Xanadu Weyr - Forest's Edge
While the forest is thick for a long while, in time it begins to thin, as the ground becomes rockier to the south western stretches of the Weyr's land. The trees are further apart, and the rocks become larger, before rocky outcroppings seem to be more prevalent than the trees around them. As the hills begin to gain in height, the shruberry upon them become more stunted.
The small cave that was opening up by an Earthquake has been widened, the initially small opening turned into one large enough for whers and humans alike, and the carefully placed support beams can be seen in the opening. Outside, it seems that more construction is due to begin, given the building materials currently being stockpiled.
A series of 'dens' sit into the rocky outcroppings, showing signs of the whers who make their home within them.
Winter, being what it is in Xanadu, is cold and today has been no exception. But at least the sun has shone all day, so what little snow there is sparkles diamond-like as the gentle current of air stirs it to swirl glittering across the landscape. There have been no required lessons today and many folks free of chores. Rest Days rock like that. Free to spend the time as they wish, the nearly ten turn old Muir and Marella find themselves here after having played most of the afternoon in the kiddie playground. They're tired of tame and thus, seek adventure. "Muir, Mama won't like it if we fall off the rocks," Marella is warning. Muir scowls but otherwise ignores her as he peers up the jumble of boulders. Where to start climbing seems to be his main concern.
Step…step..step." With booted feet and a jacket bundled around, Mikal takes slow and careful steps into the area, his eyes on his feet and not watching where he's going.
Rest days really do rock! So does adventure. Sadly, Soriana and her two companions haven't found much of that so far in their tromping through the woods. Icicles, yes. Snow in their boots, yes. Adventure? Well, not unless you count the angry avian that burst up out of that one bush. After their lunchtime break, Sori's decided to lead them in this direction - if there are fewer trees, it'll be easier to see the adventure, right? That's the hope, anyway.
"I think Asher wanted a new feathered toy when that avian took flight outa the bush." Idrissa offeres as she follows along a few steps after Soriana. An behind her is a large dog following at her heels, its color a steel blue, an while his large his still rather pupish looking to some degree. Rissa glances over the area while pulling her coat around her a bit more. "Ok.. Who's idea was it to explore the snow and ice filled forest again?" She's /cold/!
"Hey, are there any meat rolls left?" It's as if ka-el hadn't /just/ eaten his fair share of today's lunch, and if it was up to his bottomless pit of a stomach, every waking minute would be spent munching on something. He pauses to pick up a stone, dusting off frost to examine the flecks of mica that glitter on the surface. The thing is promptly pocketed within his cloak before he adjusts the hood that has once again fallen over his eyes. "Mmm, wasn' it yours?" he quips to Idrissa, flashing her a smirk before looking ahead again. "We'll come across somethin'. I've a feeling in my bones, an' my bones are never wrong." So says he, who says a lot of things.
Another has been tromping through the woods and likely all over the Weyr or as much of it as one could on a rest day. Laurali comes upon the others much by surprise and from a different direction from most, arriving from the trees. At first her movements are hurried, a touch panicked until she spies the other children. Then she slows, growing meeker and nervous with each booted step she takes until she stops entirely to simply watch. The girl looks roughly eight Turns of age but could be as old as ten and her clothes are worn and shabby looking. Despite it being winter, she has the bare minimum when it comes to protective gear, which explains the redness around her exposed nose and cheeks. Her long black hair is tussled and tangled a bit and from the snow that crusts her boots and legs and parts of her arms, the girl has been out for some time now.
Really? This area was deserted JUST a few minutes ago, says the look of utter disgust on Muir's face. Now Marella, the tattle-tale, is going to have witnesses because Muir is going to climb on rocks regardless of her warning. Tough kids, sissy kids, even kids with chicken pox may not have the challenges he has in enduring his bossy sister. The arrival of the others draws but a grunt from the boy along with a 'don't try and stop me' flash of dark eyes as he approaches the beginning of boulders towering above this place. "Don't do it Muir-" Marella twirls to appeal to the others, "Make him stop!" Hey, they may be teens but they're the next best thing she has to adults right now.
Voices break through to Mikal's concentration and he pauses to look up. People. Hmm. He watches a moment before recognizing Ildrissa and Soria. "Hey you two." he waves their way.
"Nah, you already had the last one," Soriana says to Kale, then laughs back to Idrissa. "He wanted one, sure… but he was too slow!" Asher is, however, the most faithful of the group's nonhuman companions, for Inkfoot is busily napping and Toral has long since given up on being adventure-scout and gone back to a nice warm fireplace. Of course, Sori can't just between home that easily, and she frowns slightly as Idrissa complains about the cold. She's cold too, which is precisely why she doesn't want to hear any complaining about it! At least she has her big oversized jacket. The frown turns to a grin at Kale's comment. "He's got a point. You _did_ say you wanted to see what was out here." Which, apparently, is a bunch of kids. The two by the rocks, Mikal, the shy-looking one… "Hey," she says back to Mikal, then looks over at the sound of Marella's voice. What's going… ah. Rock-climbing. "You'd better not-" There we go, stopping? Well, not quite, "-do that without a spotter!" she calls, heading in that direction.
Mikal looks to the potential rock climber and calls out as he approaches. "Don't listen to the /girls/. Go for it. I'll join ya!"
Idrissa pauses as she hears Kale and ahs before peering over at him. "Alright so it was." Is mumbled to her friends. Asher bumps his head into Kale once he goes to pick up a rock, the dog doing a playbow and form wiggling about seeming to think he picked up a stick instead of some rock. "You've said that before Kale… An I always have to worry what it is we may run across." She murmurs out softly. Her gaze lifts up slightly towards the voices of others, a unsure glance is sent towards Muri and Marella, a soft ah escapes her and she looks to Mikal nodding to him before her attention turns back to the two younger ones near the rocks. "Make him stop what?.." Is questioned with a curious tone, though it dawns on her what the one girl wants the one boy to stop doing. Her bright gaze turns over to the approach of another and a soft smile and nod is offered to Laurali. Who let the kids out today? Its suddenly full of them! "Hey Kale you was right, we did find somethings." This offered with a grin to Kale.
A bunch of kids indeed! Psh. What sort of parents allow their children to go running wild in the woods? Parents who are busy or just need a break from their children, that's who! Kale's attention turns to the boy and girl pair first. One about to climb rocks. The other telling on him. Must be siblings, for he knows that sort of exchange all too well! He looks amused and only looks moreso as Soriana intervenes in a way that he's sure the sister sibling wasn't quite hoping for. "S'true," he says in a matter of fact way. "Y've always have to have a spotter, cuz if y'go 'n fall 'n crack your head wide open..at least they can say they /tried/ to save you. Plus, there's someone there to run for help." To Idrissa he gives a smug sort of look. "Told ya my bones were never wrong. C'mon. Let's see how far this lil' bloke makes it before he busts his head open," said as he heads towards the climbing place. His eyes dart to the smallest and quietest of them all, so small and quiet in fact, that he nearly misses her completely. He slows a bit upon eyeing her. Not much for warmth. "Are you alright?"
Laurali is the shy one, lingering back from the ever-growing group of kids. She may have seen some of them at one point or another during lessons but aside from that they are strange to her. Sniffing slightly, she wipes the back of her hand over her nose while her dark, wide eyes watch the scene unfolding before her as Muir ignores his sister and begins to climb the daunting looking rocks. For a moment, the girl looks tempted to join them as any child her age is wont to do and her gaze takes on a longing edge. Then Idrissa is nodding to her and it's returned, but stiffly. It takes a moment, but the girl finally finds her voice, as her hands begin to wring together nervously. "Find what?" she asks softly, gaze darting away to the other group of kids. It darts back when Kale eyes her and she steps back a bit, arms crossing in front of her and tucking her gloved hands under them. "I-I'm fine," Laurali murmurs, hesitant. "Just got turned around, is all." Though she speaks so low, her accent still does creep though. She's not a local from the Weyr or the Xanadu region that much may be discernable. From the way she fidgets though and doesn't quite meet anyone's eyes, it could be too that she's lying.
Mikal peers curiously towards the younger kids, not really recognizing either Lauralia or Muir. By now he's reached the rocks but he doesn't climb yet for he seems to be waiting to see what Muir does. Crossing his arms he looks back to the ones he knows better, Soria and Idrissa, listening quietly.
"Huh," says Muir as Soriana heads over. Not that he isn't happy about her willingness to participate but likely he's imagining her covering his face with polka-dots because the look on his determined little face is that comical. Marella isn't being listened to. The child huffs and stalks over towards Kale and the quiet girl. "I'm going to sit by you and- Oh! You're Ilarua right? We're in your class!" Maybe today will be different and the shy girl will talk to her. One can try? Muir meanwhile, flashes a grin at Mikal, a puzzled look at Idrissa for the way she speaks, but doesn't comment otherwise. He has mountains to conquer! Aaaand the only problem with the rocks is, they're covered with ice. This is a fact that Muir finds out the hard way as he takes the first step to scramble up. WHAM! He smacks his chin on the rock when he slips. Ooops? Marella, who has her eagle-eyes on her brother 'snorts. "Told you." Then she asides to 'Ilarua' "I told him." She picks up on the fidgeting, bending to try and catch the girl's eyes, "You look…scared. What's wrong?"
Speaking of needing spotters… Soriana rolls her eyes at Mikal and glances back to Idrissa and Kale with an expression of 'seriously, kids!' Kale's got the right of it! Girl or not, Sori's done her share of rock-clambering. Still does, and if she doesn't always have a spotter, well, that's different. Anyway, it's a good thing she's here to keep an eye on things. Otherwise, Muir might have broken his leg! …okay, he might still, but! She'll be able to send for help quickly using Toral and keep him company until it arrives. Good enough, as judged by the standard of 'her own mother would probably allow it'. She offers him a grin, and then - wince. She reaches for the boy to try and help pick him up. "You okay?" With her attention on Muir, she doesn't have much to spare for Laurali.
Idrissa tends to be the shy one of her group, a curious look is offered back to Laurali and she tilts her head. A friendly smile soon seen as she can tell that the girl is rather cold, colder then herself at least. She unzips her coat and pulls it off while she walks a bit closer to Laurali and offers it to her. "Here you look like your freezing." This said softly, though like Marella she is clearly watching the girl before her, something seems a bit off. "You.. sure everything is alright?" She tilts her head and soon nods to what Marella says. Asher shifts about on his paws and soon trods over to where Sori, the dog tilting his head and a bark escapes him before he goes about snuffling out at Muri once the the kid goes about smacking his chin against the rock. Rissa does look over towards Sori once she heard the question of someone being ok.
Kale can't recall ever having seen this timid girl around, though then again, he doesn't have much reason to pay attention to little kids on a normal day. He's far too busy with terribly important apprenticey things for that, and teenagers (especially boys) don't associate with girls who look young enough to still play with dolls. And so while on any other day he may have left it at that and kept going on his merry way, Kale finds himself lingering, watching the accented girl with a hint of curiosity. He glances to Marella as she comes over, following her gaze to her brother just in time to see his fall. He winces from afar. Ow! "Aye…she did tell him," he echoes sagely, nodding in a slow and deliberate way. A grin curves his mouth afterward, but it's short lived as he returns his attention the the younger girls and Idrissa. Muir's in good hands with Soriana. "Ilarua, huh?" he repeats the name. So she must stay around here, if they are classmates. He remains quiet now. Enough questions are being asked, and thus he listens for the answers.
Laurali jumps a little when Marella calls her by her "name" and her gaze is suspicious until recognition hits. "O-Oh, yes. Same class. You're… Marella, right?" The shy girl does talk! Accented, quiet, but she talks. But she's distracted, hands still tucked up tight under her arms as her gaze continues to dart about, head tilted down just enough for some of her messy hair to drift forwards, ignored. There's a wince when Muir's chin meets the rocks and Marella's aside to her is met with the barest of smiles. That falters the moment Marella asks if she's scared. Shaking her head, Laurali tries to look at ease and relaxed, but fails in the end. "Just cold. And I was turned around and I've been out for a bit…" she tries to explain. Maybe she's just very cold? She sniffs again. At Idrissa's offer, the girl shakes her head again. "N-No, no. I'm fine, really. I have mah jacket. You keep yours. Please." At least she's speaking better and not so hesitant now. Kale is given another side long look, but the older boy must intimidate her as she soon clams up again only to nod to his repeating her name. "I should… I should go. Hope he's okay." By "he" she means Muir of course. But Laurali is sensing the trap about to close and she wants to escape before more questions are asked.
If we're talking accents there's no doubt that Mikal has one. However he's not talking much yet as he settles in among the racks to watch the other children play.
Muir is fine! At least that's what the growled noise he makes sounds like. With one of his hands clamped to his chin, it's sort of indistinguishable. It's more his masculine pride that's wounded and he bats at Soriana's hands with the other while shooting Marella a glare. Then panic sets in and he drops his hand from his chin. "Don't tell anyone!" There's a tiny cut and what little blood dripping from it gets wiped hastily with the back of his mitten. No one saw that! With another growl, he belly-slides back off the boulder and stalks over to Kale. He'll stand with the men, thanks, which happens to be nearer to where 'Ilarua' is. Marella isn't paying attention to her brother anymore, perhaps the twin-sensor thing in her (however it works) has kicked in and she knows he's finished being a threat to himself for the time-being. Glass-green eyes are taking in Laurali's unkempt hair, wet, cold and woebegone appearance. "Where's your mama?" She finally asks curiously, for in her mind no mama would allow her offspring out to play in a jacket that's too big like that.
Hey, being able to protest he's fine… is much better than the alternative. Soriana stops trying to help and puts her hands on her hips, looking at Muir. "I won't tell, /if/ you promise not to try that again without a spotter. You might get hurt worse, next time…" A brief glance back toward the others, "-or your sister might be the one who notices." That said, she follows him back toward the others, just shaking her head to the other teenagers. Kids! The three of them were never that dumb, right? Clearly not.
Idrissa watches Muir and Soriana clearly glad the boy doesn't look hurt, well save for that cut on his chin. A faint grin is offered to Sori, no of course they never did ANYTHING like that, an they still don't. Her attention turns back to Laurali and she offers the other a soft smile. "You sure?" Is questioned, soft tone still heard. Oh sure she is now getting super cold but the other girl seems far colder! An she is very flighty seeming to her, as if any new sounds would cause her to leap up and take off. "Hey, your alright. No one here is gona hurt you or anything. I'm Idrissa, an that is Soriana and Kale." This said while she points to her friends. A glance is sent to Muir and Marella an a soft ah escapes her. "I'm sorry.. I don't know your names." She offers with a sheepish tone, she should know them most likely. Asher follows after Soriana and settles upon his haunches next to her. "An that's Asher." Rissa says once her dog comes onto the scene once more.
Mikal scoffs a bit as he calls out. "Don't be such a mother hen, Sori!" he wanders over towards Kale and Muir. "Heya." he says to the pair.
Kale's eyes turn to Muir, who is now tromping his way. A snicker escapes as he watches him. Battered? Bruised? Not so much! When near enough, he reaches out a fisted hand and presses his knuckles gently against the side of the younger boy's jaw, aiming to turn and lift his face a little to better see his war wound. "Eh, hardly a scratch. Your mother will never know. Even if someone /did/ say somethin' to her, they'll have no evidence.." Other than the handful of witnesses! He grins as he pulls his hand away. "Lucky y'didn't lose a tooth, eh. I'd offer to make ya a new one if ya did, but it wouldn't be pretty, an' at the moment, I can't even make a nail." Hearing his name, he looks to Idrissa, brows raised a bit. But realizing he's being spoken of and not too, he turns towards Ilarua and nods a little. "Hello 'n good day. You needn't look as if we're the type to eat you, for I can honestly say I've never eaten a person in my life, and don't have the want to," said with a amiable smirk. Mikal, as he too approaches, is greeted with a nod. "'ve seen you before. Tag on the beach, right? Hello."
"I'm sure. I'm fine, really. Please." Laurali repeats, almost pleading for Idrissa to take her jacket back. Then introductions are being given and the girl is well and trapped, though she could still flee if she wants. But worry and caution makes her hesitate and by then it's too late. "Hello." Is all she offers in return, shoulders hunching a little as she seems to shrink back from so much attention, even as innocent as sharing names. The reassurance is met with a silent look given to Idrissa and the girl shakes her head again. What may have been said then will never be known, as Marella's question, curious as it is, throws Laurali off track. Stammering, the girl is really fidgety now. "I've no mama. Only… only my father Sarl." And unlike him, she's terrible with masking herself and lying. Eyes dart to Kale again and if she weren't already so flighty and nervous, she'd grin or chuckle for his reply. As it is, her lips only twitch into a ghost of a smile and then her hand lifts again to wipe at her nose. "I need to go. I have to find Sarl." She murmurs. Maybe giving a reason will open a chance for escape?
Muir reaches Kale and the gentle push takes him by surprise, thus his face is easily turned. He doesn't mind this from a guy, and so grins crookedly at the teen, offering his hand to fist-bump. Soriana's comment, however draws dark brows down and she gets a glower as he folds rebellious arms across his chest. But that's blackmail! He's still unsure what she means by spotter says the momentary flicker of puzzlement on his face, but he mutters a grudgingly gruff and very reluctant, "Alright." Then kicks a rock across the clearing. There! He feels better. He hears Idrissa, but simply snorts, "Women!" rather than give his name. The dog, though, he'll comment on. With a smirk he notes, "Asher. Haha! Darsce's mom is a dog!" Clearly his half-sister is in for some heckling when next he sees her. Mikal counts as a man, though, he'll talk to him. "Hey," he says, then falls silent. "I'm Marella and that's Muir," says the girl half of the twinpair offhandedly. She's got her attention honed in on the mystery that is 'Ilarua'. "Sarl?" There's sharp curiosity in her one-worded question. The quizzical look she's giving the shy girl probably won't help her fearfulness one bit. "That's weird," she says bluntly.
Mikal offers a lopesided grin towards Kale. "Yup. Tag'd be good to play in the winter too cause the runnin' around would keep ya warm. But..how would you make him a new tooth?" he has to ask. "Nice ta meetcha Muir…" a brief pause. "And Marella." he decides to be nice since they are younger than him. Ilarua's noticed but so far not much is said towards her.
"Don't be such a brat, Mikal," retorts Soriana without any real heat, keeping her attention on Muir with unyielding stare until he agrees. Certainly is blackmail! Okay, all good. She nods to his agreement, and pays no further mind to the boy. Instead, since she's here, she takes a look over the shy girl in more detail… Ilarua, was it? Didn't she hear that name… oh yeah. The mention of Sarl reminds her… though. Huh. "Is your pa really going to want you wandering around the woods all alone?" she asks. "Weren't you supposed to wait for him somewhere?" There's some of that mother-henning again. "Or you can wait with us… I can send my firelizard to find him with a message!"
Idrissa peers curiously at Muri. "Wait…what?" Is questioned at the Asher and Darsce's mom is a dog comment? She's totally missed something! Her gaze bounces from one sibling to another as she tries to take it all in and soon shakes her head while she glances back to Laurali and nods with a soft smile as she pulls her coat back on, zipping it up to try and get herself warmed up again. "Oh.. Well.. alright" Is offered to Laurali. "Why do do you call him by his name instead of dad?" She couldn't help herself for that question, rather curious. She's never called her parents by there names after all. An speaking of Asher.. He seems to have found a scent of something rather interesting and it turning to trot after it, luckly in the way he came with his owner. Rissa catches sight of her dog wandering off and sighs a moment. "I gotta go wrangle Asher away from his nose again it seems." The dog has a good one on him that's for sure. "I'll try to catch up to you guys in a bit." This offered as she turns to leave. "Nice to meet you all!" Is offered to Muri and Marella and Laurali as well.
Kale definitely fist bumps Muir, as no offered fist should go unbumped. To Mikal, he explains, "Could get a tooth mold crafted. Shouldn' be too hard, I suppose. A bit of melted ore, polished and fitted when cooled. Ta-da, a new tooth. A bit heavy possibly, depending on the ore. An' then there's the possibility of rusting.." He's musing to himself now, finding himself on a tangent, which he quickly brings himself out of upon realization! "Thus, the reason why one wants to keep all've his teeth." There! A mini lesson. His eyes turn to Muir soon after though, a brow lifting. "Darsce? You know Darsce?" he asks, sounding rather interested. So much so that he nearly misses the oddity surrounding the too-shy Ilarua and her father. Nearly. "Ah, Soriana, let the girl be. Isn't she tryin' to go to her father now, anyhow? She can't be far off, but if she's turned around, how about we jus' escort her back, or go with her to find him." Apparently letting her continue to wander about lost doesn't sit well with him either.
Laurali only nods her head when Marella repeats the name, but Soriana's helpful suggestions are met with such an obvious look of fear that the girl knows she's well and truly caught. "I /did/ wait for him!" she exclaims, wiping at her nose again as her wide eyes begin to grow misty. Uh oh. "I-I waited like he told me to. Cause I'm a good girl, I don't wander off but he never came. And I waited and waited and… and…" Her voice catches, hitching in her chest as she chokes back the tears that threaten to come. Idrissa's question isn't answered, though her gaze darts to the other girl. She'll get an answer soon enough. Kale's suggestion only has her shaking her head again and she backs up a few steps, eyeing them all like a rabbit caught in a trap. "No one to escort me to, he ain't here. It's been too long. He's gone by now. He… left me." She babbles in fear as the truth dawns and then she does begin to cry, too cold and scared to care in playing the game anymore. "It's all a lie. I need to go. I've been bad and I need to warn them. The Weyrwoman and Weyrleader. They need to know." Most of it is garbled and none of it makes sense, but Laurali is unraveling and panicked, she begins to look around frantically and she edges a few more steps back, on the verge of fleeing outright.
"Not as bratty as a girl." Mikal replies with his tongue sticking out towards Soriana. Oh yes these two have a tendency to bicker as much as siblings do despite the fact they are clearly not siblings. Absently he scratches at the edge of his hat, clearly annoyed at having to wear a hat. "And you should act like a mother cause you aint all /that/ older than her." he feels inclined to point out. "It's cold." he adds but he doesn't seem inclined to want to go inside yet since he prefers to be outside. He watches Idrissa head off after the dog and he stifles a sigh that sounds much like a sigh of someone who's jealous that he doesn't have a pet of his own. As Kale explains the tooth making process he makes a face. "Now I think /i'll/ be more careful with my teeth. Not that they were in any danger to begin with." he feels inclined to point out. "Yeah, we could go with you." So far he's hardly even noticed the shy girl so it's unlikely he's noticed that she's shy so he has no qualms of blurting out his intention to help her.
With a handflip much like her mother's Marella explains to Idrissa, "Darsce's mom is named Asher too." And here she shoots her brother another warning: "And watch out for Darsce, Muir. If you tease her, she'll hold you down and paint your fingernails pink or smooch you and make red lips all over your face or spray you with smelly perfume." The Big Sister Threat! He can't trump that, can he? "She's my sister," he mutters to Kale with the tone that clearly says both, 'eww' and 'I can't win'. "Half sister," corrects Marella without taking her eyes off of 'Ilarua'. "You don't call him ‘da’ or ‘my da’," she says just about the same time Idrissa notes the same and so shrugs, but clearly something has piqued her curiosity. Watching the increasing agitation, she asks, "Well, how long's he been gone anyway?" Mention of the Weyrwoman does have Muir piping up, "Mom is the Weyrwoman and papa is Weyrsecond." Then both of them finish in unison, "You can come home with us." Twin-stereo. Yay.
Mikal blinks a moment. "Oh I know Darsce. A bit. I only met her a couple times but she gave me great tips on ways to possibly get a firelizard egg." he says excitedly before he blinks a moment at the twins. Those are the kids that Darsce told him to offer to baby sit. Oyvey! He falls quiet a moment to simply stare at the twins as if trying to imagine what it would be like to have a second person that shared your same birthing day. He nudges Kale a moment but doesn't say anything as he waits for the sky kid to answer./
Soriana waves to Idrissa as she chases off after Asher. "Good luck!" she says, then looks back in time to catch Kale's reaction to Darsce. Even in mere mention! She sighs, then hmphs as he tells her to settle down. She was just trying to help! Boys. They don't get smart when they grow up, just differently dumb. Though, all told, the older version /is/ preferable. As Laurali starts to break down, Soriana is drawn from boys to a much more urgent problem. Laurali's father not coming is one thing. But… her father leaving? All… a lie? Does this have something to do with those funny looks Sarl kept giving Sori? Oh, yes, something is definitely wrong here, and Sori squarely blames Sarl for it. He was weird. "Okay. We'll go tell them." She steps forward, trying to catch Laurali's hand, trying to smile reassuringly to the younger girl. "You can tell them," she repeats. "My mama's junior weyrwoman, and Thea's nice." Oh, so Muir and Marella are those twins Thea mentioned! Well, that's convenient. She nods, and continues her reassuring patter. "We'll go with you. Nobody's gonna be mad at you. We'll go back to the caverns right now and find them."
Uh oh. This sounds like serious stuff. A father who has left his daughter… here in the woods? Kale's brows furrow, all joking set aside for now. Even the image of Darsce gets set on the backburner, though he does store the fact that these twins are her half brother and sister as important information! He glances to Mikal as he's nudged. Twins who say the same thing at the same time. Sort of creepy, yet sort of cool too. Concern shows on his face as he watches Ilarua cry, trying to make sense of her words and failing. Been bad? Warn? Warn about what? His eyes drift to Soriana as she takes charge, which is just fine with him. Add 'consoling abandoned children' to the list of things that he is not good at. "See, so it seems like y've been in luck this whole time," he offers. "The very people who can take ya to who y'need to find, right here an' willing."
Laurali's crying ebbs away a little, dulled to the occasional hitch as she struggles to calm down and not run off somewhere. Scrubbing furiously at her face with her gloved hands, the girl peers at the twins as they stereo their reply to her. Then Soriana is taking her hand (which she may regret, seeing as she's been using it to clear her face) and while she's eyeing them all warily it keeps her from running. "A-Alright." She says between shaky breaths. Another darting glance to all the assembled faces and then the tears come again. "'M sorry for lying. So sorry. He made me though." There's a quick look to Kale and a watery smile. "I guess." She murmurs and then it's back to the others, trembling now and not entirely from the cold. "We have to go then. Now. 'M sorry to ruin the fun. But we got to go now…" The girl will likely babble like this the entire way, not really giving more details save to repeat the same things over and over again between her tears as she follows the lead of the other children until she's brought to where she needs to go. And that will be a whole different matter then.
Try having a person who shares your headspace, your bossy sister at that, Mikal. Talk about oyvey - he can't get away with anything! Should you 'babysit' them it won't be boring either. And you should totally try prying him for Darsce-information sometime, Kale. He's a font of information. Or something like that. The only thing worse than headstrong, bossy girls are crying girls so he retreats to hang a little behind the 'other men' hiding his unease in silent indifference. Marella catches Soriana's claim to be the junior weyrwoman's daughter. Despite her preoccupation with 'Ilaurua', her pale green eyes swing towards the 'horse lady' that she's seen about the stables with something akin to awe. This information is tucked away, but believe you me, she'll be cooking up something to do with Soriana. Back to the frightened girl, she nods. "We'll help you." And she'll tag along, dragging her brother, too.
Soriana already knew kids were icky. Snotty hands… well, that's just part of it. Sigh. Soriana ignores that for now, keeping a hold of Laurali and continuing to reassure her that things will be okay and People will be Told. Hopefully they'll be able to get more sense out of the poor kid than she is! Destination: the caverns, and if she doesn't encounter one of the weyrwomen or the weyrleader along the way, well… she's perfectly willing to march right in to Thea or Sorrin's office. Something, something is not right here, and she'll be just as bossy and mother-hennish and whatever else those boys want to call her as she needs to in order to get it taken care of! So there.
Everyone's leaving! Kale is not going to stand out here in a cold forest by himself. No, not because he's scared of doing so, but rather because it'd be outright /boring/ to do so. This new discovery is far more interesting, and thus he'll follow at least partway. He really has no business going all the way to the Weyrleader just as part of an entourage, but he'll go as far as he can until his presence becomes intrusive. And thus, keeping his hands snot free, he moves along with everyone else, hands stuffing themselves in his pockets meanwhile, fingering the rock he found earlier.
Mikal stifles a yawn that creeps up. He's shown enough concern for the poor young girl even if he's overly confused over the whole thing. "I should go before my foster parents come out looking for me." he shuffles out of the area along side Kale.
As they all troop out after 'Ilarua' and company, Muir hangs back with the men, puffing out his chest a bit for his part in 'guarding' an abandoned 'waif'. Though as they go, his gaze keeps drifting contemplatively to Kale and while his tongue keeps wrapping around his front teeth, his look also borders on quiet horror - all because of the lad's note of interest when Darsce's name cropped up. The contemplation part though, that’s made clear when they finally near the weyr proper. "If I knock my front teeth out, can you make me some gold pirate ones?" Where's he going to get gold? Who knows? Maybe he’ll bribe Darsce with the promise of introducing her to ‘some guy who likes you’, the little fibber!
Continues in Confession