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 Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:24 pm
Ranask couldn't quite shake the feeling of dread that still clung to his body, his eyes having not changed from their worried yellow back to a normal hue since their visit to the dragon fields. Ranaru could not blame her friend, she had been partly to blame for not taking him away sooner despite feeling his tension, though she refused to admit that she was wrong in keeping him there. She had made the right choice to stay with the Twins, even though the results had been quite disastrous.
To make up for whatever she had said or done to offend the Golden Queen Ranaru had extended an invitation towards the Queen's Rider, a chance for a home-cooked meal and warm conversation. It just wasn't in her to turn away someone or scorn them for doing what was right, and Ranaru partly wanted to apologize for letting things get so out of hand. She was the adult, she should have made it better.
After preparing for the meal, having gotten word that the Rider was indeed coming, Ranaru finished straightening things here and there as she waited for her guest to arrive. Ranask sulked in a corner, his thoughts fearful, though he promised to behave lest he be turned away. Any minute now. . . .
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:38 pm
Once Sharath was settled, Amelia had spoken the twins' father after a little digging around and then returned to her work. It ended up being a very long for her and it was some time before she was finally released from the fields. After she'd washed and cleaned and excused herself from her mostly apathetic host family, Amelia made her way to Ranaru's home.
She'd almost forgotten about the offer, so caught up in the trouble and outrage of Sharath that she'd barely registered it. Thus, it was with mild nervousness and uncertainty of what to expect that she knocked on Ranaru's front door.
Hopefully she wasn't walking into a trap of sorts.
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:43 pm
Ranaru opened the door a few moments after the knock, filling in the blank time from before with a call that she'd be there shortly, and warm smile graced her lips as she backed in to let the Goldrider step instead. Her house was warm, inviting, and it smelt of fresh baked bread and meat - smells that were a little rare lately. There was also an underlying smell of fresh wood, sawdust if you will, and it lingered on mixing with the smell of stain and tar. This was a carpenters house, no mistake, but at the very least Ranaru tried to make it seem welcoming. She meant no harm in all of this.
"Welcome, so glad you could make it. I wasn't certain if you'd come, but I wanted to believe you would. I have heard those from High Reaches keep their word, and I am glad to see of it - I expected no less from a Queen Rider."
She smiled brightly as she motioned for Amelia to take a seat on one of her chairs that furnished the small room, all the furniture made of good, solid wood.
"Did you have trouble finding my home? Can I get you anything to drink?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:02 pm
"Ah, thank-you." She replied, stepping inside when the wher handler bid her do so, "My name is Amelia, you don't have to call me Goldrider. Thank-you for the invitation, I wasn't expecting it."
When the seat was offered, she took it with a sigh, half sitting half flopping, and stretched her legs out, "I didn't have much trouble finding your place, no. Sorry about earlier... Sharath's, well... it's just so different here. She also doesn't take kindly to being goaded." The nervous Wher caught her attention and she waved at him smiling. "Ah, just water, thanks. Did you make all this?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:20 pm
"A pleasure, Amelia. My name's Ranaru, but folks around here call me Rana. You're welcome to call me whatever you'd like, and as for that grumbling brute in the corner - he's Blue Ranask. You'll have to forgive his manners, he doesn't take to anyone that isn't me, so nothing personal. As for your Gold - Sharath you say? I take no problems with her behavior. Those two had it coming in my opinion, what with how they were bothering her. Sons of a Dragonhealer ought know better than the mess with the dragon of an unknown rider, let along touch fun at a Queen."
Ranaru had moved into her small kitchen and was fetching a glass of water for a Amelia, a mug of slightly cooled Klah for her own tastes. Their meal wouldn't be ready for a bit longer, it had to stay inside and roast a few minutes more, so idle conversation would be needed to fill in that gap. when conversation turned to her furniture, her face blushed a faint shade of reddish pride.
"Yes actually. The chair you're sitting in was my first solo project, the one I managed to complete on my own without my Father or the others having to step in to lend me a hand. I was probably a few turns younger than the age you are now when I made it, and I take a little bit of pride in seeing how well it stands up to the test of Turns. The rest here I made in my free time, though if you look closely you can see the different looks based on my different tastes and levels of skill as I made them. I should probably try something new eventually, but - but I don't mean to be bragging. We came here to talk about you, and for me to apologize."
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:42 pm
"I understand." Amelia replied with a chuckle, "I've worked with Whers before, in the mines, and they're usually particular about those they can stand and those that they can't. That's good, the twins' father basically said there's to be no more contact between them, I, Sharath, and the other high reaches dragons." She pursed her lips, "Which I will not lie about - I'm grateful for that. I don't want them harassing anyone else. It just strikes me as odd that they're so... juvenile despite wanting to be dragonhealers. Maybe it's different here but to be a dragonhealer, you must prove yourself outstanding first."
The goldrider shook her head, "Especially Sharath. She has enough pride for a Weyr and enough will to move a mountain. It's not wise to cross her." Amelia couldn't help the chuckle. She loved Sharath for the way she was, and she'd only come to accept the alpha-attitude moreso since being here. A will and freedom was far better then being muzzled and controlled like the other golds here.
Stretching, Amelia shifted in her chair to regard it as her host regaled her with its origins, "It's a fine work. I never could get wood to do what I wanted. Always too hard on it - I know how to work stone, but not wood, too soft.
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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:15 pm
"Your Sharanth had every right to be mad, even at me. I think I was only adding fuel to the fire with my comments, but I didn't mean them in the way she took them. I at least wasn't intending to insult her, as I rather like small things and she was just so cute to look at. The dragons we have here are rather large and chatty, it was nice to see something small and silent for once. It was like finding a completely new world, even though they're all the same specie. I guess here at Ghenza everything is just bigger and a little bit better."
Ranaru took a seat on her wooden couch, sipping at her mug of Klah every now and then. She mostly just felt awkward having this stranger in her home, knowing good and well what the neighbors would quickly start to talk about once Amelia departed, but she wanted this to happen. There needed to be nicer times between the outsider and the Ghenza folk.
"Here at Ghenza, we take the crafts of our fathers from the time we are very young. There isn't much choice in what we can do, it's pretty set, though most of are content to follow along. My father is a carpenter, my mother was of a different craft. I learned some of hers as well, to act as a hobby, but didn't get much of a choice as to what I will follow. Also, no matter how skilled I am, my children will follow their Father's craft and mine will no longer flourish through my line. My father's skill and lessons die with me."
She smiled a bit softly at the thought, though the smile was a bit sad. She supposed her children could always take up woodworking has a hobby, but it would never be their main craft. That thought didn't make her nearly as sad as the fact that she had no siblings that were male who could herald her father's work.
"Are things different where you are from? You said people have to go places to learn Crafts?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:59 pm
Amelia shook her head, "No, it's good you talk back to her. She's got a lot of will and a mind to back up her words. She's also still learning how to be a leader." The goldrider smiled, "She didn't say anything about being angry at you so I doubt she's got a problem where you're concerned."
She paused, however, as Sharath was called cute. "Wait. Sharath? Really? You're probably the only one who does. Shards, I don't even think she's exactly what I call cute." The concept amused Amelia greatly and while she wasn't about to complain about it, she was having trouble picturing the great, ambitious gold as cute.
"Oh, that's how it works?" A thoughtful, almost disappointed tone crept into her voice as she spoke, understanding Ranaru's point of view, "That's a shame. You seem like a skilled carpenter, the people I asked about you seemed fond of you and your work. Before I Impressed Sharath, I wanted to teach the children I thought I'd eventually have the craft of my parents. They were both Miners - an Excavator and a Geologist. I love my craft but I don't think I'll be able to pass it on, let alone pursue a Master's title. Becoming a Goldrider changed all that."
It was one of the things she disliked about her status. It called her attention away from her roots and her childhood aspirations almost completely.
"Are things different? Yeah, very different." She shifted in her chair, "For one, you chase whatever dream you want. You could be born to a Harper family but want to be a Beasthealer and you could do that. Some of the crafts you have to go to a Crafthall to learn the arts, yeah. It's like a big school for people who are studying the same things as you. Harpers, Healers especially train in those Halls. As you learn, you progress through a sort of ranking system. New people are Apprentices, then Journeyman, then Master. I'm a Journeyman Miner, subcraft Excavator. I was about midway through my training when Sharath chose me."
She paused for a moment, to let that sink in, "And the riders live in the Weyr, rather then the community like they do here. Being a rider is their job, yes, but the Weyr as a whole is dependent on the tithes of the Holds that are protected by the Weyr. Basically... a Weyr is a specialized community meant to harbour dragons and allow them to prosper to fight Thread while the Holds are the ones that produce food and a couple other things. 'Course, not everyone in the Weyr is a rider so you get a melting pot of skills from all crafts. I was born in the Weyr, for example."
Amelia sighed, "It's very different here. Ghenza... is not nearly as accepting as home. Everything about your way of life is very nearly the opposite of what I'm used to. You have established families, even with riders, and your golds are treated as.... figureheads rather then the queens they are. I don't know. I don't mind the work, but it's just really different." She fell quiet, realizing she'd blabbered on a whole lot more then intended.
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:50 am
"I suppose you would have to see our ways very different and rather unique when compared to your own, but there are so many things about where you come from that I find to be ridiculous and rather unbelievable. Is it true that whers have their wings clipped and are chained, treated like mere animals? I've also heard that a dragon amongst you wears a muzzle on his snout, as if to block him from eating or moving. I've never heard of such inhumane practices."
Ranaru looked over at Ranask, who had gone from sitting as he were to laying down, his front legs crossed and his eyes ever watching the stranger in the room. His mood had not improved, even when Rana spoke about him, so it was better to almost ignore him all together and just keep talking. Dinner would be ready soon anyway.
"And so you say you're a Miner? You must be bored to tears then working out in the fields instead of in the ground. There isn't much around here to mine for so most of our crafts have ventured elsewhere, though by taking what you've just said about being so busy as a Rider perhaps you don't have time to miss the Earth. Our riders here are busy as well, true, but they're expected to keep with their craft when they aren't with their dragons. Also-"
This may have sounded odd.
"What is a Journeyman? Some kind of title like you say? What does it mean or do?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:10 am
Amelia blinked, "Ah, no. The Whers I've worked with have not had their wings clipped and aren't kept in chains. But the Whers of home are... far less well behaved then the ones here. They've been known to maul overly confident people are very very aggressive in terms of protecting their food and their dens. But I don't ever recall seeing a wher with clipped wings... that would be cruel." She pursed her lips, who would tell this person that? "As for Jounoth... his muzzle is a result of his aggression. He mauled several candidates when he hatched, killed a few others, and continues to be aggressive. He's very very touchy about someone being proximal to His... and the muzzle is a safe-guard to prevent any injury should he snap at someone. It'll come off in time, I'm sure, but for now it's to protect him and others."
"I'm a Goldrider so my duties are far more involving then others at times. I wasn't ever a Candidate so I lacked the preparation for a Hatching and had to catch up as it were. Now I'm being taught how the Weyr runs and how to manage it." She replied with a shrug, "I miss it. I truly do. There's just something so satisfying in working rock but I don't mind the fields - it's dull work but I do get to join the miners every now and then."
Amelia blinked once more, tilting her head to the side, "Ah... Journeyman? It's a ranking within your Craft... Midway between a new initiate - an Apprentice - and a person who's mastered their craft - a Master. So I'm midway through my training, basically." Well, technically on the lower end of the Journeyman spectrum but she didn't need to speak up about that.
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Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:01 am
"Ah, I see. We don't really have ranks around Ghenza, since crafting is all we do from the day we're born until the day we can no longer hold our tools. Even then we're given something to do to keep us going and preventing us from being idle and wasting our time during the day. I'm not looking forward to the time when I grow to old to continue my craft, but I'm sure by then I can just focus on my job as a Wherhandler with Ruskie at my side. We're supposed to be the type who go out and gather water daily, but since I take on more carpenter projects then I should we haven't been doing his job lately."
Rana have off a sheepish laugh as she looked over to the watchful wher and nodded her head, such a warm and loving smile coming across her lips. To this woman a wher was more than enough for anything, she didn't need a dragon or these strange "flitts" that sometimes she heard people gossip about. Whers were perfect and they were beautiful, so many different colors and sizes that went on with their personalities. She supposed it could be like that with dragons, she'd heard many riders say so, but having a dragon looked like entirely too much high maintenance that she just didn't have time for.
Speaking of time, the smell of the evening meal was now filling the air even more and it made Ranaru's stomach rumble. They'd had just enough conversation for now that the time had passed rather quickly, and with a huff the woman got back to her feet and started into the kitchen. With her movement the hem of her skirt slowly rose up and showed off her tattered and scarred leg.
"I'll go get the food. You're welcome to stay and speak with Ruskie if you'd like though he won't respond. He just needs to learn to get along better with others."
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Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:12 am
Amelia nodded at that, "So I've come to understand. I don't think I get to retire either... as a Goldrider, my duties include managing the Weyr under the Senior Weyrwoman and if Sharath has her way, eventually leading the whole thing myself as Senior one day." She smiled. She was up for the task, be believed, and strong enough to see it through - Amelia had only to find the way with Sharath.
"Wherhandling is so much more important here... I'm still not sure how it works for your people. What I'm used to is people training to be a Wherhandler and then, if they've proven themselves, they're given an egg. Do you have much trouble with wild Whers?" She rose and moved towards Ranask, dropping into a crouch a respectful distance away as she spoke, "You're very handsome Ranask. Sharath was actually worried about you, you know. That twin had it wrong. You seemed so upset... and she wasn't going to hurt Yours at all so she was trying to calm you down. Promise." She tentatively offered a hand for the Wher to inspect, not too sure what to expect. It was so different speaking to a Wher then to a dragon... there wasn't that ease of communication via Sharath there, just a sort of uncomfortable void that she found bothered her much more then it had before she'd Impressed. Connecting with others had apparently settled deeply in her soul.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:21 pm
Ranask backed further into his corner as Amelia drew closer and she spoke to him, his eyes growing a deeper and deeper shade of yellow that started to border with mixtures of gray. He almost snapped the moment an unfamiliar hand came into view but Ranaru's strong voice rounding the corner kept him in place and his mouth shut, words shooting through his head. It was a jumble of syllables, nothing Rana could understand at all but at the very least there was nothing violent in any of it.
"Alright, the meal is ready! I wasn't sure what you'd like to eat or if they serve different types of foods at the Weyr, so if there is anything else you'd prefer let me know. I don't know if I can get it right away but perhaps the next time we dine together I will have it for you."
So far Rana had been enjoying Amelia's company, not at all finding the Outsider unlikable as many of her follow kinsmen had claimed for them to be. This girl happened to be very well spoken and kind in turn, answering all of her questions, so there wasn't a reason to dislike at least her. The others she would have to work at on a case-by-case basis.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:27 pm
When the Wher's eyes began to fade to grey, she stopped and backed off, "Sorry. I don't mean to frighten you, Ranask. You're just so well behaved..." She smiled at him but doubted she be allowed to touch him. It was the same with dragons, usually. Sharath disliked being touched by anyone but Hers and while she didn't grow fearful, she definitely got fussy.
"Thank-you!" Turning away after a moment, she returned to the table and took a seat. "It looks delicious! I'm not picky about my food. If it sticks to the ribs and fills me up, I'm good. Never been one of those pastry and puffs people, to be honest. You never get much energy from them and I definitely need some of that."
With that she settled down for some pleasant conversation and a delightful meal, glad to have made a friend at last. Perhaps all the Ghenza people weren't so utterly incorrigible.
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