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 Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:37 pm
N'tren was happy for the seventh day break that they got from their classes. He still had to feed, oil, excerise and devote himself to his dragon but it was so much easier now that Datiath seemed to anticipate his moves. Unlike other werylings, he did not dress in his best leathers for the rest day; instead he would get into his kitchen garments and go down to work with Cidrey and the others.
They had a new head cook. A funny man who spoke more to his food than to the others around him. When N'tren walked into the caverns, he merely got grunted at and was pointed in the direction of a rather large mixing bowl.
Confused, another kitchen worker whispered to the bronze rider, "Cake."
"Gotcha. Any particular type or just something of my own?"
"Spice. Now work."
Sighing, the teen moved over to the bowl. Already there was flour and other neccessary ingredients; all that was needed were the spices. Looking over, he noticed the klah bark to his left. Klah had a strong, spicy flavor to it...why not?
Are you testing again, love? Datiath broke through using their bond.
Not testing. I am sure it will work, I think others have made klah cake before. And do not distract me too much or I may mix the wrong stuff.
Like sugar and salt? There was a mental chuckle.
That was not entirely my fault! If you hadn't squealed and took my attention away... N'tren frowned. Those tarts were terrible.
Well. My friends are out here with me and I am fed. I will call you if I itch or need you.
"Take care, Dat." And with that, N'tren concentrated on grinding the klah baark down.
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:10 pm
Gem found the kitchens before Dem'or and way before Caleten. Making a wide circle around the room, she flew out to report back to Caleten. Reaching her friend, she settles onto her perch of Caleten's shoulders. She found the wool of Caleten's deep green long and simple dress to be much to her liking. To her, her friend thought of everything.
Caleten's hazel eyes looked to Gem and a slender hand reached up to scratch the gold flit's eye ridge, in doing so, her long sleeve fell to her elbow. That problem was fixed as she lowered her and once more and headed to the direction Gem had come from. Her sleeve fell to nearly covering her hand, where it belonged in her mind. Hopefully she could procure food, then be off.
Dem'or happily trotted at Caleten's side towards the place of great smelling scents.
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:40 pm
N'tren looked up as another entered the kitchen. Giving a friendly smile, he didn't notice as he knocked his whole bowl of klah grindings into the batter. "Hello there? Can I help you with something?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:55 pm
Caleten did not miss the klah grindings falling into the batter. Her hazel eyes moved from that to around the kitchen, not really paying attention to the guy who spoke to her. She had not intended to respond had Gem not chirped her hunger. Looking to her flit, with the only kind look she had shared before her features went back to a clam pride. 'Only meat for my hungry friends.' She certainly wanted nothing of anything he made, careless male as he seemed to be.
Dem'or was much more friendly, barking a greating and wagging his tail.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:47 am
N'tren frowned at the air she gave as she spoke outloud. It was like some of the girls from larger holdings than his father's own; he continued to mix the batter and hoped that his cakes would turn out nice for his friends in the weyr.
Perhaps, she did not realize he was a dragon rider. Not that he would pull rank or anything, after all, they hadn't even had their first flying lesson. However, the girl was polite...if not a little cold.
"That's fine. There are some roasts on the spit and bones are kept in the pot by the hearth. Help yourself. I need to finish this batter and then toss it in for the cooking."
He gave her a warm grin hoping she would loosen up some.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:48 pm
Expecting Caleten to loosen up was like expecting heardbeast to take flight. She glanced at him, having expected him to cater to her. The next moment, she walked to the area's indicated not even looking back to the guy she was talking to. Serving her flit, she turned so that her back was mainly to the guy, she felt free to smiled and pet her flit when she felt that no one could se her being so soft and warm.
Grabbing a bone, she handed it to Dem'or while she finished feeding Gem the last scraps.
Full, Gem nuzzled Caleten's cheek with her head before she took flight again. Shortly after she was in the air, she winked into between coming out right out side the kitchen to find somewhere to sun herself.
With Dem'or eating happily, Caleten decided to stay in the kitchen. This time she got a drudge to get her the klah she wanted. Glancing around the kitchen, she did not give any one person more the a moments glance at a time as she slowly observed the room she was in.
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Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:58 pm
N'tren's eyes followed the gold flit around the kitchen before she blinked between. She was a beauty and very much aware of herself. Pouring the cake batter into metal pans, he set them into the hearth and then sat down at the table to relax.
"You have a beauty of a queen there and a handsome fellow of a canine. I had a canine when I came here but other duties led me to give him up for tunnel snake duty. I still go and see him when I can and give him treats."
He was grasping at straws to make conversation. Ordinary conversation with a person who didn't recognize who he was... The weyrbrats were okay for talking and the crafters had a slight reverence for him; this girl in front of him seemed almost normal.
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:18 am
'Someone not getting offended and leaving her alone or starting a fight, thats unusual' Thought Caleten as she glanced at the male speaking. She still did not look much at him, but she did respond, "The Queen's name is Gem and his name is." As she spoke of the canine, she had her hand on his head, giving him a small stroke, "Dem'or."
Since this was such an unusual occurrence, she added to it slightly, "Gem I found in hands she did not need to be in as an egg, and Dem'or was found right out side. Both are more reliable then almost everything on Pern." With her opinion stated, she listened with half interest to see how he would responded. Males as a whole were a bother and pests, but there were a very, very small few that were not as bad.
Unlike his master, Dem'or barked with his name said and wagged his tail fully happy and friendly.
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:39 pm
"You are lucky, then, to have two such reliable and noble creatures. According to most, only one creature on Pern is more reliable.... That would be the dragons who fly our skies."
Reaching his hand out to the canine, N'tren waited for the dog to sniff and accept him. "Dem'or, huh? My fellow's name was Scruff and that is exactly what he looked like, a scruff of fur."
The spicy smell of klah was now begining to fill the lower caverns. Nodding at the girl, he walked over to the hearth and checked to see how far the cakes had risen. They looked okay, if not a little bit dark in color.
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:35 pm
Caleten had an easy response to the dragon comment, "I have lived holdless for most of my life, Dragons were never something I thought of, so that I cannot judge." Caleten nearly smirked, such a brazen responce in a weyr, she was interested to see how he responded.
Dem'or was very accepting, even bumping his head against his hand for a scratch. The smell of the cake cased him to tilt his head to the side and move a bit close to the oven to investigate.
Klah cake was such a bizarre idea to Caleten. It was nothing she had ever encountered on her travels, but she chalked it up to being a Weyr thing that she did not want a part of.
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:36 pm
"Each lives the life he or she is born into... I was born to a holder family and dragons were very much a part of our lives. And now that I am at the weyr, it is even moreso."
He bit his tongue sharply so as not to scold one older than him. His ire must have gotten through to Datiath because the dragon came rushing into his thoughts.
Why do you play games with this one? Tell her who you are and be done with it.
Because, I want her to treat me like Nestren and not N'tren the dragonrider.
You are a dragon rider. My rider. I think she needs manners. Dragons will always fly when Thread is in the sky. Datiath sniffed in his mind and went back to his friends.
Turning a laugh into a cough and scratching his nose, N'tren started to rub the canine's fuzzy head. The cakes were smelling quite delicious in his own opinion and he sat down to wait for them to finish baking. Spring green eyes taking in the whole of her, he asked her curiously, "What has brought you to the Weyr between falls? Are you a crafter even though you are holdless?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:59 am
Caleten leaned against a wall to get herself more comfortable before she answered, "I am holdless by choice, I left home to wander." She looked around the kitchen a moment before speaking, "I would not be here at all, Thread or not, had I not been plucked from the ground by a an aragent male dragon rider and plopped here for my own 'protection' as he said to justify the kidnapping. I am back because I need to gather a few things." She sniffed lightly in distaste at the memory. That rider did not save her live, he endangered her by that monver and took her completely off corse. She convently forgot that she was burned at that time and in great trouble.
"With fire that is easy to create with the right things, and a sense of where to be, I am not troubled by Thread nor do I fear it. I'd imagine that Dragon riders do, for when there is no more thread falling, there is little to entice holder to send food. No food, starving dragon come about." Caleten was highly amused by this, she was testing which buttons would get reactions. She had no reason to believe this guy was a dragon rider, but she did have plenty of reason to believe that he wanted to be, which was close enough.
Dem'or had no idea what was being said, or the way that the sounds affected the people. All he knew was he was getting scratches and that was good enough for him. His tail wagged happily and he liked the hand that was petting him in gratitude.
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:35 pm
At her comments, N'tren did laugh outloud. Long and hard before bringing himself under control. He stared at her with amusment. It seemed she had had a bad run in with a rider; though some of the older riders were very arrogant, the younger riders tried to keep themselves humble.
"Do you think that because the tithes stop we will starve? That is very close-minded of you. Does a dragon not have teeth and claws? Are they not predators? I think they can feed themselves."
Not paying any mind to the cakes now, the youth worked on Dem'or's chin, finding the hollow of the throat that all dogs seemed to enjoy getting itched. It took quite a bit for him to get aroused in anger or really any negative emotion. He wondered how bad the incedent had been to make her so bitter. "And before dragon riders, there were farmers and herders. With our dragons to help us clear the land, it would take no time at all to grow crops in the South's fertile soils."
Unbeknownst to him, N'tren had finally let it slip he was a rider.
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:45 pm
Caleten raised a calm eyebrow at his laughing, but did not comment right away. She listened, not really interested. Her attitude did not change in the least when he indicated that he was among the dragonriders. With her very little love or respect for riders, and the level of care she had for males in general, his position did not change in her mind for the better.
"The only Dragon I have been close to was the one that was with my kidnapper. However, since flits are relatives to the dragons, its easy to deduce they eat the same proportionate to their bodies. I do not think that a proud dragon rider has it in himself, or herself, to grow that much food. Hunting herd beast would also become a problem to those that owned them."
Her last bit that she wanted to share, "There have been Long Intervals before, when Riders became undesirable mates." She made it sound like they never were, "So, in order to grow that much food, staying close to the weyr would not be logical. Once a queen does rise and get the attention, she'd have to stay at the weyr. Then comes the problem of finding candidates. Also, the proud dragon would be reduced to farm help, what other purpose could they possibly serve then that or pack animals and people carriers." Not completely interested in his response, she did listen more for the tone and to see if his body language changed any.
She found it funny to think of the proud Dragons and their arrogent riders being reduced to farmers and fishers. How would one of them convince anyone to want to be a dragonfarmer?
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:04 pm
N'tren shrugged. "Not every dragon rider is weyrbred, you know. Many were crafters or holders. And there are not only wild herdbeasts but wherries and felines for them to hunt."
Settling himself to a more comfortable position, the teen looked her dead in the eyes. "I have been holder before and I have worked the fields. It is noble in its own right to tithe the land and bring forth food for those who need it. And as for the queen, let the Weyrwoman worry about her."
The cakes were now begining to get past the golden stage and more towards the brown stage. If the argument kept up, they would soon be burnt to a crisp.
"Dragons will apply themselves to whatever interests their rider. Though they may be the largest creatures on Pern, they have done many tasks big and small. Children will still want to be candidates and some parents wil still be honored to have their own rider a dragon. My own parents sent word to all the neighboring holds and even to our family up north." He spoke with such conviction and certainity that he refused to believe the dragons or their riders ever reduced to beggars. Rubbing the canines snout, his eyes lost focus as he reached for Datiath for comfort.
The bronze was too big to fit into the kitchens any more. But he did leave his friends and come to the entrance, sticking his head in the doorway, eyes whirling an anxious reddish-orange. Has she upset you so much? Not all dragons are bad just because a blue saved her skin. You should leave this one alone. Her mind is closed.
I can not do that. Not while she thinks bad of riders and their dragons. We were created for Pern by Pern. We will never leave. I love you, Dattie. No matter whether we are riders or farmers. N'tren spoke fiercely to his mate. Outloud, he spoke, "This is Datiath. He heard we were talking and wanted to come and see you."
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