Osasune ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
Osasune trots into the bathing cavern, having a quick glance about with puffy pink eyes. Rubbing her nose with a snuffle, she moves over to one of the pools... where some combs have been left.
Ilesyn soaks, her eyes shut against the dim glow light of the cavern, arms draped upon the edges of the pool within which she sits. Osasune's snuffles disrupt whatever kind of interlude she's in-- her eyes flick open, steely gaze narrowing towards the girl. "You're still sick."
"N-no, I got better," Osa says, crouching to pick up the combs with trembling fingers. "I'm just - um. I've been crying."
"Crying?" More interesting in illness, are tears. Ilesyn sits up. "Why? Come, sit, talk to me."
Osasune shuffles over and hunkers down by Ilesyn's pool, skirts puffing out around her as she sits. Snuffle. "B-because I... I don't think I fit in here, either. And, and M'ial said he shouldn't have brought me to Fort." She rubs her eyes with the back of her hand.
Ilesyn's gaze narrows. "Why would you not fit in here, Osasune?" she wonders, turning herself so that she can face the younger girl, her hands proppering her up against the edge of the pool. "M'ial's a dimglow."
"Because, I... I... everyone has fun, and I... try, and I don't. And I guess I'm just.. people think I'm annoying. And I don't know why, and they just /do/," Osa says, sniffling. "I'm not a bad person or that aggravating. I'm just, well, I mean - nervous. About being lonely. And maybe it, it gets in the way or something, because I worry about being all alone and having no friends and suddenly I'm all alone and I have no friends."
Ilesyn considers this, staying quiet - amazingly - for a long time. "But you /try/, and that's what counts. Fun is not the be all and end all of life, Osasune. I find my work fun, but others consider me boring because of it." The mindhealer swishes about, running water over her bare arms. "You're working on the nervousness, and you will get there. And-- I bet you don't have no friends. Or I bet you could find some."
Osasune snuffles a little. "Not quite. I - I think maybe C'daer likes me enough to be a, a friend. And maybe Sanriel. And, I, well... I think you're nice."
Ilesyn can't help but lift her eyebrows, in surprise: "'Nice' is not a word often used to describe me. In fact, I believe both C'daer and Sanriel would disagree, although I'll not argue." She points out, in addition, "Then M'ial is wrong, and you are wrong: you are not friendless, and you are not alone."
Osasune hugs her legs a little. "I guess not. But it feels that way anyway sometimes. Is that, um, normal?"
"Yes," says Ilesyn, without a pause. "It's a common insecurity. We'll work on it, you and I. You just need more confidence."
"I know," Osasune says glumly. "I just... don't know how to get it."
Ilesyn lifts one toe out of the water, as if inspecting its state of wrinkledness, and then drops it back in. "Try this. Before you walk into a room, lift your head, pull back your shoulders, and tell yourself that you're worthwhile. Don't hesitate before you speak-- just say it, forgetting your nervousness."
"I have to say it... out loud?" Osa whispers, eyes going as big as saucers.
"It's better that way. Hearing it makes you believe it more." Ilesyn nods her head firmly. "You can do it."
"Umn. Won't people just laugh at me more if I say that?" Osa mumbles.
Ilesyn shakes her head, explaining with a waving hand, "You say it /before/ you walk into a room, so the people in the room don't hear."
"But what if there's people in the room in front of the room I'm walking into and they laugh and say, 'ha ha ha, Osasune's doing it again and talking to herself and she's not perfect like us since we all know how to do everything!'" Osa says, cramming words together.
"They won't," avers Ilesyn, staunchily. "I think it's a very good idea, and you should at least try it. No one's perfect. I remind them of that all the time."
"Well, uh... telling someone something and them actually understanding it's kinda... they're two different things," Osa says miserably.
Ilesyn changes tack quickly, lifting her voice into a command. "I want you to do something else for me, Osasune." She pauses a beat, and then continues, "I want you to think of five good things about yourself, or about your day, every single night before you go to bed. You're negative, and it is not healthy."
"I am negative," Osa says mournfully. "It's true. Alright, I can do that."
Ilesyn snorts. "Osa! Be /positive/." She rolls her eyes. "Sometimes you just irritate me, when you don't seem to be /trying/. Make an effort, and you'll get the results."
Osasune winces, hunching her shoulders. "I'm that irritating?"
"Sometimes." Tact is not Ilesyn's middle name. "But not most of the time. You just need to work at that, so you're not at all irritating."
"What makes me so irritating?" Osa asks, forehead scrunching up.
Ilesyn blurts out, immediately, "The way you moan about not being this, and not being that, but pick faults with the advice you're given."
Osasune blinks a few times. "Umn. I'm supposed to just follow advice bl... oh... like that."
Ilesyn nods, several times, allowing her lips to press into something of a smile. "I'm sure you'll get better, though, and then you won't be irritating. We'll work at it, won't we? Until you're not."
Osasune's forehead wrinkles. "I'm not sure I like the idea of... just being quiet when I don't like something. It's sort of what got me into this."
Ilesyn says, after a pause, "I don't follow. Explain? Tell me everything."
Jalis ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
"I mean, when I pick faults with advice, I... I'm not saying it to be contrary, I'm saying it because I think it would be a problem," Osa is telling Ilesyn, hunkered down by the pool where the other woman is bathing.
Jalis mosies on in to the cavern and smiles at Osasune and Ilesyn. She throws her clothing down on a stone bench and says happily. "I hope the water is hot. I need a good soak. Mind if I join you? Afterwards, Tarrant's promised me a massage!" She says, voice pleasant and anticipatory.
Tarrant ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
Ilesyn opens her mouth to respond to Osasune, interrupted by Jalis' entrance, and question. "Of course, Weyrwoman," agrees the Journeywoman, inclining her head forward, as her fingers ripple through the water again. "Does this mean that you think you know better than I do, Osasune?" Her tone is almost chiding, as she makes this question, pulled up against the edge of the pool so that she can face the girl, who is sitting beside the edge.
Osasune's lips press together; she snuffles quietly, and clutches some hair combs in her hands. Her hair is unbound presently, and her eyes are pink. "W-well, no, but you're not, um, perfect either. By your own logic," she says, hesitantly. She swallows, and looks to Jalis for a moment. "Umn. G-good evening, Weyrwoman."
Jalis easily pulls off her leathers, stripping to nudity with no self-conciousness apparent. She walks over, shivering a little in the air before slipping into the water with the two other girls. She turns her head, pulling slick hair out of her face. "Going to join us, Tarrant?" Poor Tarrant, not only does he have to contend with a wet, nude, proddy Weyrwoman, but now there's two other wet and nude girls.
Tarrant enters, after a suitable time 'cooling off' walking around the Weyr. Lashes lowered rather demurely, the hunter quickly takes off his towel, and plunges into the waters. Only now looking back up, he notices Osasune, Ilesyn... and Jalis, of course. "Hello," he murmurs, leaning back against the side of the pool.
"Of course not," agrees Ilesyn, her response liquid, and following Osasune's works rapidly. "I could never claim to be perfect, but this is certainly an area I am well practiced in. I've been a Mindhealer for some turns, now." A short nod is made in greeting to Tarrant, her gap-toothed smile short-lived, another to Jalis as the Weyrwoman enters the pool. "Even so, Osasune, I think you would do well to listen to me."
"Y-yes," Osa murmurs, ducking her head and fidgeting with her hair combs. She glances sidelong at Tarrant, then to the Weyrwoman; back to Tarrant, and then hastily at the combs in her hands again.
Jalis points at the red-eyed Osasune. "You need a nice soak young lady. Get in the water." She suggests helpfully with a warm smile. She leans toward Tarrant, "Did you have a nice walk out in the cold?" Apparently she noticed him out there before she came to the baths.
Tarrant simply does not glance at Osasune for the moment. His eyes drift back and forth between Ilesyn and Jalis, distant but still habitually observing.
Tarrant blinks at Jalis, and then nods softly.
J'van ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
Ilesyn lifts a lopsided eyebrow, Tarrant's gaze drawing an expression of silently queried curiosity. "You should work on those things we talked about now, Osa," suggests the Mindhealer with a knowing smile, "Now is as good as ever, don't you think?" One of her feet is drawn out of the water, her leg stretched out, and then dropped back in with a splash.
K'dir ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
K'dir comes following J'van in. "You think?" he says, his tone clearly doubtful.
Tarrant sense that Ilesyn has something specific in mind for Osasune, and awards the Healer a half-smile.
Osasune exhales, and says, "Right. Advice. Soak." She carefully sets her hair combs down and stands up to struggle hurredly out of her dress. That done, she creeps toward one of the pools to lowers herself in.
J'van grins at K'dir as he follows him in, already tugging at his boots "Oh, she bites - I just doubt she'll bite you, so don't worry. Just get in and relax...that's the point of the exercise..right, Jalis?" This is called through the steam to the Weyrwoman, who is most likely alread ensconced.
Jalis splashes the water beside her as she spots K'dir and J'van. "K'dir, come here sit by me." She invites the greenrider with a warm, inviting smile. Most of her body is covered by water, except for her neck and shoulders. Tendrils of moist , red hair cling to her skin.
K'dir blushes as he gets the invitation from Jalis herself. "All right," he says softly, but still a bit hesitatingly. He goes over to one of the benches to pull off his boots and clothes. He quickly wraps a towel around him as he stands, and pads over to the pool to step in.
Ilesyn turns, so that she's now resting up against the edge of the pool she's in, rather than facing it side on - her position whilst she was talking to Osasune - stretching out languidly beneath the man-made waves of water. "Good girl," she remarks, approvingly, towards Osa, meanwhile lifting one hand to greet J'van and K'dir, and responding to Tarrant's half-smile with a wink.
"Such a crowd," Tarrant murmurs, words carrying quite well in the water-filled cavern. A nod to Ilesyn through the steam.
Jalis chuckles warmly and reaches over to touch Tarrant's bare shoulder, if he allows it. "Yes, its fun to sit and soak with others sometimes. What interesting conversations we have." She grins slyly at him. "Tarrant, who taught you your hunting skills?"
Osasune settles into the water, sitting on a little ledge in her pool. She remains quiet, eyes wide.
J'van steps into the warm water after divesting himself of his own clothes and settles into the heated liquid with a sigh of pleasure "Mmm...nothing better on a cold day - I bet Eliwys wishes she were doing this" Or perhaps not, since the goldrider is somewhat shy of crowds of nakedness. He smiles through the steam "Don't be bashful, K'dir, just hop on in - without the towel" He advises with a chuckle before peering about "Let's see..you I don't know' He directs at Osasune, "And is that Ilesyn? It looks like Ilesyn."
Tarrant allows the touch, though it burns him inside. Glad of the water, he stretches idly. "My mentor - Kurran. He's retired at one of those minor holds in the South, now. Haven't heard from him in 4 Turns."
Jalis nods her head and says "What do you like hunting with best? Arrows? Slings? Pits and traps or snares?" She wonders, curious. "My brother and I used to set snares in the jungle when we were younger." She says with a sharing smile.
"I hardly look like anyone else, Weyrleader," agrees Ilesyn, her voice fairly readily affirming J'van's statement. "Osasune, says something. The object of this is to be confident, if you recall what we have been talking about, hmm?"
Tarrant can't help overhearing Ilesyn's comment, and his eyes flit briefly to Osasune. The to Jalis: "Mm. I think I like the bow the best. It's the most fair method of hunting, in my mind. And it relies on accuracy more than brute strength."
Tarrant pages to K'dir, J'van, Jalis, Osasune and Ilesyn: Then...
"Uh. I'm, um. Osasune. Or Osa, some people call me Osa..." Osasune blathers to J'van.
J'van chuckles at Ilesyn's common sensical answer "It is indeed you, with that kind of answer. Osa, is it?" he looks towards the other girl "If she's teaching you self-confidence, you'll be fine in no time. A pleasure to meet you" he says easily "That shy young man attempting to get in the pool is K'dir, if you haven't met him yet." he points out, assuming she already has met Tarrant and Jalis.
Jalis nods in avid interest. "I'd like to see your skill some day." She says with warmth. She leans back then, resting in the smoothed niche in the bath. "I love these baths." She says with languid pleasure. "They're so nice."
K'dir sits in the midst of the Weyr's great leaders, and sort of just crouches in the warm water, listening, looking from one speaker to the other, quietly listening, and trying to relax. He wraps his arms around his knees. He gives a little wave to Osasuna. "We've met," he says with a pleasant smile. "Tarrant and I were playing and singing for her in the Living Cavern the other evening."
"I'm, um... I've met them," Osasune says, snuffling a little at the end of her sentence. "You must be Weyrleader J'van." She tries to smile.
Ilesyn smiles, her tongue visible through the gap where her two front teeth should be, although she comments, to J'van and Osasune both, "But only she listens, and pays attention." She splashes some water up about her shoulders, which emerges out of the water, ducking back to dunk her hair in, which leaves it lank and dripping in unattractive clumps about her head.
Tarrant nods at Weyrwoman. "Whenever the weather allows, Jalis." Another glance at Osasune, and he sinks further into the waters, groaning a bit as his muscles loosen.
K'dir says "You feeling all right, Tarrant?"
J'van splashes at Ilesyn "Having one person listen and pay attention to you is a good thing - sometimes I don't think anyone listens to me.." He points out, with a smile for Osasune "Did you enjoy their playing the other evening? K'dir and Tarrant, that is."
Jalis gives J'van a look of disgust as she opens her eyes from their closed state. "I listen to you, J'van." She protests.
Tarrant blinks at k'dir, smiling slightly at the greenrider. "Yeah, Kav. Just nice to relax and soak the time away, for once."
Osasune's forehead wrinkles a little, and she nods. "They're very good. Very talented, both of them. Umn."
Ilesyn hesitates, and then splashes back at J'van, commenting, "If you are ever in need of someone to spill your woes to, I can offer my services, Weyrleader. It is my job, after all." She lifts her head, glancing from Jalis to J'van, and then back, lips twisting into a smile. Osasune's conversation draws a glance, too, something of approval and satisfaction showing within her expression-- if the girl is talking, then it must be all her doing, perhaps.
K'dir nods at Tarrant, glad his friend is feeling and looking so much better, and gives a little smile to Osasuna. "Thank you," he says softly.
J'van laughs 'And there she goes, proving me wrong." He says, relaxing into the water further, so it comes up to his chin "I must be honored indeed, to have such a lovely lady listen to me." He muses further, before nodding to Osa "So I hear - Sanriel is always going on about K'dir's talents.." he notes, before directing his gaze to Ilesyn with a smile "I appreciate that, actually - sometimes it's hard to find someone to talk to when you are a Weyrleader....they seem to think you don't have any problems. L'in's fair as a listener, but his solutions usually involve getting plastered, which Eliwys doesn't appreciate..."
"You're, um, welcome," Osa stammers to K'dir. A pause, and then she blurts, "Don't forget about teaching me some of that!" She glances over at J'van, trying to smile again, though it looks a little sickly.
Tarrant nods politely to Osasune. "Thank you." Finally, all his previous... tension is easing away into the warm waters. Faranth-be-praised.
Jalis smiles again and looks completely relaxed. She sits up slightly and says, "Ilesyn, how have you been?" Then she says "Making friends with our new resident, Osasune I saw?" She gives the girl a smile.
"I should think that leadership would ensure that a person has more problems than ever!" insists Ilesyn with a solemn, serious nod of her head, for emphasis. "I imagine feeling that no one listens is a helpless, frustrating experience, stemming from-- hmm, perhaps insecurities as to whether you're doing a good enough job." She'd go on, but she interrupts herself to respond to Jalis; "I am, and have been, well thank you, Weyrwoman. I've been working with Osasune, certainly. I'm not sure if that counts as being friends, but I am doing my best."
"You're welcome," Osa says to Tarrant, quietly, with a sheepish look his way. And then she flushes somewhat, glancing over at Jalis.
Jalis looks perplexed, "Working with her? She looks fine to me." She smiles at Osasune. "Well adjusted and smart seeming."
K'dir gives a bit of a giggle, and looks as if he is about to losen up a bit. "All right," he says. I will...next time we can get together," he says to Osasuna. Then he catches J'van's thoughts that perhaps Ilesyn has voiced. He turns to look the WeyrLeader in his eyes. "I think you're doing a good job!" he says.
Tarrant simply observes quietly. A nod at J'van is his comment. Stray thoughts keep ruffling the calmness of his personal waters, however. The hunter certainly doesn't care to be so at the mercy of his mercurial hormones.
J'van eyes what bits of Osa he can see "She looks fine to me, too.." He murmurs "A nice looking young lady - but a bit shy, I think?" he suggests, looking at Ilesyn "Which I'm sure you can help her with, along with the confidence. And you are right - leadership brings extra responsibilities, I admit, but mine do not weigh me down overly much in the main." He looks over at Jalis "What about you, Weyrwoman? Do you feel overstressed?" he queries, before sending K'dir a grateful smile "And there - that makes all the difference, really. When people let you know you aren't screwing things up entirely. Thank you, K'dir." He murmurs.
Jalis suddenly interrupts everyone to announce with a sigh. "Oh dear. Shards. Ceristh's woke up." She looks disappointed. "She's wanting some attention for herself now." She sits up more fully. "I guess I'll have to get that massage from Tarrant later." She looks even more unhappy, "But for now I need to postpone." She stands up and turns, grabbing a towel to shield her body after the brief flash.
Ilesyn shakes her head, lips tightening to a sharp, indecisive expression - something right between a smile and a frown. "She, like all of us, has her share of personal insecurities and inadequacies. Perhaps what makes her different is that she admits to them, and is willing to work at fixing them-- or at least listening to suggestions." She nods sagely towards J'van, agreeing, "Indeed. That is where we are starting out work." She raises a hand after Jalis, adding to J'van, "Perhaps. Perhaps not. The subconscious - and the unconscious - can show interesting things."
K'dir smiles back at J'van. At Jalis' wods however, he frowns. a disappointed, "Awww," escapes him.
Jalis pulls her robe around her and takes her clothing as she hurries. "I will definitely do that Tarrant. I look forward to it. Perhaps tomorrow?" Tomorrow she may be even worse. Poor Tarrant.
"Um. Um. Good evening, Weyrwoman," Osa squeaks.
Jalis walks off towards to the cooler climes of the eastern cavern.
"Perhaps," Tarrant murmurs, not willing to bet his life on Jalis' mercurial tempers.
J'van smiles slightly as J'van gets out, raising a hand in farewell for the goldrider before nodding to Ilesyn "I'd imagine that's half the battle right there.." he murmurs.
"It is," says Ilesyn, quickly, and rather forcefully. "Which is unfortunate, although I suppose, for the continuance of my craft, a necessity." Her gaze is lifted, idly, to scan about the pools, as she runs fingers through the water, leaning up against the smooth edge, her neck resting there lazily.
K'dir looks up at Ilesyn, having copletely lost track of what she is talking about. Maybe something else was on his mind. Selective hearing, perhaps.
Now that he's not needed, Tarrant grabs his own towel, rising quickly from the pool to knot it about his waist. A long, leisurely stretch follows, and a sudden yawn. "Oy. I need to walk home, still. That was the best tonic after a long day." He takes up his clothes, and half-smiles to all those still in the room. "Good evening, everyone." And he pads softly from the main area, into the mist.
Tarrant disappears behind the door.
Osasune mumbles, "Good night, Tarrant," to Tarrant's back. Probably won't be heard, anyway.
J'van smiles a bit as it gets rather quiet, the sounds of water seeming most noticeable. "Well....it seems our proddy Weyrwoman took all the liveliness with her.." He teases lightly after a while of silence. "I imagine Ceristh will fly high and fast and soon..."
After Tarrant leaves, K'dir says, "I'm glad to see Tarrant is better. He was really sick there for a while." The concern shows in his voice. He looks down at the water. Beneath the steamy surface, one leg kicks idly back and forth. "Does it...Do things really get that crazy when Ceristh Flies?" he asks J'van.
Ilesyn, catching K'dir's glance at her, smiles wanly towards the greenrider, splashing at the water with lazy motions of her feet, and wiggles of her toes. She misses Tarrant's exit, but, noting J'van's words, comments, "A proddy rider seems always liable to be the centre of any gathering. I imagine it must be one of the instinctive reactions to proddiness. An interesting study, that could be."
Osasune blushes crimson. "Oh, no. A... a... gold mating flight?"
K'dir nods at Osasuna. "Worse than a Green's," he says softly.
J'van chuckles a bit at Osa "You make it sound a horrible thing - it isn't, really..." he notes, with a reproving glance to the greenrider. "No flight is something to denegrate - or it shouldn't be. After all, they are necessary, although emotions to tend to run higher when Ceristh takes to the skies..." He points out, then smiles at Ilesyn "I get the feeling, mindhealer, that you enjoy making a study of many things.." he notes conversationally.
Ilesyn nods sagely at Osasune. "Always an interesting time - not to be missed! The disappointed riders make interesting bed companions, and there are always plenty for all." Satisfied in this knowledge, the Mindhealer stretches her shoulders, lifting one hand to rub at a stiff muscle just to the left of the base of her neck. "You have the right of it there, Weyrleader, indeed. I enjoy long, detailed studies-- there is so much more depth that can be reached."
"I just, um, I'm just - from a hold. Southern Boll. It's much warmer there. Uh. Umn. Bed companions? Oh no. I don't have to yell again, do I?" Osa seems to want to try to shrink.
K'dir says quietly, thoughtfully, as his one foot kicks back and forth, "Actually, it was mostly just...very disorienting. I just remember being Sylviath. It's really weird because it isn't like you are flying on your dragon, you /are/ your dragon, as far as your mind is telling you. You as the rider cease to exist for a while."
J'van grins at Ilesyn "Makes me almost want to be a disappointed rider, mindhealer, just so I could...be your interesting bed companion." is said, only half-teasingly, before looking over at K'dir "Your first time, greenrider, is always going to seem that way. When you've been doing flights for a few Turns you will gain better control of the situation - or at least as much as you can hope to attain with a dragon's lust is leading the way." He flicks at the water and shifts to a more comfortable position before looking across at the healer again. "Isn't there enjoyment in things like this, though? Just sitting in warm water and letting things wash over you? Not everything has to be deep to be interesting..some of the most joyous things in life are the simplest."
"Cease to exist?" Osa repeats, quite red by now. She sinks lower in the water.
K'dir just shrugs. "I...kind of lost track of the "me" somewhere. I just saw what she saw, felt...I guess what she was feeling. It scared me at first, because I, I mean "me", never felt anything like that before. But being aware of flying like that...that was amazing! I felt so free and powerful. As for that other stuff..." he shrugs again, "I really don't remember anything that happened."
"I'm sure your weyrmate would be less than approving should you be said disappointed rider, Weyrleader, and you took me up on my general availability." Ilesyn remarks upon this with a straight face, lazing against the wall as she attempts to get more comfortable. "That, I believe, Osa, is just one part of being a rider. Again, I can only insist that it is a lifestyle I do not understand the appeal of." Smiling, she adds, "Most certainly, Weyrleader. The small pleasures are often some of the nicest."
Ilesyn listens to what K'dir says, her head tilted to the side-- interested, to the point of murmuring silent commentary to herself.
"Oh," Osa breathes. "That's... oh."
J'van frowns a bit at K'dir "Next time, youngling, I suggest you don't lose yourself quite so thoroughly - that leads to the point of no return. If you lose yourself completely in Sylviath, then you cannot control her - and if you cannot control her, you could find yourself losing you both to between or worse." He sends a faint smile towards the scarlet Osa before looking toward Ilesyn "oh, come now, mindhealer - you should know that flights do not count in such cases.." he murmurs. "And the appeal of the life cannot be told - it must be experienced. I, too, at one time thought being a dragonrider not something I'd want. Now I'd never go back." He wouldn't be complete without Rasnauth.
K'dir swallows at J'van's words. Lose Sylviath?! His most beautiful, perfect, and lovong dragon??!! He swallows. "How...how do I do that?" he asks.
Ilesyn's expression turns amused, as, languidly, she comments, "Certainly flights do not count, but I hardly believe that tasting my charms - negligible though they might be in some regards - instead of going home to your weyrmate would endear you to her. But... it would be your choice, of course. I'm hardly picky." Intregued, she tilts her head to the side, musing, "So they say - and yet, I cannot begin to understand it. What benefits can it have, to make the idea of losing one's life for others palatable." K'dir's distress draws her attention, too, although she says nothing, watching with an owlish expression of consideration. "It seems all very distant from our experience, does it not, Osasune?"
"Whahuh?" Osa stammers, head swivelling to regard Ilesyn. "Oh. Y-yes. Quite distant. I don't think I can imagine it properly."
"By keeping control, no matter how she resists you, K'dir." is said quietly "You will gain that as you mature, and your abilities to make Sylviath do what you wish will get stronger - but you have to have confidence in yourself and you have to be able to resist her. She'll fight you, too" He murmurs "They all do, when they are in the throes of lust." He adds, before smiling at Ilesyn "I'm beginning to think I'm not attractive to you.." He teases "But you are most likely right. Be assured, however, that if there was no Eliwys, I'd find your charms quite...palatable." He shrugs then, and shifts again, lower in the water. "As for what the draw of having a dragon is - you can't really know until that instant when one chooses you...and then you would know."
K'dir listens carefully to the WeyrLeader. He makes mental notes on how to keep things in mind next time...don't go without eating, keep concentrating...don't let those older Blue and Brown riders get to him when they start to tease him so much...He nods his head, and actually puts down the raises knee that he was hiding behind. "Having a dragon is so...exhilerating!" he explains to the two ladies. "It's a second voice in your head, minding you like a second concious that's a bit more aware of you for your own good. It's a second heart that beats in your breast and reminds you that you are loved, and you are important, even when you are tired and no one wants to talk to you. It's having someone who loves you unconditionally. It's security, absence of loneliness, sympathy, courage when you need it, reassurance...And J'van is right. Unless you experience it, you can't imagine what it is you are missing."
Osasune reaches for some sweetsand and distracts herself by scrubbing.
"I find 'attractive' to be an ambiguous - and even downright useless - term, I'm afraid," observes Ilesyn, "so you might be right in that thought of yours. I'll take your comment as a compliment, however. Thank you." Her expression verges upon being pleased, although she's lazy, seemingly unconcerned about the conversation as a whole. "I suppose," she agrees. "that the appeal must be in that moment, but it frustrates me - I have no desire, in fact, quite the opposite, to be a rider, even if I had it in me, but I should like to know, for my own knowledge, all the same." K'dir's words draw a nod. "It also means the potential of death, every few days, and the simple fact that you no longer have the choice of your occupation. It seems to me that to wish to be a dragonrider is to wish to be a hero." She rises, the water rushing off of her in rivers, as she steps from the pool to fetch a towel. "I've turned prune enough for one day. Good evening."
"So...we're a necessary evil?" K'dir asks Ilesyn. "Without dragonriders, most life would perish on this planet. We need the dragons. We sacrifice whatever to take the chance to help out. Not everybody should be a dragonrider. We need all kinds of people to survive. But...we do need dragonriders. Right, J'van?"
"Good evening," Osa squeaks at Ilesyn. "Umn. Thank you."
J'van shakes his head at Ilesyn "Not so, you know - many dragonriders carry on with whatever they were doing before they impressed, be it healing, harpering, smithing..." He waves a hand. "We don't always face death, after all - take winter, for instance - thread freezes, so we are not expected to risk life and limb during the coldest days." He points out, before nodding to K'dir "But fighting thread is the price we pay for the joy of being one with such incredible beings as dragons..." He agrees, his smile flashing as he watches Ilesyn get out "And a good evening to you - it's always good to talk to you.
"Not an evil - just not something I can understand. I respect your career, just as I hope you respect mine," explains Ilesyn, as she dries herself, putting her clothes on. "Exactly. Everyone is equally important. Yours just... seems an occupation more prone to heroism." Hesitating, she listens to J'van, finally nodding, "Perhaps. I don't know. Always good to catch up with you," she glance around, "All of you." She nods once, sagely, to Osa, almost smiling, "You're welcome. Drop by soon, Osa, and we'll do some more work. Good night."
You amble towards to the cooler climes of the eastern cavern.
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 11:13 AM