In which Nolee and C'len rest by the pool; of hatchings, fishing, and drills
Nolee, C'len
Pool and garden
The warmth of the summer evening brings firelizards out in droves to the pool area, diving and swarming around the golden dragon who is halfway submerged in the pool. On the shores, Nolee rests with her feet in the water, sandals at her side, a stack of hides and a riding jacket serving as a pillow for when she's leaning back. A periodic sneezing sound can be heard, then some grumbling, particularly when an overzealous firelizard flits water on her. "Stop it, or I'll pour honey on your wings and you'll be stuck solid," she grumbles.
Narrow wings twist and tuck in the warmth of the Istan air, either enjoying it trying to move through it fast enough that it doesn't touch too much and mar the coolness remaining from the trip between. Vildaeth spots a familiar tawny-shaded hide, and rather than stopping at the beach continues on to the gardens. He backwings lightly, allowing his rider to drop to the ground, before he warbles a soft greeting. The tip of his long tail snakes out, touching the water as if to judge its temperature before committing, even as C'len wends his way around the edge of the pool.
Nalaieth espies the cinnamon-wings as they begin their descent, and joyously croons up a greeting to the familiar visitor. The flock of firelizards flit and dance about, some vanishing abruptly between, others clinging tenaciously to her back as she warbles to Vildaeth. On the bank, Nolee sits up abruptly, caught, then relaxes as she identifies the rider nearby. "Well hello!" she calls, waving an arm with a woven flower bracelet slipping along the wrist. "Nalaieth says the water's fine," a pause for a sneeze and a sniffle, voice a little nasal, "Though not cold like the deep ocean."
"You okay?" C'len asks as he nears, after hearing Nolee's sneeze. Vildaeth swirls his tail around the water a little more before relenting and wading in, washing a gentle wave out of the pool as he displaces the water. The dragon whuffs at one of the remaining lizards, but otherwise doesn't pay much attention to them. His rider, having made it to where Nalaieth's rider lounges, stands near, momentarily blocking the setting sun and setting his form in shadow. "He'll survive the horrid heat," C'len says, rolling his eyes with exageration.
In the sky above, Noteniath flies down to the black sand of the beach.
"I am," Nolee reassures. "Just about better by now, even." She looks up at C'len, an appraising but also fond expression on her face. "You look like one of the shadow-puppet characters the nannies do on the wall of the children's cavern," she blithely giggles, pausing to sniffle. Then a glance around: "Is it really that warm? I'm overwarm, but most have been telling me it's that I'm not right in the head. Want to sit? Healers say it isn't conta-- contragrious any more." Nalaieth turns a slow circle in the water, a welcoming gesture that leaves the Reachian bronze with a spate of water of his own, her soft croon imploring mischievously.
Nalaieth> Vildaeth senses that Nalaieth sends forth a gentle spray of amber droplets, to cool and welcome, landing and pooling outward. << Welcome, Vildaeth. We are pleased to see you. >> The soft tinkle of bells, then the low husky tone continues, << My friends agree. They will scrub you if you wish. The water is cool. >>
C'len recommends, "You should have soup. That's what my da always made when I was sick." The shadow-puppet sinks down next to Nolee, "No, it's not too warm. But anything warmer than snowing is 'warm' for him." In the water, the bronze spreads his wings, proffering them for possible scrubbing, while his rider stretches his legs out in front of him. "That's good. I wouldn't want to go back and be all sneezy." He tilts his head slightly, regarding the blonde-haired Istan, "That's something that you don't want to share around." Then grins, to show the tease in his words.
Nolee giggles stuffed-nosily as C'len's shadowy figure nears and sits down. "He really only likes the snow? That would be hard, to keep him cool enough. He should go to the mountains, volunteer for ice deliveries. Then he could keep cooler even visiting warm spots." Another sneeze, Nolee covering it with a kerchief, then smiling impishly C'len's way. "No, even though we've been taught to share, I suppose not. It would keep you from drills though! That could be a plus." Nalaieth's scrubbers take long moments to approach Vildaeth, clearly only doing so because she urges them at it, and one daring one lands in the cusp of a bronze wing, scraping gently with talons. "Soup's warm," Nolee makes a face. "I'd like it if it were cold soup. Maybe they'll make some for me now that the goru pears are in season."
"We already had to do extra drills before," C'len says, a hint of whine in his voice. "I don't want to have to make up even more." Vildaeth largely stays still in the water, soaking up the cool even though it's not icy-cold. His rider suggests, "You could try melon soup, maybe. Though da always said noodle soup helps get rid of a cold. And staying in the sun warms you up, so maybe that helps too?" He seems to be babbling a bit, the advice and musings flowing forth easily. "Anyway, it's good that you're feeling better." He dips his head, as if considering his next words, then ventures slowly, "Fort's eggs hatched, I hear." He pauses, then rushes jumbled words next, "Well actually I saw them."
Nolee leans back again, her kerchief kept nearby. "You did?" She smiles sympathetically. "I had to do heaps of extra drill work too, especially when we were weyrlings and mean old Hi'sai gave us the wingsecond knot, and that other girl was too busy getting her dragon to obey so we had to lead things sometimes...it was awful." A slow sigh for the memory, triggering a shallow cough which passes quickly. She sits up, rests her head on her palm, her weight on her elbow, turning to look at C'len. "I know. I meant to go, but couldn't from the sick. Healers said no between or it'd get worse." A forlorn expression, then a very small, likely forced, smile. "How'd it go? All of them hatch and everything?"
C'len reaches to untie his boots and remove them, followed by his socks, before he dips his toes into the water. "It was quick, or at least seemed like it. They all hatched." A moment's dark clouds his eyes, "There were a lot of injuries, it seemed like. Or maybe they were just all in front of where I was sitting?" He hedges, trying to explain away possible difficulties. "The feast afterwards was at the lake shore. Some trader fair was there, too." Vildaeth submits to the ministrations of the firelizards, floating his wings above the water gently. "I heard from Satiet there were supposed to be traders visiting 'Reaches soon."
Nolee wiggles her toes in the water as she sees C'len remove his shoes, a sort of invite by proxy, lacking language. "There were? Jays, ours didn't hurt that many, did they?" Some pride in her tone, her chin raising and she coyly bats her lashes at C'len, as if the riders had anything to do with the actions of the dragonets. "Well," she adds, her lips downturning, "They were Soldreth's. He's pretty violent himself." Disdain. "Hope they all wrote letters home in case they died, like I asked ours too. Just in case. Oooh, none of them died, did they? That'd be unpleasant indeed." Nalaieth croons to the firelizards, comforting them, and a few others split off from the main bunch to scrape at Vildaeth's back and neck as well. "Traders visiting? We haven't had traders in, oh, turns! That should be nice. Maybe I could come to see them with you? Or," quickly, embarrassed to invite herself so unabashedly, "I can go on my own. Nala will keep me company."
"It all went so fast, I don't remember. At least one got hurt at ours? I remember the healer being there, at least. --None died, at Fort." C'len kicks his feet back and forth in the water, the better to keep the 'lizards from deciding to clean him next. He turns to regard Nolee's filmy outfit, taking in the loose belt, "Maybe they'll have some belts or scarves like the ones you wear?" Spoken like a true weaver's son, that, though he doesn't tackle the subject of the invitation's directness. "I might see if I can get some new socks from them. Socks are too boring for ma to make for me."
Dragon> Nalaieth senses that Vildaeth floats almost noiselessly along the water, enjoying the attention of the cleaning firelizards. He does blow a harmless bubble now and again for amusement, even as his thoughts spread spicy warmth. << The water is nice, for being in the warm place. You have attentive friends. >> He seems pleased with it all 'round.
Nolee nods proudly. "Ours were good dragonets. They made strong pairs." She sounds awfully like Nalaieth, who would brag the same words. "Oh, if you want him scrubbed, they'll do it. There's soapstone in the little pouch." Sure enough, near the water's edge is such a pouch. Then she looks at him again, tries to pose in an aesthetic manner by curling her back a little so her assets are more evident, but she mostly succeeds in looking silly. Her wide brown eyes blink hopefully at him, then she relaxes and just flops back against the hide-headrest, downcast. "They might! I could look for them." She watches the lizards darting to and fro, chittering happily at Nala while the gold stretches out, luxuriating. "I can make socks. Only sometimes they aren't the perfect shape. I'm better at shirts."
"Is that new?" C'len asks, of her outfit, reaching out a hand to catch the end of her belt and tug it lightly, with a grin. Then that grin widens a bit, admitting, "Misshapen is better than having holes in them, at least?" As for Vildaeth, he continues to loll in the water, occasionally dunking his head under so that only his eyes shine in the lower level of light as the sun goes down. "He just had a bath this morning. I think he just likes the attention." The rider idly plays with the end of the belt, still in his hand, then once he realizes what he's doing a brief blush touches his cheeks and he lets the fabric flutter from his hands.
Nolee smiles through her stuffy nose, and her brown eyes soften with a haze of mist around them: he noticed! "It is! A girl in the cavern, she had one. Her mum made it when I asked for one." Watching him fidget with it, she brightly comments, "It catches light and makes prisms. I can just turn it about for hours." C'len's comment about his socks earns a little giggle and a nod. "We don't have cause for heavy socks here like you would in the snowy place. I could try to make some, though you'd best buy some too at the fair just in case they don't turn out." One of the lizards, a candy-flecked blue, picks up the tiny bag of soapsand, spilling a long trail of it as he flies, most of it landing across Nalaieth's neckridges and back but some spilling at Vildaeth. "She does, too. Like the attention." Her matching pink-cheeks hint that Nala's not the only one.
C'len's hands shift to fiddle idly with the end of his boot laces instead. "It's nice," he says, then realizing that he's no longer holding the end of the belt, clarifies, "Your belt, I mean." Not his boot laces. C'len reaches to roll up the bottoms of his pants some, an attempt at cooling off a little more, before he leans back, resting his weight on one of his arms as if trying to look casual. "Do you like to fish?" It seems almost out of thin air, but surely there's some line to his thought.
Nolee gives the bronzerider what could be deemed as a stupid smile, her bovinish eyes wide and attentive as he fidgets and settles back. "Thank you! I got the headband new to match, too, but I didn't make it." The firelizards dart about, scrubbing the soapsand where it has fallen by rubbing it around, rolling it it to ease their own itches as well, and having tossing battles with granules back and forth across the larger dragons. Nalaieth merely closes her eyes, and is tolerant of their ministrations. "Fish?" She blinks, the comment seeming abstract, and a struggle to comprehend for a moment. "Oh, fish. Like swimmy ones. I suppose I do. I don't usually catch much, though. Except seaweed. Which pa liked well enough, to burn it for glass."
The explanation comes, after a little while. "I finished my tasks early the other day, and came over and went fishing on the docks," C'len waves his hand in the general direction. "I didn't catch much, but it was tasty. I was wondering if sometime you might come with me, maybe?" The rider invites. "Sometimes I get tired of the fish at 'Reaches, so it's nice to go elsewhere and see what they have. Maybe we could go fishing at Boll some time, the water's nice there." He pauses, then grins, "And it'd be nice to get some fish during winter. Hard to get any out of our lake then." What with the ice, and all.
Nolee considers this, her head tilted, following the bronzerider's unsteady invite through all its twists and turns. Once he's finished, she blinks once, sneezes into her kerchief, then giggles. "You're funny. But I'd like to go with you," she quickly adds, lest he think otherwise. "Seeing where you grew up would be nice." Twice, she's made that connection, at least vaguely. Beyond, the firelizards seem to be finishing up their bathing ritual, and have settled down on the shore or in some of the orchard trees just beyond. Nolee sighs wanly in the direction of the orchard, the hides under her head at last a reminder of her set task. "I'm s'posed to catalogue all those trees, see if any of them have white spots, or are bearing fruit, or if they match the map." Poor me. She gets to her feet, which are still damp, and gathers up the pile of things. "You could come too, if you want the walk? The orchards are comfortable. Shaded. Or you could enjoy the pool some more. I fall asleep sometimes on the bank like that."
The rider grins, for her acceptance of his invitation; and accepts his, in return. "A walk would be nice," C'len says, shaking his feet to dry them off before pulling his socks back on, followed by the boots. "Vil wants to stay here and soak. It's a wonder their skin doesn't turn all wrinkley, like mine does when I've been in water too long." He pushes up from his seat, wiping his pants, and then offers her his hand. "Maybe there'll be some fruit to sample," he says with a grin, before they're off.