Xanadu Weyr - Beach
The unerring range of subdued white rises and falls in a multitude of sandy dunes, creating an endless amount of tiny valleys constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of a dragon. Smoothing out as it slopes gently to the edge of the deep blue water, the sand darkens and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect. The beach itself is set along a low cliff - the height lessoning as one heads eastwards, blocking a portion of the beach from direct access.
The wide wide stretch of water opens up to the east, the far distant shore way beyond the horizon and the beach curves ever so slowly round to east and west, distant arms of land embracing the wind-ruffled Caspian Lake. East leads up to the mouth of the Rubicon River, where the protecting cliff is merely an arms length higher then the sand, and beyond that, a winding road leading out of Xanadu's territory. Westwards, the beach narrows as the cliff swings out, leaving a path wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to the sheltered cove designated the Weyrling Beach. However, cut in the cliff face to the north are a variety of rough, wide staircases, providing access to the clearing and to the meadow.
Afternoons always find a collection of dragons on the beach, so long as there is the least little bit of sunlight. On this particular afternoon that collection of dragons is rather large in size as there's not a cloud in the sky to block their sun bathing. Included in this group is a little semi-glowing green with her head resting over the shoulder of a blue brother. And, curled up against her side, writing on a chart of somesort is a woman, knotted as her rider.
The pleasant afternoon weather draws more than dragons to the beach. Along with the rest of the crowd is Velhan, a harper apprentice enjoying an early respite from his duties and seeking refuge down from the beach. Apparently the boy naturally gravitates away from the crowds of people along the sands and wanders toward the water, curiously regarding the assembled dragons.
Also among those myriad dragons is a rather large brown. A tall, bearded man lays asleep against his hide, book on his lap. The brown behind him stirs, waking him. "Huh? Huh?" T'lek says, stretching. "Aw, Mont, didn't mean t' go t' sleep on ya… literally." He chuckles at his own joke as he replaces the bookmark. "Surely there's somethin' we can do besides readin'…" He gestures toward the water and sky. "So nice out."
Poke. Poke. Poke. Idly the green's wing pokes into the side of the woman who is attempting, with some success to write. "Stop it, Ana." Scribble, scribble, POKE! The final poke sends the woman's chart flying off towards the water. "Ana!!" She scolds the dragon and scrambles after her precious chart which has ended up not all that far from Velhan. The green rumbles pleasantly, wasn't that fun?
Velhan catches sight of the wayward chart as soon as it sails into his field of view, startling him a little. After all, you don't usually expect scrolls to be flying about on the beach. Helpful as always, the apprentice scoops it up and makes his way toward the presumed owner, holding it out with a shy smile. "Here you go, sorry." Although who knows why he's apologizing.
"Did I see th' aerodynamics on what?" T'lek scowls, following his brown's gaze to the scroll. He stands up, and walks over toward the young man. "Y' throw that?" He asks, curiously, eyeing the scroll.
Ch'na stops short in her dash to grab the chart as its grabbed by someone else. She's reaching out to accept it when T'lek's suggestion gets a scowl. "You aren't playing catch with my scroll. At least not this one. I've got empties you can play with." She takes it with a grin for Velhan. "No need to be sorry, wasn't you who sent it flying. And I know she isn't sorry." A thumb is stuck in Ilianath's, her green's, direction.
Velhan laughs a bit, a touch embarassed after he hands the scroll over. "Sorry about that." He apologizes again. "I guess I'm just used to scrolls flying around being because I knocked over something in the archives, or something like that." He looks out at the dragons, smirking a bit. "Well they… can enjoy mischief sometimes, right?"
"Naw, not what I meant, Ch'na." T'lek jerks a thumb toward Montereth, and rolls his eyes. "Somethin' about aerodynamics." He lets out a long sigh. "Although, now that y' mention it, he's sayin' he'll take one o' th' empties and one full one, t' measure how th'… 'weight o' th' ink…' Mont!" He sighs again. "Nevermind. I'm T'lek." And hand is stuck out.
Ch'na tucks the scroll under her arm. "You meant to see if my scroll could fly. It's not a firelizard. But he can have two empties. You write on one and that'll make it full." She's not entirely cruel, just not up to losing one of her charts. Her grin is aimed at Velhan once more. "Well, then I'll be needing you around the Infirmary. I could use an apprentice good at catching scrolls when they plan to escape." Her mouth opens to answer and then shuts again. "They sure can. And she says.. she'd like to play with you?" Sure enough the green is crawling on her belly closer to the trio.
Velhan shakes the offered hand, smiling sheepishly. "Nice to meet you. My name's Velhan, I'm with the Harpers." He looks back at Ch'na, chuckling a bit. "Well, I think I knock the scrolls out of place often enough to balance things out. And, uhm… sure? How would one do that?" He looks at the green curiously.
T'lek nods gratefully,grabbing the scrolls. He takes one, and then pulls a pen from some pocket, and fills it up with gibberish words. He shows it to the brown, whose eyes whirl green. «Ilanath, this one is good enough for an experiment.» He walks over toward the harper apprentice, sniffing. "Y' can't experiment on people, Mont." T'lek says, frowning. "What kinda experiment, anyway?"
"I'm Ch'na." Ch'na adds in a bit belatedly, watching her dragon crawl up to her. « But I want to play with him, Montereth.» The dragonic form of a pout is sent to her brother while the green watches Velhan. "No he can't experiment on people, that's my job! And Ana, you can't play with him that way either, so stop getting ideas in your head." Velhan gets a shrug from Ch'na. "You'd have to ask her how she wants to play, but I can't get a straight answer out of her right now."
Velhan starts to look more than a little nervous at the talk of human experimentation. "Experiment on people? Er… what sort of 'experiments' would dragons do, anyways?" He clearly doesn't like the sound of that. Instead he edges toward the dragon that wants to play, rather than experiment. "Okay… how would you like to play?"
T'lek listens to his dragon for a moment. "Mont… Um…" He flushes. "Yer sure?" He twitches a bit nervously. "Not jes' fer an experiment?" He shakes his head slowly. "Um, Vellhan, m' dragon wants t' conduct an experiment, by askin' if y'd stand fer Mellonath's clutch." He shakes his head slowly, tossing both scrolls in the air in front of the brown, then turns toward Ch'na. "Uhm…"
Ch'na grins, looking like she was expecting as much. "For what it's worth, Ana agrees. Although she was wording it as 'I'd like to play by dumpping him on the sands and seeing if Mellonath chased him off or not' but it's pretty much the same sort of thing." She states at T'lek's look. The thrown scrolls get a soft hum. "Throw the inked one higher than the uninked one next time." Butting in on experiments? That's a Healer for you.
Velhan looks quite surprised by the question from T'lek, then doubly surprised when Ch'na and her bond agree. It takes him a moment to ponder the idea in his head before he comes to a conclusion, smiling tentatively. "Well… sure! I mean, that would be quite the experience, wouldn't it? Sure. I'd be honored!"
"Huh?" T'lek is completely thrown off by Ch'na's input into his experiment. "Ah. okay." He grabs the scrolls, and does it again, altering it as she says. "Like that?" He glances over at Vellhan. "Well, uhm, s'posed t' get him t' the barracks, yeah?" He's still nervous about this.
Ch'na nods the affirmative to the change in the experiment. "Just like that. Next time switch up, throw the uninked higher than the inked." She also glances at Velhan, being brought out of her Healer-experiment state to nod at him. "Congratulations then, candidate Velhan." To T'lek, she adds. "Yes. You take him to the Barracks, make sure he picks out a bunk. If I remember correctly the one twelve beds down from the end on the male side always squeaked so warn him about it."
"Twelve beds down from the end on the boy's side. Got it." Velhan says, shaking off a bit of his shock and committing the factoid to memory. He grins brightly. "I, uhm, have to say the thought is rather exciting. Thank you both so much. And your lifemates, of course."
"Yeah, that 'un was a pain." T'lek notes. "Awright, bud, let's get ya over t' the barracks. Wanna come along?" He turns back toward Ch'na. "I mean, they both noticed 'im 'bout th' same time…" He grins.
Ch'na blinks for a moment, looking surprised at the offer. "Sure, might as well. I haven't been there in ages. Hang on a second." She goes digging into a pocket and comes up with four semi-white but mostly pink knots. She holds one out to Velhan. "Sorry about the color, Ana didn't like white. I'm sure you can get a replacement later."
Velhan takes the knot and inspects it for a moment, a bit amused. "Oh, uhm, at least it… stands out." He takes a moment to swap it with his apprentice knot, pocketing the old one. "Works for now, right? Thank you…"
T'lek gestures toward the hatching arena. "If y'd head this way…" and he wanders out, Montereth trailing him.