Talk with Ysa at the Tavern
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Xanadu Weyr - Wanderin' Wherry Tavern

It is often whispered in the crowds that converge here, that a certain Weyrleader was asked what he wanted in the remodeling of the pub that was not so long ago given a refreshing. He muttered back over the rim of his ever-present mug, "I don't care what you do with the place, just so long as there is plenty of ale." With that in mind, cask after cask of ale lines the walls of the tavern, the remodeler's idea of a jest. As they age, the casks bring a real rustic atmosphere to the pub, along with the deeply wooden flavor that seems to be the theme throughout.
The lighting is dim, as it should be in all good pubs, and the tables and chairs are plentiful. A long mahogany bar, intricately carved with runner beasts, stands vigilant duty at the head of the bar, lined with stools for those patrons that seek the bartender's company.


Neferennu walks into the tavern with a large bag filled to the brim with bottles, cork, and it looks like a covered set of small knives. In her free arm is a large basket almost overflowing with freshly cut herbs harvested from the greenhouse. Since her arms are full, there is no free hand to push the hair out of her eyes that is falling out of runnertail. "Table…table…" She mutters and heads to a table on the far side of the room where it is quiet to work on her herbal collection.

While the late night rush of pub-dwellers still wasn't around, Ysa found the place rather comforting. After all, she was still one of those pub-dwellers at heart. With baby at home with daddy, the goldrider took some personal time with a hearty meal of herdbeast stew, not too far where the young woman was with the herbs. "Rennu?" she asks, glancing up, just as she gets served a big hearty mug of juice— still no alcohol for her. "Hey, Rennu!" If her raised voice didn't get her attention, she was waving her hand in the air now, carfully.

Neferennu didn't hear the first call of her name, but does hear the second or at least sees the waving of the hand. "Hey!" She says a bit out of breath and lugs the materials with her to the other side of the table. "How's it going? I heard you had another baby boy. Was R'miel upset it wasn't a girl?" A small wink before the basket is placed carefully on the inside end of the table and she plops down into a chair the moment it is pulled out. Clink clink goes the bottles in the bag still over her right arm. Pant, pant. "Red benden for me please." This is said to the bartender as he comes by and shakes her head when asked about the herbs and if they were for dinner.

Ysa beams at the memory of her second son, though the reason why would probably not be what others believe. "Got him out of me, yah. I knew it was going to be a boy, though Ram continued to call him a she for awhile." She shrugs and gives a soft chuckle. "He got another son. He better be happy about that. I never asked, really." And they were too busy caring for the little brat that they didn't think about it. She eyes the bottles and bags and stuff. "What're planning on doing with all that? Oils?" she asks curiously, though her eyes trail the waiter with a frown at the order of wine. Sighing, she settles with drinking her juice.

Neferennu nods slightly and then rummages through the bag to pull out a large bottle of oil. "I just couldn't stand the noise from the storage rooms tonight. Plus, a good number of plants were ready to harvest today." A nod and thank you is given to the bartender as her wine is delivered. Eyes return to Ysa and a chuckle ensues about the comment she made earlier. "Well, usually you hear that the guy wants a son, not a daughter. Oh well. I hope the lavendar oil is helping him stay asleep and no constant crying." A raised eyebrow even though it was more of a comment then a question.

Ysa's eyes watch the bottle of oil for a moment before she frowns back at the teen. "The stores are busy tonight?" She leans forward, slowly and carefully as all her movements are these last few weeks. "Have ya heard any gossip 'round the caverns or store rooms 'bout things missing? Just… ya know, a passing thought." She sits back heavily with a sigh and then a wince, favoring one side for a moment. "Yah, that's Ram for ya. He wanted a set, I suppose, but he's happy with his two sons now. I don't want a girl, and I guess that's what happened." At the comment she chuckles again, her head shaking for a moment. "Not quite. It helps /me/ sleep, though."

Neferennu gives a little sigh and a shake of her head with a slightly disappointed look on her face. "Ah well, I was hoping it was helping some, but at least it is helping you. Things missing?" A confused look on her face and then she begins thinking deeply staring into her wine. "You know, now that I think of it, I've heard whispers about stuff going missing. Luckily none of my oils have gone missing…that I know of at least."

"Well, that brat broke one of my ribs," Ysa notes as she shifts on her seat carefully. "Takes awhile to shut up when he's wailing. Somehow the oil doesn't really help much when he wants to test his lungs. Definitely louder than Lyram was." She sighs again, but gives the young girl a reassuring smile. She says all that in the most loving manner, of course. The smile doesn't last long as she presses her lips together tightly. "Really? Hmm… Shells, it might just be random people taking things, but someone brought an idea that I eventually intend to look into."

Neferennu raises an eyebrow again. "Well, I've heard some kids can be real screamers. I don't really know what to say about that unfortunately." A sip of the wine before she takes out a small cutting board out of her bag as she sets the bag on the floor, then places it and a knife on the table. A stalk of lavendar is taken out of the basket and she pushes the colored seed off the stalk into a small bowl with the back of the knife. "What kinds of things are being stolen? What idea?" Then she blushes. "Sorry, you might not be able to tell me."

"We'll figure something out," Ysa says, more to reassure herself this time around. She comforts herself in the stew for a bit, before it cools down too much. Her green eyes were on the other girl's work, curiosity perked as she takes in every step. Eventually she sets her spoon down and points towards the seed. "Is that what ya use for the oil at the end, for the… scent, is it?" The goldrider's head turns up to watch her for a long moment before she shakes her head. "It isn't a secret. Keziah and I actually went to the Weyrwoman but she didn't care to believe our story. Some strange group of people are living in caves, trying to lure others in, and Kez thought that they must be getting their supplies from /somewhere/.."

Neferennu nods. "Yes, I use mostly the seeds or in this case of lavendar the flowers. They contain the most plant oils. After I get all of them together, I will then grind them to extract the oils. I do all the flowers, leaves, and stems in order. Each plant has oils concentrated in different parts." With that, she pulls out a mortar and pestle made of porcelin before pulling more lavendar out of the basket and scraping the seeds and flowers off the stalk. The idea that people were living in caves made her eyes turn up to the goldrider, knife paused above the stalk. "People in caves? You mean like further into the weyr or outside? I suppose they would need supplies, but it can't be proven can it? What kind of things are going missing? Food?"

Ysa watches the whole process as if she were taking every bit in. "Interesting," she says with a nod and a smirk. "I like to know where my things are coming from. Never really thought how the oils are really made." She returns to her stew for a bit, taking her time with each bite as if extending the time at the tavern with her meal. "They were outside the Weyr," she says in an even tone. "Kez and I… we were both taken from here, shoved onto a boat and taken and blindfolded. Not entirely sure where we were, as we were forced to walk quite a bit before we were released. Closer to the Holds, but… well, we have suspicions that they're taking stuff from the Weyr, too." She runs her free hand through her hair, getting it caught in the multiple tangles. "It is just a thought. The Weyrwoman doesn't believe us, as it was only us two. Or she doesn't care that they'll be trouble."

Neferennu blinks and blinks again, then slowly returns her eyes back to the knife before she cuts a finger off. With the stalk completed, and the knife back on the table, she looks back up and puts her chin on her crossed fingers. "She didn't believe you? Surely your Ella went beserk when you were gone and probably scared. Not that I know how dragons react to their riders being out of the weyr, but still your emotions would've alerted her wouldn't it?" A shake her head and she reaches for her wine to take a sip. "Should I keep an eye on what I can in the stores to see if anything goes missing?" The comment about the oils has been placed away for later thought. Oils aren't as important as people getting kidnapped.

"I think she thought it didn't matter, or probably didn't think it was that serious," Ysa says with a snort. She rolls her eyes, obviously not a fan of the Weyrwoman at the moment. "It was nearly a turn 'go now. Well, seven months if ya use Illi to estimate… I told Ella to stay put, cause I had to give these people a piece of my mind." She slumps her shoulders, an obvious regret. Her green eyes study Neferennu, looking her up and down a moment before she leans forward and smirks. "Would ya? Don't stop anyone suspicious, of course, but one more witness… Especially if there're any blond brats doing the thieving." She didn't forget the oils, of course, as she nods down to them. "How's work with those going, anyway?"

"Well, I will be more than happy to keep my eyes open. I don't get down there that much so I doubt I'll see much, but I can kinda guess if something is missing when it hasn't been used." Rennu smiles a bit then sets her wine down to begin scraping more lavendar stalks. "It's going pretty good. I do it around my training of course. I have a nice quantity of oils in the storage rooms now, though only a quarter are ready for sale. They need a couple months to sit before they can used so everything from the plants can get out." A large grin as this is obviously her second love for work. "I did find some nice yellow flowers that smell like chamomile on my walk yesterday. I was hoping to get out and pick some today and see if I can make a chamomile oil, but it just didn't happen." A small shrug and her eyes return to the knife and stalk. Finding a rhythm, she strips a stalk in about five seconds and moves on to the next. Once a good amount of flowers is on the board, they are placed in the bowl.

Ysa smirks at the girl, bobbing her head quickly. "Thanks, Rennu. We'll see if we can gather more evidence. 'm planning on heading out to the Holds, maybe running a few sweeps near the coast where they might be—" she immediately cuts off her plans to wink at the teen. "Jus' don't do anything stupid. I don't trust these crazy cavers." As she listens intently to business, she scrapes the bottom of the bowl of stew and takes up her mug of juice at the end. "That long 'till they're ready?" she says with a frown. "Is chamomile any good? 'm rather partial to the lavender, either way." When they are placed in the bowl, she perks up a bit. "Need any help there? I got some energy now that I finished dinner." Smashing things might make her lose some stress.

Neferennu chuckles and shakes her head. "I'll be careful I promise. I'll just write down any information I might possibly see." A small wink and then a questioning look before a smile. "To be honest, I don't know. I've only heard of chamomile made into a tea but I can always make a test and see if I like it. Oh sure…here.." The mortar and pestle is nudged towards Ysa as well as the bowl of lavendar flowers. "Unfortunately it takes those months, with swishing and turning to get all of the flavors out of the plants and into the oil. Then they have to be strained and placed in another bottle for sale. I use all of these bottles over and over again, only buying the really good ones for those that are sold. Plus, then you could always bring back the bottles and get more oil without having to pay for the price of the bottle." Another wink and she begins scraping the last of the lavendar stalks. Underneath is peppermint leaves which the smell begins to dominate over the lavendar that has sweetened the table. "Oh, if you go flying towards the coast, could you keep an eye out for some ripe fruit from trees? I'd like to make some fruity perfume with the bottle of alcohol that just came in from the vintners. I have some rose perfume settling right now, but I don't want to use our food supply for perfume." A soft chuckle, mainly kept soft as the tavern has a few more patrons now.

Ysa grins when she gets the supplies towards her, pretending to know how to hold it. She stares at the bowl of lavender flowers before turning back towards the teen. "It sounds like a very long an' patient process. No wonder they're expensive for such a little bottle." She puts flowers into the mortar, frowning for a moment before she turns to look back to her companion. "Jus' what 'm I suppose to do? Jus' pound it up or is there a special way?" She holds the pester in her left hand, the good side just in case. She nods and chuckles some. "Of course, of course. It isn't that difficult to find some fruit trees 'round here. Ya don't have to be picky 'bout not taking the caverns' stuff. But I'll look for 'em either way. Whenever 'm allowed to fly and go out there."

Neferennu gives a questionable hm and looks up, then sets the knife down before making her way around the table. She takes the pestle in her right hand, the dominant one. "Ok, you don't need to crush them up really small but just break them up a good amount. Like this." A tilt of the mortar to see the flowers and then she uses the pestle to push down and turns it to grind. After a minute, she moves the flowers around to get some that haven't been crushed and pressed and turns the pestle left and right a couple times again. "Did you get that?" A smile about the fruit. "I know I probably could take it from the stores, but I'd rather not. Afterall, I'd feel like I would be stealing myself."

Ysa watches intently, nodding once or twice every so often. "Looks easy 'nough. I get it." She looks back to the bowl of flowers, shaking it up with one hand before turning back to the mortar. "Where should I move the crushed ones?" She holds her hands out again but frowns up to the teen. "Ya wouldn't be stealing. People that aren't doing any work for the Weyr and sneak their way in uninvited to take things— that's stealing. Ya work here and get marks and it wouldn't bother anyone if ya took one or two for your experiments.

Neferennu nods and goes back to her bag to pull out several small bowls. "These are what I use to put the crushed parts in before they go in the bottles. Um…here." She has to go through them and find the one labeled lavendar before handing it over. Then she sets the others down and returns to her seat. "True, but it is still food stuffs. Besides, between you and me, I think they have better smells when they picked fresh and not stored. It is no big deal anyways. Since I've finally made grade one as a dragonhealer, I'm not going to have much time to do many experiments anymore. Not if we get any more weyrlings that hurt wings or such. Plus, I need to do more studying on what I want to specialize in, which is gold fertility. I'm hoping to get some training in how to tell fertile and infertile eggs within the next turn. Assuming of course the gold will let me near the eggs." Wink and then a soft sigh before the lavendar is finished up and then the stalks are gathered and cut into small pieces, leaves and stems together. These are cut so fine they are placed directly into the bowl labeled lavendar stems and leaves.

Ysa nods towards the new bowl before checking the mortar to see if there was anything else she can crush. Impatience wins out as she drops the crushed pieces into the bowl and then filling it up with the fresher ones. That's a smirk on her face as she goes about crushing like she was shown. "That does make sense. I'll do what I can." She grins, looking away from the work back to the teen. "It looks like you're going to be kept busy all the time. Mellonath's clutch that hatched and Avaeth's too, any day now. Plenty of weyrlings for ya." She catches the wink and laughs lightly, checking her work before transferring from the bowls again. "I wouldn't ask Zevida, but whenever Ella clutches 'gain, she definitely wouldn't mind showing off an egg or… well, all of them to ya. Fertile egg, of course," she quickly notes, sitting up in her seat.

Neferennu smiles. "Of course. I just don't know how well some of the golds take to people other than their rider and candidates on the sands. The horror stories of golds getting upset at anyone on the sands travels faster than those that don't seem to care." A slight shrug and she begins taking peppermint leaves out of the basket. They are carefully stacked in fives, rolled up, and then cut into strips before being cut up into smaller bits and placed in the peppermint bowl. "Thank you for helping me by the way. I figured I wasn't going to get much sleep tonight to get all these put into oil and bottles before morning."

"Avaeth is one of those ya don't want to mess with," Ysa clears up with a quick nod. "Nasty queen that she is, 'm surprised her hatchlings find their lifemates so fast with the difficulty it is to work with her." She grunts, smashing some of the flowers a bit more than necessary. She studies them a moment and then passes them onto the next bowl, taking more of the original flowers again. "Ya don't have to worry 'bout Ella. Won't be for a /long/ time though, I hope." She huffs and focuses on the work for a long moment before shrugging both her shoulders. "It keeps me out of the weyr for a little while longer. Leave R'miel to the kid, after I had to deal with him for eight months."

Neferennu ahs and nods a bit, trying to hide a bit of a wince. "Well, just remind me not to be out on the sands when Avaeth has eggs then. I'd rather not feel like I'm constantly watched and being scrutinized for every fingertip movement." Laugh and half of the peppermint leaves are done now. "I suppose it would be good to get away from the crying for a while. Just let me know when you want to stop. I only have some rose petals to be cut after this peppermint is done and then I get to measure them into bottles. Hopefully I'll get some good sleep tonight. I'm learning to recognize the different cell types from dragon tissues under a microscope. I think I have a test later this week actually."

Ysa can't help but laugh lightly at her worries on the sands. Shaking her head, she grins to the girl. "Well, Ella won't scruntinize, but she'll definitely watch. And probably want to ask questions 'bout something, an' keep ya 'round for the company." Her lifemate… attention hog. Or more like in love with the company. Crush, crush. "Nah, 'm fine. I might not be able to help you with all of 'em but… 'least I can get this lavender done for ya." She pushes the crushed flowers around, checking it, before moving it again. "Micro… scopes?" She shudders at the word, making it sound foreign. "It sounds interesting, but definitely nothing I'll get near to. I break the computers the moment I touch 'em, so I stay 'way from all that."

Neferennu chuckles. "Well, I don't think I'd mind talking to Ella if she wanted to, but the heat of those sands might make it hard." The last of the peppermint is cut up fine and the cutting board wiped down before the rose petals are cut up the same way. "Well, I still appreciate the help. As for the microscopes, I doubt they would let anyone untrained get near them. Those lens are the worst things to replace I hear. Shells, it took me over a turn to be able to learn to use them. Though I could draw you some crude pictures if you're ever interested in what the cells of muscles, hide, or other tissues. I don't want to know how they got some of the others though. I thought surgery on a dragon was few and far between."

"Ya get used to it," Ysa says with a grunt about the hot sands. She keeps her nose down towards the bowl of crushed lavender, enjoying the sweet smell of the flowers instead of the stronger peppermint. "That's smart of 'em, not to allow 'em to approach… or well, people like me." She pushes aside more crushed flowers, green eyes glancing up again. "Pictures? I suppose… I guess jus' interested in something I've never seen 'fore, but probably it's better not to bother and take up all your time."

Neferennu waves her hand. "Well, don't worry about it. I don't have any of the notes with me anyways. I'll be right back." The law of nature is calling and she better go now if she is going to make it.

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