Xanadu Weyr - Observation Level
Dark blue seats form a semi-circle around the sands below, the lowest row separating from the sands themselves by merely a railing. The seats climb upwards, each row a bit higher then the previous, and they are broken up into sections by 3 sets of staircases. Lights are evenly spaced along the outer wall, lighting the seats and the sands easily, though they tend to be dimmed unless a major event is taking place. A large balcony looms overhead, darkening some of the seats, providing a place for observers of the draconic kind to watch without obstructing the view for others.
When one looks over the railing, the oddly hued sand below can be seen easily, the circle-shaped area of the sands spread out to the far walls, the sand itself a unique mixture of red and white grains.
It's around dinner time, Rukbat has set and people are milling about the Weyr in a leisurely fashion. The tavern is busy, the caverns are — but for some reason, there is only a small crowd in the Observation Level. People dot the stands, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in a small group, but the level of noise is minimal. Riyontali shuffles in, smelling no more of the stables, bathed sometime recently and sporting a small blanket-wrapped bundle and a skin of something. The girl settles on the lowest level of seats and peers across the sands at the clutches therein, curious but quiet and apparently uninterested in the other quietly talking groups. She flips open the packet and takes out a roll of some sort, nibbling on it as she peers across the sands, eyes narrowed.
Re're meanders up the stairs towards the Observation level, his younger daughter Dreia with him, the brownrider talking to the girl as they go. Pausing, they lean against the railing, sharing a few more words, and then Dreia turns to plop herself down in the seat next to Riyontali, leaning curiously to look at her, blinking a few times. But then a lingering look from Re're has his daughter hurriedly sitting up, and there's an apologizing note. "Sorry miss.."
"Sir," Tali greets Re're softly as they meander up nearby, flashing a little smile. The girl who plops down next to her is given a slightly less shy grin, and a wiggle of her fingers. "Heyla — oh, no —" She flaps a hand absently in the air and giggles faintly. "You're fine. Would you like a meatroll? I brought some extra in case, well. Anybody wanted any or the dragons wanted…a snack…" The girl concludes lamely, ducking her head. "/Dolios/ likes 'em well enough." A pause, and she glances back up with a tentative smile. "I'm Tali."
"I'm Dreia… I like meatrolls too." The ten turn old says with a grin, reaching for one of the offered meatrolls, feet dangling as she kicks them back and forth. "Dreia, what do you say?" Re're asks softly, tilting his head as he looks at her, the girl offering a quick 'thank you', before Re're is leaning against the railing again. "I'm not sure they'd like a meatroll, but I think you'd make some quick friends from the others lingering up here." He says with a chuckle, and a wink.
Riyontali's grin widens as she peers at the younger girl, glancing over at Re're with a grin gone slightly wry. "Oh, you're welcome." She giggles, winking at the girl. "They're really good. I think these're really fresh, too. One of the kitchen ladies likes me." The girl says cheerfully, then turning to peer out over the sands once more. "Oh, you're probably right, I guess…they're not too much like firelizards, are they?" On cue, Dolios appears overhead, flopping into Tali's lap with a babyish yawn and warbling happily over at her new friend. The girl glances at the others around and giggles. "I bet they forget to eat, don't they?"
"Sometimes, Saenkarith'll ask what we're eating, but seems to only want his herdbeasts." Dreia says with a smirk, shaking her head a little bit, feet continuing to swing, looking back out over the Sands. Re're listens to Tali, shaking his head a little, shifting to straighten up. "You tend to forget about stuff, when you're out there, or up here.." He comments idly, glancing over his shoulder at the Sands, and then back at his daughter and the other girl. "Saen says he's not a firelizard at all, and he'll show you, if you want."
Riyontali grins at Dreia, glancing out at the sky with a snort. "Silly thing — he just wants to be polite, maybe?" Suggested, though not with conviction, the stablehand giggles. She takes a bite of her roll and shares a bit of it with Dolios, who waaarbles contentedly, rubbing his forehead against her hand like a happy feline. "I almost forgot I had to go back to work, earlier!" Tali agrees fervently, apparently still alarmed by this. "I see why though. It's really cool." Oh, she's good at putting things to words, this kid! She cants her head at the next, quirking a curious smile. "How d'you mean, show me? Sure.." To her credit, she only looks a little bit wary as she peers around!
"Saenkarith's not as silly as Roma is… Roma's fun to play with too." Dreia says with a smile, before she's reaching for Tali's hand, tugging on it excitedly. "Come on, he was right outside, you gotta meet him. He's way better than a firelizard." She rambles, Re're looking a little embarassed at his daughter's antics, shaking his head with a sigh. "Dreia.." But its too late, the girl's already trying to pull her new friend outside.
Riyontali seems perfectly content to listen to Dreia — she's a lot less scary than the ones half her age! — and flashes a little grin at the girl. "Who's Roma?" Asked, even as her hand is clasped and tugged. "Oh — okay! Dol, stay here…don't bite people if they try and get one, you goose…" The 'lizard gives an innocent chirp and curls up near the 'skin and little pouch, as Tali bounces to her feet. "No worries…" Murmured lowly back at Re're with a wry grin as she's tugged along.
"Momma's green. Romasseth, she's real pretty.." And then Dreia's dropping Tali's hand to hop down the stairs, jumping the last three all at once. Landing with a thwomp, she's turning to look back at the older girl expectantly. "Come on, come on." She says, before she's running outside to the foyer, trusting her to follow, while Re're follows at a more sedate pace, still shaking his head at his daughter's antics.
Riyontali laughs as she follows, nodding. "Oh — okay, I'm coming!" The girl calls as she follows at a pace that's a /little/ less likely to get her eaten by either some form of Boss-Person or Boss-Person's-Dragon — or the poor brownrider following them! "I'm coming…!" Repeated again, as she heads down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Dreia waits at the door, until Riyontali is close enough, and then the girl is darting outside, letting the door slam behind her, while Re're jogs to catch up, holding the door open for Tali, motioning her outside.
Xanadu Weyr - Clearing
A wide clearing stretches from east to west, the ground packed hard although grass grows across most of it. Trees are strictly forbidden in this space, their danger to the constant draconic traffic reason enough to banish them to the forest that creates a this and sharp border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places with upturned petals to wave to whoever may be looking.
The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the mountain where, high above, Xanadu's Star Stones and the ever present watchdragon sit on a lonely peak. Directly south is a massive tunnel, fully wide enough for even the largest dragon to fly down. Southeast are wide steps leading up to the Caverns and eastwards is the large entrance to the Infirmary. Somewhat north of the Infirmary is a human sized archway that has a frequent quantity of traffic — it leads to the Tavern. Southwest lies the low ledges currently belonging to Xanadu's queens while north and west a broad path cut by the side of the cliff leads to the Feeding Grounds and due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr.
Riyontali follows, less restrained now, sandals slapping as she bounds on out of the Arena's foyer. She slides to a rather untidy stop as she exits, peering around slowly.
Saenkarith is settled in the Clearing, the brown settled with his head resting on outstretched limbs, crooning softly as Dreia is giving him all the scritches he could want. The girl pauses long enough to look over her shoulder at Riyontali and her father, a grin on her face. "Okay, maybe he's a little like a firelizard.." She says, giggling, the brown opening one eye to regard the new arrivals.
It's not too hard to spot Saenkarith. The dragon is given a long look and a little grin, before she approaches sedately. "Maybe a little." She agrees with the girl, flashing a little grin. "Lots bigger though." The grin is turned to the dragon, who's even offered a little wink. "Good evening, Saen…Saenkarith?" Tali ends it with the upward tilt of a question, glancing back at Re're with a smile. "He's very handsome!" The stablehand watches the younger girl scritch away for a moment, then squints, apparently remembering something. She takes a few more steps forward, extending a hand — what, it works for runners! "D'you reckon he'd like a scritch on the other side, sir? I scritched a dragon 'til he fell asleep, not long after I got here! I think he liked it." She giggles.
Saenkarith croons at the girl as she attempts his name, faceted eyes whirling a happy blue and green, inner lids slowly closing in contentment, crooning more. At Tali's question, Re're chuckles and nods, motioning her foreward. "He doesn't mind scritches. Loves them.." He offers, Dreia shifting to lean against the brown, bouncing on her toes. "Come on, Tali.." She says excitedly, before looking back at her father, and then down at the brown. "I don't think a meatroll would do much good.."
Riyontali ducks her head and grins sheepishly at the dragon, watching his eyes whir with fascination for a moment. "Okay!" She agrees with both of them with a flashed grin, taking the few respectful-distance steps between she and the dragon and quickly setting to giving him a good scritching, opposite Dreia. "Oooh, he's soft! No, I don't have a meatroll with me…can go get one if he wants one, but…" She scritches from jawbone to eyeridge in broad strokes, apparently not /too/ she of dragons any more. She's still careful not to poke him in the eye or anger him (his teeth have /got/ to be /huge/!), but this activity, at least, is deemed safe. After all, she's still alive! "Have you been around 'im all your life, Dreia?" Tali asks curiously around the dragon's head, grinning at her and then Re're.
Re're continues to watch Riyontali and his younger daughter, a grin lingering on his face as he and Saenkarith talk together, the brown happy enough to rest his head the rest of the way, eyes lidding the rest of the way, leaning with a croon into Tali's attention. Dreia, meanwhile, is happy to fill the silence, nodding her head hurriedly. "Yep! Saen and Roma are older even than Aidar and Saire, and Aidar's old enough to have a dragon of his own, now.." Dreia shifts a little, hands moving to find another spot on her headknob, even as Re're's taking a few steps closer, one hand resting on Saen's muzzle.
Riyontali snickers softly, careful but firm in her scritching — his hide's /got/ to be thicker than a runner's! "Oooh, they must be ancient." Apparently appeased into a playful mood by the younger girl's enthusiasm, she turns to flash a quick wink at Re're, giving the dragon an extra-good scritch for her teasing. "Is Aidar your…brother? It would be cool to have a dragonrider brother! Is he a Candidate, then?" Tali asks cheerily, smiling at Re're as he approaches. "I'm the oldest've my brothers and sisters. Kind've miss 'em, but it's great here even if they're back at home! Have you lived here all your life, too?"
Re're leans against his lifemate, offering his own scritches as he listens to the girls talk, chuckling at Dreia's exageration, shaking his head with a sigh. Any explanation he would offer, though, is cut off by Dreia, the girl still chattering away, answering all the questions and more. "He's my biggest brother. But, now I have another brother too. He's a weyrling, he's got a pretty brown…. Turi. But, I like Saen more, cause he's my daddy's. And, and A'li's blue is Naji.." Dreia has to stop for a breath eventually, and before she can answer the question on living at Xanadu, Re're is cutting in. "How old are you, Tali?" He asks with a tilt of his head.
Riyontali listens with all of the apparent interest of somebody totally absorbed, though some of her attention /does/ go into giving Saenkarith a proper scritching. "You…have another brother now and he's a Weyrling? He's not a baby is he?" The girl sounds startled by this, with a sharp glance to where she apparently thinks Weyrlings might be. "I haven't met any've the Weyrlings yet, they seem really busy all of the time! But their dragons were so tiny! They /do/ start out awfully small, even if they do get —" A glance down the length of the brown. "/Really/ big." She doesn't seem to notice the rapidfire questioning or the pause for breath, but does blink down at Re're as he speaks up, grinning. "Fifteen by fall, sir." Answered dutifully, as she absently scritches between headknob and jawbone, watching the dragon with amusement.
"I didn't know he was my brother. I only had two brothers before.. Aidar and Derin, but Derin's littler than me, so he's not old enough for anything fun yet. I have two big sisters too. But, A'li, he's my brother too. He's old like Aidar." Dreia looks at Re're at his question, before looking back at Riyontali. "/I'm/ going to be eleven." She says, puffing up proudly, even as Re're is nodding at Riyontali's dutiful response, and he ponders a moment longer. "If you are willing, Saenkarith asks if you'd want to Stand for the clutches on the Sands?"
Comprehension dawns, and Tali nods quickly. "Oh! Okay. That makes sense." The girl says cheerfully, grinning over at the younger girl. "I have a little sister who's twelve! Her name's Isaloni. Think you'd like her, she's pretty nice." For a bratty little sister at least! "Ril's only a turn younger'n me, but Sanri and Tas're heaps young…er." As Re're speaks up again, the girl's eyebrows near shoot up into her hair. As much as she'll boast that she's going to be an /adult/ soon and a /good/ one at that, that wasn't the response she was expecting, apparently! "Wha —" The girl glances quickly at Dreia, making a 'did you hear that??' face, then blinking back at Re're. Eventually, though, she manages to scrape her jaw off of the ground and stand properly, stalling her scritches for a mere moment before picking it back up, almost absently. "Ah, shells, sir! I'd — that would be great!"
"I don't think I want any more little brothers. I don't think I like little brothers." Dreia says with a huff, sticking her nose up in the air. And then, the words are registering, and she's stomping a foot, turning to look at Re're, pouting. "Daaadddy.." She whines, crawling over Saenkarith to throw her arms around her father's neck, whining. "I want to be big enough, daddy.." She whines, even as Re're awkwardly soothes her, and nods to Riyontali as she accepts. After another moment, Dreia's sniffling a little bit, and then turning to stare at Riyontali. "You'll still play with me, right?" Dreia asks with wide eyes, despite having never gotten the older girl to agree to that in the first place.
Riyontali's agreement is quick — "Little brothers can be…no fun…" But then the girl seems quite upset, and Tali is pulling on an amusing face. It's somewhere between chagrin and something else that makes her rueful smile quite sheepish, and not a little embarassed. "Bet you'll be big enough soon, you know, though! It didn't seem to take long at all to get to this old for me!" The girl enthuses, nodding, then blinking at the next question. She recovers quickly, and flashes a quick grin, nodding with apparent enthusiasm. "Yeah! Definitely! You'll…" The girl blinks, glancing at the Arena and swallowing. Gulp. "You'll cheer for me, yeah?"
Satoris strides in from the direction of the beach, hands shoved into pockets. A small brown 'lizard pops from *between* and starts chittering loudly at him. He grunts. "I'll bring some sharding… sand… or something. Geez." He slows up a bit, angling path so he doesn't get in the way of those already in the clearing.
"I'll cheer for you, and for Saire too. Both of you!" And as suddenly as the girl was upset, Dreia's back to her bubbly, happy self, and Dreia's wiggling to the ground, going back to scritching Saenkarith. Re're grins. "Saenkarith says he'll be rooting for you too." He comments, nodding his head at the Arena complex. "If you want to settle yourself, there should be a good choice of cots left." Dreia's still looking excited, the girl quickly becoming distracted by Satoris, though, as the man passes by, bouncing stopped as she turns to watch him.
Riyontali glances up at the sound of chittering, glancing at the source and his owner with a little smile. "Sir," It's a bit uncertainly said, but she's distracted, and he /doesn't/ look like puppies and sunshine! She glances back at Dreia with a broad grin slowly working its' way up, though her cheeks are maybe slightly pink, at this point. "Good!" She says with no hint of the sheepishness that would seem to be there, nodding stoutly and returning to scritching, though she does cast a curious look back at Satoris and his chattery friend. "Awww!" Said for the rider, with a blink down at Saenkarith and happy grin, an extra-good scritch thrown in. "Thank you, Saenkarith. You're sweet..!" The girl giggles faintly, nervously almost. "Oh…" Tali glances over at Dreia. "I…should, maybe, you think?"
Satoris fusses with the brown that flits about his head, but still slows upon realizing that there's a child focusing on him. The rather scruffy miner tries to bring up a smile and… almost manages, waving to Dreia. "Maybe she could help you," he notes to Brown, who has settled clutching to his arm. "/I/ don't know where to put those eggs. You found them." Like conversating with the small creature will help! Then he realizes there's something going on and blinks at Re're and Riyontali. "Hello. Do you… need anything?" It seemed the best thing. Offer to help someone. Right?
"Can I help? Can I?" Dreia says excitedly, after looking away from Satoris's chittering friend and back to Riyontali, starting to bounce again. "I can carry stuff!" And Dreia is bouncing even as Re're glances at the miner, shaking his head. "I.. I think Riyontali'll be settling herself in the barracks, shortly. And the Dreia'll be letting her take care of it, without any trouble." His voice gets sterner for a moment, and Dreia wrinkles her nose, shrinking back. Another glance at Satoris, and the brown, and she's latching onto the new source. "I can get sand!" She says, and is running off before anything else can be said on the matter, leaving Re're to nod to both of them. "If you need anything, just ask.." He offers, before he's making to excuse himself.
Riyontali peers curiously at Satoris's firelizard, smiling at the little one with a lifted eyebrow. "He…" Nono, bad Tali! Distractions bad. She snaps a glance back to Re're, definitely sheepsih now, and grins over at Dreia. "Oh, I — don't have much stuff…" Then she's gone though, apparently looking for sand. Sand? The newly-minted Candidate blinks, and giggles faintly. The 'oh, I'm in over my head' giggle, yes. "Oh. Hi. Sir. I'm Tali." And now Dolios is here, chattering in a scolding fashion at his girl for being gone so long, and curling as well around her neck as he can, still young. The little bronze peers over at Brown, warbling curiously. "Yessir! Th — thank you, sir!" Noted to Re're as he takes his leave, with a smile and a dazzled blink tossed to Satoris.
There's a surprised look that registers on the miner's features even as Dreia runs off to get sand. Well, that makes his evening all that much easier. Huh. He looks to Re're and processes through that for a moment, before nodding. "Ah! Candidates. Right, of course." He looks, sidelong, to Tali. "I hope you behave. There's been so many issues with candidates that don't behave… Just ask Thea about her group losing their cots." Ha ha! "Tali. Just do your chores, listen to riders… Makes it better on everyone in the long run."
"Just send her home, when she's finished.." Re're nods in the direction that Dreia disappeared in, before a waggle of fingers to Tali, and a, "Congratulations.." And then he's meandering past Saenkarith towards the forest, leaving Satoris to scare the newest candidate into obedience.
Riyontali ducks her head and grins sheepishly at Satoris, absently peering off in the direction Dreia took off in. "Yessir." Agreed quickly, then she's blinking blankly. "Lost…cots? What?" Her respectful tone flees in favor of disbelief. "You're kidding, right? How…" The blank blink resurfaces. "How d'you…/lose/ a cot. They're awfully big." She snaps to attention, then, at her name, straightening and actually managing a smile that doesn't look half-dazzled. "Chores, listen, yes/sir/. Definitely." After all, sweet and silly might their dragons be — speaking of, she gives Saenkarith a good final scratch, grinning wistfully down at him — but they're still big and kind of scary! And well. If /Satoris/ is her boss, he's kind of scary, himself. "Um. I'll try not to lose my cot." A beat, and she's waving to Re're. "Goodnight, sir! Tha…" It dies on her tongue; thanking several times is plenty, overkill is bad. "…Goodnight!"
"Oh, they didn't lose them… Myself and Y'ki took them away. The candidates weren't bothering to do their chores, or listen to their superiors." Satoris watches the direction the girl ran off in, waiting for her return. Being good and all. "If you listen and do your assigned jobs, I think you'll do just fine. Congratulations, really."