Explanation Time
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Xanadu Weyr - Weyrsecond and Jr Weyrwomans' Office

Office or study? Perhaps this room is a little of both. It is spacious and airy with the big windows opposite the door looking northwards, a perfect aspect when one is this far south. Those windows are framed by dark forest green drapes, soft ribbons and braid in dark, rich gold sewn along the edges to give them a sumptuous look. The back wall is covered by shelves that hold a variety of things - mostly records and reference material as well as writing tools and sheets of hide and paper. Tapestries, including several lovely scenes of the terrain around Xanadu Weyr, cover the rest of the wall-space while a soft, plain off-white rug hides the stone floor. A small, low table sits by the door and usually has some refreshment set out on it.
Several broad desks are arranged around the room, each one set so someone sitting at it doesn't look directly at any of the others. Small screens can be set up on each desk to give a little more privacy and each has one comfortable chair that goes with it. So far, it looks like one desk has a permanent claimant. There are also several other chairs, which can be used by visitors.


Soriana's alarm clock… went off on schedule this morning. It was - compared to certain other noises - calm and polite about rousing her. But it did rouse her, and she arrived at work on time, and she's been here in the office doing the usual things she does… and maybe a few unusual ones. It's coming up on noon now. A usual time for lunch, but… one of the unusual things she did was ask for a tray, because she's not planning to go out today. Oh no. Not her. She has other plans… but until they start, she's occupying herself by doing dull, boring paperwork. At least there's no sign of firelizard clawmarks! Not on her paperwork, anyhow.

Raelii has been up since dawn since that is when the herdbeasts and runners are tended to. She's spoken to her supervisor, confessing her part in the incident and the requirement that will mean she won't be at her afternoon duties in the stables. And so the girl, knowing she's going to be reporting to the office, has run to the dorms as fast as her short legs would carry her, grabbed clean, office appropriate clothes and shoes to replace her mucky boots, made a quick pit stop in the bathing caverns and now arrives outside the office of the junior weyrwomen. Her hair is damp, she's still breathless from her haste, dressed in a neat blouse and calf-length skirt, properly solemn but not overly apprehensive as she raps lightly and then peeks her head in, bright brown eyes scanning the room for Soriana.

The other juniors are going to lunch today. Which is good, because doing this in front of her own mother would be way too weird for Soriana. As it is, her eyes skip deliberately over Sorrin's empty desk when they lift in response to the knock and settle on Raelii. Yep, about the right height, not dressed all in black anymore, and… "Come on in," Soriana says. She even has expressions today! This one is a faint smile and a steady gaze, and she'll indicate the chair set in front of her desk before putting her paperwork aside. "And have a seat."

"Yes ma'am," Raelii responds respectfully, slips in fully, closes that door behind her and quietly approaches the indicated seat. Her eyes meet Soriana's steadily as she crosses the room, though those empty desks had been noted on her first sweep of the room after she'd popped her head in. She is indeed a little relieved there isn't a roomful of goldriders staring at her. She sits and her hands are folded in her lap, silent as she awaits her consequences to last night's rash behavior.

Just one goldrider! And a junior one at that, not all that many turns older than Raelii. They've been busy ones? Still are, but Soriana's apparently in no rush to deliver those consequences, instead taking a moment to look things over in better light. Which may be (metaphorically) the reason for what she says next. "I'd like you to tell me what happened last night." Not… that she didn't see at least some of it. But, hey, she hasn't heard Raelii's side of the story. So! Explanation time. Make it a good one?

She's not, but life has seen fit to mature Soriana much faster by way of the hard knocks and training she's completed. The question put to Raelii causes a stir of semi-confusion. The goldrider was there for, ah, the results. And this she isn't exactly sure what's being asked of her and that shows on her face. "Well," she says and her eyes drift to the left and up towards the ceiling, "We snuck into the hall where the offices were, flipped the breaker to turn off the lights and threw this weird…ball…thing inside and then hid under a desk and I threw this…explodey-thing that put glitter everywhere." Big brown eyes blink slowly as she returns her gaze to Soriana and she twists her hands, wracking her memory. Did she leave anything out? "The cheese…cake got ruined," she adds with candor. That's the basics. No blame assigned. Is that what she wants?

Oh yes, Soriana was there, and while she sees that confusion, she doesn't clarify. Maybe she wants to see what Raelii thinks the question means? Or maybe she's just seen the other weyrwomen ask open-ended questions (aka invitations to take rope) and now she's trying it for herself. She's practicing expressionless (or at least non-judgmental) again as she listens without interruption, waiting for a moment at the end - anything else? A ruined cake, got it - before she nods. "Do you want to tell me a reason why?" Not… if Raelii had one. Just whether she wants to give it.

Raelii considers the question. Sure, she'd be happy to answer the question and her lips part to do so but nothing comes out. Her face takes on an astonished expression, large eyes open wider as she realizes. "I… I'm sorry I don't really know why we did it-" Well, she can answer for herself anyway, "I just wanted to have fun with Mur'dah," she says simply. Despite the solemn situation, a sparkle lights her brown eyes and a faint smile grows as she offers with a little shrug, "He invited me. He said it was a surprise for a friend of his." Which it definitely was. The cake did indeed get ruined. By glitter. At least no one left it out in the rain?

See, this is what Soriana gets for assuming things! She hasn't practiced enough to not have her brows lift for the admission - but they settle again soon enough. After all, Raelii does have a reason, and it's one that makes the corner of Soriana's mouth quirk up in a lopsided smile. Oh, yes, she understands that motivation. But! Soriana chases that smile away so she can put on her serious weyrwoman face again. Well, mostly. "It was." Oh, yes, it was a surprise. Not so much a good one, but. "Mur'dah's the one who knows the reason why," presumably, "but he's the one who cleaned up what you did." The glitter. Though that was also his idea, but it was by Raelii's hand. So… "You're going to work on the reasons." Uh, what?

Raelii doesn't really understand where this line of questioning is going or why the reasons are so important to Soriana. She nods that Mur'dah knows the reasons why. Her brows scrunch together trying to understand why she's being questioned for Mur'dah's reasons. "He had something in a bag, but he wouldn't say what it was." His part of the surprise. What she did, she nods to. "Yes Ma'am. I did that, but I didn't know what what it was when he handed it to me, pressed a button and said to throw it when it clicked. But. I did do it. And I am sorry for the mess." So she's going to work on the reasons. Uh what indeed! Mur'dah was her reason. So she asks, "I'm going to work on Mur'dah?" While the prospect might have an older girl drawling the question with cheeky aplomb, Raelii asks it innocently with a little giggle of disbelief. Surely not?

Well, Soriana can't very well go and question Mur'dah, can she? Oh wait. She can. Maybe she even will - he might be the next interview in line, for all Raelii knows, though Soriana… might actually leave that to Ka'el. She's not sure yet, but she does listen to the further explanation. A secret surprise. Raelii? Yeah, she's seeming kind of like the innocent dupe here, but… "You did." Innocently or otherwise. Which is why reasons! Soriana does nod for the being-sorry, with an approving sort of expression. As for working on Mur'dah… ha. Her mouth twitches with amusement, but only briefly. "You're going to work on the reasons why Mur'dah shouldn't have done it." She glances aside, reaching for one of the things she gathered this morning and extending it to Raelii. It's… a book of manners, meant for children. Inside, there's brightly-illustrated pages - about a score in total - each with a snippet of advice and a cheery picture illustrating it. It starts with 'Say Please and Thank You' and goes from there. "For each of these, you have an option. Either, you copy it, write whether it was followed or not, and sign your name… or write a one-page essay about why it's okay to break it." 'Clean up after yourself' is somewhere around the middle of the book.
Meekly, Raelii admits, "I think I knew wearing black put us up to no good, Ma'am." So not completely innocent dupe, just partially. Just how much not good she hadn't pre-evaluated. "And I could have demanded he tell me; he might have. I didn't." Reasons they aren't but they are responsibilities. Which, hindsight! She looks at the book, back to Soriana with a tiny twitch of brows. Really? That's… a very creative assignment. She's looking sort of relieved the consequence wasn't 'send you home' and her answer is a dip of her head and a "Yes ma'am, Soriana. When would you like it finished by?"

"You could have," Soriana agrees. "You didn't know what you were doing - but you didn't ask questions, and you didn't think about it." She's serious, now - not the scolding sort of serious, but the one where she honestly believes this is important. "That's where you went wrong. You didn't think about it. The rules…" She shakes her head. "There's no rule about wearing black." And yet, Raelii knew, at least in retrospect. "There is a rule about having greenery near houses." An ancient one, from back when thread still fell, but it never actually got taken off the books. So. "That's why you need to think about the rules. If you're going to break them-" which, it's probably still best if Soriana doesn't know about it "-know why. And don't just follow someone else. Not even Mur'dah." There's a ghost of a rueful smile, and then there's Raelii's question. "A sevenday from now." Another smile. "You can take your time and think about them." That's the point, after all.

Raelii is, in the face of Soriana's seriousness, solemn once more. She nods about the no rule against wearing black. Yes but! To hide. And thus… clandestine. Buuut she's pretty sure the goldrider is going somewhere with this so she focuses, rather than allowing her mind to run down rabbit trails. The greenery rule simply has Raelii looking confused - at first. She's… not from a hold. She's not really from anywhere. She's heard of it though. She knows why it was implemented. So… rules are for a reason. If you're going to break them know why (and probably have a pretty good reason for doing it). Annnd that would imply she knows the rule for the Weyr offices and for Weyrleaders-who-are-also-friends. It's complicated! But she can relate to not just following, but… Mur'dah is from the Weyr and thus knows the rules and… she still trusts him to know what they are. Yet. She must learn. She will try. A sevenday. She nods to that with a slump of relief in her posture. So not being confined to a room full of goldriders while agonizing over which manners she doesn't know they overstepped in the rules she doesn't yet know. Okay. She can ask around maybe. She smiles, "Yes, ma'am, I will. Thank you." Think about them. And learn but, "Soriana, ma'am?" the teen asks, "I think Mur'dah has lost something he doesn't know how to find." She's hesitant, but presses on and names it, "Ka'el." That's all. From what the teen saw last night, even understanding the Weyrleader's anger over the (stupid) prank and the mess it made, Mur'dah vastly misjudged what his friend would find amusing.

It is complicated! Soriana knows that. She also - because she did her research - knows a little bit about Raelii's background. Not much, but… it's why she's giving the girl what amounts to a warning and a lesson for this offense. Maybe Mur'dah can be convinced to help Raelii figure it out? In fact, maybe that'll help Mur'dah figure out why the reaction… wasn't what he'd hoped for. Or not. But Soriana's hoping that there'll be some thinking about things, because if there's a second time… Raelii might not get off so easy. Mur'dah probably isn't, though the time period is the same. The obviousness of that relief draws a smile from Soriana - yeah, she knows, nobody wants to stick around with her - but it lingers as she nods to Raelii's agreement to think. "You're welcome." For the thanks. Which is probably for not sending Raelii home in disgrace. Or something like that, anyway. Soriana starts to nod a dismissal, then pauses and tilts her head at the questioning tone, giving the teen her attention. She nods encouragingly during that hesitation. What has Mur'dah lost? …and then Raelii names it. "Oh." Soriana frowns, though it's (mostly) the thoughtful sort. "Sometimes…" She gives her head a shake. "Sometimes, you need a torch, and all you have is a flashy colored light… thing." Her lips quirk up instead of down. "But it's hard to go exploring with one of those. Even a candle'd be easier."

Raelii isn't honestly so much into pranks as she is into having fun and adventure. She miiiight be a touch too-easily influenced when those sort of opportunities present themselves. The warning and lesson, however, will most likely help her adjust her concept of Weyr life enough to avoid stepping on toes. Raelii may well collaborate with Mur'dah on some of these manners and whether they followed them or not (probably didn't in most cases) in carrying out the prank. Soriana totally loses her with the metaphor regarding exploring with candles verses flashy light. She's silent for a few ticks after, trying to apply the meaning to Mur'dah and Ka'el and her lips twist thoughtfully, roll in between her teeth, are released with a little pop and a shake of her head as she discards her attempts. "I think he needs help, but I can't do it," she says with candor. Observation and admission both. Maybe Mur'dah needs a metaphorical map and a guide? Raelii is obviously not the one to do it. She doesn't know the Weyrleader and now she's probably on his naughty list. And thus she just nods and with a hopeful smile asks, "If I may?" To withdraw. And work on the assignment. Er, to escape, actually, not that she hasn't found Soriana to be nice about all this. Friendly and warm, even though she deserves much more stern than she's gotten. It's possible that she'll even burble her opinion on how nice to the unfortunate folks she accosts in seeking answers.

Soriana has no objections at all to fun and adventure! If Raelii manages to accost the right person, she might hear stories of a girl with a tunnelcat running around in caves and sneaking into clocktowers with wayward apprentices. Dancing is great fun, stepping on toes isn't. Her metaphor may not be the best, when it comes to Ka'el and Mur'dah, and she half-smiles for Raelii's conclusion before the corner of her mouth returns to neutral. "Neither can I." That's candid as well, though she's no intentions of going into the reasons why she - despite being friends-or-more with both of them - can't help them get together. Faranth knows she's tried. That… may be part of the problem, actually. But, she's not going to go into it, and so she nods to Raelii's question. "Go on." Be free! Stay out of trouble! Don't let there be a next time, because the consequences will be more dire. After all, once Raelii's turned in those papers - she'll have signed her agreement to rules. (Or justified why they don't count.) Which means she'll know she's breaking them. Soriana will smile as Raelii leaves, then let out a breath as she leans back in her chair. It's… still a little weird, doing this, but… here she is. So, after a moment… she'll go get that tray of lunch, and get back to her paperwork. Because she's a junior weyrwoman.


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