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 Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 3:06 pm
"I don't know how much the head gardener's going to hate me for this, you know," Lanakirene said darkly to the young green dragon who was tagging alongside her, sticking her nose into various clumps of flowers as they passed one of the more decorative gardens. Holding a small belt knife in one hand and a basket in the other, La rooted briefly among the blossoms, cutting a stem here and there until she had managed to gather a fairly sizable bundle of blooms. Isonth didn't really pay much attention to her, preferring instead to snap at any of the small insects that went buzzing past or snuffle around the roots of the herbs, tasting a few to see if they were as delectable as they smelled.
I think they'll understand, Lanakirene, she answered, lifting her head in time to see La tucking the last few sprigs of pretty flowers into the basket. After all, everything's so grey in there, she went on. La grimaced at her, and Isonth delicately untangled herself from a patch of ivy she had stepped in before sauntering over to inspect the blooms. Yes, these will do nicely, she proclaimed. They'll keep the grey out, at least for a little while. Do you have a bowl in which we can keep them?
"No, Isonth, I don't have a bowl, and I swear by the first egg that if I get caught and punished for this, you are never getting wherry again. Ever," La answered, gritting her teeth and glancing around surreptitiously. It wasn't that Isonth was directly promoting the crime La had just committed (and it was only a crime, she reminded herself, if you got caught), she simply didn't understand that the outdoors was the outdoors and inside was inside. And she had come to the conclusion that the inside needed to be brighter, like the outside.
There's no need for you to get so testy, Isonth said quietly, sounding hurt. I just want things to be brighter. Nobody likes to live in the cold grey all the time.
"Most others are fine with it," La answered, but she sighed and scratched Isonth's nose anyway.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 3:49 pm
The life of an apprentice, here she was told to go fetch some herbs from the garden after finishing what felt like a full day's work to meet the requirements of a Candidate and an apprentice healer. Sighing a little, she could barely count the days until she was no longer able to Impress. Either that or hope in the next clutch she'd find her bonded just so she'd have one job again.
Who was she kidding; she'd have to both a dragon to keep out of trouble and still trying to study healing. There was no winning.
Speaking of dragon, she spotted a green and her bonded poking around the flower beds! Alarmed she ran up to them calling out "Don't let her eat those! There is fox glove in that garden and herbs that could be dangerous!" Nearly stumbling over a rock, she gave a short little double hop then kept running. While she didn't know what was dangerous to dragons or not, the best she could assume right now was things that were not good for humans were not good for dragons either.
There was a great chance the rider knew about those things, but she would rather assume and offend the greenrider, then not and have a very unhealthy dragon on there hands.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:56 pm
The sharp voice made La tense and turn, steadied to run. If whoever had just snapped at her was one of the head gardeners, she was going to be in rather a lot of trouble. Dragonriders probably weren't supposed to raid gardens for flowers. Isonth, catching La's anxiety, jerked her head up and turned to face the speaker. When La realized it was only Raena, both girl and dragon relaxed, and Isonth went back to rooting among the basil and parsley.
Foxglove is the tall one with the trumpet blooms, yes? Isonth asked. The one you told me was nice to look at but not to eat? Glancing very briefly at La, she turned her attention to the tall, spiky plant, then nipped at one of the fragrant basil leaves, snorting unhappily when it tasted more like leaf than like its slightly spicy scent. Yes, Isonth, La answered, slightly amused by her dragon's flightiness but mostly focused on Raena. She hadn't seen the girl since she Impressed, but that didn't mean she had completely forgotten the long hours they had both spent working with the Healers. Her hands tingled as she remembered making numbweed salve for half the day.
"What ho, Raena!" she said brightly, slipping her knife into its sheath and raising her hand to the other girl. "Don't worry about it; I know the herbs in this garden. I'm only here for a handful of flowers anyways." She hefted the basket and tossed her head, fixing the older girl with an easy grin and summoning Isonth quietly to her side. Isonth slunk up and bumped her head against La's hip before looking at Raena.
She's a friend, then? she asked. When La sent her a quiet affirmative, she snorted and wandered off to inspect the border of a vegetable garden. All these plants smell like you when you've eaten, she remarked, and La grimaced at her.
"Don't eat them; you won't like them," she said, then turned back to Raena and grinned. "Sorry. She's a nosy little thing. I've been told she'll probably grow out of it."
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:54 am
Well that was embarrassing, she had just been close enough when she heard her name called out, she recognized the woman as well. Trying to tell a fellow Healer to be careful of herbs, one that wanted to be a dragon healer as well, if she recalled correctly, to be careful around herbs. "Sorry, Lana, I didn't know it was you from a distance!" Flexing her right hand unaware she was doing it, she also smiled and moved forward to greet the green rider and her green.
If there was ever a dragon she would be allowed to touch, it would very likely be La's dragon. Getting within feet of the other she apologized, "I hope I didn't offend you, I decided to err on the side of caution from what I could see in the distance." Watching the two, there was a decided feeling of being left out of something; she could tell there was communication just by the expression on La's face.
Watching the beautiful green, she remarked, "Hopefully, with age should come wisdom but if she never loses that curiosity, and it doesn't get the two of you in trouble, it'll serve her well. What was her name again?" She couldn't recall the dragon's name, but she certainly wouldn't forget what she looked like.
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:15 am
"Oh, it's nothing at all!" La said brightly, grinning and doing her best to put Raena at ease. I've done much the same only to realize I'm yelling at Candidates and not weyrbrats. The distinction gets a bit fuzzy sometimes," she added with a wry smile before clapping her hands to call Isonth sharply back from sampling one of the vegetables she was investigating. Lifting her head, Isonth snorted softly and returned to La's side, plopping down on her haunches and then sitting up to investigate Raena on a more eye-to-eye level. She smells like the plants you told me not to uproot on pain of pain, she said, sending La an image of the numbweed-and-fellis garden closer to the healers' domain.
Remember that smell, La answered. That smell means healer. Or occasionally invalid. But mostly, it means healer. Isonth tipped her head, watched Raena quietly, and then sank back down onto all four feet to better lean against La. Startled by the weight of her dragon, the girl stumbled slightly sideways before catching herself and bracing against Isonth. "She's called Isonth," she answered Raena's last question and nodded, reaching to scratch her dragon between the eye-ridges. Isonth rumbled happily.
"I haven't seen you much, recently," La went on, stumbling a bit as Isonth relaxed and leaned against her even more. "Isonth, too much unbalance," she said quietly, making a face and attempting to avoid tripping headfirst into the foxglove, and Isonth looked up at her and sat straighter. "Thank you," La said, then again turned back to Raena. "How have you been keeping since the Hatching? Well, I hope?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:32 pm
She was relieved; with all the grumpy greenriders around, at least La was reasonable and good natured still. Watching the Green, she was fascinated by her. All legs, perhaps, but the little green was adorable. What really made her smile was it appeared the little dragon was just as curious about her as she was.
The was her best chance, but the question of etiquette came into play, who did she ask? Did she ask the dragon and risk offending the Rider who was charged with taking care of the dragon? Or, did she ask the rider as if the dragon couldn't decide for herself? Better to risk bothering the one that can't breathe fire, "Isonth, would you mind letting me touch you?" She also looked to the rider to see if she could get permission from them both.
Stepping forward a bit, she reacted rather than thought, just in case the poor girl went tumbling. Responding she answered, "I have been running both shifts, but the other Healers want to see me do more Candidate things raither then working around the Healers all of the time. In about three turns that won't be a worry." Being a realist, as she put it, she knew very well the chances of her Impressing were low and waning. Having not been Searched, really there was never a dragon that looked at her and thought she would make a good dragon rider, all she was going on was the wisdom of a bunch of holder Healers.
Well, thinking of the trouble she had gotten herself in, she gave a big grin and said, "I haven't gotten myself into any major trouble, I'll count that as great. Otherwise, yeah I am fine. How about you and Isonth, pretty busy I'd gather with your Weyrling teacher an all." Scrunching up her nose a little, she gave no other sing she knew their teacher or had any opinion on him.
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Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:15 am
Isonth, when she realized that she was being looked at, watched Raena watching her. Curiously, she glanced at La when Raena asked if she could touch her, and La glanced down. Lanamine? she asked tentatively, and La raised an eyebrow. What, little one?
Can she touch me? Isonth asked, glancing to Raena and making sure this would be okay. La laughed softly and scratched her head. I don't know. If you want her to, darling, she answered. Isonth considered this for a moment and then stepped forward and bumped her head against Raena's hand. Will she scratch me? Isonth asked happily, and La laughed.
"She says she wants to be scratched. She likes it behind her headknobs," La said to Raena, listening to the girl talk about healing and nodding sagely. "Well," she answered thoughtfully, "if the healers are pushing you more toward Candidacy, it might be a good idea to take the time out. I mean, I know the lessons are repetitive and all, but it'd help if you plan to Stand for the next clutch." She shrugged. At the question directed to her, La shrugged.
"Lots of work. The bronzerider standing in for the weyrlingmaster isn't a bad fellow, though. Very thorough and gentle. Handsome bronze, too," she said with a shrug. "Isonth likes exploring more than lessons, but I don't mind the lessons. They tend to be in big places I don't otherwise get to be in, and I'm learning stuff. Not all of it's new, though. Or doesn't need to be explained for half the day." Like oiling. It didn't take a genius to figure out how to oil a dragon.
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Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:04 am
She may have asked for it, but the touch still surprised her a little. From just the touch she could tell the young dragon was strong, her hide felt smooth and not dissimilar to Keek. "Thank you, Isonth." In show of her gratitude, she went for the head nob and scratched gently. She would have expected the eye ridges, good thing La was there to tell her what to do.
Smiling just the experience alone nearly took her wits to hear. Looking back to La she shook her head a little, "I don't think I have a very good chance of Impressing as it is, I was never actually Searched in the sense a dragon saw something in me that said I'd have a chance to Impress. I do trust the Healer's judgment, but as it is I am almost too old, who knows when another clutch will be there after this one." It wasn't the happiest thought in the world, but she just didn't feel like she had that great a chance of Impressing.
Nodding a little to what La said, for certain she wouldn't give up until the end.
Biting back a look, she distracted her self by keeping up the pace of her scratching of the little Green. That was another reason why she was pretty glad she didn't Impress this time 'round, S'kagi. "Big places?" Where would they go? Perhaps it better not to ask but with her mind went the question. Laughing a little she commented, "Sounds like some of the Healer lessons. Like numbweed, most people know all mostly about it from the first time the get hurt, especially if the Healer is nice enough to explain it and how it works." There were dangers to it she didn't know, that was certain, but most of the lesson really did see a recap of everything she already knew.
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:24 am
As Isonth rumbled happily and pressed her head against Raena's hand, La shook her head and hid a smile. She was glad that she had attracted such a friendly little dragonet; she was far too social and laid-back to be able to deal with one like the nasty little green Tseka had Impressed. Isonth made a soft, amused noise and glanced at La.
I don't know why you're always thinking of what would have happened if you had Impressed differently, Lanamine. You and I are lifemates now and that's not going to change, she said, then gently pulled away from Raena to bump her head forcefully against La's stomach. La stumbled back a step before grabbing her dragon's head and hugging her. "Go back to Raena, now, she was scratching you," she said quietly, then looked up at Raena and shrugged. "You never know. If you're allowed to Stand, I'd reckon you ought to until the cutoff," she said.
"Well, there's a lot of us, twenty plus dragons. We're not really the right sized group to sit in the Candidate classrooms anymore," La answered that question with a smile, and then nodded forcefully about the numbweed lesson. There were things she didn't need to do, and learn about the most common herbal remedy in the world was one of them.
"Yes, just like that!" she said with a laugh. "I mean, it's things most of us know by now, but we've got a lot of first-timers and Holders who came really late. So the basics are even more important than usual. Unfortunately." She shrugged.
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