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 Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:41 pm
The first mission had returned to Benden with a live sample of mystweed. This was the first Winderick saw of the plant everyone had been buzzing about. He never worked with plants before, never so much as planted a seed, but the early days of his apprenticeship had acquainted him with one important aspect of planting: dirt. Winderick had no problem getting dirty. That was why he volunteered to do the transplanting. He would much rather be down on his knees in the soil than pouring over dusty old scrolls, so naturally this was the job for him.
Winderick carried the bulb out to the garden. A special patch of soil had been set aside for the mystweed. This plant would be the first to take root and, hopefully, grow there. The bulb was wrapped in a soil filled sack tied with a rope, it's spade shaped leaves looking bright in the warm sun. It looked pretty healthy considering the journey it made.
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:34 pm
News of the mystweed had spread like wildfire. Even Kadayon, who normally spent his time on girls, couldn't help but get wind of the plant's importance. It seemed that the Masterhealer had found something of great importance and now it was up to every man, woman, and child of Pern to get this herb growing. While the boy knew a thing or two about gardening – though it was scarcely above the 'this is a very dirty activity' level – he hadn't taken any great interest in the physical labour of the project. He was much better suited for work in the records room where it was quiet and the work was easy.
Thus it was purely by chance that he wound up outside on a day that Winderick decided to plant his sample of mystweed. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time, or perhaps the wrong place at the wrong time, but whatever it was he was there and that was that. Had it been a boy he didn't know Kadayon might have left the other candidate alone. The fact that he knew Winderick gave him at least a small social obligation to go and see what he was doing, which was what he intended to do. Sauntering up behind the former smith he asked, "Are you going to plant that?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 9:01 pm
Winderick glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to see the cute boy from the candidate lesson - Kadayon, it was - walking right behind him. He didn't remember Kadayon showing any interest in him at the lesson. Maybe he was only interested in the plant. He might as well give up on him.
"That's why I'm carrying it," he said a little snappishly. "Are you here to help?"
If he knew Kadayon was K'la's son he would have taken more friendly interest in him. He felt sort of indebted to her for bringing him here.
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 9:23 pm
"Not if you're going to have that attitude the whole time," Kadayon replied with a sniff, as though he had any room to talk about attitude to other boys. Even so, the candidate hadn't stalked off in a huff which meant that he wasn't entirely put off by Winderick. He could tolerate the other boy, at any rate, and his mother would no doubt be proud to know he was actually making friends with other boys. As much as he was certain she liked him fraternizing with the ladies he supposed he ought to actually extend his circle just a small amount.
The boy picked up his pace a little so he could walk astride the former smith, watching Winderick out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't gotten a chance to properly size up the boy during the candidate lessons and now was as good a time as ever. "Where are we planting this anyways?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 10:15 pm
Winderick could care less about appearances. He kept his hair short for easy grooming and did what was needed to keep himself presentable, but he never went out of his way or did more than was expected of him. Working all day in a smithy taught him the brevity of cleanliness. No matter how clean you were or how nice you looked you would always wake up dirty and messy the next day. He thought it better to spend his effort on other tasks.
"Over there." Winderick pointed his shovel at a fenced off patch of soil just ahead of them. The 'fence' was only a rope tied to four pegs at about knee height strung about three yards wide and six yards long, meant only to create a boarder and warn curious weyrbrats to keep out.
As he stepped over the rope he turned to Kadayon. "Are you sure you want to help me? You're going to get dirty."
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 1:36 pm
Though the set up for the plants was fairly quaint, it was probably the best the Weyrfolk could do on such notice. Besides, as any Weyrbrat knew, putting big fences around things was like putting a bright neon sign up that said "come and bother me." The more unimportant they made it look the less likely the plants were going to be disturbed. Still, to Kadayon it seemed like they were just throwing them in wherever they had room. Hardly a proper job but that wasn't Winderick's fault.
At least, it wasn't his fault yet. The boy was quite happy to blame the former smith as soon as anything went wrong.
"I don't avoid doing things just because I'm going to get dirty, Winderick." Kadayon daintily stepped over the rope. "Besides, I assume you are not going to dig in the dirt like a mangy canine, which means I shall remain quite clean." Winderick had better not start throwing soil around or they were going to have words. Strong words. The smith didn't deserve any dark looks yet and so he just settled for staring at him plainly, holding out a hand. "Shovel please."
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Sergeant Sargent rolled 1 100-sided dice:
52
Total: 52 (1-100)
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:13 pm
As Kadayon daintily stepped over the rope Winderick couldn't resist smirking. Of course, he was too mature to tell Kadayon he was acting like a sissy. He even talked sissy. 'Quite clean?' Who talks like that? Winderick handed over the shovel with a skeptical smile. Well, in the end, he had to poke a little fun at him. "Would it bother you if I did? Worried some pretty girl will see you with dirt under your nails?"
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Chibi Sheepcat rolled 1 100-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-100)
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:24 pm
Normal people talk like that, Kadayon would have pointed out had he known what Winderick was thinking. Normal, educated people who actually cared about how they appeared to others in polite society. The former smith probably didn't have a shred of dignity or couth in his entire body. Kadayon didn't have the slightest idea what the dragon had seen in him. (Had he known that it was his mother's dragon he would have been torn between searching for something good and convincing himself that Yvoth was just having a bad day. Dragons had those, you know).
"The nails are not the problem," the boy replied, speaking as though he was talking to a simpleton. "And dirt only gets under your nails if you like to grab bits of soil and mush it around." Perhaps that's what smiths did for entertainment. It was always possible. Kadayon stared at Winderick for a moment as though he was honestly considering the possibility before he shook his head. No, somehow it just didn't fit the profile. He probably just played with shiny bits of metal instead.
Shovel in hand, the boy began digging a hole for their plant, keeping Winderick in her peripheral vision. If the other boy was going to start throwing dirt he needed to get out of the way. In an effort to make idle conversation – and thus keep Winderick's mind off whatever terrible places it was no doubt going – he asked, "Where did you come from anyways?"
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Sergeant Sargent rolled 1 100-sided dice:
73
Total: 73 (1-100)
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 6:59 pm
"I was born in a cothold run by my grandfather. When I was twelve my folks sent me to apprentice under my uncle in Benden Hold." Winderick knew almost everyone in his cothold and knew a lot about how it was run thanks to his grandfather and father, who would be taking over once old Bhalgun decided to retire. Even though he had some issues with his father he felt proud of his roots. His beginnings might seem humble to Kadayon, but Winderick couldn't care less what the weyrbrat thought about him.
He arched a brow. Something about Kadayon's posture made him seem tense. Obviously the boy wasn't used to dirt. The way he talked, Winderick assumed he lacked proper work ethic. He wrinkled his nose.
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Chibi Sheepcat rolled 1 100-sided dice:
33
Total: 33 (1-100)
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:19 pm
A cotholder? Somehow Kadayon couldn't bring himself to be surprised. The boy definitely had that country bumpkin aura about him. He was lucky he'd been apprenticed to Benden Hold. Going from a teeny cothold to a Weyr the size of Benden would have no doubt been one giant leap into society. "It must have been a big change. The Hold's nothing like the Weyr. Or so I've been told anyways. You got searched at Benden then?" He continued to dig as he spoke, only looking up briefly to make sure Winderick wasn't going to do anything rash.
When he caught sight of the other boy's expression, however, he raised an eyebrow at him, gray-blue eyes searching around for some kind of explanation. "What? Is there something on my face?"
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Sergeant Sargent rolled 1 100-sided dice:
47
Total: 47 (1-100)
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:56 pm
Winderick shook his head. He doubted Kadayon would care what he had to say about him. He shifted the mystweed to his other arm.
"Greenrider K'la and Yvoth Searched me while I was looking after my uncle's smithy." He wondered if she was on a mission with the other riders. Ever since she Searched him he hadn't seen much of her. Maybe she would be at the hatching.
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Chibi Sheepcat rolled 1 100-sided dice:
58
Total: 58 (1-100)
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:15 pm
If it had been in Kadayon's nature to gawk he most certainly would have. As it stood, he could barely restrain himself from staring at Winderick with his mouth wide open. Yvoth had Searched him? From a smithy? What on earth was she doing there? It was hardly a secret that riders often had liaisons, as it were, with other riders and Holdfolk but the boy tried extremely hard not to think about his mother doing anything like that. For one thing, it was a little creepy, and for another he doubted that a smithy would be handsome enough for her. She had good taste.
"She's my mother," the boy admitted in a rushed breath, quite possibly mumbling a little to further disguise the words. "She didn't say she'd Searched anybody but she went away to Trine with the rest of them. You're lucky to be Searched by her."
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:46 pm
((52 + 1 + 73 + 33 + 47 + 58 = 264
264/6 = 44))
Winderick stared at Kadayon in wide-eyed amazement. At first he searched for K'la's features in Kadayon's face. If he had seen her more recently he might have noticed the resemblance. Suddenly he had something in common with this boy who seemed so different from him. "I didn't know," he said, still a little shocked. "Now that you mention it, you sort of remind me of her."
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:06 pm
It seemed like staring was contagious.
Kadayon swallowed and schooled his features, not sure he enjoyed such close scrutiny. Was he looking for some kind of resemblance? That would be just what he needed, someone telling him he looked nothing like his beautiful mother. Thankfully, Winderick didn't reach that horrible conclusion. He couldn't help but preen a little when the other boy admitted he did remind him of K'la, a small grin finally appearing on his face. "You think? It's been pretty public, I guess, me being her son. Her friends know, anyways, and dragonriders from Yvoth's clutch. Me 'n Yvoth are a little like siblings, in a weird kind of way, if you know what I mean." The boy poked the dirt idly with his shovel. "Is this deep enough?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:35 pm
When Kadayon started preening Winderick couldn't help but laugh. "I meant your personality!"
He leaned over and peered into the hole. After a quick looking over he knelt down in front of the hole, apparently satisfied with Kadayon's work, and placed the bulb inside. As he leaned in close to Kadayon a long, pale scar running along his right forearm became plainly visible. "You know, the first time I saw your mother I wasn't even sure she was a rider because she looked so fashionable. I couldn't figure out why she was there. Then she asked me to sharpen this decorative dagger, blunt as a stone, and I knew she was up to something. I still found it hard to believe she was Searching me."
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