Less Than Successful
Location: North Weyr
Time: Late evening on Day 25, Month 2, Turn 3, right after this scene
Players: Issa, Roa, Oshisyth, Tialith
Scene: Issa tells Roa how the meeting on the island went.
The minutes roll on in the hour set aside for Issa's island visit, but just before the last five anxious minutes come, the little green blinks back into the sky over the spindles, bugling a hurried, high-pitched greeting to the blue dragon on watch before beginning a lazy spiral down into the bowl. We're back, we're back, we're back, Oshisyth flutters into Tialith's mind, grounded by a lurking hint of the bad news they bring. We're coming to talk. And that's exactly what they do, unless they're halted by a word from the queen; Oshisyth maneuvers past her own ledge and cuts across to the wider ones belonging to the leadership.
The golden dragon has become lumpier and, in turn, sleepier as a result, so the excited green only manages cracking one eye open. She yawns, closing it again as she sends out her languid response. So you are. We are here. We wait. Or, more correctly, Roa waits and Tialith sleeps. Inside, the little weyrwoman was not sitting. Judging by the way a slightly fluffy rug is flatted in specific areas, she has been pacing. Her head turns at the sound of another dragon alighting on the ledge and she waits, brows lifted, hands squeezing, for news.
Oshisyth settles down once landed with a few agitated flicks of her wings, the fluttering of her mind finding an echo in her motions. Issa's boots slam down onto the stone as she dismounts, her helmet snapped off her head and stuffed unceremoniously into a side back on the straps rather than being put into it's regular spot. Then she strides into the weyr, a mere second's hesitation for her to locate the hesitation before she joins her on the rug. "They don't like it," she cuts straight to the chase, harsh lines of strain showing on her face when she nears.
Roa lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. It manifests as a small huff. "Why am I not surprised. What didn't they like, then? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Sit, if you want."
"Starving," Issa answers with clear preoccupation, stalking across to the nearby armchair, but pausing in front of it with her arms crossed, ready to strike out and retrieve refreshment herself. "Klah, if you have some left?" A beat and then she answers Roa's heavier question. "They had problems with just about every aspect, really. Or rather, she did." A queer mix of frustration and sympathetic understanding ripple under her words. "She wanted a meeting on an island, I steered her away from that. She wanted only you and Kazimir, no one else. I negotiated for the healers as well, but she wouldn't budge on the others you suggested. The one I suggested." Her jaw clenches down over that final note, her eyes flickering about the room briefly before they return to the goldrider.
At the word 'starving', Roa is already moving. "There's klah," she calls over her shoulder, "but it's a couple hours old. Milk or sweetener or anything?" A mug is pulled out from its resting place and the pitcher by the fire is picked up, the dark liquid within poured into the mug. "Are meatrolls ok? Or redfruit? Otherwise, I'll have to bring something else up." The weyrwoman falls quiet as she listens, shoulders slumping a little. "I...suppose I can understand her reluctance. I..." there is another look over her shoulder, brows once again lifted in mild surprise. "What did you suggest?"
"Two sweeteners. And anything you have is fine." With that said, Issa falls into the armchair, sprawling for only a second before she rearranges into a more proper slouch, legs crossing, her arms falling along the arms of the chair. "An escort, I called it. A mainland rider to bring her to the meeting. I may have also suggested that he be from Telgar." Darkly cynical, a smile twists across her lips, her eyes staring down at the one boot she can see, a line of wetness still sticking to the bottom where mud has been washed clean.
"Ouch," Roa murmurs, adding the requested sweetener and putting together a plate with three meatrolls and a pair of redfruits. The plate and mug are both carried over and set on the table, before Issa. Then the weyrwoman flops down beside her. "Telgar, so it would look like they're chasing after their own interests. And arriving with an escort would mean the mainland asked them to come, instead of being blindsided again. Smarter for us, surely. But Cassiel wouldn't allow it?" The goldrider sighs, leaning her head back against the couch. "We need more than my word and Kazimir's. R'vain should be there. And Ysidro or some other Master."
Issa nods as she leans forward to snatch up one of those meatrolls, muttering a soft, "Exactly," as Roa realizes the benefits of her idea. The rest must wait on the first bite she takes, but it follows soon after her swallow. "I told them as much. I reasoned with J'lor. He agreed that he might be able to convince her of Ysidro. But R'vain seemed to be a sticking point. A big one."
"Just one of anything, and we're open to attack. Or, well, I suppose I am." Roa stares down at her hands. "It won't mean anything if it's Roa-that-used-to-live-at-Telgar. It has to be High Reaches Weyrwoman and Weyrleader for it to hold any validity. That's a sticking point for me too." She draws up her knees, hiding the lower half of her face behind them. "I have to go there, don't I," come the very soft and muffled words.
"It might help," Issa concedes, nodding then over another, bigger bite. "I'm not sure if it will make Cassiel trust you more or less to see you, but it couldn't hurt to try." The greenrider sinks back into the hold of the chair, assaulting the cushion behind her with the points of her shoulders as she slouches. "We're going to have to make compromises, Roa. They want four people. We want seven. Unless you can convince /her/," no 'them' now, or 'us,' for that matter, "that each one is an absolute necessity, the plan's going to have to change."
"Yeah," the weyrwoman's voice is still muffled, her mouth still hidden by her knees. "I suppose, if she trusted me less, that would make it worse," she muses with a weak chuckle. "When are you meant to contact them again?"
"Three days," Issa answers around the edge of a bite that's just been taken, the fingers raised to shield her bad manners as the words come. She deals with the nibble she's taken quickly, then adds on, "We're supposed to bring our compromises then." A pause falls, but before the silence can fully settle, she starts again. "We need to decide at what point the whole meeting will become more of a burden than a benefit when it comes to the case against S'lien. If her testimony is simply going to be thrown out of consideration for lack of witnesses, for example, there's little point." She idly waves the bite-marked edge of her meatroll, the gesture turning about on its completion and heading for her mouth again. "Go into it arguing for more than that, but then at least, we have a minimum to fall back on, if she won't budge."
"What's the very least we'll need? Two healers, two harpers, the weyrleadership. Shells. That's still six." Roa closes her eyes slowly. "How stupid would it be to...no. Too stupid, I think. Never mind. How can we lower the number down to five without compromising the whole thing's validity?"
"Too stupid to voice. Location, I was thinking. If we compromised on that. Though I can't really see hauling the Masterharper off to a deserted island n the west." Roa smirks just faintly. Probably. Or so the crinkling of her eyes suggest.
"No," Issa agrees lightly, affirming that it is, in fact, too stupid. "No, it has to be within our established territory. If it's not, it will most definitely look like a collaboration and not a summons. The healers maybe?" she suggests musingly. "One instead of two? Though she seemed to have little problem with the healers. It still might put them at ease that we're at least trying to work with them." The rest of that meatroll is popped into her mouth and she pulls up both the klah mug and the redfruit to fill its absence.
"I suppose, if we have to remove someone, one of the healers is best. It still means, without a second, that the one doing the examination will be subjected to more scrutiny, but..." Roa shrugs, "we already had it pared down to the fewest people that could get the best results. Something will have to get cut. I'll need an image for the meeting place." This last is added on without any sort of break or pause.
Almost immediately, Oshisyth peeks into Tialith's mind again, announcing herself with a hybrid between the sense of a respectful throat-clearing and that of a childish mental poke. A deserted island far from any others slides into view, set among seas that are far from sparkling thanks to the wet season cloud cover. A river cuts it in half, a convenient landmark. And then it zooms with dizzying speed to the field in particular, tall but rain-battered grass and sticky mud predominating, along with the sound of rushing water. "Should I go with you?" Issa asks after sucking down a quick drink, tasting as little as possible of the stale klah as it goes down. It's a simple question, not pressing or hinting, from the established contact, that's all.
From Tialith comes the sleepy and hazy sensation of contentment. Soaring high, plunging quickly, even if only in another dragon's memories, are moments to be savored. The information is passed along before Tialith dozes off again. Roa's eyes glaze for a moment and then she nods. "Thank you. I...yes. I think you'd better. You've been the point of contact for so long." And Roa can conveniently hide behind her if necessary.
Issa's so tall and big and useful for that sort of thing. As long as it's Roa doing the hiding. She gives a nod over another swig of klah before she sets the mug down and twirls the redfruit around slowly in her grip. "So we're deciding that R'vain's absolutely necessary?" she asks blankly before sinking her teeth into the fruit.
"No, I...look." The weyrwoman sighs. "He's the weyrleader and this is happening in Reaches territory. He -should- be there. He's going to be pissed if he can't be and at best I'll be expected to recount the whole damn thing to him. At worst, he'll show up anyway. Cassiel's safer if he's there. It's not something I positively won't budge on, but it isn't one of the first things I want to bring to the table."
"I'm not challenging it," Issa lets her know calmly, staring down at the ragged circle of white that mars the redfruit's surface now. "I'm just trying to get on the same page before we get there and start contradicting each other in front of them. But let R'vain know how delicate the situation is, when you tell him you're going. Keeping him in the know might help some." She pauses to snap off another bite of redfruit and chews it down, her eyes returning to the Weyrwoman. "I want to try for the escort as well, but I won't push it if it looks as if it'll endanger the whole agreement. It'd be safer for them as well as us, but we can work around the problems another way if we have to."
"It would be," Roa agrees, "and there's someone at Telgar I'd trust to do it. It can't hurt to try and explain again why we want it. If she still refuses, then, well, we tried." The weyrwoman curls her arms around her legs and gives them a squeeze. "I'd prefer to see a healer go first. Then the escort. I don't really think we can give up one of the Harpers without having to throw the whole idea out. I'll tell R'vain. He'll listen, I think. He's been doing that."
Issa shakes her head, redfruit abandoned to her lap for the moment. "The Harpers are necessary. We lose Ysidro, we risk losing Kazimir's support altogether. That's something we can't work around. So we have," and she counts their bargaining chips off on the fingers of her free hand, "the second healer, then the escort, then R'vain if we get desperate. Right?"
"Right," Roa agrees with a small nod. "And that would still bring the tally down to four. It might be enough."
"She agreed to four, in the end-- albeit rather testily-- so it should be." Issa's redfruit gets studied for a long moment and then she sinks her teeth into it deeply, a large bite that only gets pushed to the far side of her mouth as she goes about stating (not asking), "You knew her." And then she sets into chewing, blue eyes turned up to study Roa now.
"I guess so," Roa murmurs softly. "But, a long time ago."
"Mmm." Issa's standard vague response, for she's in no mood to push anyone else any further tonight; if that's all Roa will offer, then it's what Issa will have to make do with. "Is that all then?" she asks, jerking up out of her slouch and leaning forward over crossed legs. "It's kind of eat and run, I know," she notes, brandishing the half-eaten redfruit she carries with a tilted smile, "but I think I'd like to get a hot bath. Curl up with Reyce and sleep for a good, long while."
"I think that's all," Roa agrees softly. "Thank you. We'll plan to leave in three days, then. Same time?" There is nothing more about Cassiel offered.
"Same time," Issa agrees, uncrossing her legs and pushing up from the chair altogether, bringing the redfruit with her. After a second of consideration spent on the plate Roa brought her, she reaches down and snatches up another of the fruits and slips it into her coat pocket. "Thanks for the food," she says with a wearily amused smile as she does so. "Night, Roa." No title for the coconspirator just now. With that, Issa strides out to the ledge and climbs into the straps, the impatiently waiting Oshisyth eagerly dropping off the ledge as soon as her rider is settled.
"Good night. Rest well, Issa," calls the little figure curled up on the couch. Roa will wait until Issa and Oshisyth have left the ledge before she tips her head down to fully hide her face in her knees, toes curling against the couch cushions. "...fuck."
Time: Late evening on Day 25, Month 2, Turn 3, right after this scene
Players: Issa, Roa, Oshisyth, Tialith
Scene: Issa tells Roa how the meeting on the island went.
The minutes roll on in the hour set aside for Issa's island visit, but just before the last five anxious minutes come, the little green blinks back into the sky over the spindles, bugling a hurried, high-pitched greeting to the blue dragon on watch before beginning a lazy spiral down into the bowl. We're back, we're back, we're back, Oshisyth flutters into Tialith's mind, grounded by a lurking hint of the bad news they bring. We're coming to talk. And that's exactly what they do, unless they're halted by a word from the queen; Oshisyth maneuvers past her own ledge and cuts across to the wider ones belonging to the leadership.
The golden dragon has become lumpier and, in turn, sleepier as a result, so the excited green only manages cracking one eye open. She yawns, closing it again as she sends out her languid response. So you are. We are here. We wait. Or, more correctly, Roa waits and Tialith sleeps. Inside, the little weyrwoman was not sitting. Judging by the way a slightly fluffy rug is flatted in specific areas, she has been pacing. Her head turns at the sound of another dragon alighting on the ledge and she waits, brows lifted, hands squeezing, for news.
Oshisyth settles down once landed with a few agitated flicks of her wings, the fluttering of her mind finding an echo in her motions. Issa's boots slam down onto the stone as she dismounts, her helmet snapped off her head and stuffed unceremoniously into a side back on the straps rather than being put into it's regular spot. Then she strides into the weyr, a mere second's hesitation for her to locate the hesitation before she joins her on the rug. "They don't like it," she cuts straight to the chase, harsh lines of strain showing on her face when she nears.
Roa lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. It manifests as a small huff. "Why am I not surprised. What didn't they like, then? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Sit, if you want."
"Starving," Issa answers with clear preoccupation, stalking across to the nearby armchair, but pausing in front of it with her arms crossed, ready to strike out and retrieve refreshment herself. "Klah, if you have some left?" A beat and then she answers Roa's heavier question. "They had problems with just about every aspect, really. Or rather, she did." A queer mix of frustration and sympathetic understanding ripple under her words. "She wanted a meeting on an island, I steered her away from that. She wanted only you and Kazimir, no one else. I negotiated for the healers as well, but she wouldn't budge on the others you suggested. The one I suggested." Her jaw clenches down over that final note, her eyes flickering about the room briefly before they return to the goldrider.
At the word 'starving', Roa is already moving. "There's klah," she calls over her shoulder, "but it's a couple hours old. Milk or sweetener or anything?" A mug is pulled out from its resting place and the pitcher by the fire is picked up, the dark liquid within poured into the mug. "Are meatrolls ok? Or redfruit? Otherwise, I'll have to bring something else up." The weyrwoman falls quiet as she listens, shoulders slumping a little. "I...suppose I can understand her reluctance. I..." there is another look over her shoulder, brows once again lifted in mild surprise. "What did you suggest?"
"Two sweeteners. And anything you have is fine." With that said, Issa falls into the armchair, sprawling for only a second before she rearranges into a more proper slouch, legs crossing, her arms falling along the arms of the chair. "An escort, I called it. A mainland rider to bring her to the meeting. I may have also suggested that he be from Telgar." Darkly cynical, a smile twists across her lips, her eyes staring down at the one boot she can see, a line of wetness still sticking to the bottom where mud has been washed clean.
"Ouch," Roa murmurs, adding the requested sweetener and putting together a plate with three meatrolls and a pair of redfruits. The plate and mug are both carried over and set on the table, before Issa. Then the weyrwoman flops down beside her. "Telgar, so it would look like they're chasing after their own interests. And arriving with an escort would mean the mainland asked them to come, instead of being blindsided again. Smarter for us, surely. But Cassiel wouldn't allow it?" The goldrider sighs, leaning her head back against the couch. "We need more than my word and Kazimir's. R'vain should be there. And Ysidro or some other Master."
Issa nods as she leans forward to snatch up one of those meatrolls, muttering a soft, "Exactly," as Roa realizes the benefits of her idea. The rest must wait on the first bite she takes, but it follows soon after her swallow. "I told them as much. I reasoned with J'lor. He agreed that he might be able to convince her of Ysidro. But R'vain seemed to be a sticking point. A big one."
"Just one of anything, and we're open to attack. Or, well, I suppose I am." Roa stares down at her hands. "It won't mean anything if it's Roa-that-used-to-live-at-Telgar. It has to be High Reaches Weyrwoman and Weyrleader for it to hold any validity. That's a sticking point for me too." She draws up her knees, hiding the lower half of her face behind them. "I have to go there, don't I," come the very soft and muffled words.
"It might help," Issa concedes, nodding then over another, bigger bite. "I'm not sure if it will make Cassiel trust you more or less to see you, but it couldn't hurt to try." The greenrider sinks back into the hold of the chair, assaulting the cushion behind her with the points of her shoulders as she slouches. "We're going to have to make compromises, Roa. They want four people. We want seven. Unless you can convince /her/," no 'them' now, or 'us,' for that matter, "that each one is an absolute necessity, the plan's going to have to change."
"Yeah," the weyrwoman's voice is still muffled, her mouth still hidden by her knees. "I suppose, if she trusted me less, that would make it worse," she muses with a weak chuckle. "When are you meant to contact them again?"
"Three days," Issa answers around the edge of a bite that's just been taken, the fingers raised to shield her bad manners as the words come. She deals with the nibble she's taken quickly, then adds on, "We're supposed to bring our compromises then." A pause falls, but before the silence can fully settle, she starts again. "We need to decide at what point the whole meeting will become more of a burden than a benefit when it comes to the case against S'lien. If her testimony is simply going to be thrown out of consideration for lack of witnesses, for example, there's little point." She idly waves the bite-marked edge of her meatroll, the gesture turning about on its completion and heading for her mouth again. "Go into it arguing for more than that, but then at least, we have a minimum to fall back on, if she won't budge."
"What's the very least we'll need? Two healers, two harpers, the weyrleadership. Shells. That's still six." Roa closes her eyes slowly. "How stupid would it be to...no. Too stupid, I think. Never mind. How can we lower the number down to five without compromising the whole thing's validity?"
"Too stupid to voice. Location, I was thinking. If we compromised on that. Though I can't really see hauling the Masterharper off to a deserted island n the west." Roa smirks just faintly. Probably. Or so the crinkling of her eyes suggest.
"No," Issa agrees lightly, affirming that it is, in fact, too stupid. "No, it has to be within our established territory. If it's not, it will most definitely look like a collaboration and not a summons. The healers maybe?" she suggests musingly. "One instead of two? Though she seemed to have little problem with the healers. It still might put them at ease that we're at least trying to work with them." The rest of that meatroll is popped into her mouth and she pulls up both the klah mug and the redfruit to fill its absence.
"I suppose, if we have to remove someone, one of the healers is best. It still means, without a second, that the one doing the examination will be subjected to more scrutiny, but..." Roa shrugs, "we already had it pared down to the fewest people that could get the best results. Something will have to get cut. I'll need an image for the meeting place." This last is added on without any sort of break or pause.
Almost immediately, Oshisyth peeks into Tialith's mind again, announcing herself with a hybrid between the sense of a respectful throat-clearing and that of a childish mental poke. A deserted island far from any others slides into view, set among seas that are far from sparkling thanks to the wet season cloud cover. A river cuts it in half, a convenient landmark. And then it zooms with dizzying speed to the field in particular, tall but rain-battered grass and sticky mud predominating, along with the sound of rushing water. "Should I go with you?" Issa asks after sucking down a quick drink, tasting as little as possible of the stale klah as it goes down. It's a simple question, not pressing or hinting, from the established contact, that's all.
From Tialith comes the sleepy and hazy sensation of contentment. Soaring high, plunging quickly, even if only in another dragon's memories, are moments to be savored. The information is passed along before Tialith dozes off again. Roa's eyes glaze for a moment and then she nods. "Thank you. I...yes. I think you'd better. You've been the point of contact for so long." And Roa can conveniently hide behind her if necessary.
Issa's so tall and big and useful for that sort of thing. As long as it's Roa doing the hiding. She gives a nod over another swig of klah before she sets the mug down and twirls the redfruit around slowly in her grip. "So we're deciding that R'vain's absolutely necessary?" she asks blankly before sinking her teeth into the fruit.
"No, I...look." The weyrwoman sighs. "He's the weyrleader and this is happening in Reaches territory. He -should- be there. He's going to be pissed if he can't be and at best I'll be expected to recount the whole damn thing to him. At worst, he'll show up anyway. Cassiel's safer if he's there. It's not something I positively won't budge on, but it isn't one of the first things I want to bring to the table."
"I'm not challenging it," Issa lets her know calmly, staring down at the ragged circle of white that mars the redfruit's surface now. "I'm just trying to get on the same page before we get there and start contradicting each other in front of them. But let R'vain know how delicate the situation is, when you tell him you're going. Keeping him in the know might help some." She pauses to snap off another bite of redfruit and chews it down, her eyes returning to the Weyrwoman. "I want to try for the escort as well, but I won't push it if it looks as if it'll endanger the whole agreement. It'd be safer for them as well as us, but we can work around the problems another way if we have to."
"It would be," Roa agrees, "and there's someone at Telgar I'd trust to do it. It can't hurt to try and explain again why we want it. If she still refuses, then, well, we tried." The weyrwoman curls her arms around her legs and gives them a squeeze. "I'd prefer to see a healer go first. Then the escort. I don't really think we can give up one of the Harpers without having to throw the whole idea out. I'll tell R'vain. He'll listen, I think. He's been doing that."
Issa shakes her head, redfruit abandoned to her lap for the moment. "The Harpers are necessary. We lose Ysidro, we risk losing Kazimir's support altogether. That's something we can't work around. So we have," and she counts their bargaining chips off on the fingers of her free hand, "the second healer, then the escort, then R'vain if we get desperate. Right?"
"Right," Roa agrees with a small nod. "And that would still bring the tally down to four. It might be enough."
"She agreed to four, in the end-- albeit rather testily-- so it should be." Issa's redfruit gets studied for a long moment and then she sinks her teeth into it deeply, a large bite that only gets pushed to the far side of her mouth as she goes about stating (not asking), "You knew her." And then she sets into chewing, blue eyes turned up to study Roa now.
"I guess so," Roa murmurs softly. "But, a long time ago."
"Mmm." Issa's standard vague response, for she's in no mood to push anyone else any further tonight; if that's all Roa will offer, then it's what Issa will have to make do with. "Is that all then?" she asks, jerking up out of her slouch and leaning forward over crossed legs. "It's kind of eat and run, I know," she notes, brandishing the half-eaten redfruit she carries with a tilted smile, "but I think I'd like to get a hot bath. Curl up with Reyce and sleep for a good, long while."
"I think that's all," Roa agrees softly. "Thank you. We'll plan to leave in three days, then. Same time?" There is nothing more about Cassiel offered.
"Same time," Issa agrees, uncrossing her legs and pushing up from the chair altogether, bringing the redfruit with her. After a second of consideration spent on the plate Roa brought her, she reaches down and snatches up another of the fruits and slips it into her coat pocket. "Thanks for the food," she says with a wearily amused smile as she does so. "Night, Roa." No title for the coconspirator just now. With that, Issa strides out to the ledge and climbs into the straps, the impatiently waiting Oshisyth eagerly dropping off the ledge as soon as her rider is settled.
"Good night. Rest well, Issa," calls the little figure curled up on the couch. Roa will wait until Issa and Oshisyth have left the ledge before she tips her head down to fully hide her face in her knees, toes curling against the couch cushions. "...fuck."