Xanadu Weyr – Caverns
A massive cavern in it's own right, this one has been skillfully adapted for human habitation. The high ceilings have been painted a light, soft ivory, as are the walls where numerous tapestries hang to provide brilliant color and insulation from the stone. The floor has been left in its natural state, pale pink granite speckled through with glittering mica and dark flecks of basalt, leveled carefully but kept sufficiently rough to avoid slips.
The cavern itself is loosely divided into areas, each one set up to be suitable for some segment of the Weyr's population. The most frequently occupied area, however, is the one near the Kitchens where tables of varying sizes provide a place to sit down and eat or chat and a buffet of consumables is almost always kept stocked. Its plain that on most days, this area wouldn't accommodate anywhere near the full population of the Weyr and equally plain that on such occasions when a formal meal is laid out, tables are appropriated from all the other areas.
A big fireplace is set into the wall near the Kitchens as well, several comfortable chairs nearby providing haunts for elderly residents or riders who like a good view of all that happens. Rugs cover the floor in strategic spots, all of them abstract or geometric in design and most in the softly neutral colors of undyed wool.
Exits lead off in all directions, a big archway the largest and that leading outside. Shallow stairs to the west lead to the offices and administration area while tunnels to the east lead to the infirmary, kitchen and resident's quarters. Southwards, a sloping tunnel leads down to the hot springs and southwest is a wide tunnel, carefully roped off to avoid accidents.
It's early morning in Xanadu, still dark outside and the cavern is empty, the breakfast crowd has yet to arrive. The bakers have been in for a few hours, the comforting aroma of hot, fresh bread drifts from the kitchens. Seated at a table with a mug of klah and a plate of rolls, Thea sits wide awake and studying a manual of some sort and sipping the hot drink.
In strides Satoris, looking like he's not slept a wink. Dark circles etch their place beneath his pale eyes and as it's too early for him to have shaved, the growth upon jaw forms a dark line there as well. The man holds not reports or paperwork, but a small child. An infant, in fact. His son, should one know that much — which much of the Weyr likely would, by this point — wrapped in a blanket. And fussing, for all it'd seem. "Sorry, we have to let your mother sleep," the miner mutters softly, shifting the child to his left arm so that the right is free to begin making a mug of Klah for himself.
Thea hears the sound of fussing before the mutter and so it is that the junior's eyes lift from table to miner and alight with what could only be a gleam of devilish anticipation. A sly smile twitches her lips, but for now she remains silent. "Tell him to let you sleep too?" So much for silent. She managed for all of less than one minute.
He's got the mug of klah halfway to his lips when he hears Thea speak. Satoris' shoulders slump slightly and he turns to regard the woman for a moment. "I'd think you would understand that's not how things work," he mutters, tone a bit more sharp and dry than he likely intended. The man takes a sip of the liquid, eyes closing slightly to enjoy it, before making his way towards a table to sit down.
Thea's grin widens as she points out, "Well, you just did tell him to let the mother sleep?" She's all chipper this morning, watching the miner until he finds a table and then? Then she's scooping up plate, mug and manual, rising and moving to plop down across from him uninvited at his table. Heckling is always more effective in a closer proximity, at least in her mind. Brightly she answers his comment, "Nope, actually, I wouldn't know how babies work. I've never, you know, had one." Smile.
"Figures. I'm stuck here with the only woman in the Weyr who has no clue what a small child is like." Satoris is tired enough, apparently, that he can't even return the jibes properly. Instead his words simply come out harsh, colored with exhaustion. He sets down the mug, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand. The child has calmed the fussing, at least, likely aided by the fact that the miner is rocking him back and forth a bit in his arm.
Thea contradicts Satoris without missing a beat, "I do so! Tharen's around often enough." She snickers as that is said. Nevermind that her brother is nearly 19 turns old. She lifts her mug with both hands while propping her elbows on the table, cocks her head, studying the picture before her. Just before she sips, she chirps, "You two look cute together."
A roll of the eyes is the answer to Thea's first comment as Satoris takes a long sip of the klah. He glances down to the child for a moment or two, setting down his mug to adjust the blankets that wrap the infant. Thea's comment brings a glance up to the goldrider and he blinks. "Just what I've always wanted. Confirmation from you." Droll tone brings forth the obvious even more; he's just that tired.
Thea lowers her mug, replacing it on the table, a bright smile bestowed upon the infant before her clear-eyed gaze lifts to Satoris. "Weeeell." The word is drawled, "If I'd known that, I'd've obliged long ago by snagging one of the weyrbrats and plopping it into your arms to have a look-see." She sighs as if in afterthought (but no, really, she's likely been storing these sorts of comments since she found out Zevi was pregnant), "Wouldn't be the same I suppose."
"No, it wouldn't," Satoris responds, breathing in a small, faint sigh. He picks up the mug and takes another sip of the rapidly cooling liquid. The child sleeps at long last and the man continues rocking his son slowly to keep things that way, deigning to lapse into a kind of silence. Tired himself, it's about all he can manage to keep drinking the dark drink.
Someone is looking for their kidnapped child. Not really, Zevi's actually looking quite awake as she comes into the living caverns despite her weyrmate's lack of sleep. However long he was gone, it seems to have been enough for the goldrider. But, instead of actually stopping for her weyrmate and child, she goes straight into the kitchens and is barking orders.
Thea just grins at that. "Of course it wouldn't because you wouldn't have had that same googly-eyed look on your face you've got every time you look down at your boy." There's movement out of the corner of her eye, catching her attention. As Zevida approaches, the junior is greeted cheerfully enough, "Morning Zevi!" And green eyes watch the other junior walk right on by. She blinks as the kitchen door swings shut behind the new mother, shrugs, then pushes her plate of sweet rolls closer to the miner. "Hungry?"
Overhearing his weyrmate's voice, Satoris turns slightly and blinks dark-rimmed eyes in the direction of the kitchens. Corners of lips twitch in the most faint of smiles before he shifts attention back to Thea. "I do /not/ get googly-eyed," he protests, weakly. Another long draw from the mug and it's emptied, set down with a hollow sound. He looks at the sweetrolls and considers a moment before reaching out and grabbing one with mumbled thanks.
Zevida returns from the kitchens, leaving chaos in her wake as people seem to be scrambling about over something. But, she now has two fresh plates in her hands and she's settling down beside her weyrmate and giving him a rather pointed look. "You're not eating enough." Then, a cheerful smile towards Thea. "Good morning. How are you doing?" Without missing a beat, she begins to portion off the food on one plate and his holding the fork out towards Satoris. "Eat. You can't just have sweetrolls."
"Oh yes you do." Thea asserts with a small cackle, "Just look at that little face, Satoris. Looks just like you." She watches him closely if he does look, adding an absent, "Welcome. Can heckle you anytime you wish." Oh, wait. He meant the sweet roll, didn't he? As Zevida sits she smiles in return, "Never better." Because she's engaging in a favorite hobby at the moment? Poor Satoris.
"I eat enough," Satoris protests, keeping his voice low since Vatori is finally eating something. The man accepts the fork and pulls the plate near, balancing the child in one arm so that he may start to eat. "Thank you," he states again, this time towards Zevida. He glances between the two women, giving them each a studious look before focusing on simply filling his stomach with the fresh, hot meal that's been provided to him.
Zevida looks between Thea and Satoris with a lift of her brow, "wonderful." She agrees for Thea's comment on how she is. She watches Satoris eat before she, too, begins to eat. "How did you get him to sleep, Sat?" Their child is a problem-child when it comes to sleep, perhaps inheritance from both parents.
"He talks less than D'had." Thea comments to Zevida. "And that's not easy to do. Does…. he always talk in two and three word sentences?" Yes, now she's talking as if the miner isn't sitting right here with them. She cranes her neck just a wee bit to catch a peek at the baby's face. "I think he fainted after Satoris started singing to him." So he really wasn't singing, but Thea manages an innocent look all the same as she says it.
"I don't know," Satoris admits to Zevida, giving a small shrug in addition to the answer. He glances at his empty mug of klah and swiftly eats another bite of the meal. Thea is given something of a droll glance before he looks back to his whermate. "Love, can you hold him while I get some more Klah? Do you want anything?"
Zevida gives Thea a startled look, "It might just be around you, Thea." She admits softly, tone laced with amusement as she turns back to her weyrmate and nods. "Of course. Some juice would be wonderful, Satoris. Can't have any Klah." And the baby is taken very gently in one arm and her eating slows down as she makes sure not to wake him.
Thea just snickers at the pair in front of her. "Could be." She doesn't really seem to mind. She bends back to that chart she'd been studying before, losing herself in it for a few minutes before spinning it towards Zevida so she can see it. It's a diagram of a flamethrower. "See this here?" She points to a series rivets. "Think we could have some sort of strap added to these for when we use them in flight? I coulda dropped mine in the lake the other day."
"Juice it is," Satoris says, briefly grinning at Zevida and their child. He does get a little googly-eyed then. It does happen that they're the two most important people in his life. A glance to Thea as he stands, picking up his mug. "Do you need anything, Thea?"
Zevida takes a look at what Thea turns towards her, frowning thoughtfully. "I don't really see the point of the flamethrower. It's not like Thread is coming back. We're not going to burn people's homes…" A curious look is given to Thea, both brows lifting thoughtfully before she smiles lovingly at her weyrmate.
Thea shakes her head at Satoris, a smirky-smile forms as he looks googly-eyed, "Thanks, no, I'm good." Amazingly she doesn't heckle him for that, though, for she's blinking at Zevida in surprise. "D'son's got us practicing with them. For Search and Rescue training?" A gentle reminder to the new mom.
A curt nod and the miner meanders away, steps slow and not quite to the stage of being unsteady. They're close, though. Likely he'll end up napping at some point later in the day… if he doesn't push himself to continue working. A word with the kitchen and soon he has a cold cup of juice for his goldriding weyrmate and it takes him only barely longer to fix a mug of Klah. Soon he returns to the table, setting the cooler of the two liquids down within reach of Zevida, taking a seat shortly thereafter for himself.
Zevida gives Thea a look, thoughtful before she shakes her head. Nothing more to say to that as she continues to eat with a frown upon her brows. The juice is taken upon being set down and she mumbles a very soft and loving thank you to her weyrmate before sipping from the cup.
Thea's eyes slide from Zevida to the returning Satoris. There's concern in her eyes as she looks at the pair of them with some puzzlement. "You know…" She hesitates, then finally just says it, "you know…the nursery works through the night if you two need some quiet to rest." That diagram is slowly retrieved, turned back her way as that frown of Zevida's is pondered over. "Zevi, it's for all the emergencies we've been having. The wings are chewing firestone now. To make firebreaks, D'son says." She nods to Satoris, "They're pulling more out of the mines. Didn't you tell her?"
"Mines have been pulling out firestone for Turns," Satoris points out, with a small shrug, "It's one of the most common things to find." He takes a bracing, enjoyable drink of Klah before returning to the meal and eating like a man starved. He's one of those that grew out of his teens and was still able to devour a fair bit at a meal. "But, Thea has the right of it. I think the Smiths have been working on bettering the designs we have of flamers…"
Zevida still keeps a thoughtful look upon her face, but, her head shakes. "No. We can handle Vatori." She declares, giving Thea a smile nonetheless as she returns to her food and then shrugs. "I haven't been keeping up with work." Surprisingly.
"But pulling -more- I said," Thea corrects Satoris quietly. "Using it. The dragons have been practicing with flaming - that hasn't been done for Turns." She sobers, leaning in and murmurs quietly to the pair, "The holders are talking about Thread returning because of all those odd natural disasters. They're afraid." She leans back adding, "The riders are smugly pleased to be riding flaming dragons." Her eyes shift back to Zevida, "We had aerial practice with those floating seed the other day." Since she's been busy with the baby and all. "A little time to rest tho? A nanny could come to your place for a few hours to help out?"
It's surprising enough that even Satoris blinks at Zevida briefly. The woman who wanted to work right after popping a baby out. Not that he let her. There's a brief smirk from the man, but he says nothing. Instead, he simply nods slightly in response to Thea's comments, continuing to eat until the plate is empty and he's just left with the mug.
Zevida looks thoughtful, "I doubt it can come back, they're all just wimps." She declares again, without missing a beat and her expression thoughtful. One may see her calling her child a wimp when he skins his knee for the first time… "I see. Well, I suppose we'll have to start as well." A glance to Satoris and at his smirk, she frowns at him.
Thea's eyes flicker toward Satoris and then back to Zevida with growing perplexity. "Zevi, they look to us for reassurance that we are ready. Whether it can really come back or not, we can't seem unconcerned. You know that." Her eyes drop to that diagram, a small smile curves her mouth. "It's… exciting being up there with the wings and blasting stuff from the skies. Make me wish I hadn't missed Thread."
All Satoris can do in response to the frown is shrug slightly. The smirk shifts more into a small smile. Reassuring, he hopes. A glance between the two and he ponders, wrapping both hands around his mug and setting elbows upon the table to support it. "I'm glad I live in a time without Thread, but I admit, it does sound exciting at least. There's not much by way of adventure these days. Not like there is in the stories."
Zevida wrinkles her nose slightly, "I do know that. But, despite the weather changes… I don't see any reason /for/ concern. What proof do we have that it may? Where in the records state weather changes leading to Thread?" Her tone is soft as she gives the younger woman a look over before she looks to her weyrmate. "It also means golds rising more frequently because the dragons of our time aren't entirely… Fit. Something that could kill us easily isn't really exciting."
Thea nods at Satoris, "Well, practically speaking, I suppose it's good that we have no more Thread, but think of it this way you two: when riders have no more purpose than to get stone drunk every chance they get, a fight for the life of a planet's population is a better alternative in my mind." She shrugs adding, "/I/ don't think it's coming back. But people don't listen to reason when they're afraid. So we reassure them we're ready?" She giggles softly at Zevida, "And we were only fighting seed poufs. You sound like D'had. Wants me safe all the time." She doesn't -quite- pout, for she's still smiling.
Satoris doesn't really move so much as tilt his head slightly in a nod. Listening. "The people in the Holds just don't understand. They feel they work long and hard to support the Riders who give nothing in return… in their eyes. Maybe it's a kind of perverted, yet wishful thinking, that perhaps the Weyrs will provide a good use to them again."
Zevida shrugs one shoulder and then finishes off the plate of food. "I suppose so. Thea, I don't just worry about you. I worry about everyone. I don't want my baby hurt, I don't want anyone hurt." She gives Satoris a careful look before she nods, "they don't tithe as much as they used to. But, we support them with transport and deliveries. But, I suppose that doesn't even out."
"Or at least appear that we do?" Thea nods in agreement to Satoris before her eyes shift towards Zevida. "You know, that's why the training is so important. With this dry weather…" She trails off, eyes drift towards the cavern's entrance. "If we got fires like the did at Western or earthquakes like they did at Ista, or something happened while we're out on Hold visitation, it's best to know how to handle an emergency if the need arose, don't you think?"
Satoris finishes his klah, setting the mug down and fussing with it between calloused hands. "So it's less training with flames than it is just being prepared for any emergency that may arise." He shrugs, glancing over to Zevida and his son, spending an extra moment admiring the latter. "That's a good thing, in the long run."
Zevida nods faintly, "but, I don't see how flaming or firethrower will help in an emergency like what's been going on." She gives Satoris a smile but then shakes her head, "if we want to prepare for those type of emergencies, the least we could do is start drills about that. Have people volunteer to be the people who need rescues in the situations. Time it so that if it's a situation that needs speed, we can do it quickly and accurately."
"It is -both-!" Thea confirms quietly. "Niva and D'son say the holders need to see we take them seriously and they also want us ready for anything should they need us away from the radio." She blinks at Zevida, giving her a few examples off the top of her head, "Creating a firebreak if a field catches fire while out on hold duty? Helping fend off a robbery if we're overflying one in progress?" A glance at the baby has her clearing her throat, "Um, yes. Drills. We've been joining the Search and Rescue drills for awhile now." She nods emphatic agreement to quickly and accurately.
Satoris drums his fingers slightly on the table's surface. A glance at Thea, "Have you considered joining with the miners? We can go places dragons can't during rescue missions and maybe we could teach a few things." He shrugs slightly.
Zevida looks thoughtful before she nods quietly in agreement, not pressing anymore. "I'm going to go set Vatori down." She slowly rises and pecks Satoris on the head before nodding to the pair and returning back to the weyr with the sleeping babe.
Thea blinks at Satoris. "I don't know? Talk to Niva and D'son about that. I'm just… you know. Getting the training they approve." She nods to Zevida, another slight smile for the sleeping baby as the pair depart. "Get some rest, Zevi," she calls softly after her. She stands, scooping up the diagram. "I need to go see the smiths about this, Satoris. But yeah, you know. Sounds good to me, but I'm new to all this." Encouragement intended, ignorant as it may be on her part. She gives the poor heckled man a wave and trails out after Zevida.