Xanadu Weyr - Docks
Jutting out from the land are the platforms that make up the main dock of Xanadu Weyr. The extruded plastic makes an odd sound when footsteps echo across it. From this dock, two others protrude taking opposite directions, each for a special purpose.
L'alie is sitting on the edge of the dock with her feet dandling towards the water, watching her lifemate wallow in the shallow (or, shallow to him, at least) water. Between her hands is a piece of string that she turns around her fingers boredly, the wind grabbing the edges of it and threatening to carry it off if the rider's hold on it should slip.
Ryski is moving quickly. Feet pad against the dock as he runs out onto it, hurrying down along it rapidly. Though at the sight of L'alie, he skids a bit to a stop, looking a tad perplexed. He hadn't quite expected anyone out on the docks at the moment, after all, probably why he came out this way in the first place, considering the slightly upset look on the boy's face.
It's at that moment that the piece of string is whipped away from L'alie's hands, drifting towards Ryski so that the Weyrsecond is forced to follow the colorful bit of yarn. "Oh, hello." she says lamely to the boy. Seems she was expecting the same as he.
Ryski swallows slightly, eyes focusing somewhat on that piece of string that floats by, before he resolutely continues walking to the edge of the dock. He sits heavily, legs coming down to swing in the empty space below, before glancing at L'alie again, nose wrinkling up somewhat. "Hi."
L'alie doesn't comment as the lad's graceless arrival sways the dock slightly. Instead, she turns just a bit, taking him in. "I know you." She says finally. "Though you were much smaller the last time we talked. You're Tay's boy." This covered, she sweeps her arms around her knees, pulling them up to her chest, "What's got you so glum, chum?"
Ryski blinks for a moment, looking at L'alie again, trying to study the rider a bit more closely. He shrugs though, taking her word for it. It's not his fault he doesn't remember people, sometimes. After all, it /had/ been a while. "Oh..uh..yeah. Guess I am." He takes in a heavy breath then, fingers ruffling at his hair before his words come out muttered, looking out at the water again. "Got in a fight with my brother. ..Cut his hair."
L'alie arches her eyebrows, resting her chin against one knee cap, "Ah, I see. That's always hard, getting into a fight with someone you're close to, isn't it? My mother and I used to fight quite a bit before I was Searched. I was always closer to my father." She shrugs, staring out over the water where Adinaeth has somehow attracted the attention of a small pod of dolphins and is trying to imitate their barrel rolls. She shakes her head, grinning. "Silly sea urchin, he is."
Ryski screws up his face a little bit then, shrugging somewhat at the mention of family and closeness. But he nods after a bit, hair falling down and into his eyes. He could really do with a cut himself pretty soon. "Dunno what he's so mad about. I mean..it's /hair/. It'll grow back, right?" It's not like he cut off the man's /hand/ or something. Which would likely be cause for a bit more worry, of course.
L'alie laughs, "I'll tell you a secret." She says, touching her finger to the side of her nose and winking at the teenager. She leans close, as if about to divulge something particularly rare, "Men are very vain creatures. More vain than some women, even. Especially young men. Boys think differently, but young men.." She releases her knees to lean back upon her hands. "But you're right, it's just hair. Hair grows. I imagine once he's cooled down a bit he'll see you're right."
Ryski blinks for a moment, staring at L'alie for that bit of secret..confidential information. Really, it can only make him wonder when /he/ is supposed to make the transition from being a 'boy', to being a 'young man'. Really, he'd rather not be /that/ vain. There's a snort then, clearing his throat as he swings his legs once more, staring at the water. "I guess. He was really mad though. And I gotta sheer ovines. Niva said so."
L'alie ahs and rocks back a bit to look up at the sky, eyes always wandering somewhere it seems. "Chores, wish I could say it gets better, boyo, but it really doesn't. Responsibility is a cruel mistress, and she'll dog you all your days. But I bet you'll feel really good about yourself if you do a good job." She doesn't say that ovines are nasty evil beasts and harder than egg shells to sheer. He'll figure it out. "Besides, you're doing something important. Doesn't it make you feel like an adult to know you're doing something important for the Weyr?"
Ryski looks a little confused, there. It's certainly not something that he's thought about, of course. All he knows is that he's been given chores as a punishment. Punishment isn't supposed to feel good. ..Is it? Unless he's one of those masochistic people, anyway. "Huh?" He gives L'alie a stare for a bit, head tilting as he rolls the idea around..and then sighs, shoulders lifting in a faint shrug. "Well..I mean..I /guess/. It's that important?"
L'alie nods her head firmly, "Absolutely. You know that wool is used for a lot of items we need around the Weyr? The cavern women use it to stuff pillows and comfortors, make clothing, evn stuff dolls for the weyr children. I've even heard they're experimenting with ways to boil it down to make paper. And it keeps the ovines cool with summer coming on, they really appreciate that. You know who else appreciates it? The dragons! I tell you, there's nothing worse than a dragon belly aching about fuzz in his teeth.. they can't digest it, either, if you get my drift." her nose wrinkles. "So really, you're doing a service to a lot of people. The dragons and their riders, the ovines, and the Weyr in general."
Ryski laughs. Yes, he laughs, not something he does all that often, even given his age. Although it's a bit muted, since he brings a hand up to cover his mouth, trying to block it out. Mm..fuzz in the teeth. Still, the boy seems in much lighter spirits, to say the least, nodding as he sits up all the straighter. "Yeah.. I guess it /is/ a pretty important job. I mean.. it's for a lot of other people and everything..so yeah." His head tilts then, eyeing L'alie suspiciously. "Um..if I like it..will they let me keep doing it?"
L'alie laughs, "If you like it? Absolutely. The beastcrafters might even take you to apprentice if you really liked it. It's good for a lad your age to start thinking to his future. These days, a craft is a fine way to go. Gives you the confidence and determination to follow through with things, and the discipline to do them right." Adinaeth seems to have grown bored with barrel rolls and the dolphins and is now splashing his way towards the docks to see who this is his rider is with.
"Haven't really thought about it before." Granted, Ryski /did/ go through that phase at the age of ten where he wanted to be a guard. Alas, they don't seem to allow for little boys to join the ranks. Quite a shame, really. He stretches his legs out then, holding them straight instead of dangling over the edge of the dock. "Heard some stuff about the starcraft today. Sounded../really/ boring." All about counting stars and taking notes. How is /that/ fun? "Beastcraft..might work. Maybe? Guess I'll see how bad the ovines are." And hopefully not get kicked in the face or anything.
L'alie giggles, "Depends, I don't think the starcraft is all boring. There are some people who really wonder what's out there. I know we used to travel the starts thousands of Turns ago. Some day we might even be able to do it again. The starcraft is about understanding the universe outside of our planet, just in case there is something still out there for us to see." She curls her legs up under her, "I'm a glasscrafter, myself. It's not for everybody, but I quite enjoy it. You should do something you love, even if it takes you a while to find out what that is."
Ryski smiles somewhat at that, giving an abrupt nod. "I'd break too much stuff there." ..And he would. Glass and Ryski? Just not a very good combination. Animals like herdbeasts? They're a bit more..sturdy. "Still..that's all..up there. I like what's down here." He's an earthy sort of kid. ..Or a Perny sort. Whatever. He does think about things a bit longer then, biting his lip. "You make glass stuff though? Like what?"
L'alie frowns and rumages around in her belt pouch until she finds just what she's looking for, a small lump wrapped up in a soft cloth. She unfolds the cloth and sets the object in the palm of her hand, holding it out to him. It reveals itself to be a golden blown glass dragon, almost perfect in miniture down to the headknobs and neck ridges, "Figurines. Dragons are my best. I make them into beads and sell strands of them to hang as curtains and such. I can do other stuff, but I'm best at this."
Ryski blinks, shifting to take a better look at the small glass thing, turning it over in his hands once he gets a grip on it. He looks almost contemplative, really, not really assessing the craftsmanship as much as he is the actual object, before looking up at L'alie again, brows lifting. "Can I have one?" He pauses, correcting himself with a slight cough. "I mean..uh..buy one? I got a little.."
L'alie grins, "Tell you what, for a day of your help, I'll make you whatever you want." She winks at him, "Any color, too." She holds the square of soft clothe out. "Nothing bad. I'll even teach you what chemicals make what colors of glass."
Ryski does hand the figurine back, being a bit more careful than he probably needs to. After all, he's far more used to breaking things. Still, he does tilt his head, eyeing L'alie suspiciously before he slowly nods. "Um…well okay. I mean..guess I can." So long as he doesn't get trampled by ovines.
L'alie grins, "It'll be fun, promise." Wrapping the figurine up, she tucks it away, and reaches out to pat the brown head that snakes across her lap, whuffing curiously at Ryski. "So when do you have to go sheer those ovines?"
Ryski blinks at the sudden whuffing, staring at the brown for a few moments, although he doesn't reach out. The topic gets his attention again, however, before his shoulders give up a shrug. "Uhm..well..I dunno really. Niva said I gotta do it for the next sevenday." As for exact times..well. The boy thoroughly expects to be dragged from bed at some horrible hour of the morning. "Probably stupidly early."
L'alie pats Adie's broad cheek, pushing the dragon away as if her meager mass could somehow push the dragon's great head. "Stupid early is general a good assumption. Always good to get things done, that way you have the rest of your day to look forward to."
Ryski wrinkles his nose up, groaning. "Yeah, but I'll be /tired/ the rest of the day, too." It's inevitable. Wake up crazy early..and you end up veeery sleepy. "Maybe I'll drink a whole lotta klah." Oh yeah, that's a good idea. Give him klah..and shears.
L'alie grins, "Yeah, but at least you'll be done. Better to be tired but done than tired and not done?" Simple logic from a simple lady. "If you drink too much klah, you'll have to pee, and you can't stop shearing an ovine to go pee. Trust me, you don't want to run those bleaters down twice just to do one job!"
Ryski just blinks, staring at L'alie in disbelief. "I can't /pee/?" What if he has to /go/? He'd use one of the ovines like a bush if worst came to worst, likely. Frowning just a little bit, he shakes his head, giving a bit of a groan as he gets up. "I gotta go talk to my mom. Delenn's too mad to let me stay there tonight, so I gotta ask /her/." Not the best of choices, as far as the boy's concerned. Though he does pause a moment, peering at the Weyrsecond again. "Um..just tell me when you want my help, I guess."
L'alie nods her head, grinning, "When you're done with the Ovines, yeah? I'm going to have to make a trip to the Hall to get more of the chemicals I need anyways, I'm running low." She stretches her arms above her head. "Good luck, boyo."