Getting Back to Business
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Xanadu Weyr - Clearing
A wide clearing stretches from east to west, the ground packed hard although grass grows across most of it. Trees are strictly forbidden in this space, their danger to the constant draconic traffic reason enough to banish them to the forest that creates a border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places.
The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the rock edifice where, high above on Xanadu's Star Stones, the ever-present watchdragon sits on the lonely peak. Directly south is the hatching arena, the large round complex taking up a large portion of the perimeter, a line of trees visible beyond it. Southeast are wide steps leading up to the caverns and eastwards is the large entrance to the Infirmary. Somewhat north of the infirmary is a human-sized archway that has a frequent quantity of traffic — it leads to the Wandering Wherry Tavern. Tucked neatly under the arch, to one side is a tiny wood-frame shop bearing the name 'Petals and Pots Garden Shop'. Southwest lies cliffs where windows for the administrative offices have been cut. Underneath them are the entrances to the crafters complex while north and west along the cliff's base, a broad path leads to the feeding grounds. Due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr - the meadow, the forest beyond. At the far edge of the clearing, beside the trail leading to the forest sits a clocktower.


Rukbat's risen once again. Gotten a fair bit into the sky, too, but it's shaping up to be a chilly sort of day. It's not snowing - yet - but the clouds overhead are threatening that it might start, and the occasional breezes toss up snowflakes from the ground and tease them around. It's into these grey skies that Luraoth emerges, answering the watch-dragon's call with a bright laugh and circling in a lazy arc toward a landing. Soriana's on her back, dressed in riding leathers but with no more bundling against the cold than that.

It was a looong night. Ka'el couldn't rightly sleep until the last of the ranking visitors either left or were settled into the guest weyrs. If nothing else, he got a heck of a crash course in putting faces and names together for the many Holders that turned out. But of all the faces that he did see, hands shaken and grins shared, he didn't place a particular one. Kanekith eventually informed him that Luraoth was gone. Specifics weren't given or asked for, and Ka'el eventually crashed in bed late, late into the night. Now it's a new day and he's risen, washed, and is out and about with Alloy who swoops overhead, chit-chittering to firelizards. Make way! Weyrleader coming through! As for landing dragons? Well he can chitter all he wants and likely have no effect on them at all! Ka'el shields his eyes, adjusting the collar of his jacket as he peers at the arriving gold. It's Luraoth! Grinning, he waves an arm. Heeey!

Maybe Soriana was somewhere else in the crowd, in the part between where she left the sands and when Kanekith noted that absence. Or maybe she wasn't. The point is, she's here now. Luraoth glides through the cloud of firelizards, nudging them to make room with pink tickles of thought. Soriana? She sees the wave, her own hand lifts, but it's not until Luraoth's sharper eyes note him and report that Soriana actually notices who it is. A Ka'el! So that makes her smile as Luraoth drops in for the landing, touching feet to the ground and folding her wings. Soriana looks… kinda tired, honestly. But she's still smiling as she undoes her straps and drops from Luraoth's back with a practiced hop-jump. "Hey."

Alloy barks orders to a few more firelizards before he plops onto the ground with a snort. Yeah. They'd better listen to him! He's Firelizard One! Ultimate Boss of All Firelizards! (except for Haruhi cuz she's bossy) Ka'el gives his mini-sidekick a smirk but bypasses him on his way towards Luraoth's landing spot. "Hello Weyrwoman," he greets once near enough and once she's on the ground, his grin crookedly playful. "You were missed last night. Congratulations on a successful hatching!" he says, extending that to Luraoth as well. "You did amazingly well, Luraoth. Perfect hatchlings!" He pauses close to Soriana, head slightly tilting. "You look tired," he notes. "Did you get any rest at all?"

Haruhi is so bossy, she's not even bossing… oh wait. Actually, she is, she's just too important to bother bossing where her human is. She's got bigger and better things to boss! (But not Luraoth. Not that she hasn't tried, but it doesn't work. Which is probably part of why the gold firelizard isn't here right now.) Soriana's mouth tugs sideways at that greeting. "Hello yourself, Weyrleader." She turns, starting to undo some of Luraoth's straps to take them off the dragon. "Didn't you get enough titles last night?" Because hatching feasts! Those holders who'll never have another chance (or so they think), and the visitors from other weyrs, and all the rest of them. So many titles. And… "Mmh." Missed? "Probably." She gives another of those straps a tug, loosening it. "I'm glad that one boy's okay. Mraelth's." Luroath croons something pleasant to Ka'el, and Soriana works straps for a moment longer before glancing back to him. "Yeah, I slept. Some."

"More than my fair share of titles, yeah," remarks Ka'el, snickering. "But I like calling you Weyrwoman. .. Either it's that, or my brain hasn't shifted out of the 'title zone' it was in last night," he says as he moves to help with the straps if he can. Luraoth's croon is met with a smile before his eyes flit back to Soriana. "Rephrase. /I/ missed you last night," he clarifies with a half smirk that fades a little thel onger that he listens to her. She slept…some? A brow arches as his head tips slightly to one side. "Where'd you go? Figured you'd want some time away after being on the sands for so long, but I also figured you'd've slept more than just some, too.'

Ohhh, the title zone. "Careful it doesn't get stuck there for good, someday." Soriana smirks a bit, and adjusts to let Ka'el help with the straps. She tosses, he catches, or he holds and she loosens… they both know what they're doing, and Luraoth doesn't mind the help. Ka'el's the one who missed her? She just nods to that, and undoes another buckle. There. Now those straps can slide free. "Doesn't have a name, I don't think. It's just a hunk of rock, northeast edge of our area." Soriana regards Luraoth for a moment, then looks back to Ka'el and smiles crookedly. "About as away as you can get."

Straps, done! Or rather, undone. Ka'el helps to guide the loosened straps off of the gold's hide, then steps back once she's free of them and they're in Soriana's possession. A rock? "Somehow I imagined a place a little more grand than a boulder isle," he remarks, sounding amused. "But….as long as it made you happy…" If not made for a rough night of sleep. Curisoity is evenident in his eyes. Of all places! And why stay? Presing questions tickle his tongue but remain unsaid for now as his hands slide into the pockets of his jacket to warm up. "With the hatching over, I aim to speak to Thea about a trip to Fort. I've been meaning to introduce myself to Weyrleader The'ro for a time, and we met briefly the other night but not for long. Thea mentioned once about diplomatic visits … last night was a reminder to me that I've been isolated here. There were too many people I didn't know."

Soriana can see those questions, oh yes, and she hehs. "See, the thing is, if it were grander, there'd be people. And they'd ask questions." Her lips tug into more of a smile. "They'd probably even have had a candidate." Yet more questions! "Luraoth had a swim." She grins. "So did I. With no sand anywhere in sight." Selling point. Definite selling point. "I was up most of the night. Just… because." A shrug. "I'll get a nap later." Probably. For now, she bundles straps over her shoulder, then nods. "Yeah? Th'ero's not bad. I haven't met their new senior yet, though. Ny…alle?" She thinks. Maybe. It's something like that, anyhow.

"Th'ero doesn't seem bad at all, no. Kiena…'s wary around him," Ka'el says thoughtfully. "Yet, she tells me often that I should speak with him about the pros and cons of Weyrleadership. Apparently, he's been at it a while." A shoulder lifts and drops nonchalantly. "Of the Weyrs, Fort's one I wish to visit first. The holds are important to me though. If an area is beholden to Xanadu, I want the people to know me. Not..personally, but to know more of me than my name. If they even know that. I want them to feel an' know that they can be heard by me." His attention bounces to those straps, though his face turns thoughtful at the mentioning of a new Fortian senior. "I heard something of that. No idea if that's her name or not. And see, that seems like somethin' I should know." He nods to her bundle. "Need help with those? Where are you headed?"

"Hmm," Soriana says to Kiena's wariness, with a slight shrug and then a nod for Th'ero's history. "Since we were kids, at least." Oh so many turns ago. At least from her perspective. She nods of his opinion of Fort, nods again to the matter of the holds, but… she gets a thoughtful look, a tug of her mouth, and in the end, she asks it. "So what are you going to do about Black Rock?" Because it's in Xanadu's coverage area. And, well… yeah. It's a question. The senior, she nods about. There was a hurt dragon in the flight, that's why she heard about it. Dragonhealer gossip is like that! Her straps, she shrugs about. Carefully. "I figure I should go by the office. See who I offended by not talking to them last night." Her smile is a crooked one. "And what I've fallen behind with."

Black Rock. Ka'el visibly seems to dim, though it's a slight dimming. Yet still…a loss of something in his eyes. "I can't ignore Black Rock," he says eventually, hands remaining in his pockets. "…It won't be a problem. If I'm there, they'll make it a point not to be wherever I am. Word gets around. Once they gather I'm there, there won't be any effort to find me. The only one who'd cause trouble…isn't there anymore." His smile is gone now despite efforts to keep himself neutral during the whole subject of family. "I…" His eyes search her, and intsed of finishing, he gives his head a near imperceptible shake, dismissing the unspoken words. "No problem." Sure! The holder family of the Weyrleader, instead of being immensely proud, will shun him instead. No problem at all. A fraction of his grin is brought back to his face. "I'd be more afraid of what you've fallen behind with than who you might've offended. I heard there's a great pile on your desk. Sevens and sevens and sevens worth of papers."

Soriana does see that dim. Because she was expecting it. Because… Black Rock. She waits for his answer, quiet. The occasional Xanadu person passes elsewhere in the clearing, but nobody interferes with what must surely be an important meeting. That or they've all got places to be. Soriana just waits, eyes on Ka'el, then nods. He can't. But that doesn't mean… she listens to his explanation, nods again. "Sorry," she says. For bringing it up, even though she thought it was important. Still does. But. "…is so." That's to it being no problem, and a crooked, stubborn smile reasserts itself. "But you'll deal." She reaches a hand for his, corrects herself. "We'll deal." With holder families that shun their Weyrleader sons. And with… ohhhh, paperwork. She all but groans. "Probably." And never mind the fact she made a point of checking every seven or so. "They probably moved another filing cabinet in there, just for me."

She shouldn't be sorry. He needs to think about how he'll handle Black Rock in the future. As much as Ka'el likes to disregard the fact that there are issues there, there are issues there that he'll have to face at some point in his Weyrleadership. Issues that he'll deal with and face..with her? His eyes seek hers as she enters herself into the unhealthy mix of family problems that he's been keeping her an arm's length away from. "You don't…" he begins but then falters. He's told her before. This is his problem, not hers. She doesn't have to. But, she knows that she doesn't have to immerse herself in it, but she's willing to. For that, he smiles and moves closer to her to touch fingers to her hip, slightly squeezing before falling away. "Yeah," he says instead, nodding his head once in agreement. They'll deal. "Also, make that two filing cabinets. Moved the second one in there personally. The overflow was getting' a bit out of hand," he jokes. "Want me to walk you or..you've got this?" Maybe she wants more alone time.

Oh yeah, Soriana knows. So not her problem. It's Ka'el's problem, and that only when he stops pretending it's not a problem and faces it. Which he'll do eventually, in fits and starts. And she'll remind him that she's at his side for it, whether he wants it or not. …okay, if he didn't want it enough, she'd leave him be. But when he just doesn't think she has to… well, she knows she doesn't have to. She does anyway. So here she is, meeting his eyes as he starts to make a protest she's already heard and didn't let stand that time, either. She leans into his touch, smiling back as he agrees with her. They'll deal… but not today, please. Today, she's got to deal with that filing cabinet. Oh wait. "Two?" she says with playful incredulousness. Make that those filing cabinets. "Maybe I should take them back to that rock. Kick 'em over the edge. There can't be anything that crucial, can there?" As for his going with her? "Oh, you'd better. What if they've developed sentience and are plotting against me? I'll need protection." And this is how you know Soriana's joking. Because since when does she need (or want) protection?

"I'm afraid if you did that, Weyrwoman, I'd be compelled to report you," answers Ka'el, whose voice is heavy with a sigh. "Knocking files into the sea? That's probably a … criminal offense. Time spent in the cells, at the least. Hard labor to come afterward, likely." And so Ka'el is .. not going to protect her? Apparently not. In fact, Ka'el is going to be punishing her! Locking her up and throwing away the key! And what else? "Removal of your Weyrwoman knot would come next, I bet. Those were Weyr files you tossed out." Er. Tossed out in her mind. Metaphorically tossed out? Imagined to be tossed out. Whatever! These are still very real consequences. (sort of) "And then lastly, searchin' the seas for every last one've those papers you tried to down. Tell me, is it really worth all of that?" He grins now, eyes alive with mirth as he swoops in to wrap an arm around her, straps and all, and leans in to press a kiss to her lips. A smooch for the criminal! A brief one, because he's the Weyrleader and she a junior Weyrwoman and there's appearances to keep up in public. "Next time you go to your rock, if you want company, let me know," he comments as he releases her. "C'mon, let's go see what those files are plotting. We can plot a counter attack on our way. One that doesn't involve tossin' them all out."


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