Xanadu Weyr - Garden
An arch woven from the tendrils of a willow tree stretches overhead lightly creeping with ivy as one steps in from the meadow into this sanctuary of green. Cool gray flagstone carefully spaced enables a soft velvety moss to thrive within the cracks, and creates a single wide pathway that fluidly breaks off into two paths of stone once free of the natural arbor. It is a wonder this place, and meticulously tended from the way it seems not a single leaf is out of place. On either side of the main path expansive grassy patches are trimmed short and edged behind with natural tan colored stone selectively chosen to stack just right. Beyond these are a line of fine puffed shrubberies in vibrant green intermingled with flowering bushes of brilliant pinks varying in hue from the very light to the very dark, which causes the occasional snowy white blossoms of other scattered here and there without worry to simply pop out of the scenery.
Directly in the center of the garden is another wall of intricately stacked stone, this of muted grays, creating what from the air would prove to be a perfect circle. It's been set high for safety, but not so much as one would not be able to lean over it to admire what lies beyond, either standing or sitting at the smattering of benches whose backs are set every four feet along it. Flush to the ground inside it's protective stone outcropping, is an enormous twenty foot wide fish pond. Within one can glean the metallic glint of playful goldfish, the unhurried cruise of fat koi, and even a frog or three among pale yellow and white flowering water lilies and their thick green pads.
The trees surrounding the entire garden were planted to give the impression that they had always been here, not only lending to a rustic look, but also eluding to the beauty that can be found among the wilds if only one might just look for it. Species vary from the ordinary Birch and Pine, but the flaming red capsules of the Indian Shot to the robust orange spokes of the Firewheel tree suggest the spice of the exotic. The two paths leading away from the entrance have come full circle, wrapping around to meet each other on the other side, yet still continue on to the far left and right. One path leads off deeper into the surrounding woods, while the other wider; cheerily decorated with brightly colored slabs of painted stones.
The garden is looking somewhat bedraggled after the recent incident with the ovine. Blood splatters are still evident on some of the paving stones and the trunks of a few trees. Broken branches and a somewhat flattened shubbery remain in evidence, though much of the damage has been cleaned by the candidates.
Shellie nods, sitting on a bench as she talks to Cenlia, the younger girl working in the garden. "Getting Niva drunk? Now that's a feat in and of itself, and a truly brave one.
Cenlia is leaning back against the greenhouse, her four baby flits playing nearby. The gardener girl giggles and nods, "Weren't my idea!" And that's only because X'hil beat her to it. "Am hoping she don't ask whose bottle of tuber ale it was." Oh well, it's X'hil's now anyways - even has his name on it! Cenlia adds after a moment, "She's kinda scary… didn't think anybody could knock back half a glass of vodka just like that - 'specially not Evi's homebrew!"
Shellie nods, and shakes her head. "You already know to stay clear of her when she's Proddy, I hope. I remember a couple of turns back, she pretty much banned all Istan bronzeriders from Xanadu.
Cenlia's eyebrows go up, "They get her drunk too?" Bronzeriders… just can't trust 'em.
Shellie shakes her head, laughing. "No. It was because L'ton managed to get half the transport wing pregnant at the same time." Of course, he'd also gotten the most senior healer at the weyr pregnant as well, but since Shellie's not in the Transport wing, that didn't count.
Thea enters the garden carrying a tall cool drink of something fruity. She's sweaty and tired and apparently looking for some shady respite. She passes through the gate and stops short. "Oh shells," she says quietly. "They said it was bad, but I didn't think it was this bad." She spots Shellie and Cenlia and heads their way. "Cenlia…" Her tone gives no indication of her mood. She gives a half-smile to Shellie. "Afternoon." She pauses, obviously she's overhead and offers her solution, "Pern's Healers ougt to be advanced enough to fix that kind of problem."
Cenlia blinks and snerks, "How'd he manage that-" and then she realizes and laughs outright, muttering, "Half the stories my cousins told were true!" Now where'd that come from? And, still snickering, she says, "No wonder X'hil wanted to run off soon as he could!" And then she spied Thea and actuallys 'yawps' - the farmer girls looks around as if trying to find a place to hide. Her firelizards, on the other hand, see Thea and trill little hatchling greetings, the bronze especially trying to waddle over to the goldrider while crooning and waggling his rump.
Shellie smirks. "Oh we are, except whenever I bring it up, he literally runs in terror. Besides, there's one of his girlfriends he hasn't managed to get preggers yet, and M'iken does want a baby with him.
Thea gives Cenlia a mild look, "What are you yelping about?" She eyes the garden once more, then the gardener, rubbing her eyes she asks resignedly, "Tell me you didn't have anything to do with this?" Her voice is pleading. She approaches the bench and sits. "Oughta have put something else in this besides fruit juice." She sips, then casually asks Shellie, "How's that baby doin'?"
The garden is looking somewhat bedraggled after the recent incident with the ovine. Blood splatters are still evident on some of the paving stones and the trunks of a few trees. Broken branches and a somewhat flattened shubbery remain in evidence, though much of the damage has been cleaned by the candidates. Cenlia is sitting back against the side of the greenhouse, looking decidedly guilty. Shellie is on a nearby bench and Thea is standing with a glass of juice. Four baby firelizards - two blues, a brown, and a bronze - are chattering happily by Cenlia.
"It weren't my fault!" Cenlia suddenly blurts out, then looks a bit sheepish, "Least, not my idea to haul the ovine up into the tree…" Realizing this probably isn't the thing to say, she adds hastily, "Weyrsecond X'hil wanted to get it out alive." Another pause. "It got stuck in a bush…" she tries look anywhere but at Thea, which only makes her look even more guilty.
Shellie laughs. "Cenlia, no one said it was your fault. You couldn't have helped what happen, and you know full well that it was the dragon that killed the beast anyway…
Medani trods in at an easy clip, if still a bit stiff. She's familiar enough with the events of the other day. Her hands have been lightly bandaged, along with a couple more upon her face, and finishing with a small, neatly stitched cut upon her forehead. She pauses at the remains of a large bloodstain upon the ground, considering it for the length of a few breaths before moving on and calling out towards Cenlia.
Thea sinks to the bench, closing her eyes for a moment as Cenlia talks, "I see." She starts to speak, stops then, "When I asked ya not to burn down the Weyr, I didn't mean you should find another way to wreck it!" She tries, but she can't keep her face stern. She just starts chuckling. "You should've seen Niva, Zevida and Ysa with Hisolda. The woman was inconsolable." She's able to get it under control by the time Shellie speaks up. Thea adds, "Dunno why all the fuss to save an ovine anyhow. It's just gonna end up in some dragon's belly anyhow." Medani's bandages do register a blink, "You have an unfortunate encounter with an ovine as well?" A smile tugs at her lips.
At Shellie's comment, the gardener girl looks much relieved, and grins sheepishly. Yay, someone to back her up! At the sight of Medani, the gardener girl looks almost happy, calling out a cheerful, "Hello Ma'am!" And to Thea, she says, "The same ovine. Same one that landed on X'hil too." And then she mumbles under her breath, somewhat reproachfully, "Mess in the kitchens weren't all my fault neither." Though that one she can't completely blame on the new-soon-to-be-ex weyrsecond.
Shellie nods politely at the other greenrider. "Good afternoon. I hope that you're ok. I'm Shellie, rider of Rieselth.
Medani nods towards Thea as she draws near, commenting with a stabbing gesture towards whatever is left of the bush, "That sinister shrubbery did the most obvious part of it, but getting the beast dropped upon me didn't help any." She smiles and inclines her head to Shellie in turn, offering to the assembled, "Medani, rider of Anlyth, wandering harper and occasional ovine-mattress."
Thea rolls her eyes at the news, "Hit and run ovine. I hope you're ok." She's muttering, most likely not making much sense. Her juice needs her attention and it gets it. "How is it these sudden calamities are not your fault, Cenlia, but yet you manage to be in the middle of each one, I'm not sure." She shakes her head over that. "Nice to meet you, Medani." She notices Cenlia's bronze and wriggles a finger or two at him, offering a scritch.
Cenlia can't help but snicker at the 'ovine-mattress' comment. But she does ask, "You okay afterwards, ma'am? Looked like you were holdin' your head…" And since the gardener girl was fleeing an overly-enthusiastic healer, she didn't exactly stick around to find out if the two riders had any serious injuries. At Thea's question about how she managed to always be around so much trouble, she answers automatically, "Ask X'hil." The little bronze flit loves scritches! It croons and poses and flutters its wings cutely. The brown notices and lets out a grumbly 'gwrrer' and waddles over too, trying to stick his head under those scritchy fingers.
Shellie frowns at the mention of holding a head, but doesn't make a beeline for the dragonharper, keeping her place. "Well, if you're not in the infirmary, it's probably not anything major." She can't help but roll her eyes at 'Ask X'hil,' having already gotten an ear and a half full of the gardener girl's escapades from her, and more from others. "Still, it's better than porcines. I believe the ancients had a saying? 'When pigs fly…'
Medani rolls her shoulders a little, nodding to all, "I'll be fine, only a little cut and bruised here and there. They just asked if I'd hit my head, but I hadn't, and the shrub was actually pretty springy for when the animal hit me. It made for a rather new experience, actually." She turns to regard Cenlia, "You should have stuck around to find out how things ended, wouldn't have hurt you to indulge the poor healers for a while," her tone starts out on the sharp side, softening as she caps her thought off.
Thea does the obligatory scritching while listening to Cenlia. "Hmm. I just might ask him at that." Shep uncurls from Thea's neck and hops down to get in on the scritching. She giggles a bit at Shellie, "That might be a disaster worse possibly worse than a Cenlia-X'hil pair." She can't help but ponder what Medani says about healers. "You mean, you -haven't- been checked by them yet Cenlia? Hrm." She consideres the girl. "When you get off work today, I want you to stop by and have them go over you. Make sure there's no residual effects from your… accident." Her tone implies she expects the girl to comply. One might see a bit of a twinkle in her eyes. And she is known for her follow-up, so likely the Healers will hear from her too.
Shellie laughs. "Oh, believe me, I intend to see that she's looked at. In fact, I'll be doing it myself."
Cenlia grins at Shellie, "They do if a flying dragon nabs 'em, though, right?" At Medani's words, the gardener girl says, "They woulda stuck me with a needle again!" And then, glancing at Shellie, she repeats her earlier statement, "And I wasn't hurt at all, they just didn't believe me…" Of course they didn't, she'd had sheep's blood splattered on her. But at Thea's words she makes a face, "Ask Sir Kinseth, X'hil is always runnin' away." And she rolls her eyes. When Thea mentions she should get checked by healers, Cenlia pulls a sour face, but then suddenly looks back at Shellie, "Just bein' checked over isn't too hard, is it? Could check me over now, ma'am?" She sounds so hopeful, poor dear. After all, Cenlia's last experience getting tended wasn't too bad. Shellie wouldn't stick her with a needle again, would she?
Shellie shakes her head. "No, dear. You're not going to get a shot, but I think Thea's right, it would be a good idea to check you out." She stands, and goes over to the girl, carefully, but gently examining her. "Ok, no broken bones, eyes tracking normally. Have you had any headaches or anything?
Medani holds out her hands to either side in an apologetic gesture focused upon Cenlia, "I just stopped by to remind you that you owe me a new rope, since you darted off too quickly the other day, though it appears I might have gotten you in a spot in the process." She looks as if she'll get over it though, more amused than sympathetic. She takes a couple strides back to be out of the way or perhaps to withdraw with her task now complete.
Thea watches impassively, "Can't have folks wandering around after accidents. You might have had a head injury or something." She just shakes her head at the 'Garden checkup.' "Actually, I meant for her to be seen where they have the proper instruments to give her a good checking." She points in the direction of the Infirmary. "More privacy there anyway." She rises from the bench. "Time for me to get back to work. Later folks."