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 Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:23 pm
Hanya hadn't expected this when she had signed up to transfer Weyrs. She hadn't expected a Weyr full of men who didn't seem to think women were competent at anything, gangs who all seemed to think they had the superior claim, and Candidates whose sole goal in life was showing up the rest of the Candidates. She hadn't expected exaggeratedly militaristic riders and Candidates who functionally shunned her because she was a Holdbred transfer.
And she hadn't expected all this sand.
When she got right down to it, she'd acknowledge that the thing she hated the most about Igen Weyr was the sand. Hanya had never been particularly bothered by the hot weather of Ista or the rain, or by Southern Boll's climate, but this sand...this was not what she had bargained for. It was disgusting, it filtered in through everywhere, and...she hated it. That was what it always ended in. The finely woven scarf around her neck was good for keeping sand out when the wind blew and she was doing outside chores, but it was all just a bother and she always had sand in her braids, or her shoes, or somewhere. It was driving her mad.
So it was probably a good thing that she was leaving soon. Taking a plate and glaring at it, Hanya glanced around the the dining cavern for a table that wasn't full of purple or orange and eventually sinking down on a bench at an only-sort-of occupied corner table. Praise Faranth that she would be leaving as soon as she could get her plans in order.
A questioning cheep reminded her that the scarf wasn't all she wore around her neck, and the sleek green head and neck extracting themselves from the fabric to blink sleepily at her earned a scratch between the eyeridges and a scrap of jerky from Hanya's pocket. Having a flitter was still a pleasantly new experience, and Hanya was quite emphatically adoring it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:05 pm
There, one of the transfer candidates. Yisenkar took his dinner with a nod of thanks to the kitchen worker and wended his way carefully through the crowds towards her. Over the last few days he had heard interesting things about Ista, and the people who had come from the sodden island. Lots and lots of girls on blues and greens; not an arrangement he was used to at all. Still, it was probably putting this girl's nose out of joint, maybe he could use that to his advantage; she didn't wear a bandanna yet, there was time to recruit her, though really she would probably be more sympathetic to Sandstorm than the Wherries. He would have to work hard.
Before too long, he was standing beside the girl at a largely empty table. He supposed he might as well get started. "Hello there, you're from Ista, right? My name's Yisenkar, would you mind if I joined you?" She would probably mark the red cloth at his wrist, no doubt she and all the transfers knew to look by now, but he hoped it wouldn't put her off. If she hadn't started making plans to ally with either of the others it ought to be alright, it wasn't as if most people saw his faction as a threat, far from it. That was just fine so far as he was concerned, he liked it when people underestimated him and his faction; there was nothing quite like the element of surprise after all.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:08 pm
Red. Well...it could have been worse. Hanya shrugged, not particularly eager to flirt with anyone since her transfer to Igen. She was worried that any advances might upset a delicate balance of power that she still didn't understand, and the last thing she wanted was to get in trouble with the powers that be. Whatever those were.
But he was speaking to her, and that was good, at least. Hanya looked up at the speaker and shrugged slightly. "I was at Ista, yes. You can join if you want." She paused, looking torn, and then gave him a brief half-smile. "Are you certain your...faction won't be upset at you for talking to me?" She gestured at his bandanna and flashed Yisenkar a wry grin.
"I haven't really been getting along with your orange and violet friends."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 3:55 pm
"Well," Yisenkar smiled slightly and shrugged, "I suppose that would depend on what you do. If you decide to join up with us it's no problem, but if you decide you prefer that stuck up lot... Well, then I wouldn't be able to sit with you anymore. I'm guessing from your attitude there's no danger of that, though?" He'd expected the Rising Sun to be unpleasant to the new arrivals, they were all about old blood, but he hadn't been sure either way with Sandstorm. Maybe it would have been more of an individual taste thing for those of the purple bandanna; take a chance to drawn in disaffected Istan females, or keep strangers out of the mix?
"It's not easy, not being part of a faction," he went on with a shake of his head. "I guess you and the others who came from Ista don't quite count as shunned yet, but having so many people suddenly wandering around without bandannas is probably ruffling some feathers, making things worse than they usually are for new candidates from outside the Weyr. If I were you I'd find my place quickly, and tell my friends to do the same." If he had any friends, that was. She probably had a whole crowd of cronies among those who had come from Ista with the new weyrwoman - and that change was going to make things interesting! - probably she was happier than he was... She had a tiny friend right there!
Eyes now focused on the little green flitt, Yisenkar grinned broadly. "You have a firelizard! She's lovely!" He'd always wanted a firelizard... Maybe if he could get her to join the Wherries, when her green had a clutch she would give him one of the eggs out of gratitude for introducing her. Provided the green laid somewhere findable. Provided she didn't keep them all for herself or give them to her friends from Ista. Thinking about it, in all truth it was unlikely that he'd get one from her but there was a possibility, and so it was worth trying to become her ally.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:34 am
"I'm not interested in joining up with them," Hanya answered quickly, not about to alienate one of the only people to actually talk to her beyond attempts at recruiting. She was still wary of him, but he seemed friendly enough, and she wasn't willing to risk this. Hanya was a social animal. She listened attentively to Yisenkar's explanation of faction life and cringed very slightly, trying to keep it as hidden as possible.
She didn't want to be shunned, but she didn't want distractions in her attempts to move forward to Weavercraft hall, either. Just...getting her affairs in order and then leaving. That was the plan. "Your girls here are strange, you know that?" she said thoughtfully, coaxing Spice out from under her scarf when Yisenkar began to talk about her.
Spice chirrupped and hissed softly at Yisenkar, but Hanya tutted loudly and placed the baby green on the table. "Thank you," she said to the boy, and meant it. It was nice, being complimented on the little firelizard. "Her name's Spice. She's still very young, so I hope she's going to get bigger." Hanya wasn't sure how likely that was. She had been feeding Spice well, but she was growing mostly in length, barely in weight at all. It might just be that she was stuck with a fragile-looking green.
Spice, now exposed on the table, keened pitifully and tried to climb up the front of Hanya's shirt. Hanya extracted another few pieces of jerky and used one to lure the flitt back onto the table. The other she handed to Yisenkar. "If you give it to her, she'll be less...clingy. I think."
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 1:15 pm
Well good; if she wasn't interested in them, that made the Wherries pretty much her only option. No need to pile the pressure on though, things were going well, alienating her at this stage would be bad. In any case, he'd rather feed the flitt than talk business.
Yisenkar accepted the jerky with a faint smile and held it out carefully to the green firelizard, remaining conscious of the fact that she'd hissed at him at first. "Spice is a nice name," he said with a nod as he waited for the young creature to accept his offering. "As to strange girls... well, it's what you're used to I suppose. It seems odd to me that Istan girls stand hoping for greens or blues..." Careful, careful. "I mean... I don't think it's a bad idea," it was a sharding weird idea, "but it's not what I'm used to. Here girls usually only go onto the sands if there's a gold egg... Nobody actually stops them from standing if there isn't one, very few choose to. There's a lot of stigma surrounding girls on fighting dragons."
Why would you put a girl on a green or a blue? Girls with the potential to Impress were better off without any dragon than on a green or blue. Of course, once bonded they wouldn't see it that way but they couldn't be expected to think clearly about such matters once they actually had a lifemate. The fact was that greens and blues went between almost every day; the chances of female riders on the small dragons carrying a pregnancy to term were almost nil unless they were grounded for a few sevendays for some reason. Far better to have them on the ground breeding with dragonmen, producing more boys and girls who could Impress. Having more Weyrbred children was a good idea, saved having to search from Holds so much... Besides, girls on greens and blues? It was just plain weird.
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Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:08 pm
"Thank you," she answered quietly, ducking her head and watching carefully as Spice delicately sniffed the treat, then accepted it and bumped her muzzle against Yisenkar's hand, looking for more. Finding none immediately, she began to thoroughly sniff his fingers and hand, moving dutifully toward his wrist before Hanya retrieved her. "Sorry," she murmured, keeping her voice low and listening to the boy's commentary.
"It's what you're used to, yes, but what if a girl was perfect for a Green?" She paused for a moment, and then she looked thoughtfully at Yisenkar. "Have girls Impressed from the Stands?" she asked, completely derailed by that thought. In a Weyr like this, it wasn't going to be easy for a dragon who wanted girls to find one. They'd have to go into the Stands, or......she wondered morbidly if there were more betweened hatchlings here than in other places....or at least than in Ista.
Terrifying thought.
"What's wrong with women on fighting colours?" she asked, getting herself back on track. She had been fervently hoping for a Green at her first clutch. Now....she wanted nothing, but how could someone begrudge a girl a green? Greens were women's dragons.
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:03 am
Oh dear, now this could get awkward. He supposed he couldn't expect her to just accept that girls weren't welcome on fighting dragons here, he knew he wouldn't be happy if somebody suddenly said he couldn't Impress a given colour. "Nobody has Impressed from the stands in a good while," Yisenkar said eventually. "I've certainly never been at a hatching where it happened." Was that her plan? To get right to the front of the stands at a hatching where there was no queen and will a dragon towards her? If it was, he had to admire her smart thinking at least.
"I suppose if a green dragon really desperately wanted a girl she'd find one somehow, from the stands if she had to," he went on after a brief pause. "There's often a girl or two on the sands anyway, even when there isn't a queen egg." The ones who didn't care about their reputation, who wanted a dragon, any dragon, no matter what. Brave but foolish; if they did get a green neither they nor their lifemate would be in for an easy ride... Speaking of which, he wasn't in for an easy time if he didn't at least try to address her question about girls on greens or blues.
"I don't know what's wrong with it, women on the small dragons," Yisenkar said slowly, poking at his food distractedly. "It's just how the people currently in power like to run things. So long as the current power balance remains, things won't change... Maybe with Favan in charge now things will be different though. She might change a lot of things around here." Probably not in his favour though, sadly. It wouldn't be in her interest to upset too many currently high ranking folk.
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:44 pm
Hanya listened to Yisenkar's explanation. She didn't like it, but she supposed she didn't have to, particularly since she was coming from the mess that was Ista Weyr. No need to go into someone's house and harp about their cleaning when your own was in shambles. "I suppose things are always different, wherever you go. I can't imagine herdbeasts are viewed the same in Keroon as they are in the Weyrs," she said after a moment, somewhat dismissive.
She certainly wasn't going to agree with Yisenkar, but she couldn't call him wrong, either. So it was time for safer topics. Spice was climbing up her shoulder again, and Hanya let her. When the flitt tried to climb under the scarf again, though. Hanya took it off and let it drop onto the table.
"This is a good weave. I spoke to one of the Lower Caverns women about how the sand gets everywhere when it's windy, and she got this for me. You have wonderful fabrics here." She paused for a moment, realizing how stupidly mundane that must sound to a boy whose life's focus was probably nothing other than Impressing a dragon. "Tell me about the weather," she said. "I know very little about deserts. Ista had thunderstorms almost daily...how often does it rain here? Do you really have sandstorms that blot out the sun?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:49 am
Fabrics? Well, he supposed everyone had their interests, maybe her family had made their marks trading in cloth or something. "Yes, we need good fabrics like that for the purpose of keeping sand out... Weather." The scrawny youth looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, as though he could see through to the skies above. "We can go turns without rain," he went on after a few moments, looking back down at Hanya, "it's a really special occasion when it rains, nobody gets any work done. I expect you've already noticed we get very cold nights, and yes we do get storms like that. Everyone gets back into the Weyr when one of those is coming, and no matter how they draw curtains across the entrances riders find themselves with huge amounts of sand to sweep out of their weyrs afterwards. It's best to always go outside with your head fully covered, and a scarf like you have; if even a mild wind whips up it becomes unpleasant. We're fortunate in being a Weyr though, sweepriders can warn us of any nasty weather on the way."
Cloth and weather. Well he supposed that was normal smalltalk with somebody you didn't know. It was a touch tiresome, but would be worthwhile if he could manage to get her to join up, if he could get her to become a personal ally even better... Maybe he could think of something to ask in return even. "What's the ocean like?" he quizzed, outwardly impulsively. "I know it's a huge body of water but... well, that's about all. It sounds pretty amazing though, I can't imagine os much water in one place."
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:31 pm
"Turns..." Hanya shook her head. She understood that Igen was a desert; that much was pretty obvious. But coming to terms with the fact that it didn't rain at all for ages at a time was difficult for a girl who had grown up in the hotter, rainier regions of the Northern continent. She listened to his descriptions of the weather and suppressed a shudder; thank Faranth she was out of here as soon as everything cleared and she heard back from Weaver Hall. She'd give anything to get out at this point. First the factions, now the weather. Ugh.
"The ocean?" she asked, snapped back from her irritated musings by Yisenkar's question. "It's...huge?" she said. "Um...it's kind of hard to explain, but it's loud. That's the first thing about it. It's got a sound you don't hear anywhere else, something like wingbeats, almost, but more rhythmic and not quite as sharp...and when it's sunny and the waves aren't too big, it sparkles like gems." Overly poetic, but it was the ocean. It wasn't exactly easy to explain.
"I...don't really know what to say," she said with an apologetic smile. "I got a bit overly flowery there. But it's really pretty, and it's relaxing to just watch the waves up and down the beach. I've noticed your dunes move a little bit in the wind...and they have patterns on them when the wind goes that's...almost like stationary waves. You have an ocean of sand here."
Idly toying with the scarf, she looked down and shrugged, not really sure where to go with the conversation. She took a bite of her long-ignored lunch before smiling and looking up at Yisenkar.
"This is good," she said. "In Ista, the overcrowding meant the food had to be made in bigger batches, and it wasn't as good as it could have been. That, and some of the Candidates..." she trailed off for a moment, unsure of whether or not she should say anything, but in some ways the ILA had been like a faction, and maybe that would earn her points. "Well, one group of our Candidates would ruin what they could, to make a point."
Not impressive when compared to Igen's gangs, but it was something, right?
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 3:07 am
It sounded like a nice place. A lovely place to go with your dragon. When he found his dragon - if he ever did - they would go to the ocean and investigate it for themslves. As for sabotaging candidates... well, he would have had something to say about people making his life uncomfortable! Get in among their ranks, pretend to be an ally, and then hand them all over to the Weyrwoman, that sounded like a good plan to him, especially if they never found out it was him that had betrayed them.
"I'd like to visit some day," Yisenkar said eventually with a nod as he took a drink of juice, "it sounds lovely. Not the crowding though, I think maybe I'd bring along my own food." Getting food when he wanted it was seldom a problem thanks to his father; he couldn't ask the kitchenworker for anything fancy but some meatrolls and a flask juice were easy to wangle for himself. For anyone who might be useful to him, too. "I surprised this ILA of yours didn't get thrown out of the Weyr," he went on with a snort, "I'm pretty sure that would have been their fate here. Messing with other candidates we can usually get away with but ruining food that would go to riders? Not a clever plan."
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:03 am
"The crowding took some getting used to, but it's interesting, to say the least." Hanya shrugged; she had arrived before the most recent influx, but even then it had been quite crowded, and it had only gone downhill from there. "There's always someone to meet and talk to, and most people are friendly." Which was a sharding lot more than could be said for Igen, she was quite certain of that.
"Well, they didn't get caught," she answered with a shrug, trying to remember if she had said the group's name aloud. She must have spoken it while she was thinking and just not noticed. It happened sometimes. "Maybe because they were less interested in the act of, 'OH FARANTH, NOTICE ME' that your factions are. They worked for change, not attention."
Now, that was probably overstepping, but what was this boy going to do? Shun her? Fat lot of good that'd do him. Shards, when had Hanya grown a spine? And why was she using it in such an almightily stupid way?
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:13 am
Humm... Snappy little thing when she flet like it, wasn't she? she wouldn't last long. Yisenkar smiled slightly. "Well, it's not just attention we want. Some of us, the Wherries and Sandstorm, want change; we want to be the ones in power. Rising Sun of course want things to stay the same with them on top of the heap. Attention and power, that's what we're after, I'm not denying it." Had she been a member of the sad little - or possibly big - group? Was she just sympathetic to them, or even just standing up for Good Old Ista against Scary Nasty Igen? He didn't know, and as it seemed that the girl's usefulness would be limited to one more faction member and the possibility of flitt eggs he didn't really care either.
"I suppose they were, or are, good at what they do though," he went on with a shrug, "not getting caught can't have been easy. I suppose if you believe in something enough though you'll take any risk." Not him... Well, not for anything save a dragon. if he could get a dragon by scaling a mountain or running a gauntlet of felines he might have a go, but anything less than that wasn't worth rising his hide or is position as a candidate.
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Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:51 am
The smile annoyed Hanya more than anything; so Yisenkar was just as patronizing the rest of them. Setting her jaw and listening to him talk, she drummed her fingers lightly on the table and continued eating, almost mechanically. She didn't want to be here listening to this anymore. This boy was just like the rest of them, and probably only interested in her because she wasn't yet affiliated. He was wearing scarlet, she remembered after a moment; yes, he was probably trying to recruit. Or at least use her.
And Hanya didn't like feeling used.
"They were good, yes," she answered curtly between bites of her meal, never taking her eyes off Yisenkar. Why did things always have to end in such an idiotic way here? Why was everyone so obsessed with this stupidity? Dragons didn't choose their riders because of the colour of their bandanna. And bronze dragons weren't like blue eyes, you didn't inherit them from your family. But whatever. She didn't even want a dragon anymore, and it wasn't just because of Ista. Igen was worse.
And then she finished the last of the food and stood up, almost abruptly enough to knock the bench over, though she caught it at the last second and rearranged herself to avoid disaster. "I have chores I need to do," she said almost mechanically, retrieving her scarf and winding it around her neck, draping it over Spice, who crooned her pleasure. "So I'm sorry, but I have to leave. It was lovely talking to you, Yisenkar. Thank you for clearing things up for me." Lying through her teeth, she was.
She flashed him a rote, less-than-dazzling smile and then picked up her plate and turned on her heel. Time to get herself out of there before she started something she couldn't finish.
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