A Relaxing Bath
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Xanadu Weyr - Hot Springs

The warmth that flows from this cavern is almost overwhelming for some, the steam rising from the shimmering pools as thick as the morning fog that rolls in off the ocean. Numerous pools are scattered here and there with ribboned walls that are natural in their construction. The water has a somewhat green cast to it, but it is merely a reflection from the ethereal light which is the glow down here that was so noticeable from the Lower Cavern Tunnel. People can often be found down here washing themselves or just relaxing.
Situated along the walls are various racks covered in fresh towels ready for those who step out of the warm waters. A set of shelves have been installed towards the back wall, allowing people a place to put their belongings while they rest in the pools, and despite the white color that these have been painted, they are cast with that eerie green glow. Then, it's obvious. The ceiling of this cavern is covered in the fluorescent phosphorous matter that glows are made off. The mossy substance almost glitters and appears quite lovely.


Neferennu has managed to get out of her wet clothes. They got soaked by helping other younger candidates with their chores this morning. The spit up on the shirt denotes helping take care of babies again, while the suds on her pants indicate at some point recently she was washing clothes. "Ugh, I don't like wet clothes unless they are supposed to get wet." This is muttered to herself. The clothes are placed aside to be washed later and then once naked, the candidate slips into the hotter of the pools. "Ah…heat.." Despite it being spring, it got cold last night. Once submerged except for her head and neck, she allows her eyes to close and body to relax.

Thea heads into the cavern, towel, clean clothes and bathing supplies in her arms and a gleefully chittering Ruin on one shoulder. As she scans the area, she gives a small sigh, "Not crowded then. Good." She heads over to one of the smaller hot pools nearby Rennu's pool and begins setting her things down. "Hey Rennu, whatcha been up to today?" Apparently, she hasn't seen her friend since breakfast.

A little mud-splattered, Fiara comes into the springs with a towel tucked under her arm and a spare set of clothing as well. In spite of the mud on her skirt, arms and face, the harper is whistling cheerily as she draws near the baths. Her armload is set down and she turns around to slip out of those muddy things, towel kept wrapped around herself as she slips over to the water itself and sits on the edge, feet dangling. "Good day!" she says, still cheery to the two girls who are already in the pool.

K'vin has some towels tucked under his arm along with some fresh clothes and he smiles when he sees Rennu and then waves when he sees both Thea and Fiara. "Don't mind me, I'm going to that other pool."

Neferennu opens her eyes as Thea comes in and gives her a large smile. "Oh, got grabbed by the nannies to go help another candidates with the babies. You should've seen the look on his face when I got there. He was at the point of tears with those babies. When we finally got them down for a nap, I had to go help wash laundry. So I decided to come here afterwards. I can't seem to get all that mud off me from the camp, at least I swear I can still feel it in places I don't want it to be." A soft chuckle and then Venom moves in her hair slightly. Yeah, the girl never did get the hatchling untangled from her hair. "You are not going to like it when I have to wash my hair are you?" This is asked absently of the hatchling before a wave is given towards Fiara and then K'vin. "Good to you, and you." A wet salute given to both of them before she turns so her back is facing the surface of the water. "May I ask why you have mud on your face?" This is asked of the harper but she keeps the others in the corner of her eyesight.

Thea finishes arranging her things near the edge of the pool. Ruin doesn't wait for Thea, nope. He's not the polite sort. He launches himself into the pool with a raucously joyful screech that resounds off the cavern walls heedless of who he might splash. Thea turns as Fiara speaks, "Oh, hey there, Ma'am." A blink at the Harper's her mud-splattered clothes. "What happened to you?" Almost at the same time Rennu asks. She's got her back to the entrance as she's standing there and is mid-way down unbuttoning her tunic when a male voice speaks. She clutches the shirt back closed. One hand comes up to salute as she spots his Rider's knot. "Mind turning around for a moment, Sir?" She's not quite used to Weyr life, it must be obvious from her request.

Feet swish through and Fia turns slightly to unwind the towel then slips into the water, apparently a little on the modest side in the baths. "I took the kids out for lessons again today and we got into a little bit of a battle," the harper answers with a little laugh. There's some wet spots from the last rain," she says with a little lift of shoulders and bends to wet her hair. There's a brief, curious look K'vin's way. "Good day," she says pleasantly to the rider then returns her attention to getting her hair wet without ducking under water.

K'vin doesn't even look at Thea as he disrobes and moves down into the water, facing the other way for the moment, just relaxing and sighing happily as warmth sinks into his bones.

Neferennu laughs at Fiara's explanation and then moves aside to allow the harper into the baths. "You don't want to dip all the way underneath?" There is some rustling, some definate ows, and finally Venom is untangled from her hair, hissing and spitting all the time. "Oh shush you, you need a bath anyways." The hatchling is placed in the water, still hissing, until she realizes it is warm. Very quickly the hatchling is diving under the water and then just swimming along. "Had a cold morning?" This is called to K'vin and then she moves towards the edge of the pool to allow Thea to get in as well. "Oh, that reminds me. Do you think it would be a good idea for us candidates to talk with the weyrlings from Kilaueth's clutch and see if the work is something we really want to get ourselves into? I've heard it is a lot like picking up after baby except a thousand fold."

What to do, what to do. Thea's in a bit of a dilemma as the water is crystal clear. As the Rider turns, she quickly grabs a handful of her powdered soap and tosses it in the pool, swishing it around to help it dissolve. Ruin's enthusiastic splashing and swimming ought to do the rest. And it does. A thick layer of bubbles spread out across the top of the water. Off come the tunic and trous, her boots follow and into the bubble-bath she hops, sinking down until the bubbles tickle her chin. Thea's never undressed so quickly. "Thanks, Sir," she calls to K'vin. "At least the mud isn't pink anymore," she mildly comments to Fiara. A blink at Rennu, "Really?! That messy?"

K'vin turns his head slightly. "Hmm?" He asks as Thea talks to him, again, he wasn't really paying attention to her. He nods at Rennu. "Yep, had some healing to do under the rain, so I'm pretty chilled"

"Can't talk if I"m underwater," Fiara points out and finishes damping up her hair. "That and I'm not looking to soak it yet," she continues, then leans to reach for the bag of sweetsand she left on the pool's edge, starts to work the stuff into her hair. "Don't see why you shouldn't talk to them," the harper answers the candidate's query. "Though they might be busy," she adds with a chuckle and wrinkles her nose about pink mud. "Oh definitely. Just the plain old brown kind." She sends a sympathetic smile K'vin's way. "I hope you warm up soon then."

Neferennu smiles to K'vin and then turns back to Thea and Fiara. "You undress fast Thea. You'll get used to weyr life soon enough. I may have come from a hold, but after a turn I realized it was just easier to forget about modesty. Everyone else does." There is a wink and then she grabs the gold hatchling, beginning to scrub the hide with sweetsand despite the protests. "Oh, she just needs her hide scrubbed. It is starting to flake again. She grows so fast. As for the pink mud Fiara…" There is a motion towards the redder hair on her left side. "I spilled some used red dye in the clearing a while ago. Ended up dyeing both myself, Thea, and Adinaeth pink. I hate that color, though my hair didn't come out that bad. At least it's red. That's where the pink mud reference comes from." Once the hatchling has been fully scrubbed, she is realized to rinse herself off. "I figured they would be busy. For Delgin though, it might be a wake up call as to what you have to do to feed a dragon. They can't hunt for a while and I think he would pass out the first time he had to cut up a carcass for the first time. We have to do it for those dragons that are too hurt to fly or hunt in the annex."

The not paying attention is noted and appreciated. Thea flushes just a bit at Rennu's recital of adjusting to weyr life, but then relaxes. She's just enjoying the warmth for a moment before reaching for one of her towels and places it behind her head. She snorts when Rennu mentions the name, "Y'think Delgin even has a chance?" She listens silently to the others for a few moments, then asks the rider curiously, "Are you a dragon Healer, too sir?"

K'vin nods. "Senior Dragonhealer K'vin, Khirsath's rider." He answers to Thea with a smile, turning towards her since she doesn't seem to be so shy now she's all into the water.

Fiara pays no mind to the getting used to weyrlife bit. The red dye though earns an amused look. "Lucky you didn't dye all of yourself, hm?" She scrubs more sweetsand into her hair then spends some time getting the rest of herself clean, maybe not quite as modest as Thea, but modest none-the-less. K'vin's introduction to Thea earns a chirpy add-on from Fiara: "Fiara, harper. I'm sure I've seen you around but we haven't been properly introduced. She finishes up with lathering and holds up a finger and this time she holds her nose and dunks all the way under.

Neferennu smiles and waits until Fiara reappears to answer her comment. "Actually, I dyed half of my skin pink. It has finally gone away but the hair will take some time to grow out. I'm Neferennu, dragonhealer trainee." A smile and then she turns back to Thea and gives a shrug. "In all honesty, he will realize how the world actually works or he will be in big trouble if he impresses. Dragons eat meat, not vegetables. That's fine if he doesn't like it, but it won't work for a dragon. Let's just hope he doesn't impress or we'll hear about it for the first couple of months. Do you think he will make it?" The smile is given over towards K'vin as well and then it fades slightly. "I better get clean." To which she grabs some sweetsand and begins lathering up, wincing as the hair is pulled and only tangled even more.

Thea ahs silently to herself at K'vin's answer. "Then you must be one of Rennu's teachers?" She's not so sure. "Well-met, Sir. Thea from Coldstone Hold." She makes a grab for Ruin as he swims by, but the firelizard eludes her by diving just as her fingers close where he was. She glares at the swirl of suds where Ruin is. "Yes, Ma'am, Fiara," Thea gives the Harper a grateful look; yay for no more teaching! She gives her friend a teasing smile, "Yeah well, if you had, we'd change your name to Rednu."

K'vin grins. "Well met Thea, hope you'll settle in quickly." He nods to Fiara. "Oh, it'll be okay very soon, I'm used to all of this." He says with a confident nod.

"We met the other night when Calen was out on the Sands," Fiara tells Neferennu and Thea with a little smile, "but I guess you were all a little bit scared that evening." She brushes a little more suds off and leans comfortably against the pool's edge then laughs at Thea's little quip. "Clever," she tells the girl with a grin.

Neferennu snorts and then dips under the water enough to rinse herself off, including her hair. Upon reappearing she begins trying to finger comb her hair out with little success. "Oh yes, the boy. I was pretty scared that night, yes. It was not a good way to end a bad day but oh well." A smile is given towards Thea and then a chuckle. "Oh, Rednu I wouldn't mind actually. If the dye had actually been red instead of pink that is. Red is good..pink bad." Then there is a nod towards Thea and a look towards K'vin. "He is one of our teachers, yes. Most of the time though I don't get to be in his lessons and I'm in that other senior dragonhealer's. The one who doesn't know when to retire, and the cause of my bad day that one time. Speaking of which, I do hope you convince him to retire soon K'vin. Otherwise it might get to the point where you'll have to reteach everything." A small wink.

Thea just snorts at the idea of Delgin impressing. She grins outright at Rennu's suggestion to K'vin, obviously teasing her friend, "Someone wants a job." She smiles back at the Harper when she laughs, "I remember you, Fiara, Ma'am. I thought you were great with Calen. You've a way with kids." She does shudder, then remarks, "I never saw such big teeth or heard so much roaring that close." She smirks, "Except when Zevida and Ysa came and took our cots."

"Well thank you, Thea," Fiara says with a smile. "I like teaching," she says with a little stretch of hands over head, drops arms back to the pool's edge. "Oh I know, shells that was disturbing all right. Good that it was only a prank though. And Calen's did a good job on the drum cleaning, enough that he's actually asked to come help out more on his own time."

K'vin goes home.

Neferennu smiles and then just sighs as she tries to untangle her hair. Another dip in the water helps, but not much. "Sometimes I think impressing that gold was a bad idea." A chuckle is given to Thea's comment and then a curious look towards Fiara. "Oh? He has actually come back on his own time to help? At least the dragons calmed down after that night, to an extent."

Thea grins back at Rennu and nods at Fiara. "I'm so glad Calen's settling." She watches the bubble-swirl for a familiar bronze 'lizard to come up for air. When he does, she grabs his head and hangs onto it, wisely keeping the firelizard at arm's length while he does the screech-thrash bit. When she looks up, K'vin has gone. "Oh, we… didn't mean to drive him off. Speaking of which, we need to leave, too." Apparently, she only came to soak. She rises, steps out to wrap her towel around herself awkwardly with one hand; she doesn't dare let go of Ruin's head. Gathering her things while the towel is pinched in her armpit she adds, "Two of you'll have no peace with him here." Walk back to the Barracks in just a towel? Why not get used to Weyr life? No time like the present.

Thea heads into the Caverns

"Firelizards do sometimes seem more trouble than they're worth," Fiara muses, "but they are quite charming." The harper bobs her head in affirmative answer to Rennu. "Yes. Seems he likes the drums and has actually asked for some lessons in drumming messages. Probably a better thing for the lad to be doing than running around scaring the pants off of half the Weyr," she opines with a wink. Fia soaks a little more then reaches for her towel and pulls herself out of the water, wrapping up as she gets up onto the pool's edge, bathing done. The end of her towel is used on her hair, patting it mostly dry. Her hand lifts in a little wave as Thea steps away. "I should go in a moment as well, I've some research to do this afternoon," the harper tells the remaining candidate though one foot swirls through the water again. "Just nice and relaxing in here." A moment later though she's rising to dress again in her clean things and bundling up the dirty for the laundry.

Neferennu smiles and then goes under the water to find her gold hatchling, as well as to try and get the tangles out of her hair. When she reappears, she has the hatchling held by the middle and steps out of the bath, not even bothering to wrap herself in a towel. "You, Venom, will have to stay out of the pool. You'll need a good oiling next." However, once the hatchling is let go, the gold immediately flies right back over and dives into the pool. "So much for that…" A sweet smile is given to Fiara as the woman dresses and then sighs, as a comb is found and the pain begins of trying to get her hair neat again. "Oh, they are useful too. Venom is just being a pain in the rear. My other two weren't nearly as bad and at least obey my whistles. Though I am glad the boy found something he liked to do. Maybe he learned his lessons of doing something dangerous just because he was being teased about not being brave. Obviously the other boys were smart enough not to try it." There is a wince as a huge knot catches in the comb, and she sits down, still dripping wet and naked, in a chair to pick it apart with her fingers. "It is relaxing in here, and probably why I try to grab a bath at least every other day." A belated wave is given to Thea as she leaves, having given a shrug about K'vin just leaving. That was his way afterall.

There's a little bemused look for the gold firelizards, then Fiara's nodding. "Certainly, when well-trained," she agrees and tucks her bundle of dirty clothes under her arm and sweeps damp hair back from her forehead. "Good luck keeping her under control," she notes for the lizard, "and with your hair. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, Neferennu." So saying the harper gives a polite nod and retreats back out through the caverns, singing this time in a rather nice voice, a merry tune.

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