You amble eastwards to the bright and cheerful living caverns.
K'dir is filling his face full a bowl of rice and cashew chicken! He looks extrememly happy.
Ilesyn's walk in somewhat slow - she looks sore, and somewhat tired, but not patently unhappy. From the serving tables, she fills herself a bowl of the rice and cashew chicken, sniffing at it absently as she turns back to face the room. "You look exceedingly happy," she notes to K'dir, smiling as she finds herself a seat nearby.
K'dir looks up and, still chewing, his eyes light up and he waves like crazy. Then he gets up, runs over to you, and gives you a hug, Not too, tightly, but full of affection. He swallows. "Ilesyn! How are you and your lifemate doing? Make the adjustments all right? Need help?" Oh, he's so eager to give help!
Ilesyn manages to juggle her plate, and K'dir's hug, without dropping anything, something of a wry smile crossing her face as she leans into it. "I'm good, I guess. So's he. I guess we're coping as well as we can. It's still kind of-- confusing. How're you and Sylviath?"
K'dir releases his dear friend and leads her over to his table. "We're fine! Doing lots of drills, up early for Sweeps. Sure id god to come home to a meal like thism though. THis is one of my favorites!" He pulls out a chair for you.
Ilesyn's expression remains wry as she follows, accepting the seat and sinking in to it with a relieved sigh. "Is it? What is it?" Her bowl is given another, somewhat curious, glance, as she picks up her fork to dig in to it. "Right now, anything sounds good. Well. Anything except raw meat."
K'dir admits, "That can be a mess. Do you ever feel like your full after you've stuffed Nallath? And this is cashew chicken. A very, very ancient recipe."
"Often, but not for long. It takes so much energy - not to mention time - to get him full, that I always end up starving." Ilesyn pokes her fork through the rice and chicken, somewhat listless, though she picks up a forkful to chew on, adding, once she's swallowed, "Not bad."
K'dir nods. "I know what you mean," he says. "I thought Sylviath would be sort of lady like, being a green and all. But she put me to shame when it cmes to packing it in. And after I fed her, I usually just went to sleep. Then I'd wake up early in the morning, hungry. That didn't happen for too long, though. Is Nallth happy?"
Ilesyn admits, between mouthfuls, "He-- has to observe every piece of meat. From every angle. It takes /forever/, and he gets horribly messy. I get so tired, and so hungry, and it's /hard/." For a moment, she looks distinctly unhappy - sullen, quiet. "I think so. I mean, he does things that make him happy."
K'dir says "He'll start to look to you to be happy, too. Your emotions will influence him." He nods. "Don't feel afraid to tell him that it is all right to eat faster, and let him know that you are needing to eat, too. He will need to also adjust to you and your needs."
Ilesyn tilts her head to the side, hesitantly, "That's hard though, isn't it? He'll be upset, if he knows-- how I feel sometimes." Her fork stops moving, and she holds the bowl in one hand, her hand wavering slightly. "I'll try that. It's all hard."
K'dir says "No, it'll actually be easy once you've done it. When you feel tired, he's going to feel that. You can both get too tired to deal with anything that way. Share with him how you feel, and just share with him what would help. If you reassure him that the food you give him is the best that there is, and it is all right for him to just eat and enjoy it, and that /that/ will help you, he'll get the message."
Oooh, so young, and he speaks so sagely.
Ilesyn does not frequently come across so unsure, although that has changed of late - since Nallath. She nods, hesitantly. "I'll try. Anything that helps." Swallowing, she adds, somewhat shortly as she takes another forkful of her dinner towards her mouth, "Thanks."
K'dir nods as he shoves another bite into his mouth. "No problem."
"Was-- weyrlinghood hard for you?" Ilesyn queries, while chewing a mouthful of food. "I mean, was it what you expected, were you... happy? Beyond the initial lifemate factor thingy."
K'dir admits, once he swallows again, "The initial lifemate factor was...incredible! Sylviath and I had such a good time. She was playful, but always considerate of me. SHe has her ways. She always wanted to go out of the barracks first, was always reminding me to tie my bootlace, you know, things like that. I could always tell that she was watching over me. And here I was, trying to watch over her! If anything, dealing with Avila being overly frantic about things," and he lowers his voice and looks around, "and C'daer's pickiness..." Now he talks normally, "those were the hardest things to deal with."
Ilesyn sets her bowl down, still half full, her fork clattering against it. "So it was more the physical part that you found hard, than the emotional. Was it hard to get used to having Sylviath always there? Did you find it unnerving, at least at first?"
K'dir thinks about that for a long while. "I think, if I can remember that, I was surprised by the voice at first, but hungry for it. I kept finding myself being still for a moment, listening for her, to make sure that she was really there and I wasn't imagining things. And then when I did hear her talk to me, I'd feel so happy, that I could feel her being happy about it, and about me being happy, so it was like little Impressions all over again. Does that make sense?"
Ilesyn reflects, expression going vague as she considers this, musingly. "I suppose it does," she agrees. "It's somewhat different, for me. I mean, I don't expect him there. I don't look for him - but he's there, and I know it, and no matter how odd it feels, I'm not unhappy about it. Does that sound odd?"
K'dir shrugs. "I shouldn't think so. FInding your lifemate is sort of like finding another part of yourself. You fit together with him, or her, you compliment each other, so it just sort of feels proper, like something had been missing before, but now it's not."
"I guess so," agrees Ilesyn, after a pause. "It's certainly not like I imagined it would be, clinically speaking."
K'dir says "What were you supposing it would be like?"
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 04:58 PM