So We Meet Again

Landing - Bonfire Square
This large square is a common place for the residents of Landing to come together for informal gatherings. Several large logs used for sitting on surround a pile of timber ready to be set ablaze. All vegetation has been cleared from this area to prevent any fires getting started by stray sparks from the bonfire during the dry season. Many people, several with apprentice knots on their shoulders, wander in and out of the buildings on either side of this square or head back towards the north. The building directly to the east of this square, known as the Administration building, is different from the others in this part of landing. It has solar panels in place of the regular roofing materials.


Landing has grown to foster many crafts that fail to have main halls in the South, becoming a secondary center for education. It is likely that some of the craft halls even welcome the secondary halls set up here, since the ones in the North tend to be overcrowded more or less with each Turn that passes. And while it would be an unlikely place for a Search and Rescue rider from Xanadu to be amongst those hustling and bustling around, there he is, a former seacrafter speaking with a cluster of sailors nearest the docks, the conversation a range of serious tones and light melody of laughter. Ers'lan hasn't changed overly since the last time that Kiley might have seen him, tending to remain scruffy, though instead of sailor blouses, he's traded that in for search and rescue flight jacket gear (a little more functionality with the jackets than most riders have).

Rather than being anywhere formal, or where a computer crafter is expected to be, Kiley is sitting upon one of the logs in the bonfire square, looking off towards the distance. The day is rather quiet as there aren't many people about, most opting to be in their craft areas than sitting about with nothing to do. She is not, however, completely without things to do as she is sitting with a book upon her lap, closed and relatively untouched and glasses clasped between her fingers.

The sailors in the small cluster are shortly shuffling their group toward the tavern, away from the docks, and while Ers'lan does trail along with them, he pauses mid-stride at a glance that is thrown toward the middle of the square. A figure perched on a log has him tilting his head, a thoughtful tug of his lips and a squint of eyes. A few fellows from the cluster of sailors pause as they notice the stalling of the rider and with a few short words, they are leaving him behind as he chooses to step toward the middle of the square. Along with a casual slip of his fingers through his hair and a tug of his jacket, his steps are a little less sure of himself than ever before as he approaches Kiley. It has been some time since he's seen her, failing to have visited as he promised. Time and distances do that to people. No matter, his voice is cautious but elated as he asks, "Kiley? Is that you?"

The sound of her name draws Kiley's attention away from where her gaze lingers, the glasses that rest between her fingers are then lifted to be settle in their proper place upon her face before she's squinting at the brownrider. "Yes." It's a simple answer before the computer crafter offers a smile, "you've been a stranger." Her tone is teasing, light and she chuckles. "How are you?" Someone is good at remembering faces even if it has been quiet some time since they had last seen one another, but, still just as welcoming of his presence.

The time it takes for the woman to acknowledge herself gives him a moment to step closer in range, a familiar easy going smirk on his face despite the simple answer initially received. "Aye," he drawls in his seafarring tone, not as thick as it had once been, the Harpers and his dragon likely having done well to train parts of it out of him. "Tis been busy in Xanadu fer a while. All the rain be causin a bit of trouble fer the Weyr and tis whar keep me busy." A hand rests on his hip, eyes search beyond her to take in 'Landing' … "Did narh think I be findin you here of all places. This whar ya be these days?"

Kiley chuckles at the greeting and inclines her head slightly, gesturing for him to sit beside her if he wishes. "The rain seems to constantly bother Xanadu. Part of the reason why I don't wish to go back, I'm afraid." A chuckle and her eyes close, her elbow coming to rest upon her book and used as a way to prop her chin in the palm of her hand. "I spend most of my time in Landing, now. I'm working on becoming a Master, you know. Or not, I probably didn't tell you."

Ers'lan steps around the right side of the log before he sits himself, having to flip the back of his leather jacket out from underneath him before he sits, unbuttoned as it is and fitting in a longer length. "Aye, been causin holes in places and swallowin people…" He notes with a dry amusement showing in the stretching of his lips and the subtle disapproving shake of his head. Running a hand over his knee, he turns to regard her, noting the book that she uses for a prop rather than reading material at this time. "Wow! That's great Kiley," he announces with sincere enthusiasm, "Be real proud of ya, that be nothin light thar, to achieve that." He gives a bit of a shrug at the fact that he wasn't told, "Reckon that be whar it be." There still remains a grin on his face, a silence that follows is for the simple observation that has his gaze roaming over her.

"Doesn't sound that safe." Kiley sighs softly, "hopefully the rain will stop and allow you to fix everything soon enough." She smiles in his direction before nodding idly, "thank you. I hope that I'll do well enough. I'm nowhere near where Nik is…" Fingers tap along her chin and her gaze drifts off. "Do you? I thought I wanted to be a rider, you know? But, I think I am more suited for this. Zi kept trying to convince me to Stand again, but, the disappointment of being left behind was something I didn't want to bear with again. And I have my Craft. Anyway," her gaze settles on him again and she offers a distant little smile. "How have /you/ been?"

"Reckon it be narh safe at all," he notes with a testy little sigh, shaking his head again, "Can't keep curiosity from people and reckon most of the time that near kills 'em in the end." He leans forward slightly, adjusting the fit of his jacket idly, shifting his feet apart to get more comfortable on the log. "Yah be whar ya be and yer young yet. Ya be having yer whole life ahead of ya," he indicates with a favorable touch of encouragement, regarding her as she taps her chin. The question of his sincerity makes him jerk his shoulders back, a motion that is quickly followed by a firm tilt of his head, "Aye. I reckon thar be less Masters out thar then dragonriders. Dedicatin yer life to the pursuit of mastry be more difficult I reckon. A master be responsible fer many things and people. Tis narh a path many end up takin, but I reckon yer the one fer it. Yer passion that I always be seein ya have fer yer craft be enough to show me that ya be whar ya be because ya have a drive to be here." For a moment he scrunches his eyebrows down as if that almost confused him, though with a given shake of his head he laughs, "Ahh, yah do be having plenty of time to figure things out." Spoken in a tone that was likely including himself in the thought. Then to her askance of him, he rolls a shoulder, "Been bout the same. Jus been doing the search and rescue bit. Learnin more bout our world, Harpers been grilling me bout me accent on top of me reading and writing. Other than the odd rescue of the trapped weyrleaders, tis rather uneventful."

"Mm." Kiley agrees softly about the curiosity bit, chuckling and shifts her position so that she faces the brownrider a little better than before. "I'm not feeling young at all. I'm twenty-five Turns now and my boyfriend is four turns younger than I am." Another sigh and the woman stares off, her gaze drifting towards the distance. "Not that I can change that or anything, and I suppose there's nothing wrong with it." Her gaze resettles on the man beside her and she gives a shy little smile. "That's true. There are a lot of riders…" Her gaze drops again, drifting off and scanning idly. "I love what I do, but, sometimes I wonder if I should've chose different. Maybe if I was a Harper…" With a laugh she leans over to give him a gentle nudge. "I see. Nothing ambitious for Lan? No leaving a string of broken hearts in your wake?"

"Age be in the eye of the beholder," he notes, adding with a jesting grin, "Or be the harpers saying." He rolls a shoulder, "Thar be an old nattering fool in Xanadu that be upwards of ninty odd Turns. -He- be old, you?" Ers'lan gives a good eye look up and down, "Just in yer prime." A big hand of his reaches out to give a comforting little squeeze on her shoulder, should she let him, at the time that she sighs. "Aye, thar be a lot of us riders with menial tasks to do… day in… day out." He shrugs, "We be narh the types in the books we read. Pretty borin, our lot." On the grand scale, dragonriders have blended in with the rest of society, only the odd rider had the excitement that the stories of old tell of. The man gives a little chuckle, "I reckon yer not bound by anything ta stop ya from learning or changing yer direction… but I fear the computercraft would be sore iffin their best gal left them." A boastful grin follows, until he chuckles from her nudge, leaning back, "Ambitious?…" there is a trailing of silence as he shakes his head, "'Fraid not. The ship having be sailed on that when Zhaoth decided on me." An honest truth. Then for the last, a soft shake of his head, "No. I be staying with Laera."

Kiley laughs at that and gives an idle nod of agreement, "yeah. I suppose so." She simply shakes her head with amusement but does not reject the comfort that he's offering. A laugh and she leans over to nudge him again, "you can do whatever you want, can't you? It's never too late to learn a Craft." She insists softly, giving him a rather bright smile before shifting position on the log, stretching out her legs. "I suppose they'd be a little lost if I suddenly left, but, there's probably someone that can replace me. Like I said, Nik is better suited than I am and he's training with the CraftMaster." Fingers tap along her chin and she gives a teasing smile, "never too late to be ambitious." As for the last, she nods in understanding. "That's nice. Have you two settled down, then?"

"Seacraft is no longer relevant ta the lifestyle of a dragonrider," he notes with a casual exhale of breath, as if trying to mask the sigh which is underlying there, "As fer a new craft… between everything I be expecting ta do on a daily basis, reckon thar be no time fer it. Reckon I'm still -learnin- to be a dragonrider." Or accept it, either way, it is his turn to stare off into the distance. The nudges have him grin though, despite the topic. "There be people who can replace me too…" he notes, "but ya cannot think of it that way. Ya cannot judge yerself against someone else's success, or rate yerself against another person. We be all here like individual pieces of sand that make up the ocean floor. We be all having a role and a purpose. Reckon we can narh fail ta see our own purpose by focusing on someone elses." He sticks out his chest a little, eyebrow lifted up in a cocky manner, "Iffin ya want to go train with the CraftMaster, whar be stopping ya? That Nik fellow should be a good way fer ya to get an invitation." The teasing smile gets a laugh of his own, which breaks the previous serious note, "Ooo, but I be feeling a might old fer that." A wink, before he gives a shrug, "I suppose. Granted we be living in our own weyrs cause most of the time we be on different shifts."

"No, I suppose it isn't." Kiley tilts her head in idle consideration before she's nodding her understanding. "You never really stop learning, though. I imagine it's still a huge lifestyle change." Idly, she tucks her legs back in and peeks over at him. "That's true, too. I shouldn't really judge myself based on progress done by other people." She leans over and gives him a gentle nudge. "The CraftMaster picks who they want to work with, not the other way around." With a sigh, she shakes her head at him but her smile still lingers. "I see. Well, I think I should head back before Nik notices I'm gone and asks me if I finished my work." With that, the computer crafter is pushing up from her seat. "It was good to see you."

"Reckon that be how it goes, sometimes ya jus have ta let go and come to terms with the fact that… life doesn't go the way you want or hoped, but instead sails ya into completely unexpected waters." A sailor who didn't believe he would want to be anything other and landed a dragon, and a gal who wanted to become a dragonrider but is now in pursuit of a mastry of her craft. "Life be interesting fer us all…" at the last nudge, he does put an arm around her to give her a one-armed hug if she lets him, otherwise, he stands when she does, nodding at her further words to the conversation and her need to get back to work. "Reckon it be good ta see you as well Kiley. Can I be getting a hug befer ya go?" His arms stretch out and there is a friendly smile on his face, "Dun reckon when the next time be that I get ta see yer pretty face again." Maybe a little ambition left to compliment a lass.

"Very true." Kiley laughs and gives him a bright smile. "Well, we'll do what we can with what we're given and make the best out of it." The one armed hug is accepted and she inclines her head slightly to rest against him. "Sure." The hug is then offered as she moves into his arms and gives him a tight squeeze. "I'm mostly in Landing if you're around. Occasionally Nik and I are in Western."

The hug is something that lasts as long as would be comfortable for both parties, with Ers'lan looking down at her with his hands on either side of her arms, nodding, "Reckon I be around in Xanadu if ya ever have need of me, jus call…firelizard or otherwise." Then there is a step back, to stand out of her way if she needed to hurry off and continue her work, although he notes with a wry comment, "Hope I didn't keep ya from yer work…" a nod to the book that she had been using as a prop after he arrived.

Kiley grins widely as she pulls back, "I'll let you know." She promises, nodding once and then looking over in the direction she needs to be heading. "No. I started staring off into the distance. My eyes have gotten worse." A gesture to the glasses, "so reading for long periods of time tends to bother them. I have to take a few breaks now and then. Come visit sometime, okay?" And with that, she waves and takes off towards the computer lab.

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