You amble towards to the steamy bathing cavern.
Osasune nods to K'dir, with whom she is sharing a bathing pool. Fickle splishes at the other end of it. "There you go; just M'ial, then. Nothing to feel poorly about. Er. Well, alright, it is something to feel poorly about, but it isn't as though the entire Weyr is saying you're icky."
K'dir says languidly, "I know. It just sort of bothered me, though." (More than he's willing to admit, evidently. It's been months, Sylviath hasn't shown any inclinations of rising again, and he's still harping on it.)
Ilesyn pads into the Cavern, unwrapping the robe that makes up her entire outfit so that she can drop it into a messy pile and step into the water without ceremony. It's only once in that she catches sight - and sound - of K'dir and Osasune, her head tilted in a sage nod towards both once she's immersed in water up to her neck.
"Maybe Ilesyn knows what you should do," Osasune says, raising an arm to wave to the Mindhealer cheerfully.
K'dir looks up from the water and sits up straighter suddenly. He looks around. "Hello, Ilesyn!" He says happily, and blushes.
"You're blushing, K'dir! Why are you blushing?" Ilesyn floats - for her lazy motions could hardly be called anything but - towards the pair, smiling toothlessly. "What might I know?"
"Umn, about M'ial and his not wanting Xinth to fly Sylviath," Osasune says. "And other related topics." She glances at K'dir, blinking. "You /are/ blushing," she notes.
K'dir smiles nervously and looks down. "You know," he says sheepishly, "J'van doesn't want us to talk about this." His gentle voice sounds flat in the stillness of the steamy room.
Osasune blinks. "Ooohhhh. Right." She sighs a little. "Else it's extra chores for me. I don't see why he doesn't want us to know, though."
Ilesyn's gaze narrows. "He doesn't? Neither does C'daer, of course. He's going to stiffle those weyrlings, with his attitude." She glances from Osa to K'dir, adding, "Extra chores? Why?"
The young greenrider observes, "There's only the three of us here...and it isn't like none of us have been exposed to it, anyway." He glanses over at Ilesyn, a fond look in his expression.
"I'm not sure why I'd have extra chores," Osasune mumbles. She nods to K'dir. "That's why I was so stammery and nervous. Didn't seem like anything I said was right."
"Confusing," is Ilesyn's only remark, made with a shake of her head. "I'm not sure I quite understand." K'dir's fond look is met with a narrowly curved smile - soft, almost, though not enthusiastically so.
K'dir says, "I've felt that way, too. YOu get that a lot as a Weyrling.."
Osasune grimaces a little. "Wheee. So I have that to look forward to if I Impress?" She wrinkles her nose. "I was just starting to get the hang of things, too, and being less... um... stammery and such."
Ilesyn rolls her eyes, as she sinks deeper into the water. "I'm not surprised. C'daer seems entirely that type, and Avila, for one, is no better. Apparently, though, weyrlinghood eventually gives you confidence. I'll be testing that theory, after you lot Impress, Osa."
K'dir smiles and silently chuckles. "Don't worry about it!" he says in a freindly voice. "I didn't mean to scare you. But when you do Impress, you can always talk to your dragon, and things get better. You just have to remember that being young, they have everything to learn, too. So in a way, it's like bringing up a younger sister. A very, very nice younger sister. Or brother, as the case may be. It's fun, really. You can tell them all sorts of things, and you're never lonely."
"Mmmmph," Osasune says. "Test subjects? Wouldn't that only work if you had, um, extensive studies of them... oh...." she trails off, blinking.
"Never wanted a younger sibling," remarks Ilesyn. "The older ones were bad enough. That's a good anaology, though, K'dir. I'll have to take note of it." She pours water over her head, hair falling in wooly, damp clumps about her face and down her neck. "Extensive studies, yes. I'm going to be observing you from day one, to day-- well, whatever."
K'dir says "Ilesyn, will you be combining what you observe directly from just this group of Candidates and Weyrlings, or will you also be including comparisons from other weyrlings you've watched over the Turns?"
Oh, the boy sounds so astute!
Osasune's nose wrinkles. "My younger siblings weren't really taken care of at all by me. The same siblings that raised me raised them. They were the good child-raisers." She makes a bit of a face.
Ilesyn pushes a thick tendril of hair behind her ear, where it sits looking folorn. "You were raised by your siblings, too, Osa?" she queries. "I didn't know that. I would, K'dir, save for the fact that I haven't really watched weyrlings before. It's difficult to get close. I wouldn't be able to manage it this time, if it weren't for C'daer's support of the project."
K'dir thinks for a moment. "Oh, that's right. I hardly noticed that it was just us alone in there." He gives a little laugh, his eyes sort of sparkly and unfocued. "Yes, it was," he says softly.
"Right. My sisters, Nekare and Ederra, watched after quite a few of the Hold's children," Osasune explains. "My parents were usually busy with their... parent-y things. Ummn... does C'daer know precisely what you mean to do?"
Ilesyn nods, slowly, awarding K'dir with a quiet smile of sorts. "Ah," she agrees, in response to Osa, still smiling. "I don't like the idea of parents being too busy to look after their brats. Seems... well, not quite right. Of course he knows what I mean to do. He was the one that suggested it. I'll be just observing, and providing support, and doing," here, she grimaces, "odd chores, as well as drilling with you in what things I can manage."
"Oh. Well, umn, my parents had... um... lots of children, really. And Nekane and Ederra were, um, good people. Nice." Osasune looks a little uncomfortable. "Uhhm... Drilling with the Weyrlings? Reeeeaally? With, with push-ups and other stuff?"
Ilesyn's gaze narrows slightly, interest settled upon her features. "Why so uncomfortable about it? Do you resent something to do with your upbringing?" She sinks her hands back into the water, letting them rest about her sides. "Unfortunately," she agrees. "C'daer says its part of the weyrling experience. He even offered Kourieth to try and help me to do the dragon-related ones - but I don't think it'd work."
"Well, it could be interesting," Osasune says. She pauses, then murmurs, "I'm, um, maybe. A little. I just, uh... never really felt very, um, noticed. Unless it was for bad things. But that's not really a surprise."
K'dir says "You're from a big family, Osasune?"
"Ooooh, pretty big," Osasune replies, nodding.
K'dir says "Really? How many?"
"Interesting. Well, yes." Ilesyn listens to Osa, adding, "Ah. You wanted to be recognised, not just one of a group. Which is, again, why you accepted search. At least you're willing to admit to it."
Gretta ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
K'dir says "I guess there are a lot of reasons for accepting being Searched. Can there be a bad reason, you think? Hello, Gretta."
"I did admit it, yes," Osasune informs the other two. She's in a bathing pool, same as K'dir; Fickle's at the other end. Ilesyn is nearby, possibly in the same pool. "Let's see... there was Nekane, Asier, Ederra, Jurre, Jakes, Luken, Josune, me, and then Saioa. At last count, anyway."
"Wanting to be a hero," declares Ilesyn. "/That/ is a bad reason. Wanting to be great, and powerful, and wonderful. Fardles, Osa, your family is even bigger than mine. I was the sixth, and the last." She's in the same pool, nearby, though not obsessively close, to the other two.
K'dir turns to sit sideways, one arm leaning on the edge of the pool. "Now /that's/ a good answer," he admits, pointing to Ilesyn. "Thse are the guys who usually make the most mistakes and end up getting scored right off."
"Do you think," Gretta muses, undressing quickly and hurriedly entering the same pool as the three, "that trying to -- get away from something else is a bad reason, as well?" Then, as a belated greeting, she offers a nod even as she immerses herself up to her chin.
"Gretta!" Osasune says cheerfully, waving a little. "Ummmn. Trying to get away from... from what?"
Ilesyn rests her neck against the edge of the pool, her naked body mostly hidden beneath the water - only her neck and above visible above it. "I can only imagine that that's true, K'dir. Dangerous, really." Gretta's question draws a hesitant expression, somewhat musing. "I think so. It doesn't really involve thinking through the consequences, in such a situation."
K'dir says "Your intentions supposedly have something to do with what dragon chooses you. Like attracts like."
"From, well." Gretta hadn't thought that far. "From -- a job? A relationship? A confrontation, maybe, with someone back home? I don't know..." Tilting her head to the side, she lets her hair float more in the water. "By the way -- have you written to your family? About Standing?"
Osasune grimaces a little. "I'm going to. Soon. Really!" She sighs, sinking down lower into the water, hair floating up to lie like twisting snakes on the surface of the water. "I don't know if you have to... to Stand to get away from such things, Gretta. Maybe just going... somewhere and doing something else is sufficient." She smiles a little, gently.
K'dir says "But if you are honored to be Searched, isn't it just sort of, well, isn't the curiousity alone overpowering? I mean, if a dragon thinks you're rider material, don't you just want to find out?"
"I don't know if that follows through, K'dir," comments Ilesyn, lazily. "I mean, Eliwys isn't at all like Leyrith, is she? Opposites can attract, too. I think Osa's right, though. Doing something else, getting away some other way, is more than sufficient. It isn't a good escape method - and it's abusing the system." Like Ilesyn is. But that's... different. "Not me, K'dir. But I suppose it may be true, for some."
"Probably," Gretta agrees with Osasune, lips curved into a smile. For a moment, she's still, relaxing in the warmth of the waters and listening with a neutral expression. However, the candidate does murmur, looking at the water, "I think that's the only reason I have for why I agreed to Stand: that curiosity. That -- 'what if?'." Her gaze focuses back on the others. "Other than that," she continues, louder, "I don't really know /why/ I said yes."
K'dir nods at Ilesyn's comments. She's good to talk to.
Osasune smiles a bit, nodding. "I'm sure, um, there are some interesting theories on that," she remarks, gaze sliding sidelong toward Ilesyn.
"Interesting theories on a great many different things," remarks Ilesyn lazily, a smile flashed towards Osa, another to K'dir, and then to Gretta. She sinks lower still, eyes closing against the warmth of the water.
K'dir states, suddenly, out of the blue. "I was almost going to be handfasted to a woman nearly twice her age who may have killed her previous husband."
"What?" Osasune exclaims, eyes going huge at K'dir's remark. "You're kidding!"
Gretta's mouth was open, ready to speak -- yet at K'dir's words, she promptly shuts her mouth and stares at him. "Oh," she manages at last. "That's... interesting. Didn't you want to find out if she really had?"
Ilesyn, opening up her mouth to say something, shuts it again with a snap. "You never mentioned /that/ before, K'dir," she murmurs.
K'dir says "She has a terrible temper, already has several kids, all bad mouthed and bad mannered, and she's overweight. Grossly so. But she has land. My father..." now his voice starts to trail and get softer. "My father wants to have land, something to sustain him when he's older. This woman's husband had been missing for over a Turn...or close to a Turn. I think he just ran away. Other people said that wasn't alive any more. SHe...she needed a new husband to help support her...and she had land, and...well...my older brothers are already married, so...."
"You're /not/ kidding," Osasune marvels. "You would have gone through with it? Or did you have a choice? Does Avila know? She'd want to put it in a scroll."
Gretta shakes her head in dismay. "How -- /awful/." Then, using K'dir as an example, she adds, "And see? Perhaps someone in the same situation, who felt that they couldn't get away, was Searched and used candidacy to -- avoid a situation like that." Brown eyes flicker K'dir-wards, and she's quick to add, sincerely, "I'm not implying you did as such, by the way, K'dir."
K'dir says "Oh, jays! DOn't /ever/ tell Avila! No...I didn't go through with it! My uncle talked my father out of it. She was a full ten Turns older than me. I was only fourteen!"
"Avila wants to put everything on a scroll. She's probably going to put C'daer and I on one, next." Ilesyn wrinkles her nose, head shaking. "That's awful, K'dir. That must have been-- well, traumatic. It must have made you very unhappy."
"Why was this woman willing to marry a fourteen year old boy?" Osasune whispers, aghast.
K'dir says "Because I was available, I guess...and a virgin...and small enough to be intimidated by her."
Gretta shudders, too, at Osasune's comment; with K'dir's further explanations, she shakes her head and clears her throat. But she spares herself from thinking more on that tragic topic; she peers at Ilesyn, for a moment, then asks her: "Does /your/ family know you're Standing, Ilesyn?"
Ilesyn winces. "/She/ needed Mindhealing, and your father, for being willing to do such a thing. Of course," she adds, somewhat thoughtfully. "I'm nearly twenty-four, and I was willing to sleep with you, K'dir. That's not the same, and you're older now, but some would consider that to be... less than savory." Gretta's question draws a shake of her head. "My family and I aren't in contact, much."
Osasune gulps. "You - wha - you were willing to - w-with K'dir?" She's flushing.
K'dir doesn't blink at Ilesyn's open admittance of her being with him. He just smiles fondly at her, then answers Osasune. "I was a rider by then, and Sylviath had already made her first Flight. Ilesyn helped me out. I needed the help, and I was willing to go to her for it, and she was willing to help me. And we're friends. It wasn't anything that was forced on us."
Gretta gives a look, at that, which falls short of sympathy. "Oh," is the only comment she offers. Lowering herself under water, she wets her entire head of hair, and comes up with a little, little smile and a glance at Osasune.
"Needed h-help?" Osasune murmurs, crimson by now. "Uh. Uh. Oh."
"And I would be very pleased if no one would go around talking about it beyond here," he says, looking at the other two girls. "It was something very special, very healing, and it isn;t anything that I want to end up being treated like some trashy scroll."
"Faranth," Ilesyn mutters. "This is a /weyr/. I thought people were accepting about such things." She adds, more loudly, "Sorry, K'dir. I certainly didn't go blabbing about it, everywhere-- it just seemed to illustrate a point I was making to myself." A placid smile is made to both of the other girls, somewhat apologetic.
"I won't say anything," Osasune murmurs. "Umn." She peers down at the water, and murmurs, "I'm going to turn into a prune."
"Yes -- of course, of course," Gretta assures, drawing up her hand to absently rub at her other shoulder.
"Thank you. I appeciate that," he says softly.
Ilesyn nods, shortly, lifting herself partially out of the water - so that her neck isn't bearing the pressure, and she can lean back, but not quite so much.
Osasune starts to haul herself off to the water, murmuring, "I'd best get going. I'll see you all later." She smiles a little, and gathers a towel quickly.
"Oh, well -- goodbye, Osasune!" Gretta calls to the retreating candidate, lifting her hand to wave at her back. That same hand, then, reaches over to take some soapsand; she begins scrubbing her shoulders, arms, and neck, slowly, but methodically.
K'dir waves, wiggling his fingers. "LAter, Osa. It was very nice talking to you," he says sincerely.
Ilesyn lifts her hand after Osa, half-smiling, although she remains silent, eyes focused upon the water in front of her, and around her.
Osasune waves a little, dressing quickly and trotting out.
Osasune walks off towards to the cooler climes of the eastern cavern..
K'dir stretches out his limbs in the water, pulling mucsles and arching his back to let the muscles get a good, slow pull.
K'dir says "I like her. She's nice."
"Yes, very," agrees Gretta, nodding. Then, in an attempt to make conversation, Gretta -- again -- questions Ilesyn in a cool, casual tone. "Have you gotten to touch the eggs, yet?"
"Too nice?" Ilesyn considers this, but nods. "I like her, too." Drawing her arms out of the water, she lets them rest along the rim of the pool, shaking her head to answer Gretta's question. "No. I'm not much inclined to, to be honest."
"Mm, I've not, either." Gretta's immersed to her chest, now, gently splashing water onto her shoulders and neck to rinse off the soap. "Why do candidates touch the eggs, again? Does that increase their chances of Impression?"
K'dir says "It makes them less afraid of the dragons on the Sands. You are more at ease during the hatching if you've been out there with them before. Hatchings can be dangerous. There are a lot of wild, unfocued emotions coming from the dragonets, and a lot of excitement from the Gallery, and from the Candidates, and accidents can happen. If we...I mean, if you've been out on the Sands before, you aren't quite as unsure of yourself."
"Oh." Gretta looks a touch unsettled by this, but says nothing; she busies herself with rinsing a second time, despite having already washed the soap away.
Ilesyn gives a firm shake of her head. "I didn't touch the eggs at Monaco," she comments. "And I was fine. Perhaps it doesn't make much difference in the end, or perhaps it does. It might depend on the kind of person you are, too. Perhaps."
Gretta's at first encouraged by Ilesyn's words, nodding quickly. "Perhaps. I don't know how it will be, for me." The first sign that a thought strikes her is her eyebrows: they lift. She looks at Ilesyn. "You Stood at Monaco, too?"
K'dir says "There are a lot of factors that go into it that are too hard to figure out, I guess."
Ilesyn hesitates. "Ah. Er, yes, I did. The first draft of my paper was researched, there. The second draft will be done, here, allowing me great scope for comparisons."
"Oh, right." Gretta nods slowly. "Different perspectives -- different Weyrs. That'd be an interesting paper. If you don't Impress, that is." There's a smile there, though her head's lowered; she's amused at her last comment. But. "Tell me: how was candidacy at Monaco different from here, at Fort?"
Pennalyn ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
Sylural ambles in from the chill of the hallway.
K'dir is lounging in the heat of the water to try and stretch out tense muscles and hopefully relax.
Pennalyn bounces in, her general good mood undeterred by the fact that she's liberally spattered with mud. "Oh good, company," she says cheerfully, clothes coming off with remarkable speed. "I was afraid I was going to be bored. Hi everyone!"
"I won't." Ilesyn's quick to aver that, shaking her head. "I'm not dragonrider material - I don't /want/ to Impress. As to differences... Chores are different. The weather is different. There seemed to be less activity, down there. It was so hot that we didn't keep ourselves so busy." She glances up, nodding shortly towards Pennalyn.
K'dir looks over to one of his Weyrling companions. "Whatever were you doing, Penna? Giving your dragon a mud bath? Is it raining outside?"
"Swimming and sunbathing?" Gretta comments idly, flinging her arms out in the water. In the pool with the others, she turns, grinning a greeting to the dragonrider. She keeps talking to Ilesyn, though. "But you were Searched, weren't you? Chosen by the dragons? -- or did you ask to become a candidate to better study?"
Pennalyn's answers are muffled as muddy wherhides, coat, and shirt are peeled away. "We were flying sweeps, me and Teanth. And he said he wanted a break. I thought he meant a rest, catch a wherry, something. But he found this pond in the middle of nowhere. And when I wouldn't come in and play with him--because herdbeasts had been drinking there for Faranth knows how long--he splashed me. The big doofus." Story told, she slides into the water. "Maybe your dragons will be better behaved than mine," she suggests to Ilesyn and Gretta. If she heard Ilesyn's earlier comment about not Impressing, she's taken it as delirious ravings and ignored it.
Sylural skips in, face covered in the remains of her favorite snack, bubbly pie. She barely notices the others in the room yet, heading straight for the pool to dunk her face in preparation for scrubbing. She blows bubbles in the water gleefully before emerging, water dripping from wet curls, to lean her elbows on the edge of the pool. "Busy in here tonight. How come you all hadta come in here? Momma said I had to 'get rid of that mess on your face', so I am." She manages a near perfect imitation of her mother in the process.
K'dir makes a chuching sound, half in amusement, half in regret. "I don't think Sylviath would ever do anything like /that/ to me! She's too busy looking out for me."
Ilesyn nods, shortly. "Exactly," she agrees towards Gretta, beginning to rise out of the water - she's pruney, and her hair is drying in clumps around her face, making her even less attractive than usual. "I-- Well. I'm here to prove that I'm not insane, and do my research. My dragon doesn't exist, Pennalyn," she adds, smiling with a shrug. "So I doubt it shall be an issue. Evening, all. I've things to do."
K'dir says "As always, it was good talking with you, Ilesyn."
"Oh, well. Then." Then -- Gretta's points are moot, now, and she only nods goodbye to Ilesyn. The child, though, receives an amused grin. "I think you still have some on your cheek; I can't really tell." She squints a Sylural, then shrugs.
K'dir says "I suppose I should get out, too, now that my muscles have stopped twitching."
Ilesyn inclines her head forward, wrapping herself in her robe as she heads for the caverns.
You amble towards to the cooler climes of the eastern cavern..
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 04:48 PM