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 Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:08 pm
Meal time. The meager candle mark or two she had of freedom before being dragged back to the store rooms for more mindless, meaningless tasks. But now! Now something new and interesting had happened at Wardens. Something that might help her get out of the wretched place. The broken gold had laid a clutch. A small gathering of eggs but eggs nonetheless and there were whispers of a gold.
Canoake hadn't had the chance to go look at the eggs. She didn't think anyone had at this point. But with eggs came a Hatching. And a chance to escape. To be free and start over again. She was so caught up in her thoughts over a bowl of stew and pieces of bread that she didn't see another approaching.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:22 pm
Mealtime? Already? Leevi blinked owlishly at the dripping candle and then back at his work. But he'd barely gotten started! There was just so much information here, so much to go through! Interviews, crime scene descriptions, notes from other mindhealers. It was as though Leevi knew there was this great big ocean of knowledge out there, but he'd been given a tiny little paddling boat to explore it all.
and he loved every second of it
Maybe he could just take a few more notes before going to lunch...? He reached for his quill, but his stomach growled loudly. Clearly, at least one of his organs disagreed with the whole 'what? Knowledge is the only food I need!' With a sigh, the mindhealer shoved his work aside and went to find the mess hall.
~.~
It took him several mistakes (and one extremely awkward explanation in the bathing area) before he finally found the correct building. Face still red from the encounter, Leevi did his best to go unnoticed and just get some food. Buuuut... it would be a waste to just go back to work, wouldn't it? He really ought to take advantage of the free time to get to know some people.
The hall was packed, mostly with noise. Apparently it was impossible to get an action as simple as eating without making a lot of noise about it. The meals had to be shouted at, shouted for, shouted onto tables, possibly to be shouted at. It was more than a little overwhelming for a fairly young mindhealer. Gripping his bowl of stew more tightly, Leevi glanced around desperately for somewhere to sit.
Preferably somewhere where he wouldn't be shouted at.
Ah! There! A spare seat next to a young woman. She didn't look much younger than Leevi himself, with dark, almost black, hair. Leevi scurried over and waited to be noticed.
And waited some more.
Aaaand waited a bit more, as he awkwardly wondered if there was a polite way to... oh, shards. "Er, hello!" he said eventually, sporting a smile. "Could I sit there? I mean, are you saving the seat for anyone else?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:39 pm
She heard a voice breaking through her haze of thoughts. Canoake's eyes looked up with narrowed interest at the young man standing before her. Holding food. Shards. Looking around, she shook her head, and motioned for him to sit. A new healer of some sorts, if she remembered correctly. "No, you can sit if it pleases you. Forgive my lack of attention, I have a lot on my mind... Or running through it."
Would a healer be helpful? She had met the healer Bereck when bringing in the new batch of uniforms. Maybe that was it. He needed clothing. Most people did and when they saw her skill with needle, she could often barter for what she wanted. "You have to get here early to get a decent seat. I prefer to sit in the back, away from the noise. And actually enjoy my food without dribbling or spilling. Stains can be difficult to get out."
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:57 pm
Leevi's heart sank just a little as the woman looked around. Maybe she was saving a seat for someone else and trying to find them? Or... well, he could always just go back to his room instead. There were some particularly interesting scenes he needed to go ov---oh! She was nodding. Leevi grinned brightly, like she'd just given him an early Turn's End gift. Quickly, he sat down before someone else could come along and be less polite than him.
"Thanks. For the advice too. Man, I had no idea it would get this crowded. Back home at High Reaches, people basically just take their meals whenever. It's odd, trying to get onto a schedule like this." At least, he'd eaten whenever he found the time and remembered to do so. It wasn't his fault if his studies were far more fascinating than merely sitting around and digesting food.
Feeling more than a little homesick, he studied his erstwhile lunch companion. Weaver knots on her shoulder, so she wasn't a guard like most of the people he'd met so far. 'Just' another Crafter like himself, a civilian in a world of soldiers. "You're telling me. One of the prisoners managed to knick me with a blade the other day. I don't think I can save the shirt at all."
Leevi struck his head with the flat of his hand, suddenly remembering that he hadn't introduced himself yet. "Sorry! Sorry, I just moved here about a week ago. I'm still getting used to the way things are. My name's Leevi. I'm a mindhealer from High Reaches. Journeyman," he added, careful to emphasis his rank.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:17 pm
Bouncy. Nervous. Young. New. Like a canine pup just fresh from its mother and out on it's own. Canoake wanted to laugh at that mental image because he had the looks of a lost puppy as well. But he sat and she caught him glancing at her knots. A little on the skinny side, he could stand a few more meals but otherwise, almost sweet. "Tears and cuts are easy to mend but only a few things will get out grease or sauce stains from a shirt or pants. And you can't redye them because the stain is still there. But a quick needle and a sharp eye can fix almost anything."
No one to really pay attention to then except maybe to gather information. Someone on the inside who might here things that she wouldn't stuck in that room most of the day. "Having meals at regular times is required with the prisoners. They eat at certain times and so do we. That way unless you are a guard, or a healer I suppose, there is no interaction. But a mind healer, how interesting. And you are here to do what? Talk with the prisoners or those working here? Find out how we keep from going mad?"
Giving him a sweet smile and hoping the look in her eye conveyed that she was teasing. Or rather, she wanted him to think she was teasing when she was using him as a distraction for her thoughts. But either way, the look on her face was pleasant and invited more conversation. "I am Canoake, Journeyman Weaver. I have never been to High Reaches. I went north to one of the larger Weaver Craft Halls near Tillek but left after my training was done. There isn't too much more to learn besides working the field long enough to gain a Mastership."
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:03 pm
The young mindhealer listened politely to the Weaver's expertise. He had no skill with his hands beyond being able to write. The ability to create cloth and clothes was, to him, as remarkable as being able to make music. It was, in its own way, an art. Maybe I should find her later, when it's not meal-time, he thought to himself.
It always seemed so crass to bring up business when people were eating. He knew he disliked it when people demanded an appointment when he was trying to eat. (Course, he always acquiesced anyway, but that was because he was a push-over).
Teasing or not, Leevi gave Canoake a serious answer. He never was one to pass up an opportunity to talk about his Craft. "Something like that. Sadly, in a lot of the cases here, I don't think there is anything that could be done to make them less... you know..." what was the right word? Leevi waved his spoon vaguely in the air until he settled on one. "Violent. It's their pattern now, in lots of cases. The thing about patterns is that you have to catch them early, or else they just repeat themselves. With each reiteration, it becomes more and more set in their minds. I'm also here to give guards someone to talk to, if they need it. Everyone has stress."
Granted, a lot of them tended to take one look at the young mindhealer and promptly ask him if he was lost or something.
Aaand he was probably losing his audience. He smiled sheepishly and added, "I kind of got carried away there. So what about that clutch, huh?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:14 am
She listened while he rambled about patterns and being someone to talk to or something. By now, Canoake was too deep into the conversation to politely leave or ignore the boy. Dipping her bread, she just merely nodded to acknowledge that she had heard what he said... He might have the same look if she went on about sewing.
"Ah, the clutch. Now that is a fine piece of gossip, isn't it?" Finally, perhaps he had heard something. "I heard it is small and the gold guard's it fiercely. After all, she laid a queen egg. But as for the other eggs, small. Who knows if they will even hatch?" Let him chew on that gristle, Canoake thought while she intensely watched for his reaction.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:57 am
"Well," Leevi started, trying to find a suitable and delicate way of saying things. "I think she'd guard it just as fiercely if there wasn't a gold egg." Although the presence of the golden shell was rather troublesome for the more traditional of folks. Leevi mostly ignored the clutch; let the dragonriders figure it out. They didn't tell him how to mindheal, so he didn't tell them how to handle their business.
Granted, he felt some camaraderie for them. Both of his parents-----his true parents, the couple who raised him with love and care-----had been dragonriders. He sopped up some of the stew with a piece of bread and continued to try to be diplomatic. "Truth is, I doubt any of the eggs will hatch. I wish they would. It's bound to have an amazing effect on the way people think about chromatics. Just think! We could be standing at the edges of history, like when a Green first looked at a girl and decided, 'Yeah, that's my rider'. It could be monumental!"
He grinned happily, clearly enjoying the thought. But, quick as a flash, that bright smile faded again. "But who knows? I guess we'll find out if they're viable at the Touching."
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:17 pm
"I suppose you are right. I have seen gold flits guard their nests whether they had 1 or 10 eggs in them. A dragon is the same way I am sure." Canoake replied in a thoughtful voice. The food was good and she was tempted to get seconds but thought better of her figure.
He seemed rather excited about a blue catching a gold. In her mind, that seemed almost perverse. But when he mentioned about the eggs even being able to hatch, it made her a little sad inside. Everything should have a chance to live. "That is truth. With eggs so small, will the shells even crack. And if they crack and hatch, what if they are too small too survive? If they all go Between, it might be a mercy. But if they bond and then die, then human lives will be lost as well."
Clearly not a win-win situation.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:52 pm
Flits, huh? Leevi's industrious chewing slowed as he turned a thought around in his brain. Something about the word sparked off a neuron in his brain. It was another one of those beautifully simplistic ideas that so haunted the young mindhealer's life. "Dragons are very protective. I grew up in a Weyr," he added, just to prove that he knew his dragon stuff.
Well, he grew up in the Weyr for the important parts of his life.
Speaking of ideas in his mind, it was also beginning to dawn on Leevi that his new friend seemed a bit focused on the size of the eggs.
"Well, it's her first clutch as I understand it. The eggs are bound to be a bit on the small size. They usually are, for a first clutch. Like chickens." His shiny bright demeanor vanished the second the dialogue turned to the macabre, and the idea that a dying hatchling might be a mercy.
"You wouldn't say that if you'd seen it happen," he said quickly. Sometimes, he still woke up from the memories of a little Green creeling frantically in his mind and then vanishing. Dragons didn't bother with subtlety. They went straight for the throat. "Generally, if a hatchling can survive long enough to Bond, they can survive."
But, this wasn't a usual Hatching, now was it? A Gold caught by a Blue, who knew what would happen? "I guess we'll know at the Touching, if they're viable or not. Are you going?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 7:27 pm
Oh so he grew up in a weyr. It was almost like saying you grew up in a Craft Hall. Luckily, Canoake thought it over and decide he wasn't trying to brag about it, just more stating a fact. Facts, she did not mind.
She listened as he continued speaking. A fountain of information this one was... Something about chickens. And then his mood changed. "I have never seen chicken eggs or any other eggs except flit eggs. And most of the time, those were in sand pots. So the humans were taking care of them."
"I think I might go. After all, how often will I have the chance to go to a Hatching, even one such like this?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:05 pm
Aaaand that was it. Leevi spent most of his days hanging around with criminals and quietly listening to their reasons behind stabbing a person to death but this girl made him want to take a long bath. His stomach contracted, like some sort of serpent made of anger was constricting over it. The half-finished bowl of food was shoved away and he smiled at the girl as nicely as he could.
“You know what? I'm not hungry after all. I'll see you around,” he said shortly as he got up.
Even one such as this, she said. As though the fact that they had a Blue sire made them inherently inferior. To a man who was the son of a Blue and a Greenrider, such a thing was... well, it was enough to put him off his feed.
Suddenly, looking through records of vicious attacks and acts of violence seemed more palatable than five more minutes in Canoake's company.
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