|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:18 am
Things had been a bit mad in the creche lately. Gorkia spent most of the day trying to convince someone to play with her, and when no one had been willing to play the game the way she wanted to play, she'd thrown an impressive tantrum. Tanda, personally, could understand why no one wanted to play dragonriders with Gorkia. The skinny little girl always wanted to control everything. She'd give herself a gold dragon and then tell everyone else what color they'd Impressed and tell them how they should behave and what they should do. It wasn't much like playing, since the only person whose imagination got any exercise was Gorkia, and even then there was precious little imagining going on. It was just Gorkia bossing the others around because she was the goldrider.
Tanda sported a bruise on her jaw courtesy of Gorkia's tantrum when she walked into the dining hall. Later she'd visit the infirmary to make sure nothing was broken, since it was still sore hours after Gorkia's flailing hand struck her, but for now she needed sustenance. Caring for children was exhausting work, but most of the time she loved it. It was days like this when she vowed she would take a direct hand in raising her own children to prevent them from becoming unimaginative brats like Gorkia. She tried to see the best in her charges most of the time, but she and Gorkia had never gotten along, and this was just the latest in a long series of unpleasant confrontations between the two of them.
The dark-skinned woman took her tray of food to a table which was mostly empty and sat down across from a young man she guessed to be a candidate. He was very tall and very tan, and she'd not yet met him. Tanda liked to meet new young men. She was conscious of the bruise on her jaw, but other than that she looked all right. Her hair was escaping its bun, but that was nothing new. It always did by this point in the day, particularly after dealing with tantrums. She smiled at the young man across from her and introduced herself.
"Hello. I'm Tanda. I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you a recent arrival?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:45 am
Jericho looked up as someone suddenly sat down across from him at the table, his spoon still halfway to his mouth. He hurriedly put it down instead of sitting there, gaping like a fish at the attractive young woman who now sat across from him. She was probably a couple of years older than him, but not by much. She was pretty, with dark skin and hair, and a bright smile that made him flush slightly as she turned it on him. Luckily, he was tan enough and the lights in the dining hall were low enough that it hardly showed.
"Hello." He managed to say after a long pause, internally cursing his social awkwardness. Thanks to his quiet nature he still hadn't met anyone that he knew well enough to actually seek out and sit with in the dining hall. Hence why he was there, sitting by himself. He flashed her a brief, bright white smile, tossing his head slightly to get the honey golden curls out of his blue eyes so that he could meet hers. "Yeah...I just arrive a couple of days ago." he supplied, quickly taking a bite or two of food, turning his gaze from her. He wasn't very good at offering conversation, but when he noticed the bruise along her jaw, he could help but say "What happened to your jaw?" feeling mildly alarmed for the woman. Surely someone hadn't hit her? A man? It was quite the bruise but maybe not quite that big. He hoped she had just bumped her chin on something.
"I...sorry. Don't mean to pry." he apologized, his blush a little more apparent now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:18 pm
Tanda took a sip of chilled water, which was always in ready supply in High Reaches, to give Jericho an opportunity to collect his thoughts. Or at least to decide what he was going to do with the spoon. When he put the spoon down she expected him to return her greeting, but she was made to wait for longer than she had expected. Another taciturn candidate? There did seem to be a lot of them about lately. It was a pity, really, because it made it more difficult to get to know them, and so many of them were good-looking young men, too.
Like this one. He was definitely good-looking, in a blond and blue-eyed sort of way. His coloration was definitely eye-catching, considering how many brunettes Pern seemed to produce. Tanda was aware that she, herself, fell into that category and didn't mind. She wasn't really discriminating when it came to a person's looks. As long as they weren't hideously malformed - and even sometimes when they were - she was able to find something admirable about them. For the time being, she decided that her dining companion's admirable trait was his curling blond hair. Her brother, who was about the same age, had curly hair. She'd always thought it was kind of adorable.
While she waited for him to make some sort of introduction or say something beyond a basic greeting, Tanda cut her tubers into bite-sized pieces and then moved on to do the same thing to her greens and meat. It was a habit that came from working in the creche, cutting up everything on her plate all at once, rather than as she ate it. She had to do the same thing with the children in her care, so that they wouldn't get ahead of themselves or her and choke themselves. Only the very young ones, of course. She preferred to encourage them to be independent as early as she could when it came to self-care and providing.
"Where did you arrive from?" she asked, unable to place his slightly different manner of pronouncing things. It wasn't nearly as bad as her grandfather, who had managed never to lose his Igen pronunciations, but it was still obvious that he wasn't from High Telgar Hold. "And do you remember which rider brought you?"
For most people, talking about their Search was an easy topic to discuss. It was probably the most exciting thing in a normal person's life. At least until they came to the Weyr and Impressed. If they Impressed. Tanda liked to think that everyone had a dragon, though she'd seen plenty of evidence to disprove that theory. She blamed it on the fact that people past twenty one weren't allowed to stand, and so the dragonets' choice was more limited. And there simply weren't enough dragons for everyone to have one. But everyone deserved one, definitely.
Tanda touched her fingertips to her bruised jaw with a look of alarm. "Does it look that bad? It's nothing, really. I just didn't move out of the way fast enough. It happens."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:37 pm
"No, no, doesn't look bad at all!" he reassured "Well, it does look like it smarts a bit though." Jericho added, then decided to drop it. It was stupid of him to have brought it up in the first place.
"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Jericho, I come from Tillek." he said with a nod of his head. He looked at her a moment longer and then dropped his eyes back to his food. Talking to women, he found, was often easier if he wasn't looking directly at them.
"I don't remember their name, no." he said, turning back to the subject of his search. "Everything happened so fast, seemed like I was at home one minute, and here the next." he said with a bemused chuckle. Two dragons, a green and a blue had come to Tillek on search and he and one other boy had been picked out. He, of all people...To find out that he had the possibility of impressing a dragon had been something of a life changing event. He had gone from ship builder to candidate in a single day.
"What about you?" he asked, looking up at her and flashing her a brief, warm smile. "Are you a candidate? Did you grow up here in the Weyr?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 6:42 pm
Tanda raised her eyebrows at his diplomatic response. It probably didn't look all that bad, but not bad at all seemed like it was stretching it. And it did smart enough that she had to chew carefully, and decided to use the other side of her mouth to do so.
"Thank you. It's very polite of you to say so. It doesn't hurt so much that I can't eat or anything." She smiled. At least smiling wasn't a particularly uncomfortable action. She wasn't very good at not smiling. Her older sister used to joke that Tanda was as expressive as she was to make up for their little brother's utter lack of facial expression. It had worried her as a child, and sometimes it still did, but he seemed well-adjusted, if not particularly demonstrative.
"It's fine, Jericho-from-Tillek. I figured you'd get around to it eventually, or I could go on using the second person indefinitely." She speared a green and a slice of tuber and popped them into her mouth before speaking more. Like most people over the age of six, she knew how to talk while eating without displaying her meal inadvertently. "And not everyone remembers their Search down to the minutiae. Lots of people say it was all kind of a blur."
She chewed and swallowed and took a drink before she answered Jericho's question. It was fortunate that her father couldn't be bothered to care what his daughter did with herself, she thought on an unrelated note. He would have called her all manner of foul things if he'd any idea how she behaved when she wasn't working in the creche. How forward she could be, just sitting down with a total stranger and forcing him to make conversation. The thought made her smile. She wasn't mischievous by nature, and she hated getting in trouble, but that didn't mean the thought didn't appeal to her.
"I was born and raised here. My grandfather's a brownrider and my younger brother recently Impressed a bronze. But, personally, I'm not a candidate. I'm too old now, for one thing, but my family doesn't approve of women on fighting dragons and they didn't think I stood any chance of Impressing a gold, so I've never been on the sands. I work in the creche, caring for the children."
Every so often she was struck by the unfairness of this, but she didn't much mind. She loved working with children and wanted nothing more than to be a mother. Dragonriding, as she had seen many, many times, was not a profession that lent itself well to parenting. She would rather have children.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:43 am
He chuckled slightly at her light hab about introducing himself. "Well, I'd hate for you to have to call me 'Hey you' if we ever run into each other out in the Weyr." he said humorously, looking up from his plate at her with twinkling blue eyes, a smile curling at the edges of his lips. Her smiles, he was beginning to discover, were somewhat contagious.
He listened to her speak about her family while he took a few more bites of food, nodding at the appropriate times to encourage her, let her know he was still listening.
He swallowed and spoke again when she paused. "Two dragonriders in one family? That's pretty impressive." he said with a smile. "Though I think you should have been given the chance to stand, if you wanted too." Jericho frowned slightly. He'd known enough women back at home who were just as good at sailing as they men were, even if they weren't always allowed to do so. He was never very good at speaking to them, but he had seen them, out there on the waters of the sea.
He decided to not make a big deal of her family's decision though. After all, like she said, it was too late for her to impress, though he found that rather sad. Shouldn't people of all ages be able to stand? He could understand people in their forties not being able to stand, but Tanda couldn't be more than a few years older than he was.
"There's never bee a dragon rider in my family before." Jericho explained as he ate. "I think that's the only reason my father let me leave, though my mother was very supportive about it. She's the one that convinced me to go." he said with a reminiscent smile.
"The creche? Well, that's important work too." Jericho said with a firm nod. "You're pretty much responsible for raising the next generation of Weyr folk, and some of those will even turn out to be dragon riders. That's as important as being a dragon rider yourself." he said with a flash of a smile.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:17 am
"That would be inconvenient," Tanda agreed. "There are so many people around here that answer to that particular epithet. It's as though every woman on Pern had the same inspiration when it came to naming their offspring for a seven year period."
Blue eyes. Very different from what she was used to seeing around the Weyr, but not a bad sort of different. For that matter, the tanned skin was different, too. Her family all had darker skin than the rest of the Weyr because of A'ram, but tans weren't commonly found in the High Reaches. Too cold. Very few people went out to sun themselves. The transfer from Ista had been very tan when they first came, but most of them were losing the darker coloration.
"Well. It's not as if we can help it. The dragons choose who they will, as they drill into the head of every candidate who's ever stood on the sands." She shrugged. "Personally, I think it's because there are still dragons hatched who are sticks in the mud, and my family produces a lot of those. Not that Sakneth's really a stick in the mud, but he's definitely shown signs of being a misogynist. Sakneth's my brother's bronze, by the way."
She paused to eat some more, noticing that she was doing most of the talking. Probably she should ask more questions to draw him out and encourage him to talk about himself, but the way things went in the Weyr it was easier to learn about candidates than it was for candidates to learn about the people who lived there permanently. The flow of information was very much one-directional. So if he did ever want to look her up in the future, it would be helpful if he had some information to do so. Or so she told herself.
"I wasn't much interested in it, really. I'd rather look after the children. I like them. Most of the time." She rubbed her bruise wryly. It hurt to do so, but it made her point, and should stop him wondering whether she'd gotten it from a man or something. She would never stand for that sort of treatment. Her mother might've, but she didn't want to know if that was the case, honestly. "The power to influence an entire generation is a heady thing. Good thing I'm not the sort to misuse my power."
"That's hardly anything to be ashamed of. Tillek's not exactly a hotspot for draconic activity. Besides, aren't you people all married to the sea and those shipfish things?" She was teasing. She didn't know much about the shipfish, but she'd heard that some people claimed they could be bonded to in the same way dragons and firelizards and whers could. She didn't give much credit to the rumors though. "Did your family have much to do with shipcraft?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:57 am
Jericho chuckled and grinned at her again, deciding that he quite liked her sense of humor. She was pretty easy to talk to, as well. Granted, it did help that she did most of the talking for him, not that he minded. He was a naturally quiet person, even at home. Not necessarily shy (all the time), simply wrapped up in thought most of the time.
"Ah yes, I had heard about Sakneth and Teharth." the candidate said with a slight nod of his curly head, deciding to try harder to be part of the conversation. "A few of the other candidates told me all about their rather epic battle on the sands." the man mused, not entirely sure how much faith he should put in such a tale, though every story had a grain of truth to it. It was all a matter of finding said grain.
He picked at his food a bit, mostly watching her while she was focused on her own food, affording him a chance to get a good look at Tanda without her staring right back. She was dark skinned, but not so much as he was. He imagined that must be due to the climate. No doubt he too would loose his dark skin as well, sooner or later. Maybe some day if he impressed he could take his dragon home and they could both do a little sun bathing.
When she began speaking again, he turned was relieved to gather that she had obtained her bruise from an obstinate child, and not someone more...foreboding. His relief was soon overwhelmed by amusement though when she asked about Tillek.
He laughed, he couldn't help it. It was a warm, low sound that faded gradually and shook his head "No, most men who sail take wives, and certainly not shipfish wives." His eyes were bright with amusement as he met her darker ones. "The shipfish are beautiful, and have been known to save drowing sailors, but we don't bond with them, if that's what you're asking."
He took a few bites of food before continuing. "I myself am a Journeyman Ship builder, and my father is a captain of his own ship." Jericho explained. His humor dropped off a bit as he continued though "I wasn't able to follow in my fathers footsteps, much to his disappointment. I get horrendously seasick when in deep waters." he confessed, looking rather ashamed of himself, even though it was a fact of life he couldn't help. Needless to say, he'd gotten a lot of crap for it over the years, no matter how great a ship builder he was.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:03 pm
"I don't think I'll tell B'shir. He's still embarrassed that he didn't move to break that up sooner, I think. And whatever you heard probably wasn't much exaggerated. I've seen blood on the sands before - there usually is - but it's always different when it's your dragon. I don't know whether it bother B'shir more that Sakneth got hurt or that he didn't take control sooner." She shook her head. A lot of pressure came down on her little brother, but there didn't seem to be any way she could intercede. She was glad he was living with in the weyrling barracks now, away from the men of the family. She had hope for him.
She watched Jericho surreptitiously, trying to catch him in an unguarded moment. With children it was easy to see what they were really like, but adults were more careful. Tanda liked to think she was a pretty good judge of character, but it helped if she could catch a glimpse of a person when they weren't trying to be someone else. Not that she thought Jericho was trying to put on a facade or anything, but she wanted to know what sort of a person he was. For an instant she thought she saw him watching her, and gave it up. It wasn't life-shatteringly important that she find out right away.
"Are you sure about that? I've heard tales of men who spend more time at sea than with their wives, and would rather be there." She grinned. "There are dragonriders like that, too. Closer to their dragons and the sky than they ever will be to another human being."
This was turning too serious for dinner, even if she said it with a smile.
"You know, Jericho, I'm terrified of heights. That's one of the reasons I've never wanted to stand. At least seasickness isn't bad for dragons, as far as I've heard. And ship building sounds like it could be fun. Do you design what you build, or is it more that you build things?" She was at least experienced in making light of others' perceived shortcomings. Children had all sorts of insecurities, though she would never tell an adult that she was dealing with them in the same way she would a child. That sort of explanation never went over well.
"Maybe someday you can put together a raft or something and we can bother the dragons at the lake. If you ever get a break from chores. I hear candidates keep a pretty wretched schedule." Actually, she knew that for a fact, having grown up in the Weyr.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:21 pm
Jericho nodded solemnly when she spoke of her brother's regret. He knew what it was like to feel that way, to wish he had done something more, tried harder to prevent something. That sort of thinking never did any good thought.
He smiled again when she brought up the sea again "Well, there are men like that, and women too, actually. But I think it's like that in any craft or way of life." he pointed out. "There are beascrafters that would rather be with their animals, harpers that would rather be composing a song or playing to an audience, Weavers who would rather be at the loom..." he smiled a small smile at her "you'll find them in all walks of life, I think."
He blinked when she admitted that she was afraid of heights. He'd never really considered the possibility before, a dragon rider who was afraid to fly high like they were meant to. That would be terrible. Just as terrible as a fisherman who got seasick, he supposed. He nodded in agreement "Hopefully sea sickness won't translate into air sickness or something." he mused. "wouldn't that just be my luck?" he laughed quietly again and took a drink of his juice.
"I do both, though at this point I mostly do design work." he explained. "I'm trained and have practiced in the building though. It's just that many men can work the tools necessary to make the boat, but not many have the training or the ability to design a ship, so I end up doing that mostly." He grinned at the idea of making a raft to sail around the lake on "That would certainly be funny, wouldn't it? It doesn't seem like the lake gets much in the way of boats. I don't know what the dragons would think." he laughed. "I wonder if they would have the wood for it here?" he wondered aloud.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:46 pm
"Probably, and I'm sure they think they've got the better end of the deal than those who choose human companions."
Personally, Tanda knew she was guilty of that. She simply loved children and wanted to have as many of her own as she could manage. Their fathers weren't really important to her. She wasn't looking for a lasting connection or anything. It'd be nice to have a long-term attachment to someone, but she was also fine with one-night stands. Her life was all about children, and everything else, really, was peripheral or a means to that end.
It was a funny thing. Whenever Tanda admitted to a dragonrider or a long-term resident of the Weyr they reacted with horror, as though she'd said she was afraid of stone or something, because they'd all grown used to the idea of flying. It was refreshing to speak with someone who hadn't yet grasped that difference between Weyr and Hold life. She could go up in the air, of course, but whenever she was made to do so she clung for her life to the person riding with her and tried very hard not to wet herself or scream. Some men she'd known had found her terror endearing, and enjoyed scaring her so that they could comfort her later. She'd avoided them in the future.
"If you didn't get sick launching or going between, I think you'll be okay," she said practically. "For a lot of people, those are the worst parts. Well, that and looking down when the dragon's landing. It helps to think that the dragon knows what he's doing."
Not that thinking that had ever helped her on the occasions when her feet had left the ground in flight, but it seemed to help others. B'shir loved flying, and so did Ylabet. Even their mother liked to fly, on the very rare occasions when A'ram allowed Musil to put Rath through his paces. Tanda was the coward of the family when it came to that. But she was also the only one with motherly instincts.
"You sound like a useful sort of person to have around, who probably has to peel a lot of vegetables here. It's too bad the Weyr hasn't much need of your specialized skills. Unless maybe to recruit you for drafting work." She considered asking if he'd be interested in helping her in the creche, but that was too much, too fast. She still didn't know if she would like him after prolonged exposure. And she didn't want to show anyone that sort of favor. Not this early in life.
"We don't get any boats at all, except for a few paper ones that people make in the spring sometimes. But you're probably right about the wood. I mean, they wouldn't have it to spare. Not for something as frivolous as a raft." Which was really too bad. She might have enjoyed being on the water. Or she might have found it to be distressingly like flying, and hated it. "You'd probably have better luck making something out of hide. If that's seaworthy? I really don't know much about boats."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:44 am
“Well,” Jericho mused “I didn't get sick on the flight here, so that bodes well for me, I guess. Granted, everything came in such a rush I might just not have had time to notice.” he said with a bemused smile.
“I have been peeling a lot of vegetables lately.” he said with a grimace. Candidates tended to be given some of the worst of the chores, and while he normally enjoyed helping out in the kitchens, even he got tired of peeling tubers and skinning fruit after awhile.
“Normally I...” he hesitated, looking at Tanda closely, as though giving her the once over, deciding on whether or not to tell her about one of his normally secret hobbies. At home, it was frowned upon for a man to like cooking and helping out in the kitchen like he did, his father had been furious at Jericho and his mother when he had found out she had been letting him cook, teaching him even. Tanda, though, seemed like the kind of girl who might not mind. After all, she'd told him she was afraid of heights, and he had a feeling that that was normally a pretty big deal here in a Weyr where the idea of flight was quite common. He decided to press on.
“Normally I really like helping in the kitchen.” he finally admitted, his voice a little on the quiet side, shyly looking down at his plate. He'd hate to lose this budding new friendship because of his strange hobbies, but it was better to let her know early on, he supposed. “I love to cook. My mother works in the kitchens at home, and I would help her sometimes, though my father forbade it. It's a lot of fun, I think, making delicious things that people will love to eat.” he looked up at her from under his long lashes, waiting to see how she'd react to this piece of news.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:01 pm
"I'd say you're in no danger. Because everyone notices when they feel sick in the air. I think it's one of those things where you either love it or hate it right away. If you love it, you're a goner, and if you hate it you can learn to tolerate it." Tanda could tolerate flight, she just didn't do it well or willingly. She also tended to do it with her eyes squeezed shut and her grip white-knuckled. That was toleration, right?
Tanda chuckled at Jericho's grimace. She knew it wasn't such a bad chore, as candidate tasks went, but it wasn't particularly manly, and some people took issue with that. Privately, Tanda wondered if it wasn't the Weyr's way of seeing who would obey orders, even when they didn't want to. Not that it could possibly force a dragon to choose them, but it might influence their placement in a wing in the future. Other times, Tanda just figured it was what it appeared to be: a semi-random duty roster drawn up on a rotating basis so that no one was stuck doing the same dismal thing every day for eternity unless they wanted to. Some of the jobs were pretty miserable, after all. Like cleaning the loos, which was usually reserved for punishment.
Her chuckle turned into laughter at Jericho's admission, though probably not for the reasons he would assume. She tried to stop giggling so that she could explain herself before giving offense, but the effort caused tears to roll down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry! I don't mean to laugh. Not at you. It's just that the kitchens are usually understaffed when it comes to skilled workers. If you let them know that you've actually got some idea what you're doing, they might set you to something more challenging than peeling vegetables." At least, if she talked to her mother, who had been working in the kitchens for time out of mind, it seemed, there was a possibility Jericho would be allowed to watch soups or mix sauces or something.
"I swear, I don't mean to offend you." Her mirth was still evident, though she'd wiped away her helpless tears. She couldn't really do much about her smile. She hoped there was nothing caught in her teeth. "My mother works in the kitchens. Her name's Nisha. She looks nothing like me. But she could probably see about giving you more interesting work."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:15 am
Jericho tensed as Tanda erupted into laughter, looking outraged and a little hurt. How very typical, and just when he had thought Weyr folk were different from the closed minded people in his home hold...He was just about to get up and leave when she finally controlled herself enough to speak again, explaining herself.
Oh...well now he just felt rude. The anger faded from his blue eyes and he lowered them slightly, feeling ashamed at being so quick to judge her laughter himself. How was he any better than his father?
"I'm sorry." He said "It's just...well, laughter is how many people tend to react if I actually come out and tell them that yes, a straight man can indeed like cooking, they tend to laugh and....well, ridicule." he grinned sheepishly at her, which soon turned into a full on smile. "You really think so? Helping actually cook would be much better than peeling vegetables, or any of the other kitchen chores."
He took a moment to take a few more bites of his quickly dwindling foodd before he spoke again "Nisha? Next time I'm in the kitchen I'll ask her."
Jericho gave Tanda a long, considering look, tapping his fork idly on his plate as he did so. "Thank you." he said at last "For not laughing. Or, well...not cruelly anyways." he said, with a bemused smile.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:40 am
Tanda wished she could have resisted the urge to laugh, but it had really been too much. The Weyr never really made proper use of its candidates. So often, people actually had useful skills, and they were put to work in jobs any drudge could handle Not that the Weyr employed drudges - not with a constant stream of willing candidates to work - but that didn't mean they had to treat each and every candidate as though they had no more skill than the average drudge. Since she'd become permanently assigned to the creche and begun to have some authority there, Tanda had done what she could to avoid having candidates randomly assigned to work with the children. It amazed her other parts of the Weyr didn't do likewise.
But she should not have been so distracted by her own crusade to consider how it might seem to Jericho. He had seemed hesitant to admit to his fondness for cooking, and she should have realized from that it was a sensitive topic. For Faranth's sake, he'd actually said his father disapproved of it. Holds weren't like the Weyr, she'd been told, and there a father's disapproval meant a lot more, since parents tended to raise their own children, rather than leaving them to the care of people like Tanda. Tanda still wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not. Some people just weren't fit to be parents, but that wouldn't stop them from breeding.
"I'm sorry, too," Tanda said, reaching across the table and covering one of his hands with hers to emphasize her point. "I can understand why you would think I was laughing at you, but I swear I wasn't."
Tanda shook her head and some of the flyaway hairs that had escaped her up-do earlier floated for a moment before settling. She also took her hand back and returned to eating. "Anyway. We're both sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? Offer you a tour of the Weyr, perhaps?"
This wasn't exactly where she'd meant for the conversation to go when she sat down. She'd been hoping to make a friend. Or at least to get to know one of the new candidates. The way things were going, she wasn't sure if she'd be successful in either venture. Unless one counted the knowledge that Jericho could cook a little and he could design boats. All in all, they weren't terribly useful skills for a dragonrider to possess. He'd pick up new skills during his time at the Weyr, though.
"Have you attended any candidate lessons yet?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
