigue."
"Think so," Leova says. "Least, I'm keeping the ones from Jasvie and them." Her voice drops, threaded with the lightest touch of resignation. "Hope I remember them in ten Turns, anyway." Again she stretches, and if that mood's not gone entirely, it's not to the forefront at least. She even chuckles. "No drowning for me. My turn to get the meeting notes turned in, don't you know that? Anyway, if his helpers are good, if they do help them, it makes a big difference. Learned that much. I'll get back soon enough, and one of these days, we'll be able to fly you when you need a lift."
"A good friend, Jasvie?" Milani queries, pushing toes up from under the water and eyeing how the droplets run off skin. "Mm. I have trouble imagining ten turns from now, honestly," the assisstant headwoman muses. "So much could happen between now and then." That bluerider's sliding out of the water and moving to dress and Millie makes a little face: there goes her ride. "Good, I'd feel awfully guilty if I left you here asleep and you drowned, because sadly, I gotta go. I'll go tag your stuff in fact as soon as I get back down." So saying, without an inkling of shyness, Millie hauls herself out of the water to dry off. "Here's hoping for good helpers for everyone," Milani says with a little grin. "I'm a helper myself, so, I hear you there." She's quick about dressing, fastening what needs to be fastened. "I'll look forward to that, you're a lot more fun to talk to than T'prel!" Of the bluerider who hasn't been talkative at all. And who's rolling his eyes as Millie gathers up her stuff and moves to catch up with him. "See you around Leova."
"She's the one who talks like you," Leova says with another of those chuckles, lighter, letting her eyes slip back to drowsy next-thing-to-sleeping Vrianth as she listens. "You too, Milani." Quieter, "You too." And she lets her dragon rest longer, well after the older dragon's taken Milani and his rider off. When they do get back, lunch is mostly gone, but a kitchen worker particularly thoughtful to the ways of weyrlings had saved some for her. And it was still hot.