Stories in the dark
It is an autumn afternoon of day 19, month 11, turn 21 of Interval 10.
What day is it? How long has she been here? Time has a way of standing still when there is no light at all. In the dark the faint scrape of a soft sole on stone amongst the endless drips, might barely be heard by anyone above. Someone is moving in the pit below but that is the only sound coming from it. Nissa is pacing, fingertips to the stone to guide her as she walks. Her contact with Liath is silent; one never knows who's listening in this place, after all.
When the guards come they're rarely silent, but announced by voice and footstep long before they arrive at Nissa's pit. Kai's visits are the opposite - announced only by Chielyth and whispers, with smuggled bits of food delivered by gravity, and never lasting long enough. This could almost all be a game, if Chielyth is to be believed, even if the little green is never anywhere to be found save by mental touch. "Nissa," comes Kai's whisper, not long after Liath's told to be ready for a visit. "You there?"
That transferred announcement from Liath is processed just at the moment her name is spoken. Nissa's far circuit of the pit halts and she strides straight across the floor rather than around the side to stand just below where he usually is. So familiar with the pit by now, she almost doesn't need her outstretched hands to keep her from smacking into the wall, knowing the number of steps it take to reach it. Nevertheless, she takes the precaution, hands lightly rest upon the wet stone. Her whispered answer both glad to- well, not see him, but -hear him and chagrined to confirm that, yes, she's still here in this oh-so-lovely place. "Yeah, Kai. I'm here. What's the news?"
B'kaiv says, "Dunno," which even if it isn't welcome, is at least true. "Ain't heard nothing about you or Fort, 'cept whispers. Got you a couple meatrolls and a redfruit." It's almost routine by how, how he stretches his arm as far as it will go to deliver each item, the first one slow until they find each other, and the other two quickly. "I was thinking about bringing you some rocks - they come with lights, when they come for you?"
Vanissa's hard-pressed not to groan at that answer and she bites back her disappointed reply with a small clink of her teeth as she clenches her jaws. "T'rev's not sayin' much 'bout his plans through Mecaith to Liath either ," she mutters. It's easy to tell from the way she says it that this isn't sitting well with her. Rising up on her toes, elbows bracing her on the wall for balance, she reaches in the dark with both hands, fumbling for the gifts he's brought. Strange how a situation like this will make simple meatrolls and a redfruit such, but that is what they have become. These are slipped into her pockets; she'll save them and eat them later when the empty hours eke by. Right now there is conversation and she's not going to squander it by eating at the same time. "Yeah..?" Lights, sure it's dark in here, why wouldn't they? Unspoken but in her tone. "Why do ya ask?"
"Yeah," Kai sighs about Mecaith's silence on plans, unhappy but unsurprised. "That's... He does that." A beat before he adds, reluctantly generous, "Sometimes." Silence reigns again while the food is passed over, and again after, rather than the muffled sounds of Kai retrieving his arm. "Been thinking about how t' get you out. If there's rope, they're gonna know you had help. But if I can smuggle you rocks t' stand on...." He sighs, probably shrugs. "But they'd see th' rocks. Stupid idea."
"He... keeps you in the dark too?" Nissa huffs quietly, completely unaware of any sort of pun there. She growls, "Sure has become closed-mouthed since becoming Weyrleader. You'd think he could clue me in on stuff seein' I'm a part of it now." Grumblegrumble. Somone has spent a little too long in isolation, apparently, these past several days. Her hands return to the wall above her head for balance, she tilts her head back in a useless attempt to see him, her lips flattening in concentration as he answers. "Ain't stupid," she protests after he is finished. Silence and then, "They make me go stand by the far wall when they lower the bucket." A wry chuckle floats up, "Guess they're afraid I'll pull them down in here. Or somethin'." An afterthought, "Ain't covering up their faces, either."
B'kaiv snorts quietly, catching the pun even if she didn't. "S'just th' way he is. Bronzerider. Could try it, I guess." The rocks? "If they only stay t' th' one side... Just keep 'em tucked up real close t' th' wall." Back to the earlier topic, "He probably ain't telling you nothing in case they start asking questions." So cheerful! "Probably better you don't know, so you can't say nothing."
"B'kaiv. It's not-" Another small growl from Nissa before a muttered, "Nevermind." Then more slowly, "They might already know there's no rocks in here?" The wheels are turning, slowly, but they are turning, "What about when you go dropping them in here? Might be noisy? Echoes on rock carry, yeah?" Surely he's not expecting her to reach over her head and heft big rocks to the pit floor? As for questions, "I wouldn't tell them anything!" Wounded pride speaks there rather than experience, "Surely T'rev knows that!" There's a glare in her voice, directed all the way to Fort Weyr to go along with the two emphatic statements.
"/Kai/," he corrects firmly. "Forget that other name 'til you get back. And yeah, that's what I was thinking too. If they're big enough t' stand on, gonna be heavy. You can catch 'em easy enough, but not in th' dark. Could get a little rope maybe, lower 'em down." He pauses at that, wheels undoubtedly turning. "Get some rocks down there, but pull you up on th' rope; they're not gonna think 'rope' if it looks like you got out on your own. --Shells." He sighs then, sounding tired. "If I didn't got t' stay here, you'd be outta there already."
Unseen by him, Nissa winces, "I knew that!" In a small voice, "I got riled. Won't happen again." Rope she considers, nodding in the dark, "Yeah. Yeah, they can think I was too stupid to climb out sooner. They might think that." His words have her hands patting the stone there over her head for emphasis, "I'm alright!" So the words are a little rough and shaky as she adds, "You gotta do what T'rev put ya to. To stop all this. I can wait." She smacks the stone again, "Kai! What if-" There's a lilt to her voice that wasn't there before, "What if they -do- ask me stuff? If T'rev gave me somethin' to tell 'em, he could set a trap. They'd believe me maybe?"
The sound of flesh on stone and Kai's own hands seek it out, fingers patting at hers. "S'a'right, shh. Just... s'a'right. --I dunno, Nissa. Maybe. That could work, shells, I dunno. Ask your brother, yeah?" He wriggles forward, dropping his hands maybe another inch. "I think I found a spot Liath can come for you, maybe, but it's gonna be a sharding tight fit t' land in, an' I dunno as she can take off again. Problem is, it's close t' three miles t' th' road, maybe two t' th' clearing. Ain't gonna be easy getting outta here."
Perhaps he'll forgive her for curling her fingers around his if she can, giving them a little shake to re-direct his attention. "Listen, Kai. This is-" She whooshes out a breath of self-directed exasperation, "I'll ask him 'bout that, yeah. But you're spendin' too much time with gettin' me out. You're here to do other stuff." She repeats, "I can wait." She purses her lips, thinking about the spot he's found. "Can she crawl somewhere once she's landed? Like through the trees and up to a ridge she can drop from?"
B'kaiv snorts again, his fingers curling comfortingly around hers. "Why d'you think it's taking me so sharding long? We already knocked over two traders since I got here." How long /has/ she been here, anyway? Not just a day or two, then. "Nah, th' woods is real thick. S'how come they picked here, I bet. Can't hardly get a wagon though, much less a dragon. Even Liath." He pauses before asking, "How's she doing? She a'right?"
She has no idea! "Two?" Nissa can laugh, but resists the impulse, drawling instead, "You're becomin' a right pirate like in one of T'rev's stories. Next thing, you'll be in there too and we'll read about ya." She pauses and actually giggles, "We might even get M'try to draw ya." The news that Liath can't easily get out, crawl to a ridge and drop has her fingers becoming very still. Her neck is tired, tilted back at that angle and she tips her head to lean her forehead against the wall. Muffled, listless, "She's doing alright. Misses me. Mecaith, Peirith and Elaruth are keepin' her calm. Her clutchmates, too."
B'kaiv says, "Yeah," but doesn't sound terribly amused. Resigned, tired - those are better adjectives for the other greenrider. "Think it's best as nobody knows what I do, stories or not." A few seconds later, and apropos of nothing (or everything), "Chielyth hates it, being away from me. S'how come she's down t' Monaco. Wish we didn't got t' do this. Hate these sharding... shells." He pauses again, gives her fingers a squeeze. "Khameth's good at distracting, if you can get her t' ask him."
Vanissa lifts her head to peer upwards once again, her fingers returning his squeeze, "Hey Kai, I was just joking. You're right, though, an' I won't say nothin'." There's a slow bobbing of her head in understanding, not that he can see it. "I'll bet she hates it. Liath too." Silence after his heartfelt hating of all this in which the plink-plunk of droplets take over and then, "See, now there should be a way for some of us to help too." Wryly, "With trainin'." Like -that- will fly. "Khameth? He might already be doin' some of that with her. I'll ask though."
Plink-plunk, plonk, pli-plonk. Plink-plunk, plonk, pli-plonk. "Ain't trained yet," Kai says, pauses and adds, "Weyrling." There's no salt to add to the wound though, and he continues, "You ever hear what stupid I done when I was a weyrling? Hear about Fort Sea?"
Rueful, "I know." Weyrling or not, Nissa protests, "Hey now, they could find -something- so we're not useless. And with no Thread falling, stuff like this- ahh, Fort Sea? No." Ooh, redirection! Nice move. Amused, "What'd ya do to Fort Sea?" Interested - of course! Hello, sitting in the dark for days. Stories are welcome indeed.
B'kaiv says, "Safer you ain't." He shifts over, trading one set of fingers for the other, pulls the first away and never once suggests she sit down. "Was stupid," he says again. "Sharding... see, back when I was a Candidate, Fort Sea'd been withholding supplies. Selling th' tithe for themselves, yeah? An' R'uen - he were th' Weyrleader then - anyway, got th' problem solved. Only Nolek - Y'nolek - didn't think as they were punished enough. So about th' time we was senior weyrlings, 'bout th' same time as you now, come t' think on it, we, um." Perhaps his face is flaming, up there in the dark. "He talked me int' going with him. T' Fort Sea."
Dryly, "Probably," Nissa, in her current predicament, has to agree with that, now doesn't she? His fingers slip away and she blinks, begins to lower her hand but stops when he's back with the other hand and she curls her fingers around them. "Fort Sea was doin' that, hmm? So- ahh!" Enlightened about something, she bites her tongue and nods understandingly, "Musta been annoying." At the mention of Y'nolek her fingers twitch, but all she says is, "And so ya went..."
B'kaiv probably shrugs - there's a faint shift of fabric against rock, anyway. "Yeah. Supplies was real tight. Anyway, Nolek'd been drinking, an' he said as we should do something t' teach 'em a lesson. Went with him, 'cause shells, weren't gonna let no clutchmate do something stupid, yeah?" In an undertone, "Shoulda known better." Then louder, "So we loaded th' dragons with these bags of shit, flew down an' threw it all over th' hold. Didn't nobody know it was us for... shells. Couple months. Weyrleader had t' go down an' apologize for us, an' that's when I figured out what we /really/ done."
She isn't supposed to make noise? But with that bit of information, Nissa loses it. He's got fair warning of the coming mirth-explosion, though because she tries to stifle it by biting her lips and keeping it in. Likely her can feel her arm shaking and she's already tightened her fingers around his to keep from falling back to her heels. Her other hand joins the effort, clapping over her mouth and nose, smothering a strangled round of laughter. It's just made all the worse by the fact that she isn't supposed to be doing it. When she finally does conquer it, "S-s-s-s-s-sh-i-i-i-t?" That gets her going again and she's snigger-snorting behind her hand again. Finally, wiping her eyes with her other hand, "Besides makin' their flowers grow, what'd you really do?" Is there more?
His fingers tighten, trying unsuccessfully to keep her there, keep her still, keep those giggles from escaping, and when he fails his arm jerks up and away so fast it could have been on a bungee. "Sharding well /think/ about it," he hisses, harsh and angry. "Insult like that t' a hold? /Shells/." He's disgusted now, with himself, with her, with anything. Everything. "Forget it. Never mind. Should get going."
Vanissa blinks, she wasn't expecting that reaction from him, oddly enough. "Aw, Kai, don't be..." Her voice shrinks, "..mad." She drops back down to her feet, her arms hugging herself to bring some warmth to her now-bloodless hands. "It... yeah... I know, but Kai... still?" He can't see it? It's still funny. She mutters, "Sure, go. You gotta anyway."
Pride pricked, Kai scrambles to his hands and knees before pausing. Flatly, "Moved me back t' th' barracks. Spent almost three extra months as a weyrling 'cause'a what I done. 'Cause I didn't think. So no, it ain't funny. S'one of the stupidest things I ever done." He pauses again, to see if the correlation between his story and her situation will sink in, and pushes to his feet with a muffled grunt. Voice quieter again, barely louder than a rumble, "Supposed t' move somewhere for a couple days; might be a while before I can get back. Soon as I can, though. Gonna see if I can get you them maps before we go."
"But, but Kai, I didn't know that." Otherwise, no Nissa wouldn't have... well, no maybe she would have, who knows? Voice small, "I'm sorry..." She props herself against the wall of the pit with a long sigh. "Nobody's perfect. Was trying to -help-." Not pointing fingers at the difference between dumping manure on a hold and trying to do something constructive, she mutters rebelliously, "Still funny." About maps, all she can do is nod and toss out a dry, "Y'know where to find me."
Kai says stiffly, "You an' Nolek'll get along real good," but doesn't bother explaining what -that- means. "I gotta go. --Shit." Something else the burly greenrider doesn't explain, but there's a swift sound of footsteps, movement, shuffling above the endless plink of water. Fainter, from outside, a voice lifts in question and is soothed by something unheard; after that the chill not-silence of the cave settles back in velvety darkness. He's gone.
Shit. That was close. Taking risks, Kai. Stupid. Gotta lay it out, figure out what I got to do. Gotta get her them maps. Gotta figure out how to get her outta there, get to that clearing. Hope it's big enough for Liath, 'cause if it ain't, that's a whole sharding lot of miles to the road. Jays, I wish Chielyth was here.
What day is it? How long has she been here? Time has a way of standing still when there is no light at all. In the dark the faint scrape of a soft sole on stone amongst the endless drips, might barely be heard by anyone above. Someone is moving in the pit below but that is the only sound coming from it. Nissa is pacing, fingertips to the stone to guide her as she walks. Her contact with Liath is silent; one never knows who's listening in this place, after all.
When the guards come they're rarely silent, but announced by voice and footstep long before they arrive at Nissa's pit. Kai's visits are the opposite - announced only by Chielyth and whispers, with smuggled bits of food delivered by gravity, and never lasting long enough. This could almost all be a game, if Chielyth is to be believed, even if the little green is never anywhere to be found save by mental touch. "Nissa," comes Kai's whisper, not long after Liath's told to be ready for a visit. "You there?"
That transferred announcement from Liath is processed just at the moment her name is spoken. Nissa's far circuit of the pit halts and she strides straight across the floor rather than around the side to stand just below where he usually is. So familiar with the pit by now, she almost doesn't need her outstretched hands to keep her from smacking into the wall, knowing the number of steps it take to reach it. Nevertheless, she takes the precaution, hands lightly rest upon the wet stone. Her whispered answer both glad to- well, not see him, but -hear him and chagrined to confirm that, yes, she's still here in this oh-so-lovely place. "Yeah, Kai. I'm here. What's the news?"
B'kaiv says, "Dunno," which even if it isn't welcome, is at least true. "Ain't heard nothing about you or Fort, 'cept whispers. Got you a couple meatrolls and a redfruit." It's almost routine by how, how he stretches his arm as far as it will go to deliver each item, the first one slow until they find each other, and the other two quickly. "I was thinking about bringing you some rocks - they come with lights, when they come for you?"
Vanissa's hard-pressed not to groan at that answer and she bites back her disappointed reply with a small clink of her teeth as she clenches her jaws. "T'rev's not sayin' much 'bout his plans through Mecaith to Liath either ," she mutters. It's easy to tell from the way she says it that this isn't sitting well with her. Rising up on her toes, elbows bracing her on the wall for balance, she reaches in the dark with both hands, fumbling for the gifts he's brought. Strange how a situation like this will make simple meatrolls and a redfruit such, but that is what they have become. These are slipped into her pockets; she'll save them and eat them later when the empty hours eke by. Right now there is conversation and she's not going to squander it by eating at the same time. "Yeah..?" Lights, sure it's dark in here, why wouldn't they? Unspoken but in her tone. "Why do ya ask?"
"Yeah," Kai sighs about Mecaith's silence on plans, unhappy but unsurprised. "That's... He does that." A beat before he adds, reluctantly generous, "Sometimes." Silence reigns again while the food is passed over, and again after, rather than the muffled sounds of Kai retrieving his arm. "Been thinking about how t' get you out. If there's rope, they're gonna know you had help. But if I can smuggle you rocks t' stand on...." He sighs, probably shrugs. "But they'd see th' rocks. Stupid idea."
"He... keeps you in the dark too?" Nissa huffs quietly, completely unaware of any sort of pun there. She growls, "Sure has become closed-mouthed since becoming Weyrleader. You'd think he could clue me in on stuff seein' I'm a part of it now." Grumblegrumble. Somone has spent a little too long in isolation, apparently, these past several days. Her hands return to the wall above her head for balance, she tilts her head back in a useless attempt to see him, her lips flattening in concentration as he answers. "Ain't stupid," she protests after he is finished. Silence and then, "They make me go stand by the far wall when they lower the bucket." A wry chuckle floats up, "Guess they're afraid I'll pull them down in here. Or somethin'." An afterthought, "Ain't covering up their faces, either."
B'kaiv snorts quietly, catching the pun even if she didn't. "S'just th' way he is. Bronzerider. Could try it, I guess." The rocks? "If they only stay t' th' one side... Just keep 'em tucked up real close t' th' wall." Back to the earlier topic, "He probably ain't telling you nothing in case they start asking questions." So cheerful! "Probably better you don't know, so you can't say nothing."
"B'kaiv. It's not-" Another small growl from Nissa before a muttered, "Nevermind." Then more slowly, "They might already know there's no rocks in here?" The wheels are turning, slowly, but they are turning, "What about when you go dropping them in here? Might be noisy? Echoes on rock carry, yeah?" Surely he's not expecting her to reach over her head and heft big rocks to the pit floor? As for questions, "I wouldn't tell them anything!" Wounded pride speaks there rather than experience, "Surely T'rev knows that!" There's a glare in her voice, directed all the way to Fort Weyr to go along with the two emphatic statements.
"/Kai/," he corrects firmly. "Forget that other name 'til you get back. And yeah, that's what I was thinking too. If they're big enough t' stand on, gonna be heavy. You can catch 'em easy enough, but not in th' dark. Could get a little rope maybe, lower 'em down." He pauses at that, wheels undoubtedly turning. "Get some rocks down there, but pull you up on th' rope; they're not gonna think 'rope' if it looks like you got out on your own. --Shells." He sighs then, sounding tired. "If I didn't got t' stay here, you'd be outta there already."
Unseen by him, Nissa winces, "I knew that!" In a small voice, "I got riled. Won't happen again." Rope she considers, nodding in the dark, "Yeah. Yeah, they can think I was too stupid to climb out sooner. They might think that." His words have her hands patting the stone there over her head for emphasis, "I'm alright!" So the words are a little rough and shaky as she adds, "You gotta do what T'rev put ya to. To stop all this. I can wait." She smacks the stone again, "Kai! What if-" There's a lilt to her voice that wasn't there before, "What if they -do- ask me stuff? If T'rev gave me somethin' to tell 'em, he could set a trap. They'd believe me maybe?"
The sound of flesh on stone and Kai's own hands seek it out, fingers patting at hers. "S'a'right, shh. Just... s'a'right. --I dunno, Nissa. Maybe. That could work, shells, I dunno. Ask your brother, yeah?" He wriggles forward, dropping his hands maybe another inch. "I think I found a spot Liath can come for you, maybe, but it's gonna be a sharding tight fit t' land in, an' I dunno as she can take off again. Problem is, it's close t' three miles t' th' road, maybe two t' th' clearing. Ain't gonna be easy getting outta here."
Perhaps he'll forgive her for curling her fingers around his if she can, giving them a little shake to re-direct his attention. "Listen, Kai. This is-" She whooshes out a breath of self-directed exasperation, "I'll ask him 'bout that, yeah. But you're spendin' too much time with gettin' me out. You're here to do other stuff." She repeats, "I can wait." She purses her lips, thinking about the spot he's found. "Can she crawl somewhere once she's landed? Like through the trees and up to a ridge she can drop from?"
B'kaiv snorts again, his fingers curling comfortingly around hers. "Why d'you think it's taking me so sharding long? We already knocked over two traders since I got here." How long /has/ she been here, anyway? Not just a day or two, then. "Nah, th' woods is real thick. S'how come they picked here, I bet. Can't hardly get a wagon though, much less a dragon. Even Liath." He pauses before asking, "How's she doing? She a'right?"
She has no idea! "Two?" Nissa can laugh, but resists the impulse, drawling instead, "You're becomin' a right pirate like in one of T'rev's stories. Next thing, you'll be in there too and we'll read about ya." She pauses and actually giggles, "We might even get M'try to draw ya." The news that Liath can't easily get out, crawl to a ridge and drop has her fingers becoming very still. Her neck is tired, tilted back at that angle and she tips her head to lean her forehead against the wall. Muffled, listless, "She's doing alright. Misses me. Mecaith, Peirith and Elaruth are keepin' her calm. Her clutchmates, too."
B'kaiv says, "Yeah," but doesn't sound terribly amused. Resigned, tired - those are better adjectives for the other greenrider. "Think it's best as nobody knows what I do, stories or not." A few seconds later, and apropos of nothing (or everything), "Chielyth hates it, being away from me. S'how come she's down t' Monaco. Wish we didn't got t' do this. Hate these sharding... shells." He pauses again, gives her fingers a squeeze. "Khameth's good at distracting, if you can get her t' ask him."
Vanissa lifts her head to peer upwards once again, her fingers returning his squeeze, "Hey Kai, I was just joking. You're right, though, an' I won't say nothin'." There's a slow bobbing of her head in understanding, not that he can see it. "I'll bet she hates it. Liath too." Silence after his heartfelt hating of all this in which the plink-plunk of droplets take over and then, "See, now there should be a way for some of us to help too." Wryly, "With trainin'." Like -that- will fly. "Khameth? He might already be doin' some of that with her. I'll ask though."
Plink-plunk, plonk, pli-plonk. Plink-plunk, plonk, pli-plonk. "Ain't trained yet," Kai says, pauses and adds, "Weyrling." There's no salt to add to the wound though, and he continues, "You ever hear what stupid I done when I was a weyrling? Hear about Fort Sea?"
Rueful, "I know." Weyrling or not, Nissa protests, "Hey now, they could find -something- so we're not useless. And with no Thread falling, stuff like this- ahh, Fort Sea? No." Ooh, redirection! Nice move. Amused, "What'd ya do to Fort Sea?" Interested - of course! Hello, sitting in the dark for days. Stories are welcome indeed.
B'kaiv says, "Safer you ain't." He shifts over, trading one set of fingers for the other, pulls the first away and never once suggests she sit down. "Was stupid," he says again. "Sharding... see, back when I was a Candidate, Fort Sea'd been withholding supplies. Selling th' tithe for themselves, yeah? An' R'uen - he were th' Weyrleader then - anyway, got th' problem solved. Only Nolek - Y'nolek - didn't think as they were punished enough. So about th' time we was senior weyrlings, 'bout th' same time as you now, come t' think on it, we, um." Perhaps his face is flaming, up there in the dark. "He talked me int' going with him. T' Fort Sea."
Dryly, "Probably," Nissa, in her current predicament, has to agree with that, now doesn't she? His fingers slip away and she blinks, begins to lower her hand but stops when he's back with the other hand and she curls her fingers around them. "Fort Sea was doin' that, hmm? So- ahh!" Enlightened about something, she bites her tongue and nods understandingly, "Musta been annoying." At the mention of Y'nolek her fingers twitch, but all she says is, "And so ya went..."
B'kaiv probably shrugs - there's a faint shift of fabric against rock, anyway. "Yeah. Supplies was real tight. Anyway, Nolek'd been drinking, an' he said as we should do something t' teach 'em a lesson. Went with him, 'cause shells, weren't gonna let no clutchmate do something stupid, yeah?" In an undertone, "Shoulda known better." Then louder, "So we loaded th' dragons with these bags of shit, flew down an' threw it all over th' hold. Didn't nobody know it was us for... shells. Couple months. Weyrleader had t' go down an' apologize for us, an' that's when I figured out what we /really/ done."
She isn't supposed to make noise? But with that bit of information, Nissa loses it. He's got fair warning of the coming mirth-explosion, though because she tries to stifle it by biting her lips and keeping it in. Likely her can feel her arm shaking and she's already tightened her fingers around his to keep from falling back to her heels. Her other hand joins the effort, clapping over her mouth and nose, smothering a strangled round of laughter. It's just made all the worse by the fact that she isn't supposed to be doing it. When she finally does conquer it, "S-s-s-s-s-sh-i-i-i-t?" That gets her going again and she's snigger-snorting behind her hand again. Finally, wiping her eyes with her other hand, "Besides makin' their flowers grow, what'd you really do?" Is there more?
His fingers tighten, trying unsuccessfully to keep her there, keep her still, keep those giggles from escaping, and when he fails his arm jerks up and away so fast it could have been on a bungee. "Sharding well /think/ about it," he hisses, harsh and angry. "Insult like that t' a hold? /Shells/." He's disgusted now, with himself, with her, with anything. Everything. "Forget it. Never mind. Should get going."
Vanissa blinks, she wasn't expecting that reaction from him, oddly enough. "Aw, Kai, don't be..." Her voice shrinks, "..mad." She drops back down to her feet, her arms hugging herself to bring some warmth to her now-bloodless hands. "It... yeah... I know, but Kai... still?" He can't see it? It's still funny. She mutters, "Sure, go. You gotta anyway."
Pride pricked, Kai scrambles to his hands and knees before pausing. Flatly, "Moved me back t' th' barracks. Spent almost three extra months as a weyrling 'cause'a what I done. 'Cause I didn't think. So no, it ain't funny. S'one of the stupidest things I ever done." He pauses again, to see if the correlation between his story and her situation will sink in, and pushes to his feet with a muffled grunt. Voice quieter again, barely louder than a rumble, "Supposed t' move somewhere for a couple days; might be a while before I can get back. Soon as I can, though. Gonna see if I can get you them maps before we go."
"But, but Kai, I didn't know that." Otherwise, no Nissa wouldn't have... well, no maybe she would have, who knows? Voice small, "I'm sorry..." She props herself against the wall of the pit with a long sigh. "Nobody's perfect. Was trying to -help-." Not pointing fingers at the difference between dumping manure on a hold and trying to do something constructive, she mutters rebelliously, "Still funny." About maps, all she can do is nod and toss out a dry, "Y'know where to find me."
Kai says stiffly, "You an' Nolek'll get along real good," but doesn't bother explaining what -that- means. "I gotta go. --Shit." Something else the burly greenrider doesn't explain, but there's a swift sound of footsteps, movement, shuffling above the endless plink of water. Fainter, from outside, a voice lifts in question and is soothed by something unheard; after that the chill not-silence of the cave settles back in velvety darkness. He's gone.
Shit. That was close. Taking risks, Kai. Stupid. Gotta lay it out, figure out what I got to do. Gotta get her them maps. Gotta figure out how to get her outta there, get to that clearing. Hope it's big enough for Liath, 'cause if it ain't, that's a whole sharding lot of miles to the road. Jays, I wish Chielyth was here.