Xanadu Weyr - Laera's Weyr
This room is decorated in blues, purples and most shades between. Large cushions tossed about for sitting on, draperies on the walls and rugs in Kereth's couch all reflect these colours. A low table sits amidst the group of cushions for eating at or socializing. There is a tapestry on one wall of a blue dragon in flight, one of a different shade then Kereth, paler even like her mother's dragon Liraeth. A gift given by Laera's grandmother to Lyn and now to Laera. In one corner is a large mattress upon the floor. It seems all furnitures has been pretty much done away with.
This room is decorated in blues, purples and most shades between. Large cushions tossed about for sitting on, draperies on the walls and rugs in Kereth's couch all reflect these colours. A low table sits amidst the group of cushions for eating at or socializing. There is a tapestry on one wall of a blue dragon in flight, one of a different shade then Kereth, paler even like her mother's dragon Liraeth. A gift given by Laera's grandmother to Lyn and now to Laera. In one corner is a large mattress upon the floor. It seems all furnitures has been pretty much done away with.
Laera and Kereth would have spent much of the night at the Annex as a Healer and Kereth with his knack of calming dragons. It was definately a long night and it wasn't until the morning that Laera finally made her way back here, though Kereth remained at the Annex to call her back if she needed and to help his 'little brother' dragon if needed. Despite a bath and getting into comfortable clothes, Laera still has not settled enough to sleep from the occurances of the night and so sit by the hearth reading and sipping some alchohol. The babe is nowhere to be seen.
Zaala notices that the dragon couch is empty and at first lingers in the front of the weyr, contemplating turning back if the weyr was empty. Though, it's the heat and the flicker of the hearth that has her pressing inside. It's with short timid steps, the darkness spreading before the hearth, stalking in from the shadows and the cold. At least the girl has taken to wearing what clothes she picked up on the shopping trip and what was lent to her. She's wearing a nice fluffy fur coat, a little extreme but for a girl whose been raised in the tropics most of her life, it was suitable. "Laera?" she asks, her voice quiet and insecure. Then she's walking in further, taking off her boots to not track in the snow. She'll actually come in regardless if her mother is not in a mood, moving over to the hearth and sliding down to sit beside her, leaning her head on Laera's shoulder.
Without the dragon alerting her, it is not until she hears her name that Laera looks up. She offers her daughter a tentative smile as she notes she has not burned the items from the shopping trip. Baby steps. The smile fades a bit as she notes the look upon her face and as her daughter settles next to her, she lifts an arm around her. "What is wrong Ala?" She asks of her daughter as she reaches a hand to smooth over the girl's hair.
Zaala tucks in close to her mom, eyes on the hearth as her arms cross over her chest, "Are they going to live?" maybe not at the heart of her worries, but a part of it. The eggs were an important part to many of her friends that were supposed to stand, "I… heard awful things. Dragonets melted in the shells…" she shudders, looking up at Laera, knowing the woman had been working in the infirmary.
At the question Laera closes her eyes, "I don't know. The shells may protect them…but.." There is a soft sigh, "I don't think all of them will make it. The Dragonhealers will do their best for them. The candidates will have to keep up hope should they be allowed to touch the eggs again..I suppose we will know then." It seems this concerns are pressing upon her mind as well. Especially being a rider no doubt…and having almost firsthand felt the fear of the dragons that rippled from the sands.
Zaala sighs at the uncertainty of it, the fear that the eggs which were healthy enough would never hatch because of a mechanical breakdown. "I hope that some of them hatch," she bites her bottom lip and watches the fire for a while. That's the surface of her troubles, as that uneasy silence suggests. Finally with a hand lifting to her blond hair, she pushes it out of her face and peeks up between strands of hair to regard her, "I… need your .. um… opinion on something mom." There is some hand twitching, fingers coiling around some of the fur on her coat, "A harper wants me to be his assistant."
Laera nods slightly to those words, "Those that are healthy…it would be a tragedy for them to hatch and impress, only to die. Our bonds develops over the year, but it is strong from the moment we impress and those that have lost lifemates…they are shadow people. I dare say we will have to bring in mindhealers should that happen." She has never been one to sugarcoat the truth for better or worse. Then as the 'real' reason of her arrival comes up, Laera looks to her daughter and can't help but smile at that. "Is it something you want to do? One of your cousins is a Harper, not a bad gig if you have the desire for it."
Zaala listens to the reality of what would happen if the dragons were to hatch and impress and die. A worse fate for her friends than the dragon not hatching in the first place. Her eyes lower and she hugs that coat of hers closer as if to ward out the chill the words 'shadow people' cause. But, as she doesn't respond to the topic of the eggs, because what more was there to say about it, she listens to what her mother has to say. "I … I don't know. He is blind. He said he wanted an assistant to transcribe for him, to make appointments, to help with his lute… and…" she looks up at her mom then, "to be a companion to him." She sighs, looking at her fingers, sore because of all the terrible needlework she does on a daily basis as a seamstress, "A few friends of mine were saying that, that he could be just a small time harper. I mean, he didn't say I would -apprentice-… he said I would assist him." She chews her bottom lip a little, uncertain, muttering, "It'd be better than sewing patches and buttons on clothes forever."
Laera listens to Zaala explain what has been presented to her. She nods at all the points of the 'employment' and she reaches for those fingers and massages them gently in her own. "Well is it something you would be happy at? Do you like music and harpering well enuogh to be content doing what he asks?" She says before tilting her head, "What calls to your heart Zaala?" She asks and her lips twitch at the last few words, "I can't say I was all that good at the sewing either. When I was your age, I really had no direction or focus to the future. I flitted around with this and that…but nothing really ..tugged me one way or the other."
"I don't know," she says honestly enough, "he said we would be travelling alot, because he's not posted anywhere." A beat, "Do you know him? His name is Dominic and he's well, blind." If a blind guy could do it, couldn't she? As for liking music and harpering, that earns a soft roll of her shoulder, "I don't know. I mean, I can sing a little.. I don't think I sound any good." A pause, "And harpering was tedious during lessons." When they were younger of course, everything was tedious! To get her to sit in a chair long enough seemed tedious. She would often run off and be found climbing a tree or playing in the firelizard theatre. Now a days though, she had matured enough to realize there were consequences with not knowing which way to go. The talk of what calls to her has her face blush, "Um. A wood crafter… He's got red hair." A finger coils around her hair, "He always teases me and… he said he kissed my half-sister, I know it's stupid mom… But I like him." Oh and that just burns her cheeks all the more. The last sentiment makes her sigh with a soft smirk, "I really am -your- daughter."
"Not really." She says with a shake of her head about the Harper. Laera smiles at the mention of such tedious lessons, "Don't I know it…I dare say if I weren't the MasterHealer's niece I would never lasted in the healer craft. Studying was tedious, I just wanted to get into the infirmary and learn the real stuff, not all that book learning that came before it." The response about the woodcrafter does make her smile, "It ain't stupid." She says as she strokes her daughter's hair lightly, "Got to like a boy who is good with wood…" She says with a saucy tone, "Of course you are my daughter, I told ya. There is so much of me in you and I am seeing it more and more as you get older. "You been with a boy before?"
Zaala mulls over the fact that her mom doesn't know the harper, though of course that -didn't- mean anything, just that maybe the harper was a little known wanderer. She combs her fingers through the tips of her hair, having always sucked on it as a child to comfort her, it was hard not to comb it now instead, the tips of her hair brushing over her lips. "Book work is so boring…" she agrees, wondering what she would do faced with joining a craft, as most apprenticeships came with book work and lots of it. And yet, as it evolves to the conversation of the woodcrafter, her cheeks tighten as she smiles, "Mooooom…" she rolls her eyes, knowing exactly what her mom was thinking! She shakes her head at the last, "No. Never. I… well, never thought about it until …" until all the teens around here were talking of dating and kissing and, "But he's said he kissed my half-sister! What if… what if he just sees /her/ when he's talking to me?"
"It is worth it in the end, but when I started..I did not feel I had the time to waste on it." Laera says in a softer tone. She smiles at that 'universal' tone of Mooom.." Well, it is good to be prepared. I was with my first guy at your age. He was just a friend at the time and we weren't interested in any romantic way but…it was a wonderful experience. He taught me a few things and I learned a lot more on the way, so…if you ever want to talk about it." She says with a grin before she shakes her head at the teasing, "I swear the ones that like you the most, tease you the most. They tell you stuff like that to make you more interested. If he reckons he is just kissing your half sister, then your job is to let him know you are a far better kisser than she is."
Jobs are taking a back seat now to boys. It's normal right? The teen settles back and plays a bit more with her hair, listening with a bit of awkwardness at hearing what her mother did at her age. No one likes hearing that of their mom! She peers out from underneath her hair that hangs to frame her face, shielding most of her expression from her mother at that point, "Dad seemed to like it too, being with women… Wakua… this girl I just met the other day, she's about my age and she said it hurt at first but then… then was fun." She bites her lip, "I don't even know if I -want- to do that yet. I wear a bathing suit to the bathing caverns…" she admits with a loathing tone, apparently not comfortable in her own skin, sharing that self-consciousness with many other growing teenagers. Her hand lifs to pin hair behind her ear, "Do you think so? He threw me down in the snow bank and chased me around. I … well, maybe that's just who he is. I don't know." She fidgets, "What if he was trying to tell me that he liked Ziria and wasn't looking for anyone else to kiss?" She flusters, "I couldn't -say- that to him. I don't even know how to talk to him without calling him a blockhead whose got woodchips between his ears." She huffs, "He's a journeyman too! He's…" SIGH.
"It does at first, but its worth it. I highly recommend doing it on your own schedule with someone that cares for you like I did. We weren't romantic at the time but we were really good friends and well, he was rather experienced which helped." Laera says with a light smile. Well she can at least remember some times with D'len fondly. At the admission of wearing a bathing suit, Laera takes her hands. "You are beautiful Zaala. Think of nudity as just another outfit you wear, there is nothing shameful under our clothes but the skin we were born with." There is a squeeze of her hands. Of course Laera is perhaps the most shameless person in the weyr when it comes to nudity. "Enjoy it, obviously you feel something there if you bring it up. He might not be THE one, but he could be A one." She cants her head, "As for the other matter, ask yourself…is it something you would really enjoy doing, walking in someone else's footsteps or would you rather forge a path for yourself?"
"That's just -it- … I don't know -what- path to forge…" she admits, completely lost to the notion of having to pick something she wants to do for the rest of her life at her age! It was so much pressure! It wasn't fair. Though for the rest of the conversation, she tries to listen, allowing it to sink in that her mother is rather open-minded to the whole thing. It wasn't so scary if there was someone willing to give support! The nannies would likely tell her not to get undressed for anyone, those old bitties, hold born the lot of them. She looks at her hands, held by her mother's, putting on a soft smile, waning though with her own self-conscious issues yet again, despite her mother telling her she was beautiful. "Beautiful but stupid…" she snarks, likely hating the fact that she's under achieving in life but not quite knowing how to fix that or if she should. The remarks about enjoying it are well, Zaala doesn't comment. It's just ODD talking to a parent about that sorta of stuff! "I … don't even think he sees me that way anyway. We just… met after all." She shrugs, yawning, "Thanks mom…" she says with some sleepiness in her tone, "Can I crash here again tonight? I don't want to be alone." The resident dorms you were NOT alone but in many ways a person was.
End: RL