Such a good assistant.
Who: Miniyal and Roa
Where: Roa's weyr
When: Afternoon on the 25th day of month 11, turn 2 of the 7th Pass.
What: Miniyal was a bad assistant and comes clean. About one thing. She also warns Roa of an impending visit by B'ren so he might be brainwashed.
12/4/2006
At High Reaches Weyr, it is afternoon on day 25, month 11, turn 2 of the 7th Pass.
She should be seated at her desk. She should be working. It is possible, even, that the weyrwoman should be in class. Where she is, however, is curled up on the bed, top cover drawn up over her, as she sleeps with her hair still up and her clothes still on. Roa breathes through her mouth, the tip of her nose is decidedly red, and there is a tissue balled up in a loosely held fist.
Just one more piece of evidence that her timing is flawed. Probably not the best of time to approach Roa's room, but since Miniyal doesn't know it she heads down the tunnel and comes to a stop outside of the room that is her destination. Biting her lip she absently smooths down her hair and her clothes. *knockknock* Quietly in case she is disturbing, but loud enough that it will be heard.
Blue eyes flicker open, and what was probably intended to be a sharp inhalation through her nose instead results in a thick and clogged *snnnrk*. Roa coughs, shaking her head and wriggling out of bed to go to the door. She swallows down a yawn before pulling it open. "Miniyal, hey. Please come in." Her clogged sinuses make the name more like 'Bidiyal' and the word 'come' more like 'cub'.
Miniyal blinks and then frowns. "Are you sick? Have you taken anything?" More frowning as she lingers near the door. "I can come back if you're resting. It's not important." Nope. Not important at all. "I'm sorry I bothered you."
She shakes her head. "No, no," (doe, doe), "Come on in. Sorry. I'll be fine. I have a shift at the infirmary, and I'll take something then. How are you?" Roa steps back so that Miniyal can come in.
Well, so much for that and so Miniyal steps inside. "I'm fine, thank you." She is, when asked, pretty much always fine. Because that is the socially acceptable response. Most people don't want the truth. "If you're sure. . ." A final chance to back out before she will give up on it and steel herself for the conversation to come.
"I'm sure. Do you want anything to drink? There's some juice and I can..." Roa pauses to fight away a tiny smile, "make tea." (bake tea.) "Please sit," she gestures twowards a chair pulled out from the desk and settled by the bed, "and tell me what's on your mind."
"I'm fine, thank you. You should rest. I don't need anything." To the chair she goes, sitting herself down and then spending a moment adjusting her skirt as a way to pass the time. "Well. A couple of things." May as well work up to the bad stuff. "I saw B'ren the other night. We ran into each other in the kitchen. I told him he should come talk to you sometime. He said he was interested in dragonhealing and he's. . .I don't know. He's finally growing up and it's better he talks to you than some others I think. He wants to do more than he does, but could be more aware of his options I think."
The weyrwoman sinks down onto the edge of the bed, listening. She nods once. "B'ren. He was going to go to Ista, wasn't he? He's interested in dragonhealing?" The tissue is lifted and used, a final swipe at her nose before Roa continues. "I'd be glad to speak with him."
"He's going, yes. I asked him to get into records there. To get a list of female greenriders. He's not the best person to send I think, but he can get there without arousing suspicion. I hope. He's a little brash. But I hope he doesn't do something stupid. And, yes." Miniyal folds her hands in her lap, the absence of fidgeting as bad as fidgeting. "He was under the impression that being a greenrider would severely limit his options in the future. I told him he might be incorrect, but he should talk to you."
"That's...uhm...a whole lot of hope, Miniyal," (hobe, Bidiyal.) Roa winces faintly. "are you -sure- it's a good idea sending him? D'ven has friends in Ista. He might be able to see them again." The last, though, has Roa's brows lifting and her head canting to the side. "He might be at that. I'll be happy to talk with him."
"Well, if he fails it's me that is in trouble. Not you. And the only way to learn if he can do it is to send him." Miniyal shrugs at this, feeding a friend to the lions. "I warned him. He's a big boy and if he doesn't have something to /do/ he'll get in trouble. He'll stop trying to do more. Look, the worst thing that happens if he gets sent home and we don't have the information. It's not a big deal."
"No," Roa shakes her head, "The worst thing that happens is his snooping gets traced back to you and the pair of us get accused of propagating rumors about Telgar, and then people start wondering why." Another pause for nose-blowing. "That's the worst. Most likely is that if he makes a mistake, he gets sent home. If you say he deserves a chance, then I trust that he does." A small shrug. "I hope we're right."
Shaking her head, Miniyal smiles tightly. "No. Because you had no knowledge of what I was doing, Roa. Regrettable that you hired someone like me, but you rectified the mistake and will pick better next time when choosing an assistant." Shrugging her shoulders she gestures to herself before refolding her hands. "They won't trace it past me. B'ren thinks I want to know for me. They might wonder, but they can't prove it."
"They could, I suppose, if they asked Tialith," Roa muses, "and I don't like the idea of you lying for me. Although I get the impression, on occasion, you are hoping for a reason to quit or be fired."
Blinking a few times, Miniyal shakes her head. "I don't lie, Roa. I just don't always tell everything I know." Which brings up her next topic. Well, what she said or what Roa said. "So, umm. Right. About that. I played chess with J'cor the other night." Lalala.
"Did you? I didn't know you played chess." A small pause as Roa adds, with a chuckle, "or were on companionable terms with J'cor."
"I'm horrible at chess. Gans and I play a few times a week." Miniyal is happy to focus on this for a minute. "It's not a game I am ever going to be good at, but I have sworn that before the next dozen turns are up I will have beaten him at least once and I cannot do that if I don't play." Now the fidgeting starts, a twisting of her ring on her finger as she looks down at it. "Oh. We're not. I mean, I was interviewing him for my history and we sort of. . .he's nice to talk to. We talk."
"He is," Roa agrees with a small nod. She glances down at her own hands and then up and over at her assistant, or advisor, or whaevr it is that Miniyal is caled. "You, um, I think you'd etter just tell me. Whatever it is." Her voice is gentle, if congestion has made it thick and husky.
Chewing on her lower lip, Miniyal lets out a sigh. "I didn't mean to say anything. He mentioned your name when dancing came up and I wasn't thinking. I mean, I was thinking about the game. And I sort of asked if you'd spoken to him about the research that was done on the patterns of mating flights here at the weyr. And, I mean, it's not bad. I don't think. But I did tell him. About what was learned."
Blink. Blink. "Oh." Roa leans forward a little bit, her free hand balled into a fist so she can prop her forehead against it. "Well, shells." She breathes out through her mouth and tries to sniff in through her nose *snnnrk*. "I guess I'd better talk to J'cor then, hadn't I."
"I'm sorry." She sounds sorry. "We were just talking." Miniyal continues chewing on her lower lip as she twists her ring around and around on her finger. Finally she just sighs and refolds her hands, letting her poor lip free as well. "I didn't mention any time frame or anything."
"It's all right," Roa straightens, flicking one hand as if waving away the other girl's distress. "I should have talked to him, already. I just...Faranth...just forgot. What a thing to forget." She sighs softly. "I'll speak with him as soon as I can. Did he..." she cants her head to the side, tissue lifting to swipe quickly at his nose. "What did he say about it?"
"Well, at first I don't think he believed me. I don't think he's inclined to believe much at first." Miniyal shakes her head at this as if she's not quite the same way. "But I presented him with the evidence I had found and he seemed inclined to believe what I said."
A small nod from Roa. "Was he upset? About what he found or, well, about the fact that I haven't told him yet?"
Head tipping over to one side, Miniyal shrugs. "I do not know. I've only spoken with him a couple of times. So I am not sure how upset he may or may not have been. He did not seem overly upset." Here she pauses for a brief moment. "He won't bring it up to you. You'll have to bring it up to him."
"He was there. He was resting. I was, ummm, on the floor and couldn't really see him." Miniyal sounds more embarrassed about being caught sitting on the floor than having told a secret. "But he didn't seem upset except when, umm. Well, I may have said the wrong thing and upset the weyrleader which upset his dragon. But the other times I've been there and he's been there he's appeared calm."
"I was wondering if you saw Karth when you told J'cor about the queens," Roa explains. If she is at all distressed that Miniyal was seated on the floor, she gives no sign. "If he was calm or no?"
"I didn't seem him at all then. And I didn't hear anything." Shrugging her shoulders, Miniyal grins faintly. "It's not as if I could tell unless he were stomping around or something. And since he was not I am assuming any upset he kept to himself."
"That's probably a good sign, then." Roa leans back a little, resting her weight on her free hand. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll speak to J'cor and I'll tell you how it went. Did you have a good evening, other than that?"
"I forgot a coat." Her brain, it works in interesting ways. Miniyal flicks a bit of invisible lint from her skirt. "I mean, running across the bowl. Not that I could run there since I was weighed down with everything, but it was nice. Not the running in the cold part. We talked about things. Yes. I guess I had a good evening."
"Well, I'm sorry about your coat." What else is ther, really, to say to that? "Are you and J'cor going to play chess regularly?" Roa crosses her feet at the ankles as she speaks.
"Unless he changes his mind. I left the chess set there and said I'd stop by every seven or so." Miniyal sighs and explains with, "Gans meets his students in our room in the evenings sometimes so I have to leave. So, sometimes I figure I'll go see him. If he's not busy."
"Better a Weyrleader than a Caucus student, eh?" Roa smirks faintly, shaking her head. "I like him," she notes after a moment. "He's a good man, I think."
Nodding her head, Miniyal smiles. "Well, that and I don't imagine most students want to discuss their work with me sitting in the room. And I won't hide in the other room like I'm. . .hiding." Yes. Like that. "Besides-well, anyway."
There is a flicker of curiosity for that final 'besides', but perhaps Roa is learning a bit of self-restraint, because she doesn't ask. She only blows her nose again. "Miniyal, I'm sorry to be an awful hostess, but I think I might lie down for a bit." As if she wasn't doing so when Miniyal knocked. "Is there anything else I ought to know about, do you think?"
"No, it's fine. That's all I had to say." Miniyal rises to her feet and smiles faintly. "It's fine. I'm sorry to have bothered you. I hope you are feeling better. Don't see me out, just lie back down. I know the way." One step backwards and she shakes her head. "You should not do your shift in the infirmary, you know."
"Well, probably not," Roa sighs, "but here's how it will go. I'll go down to the infirmary for something for my cold. And then I'll take it and feel better. And then," *snnrk*, "I'll already be down there anyhow and scheduled for a shift and..." she shrugs. "If secrets like you, I think guilt likes me. Thank you for stopping by, Miniyal," (stobbing by), "You should, more often. Just, you know, for fun."
"Feeling better is not the same as rest." Tsk. Miniyal just smiles though and nods her head. "As you wish however. I'll leave you to your rest now." When she reaches the door she pauses and looks back. "I'll try. I'm not so good at fun. Good day." And out she goes. To stop by the infirmary and inform people Roa is sick and she should be encouraged to rest however they can when she shows up. Lalala. She is not telling people to drug her boss. Honest! In so many words.
Where: Roa's weyr
When: Afternoon on the 25th day of month 11, turn 2 of the 7th Pass.
What: Miniyal was a bad assistant and comes clean. About one thing. She also warns Roa of an impending visit by B'ren so he might be brainwashed.
12/4/2006
At High Reaches Weyr, it is afternoon on day 25, month 11, turn 2 of the 7th Pass.
She should be seated at her desk. She should be working. It is possible, even, that the weyrwoman should be in class. Where she is, however, is curled up on the bed, top cover drawn up over her, as she sleeps with her hair still up and her clothes still on. Roa breathes through her mouth, the tip of her nose is decidedly red, and there is a tissue balled up in a loosely held fist.
Just one more piece of evidence that her timing is flawed. Probably not the best of time to approach Roa's room, but since Miniyal doesn't know it she heads down the tunnel and comes to a stop outside of the room that is her destination. Biting her lip she absently smooths down her hair and her clothes. *knockknock* Quietly in case she is disturbing, but loud enough that it will be heard.
Blue eyes flicker open, and what was probably intended to be a sharp inhalation through her nose instead results in a thick and clogged *snnnrk*. Roa coughs, shaking her head and wriggling out of bed to go to the door. She swallows down a yawn before pulling it open. "Miniyal, hey. Please come in." Her clogged sinuses make the name more like 'Bidiyal' and the word 'come' more like 'cub'.
Miniyal blinks and then frowns. "Are you sick? Have you taken anything?" More frowning as she lingers near the door. "I can come back if you're resting. It's not important." Nope. Not important at all. "I'm sorry I bothered you."
She shakes her head. "No, no," (doe, doe), "Come on in. Sorry. I'll be fine. I have a shift at the infirmary, and I'll take something then. How are you?" Roa steps back so that Miniyal can come in.
Well, so much for that and so Miniyal steps inside. "I'm fine, thank you." She is, when asked, pretty much always fine. Because that is the socially acceptable response. Most people don't want the truth. "If you're sure. . ." A final chance to back out before she will give up on it and steel herself for the conversation to come.
"I'm sure. Do you want anything to drink? There's some juice and I can..." Roa pauses to fight away a tiny smile, "make tea." (bake tea.) "Please sit," she gestures twowards a chair pulled out from the desk and settled by the bed, "and tell me what's on your mind."
"I'm fine, thank you. You should rest. I don't need anything." To the chair she goes, sitting herself down and then spending a moment adjusting her skirt as a way to pass the time. "Well. A couple of things." May as well work up to the bad stuff. "I saw B'ren the other night. We ran into each other in the kitchen. I told him he should come talk to you sometime. He said he was interested in dragonhealing and he's. . .I don't know. He's finally growing up and it's better he talks to you than some others I think. He wants to do more than he does, but could be more aware of his options I think."
The weyrwoman sinks down onto the edge of the bed, listening. She nods once. "B'ren. He was going to go to Ista, wasn't he? He's interested in dragonhealing?" The tissue is lifted and used, a final swipe at her nose before Roa continues. "I'd be glad to speak with him."
"He's going, yes. I asked him to get into records there. To get a list of female greenriders. He's not the best person to send I think, but he can get there without arousing suspicion. I hope. He's a little brash. But I hope he doesn't do something stupid. And, yes." Miniyal folds her hands in her lap, the absence of fidgeting as bad as fidgeting. "He was under the impression that being a greenrider would severely limit his options in the future. I told him he might be incorrect, but he should talk to you."
"That's...uhm...a whole lot of hope, Miniyal," (hobe, Bidiyal.) Roa winces faintly. "are you -sure- it's a good idea sending him? D'ven has friends in Ista. He might be able to see them again." The last, though, has Roa's brows lifting and her head canting to the side. "He might be at that. I'll be happy to talk with him."
"Well, if he fails it's me that is in trouble. Not you. And the only way to learn if he can do it is to send him." Miniyal shrugs at this, feeding a friend to the lions. "I warned him. He's a big boy and if he doesn't have something to /do/ he'll get in trouble. He'll stop trying to do more. Look, the worst thing that happens if he gets sent home and we don't have the information. It's not a big deal."
"No," Roa shakes her head, "The worst thing that happens is his snooping gets traced back to you and the pair of us get accused of propagating rumors about Telgar, and then people start wondering why." Another pause for nose-blowing. "That's the worst. Most likely is that if he makes a mistake, he gets sent home. If you say he deserves a chance, then I trust that he does." A small shrug. "I hope we're right."
Shaking her head, Miniyal smiles tightly. "No. Because you had no knowledge of what I was doing, Roa. Regrettable that you hired someone like me, but you rectified the mistake and will pick better next time when choosing an assistant." Shrugging her shoulders she gestures to herself before refolding her hands. "They won't trace it past me. B'ren thinks I want to know for me. They might wonder, but they can't prove it."
"They could, I suppose, if they asked Tialith," Roa muses, "and I don't like the idea of you lying for me. Although I get the impression, on occasion, you are hoping for a reason to quit or be fired."
Blinking a few times, Miniyal shakes her head. "I don't lie, Roa. I just don't always tell everything I know." Which brings up her next topic. Well, what she said or what Roa said. "So, umm. Right. About that. I played chess with J'cor the other night." Lalala.
"Did you? I didn't know you played chess." A small pause as Roa adds, with a chuckle, "or were on companionable terms with J'cor."
"I'm horrible at chess. Gans and I play a few times a week." Miniyal is happy to focus on this for a minute. "It's not a game I am ever going to be good at, but I have sworn that before the next dozen turns are up I will have beaten him at least once and I cannot do that if I don't play." Now the fidgeting starts, a twisting of her ring on her finger as she looks down at it. "Oh. We're not. I mean, I was interviewing him for my history and we sort of. . .he's nice to talk to. We talk."
"He is," Roa agrees with a small nod. She glances down at her own hands and then up and over at her assistant, or advisor, or whaevr it is that Miniyal is caled. "You, um, I think you'd etter just tell me. Whatever it is." Her voice is gentle, if congestion has made it thick and husky.
Chewing on her lower lip, Miniyal lets out a sigh. "I didn't mean to say anything. He mentioned your name when dancing came up and I wasn't thinking. I mean, I was thinking about the game. And I sort of asked if you'd spoken to him about the research that was done on the patterns of mating flights here at the weyr. And, I mean, it's not bad. I don't think. But I did tell him. About what was learned."
Blink. Blink. "Oh." Roa leans forward a little bit, her free hand balled into a fist so she can prop her forehead against it. "Well, shells." She breathes out through her mouth and tries to sniff in through her nose *snnnrk*. "I guess I'd better talk to J'cor then, hadn't I."
"I'm sorry." She sounds sorry. "We were just talking." Miniyal continues chewing on her lower lip as she twists her ring around and around on her finger. Finally she just sighs and refolds her hands, letting her poor lip free as well. "I didn't mention any time frame or anything."
"It's all right," Roa straightens, flicking one hand as if waving away the other girl's distress. "I should have talked to him, already. I just...Faranth...just forgot. What a thing to forget." She sighs softly. "I'll speak with him as soon as I can. Did he..." she cants her head to the side, tissue lifting to swipe quickly at his nose. "What did he say about it?"
"Well, at first I don't think he believed me. I don't think he's inclined to believe much at first." Miniyal shakes her head at this as if she's not quite the same way. "But I presented him with the evidence I had found and he seemed inclined to believe what I said."
A small nod from Roa. "Was he upset? About what he found or, well, about the fact that I haven't told him yet?"
Head tipping over to one side, Miniyal shrugs. "I do not know. I've only spoken with him a couple of times. So I am not sure how upset he may or may not have been. He did not seem overly upset." Here she pauses for a brief moment. "He won't bring it up to you. You'll have to bring it up to him."
"He was there. He was resting. I was, ummm, on the floor and couldn't really see him." Miniyal sounds more embarrassed about being caught sitting on the floor than having told a secret. "But he didn't seem upset except when, umm. Well, I may have said the wrong thing and upset the weyrleader which upset his dragon. But the other times I've been there and he's been there he's appeared calm."
"I was wondering if you saw Karth when you told J'cor about the queens," Roa explains. If she is at all distressed that Miniyal was seated on the floor, she gives no sign. "If he was calm or no?"
"I didn't seem him at all then. And I didn't hear anything." Shrugging her shoulders, Miniyal grins faintly. "It's not as if I could tell unless he were stomping around or something. And since he was not I am assuming any upset he kept to himself."
"That's probably a good sign, then." Roa leans back a little, resting her weight on her free hand. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll speak to J'cor and I'll tell you how it went. Did you have a good evening, other than that?"
"I forgot a coat." Her brain, it works in interesting ways. Miniyal flicks a bit of invisible lint from her skirt. "I mean, running across the bowl. Not that I could run there since I was weighed down with everything, but it was nice. Not the running in the cold part. We talked about things. Yes. I guess I had a good evening."
"Well, I'm sorry about your coat." What else is ther, really, to say to that? "Are you and J'cor going to play chess regularly?" Roa crosses her feet at the ankles as she speaks.
"Unless he changes his mind. I left the chess set there and said I'd stop by every seven or so." Miniyal sighs and explains with, "Gans meets his students in our room in the evenings sometimes so I have to leave. So, sometimes I figure I'll go see him. If he's not busy."
"Better a Weyrleader than a Caucus student, eh?" Roa smirks faintly, shaking her head. "I like him," she notes after a moment. "He's a good man, I think."
Nodding her head, Miniyal smiles. "Well, that and I don't imagine most students want to discuss their work with me sitting in the room. And I won't hide in the other room like I'm. . .hiding." Yes. Like that. "Besides-well, anyway."
There is a flicker of curiosity for that final 'besides', but perhaps Roa is learning a bit of self-restraint, because she doesn't ask. She only blows her nose again. "Miniyal, I'm sorry to be an awful hostess, but I think I might lie down for a bit." As if she wasn't doing so when Miniyal knocked. "Is there anything else I ought to know about, do you think?"
"No, it's fine. That's all I had to say." Miniyal rises to her feet and smiles faintly. "It's fine. I'm sorry to have bothered you. I hope you are feeling better. Don't see me out, just lie back down. I know the way." One step backwards and she shakes her head. "You should not do your shift in the infirmary, you know."
"Well, probably not," Roa sighs, "but here's how it will go. I'll go down to the infirmary for something for my cold. And then I'll take it and feel better. And then," *snnrk*, "I'll already be down there anyhow and scheduled for a shift and..." she shrugs. "If secrets like you, I think guilt likes me. Thank you for stopping by, Miniyal," (stobbing by), "You should, more often. Just, you know, for fun."
"Feeling better is not the same as rest." Tsk. Miniyal just smiles though and nods her head. "As you wish however. I'll leave you to your rest now." When she reaches the door she pauses and looks back. "I'll try. I'm not so good at fun. Good day." And out she goes. To stop by the infirmary and inform people Roa is sick and she should be encouraged to rest however they can when she shows up. Lalala. She is not telling people to drug her boss. Honest! In so many words.