You amble eastwards to the center of the bowl.
K'dir is just readjusting a buckle that dangles from one of Sylviath's lines. He's pretty absorbed in what he's doing.
J'van escorts Andi through the fog, he wearing very little and she wearing most of her wardrobe, it seems. He smiles, however, as they come up on K'dir and Sylviath (a dragon being /very/ hard to miss, even in fog) "Evening, wingrider." is greeted.
K'dir almost jumps! He didn't hear anybody approaching, did he? Was he humming or singing t himself. He turns around quickly. "Hello, J'van! Andi!" he greets. "How you doing?"
Ilesyn scrunches a plain, brown blindfold between her hand, shoving it down into the waistband of her breeches as she crosses the bowl from the Weyrling Field. She peers through the fog, stepping closer to the group - though as yet, she's not seen them yet.
Andariel moves on through the foggy bowl with J'van, her hands clutching a long coat, which bulges terribly, shut. Spotting first dragon and then eventually rider, she grins and risks a small wave. "Evening K'dir. Sylviath."
J'van smiles at K'dir's startlement "Sorry about that - didn't mean to surprise you. I'm heading to the steam hut and Andariel had the same idea. What are you doing?" He wonders, then tilts his head as if he heard a noise - "Someone else there? Sharding fog makes it impossible to tell.." he murmurs to Andariel and K'dir. "And also seems to muffle sound. But I did hear something. I think." Or he's going crazy. Whichever.
K'dir looks about, then goes back to finishing with the buckle. "Just making a bit of an adjustment. I'ts fine now. Steam room sounds like a good idea."
"I might as well /still/ be wearing the sharding blindfold," calls Ilesyn, with amusement, as she works her way through the fog, attempting absently to push it out of her way without success.
Andariel nods, seemingly better about the idea if there'll be more people around. "You will come and join us wont you, there'll be plenty of towels there." As another voice cuts through the fog she turns vaguely in the direction it came from. "Ilesyn? That you?"
K'dir thinks about the offer for a moment. "It's all right?" he asks, looking a bit hesitantly at the WeyrLeader.
J'van laughs softly at Andariel's encouragement of K'dir's presence, then turns towards the voice "Sounds like Ilesyn" is his comment. "What were you wearing the blindfold for in the first place?" is called out into the thick air, before nodding to K'dir "Of course it's alright." He grins "Believe it or not, I have no designs on Andariel's person."
K'dir blinks and wonders abut blindfolds, too. Then he remembers. "Oh! It's part of an exercise, right?"
Andariel can't help but laugh a little at J'van's remark, adding in her own, "And I have no desire to be designed on, well not by dear J'van anyway."
Ilesyn nods - invisible though such an action is, through the fog. "Yes, that's me. It's one of the weyrling exercises. So we can see through their eyes, or something." Her voice sounds disgruntled, but steadily louder as she gets closer. "It's a pain."
J'van sends Andariel a wink "You would, if I put some effort into it" he teases with definite lack of humility before smiling at Ilesyn "Ah...I see. And how'd it work, this seeing through their eyes?" is wondered "You don't sound overly optimistic as to its efficacy. Maybe some time in the steam hut would help you regain your good humor? The more the merrier."
K'dir gives a quick arch to his eyebrows. "Oh, then I still have a chance?" he asks Andariel. teasing. Then he says to Ilesyn, "Oh, I thought that one was fun! Sylviath and I took turns stalking each other. She thought it was a great game. Maybe we could work together some time."
"Seems reasonably stupid to me," agrees Ilesyn, scrunching the blindfold further down into her belt. "He sees things oddly, and it still doesn't help me understand him better. Am I even allowed to go that far from the barracks?" she adds, lips curving in wry amusement at the banter between riders. "Stalking each other? That could be of interest, I suppose."
"J'van. And you a weyrmated man as well." Andariel feigns shock and horror, though her sudden outburst of giggling does rathr spoil the image. "Maybe you will K'dir, maybe." Although rumour has it she's rather taken with one of the weyrs records keepers. "Oh please come Ilesyn, really, it'll be more fun with another woman there. If you like I'll have Llianth keep an eye on your little one?"
J'van laughs at Andariel "From nervous innocent to naughty tease in one go, hmm?" is teased at the goldrider "You know what I meant, I think. And for you, Ilesyn, I will make special dispensation - I'm giving you permission to go to the steam hut if you wish."
K'dir says "Please come withus, Ilesyn."
Ilesyn's eyes light, something more of a smile curving about her lips. "Thank you, Weyrleader. I shan't refuse such a magnanimous offer." The weyrling draws one step closer, adding, "I wouldn't want to leave you all alone with the big bad men, Andi. I should think he'll be all right," assumedly, this is Nallath, "since he's asleep, but if she could, that would be a relief, thank you."
Andariel really looks shocked this time. "But I wasn't teasing. I didn't mean to... I just meant that..." She blushes hotly and turns to Ilesyn, muttering a quick "Thanks." before saying, much louder "He should be fine but I'll get her to check on him from time to time just to be sure. And that way you can have a bit of a relax, it's a rare thing for a weyrling."
K'dir turns his head this way and that, looking for the big bad men. Seems safe enough. Sylviath looks around, too...then makes a little chuckling sound from deep in her throat. Funny!
J'van grins at Andariel's blush and then nods to Ilesyn "Anytime - so long as you dno't call me sir or Weyrleader while we are in there. J'van will do nicely in such an informal setting." Especially since he's planning on being mostly naked. "Shall we go? I'd rather steam then fog clog my lungs tonight."
"Thank you," says Ilesyn, in quick response to Andariel. "That is a relief. It's-- all very wearying." And for more than physical reasons, no doubt. "As you wish, J'van. I just wouldn't want to get myself in trouble for being less than respectful." She takes another step forward. "All right, let's go."
K'dir pats his dragon and smiles up at her, and follows along.
Andariel nods, moving to get in step with Ilesyn. "At least the steam room will be warm and sortof foggy, not cold and foggy. Let's go."
[Scene changes to the steam room]
J'van chuckles as he enters the steam hut first "As long as you remember to be formal at the proper times, Ilesyn, calling me J'van is fine. I hate 'sir.'" With a passion, actually "Makes me feel old and like my father, which is definitely something I have no wish to feel." As he steps in he moves to the water bucket, pouring some of it on the rocks to make the steam, and draws off his robe - quickly slipping the towel in place low on his hips for Andariel's sake. "Ah....this is much better." He states, moving towards one of the benches.
Ilesyn is unprepared for sitting in the steam room, but draws off her jacket and boots, setting them aside to sit in her grubby clothes, knees brought up towards her chest. "I will remember," she promises J'van. "I've never liked being called ma'am-- at least, I never did. I don't suppose I'll get that for some time, now." She settles back, gaze resting first upon J'van, then Andariel, then K'dir - a smile for the last, before she returns her gaze to her bare toes.
Andariel drops off her coat on one of the benches outside beofre moving into the steam room and revelkaing herself to be clad in her usual for the steam room, a long towelling robe, a towel and a bathing suit. Prodding an extra log into the fire she stands beside it for a moment or two regaining a bit of heat and then moves off to sit on one of the benches opposite the one J'van has chosen.
K'dir has to shimmy out of his clothes, trying to do it quickly behind a large towel. He ends up getting himself tangled up in shirtsleeves and pants legs for a bit. He blushes, and smiles, trying to not look too ridiculous, but still be modest at the same time.
J'van grins as he watches K'dir, then raises a brow at Ilesyn "Weyrling, you are going to roast if you remain in that garb - just take it off...no one here cares, I'm sure. Besides, the steam can't get the dirt from your pores if you don't undress." He leans his head back against the wall, eyes closing "I won't even watch, since you aren't armed with half your wardrobe like Andariel seems to be."
"If you call me weyrling, I'm going to have to call your sir," threatens Ilesyn, though she follows the advice she's given, stripping down without heed for modesty; evidently, it's not modesty that had her hesitate in the first instance. "How very gentlemanly of you, indeed."
"I am /not/ armed with half my wardrobe. I'd look a bit silly if I was, it's made of wood." Andariel chuckles at her attempt at a joke, but it's cut short as Ilesyn strips. "You can... borrow my towel if you'd like Ilesyn? I don't really need it." And after a moments fumbling under her robe a large fluffy towel is produced and offered over in vaguely the right direction, as Andariel turns her head the other way.
K'dir gives up and just tosses the towel over his head. From beneath it, his clothes are dropped to the floor. As a white fluffly cloud shape, or ghost shape, he bends down to gather up his clothes, give then a shake and hang them up as far away fromt he stea as he can. Then he does to sit down on a bench. He climbs up onto it, and gathers himself up beside Ilesyn, He tugs the towel about him till his face shows.
J'van opens his eyes, peering over at Ilesyn "Fair enough..." he agrees on the whole title thing "You look more comfortable, by the way....really, Andi - you are going to swelter in all that clothing, wooden or woolen or otherwise. It's just skin and bones and muscle and I promise, /I/ am not going to be overcome with lust when I see you - K'dir, how about you? Think you can control yourself?"
K'dir says "Huh?"
Ilesyn's voice is cheerful, as she calls towards Andi, accepting the towel nonetheless, "Does the sight of me embarrass you? All right, all right." The towel is draped about herself, head turning so that she can smile at K'dir once again as he sits beside her. "I feel more comfortable, too," she notes, adding to Andi, "I don't think I'll be overcome with lust, either. You're perfectly safe."
K'dir says "Hey...what about me? Am /I/ safe?"
Andariel laughs, slightly nervously. "It's nothing to do with lust, or... or anything. I'm just... I still think like a holder at times." She shrugs out of her robe and drapes it over her knees leaving her clad in a bathing costume. "That better? I promise I won't pass out from heat with this on." A grin quickly spreads as she nods to K'dir. "Safe from me, I don't know about the others."
K'dir says "Awww...shucks!"
J'van opens one of the eyes he has closed again, just to look at K'dir "You are definitely safe from me.." He murmurs "My tastes run to the ladies, lad - and one lady in particular, which makes you /all/ fairly safe from any lustful thoughts I might wish to put into action.." He chuckles at the greenrider's disappointment, his eye closing again after first inspecting Andariel "Much better, Andi - I'm not worried about having to rescucitate you when you faint from the heat now."
"I guess everyone is safe from me - even you, K'dir - for the moment," announces Ilesyn, and not without a note of disappointment in her voice. "I bet I could work you through that, Andi, if only-- well, anyway." She goes silent, wiggling her toes against the damp wood beneath them.
K'dir says "Well, you know me, just a wild and crazy guy." He settles back on the bench, slouching. He scritches around, trying to get comfortable, continuously tucking and retucking the towel around him, tugging wrinkles out and tucking in corners, till he looks like something in a white cuccoon. He glanses over at Ilesyn and says softly, in answer to her comment, "More's the pity."
Andariel laughs, "Last person that said he could work me through that ended up as a patient of yours I think. He certainly left a large dent in the serving tray I hit him with anyway."
J'van raises a brow at the young greenrider's comment, overheard. "You sound proddy, K'dir - is it time for Sylviath to rise,or have you just found an over-abundant source of hormones?" is asked in idly teasing tones before he opens his eyes fully to look over at the weyrling K'dir sits next to, his expression thoughtful "one gets the idea, Ilesyn, that you are not overly happy about impressing." he comments, before he chuckles at Andariel "Remind me to thank Rasnauth for not chasing Llianth when she rises."
Ilesyn's expression turns increasingly rueful, especially upon K'dir's soft comment, though to her credit she says nothing more. "I'm rather sure /his/ approach was rather different than mine i-- would have been," Ilesyn corrects herself, part of the way through her statement. Is, was, would have been. "Uh, happy. That's a difficult word. Awed, yes. Surprised, yes. Happy? Difficult."
Andariel chuckles. "I know Ilesyn, I wasn't trying to say you would do it the same way." She grins over at J'van. "If she rises. I'm hoping that instinct's been completely suppressed in her, safer for everyone."
K'dir just laughs and blushes. Mild mannered, mannerly little K'dir just shakes his head at J'van's question. "I don't know," he says innocently enough. After the last Flight, and the reaction he got the next morning, it's more of a thing that makes him feel entirely uneasy. "It's up to Sylviath."
J'van smiles at Andariel "She will rise, Andi - never fear." Or do fear, depending on how you feel about it. "The instinct can only be muted or inhibited, but never suppressed completely...be careful, K'dir - you can stimulate that instinct as well." He murmurs to the greenrider before shifting on his bench, moving to lay on his back with one leg bent, the towel slipping a bit farther down his hips. "Ilesyn...you are the only one who can decide you are happy - make it as difficult or as easy as you want. I imagine it will be easier when you accept your life has changed - perhaps not for what you consider the better, but it has changed. Make the most of what you have, and you will be content."
"I know you weren't," agrees Ilesyn, lips pulling into a smile for Andariel. "Oh, I can't help but accept that it's changed, J'van. It's a matter of getting used to that changed state." Her brow furrows - she wraps her arms more tightly about her legs, as if clinging in comfort. "I'm not /unhappy/. It's just not an easy transition - from doing what I love, to doing what I always claimed I did not understand, and would never want."
Andariel pulls her robe a little higher, tucking it more round her waist than just over her knees. "Well a girl can hope can't she J'van, although I have a good turn or so left before she'll be thinking about apparently. Who knows what'll happen by then."
K'dir nods at the WeyrLeader, not sure that he's understood everything the man intended. But to Ilesyn he says, "Il;esyn, consider that you could have kept going in the same direction you were already headed, and that would pretty much have defined your life. But by being chosen by a dragon, you now have another direction to go in, one that has moe chances for you to learn and grow as an individual. Or as a team, more correctly, because that's what you are. In fact, doing that blindfold exercise with Nallath will help you to learn how to work together. It's not just you seeing yourself through his eyes. It's you seeing him seeing you. You both sort of..." and he considers the image here, "you both sort of filter through each other, and in a way become one force, greater than either of you would be on your own. There's a word for that...but I can't remember what it is."
J'van's eyes open to look at K'dir with speculation and admiration "Very nicely put, young one. He has a point, Ilesyn" This to the weyrling. "And it isn't as if you have to put what you loved to do away forever...there will be time when weyrlinghood is over to continue your work in mindhealing - and this time with more accurate information on why riders are how they are. I think it will be a beneficial experience in the long run." He smiles "And you'll find you are never alone, now." Which might have been the case before, right? Then he tilts his head to look at Andariel "I look forward to seeing what you are like when she does rise, Andi." is said to the goldrider, a gleam in his eye. What fun!
Ilesyn, dryly, notes in response to Andariel, "Let's just hope that there's no interest from--" she indicates her head outside of the steam baths, apparently meaning Nallath. "For your sake, anyway." K'dir's spiel draws her attention; head tilted to the side, she listens, nodding slowly. "I suppose," she agrees, not quite as morose - though still not exactly excited at the entire issue.
Andariel chuckles. "Ah, but I thought you didn't want to be around J'van?" She doesn't really acknowledge Ilesyns hint about Nallath as she stands and shrugs her robe back on. "Anyway, I'm going to head off, I have ... things I should be doing." And before anyone can ask what things, she's off out the door.
Andariel comes out of the steam room.
K'dir shrugs and looks over at Ilesyn. "Don't worry," he says. "The young dragons don't seem to understand any of that, or just plain don't take an interest. So you're safe."
"Around, not participating..." is J'van's response to the goldrider, although Andariel disappears before she can hear it. He grins, looking over at his remaining companions. "Understand what?" is wondered. Did he miss a topic?
"But if Llianth rises in a turn or so..." Ilesyn shrugs her shoulders, lazily. "Whatever. /That/, at least, doesn't fuss me in the slightest." Stretching her neck, she adds, "Flights, J'van."
K'dir looks over at J'van. "I remember what you said about not losing contact with your dragon during a Flight, J'van. But...it is still very unsettling."
J'van ahhs. "That's right...brownrider, goldrider. It could happen. If it does, I imagine you will both survive.." He muses to Ilesyn, before quirking a glance at K'dir "Why is it unsettling?" is wondered. "It's a necessity more than anything."
Ilesyn's head is nodded, slowly. "Unlikely, but not impossible. I don't imagine it would bother me much at all - though I can't imagine that Andariel would be much enamoured by the idea," she muses. "Not something that really requires much consideration, though, I suppose." Her head is tilted to the side again, as she listens to K'dir, and J'van's question.
K'dir tilts hs head this way and that considering. "It would just be nice," he says slowly, and a bit wistfully, "if I could look forward to being a bit more appreciated, is all."
J'van smiles at K'dir "Oh, well. Appreciation. That doesn't come with flights, necessarily. Although it does depend on who wins the flight." He hesitates a bit "Don't let your first flight and a perhaps not quite satisfying experience ruin them all for you, K'dir. You will find that each is different in and of itself - you take the good with the bad, then forget the bad and remember the good." if that makes any sense at all.
"That's just C'daer for you, K'dir. I don't think most riders are like that." Ilesyn speaks up only slightly, her words partially muffled by her hand as she resettles herself, hair sitting in damp clumps about her head.
Sanriel comes in from the lakeshore.
J'van is lying on a bench, a low-slung towel about his hips, sweating in the steam with Ilesyn and K'dir.
K'dir is sitting next to Ilesyn, all wrapped up in a huge white towel with only his face showing.
Sanriel gets an eyeful of J'van as she enters, and just... Wouldn't be a woman if she didn't stop to appreciate it for a moment. Noticing he others in the room after a moment, she says "Ummmm... Hello," and self-consciously pulls up her top.
K'dir smiles as Sanriel comes in, and tries tosit up a bit straighter, without pulling the towel off from around him at the same time.
Ilesyn's also wearing a towel, though just loosely; she's got her knees pulled up tight at her chest, her arms wrapped about them in turn.
J'van opens an eye at Sanriel's hello, and smiles "Hello, Harper...coming to join us in sweating? If so, throw a bit more water on? The steams getting a bit thin." He sighs, eyes closing again as he relaxes, one hand drifting down the bronzed skin of his stomach and wiping at the moisture there as he comments "She's probably right, K'dir - C'daer was probably just not ready to find himself in bed with another man. I know I had a similar reaction the one and only time it happened to me."
Sanriel complies, tossing a dipperfull f water on the stones before she moves to find a free spot on the bences, not too close to anyone but not too far to be in the middle of any action that may (or may not) occur. The subject matter elicits a thoughtful little headshake, and she asks "What's happened now?"
K'dir chews on his lower lip. Now that Sanriel is here, he's not sure how much he wants to say in her presence. "I just didn't think he'd act so...distant afterwards. After all the talk about how important it is for riders to work to gether, and how natural this all is, I felt..." He's silent for a while as the steam builds again..."very un-natural."
Ilesyn's gaze turns distracted. "Fardles, I'm coming," she mutters, drawing herself to her feet - the towel dropped part of the way before she realises, and clasps it again, going to fetch her clothes. "C'daer's an idiot in such matters, and you need to try and move on from it. For your sake, I hope Sylviath rises again soon, so that you can see it in a better light." Ilesyn being so very experienced in this subject - or something. "Excuse me. He calls."
K'dir looks alittle regretful as Ilesyn has to leave. "You're probably both very right," he comments. "Later, Ilesyn!"
"I'll see you soon, K'dir," promises the weyrling, her clothes draped about her as she heads back into the fog.
You go out to the cooler lakeshore.
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 04:59 PM