Xanadu Weyr - Siebith's Weyrbarn
Covered in rough, weathered wood, aged by the weather and the sun, the irregular grayed clapboards outside of this weyrbarn lend the place has a rustic, masculine charm. White shutters and window boxes overflowing with brightly-hued tangles of flowers on the lower windows and flowering vines twine about the supports for the porch overhang add a feminine touch, softening the stark stone steps leading to it.
The worn stone floor of Siebith's area is just inside the large sliding door. The living area of the weyrbarn has an open, airy layout gives the utilitarian, bachelor-like plain white-washed walls and simple hardwood floors a sense of wide open spaces. A sturdy mahogany-toned table with chairs that somehow manage to match despite their variety accent the earthy, wooden tones of the kitchenette. The same dark reddish hues are in the door at the far side of the barn, as well as in the low-slung coffee table in front of the plush, worn couch. Dusky sea-blue rugs are scattered here and there. Dark golden curtains hang on either side of the many windows and partition off the loft up above, led to by a black wrought iron set of ladder-like stairs. Lilies arranged in glass vases on the tables provide a crisp of white counterpoint to the dark wood tones.
A new addition, the bedroom has walls of the same plain white, but the floors are made of newer wood, still shiny with polish. A four-poster bed of the same red mahogany takes up the most of one wall of the small space, a blue-and-cream linen coverlet spread on the wide mattress. A set of wooden bureaus take up the bulk of the wall opposite while another wall has been painted upon in the very center with a seascape mural, its crisp blue waters and sandy shores. The final wall is graced by a feminine-looking writing desk stacked with papers and bedecked with knick-knacks. Over the bed, a set of stained-glass windows allows golden-brown light mingled with white whorls and blue haze to shine into the room with the rising of the sun, though both panes are able to be unlocked and swung wide to accept lake breezes.
It's a peaceful afternoon, though late fall in Xanadu often brings leaden skies and chill winds, today is clear and the sun shines enough to warm the nip in the air to a mere 'briskness'. Such weather before winter sets in ought to put just about anyone in a great mood, shouldn't it? But no, the sounds of footsteps on the porch carry the sound of deliberately-placed feet, the tread heavy. The door opens and Thea steps though with a twin on either hip. The children are unaccountably silent and Thea? Her expression is black. Could have something to do with the fact that all three are soaking wet.
D'had was just… well he was doing something, but when those steps are heard he stops just in time to turn and see the door open. "When'd it start rainin'?" because if it did he apparently didn't notice. Of course the sunny sky behind them answers that question and he blinks, confusion registering. "Or…" Does he want to know what happened is the question.
"It didn't!" This grim reply is given even as her weyrmate is glancing beyond her at those blue skies. Thea gives the open door a backwards shove with her heel and squelches across the hardwood floors, taking care to avoid those handwoven rugs scattered here and there. "Took them for a walk on the beach." Which ought to clue him in on what happened, since he's seen Muir's mad dash for dragons whether they're on land or in the water. "Marella followed and was neck deep before I caught her." Which says nothing about her brother and given the sober faces of the twins, there was some fallout.
D'had ahs, nodding without a sound. Best not to get involved. Right? Right. "I won't ask what happened next," but she's welcome to tell him anyway. "Glad you're all okay though." Someone could have warned him of the dark mood before they got there though… he might have been more prepared.
D'had was involved before the pair were born and he's not going to avoid getting involved in this. "Here." Thea's dumping a sopping Muir into his arms, ready or not. "Muir kept going," she informs him darkly as she steps to the ladder, apparently fully expecting him to come help her get the children dry and changed. Over her shoulder she tosses, "We couldn't find him for a few moments." And likely hiding the terror she felt in the quick movements she makes heading up to the loft.
"I…" Panic, wet child! At least he does manage to put his arms out and catch the boy. Turning after Thea he says nothing for a moment longer. "Told ya a long time ago they were ready ta learn ta swim." Toss them in the lake he's been ready for, but that whole flying thing was been a fight. Go figure.
"The rider that hauled him out said he ought to know how to swim by now." Thea's indignant snort is followed by, "Can you believe that?!" While she's striding across the loft in the direction of the dresser, Marella is peeking over her shoulders at her daddy with big green eyes wide. Her mother's sputtering is stopped midstream as what D'had says sinks in and she pivots to stare at him. "But-" Into the silence that follows, Marella says in a small voice, "Mommy scream." Her children might fall and go splat from the skies, but the idea of her babies in over their heads terrifies /her/. Go figure."
"Yeah," D'had replies shortly. He does believe that comment, but then again given what he's just said it shouldn't be terribly surprising that he'd agree. "They're plenty old enough for that," he repeats, moving across the room, with Muir still in arms, to follow her up into the loft.
Thea's wet with her clothes plastered to her body, her hair sticking to her scalp and shoulders, Marella likewise, but this has nothing to do with the trembling that starts with D'had's reaction to the incident. She really should start getting the child out of those wet clothes, but all she can do is stand there and watch the man climb up the ladder towards her. She's busy quietly panicking. "Butbut..!" All she can come up with is, "The lake is murky."
"But nothing," D'had replies as he reaches the top of the ladder and sets Muir down to go in search of dry clothes for him and his sister. "Don't have ta be in the lake. Can start in the bathing cavern." They're small enough those pools are plenty large for them to learn.
Ignore that choking sound she makes. In the bathing caverns! In public where people can witness her panicking and freaking out while her babies are subjected to certain death by drowning. "No way," is Thea's flat reply to that one. "I… there's too many distractions." Yes, let's phrase it that way, shall we? Because there's naked ladies sure to be bathing and she wants him to concentrate!
D'had chuckles. He's not laughing at her. Really! "Well ya don't want the bathing caverns, ya don't want the lake, where do ya want?" And she'd better not say nowhere, that's just not (excuse the pun) going to fly with him. He's come up with dry clothes for the twins in the meantime and tosses them onto one of their beds before digging up a pair of towels and handing one over to Thea.
Fly is exactly what he's going to have to do and Thea is banking on his reluctance to do it. She's quite confident he won't go for it, thus has her equilibrium back enough to take the towel and set Marella down, kneel beside her and begin peeling off those soggy clothes. "Actually, the waterfall pool on your island is nice and clear." And it's unlikely he'll fly the twins there until they are fifteen turns old, right? Riiiiight???
"Fine," D'had replies. It could likely be that he's just irritated enough by the whole thing that he has no idea what exactly he's agreeing to. "When's your next free day," don't leave it up to him to remember that schedule, he's enough trying to remember his own, "We'll go then."
Thea studiously avoids looking at D'had while she towels the still silent Marella off. Seryth takes this time to smugly observe to Siebith that humans are quite interesting in some moods. A remark that might just explain her failure to warn him of Thea's earlier. This quick agreement is not what she expected, however. Blinking up at him, she backpedals. "I, uh… " Deer in the headlights. She's trying to think of something to stall this. Anything. Muir sneezes into the silence and she's preoccupied enough with the worry he's caught cold to answer truthfully, "Tomorrow."
"Fine," D'had repeats with a snort as the towel he holds covers Muir's head in drying the boy's hair. "Tomorrow," he agrees. He's apparently done with the issue, until they have to fly tomorrow likely. Or maybe he does have more of an idea of what he's agreeing to than she might think? "You can explain *between* to 'em tonight then."
Thea just stares at D'had like he's lost his mind as she pulls Marella's shirt over the girl's head. "Between?" Blinkblink. "We can fly there straight." It's not like it's all that far by air. Might take a little longer, but. Of course she slides him a look from under her lashes as she says that, expecting that now he'll say forget it. Marella is getting restless with her mommy frozen to immobility and reaches for her trousers, a move that prompts Thea to continue dressing the child.
A little longer? Than between? Try a lot longer. "Ya think they're gonna sit still half the day ta go straight?" Something in D'had's tone says he highly doubts it. Besides which he wouldn't survive flying straight with the both of them. "Between." That's all there is to it as he goes about getting Muir changed into something dry.
Well, she's never tried flying there straight, how does she know? Thea picks Marella up, carries her to the dresser, opens a drawer and rummages around for a comb, finds it and bumps it shut with her hip. Setting Marella on the dresser, she begins combing the tangles out of the child's hair. After a long silence she ventures, "We could stop for breaks? And they might just enjoy it enough to sit still."
D'had snorts. "Have ya ever tried landin' and taking off in the middle of the ocean?" And she wants to do this with the twins on board after the fit she's had about them in the water thus far? "Good luck."
Thea narrows her eyes at D'had, likely has something to do with feeling like she's being talked down to. "There's other islands out there, Donn." But he wants Between? "Fine. We'll go Between then. But I'm sure you can tell them just as well as I can." Marella is lifted and carried to her bed, tucked in. "Nap time. Daddy is going to tell you a story about riding dragons where it's nighttime and very cold." Muir wriggles where he's being dressed over there. "Fly?" Two pairs of eyes turn toward their daddy. He's got their attention.
D'had shakes his head, "No, you're telling them this one." He had to take them up to fly when he didn't want to, he's going to end up being the one to teach them how to swim. She can explain between. That's not going to be easily budged on.
Thea sighs. She's wet and cold and just had the scare of her life when Muir disappeared beneath the murky water at the beach. She gives her weyrmate a long look, "Alright." The fight has gone out of her; she's tired of this. In her best story-telling voice, she tells them brightly, "When dragons fly, they go through the dark and it's cold, but-" she claps her hands three times. "Then it's bright and warm again. Okay?" Sure, whatever mom. The pair look at her like, is that all the story there is? "May I go change now?" She asks D'had this in perhaps the most icy tones he's ever heard her use. Someone's upset.
D'had just shakes his head, pressing a kiss to the forehead of each of the children and telling them, "Good night." This followed by a, "Go ahead," to Thea as he turns to follow her back downstairs. They can argue more where the twins aren't watching if need be, but chances are he has little more to say on the issue.
He's easy enough to read that she won't be arguing or trying to force the man to talk when he doesn't want to and it's really not in her nature to do it unless she thinks someone's life is in danger, so the evening ought to be a peaceful one. Troubled and not understanding what has come over the man, Thea will likely just change her clothes and curl up quietly in bed. Probably won't sleep though.