Xanadu Weyr - Beach
The unerring range of subdued white rises and falls in a multitude of sandy dunes, creating an endless amount of tiny valleys constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of a dragon. Smoothing out as it slopes gently to the edge of the deep blue water, the sand darkens and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect. The beach itself is set along a low cliff - the height lessoning as one heads eastwards, blocking a portion of the beach from direct access.
The wide stretch of water opens up to the east, the far distant shore way beyond the horizon and the beach curves ever so slowly round to east and west, distant arms of land embracing the wind-ruffled Caspian Lake. East leads up to the mouth of the Rubicon River, where the protecting cliff is merely an arms length higher then the sand, and beyond that, a winding road leading out of Xanadu's territory. Westwards, the beach narrows as the cliff swings out, leaving a path wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to the sheltered cove designated the Weyrling Beach. However, cut in the cliff face to the north are a variety of rough, wide staircases, providing access to the clearing and to the meadow.
After a visit to the feeding pens, there is only one place to go next. The beach, to scrub up bloody muzzles, mainly. IF you have messy eaters like Kera's dragonmate though, a good portion of the dragon needs to be spot cleaned. That's why the greenling pair are splashing their way into the water, the young green splashing more of coarse. Winging around above the green pair, Minimur chitters happily and darts down to skim the water, dragging his claws a seconds before grabbing at the air and winging upwards with a tiny little fingerfish. Kera's wearing a light shirt over her swimsuit, no need to get more blistered shoulders. The sun shines bright on the warm Xanadu afternoon, at times making patches of the water blinding to look at when it reflects.
Najara's headed down to the beach in a light cream and yellow sundress. Pink… wouldn't really go with it, at least not the pink from Moncerath's washing up. She pauses as she sees the stir, keeping her distance from the splashing, but she does wave to the rider when Kera looks her way.
Kera concentrates her current cleaning efforts on Moncerath's muzzle, gently splashing water up and scrubbing over the green hide with a little hand brush. When the water runs cleaner, she coaxes her dragonmate to open her jaws. Seems Kera is inspecting the young dragon's teeth. Shuffling her feet, she shifts around in the water said, water up to her knees, and spots someone on the beach. With her hands currently occupied, she offers a smile and dip of her head in greeting "Ah, G'afternoon ma'am." Recalling the face, if not the name, her attention slips back to her task. "Wider Mon." The young green stretches her jaws a bit more and Kera almost seems to stick her head between the green's jaws. At least from a couple of angles it would. Examining as best she can, soon she reaches in and then flicks something unpleasant looking off her fingers and into the water. "Ya gotta be careful with bones now Moncerath."
Najara laughs a little at the greeting she gets. "Good afternoon to you," she says with a curtsy, and takes a moment to watch as the weyrling tends to her young dragon. She's quiet, but curious in her gaze.
Kera finishes checking Moncerath over for leftover bits of her meal then decides all bits are dealt with. A few more energetic splashes over the growing green, "Alright, you're all sparkly clean again. Keep your wings up so they don't drag." No need to confuse the young green by adding it will help strength her muscles too. Wading back to shore, she pauses long enough to bend down, scoop some wet sand and scrub her hands together a bit before rinsing them. Turning her attention to Najara "Nice day to enjoy a bit of sand and sun isn't it?" Canting her head a bit she finally sighs and gives an appologetic shrug "I'm sorry ma'am, I know we've met before, but I can't recall your name. I'm Kera. And this dripping young dragon is Moncerath…keep your wings up Mon." That last said aside to the green who's wings were almost drooping to the sand.
Najara smiles to Kera as she returns. "It is. The sea and shore… seems they're a bit different wherever you go." She shakes her head a little at the apology. "Oh, no need for that. I'm Najara - just visiting from Western, that's all. Nobody important." She smiles. "It's nice to meet you again, though."
Kera cants her head curious to the visitor and gestures around the beach in a welcoming manner "Ya shouldn't say that about yourself, being nobody I mean. My Gram used to say that everyone was somebody to someone else." Pondering her words briefly "Or something like that." An amused chuckle follows her words as she reaches out to swip excess water droplets from Moncerath's hide. Minimur returns from devouring his little fishy snack and tries to perch on Kera's shoulder "Oh no you don't fishbreath. Go chew some mint first." Gently shooing the brown to find another perch, her attention goes back to Najara with a pleasant nod "Nice to see ya again. Just out enjoying the area or maybe looking for someone?"
Najara smiles. "Did she. Well, I suppose I can be Najara to you, then." She laughs lightly, watching the weyrling's interaction with her firelizard. "Oh, I'm just here visiting. The problem with seeing rider friends is that they spend so much time busy!"
Kera laughs and nods agreeably. "I'm beginning to understand both sides of that more and more lately." It's a bright sunny at Xanadu. Moncerath is dripping next to Kera, the young dragon holding her loosely stretched wings up from the sand. The weyrling is waving off her brown lizard who has fish breath, and Minimur perches lightly on the young dragon's head, tiny talon grasping ridges to balance. Kera has a tshirt over her swimsuit to keep from burning her shoulders. Najara wears a pale yellow sundress. The two are chatting as Kera and the young dragon drip dry.
Johhny walks over from the meadow to relax on the beach, but notices the two Xanadu residents and the dragon. " Hi. How is everyone? " he says, then suddenly, his firelizard Belevro bursts in from nowhere bringing a blast of chilled air with him.
Najara smiles, looking to Moncerath. "I suppose you would." She looks back to the rider. "So… what's it like? I mean, I've asked other people, but… it seems like it's a little different for everyone." She's not a Xanadu resident - just a visitor - but she glances up as Johhny approaches, and waves to him. "Hello."
Kera bends slightly to swipe water droplets from her legs then crosses across the beach a little ways to where her over large satchel and sandals are. The other girl's question catches her off guard, "It's definately not something I was completely prepared for to be quite honest. I mean, you're told what to expect and such. But being told about the something can't really prepare you for the actual experiance. Like hearing her." Fingers reach up to tap her head meaningfully and shrugs "Among other things." She could probably go on with several examples, but Johhny's greeting draws her attention up the beach. Flashing a wave towards the young man. "Hi Johhny, We're doin well, yourself?"
Johhny waves to Kera. " I'm doing good. Sorry for rushing out yesterday. I try to stay with Belevor, he is a few days old afterall. " he says, sitting down onto the soft sand and slowly closing his eyes to relax. Belevor hops onto Johhny's chest and lays down, then sighs. " Anything new? " Johhny mumbles.
Najara listens curiously to Kera's answer. She laughs a little, and nods. "I've heard that it's… that there's nothing like it, really. Not even firelizards, though they're the closest a non-rider can get." But it's just not the same, and she studies Moncerath for another moment or two, letting Kera talk to Johhny since they seem to know each other.
Johhny gets up slowly and stretches. " I'm going to go grab some food. Bye. "
Kera nods to Najara "Very differant.., "She pauses, as if struggling for the right wording "..intensities, in what I get from Minimur and what I know from Moncerath. Sorta like the differane barely brushing a fingertip across your arm…" She demonstrates as she speaks "..and a smart slap." She doesn't actually smack her arm, but does mimic doing so. A nod is given to Johhny as the man rushes off to find something to eat, then turns her attention back to Najara with a little shrug "I really don't know how to explain it. I'm sure one of the riders with experiance could explain it better."
"Intensities," Najara repeats. She nods. "That does make some sense." She waves to Johhny as he departs. "Well, he seemed in a rush," she comments with a little laugh, then looks back to Kera. "Oh, I don't know. The experienced ones seem to have… settled into it better, I suppose? I'm not sure they think about it as much as the people for whom it's fresher."
Kera chuckles to Najara and peers back towards the café briefly "I think he's newly arrived to Xanadu. He does to seem a busy one though, always hurrying off after his little blue." She smirks back to the other girl "When Mini hatched he barely did more than eat and sleep the first sevenday." A quick shrug lifts her shoulders "Just goes to show not all lizards are the same." Looking back to Moncerath who's mostly dry now, Kera seems slightly distracted as she about the westerner's words "I guess that makes sense. Honestly, I've been so busy with seeing to Mon's needs and lessons to have much time to just sit and do nothing but 'think'. Lately at least." Shaking out of her thoughts, Kera observes Najara a moment "Have you stood for a clutch before?"
Najara nods about that newly arrived fellow. "Mine were fairly quiet, I suppose. A few mishaps here and there, but that's how these things go." She laughs and shrugs. "Sometimes I think best when I'm doing something. Even if it's just mending socks." Najara smiles, then nods to the question. "I have. Only the once."
Kera nods to what she learns about the visitor, chuckling a bit "Bout the only task I have currently where it's okay to let my mind wander, is when I'm scrubbing Moncerath." She smirks and looks over to the mostly dry green a moment then back again "But with her hunting on her own now, cutting meat is one less task to do." An amused wink to Najara over that. Then mending socks is mentioned "Ah, do you by chance do needleworks?"
Najara nods, looking again to Moncerath. "It's rather a lot of work," she says at the talk about scrubbing and cutting things. "That I've certainly heard." She laughs a little, then nods about the needlework. "I do."
Kera smirks some "Thankfully my scrubbing duties are a no where near what some of the other weyrlings have. Poor Innes will probably spend half her day scrubbing and oiling that queen of hers when she finally stop growing." Shuttering at that thought even under the bright sun, Kera laughs, nodding agreeably to Najara about needleworks. "Now that's something I miss, being able to work on my little projects. I've got a couple of half finished ones in my trunk. I'll get around to finishing them sometime down the line."
"Well, I'm sure you'll find some time eventually," Najara says. "After all, it can't always be all about caring for your dragon, or how would the Weyrs ever support themselves?" She laughs a little. "Babies do grow up."
Kera nods with a little smile "True. Then it'll be back to my Hall studies. And most likely shifts in the infirmary." Shrugging a bit "Not really sure what exactly will happen. A half trained healer isn't really much use, so don't see why I shouldn't be able to continue." Stepping into her shoes sandals now that her feet are dry, Kera cants her head over to Najara "How about yourself? Are you posted to Western from a Hall?"
Najara nods about the healery things, then blinks. "Western?" she asks, and shakes her head. "I'm not from Western. I've never been there, in fact. I do live at Eastern." She smiles. "And no, I'm not hall-trained. Just… myself." She shrugs. "I help out in the caverns."
Kera nods in a thoughtful manner "I hope you do a better than I did on cavern or kitchen duty during candidacy. I'll just say the head cook is /not/ my biggest fan." Burned pots and broken dishes anyone? A smirk offered up for that as she bends to grab up her satchel, fumbling around inside til she pulls out a couple strips of dried meat, offering one to Najara. "What are thing like at Eastern? Any excitement lately?" Cause absolutely nothing exciting happens at Xanadu. No explosions with ground zero craters. No mysterious vanishing hot springs. Nopenope.
Najara smiles. "Oh, I do well enough. I've been helping out for a while." She laughs. "Long enough that they let me pick what to do at least part of the time." Sometimes there's things that just need to be done, but still, seniority has perks. "Oh," she says to the offer of the meat, then smiles as she accepts it. "Thank you." That's apparently the signal for a bronze firelizard to swoop down to her shoulder, and she feeds him a little bit of the meat as she shakes her head to Kera. "Exciting… no, can't say there has been. Just as well, really!"
Kera grins to Najara, tugging off a bit of the meat. The sudden arrival of the bronze get's an smirk from the lizard's antics. "They'll never miss a meal will they." Her words are affectionately said of coarse. "And speaking of meals, I need to go get her oiled up and settled so she can sleep off the one I just cleaned from her teeth." Wagging fingers to the Eastern Visitor "Nice seeing you again Najara. Hope you both enjoy the rest of your visit to Xanadu." Flashing a smile and another wave to Najara and her cute bronze stomach with wings and turns to her dragonmate "Alright Mon, time for oil and story time." The stories being releated mishaps that have happened to the other weyrlings, or even recallections about others about the Weyr. Moncerath warbles and seems to a sudden energetic burst as they green pair head towards the hatching sand….temporary home of the young Xanadu dragons.
Najara laughs. "Allium will," she says of the firelizards. "He's my brown. Sweet boy, but… not quite all there." She gives her head a little shake. "Riel's the one who knows what he's doing." That'd be the bronze, who takes the nibble as his due. Najara smiles to Kera. "Thank you. Good luck with finding time for other things one of these days!" She waves farewell.