Xanadu Weyr - Meadow
A large, slightly rolling meadow is set high enough above the riverbank on both sides to avoid suffering from flooding, healthy ground cover and grass spreading out from either side of the dividing river. Scattered amongst the meadow are a variety of weyrs, each with a narrow path leading up to it from a main, winding road. Some are set under a few trees, while others sit by themselves. The meadow continues with gentle rolls and dips, grass tall and short waving in the slightest of breezes, and eventually those hills grow higher and steeper, ending in a large rige that provides a fine view of that meadow and the rest of the Weyr, gazing out over the multicolored roofs of the houses and the cliff that holds the caverns.
Runner stables with the paddock beyond are to the south beyond the meadow weyrs, and a smithy and a woodcraft shop are settled closer in towards the path to the clearing. Trees border the northern side of the meadow, and more of those low, rolling hills can be seen to the northwest. A road passes through the meadow, coming from the east and used by traders and crafters alike. Wagons laden with felled trees from the forests or ore from the mountains are hauled by burden beast up the road through the meadow, over the bridge spanning the river to be processed in the appropriate workshops.
Some stuff happened and then…
Shanatea smirks as he sits atop his brother, not pummeling him, just pretending to tickle him. Not even really doing it. "No way, kid. And I'm not fat, you're just skinny." he smirks at his brother then loses his balance and suddenly is on the bottom.
There's a squeal, pretend tickle or not, Tealonie still squeals but then he's on top! "I got you now!" he exclaims and then grabs a handful of grass to slip down Shanatea's shirt. His grinning and laughing "I ain't skinny, I'm jockey weight!" he exclaims proudly. It's certainly a good natured fight. Even if the two look quite similar in appearance. Who is who? Hmm.
Soriana comes into the meadow from further afield in the fields, striding along… and then she blinks. Is she seeing double? Well, yes, but are they actually doubled, or is this just a hallucination? So she takes a moment to study the two of them, not seeming in any particular rush to break up the fight… such as it is.
Shanatea smirks as he returns push for shove. "Skinny butt." Yeah, thats twins for you. Prepare for trouble, make it double! Team ……Rocket?
Tealonie is shoved and he goes rolling backwards. Or maybe he's throwing himself backwards, because he's also got his hands on Tea's vest is trying to yank him along with. "At least I have a butt! You ain't got anything there to hold your britches up." he exclaims. "You're nothing but a tube with legs, no better than a 'snake!"
These brats… er… don't seem to know judo. That's probably for the best! Soriana finally nudges herself into motion again, stepping closer to the pair. "…seems to me you're both of you just boys," she says with a faint smile. "Is there something I'm missing here?"
Shanatea snorts faintly and gains the upper hand! Suddenly he's the one on top again. Ah, the beauty of brotherhood. "Lies, You look more like a runner, all legs and arms and no torso. And your head if funny looking." So there. He looks up at Soriana and blinks. "Well, ma`am, I dunno….Have you lost something?"
Tealonie looks up at Soriana and grins. Course at Tea's words he can't help but snicker and then he adds in "Of course I'm a boy. Can't say the same about Tea, he looks like a girl, he can even sound like a girl." And instead of shoving back, he goes to tickle his brothers ribs.
"Mm… not that I know of," Soriana says to Shanatea's question. "May well have." She smiles. "I was more wondering if there might be a reason why the two of you are brawling here." She's still smiling, though, and her tone's mild and mostly just sounds curious. "Seems to me the two of you look pretty similar, for that matter."
Shanatea blinks for a moment and shakes his head. "This isn't a brawl, its brotherhood." He glances down at the twin he's sitting upon and just winks at him. "Yep, I'm Tea…..and this is Tea." He points ever so innocently at his brother.
Tealonie blinks and is nothing but the face of innocence "Brawling ma'am?" he asks "Why ever would I brawl with Tea? We's just having good ol honest fun." he grins brightly "Mother would have our ears if we were fighting, says she's gotta stich up enough other people to have to worry about stiching us up too." he adds. He certainly doesn't seem to be suffering any being underneath his brother's weight. But then they are skinny runts.
"Mmhmm," Soriana says. "Well, Tea, I'm sure you and Tea are having a great time," she says to the one on top. To the one on the bottom, she nods. "Because brawls are a great form of fun, that's why." A smile. "But I suppose as long as you don't end up in the infirmary, we don't have to call it that."
Shanatea smirks faintly, then he gets up and offers his brother a hand. "Alley oop, brother?" he asks, using his other hand to brush a lock of hair out of his face. "Besides, only I'm allowed to pick on my twin." he adds, giving Soriana an impish grin.
Tealonie bounces up and grins at his brother "Thanks Tea." he says and brushes himself off a bit before swinging his arm around his brothers shoulder. "Yeah, no one's allowed to pick on my brother." If it wasn't for the fact that their vests are so vastly different in colors, you could be seeing double. "We'd never put the other in the infirmary."
"Is there anyone who tries to pick on you?" Soriana asks the pair. "Well, besides each other, that is," she adds with a smile. "Since the sibling sort barely counts and won't be leading us to any infirmaries, accidental or otherwise."
Tealonie just looks at Soriana, what self-respecting boy will admit to being picked on by anyone. So, instead he just flat out ignores the query and grins "Do we look like we're picked on?" he instead tosses back at her.
Soriana smiles. "By each other?" she asks. "Certainly. But that's hardly the point, is it? What I'm more concerned about is whether there's anyone around here as is going to cause any trouble for my son. You know anyone like that?" she asks, looking between the twin-Teas.
Shanatea shrugs slightly. "No one would dare pick on the Teas." he simply responds. "Hate to say it, but we're kinda the big deal around here." He comments, looking all too confident in himself. "Nor would they pick on anyone we like." Nod. So brave. Swagger…. erm….
Tealonie rolls his eyes a little and then pokes Tea in the ribs "Well no, we can pretty much handle ourselves, but well." he purses his lips a little and then shifts from foot to foot. He scratches his head a little "Well, he can hang around with us." he says finally, seeming unwilling to nark on anybody.
Soriana smiles at the answer given by Tea #1, then tilts her head to listen to Tea #2. The picture she gets is… okay, maybe not a perfectly accurate and complete one, but at least the two of them are mostly consistent. "Well then," she says after a moment, and nods. "I'll tell him to keep an eye out for you. His name's Skyler."
Shanatea eyes his brother suspiciously for a moment. "Who's been picking on you?" Yes, he knows Pony better than that. Although his voice falls to a hushed whisper briefly, his eyes then turn to regard Soriana. "Skyler. Cool. We'll keep an ear out for him then too. Or three or four of them, since, yanno, we have so many.
Tealonie lightly kicks at his brother's ankle "Ain't no one picking on me." He states quite loudly and then leans closer his brother. "Not me, but little Mic. That wherry-faced idjit was at him again." he whispers and then he's grinning at Soriana, nope, he's not whispering or anything "Skyler huh? Sure thing. Can he ride or swim? Or climb trees?" There's a pause "How old is he?"
That's a fascinating question that Tea #1 has for Tea #2, but Soriana doesn't repeat it. She won't be getting any answers! Not from these boys, even if they do seem to be answering each other. She nods to the ear-count, with a bit of a laugh. "So you do. Though I doubt you'll need all of them, at least not all at once. As they come up, though," she says, then nods to the other Tea. "He can swim if he's got someone with him, and climb some trees," she answers. "He's still learning to ride." And then, the most important answer of all… "He's six."
Shanatea growls a bit, looking a bit cranky. "That Grandle, I'll kick his dumb face in." Shan does NOT like bullies, can you tell? He looks at Soriana a moment. "Either way, we'll help him keep his nose clean. Papa always did tell us that there was pride in helping keep the smaller ones than us out of mischief…." Not that they themselves stay out of it.
Stay out of mischief? What fun is there in that. Oh wait, yeah not being grounded from runners. "Oh, my old pony would be good for him them, I'm getting to big for him." Not. "But yeah, Papa said we should help keep the little ones outta trouble." And if that means defending them against certain bullies. Boo yah. "Tea's practically a fish himself, so he'll be in good hands with us."
Soriana nods to Shanatea and Tealonie, smiling. "Your father's given you some good advice, then," she says. "Now, I'm sure the two of you sometimes run into some… misunderstandings…" Or maybe another word that starts with 'mis'… "And that's fine. I just want to make sure nobody ends up in the infirmary, and that if anything gets broken, it gets fixed. If you need help with that, well… I always figure those as help take care of problems get in far less trouble than those who try to hide them." She smiles, looking between the two of them again. "I'm sure Skyler will be glad to meet you. Maybe you can show him your pony," a nod to Tealonie, "-and you can take him swimming." A nod to Shanatea.
Shanatea smirks. "I am a fish, a sea Tea fish." he looks conspiratorily at his brother before tilting his head to the side. "Dad wants my help." he grumbles to his brother. "Probly cause Hotohorith wants his tail cleaned or something and I'm probly in trouble again." he sighs the long suffering sigh of a young boy. "Gotta go, ma‘am. Nice to meet you and I’ll keep an ear out for Skyler." He turns and punches his brother gently in the shoulder. "I gotta run, catch ya later….or at least until pop ends up calling you off too."
Tealonie looks a little disgruntled himself "Man, if he's calling us off one at a time." he mutters and then he's grinning at Sori. "No, mother doesn't like it if we end up there outside of normal colds and such." There's a thoughful look though. "So if something accidently happened and SKyler broke his leg, through no one's fault, you won't say he can't still hang with us?"
Soriana waves to Shanatea as the kid runs off to his dire fate… er, or whatever it is… and then turns her attention back to Tealonie. There's a nod, and then a slight smile. Should she be worried about the specificity of Tealonie's example? "If it really wasn't anyone's fault?" she says. "No. I won't say that, as long as you honestly tell me what happened. I might say it's too dangerous to do that thing again, but I know accidents happen. Sometimes tree-branches snap, or runners get spooked."
Tealonie grins brightly "Oh good! I only ask cause Haila's mom got real mad at us when she tripped in a hole and fell and broke her ankle when we were playing tag. She still hasn't let Haila come and play with us, and her ankles been good for month's now." He sighs a little "She was really good with coming up with ideas too." he murmurs. Course he sorta looks a little quilty at the mention of runners spooking and all, but he doesn't say anything about that, but he does speak up about his pony. "Domino doesn't spook at all." There's a pause and then a wry grin "Course Domino doesn't move much faster than an amble, even if a dragon were chasing him." a snicker "Not that I think he would notice."
Aha! The story comes out. Soriana nods, a bit of a relieved smile followed by a look of sympathy and another nod. "Accidents do happen. If that happened with Skyler… well, I should hope you'd come play with him even before his bone was healed. He'd need plenty of help keeping entertained while he couldn't run around!" She grins. The guilty look passes without comment - when aren't weyrbrats guilty of something? - and then she nods about the pony, followed by a laugh. "Maybe it's self-defense. If he moves slow enough, the dragons will confuse him with a shaggy tree and won't try to eat him."
There's another brilliant smile "Oh, we'd certainly come and play. We've lots of games and all that can be played sittin' down and all." Teal says and then he's tilting his head "It could very well be. He is a smart little pony." he states proudly and then he sighs "But he is slow, and Dad doesn't think I'm ready for a regular sized runner yet."
Soriana smiles, nodding to Tea's assurances, then chuckles a bit about his pony before tilting her head to the side. "Hmm. Well… that's up to you to convince him, I'm afraid… but I do know someone who might be willing to give you riding lessons." She grins. "If you can convince your father it's okay with a beastcrafter watching you, that is. And once she certified you, well… that would make it far easier to ask for one of your own, right?"
Tealonie is silent as he looks up at Soriani, his eyes filled with hope and maybe a touch of awe. "Really? Who? I think I can talk dad into it if it's a an actual crafter and all doing it, and yeah, maybe he would get me one or even let me ride one of his big geldings then, oh that'd be just grand!" he exclaims.
"Her name's Idrissa," Soriana says. "She was a beastcrafter before she was searched, and a good friend of mine." She smiles, then pauses a moment as a thought strikes her. "You might have to wait a little while, I think she's still one of the weyrling staff and so she's likely busy with that." Probably. "But I can mention it to her and see what she thinks… I was planning to catch up with her soon anyway."
"Her name's Idrissa," Soriana says. "She was a beastcrafter before she was searched, and a good friend of mine." She smiles, then pauses a moment as a thought strikes her. "You might have to wait a little while, I think she's still one of the weyrling staff and so she's likely busy with that." Probably. "But I can mention it to her and see what she thinks… I was planning to catch up with her soon anyway."
Tealonie all but dances at the thought "Oh would you? Could you?" he asks and then he looks thoughful "And well, even if she can't maybe she's a good idea on who can, and oh, it'd be grand! I so want to fly across the meadows, the wind whipping at us." He grins brightly.
Soriana grins, and nods. "I will indeed," she says, and her grin widens as Tealonie describes his dream. "Now, mind you, if you do get lessons it'll be a great deal of walking before you're allowed to trot, and probably entire months before you get your first taste of a gallop… but you'll get there, if you keep at it. It's a great thing to work toward."
"Months?" Tealonie repeats and then sighs "Well, I guess that's okay, I guess it's like swimming and all. Took me awhile afore I was good at diving into the water, and I'm still not as good as Tea is." he admits.
Soriana nods - and maybe she's overestimating the time a bit, but better to ask for patience in the boy rather than encourage him to rush ahead! And besides, she's got no idea how good he is riding his pony already. "In some ways, yeah. You've got to listen to the runner and move with it… and you've got to practice or else you'll never get there." She grins. "I'll talk to Idrissa… and I'll tell Skyler to keep an eye out for you."
Tealonie hmms thoughfully at that "Kinda like listening to your dragon?" He frowns a little "Not like listen, listen. But Dad says he knows when Hotohorith is gonna take a sudden dive by the way the muscles move. You mean like that?" he asks and then he grins "Yeah, tell him he can find us, oh wait, can't tell ya where, we'll show him though." he says with a grin "We've got a cool hideout and all." He then groans "Oh shards, I nearly forgot that I was elected to go procure us some more goodies. I'd better get. Thank you…" there's a frown as he looks back over at Soriani after he turned around to run. "Umm… I don't know your name." he says bluntly.
Soriana tilts her head to the side, thoughtful for a moment, then nods. "Kind of, yes. Or like how you can tell whether you're going to be in trouble just by looking at your parents' faces." She grins, and then her grin widens. "I'm sure you'll run into each other. Maybe at your harper lessons?" When they're not being skipped out on, at least… but in theory, that's a place for 'brats to meet up! She nods to Tealonie's remembering of his plan, and lifts her hand to wave to him before pausing as he turns back. "Heh, that's right," she says, thoughtful, then grins wide. "I'm Soriana."
Tealonie grins brightly "Maybe we will see him there." he admits "Thank you Soriana!" he says and then turns to run, skipping and whooping briefly before taking off at a full run.