Osasune ambles in from the meadow.
Osasune's boots crunch on the snow as she walks, peering about herself curiously. Once she spots Ilesyn, she slows down. "Oh. Am I interrupting? I can go back, I just was curious about what was, um, here..." she looks over her shoulder.
Ilesyn's shoulders stiffen, but she's quick - rather too quick, perhaps - to wave her hand, easily, "Not at all. It's not, like, my private area or anything. Most people don't come down here, at this time of year, since the lake isn't quite frozen yet."
"People come here when the lake's frozen?" Osasune inquires, stepping closer. "I didn't know that. Umn. How are you?"
"To ice-skate," explains Ilesyn, calmly. "Dangerous, foolish sport. I'm all right." She draws her knees up to her chest, adding, "What about you? Getting used to all that new space?"
"I've heard of that," Osasune muses. "Blades. On feet. It does sound dangerous." She crouches down a few feet away from Ilesyn, a smile forming and spreading wider. "We really like the extra space a lot. And... I've never had a place of my own before. It's strange, but it's so nice. And I had a gift waiting there for me, it was a bunch of plates and bowls and things with dragons on them. Really beautiful. What's your weyr like? You must be happy to have your privacy back."
Ilesyn nods rapidly. "Very dangerous. And foolish. People can hit their heads, and things. And if the ice isn't thick enough..." She trails off, wrapping her arms about herself, disturbing the snow which has begun to coat the surface of her coat. "How very nice. I got a brain. And some inkblots, and other interesting things. I like it, yes. Do you find it lonely, if you're not used to it?"
"Lonely? We're still so busy, I haven't really had time to... and, well, I'm used to be surrounded by people and being lonely, so being on my own is even better, because there are less tunnel snake heads in my things. Not that anyone's done that for a few turns now, but that sort of thing leaves emotional scars, and I'm sorry, did you say... a brain?" Osasune blinks.
VIEW_BARREL:[space(5)]An oil barrel on one side of the ledge seems to have been used for a trash barrel; all sorts of stuff is jammed into it and some has overflowed onto the floor. However, while most of it is useless trash, there are some hidden treasures.. well, they might be treasures - to the right person. A book, carefully bound but molding at the edges, bears the title, "Master Arglot's Guide To Mindhealing Dragonriders," and there are an assortment of hides with sketches of animal brains and comments on the differences. Buried deep in the barrel, along with some interval-old meatrolls, is a jar with a preserved brain in it, labelled, "Southern Wherry." Less morbidly, under a pile of damaged scrolls about cooking, is a small leather book with inkblots and text on how to interpret people's answers about what those look like.
"Oh. Yes. I did. Wherry brain, very fascinating." By her expression, Ilesyn takes perverse pleasure in relating this. "Do you think that that emotional scarring, from the tunnelsnake heads, will make you less likely to ever trust anyone to share your space again? Just in case?"
C'daer goes out into the garden.
C'daer steps out of the pagoda, with an irritated look behind him into it.
"I don't know," Osa is telling Ilesyn; she's crouched by the brownrider by the water. "I sort of had to share space, always, so..." Her nose wrinkles. "K'dir says I don't let anyone get close. He says I make up so many reasons why they wouldn't that I convince myself they don't want to and then they can't."
Ilesyn has her knees pressing against her chest, her arms - and her coat - wrapping about them in turn. "K'dir might well be right. He's a wise young bird, that one. You need to stop worrying over it, and just /let/ things happen. Easier said than done, I suppose." C'daer's noticed through the corner of her eye, greeted with a short nod.
Ambling over the bridge, Daer notes the weyrlings and changes his course towards them; "Don't go in the pagoda, Cien has a dead fish. And hello."
"Easier said than done," Osasune murmurs, looking up at C'daer with a blink or two. "Weyrlingmaster," she greets. "Uh, Cien? Fire lizard?"
"Wonder what fish brains look like," muses Ilesyn, abruptly, turning her head about so as to face C'daer directly. "Could be interesting. I guess you just have to try, Osa, and maybe, in time, you'll get past it. Or, you can come up to my office, and we'll work on it together."
C'daer jerks his head towards the bridge, "Well, go and see," he says amiably to Ilesyn, "if you don't mind the stink. Right, Ci's mine," he adds, and plunks down on a rock. "Work on what?"
Osasune shrugs her shoulders. "Work on Osa, I guess. Your office? You still get to have your office, Ilesyn? Oh, that's nice!"
"My weyr," Ilesyn corrects, after a pause. "No, I don't get my office. The weyr'll do, though, I suppose." Her gaze is shifted back towards the pagoda, as if considering, but she notes, "It's probably not completely intact. I'd want a perfect one, for my collection."
Eyeing Ilesyn as if -her- brain was showing, Daer inquires delicately, "You have a collection?" He pulls his gloves off, setting them on his knees, and massages his fingers. "No reason you can't set up a little office in your weyr."
"Ooop. Well, your weyr works, too," Osasune says, flushing slightly. She looks toward the water, then suggests, "We could catch you a fish and... um... get a whole brain."
Ilesyn's shoulders are shrugged, hands gesticulating. "The start of one. One wherry brain. One human brain, one dragon brain, but I expect they don't really count, since they're not preserved. I know. That's what I'm doing." Osa's suggestion draws a pause. "All right. How are we going to do it?"
C'daer's eyes widen. Souding sickened, "You have - a - dragon - human - /brain/? Where did you, how, but you, dragons go between," and then his nose wrinkles in disgust. "Ugh. Osa, the stream over there is better for fishing."
Osasune grins at C'daer. "She's got one in her head, and there's one in Nallath's head," she says. "Stream, huh?" She glances that way, noting, "I haven't fished in a stream before. I did some fishing in the ocean. In little boats."
Ilesyn's eyes roll. "As in, mine? And-- his? Exactly, Osa." Her expression is mostly pitying, though mirth plays about the corners of her lips. "Wouldn't mind getting a look at yours, though. Fancy donating it to the healers, when you die, for research purposes?" Turning her head, she pulls herself to her feet, moving over to inspect the stream. "I've never fished before."
Letting out a relieved breath, Daer says, "I mean - ugh. So. Feeling better now, Ilesyn?" he says, meaningfully. "I trust neither of you found Jalis' lecture boring or unnecessary?"
Osasune flushes. "I didn't like the part where virgins had to identify themselves. That wasn't /necessary/."
"Fascinating, I say," remarks Ilesyn, staring into the water, thoughtfully. "The brains, not the lecture. /It/ served its purpose, though I can't say I found it remarkable in any way." Better, yes; she's smiling, in her toothy way.
With a tiny, smirking smile, Daer says to Osasune, "You think not? Means Jalis will probably send a lower caverns boy your way sometime in the next couple of weeks." He nods to Ilesyn.
Osasune flushes further, repeating, "It's not /necessary/."
Ilesyn breaks in, with the thought, "Perhaps you should ask K'dir, Osa. More personal, than just some caverns boy -- and he wouldn't mind, I don't think."
Daer shrugs and looks away, pretending to be interested in the pagoda. "What's the difference? I mean, I didn't think you knew K'dir that well, Osa."
Osasune blinks again, cheeks red. "Umn. I know him pretty well. Uh. He... yeah, he'd go for that." She coughs a little, then says brightly to Ilesyn, "I should teach you how to fish!"
Ilesyn's expression turns almost placid; there's mock innocence there, as she turns her head to regard C'daer and his interest in the pagoda. "I'll ask him for you, if you like, next time I see him," she offers. "Oh, fishing. All right. Teach me how to fish."
Blurting out, "I wouldn't think K'dir would be any good in bed anyway," C'daer then starts to go red.
"He's fiiiiiine," Osasune says indignantly. Then yelps.
"C'daer!" Ilesyn turns back. "How would you know? Flights don't count, especially when you're going to be all stuffed-shirt and holdbred about it. He's perfectly sweet." Osa's yelp draws an eyebrow raise.
C'daer's glance is drawn at Osasune's exclamation, and he flushes again and mumbles, "Looks like she already took care of it, and shut up, Ilesyn," that part mumbled.
Osasune just coughs into her fist and turns yet more red.
"I don't want to shut up, and /oh/!" Ilesyn's expression turns surprised, and then gleeful. "Well done, Osa."
"Both of you, Sarine - I think K'dir's probably more the weyr stud than I am," the weyrlingmaster says, indignantly. "He just hides it better."
"He ... Sarine?" Osasune blinks. "I didn't know that."
Ilesyn's eyebrows raise. "Sarine? He's got less taste than I thought he did. Of course you're not a weyr stud. You're weyrmated, and all prissy about it."
C'daer lifts an eyebrow, "You didn't hear about at the hatching? And I didn't know you disliked Sarine," then he half-heartedly glares at Ilesyn, "I'm only pissy about it when Avila gossips."
"Hear about what at the hatching? This was a long time ago? But she said, she said she'd been an apprentice Harper, and then a Candidate, and she couldn't," Osa blurts.
"No," admits Ilesyn, expression curious. "I'm not her friend, that's for sure. She's too... I don't know. Avila always gossips, so you're always pissy. That's just about right."
Leaning forward, Daer says with some relish - gossiping himself - "I hear that when she impressed, K'dir was all wailing in the galleries, saying that he'd just lost the only girl he ever loved."
Osasune's eyes widen. "Whaaaaat?" She pauses, then says, "Well, he got over it or something."
Ilesyn's brow furrows, deeply. "Remarkably odd. Because Osa's right; she couldn't have slept with him before then."
"Well, not without breaking rules," Osa says, glancing at Ilesyn. She ponders this, then says, "I don't think he meant he slept with her."
C'daer shrugs. "Boils down to the same thing, sleeping with her or wanting to," he says airily, not about to be proven wrong without a protest.
"Why not, Osa?" Curious, Ilesyn turns her head towards the other weyrling. "Did he say something that'd make you think that way? I think you're wrong, C'daer."
"I don't know. Nobody ever made a baby by wanting to sleep with someone and not actually doing it," Osasune remarks. She shrugs a little, then murmurs, "I guess it's no big secret - he says he's not terribly experienced."
Another roll of his shoulders, "It's not like I care what K'dir's like in bed," he says, shortly. "Let's change the subject.. I thought you had more taste that that, Osasune."
Ilesyn's chin is dropped into a nod, a firm one. "That's about right, then. C'daer's just drawing conclusions out of nothing, and it's silly. What, you find this tasteless, C'daer? You were the one who had to bring up that gossip."
"Didn't you say he probably wasn't experienced yourself?" Osasune says, frowning. "Or did you mean that I should have better taste about who I slept with? Sorry. You were busy?"
Change the subject. Daer grins weakly, and asks, "I was busy? What? Uh. You both settling into your weyrs all right?"
"I think he means that he finds this entire conversation tasteless," decides Ilesyn, crouching beside the stream, watching the fish thoughtfully. "Fine, fine. Lots of space for overnight guests, until they run away."
"I like my weyr," Osasune says, still sounding a little indignant.
C'daer answers, desperate-sounding, "Oh, good! Very good. I'm glad." And then he shuts up, since he can't think of anything else to say, and stares at the lake.
"I liked the basket, too. And the plates and things. Who should I thank for those?" Osa continues.
Ilesyn positively smirks, still staring into the water. "It's better than having a private room in the caverns, because if things get loud, people can't hear up there. It's good," continues Ilesyn, eyes dancing with mirth.
As a flush lights the bronzer's cheeks, he stares even harder anywhere but at those pesky weyrlings. "What basket?" he asks Osa, half-mumbling, a dart of his eyes left towards her, and pretending he hasn't heard the brownrider.
"The basket. It had food and things in it, and a set of plates and dishes and stuff with dragons on it. And wonderful wine glasses, with blue dragons," Osasune chirps. She peers over at Ilesyn. "Loud? Gosh. What are you /doing/ in there?"
And so, Ilesyn continues. "Of course, it's also kind of fun to provoke gossip, by being so loud that everyone can hear you. When I light the stove, smoke goes everywhere, and that's also pretty... nice. You know, to add atmosphere. Of course, when the choking starts..." She turns her head, all innocence as she explains to Osa, "Sex. Loud sex."
Osasune hiccups. "Oh. Well. You got right to it, huh?" she manages to choke out.
Stumble-stuttering, "Ch-ch-ch-/choking/?" C'daer's ears turn scarlet and he forgets to answer Osasune, this time, eyeing Ilesyn with an expression that just barely hides the feeling: 'icky'.
Ilesyn rises from the edge of the stream, drawing her coat about herself more tightly. Knowingly, she smirks. "And then there's the mess, of course. Further to go with the sheets, and somewhat inconvenient. You'll have to excuse me; I've things to do. Good night."
"Apparently loud messy things to do," Osasune squeaks. "Good night."
C'daer leans his head in his hand. "I don't want to know, Ilesyn. Any more than I want to know about K'dir. Good bye!"
"You don't want to know anything, do you, C'daer? Your loss." Ilesyn shakes her head, weaving her way across the grass.
You amble upwards to the higher reaches of the mountain valley meadow.
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 05:06 PM