Harper Intervention
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Xanadu Weyr - Caverns

A massive cavern in it's own right, this one has been skillfully adapted for human habitation. The high ceilings have been painted a light, soft ivory, as are the walls where numerous tapestries hang to provide brilliant color and insulation from the stone. The floor has been left in its natural state, pale pink granite speckled through with glittering mica and dark flecks of basalt, leveled carefully but kept sufficiently rough to avoid slips.
The cavern itself is loosely divided into areas, each one set up to be suitable for some segment of the Weyr's population. The most frequently occupied area, however, is the one near the Kitchens where tables of varying sizes provide a place to sit down and eat or chat and a buffet of consumables is almost always kept stocked. Its plain that on most days, this area wouldn't accommodate anywhere near the full population of the Weyr and equally plain that on such occasions when a formal meal is laid out, tables are appropriated from all the other areas.
A big fireplace is set into the wall near the Kitchens as well, several comfortable chairs nearby providing haunts for elderly residents or riders who like a good view of all that happens. Rugs cover the floor in strategic spots, all of them abstract or geometric in design and most in the softly neutral colors of undyed wool.

Exits lead off in all directions, a big archway the largest and that leading outside. Shallow stairs to the west lead to the offices and administration area while tunnels to the east lead to the infirmary, kitchen and resident's quarters. Southwards, a sloping tunnel leads down to the hot springs and southwest is a wide tunnel, carefully roped off to avoid accidents.


Keziah is sitting back is sitting back away from the more heavily populated areas of the cavern, away from the kitchens and away from the fireplace, so it's a little cooler as well as quieter. It's in a relative corner and the table has been pulled back close to the wall. She has a full glass of juice and a mainly untouched plate of food. Both seem to be forgotten. She finishes up writing something and attaches it to Eirwyn, her gold firelizard and sends her off. It's a bit windy outside, the leaves swirling around with the gusts, other than that, it's a fairly nice day.

Matrin ambles in, lacking his common air of purpose. Today it's just a light meal he seems to be after, and his mood matches the pleasant day outside. It's not like he's skipping and whistling a merry tune or anything, just taking his time heading for the serving tables, adding a bit of food to his plate, and then scanning for an empty seat. He's been a little out of the Keziah-drama loop these last few days, but he has something to tell her, so he brightens at the sight of the back of her petite frame and heads that way. "Afternoon, Keziah," he greets with a smile. "Can I… sit with you?" The last words come distant and quiet as he comes around to face her right in the middle of the sentence and sees her untouched plate. Concern replaces his smile but he just lets his question stand.

Keziah looks up as Matrin comes over and she's silent a moment "Well, I suppose if you're just here to eat and haven't been sent to keep an eye on me or something." she says after a moment "It's open." There a pause and then a little mutter. "Strike that. Please, sit down, enjoy your food. How are you today?" she asks with a bright and maybe creepy smile.

One dark brow slowly climbs, and Matrin gets a sort of creeped out light in his eyes, but he just sets his tray down at the table. "Uh, thanks," he manages, settling himself neatly in the chair, spreading a napkin over his lap like he might take some comfort in the habitual gestures. "Is there a reason someone would send me to keep an eye on you?" He runs a restless hand through his hair, then stills it by grabbing his glass of juice. "I sort of feel like I missed the gold dragon looming in the middle of the room or something."

Keziah shakes her head "No, you were supposed to strike that. It's a nice day out, and I am going to have a nice time. And I am going to be nice." she says cheerfully. Well, psuedo cheerfully. "The food is wonderful today, isn't it? How do feel about the tavern being reopened? I know a lot of people are very happy about it. Course there is already a bet going on, on when it will close again."

Slowly lifting his glass to his mouth, Matrin watches Keziah over the rim with no little amount of puzzlement. "Mmm, that's right," he murmurs as he lowers it enough to talk, but keeps it there like some kind of shield. "I haven't tried the food and neither have you, from the looks of your plate. Which is another thing that leads me to ask, are you sure you're alright?" Finally setting the glass down and leaning his weight into a splayed palm, he tips his head to glance around for looming eavesdroppers. Finding none, he returns his keen gaze to her and narrows his eyes a bit. "You can talk to me, you know. What's going on?" As for the tavern, he could care less and he shows it with a dismissive flap of a hand.

"Talking leads to anger and anger leads to mindhealers." Keziah murmurs under her breath. She eyes the food and then just a little. "Not very hungry." She looks back up at Matrin and then shrugs a little "Otherwise, I'm fine. Got a ton of free time on my hand, what more could anyone ask for?" She tilts her own head a little "So, what have you been up too? Haven't seen you around for a bit." she asks after a moment.

Matrin's feet plant on the ground like he might just scoot back but somewhere in the middle of the gesture he thinks better of it. If she wants to act like all is well, he will play along at least for the moment, and does so by cutting a bite-sized bit of wherry. "Went up to Mire," he notes as he lifts the meat. "I didn't even die, which all things considered was pretty miraculous. I am so glad we talked about the signal so that they don't jump and maul you when you arrive." The tone is wry as he puts his bite into his mouth and arches a brow at her.

Keziah stares at Matrin, her eyes wide and then they narrow and she opens her mouth as if to start yelling and then she stops. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I told you they were paranoid. I did not think you would decide to head off there on your own after meeting them once." She takes several breaths, deep breaths. But they don't seem to be very calming at first. Finally, she opens her eyes again and looks at him. "Glad to hear you didn't die." she finally says. It might be amusing to watch the range of things going on with her face as she fights with herself to not say anything more.

Uh huh. Matrin nods soberly as he chews, shaking his head as he swallows. "Specifics, Keziah. Specifics are really helpful. I wonder if I might not die in my sleep, yet. As it is, I got some more good information from Mishkia regarding those records and the ruins. And I did not suck any mudbug heads this time." He watches her emotions go skittering across her face, then just smirks faintly. "Lucky for me the majority of the Hold was out harvesting grains, and though Mishkia landed me square on my backside, that was the extent of it."

"Lucky you didn't kill yourself in the swamp getting there." Keziah adds. "Course, you couldn't be bothered to ask to be taken back there either. No. You had to just go harrowing off on your own." She mutters under her breath "She must like you." she notes after a moment. "Well, I guess you have it all well in hand don't you." A twitch starts on her eye but she keeps her mouth shut again, though her lips are drawn thin.

Matrin clears his throat and gives the unbuttoned neckline of his shirt a little tug. "Well I wouldn't go leaping off, trudging through all those miles of swamp and forest all on my own. Not when I know that small greens can land just fine." He has since realized the folly in his plan, and though he doesn't blush there's definite chagrin in the line of his mouth. "But I heard you were grounded after the skillet burn and something else? Anyway, I didn't have a chance to ask you because in asking around I heard you wouldn't be able to take me. So Rimara and Istelth took me." He winces, ready for the tirade to come, and hastens to add. "Oh hell, Keziah. I don't have it in hand at all. I am /lucky/ to be in one piece and should have talked to you first."

Keziah stares at Matrin, simply stares at him, her mouth dropping open. "You. Took. A. Strange. Green. To. Them?" Either she's extremely pissed and just can't spit it all out or she's amazed that he's even still alive. Either that, it's a bad Shatner impersonation. "You risked. A dragon. And her rider??" She then goes silent, a look at speaks volumes of nothing. She then just slowly starts shaking her head. "And they say I'm crazy and a need a mind healer." There is just such an incredulous look on her face.

The harper has the grace to drop his eyes in the face of Keziah's carefully controlled ire, and he wets his lips with a flick of his tongue that looks almost nervous. OK, or totally nervous. "I didn't realize it was that dire, Keziah, I swear I didn't. They fed me mudbugs, they gave me ancient record, I figured everything was alright. I asked Rimara if she could take me back again and she said she lost the drawing I made and has no idea how to get there so… I think it all turned out alright?" It's weak to say the least and he lets out a sigh, dropping his elbow to the table and his chin into his waiting palm. "I am not used to any area not welcoming a dragon-borne Crafter. 'Paranoid' and 'homicidal' are not always the same thing you know."

Oh, not only did he show someone how to get there, but gave the way to someone who loses a map and now who knows who has it. "Oh, yeah, eveythings all right. Shells I hope Mishkia can do some good damage control. You have any idea on how long it took for them to be okay with Alosynth there? Or even how fragile the surface area can be? I don't generally take here there, or that I have her drop me off a little distance away." She groans and drops her head to the table. "Shells. Merin's gonna give birth to one of them prized bovines of his." she sighs a little and then this time drags her arms under her head. "They are an area that willingly cut themselves out to everyone. You don't just invade willy-nilly and hope to keep good relations." There's another pause "Shards, I hope Chalm is still going to be open to that shipment of stone when can get it."

Open mouth, insert foot. Or just keep digging that hole a little deeper, Matrin. Here, have a shovel. He does color now, though it's the tiniest bit of pink across his cheeks and he stops the charade of eating at all. "Look. I make plenty of drawings of jungle, I doubt anyone gives a flying…" he clears his throat, and pulls a pleasant face on. "No one but Mishkia even saw me there, and she said everything was fine. So let's not get ahead of ourselves, hmmm? And in the future you really could do a better job of explaining the nuances. Since you warned me about every other totally unlikely possible problem, I figured you would have been equally specific about Mire." A hint of irritation flares in his eyes, but he tamps it down. "I'm sorry you're having a rough time or whatever you don't want to talk about, but Mire is fine."

Keziah narrows her eyes at Matrin "Mishkia, however much I adore her, is still young as is not in charge of the area. I'm sorry I acredited you with more brains. And whatever else is going on has no baring on that. But fine. You want to know whats going on? I'm unfit for duty. Period. End of story." Go straight to jail and do not collect $200?. Okay, so that's an oversimplification of things. "I'm effectively banned from my wing until I either go to Fort and speak with them there, which. I can't do yet, as I am not cleared for Between for almost another couple of sevendays, or I can manage to talk one in to coming here and hope they don't charge a premium." She snorts "Are ya happy? I aired out my dirty laundry for you. Not that it has anything to do with Mire."

Matrin just sits a little straighter, but where his fingers find the edge of the table the tips go white with pressure and a muscle flexes in his jaw. "It appears we both made incorrect estimations then, doesn't it?" His tone is as cool as eyes gone more grey than blue, but they are slow and carefully enunciated just the same. When she spews out all that is going on with her, he softens just enough for his eyes to search hers and his brows to pinch in a bit. "Well I'm sorry to hear all of that Keziah, and I hope you get the help you need. If I can help you work with the Healers, let me know." He pauses to swallow hard, and shakes his head. "Though I doubt you'd seek assistance from someone as dim as me." He clears his throat and stands, gathering up his half full plate and glass. "If you get any grief for my actions at Mire, I'd appreciate the opportunity to try and clear it up, and I'm sorry I ruined your otherwise pleasant afternoon."

Keziah would kick herself, if she wasn't sitting, and if it was anatomically possible. She closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. "Matrin. Wait." she says after a couple of breaths. "Look, I'm sorry. I really had no intention of taking your head off. I was really trying hard to keep a level head about everything. I'm.. I'm sorry." Gone is the anger that had been there. Now, there just sits one sad little Kezi who buries her face into her arms again. Hopefully before anyone see's anything wet on her cheeks.

Matrin's back is already turned by the time Keziah wilts, so all she has to start with is a slump to his shoulders and a bowing of his dark head. He heaves a sigh, then turns around, abandoning his food thoughtlessly on a nearby table as he comes over to drop his hands down on Keziah's shoulders. "Hey," is soft, and he gives her shoulders a little rubbing pressure. "None of that now. I will forget that you called me stupid if you forget that I acted like I am, yeah?" His Bitran accent comes creeping in a bit, softening his consonants and bringing on a drawling lilt. "Maybe trying too hard to keep it all together is what's causing you to break. How about you let me see if I can get a mindhealer down here, just to talk. Sometimes it's good to have an objective ear."

Keziah just gives a little nod. "So long.. so long as they are willing to talk outside." she murmurs quietly. "And not one of those ones that believe everything is sunshine and happiness." She snorts a bit. There's a muffled sniff and then a blowing out of air. "But aye, I'll ferget it. Thank you." she says, with a slighly plugged nose voice. After a moment, she sits up and grabs at a cloth napkin she had with her food and wipes at her eyes. "If you'll also forget seein' me like this?"

Matrin is still standing behind her, perhaps to give her a bit of privacy as she cries. "Like what? The top of your head is lovely as ever. No dandruff or anything." A hint of a tease ripples his voice and he gives her another squeeze. "Outside, not all sunshine and happiness, check," he recites like he's making a list even as they speak. "And in the meantime, if you have a day when you aren't clinging to 'nice' by your fingernails and you want to talk? I'm a good listener too."

Keziah snorts, she just simply snorts. "Glad to know I keep myself clean." She gets herself better composed and then glances over her shoulder at Matrin "Thanks. I'm not a good talker though." There's a pause "But I'll try. Okay?" she asks and then glances over towards his food "And I'm sure your food has gone quite cold. I'm sorry for that. I really shouldn't give one of our harper's indigestion."

That earns Keziah a grin, and Matrin gives her a tiny shake before stepping around her. "Trying is all we can ask, right. And I'll just go make myself a sandwich and take it back to my desk, I think. I do need to get back to making a transcript of what I found for Mire though, now that I know I've probably roused their anger more than I knew." He takes on a self-deprecating hint of a smirk, then tips her a teasing two fingered salute. "Take care of yourself, and I'll let you know what I find out."


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