On the road
It is a winter morning, 9:56 of day 12, month 2, turn 22 of Interval 10.
Healer Hall, Fort Area
Patterned after its Harper neighbor, the Healer quadrangle is a couple of centuries newer and the cut of its stone is noticably different, as is the tiling on the roof, which is brown instead of orange. Most of the windows on the second floor are paned with clear glass, set back on deep sills from where the heavy bronze shutters cling to the walls. The west-facing front wing of the building is set with a gate that guards the archway into the courtyard and a gatekeeper often sits on duty just outside on a chair. Within the courtyard itself, wrought iron benches are scattered strategically along the walls, right beside the doors that grant access to each wing. Usually quiet but for the hum of apprentice conversation and the clatter of feet on the flagstone paved ground, the hall is a fairly restful place for those who have come for specialized treatment.
Just outside Healer Hall, sandwiched between its southern wing and the northern wing of the Harper Hall, a series of gardens serving culinary, medicinal and decorative puposes are bordered by the cliff wall to the east and open meadow to the west. The hold road travels northward to the hold itself and eventually to Ruatha and the Reaches and in the opposite direction far south to Southern Boll and the Weaver craft.
Obvious exits:
Road
Delivery duty. Those Obsidian riders with routes that take them farther from the Weyr can *between* everywhere. B'kaiv and Vanissa, or more importantly their dragons, drew the close route today, and there's no way Chielyth is going to be boring and *between* when she has Liath to fly with! The two greens have set down in the field reserved for both dragons and Gathers, and Kai, as the senior rider, sent Nissa over to Harper while claiming the Healers for himself. Now he lingers in the courtyard, absently scratching at his jaw and face tilted up to the cliffs of the Hold stretching above the roofline. He's managed - somehow, somewhere - to get a mug of klah, and it steams softly in the late-morning air. Enough classes are in session that the rider hardly has any company, though that doesn't stop a few hopeful youngsters from ogling him surreptitiously.
Laith has been an enthusiastic flying partner, managing to keep up with the older green, or perhaps allowed to? Her exuberant swallow-like darting and swooping becomes more sedate as they near the Harper-Healer airspace and her touchdown is by the book. Nissa has shouldered her bag of mail and headed off to Harper as directed and it's some time before she re-emerges alone and with one finger rubbing an ear to ease it. Ah harper lessons and the sounds that go with them! Spotting the other greenrider across the way, she alters her steps to head his way, noting the younguns lingering around B'kaiv with amusement.
Plenty of lessons might be in session, but apparently Fiorella's is not as the girl makes her way across the courtyard from the hold. That or she's late for one perhaps? Either way any dragon is hard to miss, but two are even more difficult to overlook. Her gaze settles on the pair for a moment before she's scanning to pick out their riders, which proves easier than it might otherwise given the time of day and lack of traffic in the space out in front of the halls.
Someone approaching? That'll catch Kai's attention as surely as a yell, though neither the greenrider's stance or expression suggests anything but relaxation. His, "Hey," is aimed at his wingmate, as is the mug he offers over. His, but there's only the one. "Klah?" Hard on its heels, "Match you for who has t' go," with a nod through the Hall's walls toward the Hold itself. He's not paying the slightest bit of attention to the courtyard lingerers, and Chielyth's eyes are fastened squarely on the clouds overhead, so there's no hope of Ella being noticed from either of them.
Vanissa's eyes are roaming the space as she walks, so she does notice Fiorella and rather than call out, since classes are in session, she gives the girl a cheerful wave. "Hey," a slight chin lift accompanies her reply to B'kaiv, followed by a slight headshake. "Thanks, no. I... my stomach is still gettin' used to Liath's flying." Her sheepish grin turns puzzled, "Match...you?" Hazel eyes swing towards the Hold and back to him briefly. Uncertain as to what she's agreeing to, "Sure?" Her head turns slightly towards the approaching girl, "Heya Ella. Whatcha up to?"
Fiorella finds B'kaiv soon enough and then Nissa with her greeting. A smile creeps wider on her lips as she turns her steps more in the direction of the pair of riders than the door. "B'kaiv, Vanissa," she greets each in turn. "Its a nice surprise to see you both here."
Kai shrugs off her refusal and has more klah, his attention turned back to the Hold. Even so, his eyes skitter sideways, back to the other greenrider. "Yeah, match you." His free hand shoots out in the well-familiar 'rock, paper, shears' gestures. "What's up with... Hey, Ella." Nissa's interrogation will just have to wait. Easily enough he continues, "Just doing a delivery run." Nothing special here.
Oh that! Well, at least it's not arm wrestling? There wouldn't be a chance for her then. Nissa's face clears and she nods, readying her right hand. She tilts Ella a look, a teasing grin curving her lips. "It beats an unpleasant surprise all to pieces yeah?" Then enthusiasm bubbles as she announces, "Hey - I got tapped to B'kaiv's wing, Ella!" Back to B'kaiv she snickers, "Ready? One, two, three..." And she does shears.
Fiorella nods, "True," she agrees, "Much better than an unpleasant one." "Ahh," she adds given Kai's explanation of them being there. "I don't suppose you had anything for me?" she inquires a touch hopeful that there might have been a letter or something in there for her.
B'kaiv snorts, good-natured, at his wingmate and corrects, "Ain't /my/ wing. It's Obsidian," in the tone of a man who's said this more than once already. Mug to his lips, he almost misses Nissa's counting and scrambles to catch up, throwing a rock. Very likely no one will be surprised Kai produces a fist. "Flamed if I know," he tells Ella almost cheerfully as he nudges the mail satchel over to the other greenrider. "Nissa's th' one taking mail t' th' Hold."
Vanissa pretends to be appalled that she looses the match but her snickering belies the grimace as B'kaiv corrects her. "Yet," she teases him. "They ain't replaced D'kai." That satchel is scooped up and the buckle undone with a smile for the girl's wisfulness. Lifting the flap while bracing the satchel against her hip, she flips through the letters in there, making small-talk as she scans the letters inside. "You heading to class, Ella?" Her gloves hinder her, so one hand lifts, teeth nip the fingertip and she pulls the glove off and resumes her search.
Fiorella ahs, nodding again. "Well Congratulations on being tapped anyway. Whoever," she continues turning a glance between the two, "ends up as wingleader." Another slight nod follows in answer to Nissa's question. "Well lessons later, but I don't have anything pressing until then so I was going to check on some things first." She has some time before she's expected anywhere.
"Bet it's going t' N'kan," Kai says, naming the blueriding Wingsecond. "Dunno as why he wouldn't say yes first time he's asked. Gimme them," he adds, holding out a hand for Nissa's gloves. As a curious aside to Ella, "Ain't you doing, I dunno, Lady Holder lessons or something? Learning what fork t' use, an' all?"
Vanissa shrugs, hands her gloves over to B'kaiv. Head down as she flips envelopes, "Aw, thanks Ella." She squints at an envelope she half-lifts, shakes her head and re-inserts it. "Won't be me," she tells the two with certainty. "I'm still learning how to do Rider-y stuff." A sly sidelong look slides towards her wingmate, "Maybe they'll snag you to replace N'kan." She's in a needling mood today it seems. She hefts the bag higher - it's slipping a just a bit - and blinks from B'kaiv to Fiorella. "Which fork? That sounds... boring." Sympathy for the girl is writ all over her face.
Fiorella sighs. That's the last thing she needed to be reminded about right now. Really. "Well whoever they get for the job." The girl shrugs, "I'm assisting Lady Astrella some, yes. But I did grow up at the hold." For a good while before she was at the weyr too. "Forks aren't anything new." Queue eye roll. "But anyway, she thinks healing is a good thing to learn too though."
B'kaiv snorts wetly, natural derision helped along by what remains of his klah, though he isn't angry. "/Shells/, no. Ain't nobody wherry-headed enough t' give me no Wingleader's knot, and I wouldn't take it even if they was. Gonna be N'kan," he repeats again, firm as if he has marks riding on the outcome, and, looking around, places his mug on a decoratively jutting bit of stonework that might well have been placed there for just that reason. "Yeah, well, you got things t' learn no wingriders ain't never gonna need t' know. Hated sharding etiquette," he adds absently, nose wrinkling in memory, and scratches his jaw again.
Vanissa flickers a querying glance up at Fiorella for that sigh, having no idea what it's about, shrugs and resumes her search. There's lots of mail today! Absently to B'kaiv, "Meant wingsecond, but you can refuse it, huh?" She'll not debate whether giving him one is a good idea or not, the idea they have more choice as wingriders now that they aren't weyrlings having caught her attention. Curiously to the girl, "So if ya know all about forks (they way she says it, more than one is insanity to her), what new things are they teachin' ya Ella?" She leaves her fingers to keep her place as she lifts her head and rotates her neck for a moment.
Fiorella can't help but giggle a little, even if it is more just a grin than actual sound. "/I/ didn't say anything," she points out about who may or maynot become wingleader, though B'kaiv's adamance on not being the one is somewhat amusing. "Not all about," she replies to Nissa. She know which is which though, yes. "I'm learning alot though. Did you mean the hold or the hall?" To very different sorts of lessons there.
B'kaiv glances quickly over at Nissa and nods, reluctant. "Yeah. Ain't - don't wanna be no Wingsecond neither." Perhaps he's thinking of the rest of the wing, instead of himself. Or perhaps not. "Maybe whoever it is'll ask Jiella, 'cause of Orisoth." He slaps Nissa's gloves into his palm once, twice, and is about to tuck them into his belt beside his own when he remembers; cocks his head at Ella. "Probably she ain't asking about no healer cr- uh, stuff."
"'Bout bein' Lady Holder, silly." Nissa clarifies this with a fond grin for the girl, rolling her eyes a little as she contradicts her statement on forks. Her lips twitch as she teases, "Not all about, hmm?" Ignore that shudder for the idea that there's more to know than when to use which. Finished with her neck, she rolls her shoulders, casting a curious glance at her wingmate. "Orisoth wants Jelly to lead, huh?" This for some reason causes her to cough suddenly and duck back to flipping through those letters. It's only a breath later that she comes up with an envelope, a long, heavy papered one with the name 'Fiorella' written boldly on it. Breezily, "Oh hey, Ella. Ya got mail!" It's offered over with a flourish.
Fiorella nods. "Right," she replies almost under her breath. Of couse, why would anyone be asking about the craft lessons. A shoulder lifts in a slight shrug of reply on that. "There's alot to learn. I suppose it's alot like.." she leaves it at that as mail is presented. "Really! Thanks!" No, she's not excited about that at all... A bright smile turning from riders to envelope as she gives it a cursory glance. Opening will come later.
B'kaiv says, "No, it's 'cause he's," but doesn't finish, instead waving off the rest of whatever he was going to say. "Don't matter. Whoever it is ain't gonna pick th' likes of me and you, any road." He shifts his weight and slaps Vanissa's gloves again, eyes Ella and her mail before his gaze shifts back to the other rider. "Gimme them," he demands of the bag, not unkindly. "Chielyth wants t' go flying, and we're standing here yammering."
Vanissa blinks at Fiorella's nonanswer, bemused. B'kaiv's unfinished reply has her raising a brow, but she leaves them both go with a shake of her head. "Guess not," she agrees slowly and with not a little relief at that one. Another curious glance at the girl with her unopened letter there, but she just shrugs, decides not to tease her about both her joy in getting it and her reluctance to open it right then. B'kaiv's request comes while she's re-buckling that satchel. "Nu uh. You won the match. I'll get it. Be right back. See ya Ella." And she dips her head to both, turns and trots towards the hold to make her delivery.
Fiorella blinks, glancing up from the letter just in time for Vanissa to head off the way she'd come. At least she said she'll be back. She's then turning back to B'kaiv given he's still there. Hesitant perhaps to start saying anything more to the greenrider. "Are you...?" but she shakes her head. "I hope you and Chielyth have a good day."
Kai huffs a breath out as Nissa trots away - it's not quite a laugh, but only just - and settles his shoulders comfortably against the wall, slapping her gloves into his hand one more time. He glances down at Fiorella thoughtfully, shrugs for nothing, and says, "Thanks. And you." A handful of moments slip past before he wonders casually, "Who's it from?"
Before Ella can answer Kai's attention gets snagged by something unheard outside the courtyard. "Chielyth," he says casually, and with a nod, abandons his mug to amble thattaway. Hopefully Nissa'll be able to catch up with her gloves later.
Wonder who's writing her. Not that it ain't none of my business. Seems every time I go down there run into her.
Liath ain't no Chielyth, but I guess she flies good enough any road. That were a pretty neat sideslip she done. Wonder how come Nissa don't like it?
Healer Hall, Fort Area
Patterned after its Harper neighbor, the Healer quadrangle is a couple of centuries newer and the cut of its stone is noticably different, as is the tiling on the roof, which is brown instead of orange. Most of the windows on the second floor are paned with clear glass, set back on deep sills from where the heavy bronze shutters cling to the walls. The west-facing front wing of the building is set with a gate that guards the archway into the courtyard and a gatekeeper often sits on duty just outside on a chair. Within the courtyard itself, wrought iron benches are scattered strategically along the walls, right beside the doors that grant access to each wing. Usually quiet but for the hum of apprentice conversation and the clatter of feet on the flagstone paved ground, the hall is a fairly restful place for those who have come for specialized treatment.
Just outside Healer Hall, sandwiched between its southern wing and the northern wing of the Harper Hall, a series of gardens serving culinary, medicinal and decorative puposes are bordered by the cliff wall to the east and open meadow to the west. The hold road travels northward to the hold itself and eventually to Ruatha and the Reaches and in the opposite direction far south to Southern Boll and the Weaver craft.
Obvious exits:
Road
Delivery duty. Those Obsidian riders with routes that take them farther from the Weyr can *between* everywhere. B'kaiv and Vanissa, or more importantly their dragons, drew the close route today, and there's no way Chielyth is going to be boring and *between* when she has Liath to fly with! The two greens have set down in the field reserved for both dragons and Gathers, and Kai, as the senior rider, sent Nissa over to Harper while claiming the Healers for himself. Now he lingers in the courtyard, absently scratching at his jaw and face tilted up to the cliffs of the Hold stretching above the roofline. He's managed - somehow, somewhere - to get a mug of klah, and it steams softly in the late-morning air. Enough classes are in session that the rider hardly has any company, though that doesn't stop a few hopeful youngsters from ogling him surreptitiously.
Laith has been an enthusiastic flying partner, managing to keep up with the older green, or perhaps allowed to? Her exuberant swallow-like darting and swooping becomes more sedate as they near the Harper-Healer airspace and her touchdown is by the book. Nissa has shouldered her bag of mail and headed off to Harper as directed and it's some time before she re-emerges alone and with one finger rubbing an ear to ease it. Ah harper lessons and the sounds that go with them! Spotting the other greenrider across the way, she alters her steps to head his way, noting the younguns lingering around B'kaiv with amusement.
Plenty of lessons might be in session, but apparently Fiorella's is not as the girl makes her way across the courtyard from the hold. That or she's late for one perhaps? Either way any dragon is hard to miss, but two are even more difficult to overlook. Her gaze settles on the pair for a moment before she's scanning to pick out their riders, which proves easier than it might otherwise given the time of day and lack of traffic in the space out in front of the halls.
Someone approaching? That'll catch Kai's attention as surely as a yell, though neither the greenrider's stance or expression suggests anything but relaxation. His, "Hey," is aimed at his wingmate, as is the mug he offers over. His, but there's only the one. "Klah?" Hard on its heels, "Match you for who has t' go," with a nod through the Hall's walls toward the Hold itself. He's not paying the slightest bit of attention to the courtyard lingerers, and Chielyth's eyes are fastened squarely on the clouds overhead, so there's no hope of Ella being noticed from either of them.
Vanissa's eyes are roaming the space as she walks, so she does notice Fiorella and rather than call out, since classes are in session, she gives the girl a cheerful wave. "Hey," a slight chin lift accompanies her reply to B'kaiv, followed by a slight headshake. "Thanks, no. I... my stomach is still gettin' used to Liath's flying." Her sheepish grin turns puzzled, "Match...you?" Hazel eyes swing towards the Hold and back to him briefly. Uncertain as to what she's agreeing to, "Sure?" Her head turns slightly towards the approaching girl, "Heya Ella. Whatcha up to?"
Fiorella finds B'kaiv soon enough and then Nissa with her greeting. A smile creeps wider on her lips as she turns her steps more in the direction of the pair of riders than the door. "B'kaiv, Vanissa," she greets each in turn. "Its a nice surprise to see you both here."
Kai shrugs off her refusal and has more klah, his attention turned back to the Hold. Even so, his eyes skitter sideways, back to the other greenrider. "Yeah, match you." His free hand shoots out in the well-familiar 'rock, paper, shears' gestures. "What's up with... Hey, Ella." Nissa's interrogation will just have to wait. Easily enough he continues, "Just doing a delivery run." Nothing special here.
Oh that! Well, at least it's not arm wrestling? There wouldn't be a chance for her then. Nissa's face clears and she nods, readying her right hand. She tilts Ella a look, a teasing grin curving her lips. "It beats an unpleasant surprise all to pieces yeah?" Then enthusiasm bubbles as she announces, "Hey - I got tapped to B'kaiv's wing, Ella!" Back to B'kaiv she snickers, "Ready? One, two, three..." And she does shears.
Fiorella nods, "True," she agrees, "Much better than an unpleasant one." "Ahh," she adds given Kai's explanation of them being there. "I don't suppose you had anything for me?" she inquires a touch hopeful that there might have been a letter or something in there for her.
B'kaiv snorts, good-natured, at his wingmate and corrects, "Ain't /my/ wing. It's Obsidian," in the tone of a man who's said this more than once already. Mug to his lips, he almost misses Nissa's counting and scrambles to catch up, throwing a rock. Very likely no one will be surprised Kai produces a fist. "Flamed if I know," he tells Ella almost cheerfully as he nudges the mail satchel over to the other greenrider. "Nissa's th' one taking mail t' th' Hold."
Vanissa pretends to be appalled that she looses the match but her snickering belies the grimace as B'kaiv corrects her. "Yet," she teases him. "They ain't replaced D'kai." That satchel is scooped up and the buckle undone with a smile for the girl's wisfulness. Lifting the flap while bracing the satchel against her hip, she flips through the letters in there, making small-talk as she scans the letters inside. "You heading to class, Ella?" Her gloves hinder her, so one hand lifts, teeth nip the fingertip and she pulls the glove off and resumes her search.
Fiorella ahs, nodding again. "Well Congratulations on being tapped anyway. Whoever," she continues turning a glance between the two, "ends up as wingleader." Another slight nod follows in answer to Nissa's question. "Well lessons later, but I don't have anything pressing until then so I was going to check on some things first." She has some time before she's expected anywhere.
"Bet it's going t' N'kan," Kai says, naming the blueriding Wingsecond. "Dunno as why he wouldn't say yes first time he's asked. Gimme them," he adds, holding out a hand for Nissa's gloves. As a curious aside to Ella, "Ain't you doing, I dunno, Lady Holder lessons or something? Learning what fork t' use, an' all?"
Vanissa shrugs, hands her gloves over to B'kaiv. Head down as she flips envelopes, "Aw, thanks Ella." She squints at an envelope she half-lifts, shakes her head and re-inserts it. "Won't be me," she tells the two with certainty. "I'm still learning how to do Rider-y stuff." A sly sidelong look slides towards her wingmate, "Maybe they'll snag you to replace N'kan." She's in a needling mood today it seems. She hefts the bag higher - it's slipping a just a bit - and blinks from B'kaiv to Fiorella. "Which fork? That sounds... boring." Sympathy for the girl is writ all over her face.
Fiorella sighs. That's the last thing she needed to be reminded about right now. Really. "Well whoever they get for the job." The girl shrugs, "I'm assisting Lady Astrella some, yes. But I did grow up at the hold." For a good while before she was at the weyr too. "Forks aren't anything new." Queue eye roll. "But anyway, she thinks healing is a good thing to learn too though."
B'kaiv snorts wetly, natural derision helped along by what remains of his klah, though he isn't angry. "/Shells/, no. Ain't nobody wherry-headed enough t' give me no Wingleader's knot, and I wouldn't take it even if they was. Gonna be N'kan," he repeats again, firm as if he has marks riding on the outcome, and, looking around, places his mug on a decoratively jutting bit of stonework that might well have been placed there for just that reason. "Yeah, well, you got things t' learn no wingriders ain't never gonna need t' know. Hated sharding etiquette," he adds absently, nose wrinkling in memory, and scratches his jaw again.
Vanissa flickers a querying glance up at Fiorella for that sigh, having no idea what it's about, shrugs and resumes her search. There's lots of mail today! Absently to B'kaiv, "Meant wingsecond, but you can refuse it, huh?" She'll not debate whether giving him one is a good idea or not, the idea they have more choice as wingriders now that they aren't weyrlings having caught her attention. Curiously to the girl, "So if ya know all about forks (they way she says it, more than one is insanity to her), what new things are they teachin' ya Ella?" She leaves her fingers to keep her place as she lifts her head and rotates her neck for a moment.
Fiorella can't help but giggle a little, even if it is more just a grin than actual sound. "/I/ didn't say anything," she points out about who may or maynot become wingleader, though B'kaiv's adamance on not being the one is somewhat amusing. "Not all about," she replies to Nissa. She know which is which though, yes. "I'm learning alot though. Did you mean the hold or the hall?" To very different sorts of lessons there.
B'kaiv glances quickly over at Nissa and nods, reluctant. "Yeah. Ain't - don't wanna be no Wingsecond neither." Perhaps he's thinking of the rest of the wing, instead of himself. Or perhaps not. "Maybe whoever it is'll ask Jiella, 'cause of Orisoth." He slaps Nissa's gloves into his palm once, twice, and is about to tuck them into his belt beside his own when he remembers; cocks his head at Ella. "Probably she ain't asking about no healer cr- uh, stuff."
"'Bout bein' Lady Holder, silly." Nissa clarifies this with a fond grin for the girl, rolling her eyes a little as she contradicts her statement on forks. Her lips twitch as she teases, "Not all about, hmm?" Ignore that shudder for the idea that there's more to know than when to use which. Finished with her neck, she rolls her shoulders, casting a curious glance at her wingmate. "Orisoth wants Jelly to lead, huh?" This for some reason causes her to cough suddenly and duck back to flipping through those letters. It's only a breath later that she comes up with an envelope, a long, heavy papered one with the name 'Fiorella' written boldly on it. Breezily, "Oh hey, Ella. Ya got mail!" It's offered over with a flourish.
Fiorella nods. "Right," she replies almost under her breath. Of couse, why would anyone be asking about the craft lessons. A shoulder lifts in a slight shrug of reply on that. "There's alot to learn. I suppose it's alot like.." she leaves it at that as mail is presented. "Really! Thanks!" No, she's not excited about that at all... A bright smile turning from riders to envelope as she gives it a cursory glance. Opening will come later.
B'kaiv says, "No, it's 'cause he's," but doesn't finish, instead waving off the rest of whatever he was going to say. "Don't matter. Whoever it is ain't gonna pick th' likes of me and you, any road." He shifts his weight and slaps Vanissa's gloves again, eyes Ella and her mail before his gaze shifts back to the other rider. "Gimme them," he demands of the bag, not unkindly. "Chielyth wants t' go flying, and we're standing here yammering."
Vanissa blinks at Fiorella's nonanswer, bemused. B'kaiv's unfinished reply has her raising a brow, but she leaves them both go with a shake of her head. "Guess not," she agrees slowly and with not a little relief at that one. Another curious glance at the girl with her unopened letter there, but she just shrugs, decides not to tease her about both her joy in getting it and her reluctance to open it right then. B'kaiv's request comes while she's re-buckling that satchel. "Nu uh. You won the match. I'll get it. Be right back. See ya Ella." And she dips her head to both, turns and trots towards the hold to make her delivery.
Fiorella blinks, glancing up from the letter just in time for Vanissa to head off the way she'd come. At least she said she'll be back. She's then turning back to B'kaiv given he's still there. Hesitant perhaps to start saying anything more to the greenrider. "Are you...?" but she shakes her head. "I hope you and Chielyth have a good day."
Kai huffs a breath out as Nissa trots away - it's not quite a laugh, but only just - and settles his shoulders comfortably against the wall, slapping her gloves into his hand one more time. He glances down at Fiorella thoughtfully, shrugs for nothing, and says, "Thanks. And you." A handful of moments slip past before he wonders casually, "Who's it from?"
Before Ella can answer Kai's attention gets snagged by something unheard outside the courtyard. "Chielyth," he says casually, and with a nod, abandons his mug to amble thattaway. Hopefully Nissa'll be able to catch up with her gloves later.
Wonder who's writing her. Not that it ain't none of my business. Seems every time I go down there run into her.
Liath ain't no Chielyth, but I guess she flies good enough any road. That were a pretty neat sideslip she done. Wonder how come Nissa don't like it?