Shiny object in water.
Who: Miniyal and H'kon
Where: Southern bowl by the lake
When: 15:05 on day 6, month 6, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
What: Miniyal and a few weyrlings are playing in the water. H'kon turns up to enjoy the summer weather as well and engages in conversation. Real conversation. From the both of them. I know, shocking! I'm pretty proud of Min in this scene. :) Seriously, she can act like a reasonable adult, see? See!
3/17/2007
At High Reaches Weyr, it is 15:05 on day 6, month 6, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's brought plenty of people outside to enjoy the beginning of summer. Including a small group of weyrlings who have gathered by the lake. One of those is Miniyal, boots off to the side with socks stuffed in them. Pants legs rolled up she wades along the edge of the lake watching as somewhat farther out Peloth explores the water with a couple of her clutchsibs. Surely there is something they should be doing. There's /always/ something they should be doing, but for now the little group of four enjoy the sun and the lake. Wading off in assorted directions they don't seem to be engaged in constant conversation with one another, but every now and again something will be called out to someone else. Even Miniyal seems to be taking part in the occasional conversations because she raises her voice enough to carry to one of the boys farther away, "Find it yet? I told you it's not over there, you know. We're going to lose."
That same beautiful day has drawn Arekoth and H'kon out into the open, the fiery brown dropping down from above, presumably from one of the spires. The brown lands neatly near the edge of the water, his rider quick to jump from his neck, landing hard on the ground, before the dragon heads toward the lake. And the baby-dragons. Aww. Arekoth's greeting to those littler ones comes in the form of a happy enough rumble. H'kon's approach is a more reluctant shuffling, a scan of the faces having easily enough found the new young goldrider, and some skewed sense of duty prompting him toward Miniyal. His own greeting is a grunt of sorts. No comment or question after the conversation. Just a forced, "Peloth is well?"
Baby dragons greet their larger counterpart. Peloth's head swivels away from whatever had caught her attention to look at Arekoth and join the others in a warble of greeting. Her head then turns towards the shore and where the dragon's rider seems to have approached her own. Said rider looks up from the water at the words and her at the weyrling closest come to attention. Now, granted, Miniyal's salute is not much, it's much too playful, but it's not quite bad enough usually to earn much more than mumbles and shakes of the head. Still, she does it and then bobs her head once. "Yes, sir. Thank you for asking. I hope you and Arekoth are doing well, sir?" Eyes casting down a moment she scans the water and lets out a sigh. "If you see something small and shiny in the water do please point it out? I don't believe the rules said we could not take helpful advice from someone not playing."
H'kon arches a skeptical eyebrow at the goldrider, returning the salute with a specific crispness; the sort one would expect more from a keener bronze weyrling than the brownrider. Nothing is said to that. Yet. "We are," is affirmed quickly. H'kon's attention shifts over toward his brown at the first mention of the shiny object - and then back to Miniyal once the word 'rules' is said. "This is a game?" Hands are linked behind his back, and the brownrider, for all intents and purposes, looks to be standing at a military ease, now surveying the dragons in the lake. Curious?
Miniyal gestures to the other three weyrlings wading around in the water. "Yes, sir. Were out here, see? And figured there was no point not doing something not that time to do nothing isn't appreciated by some, but I find it bores me." Gesturing with one hand she grins. "So, see? We decided to play a game and managed to convince one of the kids to give us his little bit of glass he'd found . . .and, really, he was going to cut himself so we did him a favor. Then we got one of the residents passing by to toss it in the lake. I think Peloth cheated and watched, but I told her not to tell me." Shaking her head she glances out at where the gold wades. "She's a right brat, sir. Anyway, so we split into teams and are trying to find it. Not much to gain from it, but it's better than just sitting here, sir."
"Better to make good use of the time," H'kon observes, stubbled chin tilted downward in the first part of a nod. The head doesn't move back up, however. Arekoth, out in the water, is quick to turn his attention toward the floor of the lake, head swinging back and forth, an obvious searching motion. H'kon grimaces. "I am not certain it would be right for us to assist you." Eyes are narrowed after his lifemate, whose actions are subdued, but certainly don't stop. The rider spares a sideways glance to Miniyal. "You are very specific in using the word 'sir'," he ventures.
Miniyal's head tips to one side and she smiles briefly. "Suppose, sir, it's because if I don't you can go tell D'ven I'm not being respectful were you of a mind and I imagine I'll be hearing enough about what I've done without adding that crime to the list." Unconcerned about it all, she shrugs and then glances out to the water. "Seems fair actually, sir. Can't look myself. If he's helping there's still four searching, right? And unless she decides to be a bigger brat and tell him where to look there's no way we can be said we're cheating. I /told/ her not to look." Letting out a sigh she stuffs her hands into her pockets. "Anyway, am I not using it right? Got to be honest, sir, I dislike being told whom to address how. You ask me, a form of respectful address you toss off at everyone loses that respect. Means nothing at all and is just a syllable we use at the end or beginning of our sentences. But, not my place to determine that I suppose."
H'kon turns away from the goldrider, and back out to the searching dragons. Arekoth has taken a step forward in the lake, creating a few lovely little ripples against those caused by other external sources on the water, as he goes to survey a new patch. After pausing to shoot a pointed look to H'kon and the weyrling. "It seems an exercise in concentration. Better to have that skill developed in the younger dragons. Arekoth has long since become practiced in it." The lightest shake of his head, though still he doesn't look back to her. "You are not misusing it, no. It just seemed strange that you would use 'sir' while mocking the salute." His chest puffs out a little; brave. "It is not personal respect. It can be, yes, but it refers to rank. The salute relates back to that as well. And rank will prove important in the overall performance of the Weyr in its duties." He pauses here, eyes closing as thoughts are sorted out. "It... will be your place, to uphold this structure, I believe. Perhaps worth paying better care." The last is said as a definite suggestion rather than an outright order, despite the prescriptive nature of everything leading up to it.
"They don't concentrate. They get distracted and find any shiny things, any shiny thing. And so we started to look too because otherwise no one wins and what's the point in a game without a winner?" Miniyal is serious sound in this, casting her eyes down into the water and feeling out a few inches with her toes. "Also, it was an excuse to play in the water too. Why should they get to have all the fun, sir?" Shaking her head she bites back any sort of smile when she says that. Clearing her throat she pulls her foot back and then looks back at him. "I can't help it, sir. I was raised to respect the person and not the position. There's cases I've made exceptions. But they're exceptions it's my right to make. Being ordered to treat everyone like they're equal in terms of rank and respect feels wrong to me. People like the weyrleader, you have to respect the position. . .well, certainly little to respect in the man." Pausing she ducks her head, clearing her throat. "Sorry, sir. Old habit. Me and him never did get along. But you're being reasonable so I'll try harder with you."
"Still. If the game was already established, then it would be unfair to add a new player." Chin tilts up here, and he gives Arekoth a pointed the glare. The brown once again lifts his head and looks right on back. "There would be an unfair advantage." Stubborn as ever, H'kon sets to running his tongue over his front teeth. The hands behind his back unclasp, and then re-clasp. "I have no personal interest in whether you salute me as is appropriate or not," he notes at the end of her little discourse. "I mean only that as a future leader in this Weyr, perhaps it is best to encourage a respect for the authority of the Weyr." And now the man's stance shifts, toes wiggle, and he sets to watching the young gold's progress in the water. Arekoth has gone back to looking, if as subtly as he can manage. "Perhaps it is something you should discuss with your Weyrlingmaster. He will tell you better. He will know better."
Out in the water, the dragons continue their search as the riders stick to the edges of the lake. Miniyal is the only one who thought searching for broken glass in the water without shoes on was a good idea. Still, she hasn't cut herself yet. "Well, life is about unfair advantages, sir. And overcoming them is a lesson people have to learn as well I believe. I mean, not everyone has the same chances. Besides, it'll serve me right if he decides to help the other team, right? Although, how he would resist Peloth I've no idea at all." Grinning out at the gold in the water she sidesteps and feels along the lake bottom with one foot again. "I'm sure he'll have plenty of answers, but that doesn't mean they're the right ones, sir. Not everyone always has the answers after all. Not even our fearless and mighty weyrlingmaster. If you ask me-" Words to be feared and no one does ever ask her, but she likes to give her opinion anyway. "Well, I want people to think for themselves, sir. I can't make them respect me as something more than just the person attached to a big shiny dragon then I don't deserve their respect is all. I'll earn it on my own merits or not at all."
"Perhaps not." A step, to keep within talking distance of the young gold's rider as she moves about. "You will understand if I choose not to add to what unfair advantage there may be, then." Nevermind that in the water Arekoth has spotted something shiny, wings giving a bit of a rustle and upward perk, and a curious noise emitted. "And he needs no encouragement," is added, for the mention fo Peloth's... charms. "And perhaps there is some unseen merit that has found you attached to your 'big shiny dragon.' And a duty that goes along with it."
Peloth has, since her rider has been conversing, paying less attention to the game. She is required to keep an eye on the goings on of the people. Goings on with people, she has learned, often leads to having to soothe her rider. So she watches from her spot, but when Arekoth rustles her head swivels over towards him and she abandons her people watching to move closer. Lalala. Just going to pay respects to the bigger dragon. Near the shore, Miniyal tries hard not to laugh at what she sees. Besides, she has to focus on the conversation, treading more carefully with it than she does with her feet. "Sir, I've no desire to not attend to whatever duties my position will give me. But, unseen merit? Ask most people around the weyr, sir and they'll tell you if it exists in me it's hidden so deep they're amazed even she saw it out there. I am what people see for the most part. My motives for being so are my own, but I'll not deny who I am. It's who I am that got me here, sir. I believe in what I know of myself. Anything else can come or not. That's fine. I'm not saying I want people to think they can. . .can not acknowledge what I am. But if they just change their behavior entirely because of what happened then it means nothing. And none it matters for some time anyway. Until I graduate, sir, I'm just another weyrling."
Well, Arekoth certainly has found someting shiny, and has arranged to have one of his talons pointing to it beneath the water. But this is quite forgotten as the little gold makes her way over, the brown's head swivelling 'round to watch her approach, and an extended rumble given. He adjusts his position slightly, pulling his head back, shifting his legs (but for the pointing foot) in the water, and generally making himself look pretty. Shameless. "There must be some reason she will have chosen you," H'kon insists, taking another step, and peering down to feet in the water, with the slightest frown. "And opinion in the caverns changes too often to be of any use. You will forgive me for not asking." Final comment on rank draws a blank look from the brownrider, and a quick nod. He knew that.
If he's going to look pretty for her, she will return the favor. Although she cannot quite manage it. Peloth croons and puffs out her chest, wings spreading just a fraction. She looks like what she is, a kid pretending to be an adult. But she does it so seriously, here, take me seriously, dammit. Her head bends forward to peer into the water. She's looking for something, of course, but what exactly may have slipped her mind. One of Miniyal's bare feet slides across the ground again and she takes a step backwards to follow it. "Why did he chose you?" A simple question, asked as her head tilts to the side and she focuses fully on the brownrider.
H'kon stiffens at that question, hands unclasping behind him, so that arms mights wing forward and cross over his chest. Jaw has set a little, so his response of, "I do not know," comes out slightly mumbled. ""And I do not think he remembers." In this, he hasn't turned back to Miniyal. Nope. H'kon is watching the exchange between the brown and that little gold out there. Arekoth offers a croon, perhaps to humour that little one, but maintains his flattering pose as best he can, all the while looking back to the water near his foot.
Miniyal's lips curve up into a too brief smile and she gives her head a little shake. "Have you asked him? He might. But, you see, sir? It's not that simple. They choose us. I don't think the whys matter. I don't think there's some secret thing inside us that makes us better or worse than anyone else. I just think it's a matter of spirit. Of finding what you need. We do it with people all the time. Find people we need to make us feel complete. Children look to their parents for that. Why wouldn't a dragon look to someone that they feel in that instant will see to them in return for being seen to. When you do ask them, at least when I've asked Peloth, the answer is never very satisfying. But I think she just likes to be infuriating." Another step sidewise, water sloshing up enough to dampen her pants even with them rolled up. In the water Peloth stretches out her wings, beating them once against the water to create a splash. Then she ducks her head down towards the water, muzzle dipping under for a moment before lifting it to splash again and croon loudly. A signal to the others. Unless he moves out of her way, Arekoth is rewarded with a bump of her head against his shoulder. "She's determined that's how one gets attention and gives thanks. Bumping them. She nearly knocks me down if I'm not ready." Pointed out as Miniyal's attention is drawn out to the water.
Arekoth not only receives that bump to the shoulder, but, amused, moves to return it in kind - if gently. Little dragon. "There /is/ more to it," H'kon insists. "There is a sense of it, otherwise, there would be no differentiation in training or in organisation." A sense of finality to accompany that last. "I do not mean that personality is ignored, but there /is/ more." More direct attention is given to the dragons now. "Faranth, he has surely not found it..."
"I'm afraid there's only one way to find out." Miniyal begins to wade out farther into the water, waving towards one of the other weyrlings playing the game. Although, like her, they've been leaving all the work to the dragons for some time now. "Plenty of shiny things to find I imagine. You coming, sir?" Called over her shoulder as the water gets deeper and she continues to head out towards where the brown and the gold stand. When Peloth is bumped she croons in approval. Here is someone who gets it, see? Others should learn from his example. Peering into the water again she ducks her head under it all the way and lifts it back up. If she's sure or not she doesn't seem to care anymore. When Miniyal reaches close enough once more gold wings splash gently atop the water, causing the weyrling to splutter and roll her eyes. "Brat. Well, let me see." For now, she lets the conversation with H'kon drop. There's a game to win. Or not.
H'kon makes the appropriate preparation, rolling up pantlegs and whatnot, taking off footwear that is wet anyway, and in time trudging after the young goldrider. Best not to question and just to follow along. The brownrider fixes his lifemate with an appropriate glare, as Arekoth spreads his wings in a cocky display. The brownrider isn't there in time to be splashed by the little gold. And it's a skeptical look that is sent over Miniyal's shoulder, with a dark little, "Well?"
Miniyal reaches the spot and gets even more wet reaching down to feel out where the shiny that may be the right one is located. Feeling around she jerks her hand up and quickly puts a finger in her mouth. "Dammit," is mumbled around her finger and Peloth shuffles closer, body forcing the water to surge and splash and leave her and her rider wet head to toe. "I think I found it." More mumbling before she pulls her hand away from her mouth to watch the blood well up on one finger. With a sigh she reaches back down more carefully and comes up with a piece of glass. "We had help. We'll call it a draw. After all, my team should get points for being smart enough to encourage a little extra help." Morals, ethics, fair behavior. Heard of them, sometimes don't want them used. "Besides, I suffered for it." Sucking on her finger again she starts to make her way back to shore, leaving Peloth to warble thanks to the brown for his help. Just one because she has to follow her rider back to shore since she is hurt.
For all the rolling of his pantlegs, the brownrider finds them well wet. A little scowl for Miniyal's declaration about the apparent end of the game, which quickly turns into a glare to Arekoth. The big brown, not without offering a face-saving parting croon to Peloth, is effectively sent off to trudge deeper into the lake. "Perhaps you should go get that bandaged," H'kon suggests, setting after Miniyal and the gold toward the shore, eyes having fallen to that finger being sucked, "if the cut is deep enough to bleed in that way."
"Just a cut. Get them all the time." Miniyal shrugs her shoulders and one hand digs into her pocket. She comes up with a handkerchief, soaked through from her lake trudge. Still, she wraps it around the finger without a thought. Lake water, the best thing for open cuts. "Gonna be fine. Wait for the bleeding to stop and then worry about a bandage. No sense going inside when I can sit out here in the sun and dry off some first." Suiting action to words she emerges from the lake and flops down onto the ground by her boots. Peloth settles down beside her, eyelids drooping, but not closing. "What more do you think it is, sir? Because, well, honestly, as I see it organization and training have to do with dragon color because different dragons can do different things. Need a dragon who can last a fall entirely so you let a bronze or a brown be wingleader. But, no reason a green or blue could not be wingsecond. Not if they had another to trade off with. Not if they were trained that way. Training of riders differs based on dragon physiology in a lot of ways. They're just not all able to do the same things. Doesn't make em any better or worse, sir, than any others." She hasn't forgotten the conversation from before.
"Bandaging will help stop the bleeding." But H'kon will leave that as his final argument, moving to stand off to the side of Miniyal, not so far as to make it difficult to hear his comments, but by no means close to the woman. "That is true enough. The physicalities. But beyond that, dragons have a sense for candidates that posess leadership qualities, to match their own places." This is said with a perfect confidence, bordering on blind faith, surely. "It is not better or worse, but it is a different place, and so the requirements are different."
"So, then, it makes perfect sense for Dara to have impressed blue?" Miniyal asks the question as the non-bleeding hand reaches out to rub the top of the head beside her. "After all, from what I have read blues and greens function basically the same way, do they not? So, really, she'll likely be the first of many and it's an abnormality that there have not been women on blues in the past."
"That has nothing to do with leadership," H'kon points out rather flatly. "And I did not say that there are no mistakes made in impression. There have been bronzeriders impressed who perhaps should not have been. The rule is general." A pained look out to Arekoth, who has set to swimming now. And is taking his good, sweet time, playing in the water. H'kon reaches one hand to smooth over the back of his neck.
Blinking several times, Miniyal folds her hands in her lap and looks up, expression neutral. Peloth shows more interest, head to one side as she observes the brownrider, a glance cast out into the water towards where his dragon swims. "Physiology has nothing to do with leadership? Then there's no reason a blue or green cannot lead a wing?" Not exactly what he said. Maybe she's trying to goad him. There's a distinct lack of the word 'sir' all at once, that's for sure. "The exceptions make the rule I was always told. So, Pahanath made a mistake. Will you refuse to fly with the mistake should she be placed in your wing? And, you have helped me with my point. Just because one impresses bronze. . .or gold, does not make one a leader. Therefore, my theory on impression gains merit."
"No. Impression. Blues and greens are not concerned in the same way." A flicker of frustration over the brownrider's face, complete with a pointed, "Do not... twist things." And H'kon has set to pacing along the shore now, watching his brown in the water exclusively, occasionally having to adjust the length of his stride to avoid stepping on something that would prove unfortunate to his bare foot. "Pahanath did make a mistake, yes. An appropriate place will surely be found for them by the leaders of the Weyr, and if it is in my wing, then no, I would not refuse to fly with them." Pause. "And impressing gold does make one a leader. And the bronzes and golds do tend to choose those with suitable qualities." Discomfort increases as he talks, and so does the speed of the pacing.
In a rare moment of grace, perhaps making up for slicing her finger open, Miniyal rises smoothly to her feet so she doesn't have to crane her neck so as she talks. "It is unfair, and cruel, to call it a mistake. Not just to him, but to her. Dara has problems enough of her own without someone thinking her a mistake." Pause. "Sir." Her handkerchief wrapped hand slips in her pocket and the other remains out to pet. It beats being head butted to the ground. "Do you think she'll be the only one ever then? She will go down in history as the one and only woman to ever ride blue. Or, if it happens again is it a mistake as well? Shall we mark any change as a mistake? Anything that forces us to look at what we know and consider that perhaps we know less than we would like to believe?"
The watching of Arekoth turns into a more desperate look, an emotion the brown does indeed pick up on. And he sets to moving back toward the lakeshore. "No," H'kon then corrects Miniyal, turning to view her, pausing in his pacing. "It is not cruel, it is a statement of truth. They are an irregularity, and will have to be dealt with as such, specifically. It is dishonest to say otherwise." And now he moves to fetch that discarded footwear. "Something happening once is no evidence that it will happen again," he notes, a wet sock being awkwardly wrestled onto his foot.
"Nor is it evidence that it will not, sir." Miniyal speaks softly, gently as she remains standing barefoot near where Peloth rests. It almost seems like she has nothing else to say, she allows him to move, to begin to re-dress his feet in anticipation of leaving. It is not, then, until Arekoth has found the shore again that she will speak. Still quietly, words intended for no one else lingering around the lake. "Perhaps, sir, you might consider what you have said. Because Peloth chose me I am intended to lead. Leaders must view things differently and see all the possibilities. Consider all the truths and decide which feels right so they can better lead those who must look to them for guidance. Dara on Pahanath feels right to me. Peloth does not see it as a problem. I believe it is part of my duty as a future leader of the weyr to assist everyone in finding where they belong. To be sure everyone finds their own truth. In yours it may never be that a woman should be on blue. I accept that. But, I'm afraid in the grand scheme of things it is a truth because she has. I also feel, as someone expected to lead, it's my job to help people see all the possibilities. Should you ever wish to discuss them feel free to come find me in my drudgery. I'd best be getting back to it now, sir." Dripping wet, feet bare, hand bloodied, she still comes to attention and gives him the sort of salute usually reserved for the weyrlingmaster, precise and perfect, held until he returns it and frees her to gather her shoes and go.
H'kon listens, attentive, as he prepares himself. Arekoth gives a shimmy of the wings once he comes up onto the shore, to clear bits of water from them. A warble is shot out for the weyrling dragons still present, along with a specific glance to Peloth. And then H'kon is standing. Though there's no real words given back to Miniyal's explanation, the brownrider's expression does seem a bit more relaxed as he gives her a nod. The salute warrants a twinge of a smile, and H'kon straightens and returns it with the same precision. "Clear skies for yourself and Peloth." He doesn't turn to Arekoth, however, until Miniyal has set after her shoes. And then the dampness of the dragon is ignored, in favour of a speedy exit.
Where: Southern bowl by the lake
When: 15:05 on day 6, month 6, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
What: Miniyal and a few weyrlings are playing in the water. H'kon turns up to enjoy the summer weather as well and engages in conversation. Real conversation. From the both of them. I know, shocking! I'm pretty proud of Min in this scene. :) Seriously, she can act like a reasonable adult, see? See!
3/17/2007
At High Reaches Weyr, it is 15:05 on day 6, month 6, turn 3 of the 7th Pass.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's brought plenty of people outside to enjoy the beginning of summer. Including a small group of weyrlings who have gathered by the lake. One of those is Miniyal, boots off to the side with socks stuffed in them. Pants legs rolled up she wades along the edge of the lake watching as somewhat farther out Peloth explores the water with a couple of her clutchsibs. Surely there is something they should be doing. There's /always/ something they should be doing, but for now the little group of four enjoy the sun and the lake. Wading off in assorted directions they don't seem to be engaged in constant conversation with one another, but every now and again something will be called out to someone else. Even Miniyal seems to be taking part in the occasional conversations because she raises her voice enough to carry to one of the boys farther away, "Find it yet? I told you it's not over there, you know. We're going to lose."
That same beautiful day has drawn Arekoth and H'kon out into the open, the fiery brown dropping down from above, presumably from one of the spires. The brown lands neatly near the edge of the water, his rider quick to jump from his neck, landing hard on the ground, before the dragon heads toward the lake. And the baby-dragons. Aww. Arekoth's greeting to those littler ones comes in the form of a happy enough rumble. H'kon's approach is a more reluctant shuffling, a scan of the faces having easily enough found the new young goldrider, and some skewed sense of duty prompting him toward Miniyal. His own greeting is a grunt of sorts. No comment or question after the conversation. Just a forced, "Peloth is well?"
Baby dragons greet their larger counterpart. Peloth's head swivels away from whatever had caught her attention to look at Arekoth and join the others in a warble of greeting. Her head then turns towards the shore and where the dragon's rider seems to have approached her own. Said rider looks up from the water at the words and her at the weyrling closest come to attention. Now, granted, Miniyal's salute is not much, it's much too playful, but it's not quite bad enough usually to earn much more than mumbles and shakes of the head. Still, she does it and then bobs her head once. "Yes, sir. Thank you for asking. I hope you and Arekoth are doing well, sir?" Eyes casting down a moment she scans the water and lets out a sigh. "If you see something small and shiny in the water do please point it out? I don't believe the rules said we could not take helpful advice from someone not playing."
H'kon arches a skeptical eyebrow at the goldrider, returning the salute with a specific crispness; the sort one would expect more from a keener bronze weyrling than the brownrider. Nothing is said to that. Yet. "We are," is affirmed quickly. H'kon's attention shifts over toward his brown at the first mention of the shiny object - and then back to Miniyal once the word 'rules' is said. "This is a game?" Hands are linked behind his back, and the brownrider, for all intents and purposes, looks to be standing at a military ease, now surveying the dragons in the lake. Curious?
Miniyal gestures to the other three weyrlings wading around in the water. "Yes, sir. Were out here, see? And figured there was no point not doing something not that time to do nothing isn't appreciated by some, but I find it bores me." Gesturing with one hand she grins. "So, see? We decided to play a game and managed to convince one of the kids to give us his little bit of glass he'd found . . .and, really, he was going to cut himself so we did him a favor. Then we got one of the residents passing by to toss it in the lake. I think Peloth cheated and watched, but I told her not to tell me." Shaking her head she glances out at where the gold wades. "She's a right brat, sir. Anyway, so we split into teams and are trying to find it. Not much to gain from it, but it's better than just sitting here, sir."
"Better to make good use of the time," H'kon observes, stubbled chin tilted downward in the first part of a nod. The head doesn't move back up, however. Arekoth, out in the water, is quick to turn his attention toward the floor of the lake, head swinging back and forth, an obvious searching motion. H'kon grimaces. "I am not certain it would be right for us to assist you." Eyes are narrowed after his lifemate, whose actions are subdued, but certainly don't stop. The rider spares a sideways glance to Miniyal. "You are very specific in using the word 'sir'," he ventures.
Miniyal's head tips to one side and she smiles briefly. "Suppose, sir, it's because if I don't you can go tell D'ven I'm not being respectful were you of a mind and I imagine I'll be hearing enough about what I've done without adding that crime to the list." Unconcerned about it all, she shrugs and then glances out to the water. "Seems fair actually, sir. Can't look myself. If he's helping there's still four searching, right? And unless she decides to be a bigger brat and tell him where to look there's no way we can be said we're cheating. I /told/ her not to look." Letting out a sigh she stuffs her hands into her pockets. "Anyway, am I not using it right? Got to be honest, sir, I dislike being told whom to address how. You ask me, a form of respectful address you toss off at everyone loses that respect. Means nothing at all and is just a syllable we use at the end or beginning of our sentences. But, not my place to determine that I suppose."
H'kon turns away from the goldrider, and back out to the searching dragons. Arekoth has taken a step forward in the lake, creating a few lovely little ripples against those caused by other external sources on the water, as he goes to survey a new patch. After pausing to shoot a pointed look to H'kon and the weyrling. "It seems an exercise in concentration. Better to have that skill developed in the younger dragons. Arekoth has long since become practiced in it." The lightest shake of his head, though still he doesn't look back to her. "You are not misusing it, no. It just seemed strange that you would use 'sir' while mocking the salute." His chest puffs out a little; brave. "It is not personal respect. It can be, yes, but it refers to rank. The salute relates back to that as well. And rank will prove important in the overall performance of the Weyr in its duties." He pauses here, eyes closing as thoughts are sorted out. "It... will be your place, to uphold this structure, I believe. Perhaps worth paying better care." The last is said as a definite suggestion rather than an outright order, despite the prescriptive nature of everything leading up to it.
"They don't concentrate. They get distracted and find any shiny things, any shiny thing. And so we started to look too because otherwise no one wins and what's the point in a game without a winner?" Miniyal is serious sound in this, casting her eyes down into the water and feeling out a few inches with her toes. "Also, it was an excuse to play in the water too. Why should they get to have all the fun, sir?" Shaking her head she bites back any sort of smile when she says that. Clearing her throat she pulls her foot back and then looks back at him. "I can't help it, sir. I was raised to respect the person and not the position. There's cases I've made exceptions. But they're exceptions it's my right to make. Being ordered to treat everyone like they're equal in terms of rank and respect feels wrong to me. People like the weyrleader, you have to respect the position. . .well, certainly little to respect in the man." Pausing she ducks her head, clearing her throat. "Sorry, sir. Old habit. Me and him never did get along. But you're being reasonable so I'll try harder with you."
"Still. If the game was already established, then it would be unfair to add a new player." Chin tilts up here, and he gives Arekoth a pointed the glare. The brown once again lifts his head and looks right on back. "There would be an unfair advantage." Stubborn as ever, H'kon sets to running his tongue over his front teeth. The hands behind his back unclasp, and then re-clasp. "I have no personal interest in whether you salute me as is appropriate or not," he notes at the end of her little discourse. "I mean only that as a future leader in this Weyr, perhaps it is best to encourage a respect for the authority of the Weyr." And now the man's stance shifts, toes wiggle, and he sets to watching the young gold's progress in the water. Arekoth has gone back to looking, if as subtly as he can manage. "Perhaps it is something you should discuss with your Weyrlingmaster. He will tell you better. He will know better."
Out in the water, the dragons continue their search as the riders stick to the edges of the lake. Miniyal is the only one who thought searching for broken glass in the water without shoes on was a good idea. Still, she hasn't cut herself yet. "Well, life is about unfair advantages, sir. And overcoming them is a lesson people have to learn as well I believe. I mean, not everyone has the same chances. Besides, it'll serve me right if he decides to help the other team, right? Although, how he would resist Peloth I've no idea at all." Grinning out at the gold in the water she sidesteps and feels along the lake bottom with one foot again. "I'm sure he'll have plenty of answers, but that doesn't mean they're the right ones, sir. Not everyone always has the answers after all. Not even our fearless and mighty weyrlingmaster. If you ask me-" Words to be feared and no one does ever ask her, but she likes to give her opinion anyway. "Well, I want people to think for themselves, sir. I can't make them respect me as something more than just the person attached to a big shiny dragon then I don't deserve their respect is all. I'll earn it on my own merits or not at all."
"Perhaps not." A step, to keep within talking distance of the young gold's rider as she moves about. "You will understand if I choose not to add to what unfair advantage there may be, then." Nevermind that in the water Arekoth has spotted something shiny, wings giving a bit of a rustle and upward perk, and a curious noise emitted. "And he needs no encouragement," is added, for the mention fo Peloth's... charms. "And perhaps there is some unseen merit that has found you attached to your 'big shiny dragon.' And a duty that goes along with it."
Peloth has, since her rider has been conversing, paying less attention to the game. She is required to keep an eye on the goings on of the people. Goings on with people, she has learned, often leads to having to soothe her rider. So she watches from her spot, but when Arekoth rustles her head swivels over towards him and she abandons her people watching to move closer. Lalala. Just going to pay respects to the bigger dragon. Near the shore, Miniyal tries hard not to laugh at what she sees. Besides, she has to focus on the conversation, treading more carefully with it than she does with her feet. "Sir, I've no desire to not attend to whatever duties my position will give me. But, unseen merit? Ask most people around the weyr, sir and they'll tell you if it exists in me it's hidden so deep they're amazed even she saw it out there. I am what people see for the most part. My motives for being so are my own, but I'll not deny who I am. It's who I am that got me here, sir. I believe in what I know of myself. Anything else can come or not. That's fine. I'm not saying I want people to think they can. . .can not acknowledge what I am. But if they just change their behavior entirely because of what happened then it means nothing. And none it matters for some time anyway. Until I graduate, sir, I'm just another weyrling."
Well, Arekoth certainly has found someting shiny, and has arranged to have one of his talons pointing to it beneath the water. But this is quite forgotten as the little gold makes her way over, the brown's head swivelling 'round to watch her approach, and an extended rumble given. He adjusts his position slightly, pulling his head back, shifting his legs (but for the pointing foot) in the water, and generally making himself look pretty. Shameless. "There must be some reason she will have chosen you," H'kon insists, taking another step, and peering down to feet in the water, with the slightest frown. "And opinion in the caverns changes too often to be of any use. You will forgive me for not asking." Final comment on rank draws a blank look from the brownrider, and a quick nod. He knew that.
If he's going to look pretty for her, she will return the favor. Although she cannot quite manage it. Peloth croons and puffs out her chest, wings spreading just a fraction. She looks like what she is, a kid pretending to be an adult. But she does it so seriously, here, take me seriously, dammit. Her head bends forward to peer into the water. She's looking for something, of course, but what exactly may have slipped her mind. One of Miniyal's bare feet slides across the ground again and she takes a step backwards to follow it. "Why did he chose you?" A simple question, asked as her head tilts to the side and she focuses fully on the brownrider.
H'kon stiffens at that question, hands unclasping behind him, so that arms mights wing forward and cross over his chest. Jaw has set a little, so his response of, "I do not know," comes out slightly mumbled. ""And I do not think he remembers." In this, he hasn't turned back to Miniyal. Nope. H'kon is watching the exchange between the brown and that little gold out there. Arekoth offers a croon, perhaps to humour that little one, but maintains his flattering pose as best he can, all the while looking back to the water near his foot.
Miniyal's lips curve up into a too brief smile and she gives her head a little shake. "Have you asked him? He might. But, you see, sir? It's not that simple. They choose us. I don't think the whys matter. I don't think there's some secret thing inside us that makes us better or worse than anyone else. I just think it's a matter of spirit. Of finding what you need. We do it with people all the time. Find people we need to make us feel complete. Children look to their parents for that. Why wouldn't a dragon look to someone that they feel in that instant will see to them in return for being seen to. When you do ask them, at least when I've asked Peloth, the answer is never very satisfying. But I think she just likes to be infuriating." Another step sidewise, water sloshing up enough to dampen her pants even with them rolled up. In the water Peloth stretches out her wings, beating them once against the water to create a splash. Then she ducks her head down towards the water, muzzle dipping under for a moment before lifting it to splash again and croon loudly. A signal to the others. Unless he moves out of her way, Arekoth is rewarded with a bump of her head against his shoulder. "She's determined that's how one gets attention and gives thanks. Bumping them. She nearly knocks me down if I'm not ready." Pointed out as Miniyal's attention is drawn out to the water.
Arekoth not only receives that bump to the shoulder, but, amused, moves to return it in kind - if gently. Little dragon. "There /is/ more to it," H'kon insists. "There is a sense of it, otherwise, there would be no differentiation in training or in organisation." A sense of finality to accompany that last. "I do not mean that personality is ignored, but there /is/ more." More direct attention is given to the dragons now. "Faranth, he has surely not found it..."
"I'm afraid there's only one way to find out." Miniyal begins to wade out farther into the water, waving towards one of the other weyrlings playing the game. Although, like her, they've been leaving all the work to the dragons for some time now. "Plenty of shiny things to find I imagine. You coming, sir?" Called over her shoulder as the water gets deeper and she continues to head out towards where the brown and the gold stand. When Peloth is bumped she croons in approval. Here is someone who gets it, see? Others should learn from his example. Peering into the water again she ducks her head under it all the way and lifts it back up. If she's sure or not she doesn't seem to care anymore. When Miniyal reaches close enough once more gold wings splash gently atop the water, causing the weyrling to splutter and roll her eyes. "Brat. Well, let me see." For now, she lets the conversation with H'kon drop. There's a game to win. Or not.
H'kon makes the appropriate preparation, rolling up pantlegs and whatnot, taking off footwear that is wet anyway, and in time trudging after the young goldrider. Best not to question and just to follow along. The brownrider fixes his lifemate with an appropriate glare, as Arekoth spreads his wings in a cocky display. The brownrider isn't there in time to be splashed by the little gold. And it's a skeptical look that is sent over Miniyal's shoulder, with a dark little, "Well?"
Miniyal reaches the spot and gets even more wet reaching down to feel out where the shiny that may be the right one is located. Feeling around she jerks her hand up and quickly puts a finger in her mouth. "Dammit," is mumbled around her finger and Peloth shuffles closer, body forcing the water to surge and splash and leave her and her rider wet head to toe. "I think I found it." More mumbling before she pulls her hand away from her mouth to watch the blood well up on one finger. With a sigh she reaches back down more carefully and comes up with a piece of glass. "We had help. We'll call it a draw. After all, my team should get points for being smart enough to encourage a little extra help." Morals, ethics, fair behavior. Heard of them, sometimes don't want them used. "Besides, I suffered for it." Sucking on her finger again she starts to make her way back to shore, leaving Peloth to warble thanks to the brown for his help. Just one because she has to follow her rider back to shore since she is hurt.
For all the rolling of his pantlegs, the brownrider finds them well wet. A little scowl for Miniyal's declaration about the apparent end of the game, which quickly turns into a glare to Arekoth. The big brown, not without offering a face-saving parting croon to Peloth, is effectively sent off to trudge deeper into the lake. "Perhaps you should go get that bandaged," H'kon suggests, setting after Miniyal and the gold toward the shore, eyes having fallen to that finger being sucked, "if the cut is deep enough to bleed in that way."
"Just a cut. Get them all the time." Miniyal shrugs her shoulders and one hand digs into her pocket. She comes up with a handkerchief, soaked through from her lake trudge. Still, she wraps it around the finger without a thought. Lake water, the best thing for open cuts. "Gonna be fine. Wait for the bleeding to stop and then worry about a bandage. No sense going inside when I can sit out here in the sun and dry off some first." Suiting action to words she emerges from the lake and flops down onto the ground by her boots. Peloth settles down beside her, eyelids drooping, but not closing. "What more do you think it is, sir? Because, well, honestly, as I see it organization and training have to do with dragon color because different dragons can do different things. Need a dragon who can last a fall entirely so you let a bronze or a brown be wingleader. But, no reason a green or blue could not be wingsecond. Not if they had another to trade off with. Not if they were trained that way. Training of riders differs based on dragon physiology in a lot of ways. They're just not all able to do the same things. Doesn't make em any better or worse, sir, than any others." She hasn't forgotten the conversation from before.
"Bandaging will help stop the bleeding." But H'kon will leave that as his final argument, moving to stand off to the side of Miniyal, not so far as to make it difficult to hear his comments, but by no means close to the woman. "That is true enough. The physicalities. But beyond that, dragons have a sense for candidates that posess leadership qualities, to match their own places." This is said with a perfect confidence, bordering on blind faith, surely. "It is not better or worse, but it is a different place, and so the requirements are different."
"So, then, it makes perfect sense for Dara to have impressed blue?" Miniyal asks the question as the non-bleeding hand reaches out to rub the top of the head beside her. "After all, from what I have read blues and greens function basically the same way, do they not? So, really, she'll likely be the first of many and it's an abnormality that there have not been women on blues in the past."
"That has nothing to do with leadership," H'kon points out rather flatly. "And I did not say that there are no mistakes made in impression. There have been bronzeriders impressed who perhaps should not have been. The rule is general." A pained look out to Arekoth, who has set to swimming now. And is taking his good, sweet time, playing in the water. H'kon reaches one hand to smooth over the back of his neck.
Blinking several times, Miniyal folds her hands in her lap and looks up, expression neutral. Peloth shows more interest, head to one side as she observes the brownrider, a glance cast out into the water towards where his dragon swims. "Physiology has nothing to do with leadership? Then there's no reason a blue or green cannot lead a wing?" Not exactly what he said. Maybe she's trying to goad him. There's a distinct lack of the word 'sir' all at once, that's for sure. "The exceptions make the rule I was always told. So, Pahanath made a mistake. Will you refuse to fly with the mistake should she be placed in your wing? And, you have helped me with my point. Just because one impresses bronze. . .or gold, does not make one a leader. Therefore, my theory on impression gains merit."
"No. Impression. Blues and greens are not concerned in the same way." A flicker of frustration over the brownrider's face, complete with a pointed, "Do not... twist things." And H'kon has set to pacing along the shore now, watching his brown in the water exclusively, occasionally having to adjust the length of his stride to avoid stepping on something that would prove unfortunate to his bare foot. "Pahanath did make a mistake, yes. An appropriate place will surely be found for them by the leaders of the Weyr, and if it is in my wing, then no, I would not refuse to fly with them." Pause. "And impressing gold does make one a leader. And the bronzes and golds do tend to choose those with suitable qualities." Discomfort increases as he talks, and so does the speed of the pacing.
In a rare moment of grace, perhaps making up for slicing her finger open, Miniyal rises smoothly to her feet so she doesn't have to crane her neck so as she talks. "It is unfair, and cruel, to call it a mistake. Not just to him, but to her. Dara has problems enough of her own without someone thinking her a mistake." Pause. "Sir." Her handkerchief wrapped hand slips in her pocket and the other remains out to pet. It beats being head butted to the ground. "Do you think she'll be the only one ever then? She will go down in history as the one and only woman to ever ride blue. Or, if it happens again is it a mistake as well? Shall we mark any change as a mistake? Anything that forces us to look at what we know and consider that perhaps we know less than we would like to believe?"
The watching of Arekoth turns into a more desperate look, an emotion the brown does indeed pick up on. And he sets to moving back toward the lakeshore. "No," H'kon then corrects Miniyal, turning to view her, pausing in his pacing. "It is not cruel, it is a statement of truth. They are an irregularity, and will have to be dealt with as such, specifically. It is dishonest to say otherwise." And now he moves to fetch that discarded footwear. "Something happening once is no evidence that it will happen again," he notes, a wet sock being awkwardly wrestled onto his foot.
"Nor is it evidence that it will not, sir." Miniyal speaks softly, gently as she remains standing barefoot near where Peloth rests. It almost seems like she has nothing else to say, she allows him to move, to begin to re-dress his feet in anticipation of leaving. It is not, then, until Arekoth has found the shore again that she will speak. Still quietly, words intended for no one else lingering around the lake. "Perhaps, sir, you might consider what you have said. Because Peloth chose me I am intended to lead. Leaders must view things differently and see all the possibilities. Consider all the truths and decide which feels right so they can better lead those who must look to them for guidance. Dara on Pahanath feels right to me. Peloth does not see it as a problem. I believe it is part of my duty as a future leader of the weyr to assist everyone in finding where they belong. To be sure everyone finds their own truth. In yours it may never be that a woman should be on blue. I accept that. But, I'm afraid in the grand scheme of things it is a truth because she has. I also feel, as someone expected to lead, it's my job to help people see all the possibilities. Should you ever wish to discuss them feel free to come find me in my drudgery. I'd best be getting back to it now, sir." Dripping wet, feet bare, hand bloodied, she still comes to attention and gives him the sort of salute usually reserved for the weyrlingmaster, precise and perfect, held until he returns it and frees her to gather her shoes and go.
H'kon listens, attentive, as he prepares himself. Arekoth gives a shimmy of the wings once he comes up onto the shore, to clear bits of water from them. A warble is shot out for the weyrling dragons still present, along with a specific glance to Peloth. And then H'kon is standing. Though there's no real words given back to Miniyal's explanation, the brownrider's expression does seem a bit more relaxed as he gives her a nod. The salute warrants a twinge of a smile, and H'kon straightens and returns it with the same precision. "Clear skies for yourself and Peloth." He doesn't turn to Arekoth, however, until Miniyal has set after her shoes. And then the dampness of the dragon is ignored, in favour of a speedy exit.