Xanadu Weyr – Caverns
A massive cavern in it's own right, this one has been skillfully adapted for human habitation. The high ceilings have been painted a light, soft ivory, as are the walls where numerous tapestries hang to provide brilliant color and insulation from the stone. The floor has been left in its natural state, pale pink granite speckled through with glittering mica and dark flecks of basalt, leveled carefully but kept sufficiently rough to avoid slips.
The cavern itself is loosely divided into areas, each one set up to be suitable for some segment of the Weyr's population. The most frequently occupied area, however, is the one near the Kitchens where tables of varying sizes provide a place to sit down and eat or chat and a buffet of consumables is almost always kept stocked. Its plain that on most days, this area wouldn't accommodate anywhere near the full population of the Weyr and equally plain that on such occasions when a formal meal is laid out, tables are appropriated from all the other areas.
A big fireplace is set into the wall near the Kitchens as well, several comfortable chairs nearby providing haunts for elderly residents or riders who like a good view of all that happens. Rugs cover the floor in strategic spots, all of them abstract or geometric in design and most in the softly neutral colors of undyed wool.
Exits lead off in all directions, a big archway the largest and that leading outside. Shallow stairs to the west lead to the offices and administration area while tunnels to the east lead to the infirmary, kitchen and resident's quarters. Southwards, a sloping tunnel leads down to the hot springs.
R'sul has taken over a table in a croner away from the food. Various books and hides are strewn over the table and two of the seats around it, and in the third seat is R'sul who appears to be puzzling over something.
Jynniphire comes out from the kitchens carrying a tray of freshly baked cookies, their scent wafting pleasantly, or so she thinks, around her. She's wearing an apron and there are a few splatters of batter here and there across it, and her hair is tied back into a simple plait. She goes to each person in the cavern in turn to offer them cookies, finally coming upon R'sul. "Would you like a cookie at all, erm, R'sul?" She pauses as she tries to remember the bronzerider's name. "They're freshly baked, really rather yummy… they've got candied fruit in them."
R'sul looks up and blinks as he's greeted by name. He openly stares for a moment, before stammering out a quick, "Oh, no. Thank you… um…." He searches his mind for a name, but comes up blank, instead offering, "I'm afraid some of teh older books wouldn't do well with the crumbs. They do look lovely though…." Nope, still no name. He tries to think of a way to cover up his embarassment, though his ears start to glow red which does rather give him away, "How good are your eyes?"
"It's Jynniphire," the girl offers, sliding the tray of cookies down further along the table. She smiles politely at his embarrassment, offering an explaination as to why she knows his name. "We're required to learn bronzerider's names, aren't we? I recognised your face, I've seen you before - though I could hardly expect you to notice me. I'm normally too busy running around down here… And my eyes are pretty good, do you need me to read something for you?"
R'sul's blush deepens slightly, but he has the decency to admit to his mistake, "A pleasure to meet you Jynniphire. You took me rather by surprise, I didn't think to many people knew me here yet, though I suppose word does quickly get around when you atart asking odd questions." He pauses a moment and then nods towards a scroll that's more or less faded itno nothingness. "I can't make up my mind if this is something important or just a stores list. Some of the words are pretty clear but if you look here…" He points to one bit where there's practically nothign left of a word, "and here…" Another point, another faded patch, "It looks like it should have some names but I've no idea what they're supposed to be."
.
Jynniphire leans down over the document, getting in as close as she an to try and make out the corroded words. "Hrm… erm… that looks like it's about eight or so letters long. Redfruit, perhaps? Or maybe somebody's name, like you said… Redfried? Redreed? Wow, it's hard to make out. I wonder why there's only these few that are illegible, while the others are still ok?" She leans back casting her eyes over the whole document. "Hrmph. I'll have to admit, I don't find records and documents all that riveting… may I ask what you're looking for?"
R'sul thinks for a moment, "There was a reference to a…" He digs around for a moment, then stops and shakes his head, "No, that was Fort. Still it could be a link I suppose." He stares down at the table for a moment longer then suddenly remembers he heas company and turns back to Jynniphire, "Sorry. What? Oh, this?" At least some of her question had sunk in, "I'm doing some research for a history book."
Jynniphire sits down and helps herself to a cookie, making sure that the crumbs that fall from it are nowhere near the bronzerider's documents. "Well, I suppose that's a lot more interesting than just plain old records. Are you doing to write it yourself, or are you doing the research for someone else? And what sort of history are you covering?"
R'sul tilts his head to one side, looking Jinnyphire over for a moment before replying — his expression one of quiet shock as if nobody had ever taken so much interest before. "I'm hoping to do it myself. Truth be told I've been working on it since I was around fourteen turns so there's a good chance I'll be a hundred before I ever get around to doing much of the actual writing. I'm mostly concentrating on the founding of the weyrs and the original wing set-ups. You'd be amazed how many young ones these days have no idea what a Flight is other than when a green or a gold rises."
Jynniphire raises an eyebrow. "Since you were fourteen? Now /that's/ dedication. Is it really so hard to find information that it's taken so many turns? I'm guessing you're, what, late twenties? Either it's hard to find the info, or this is going to be one mammoth book…" Her tone is lightly teasing, coupled with a smile. "I'll admit it, I don't know what a flight is, other than a mating flight. What else does it mean?"
R'sul laughs, running a hand through his hair and only succeeding in making it messier than it already was. "I'm just a slow writer. Truth be told I more or less forgot about it for a long time while I was at Telgar, only picked the idea back up again a couple of turns ago after Hesketh caught a green over at Ierne and we decided to stay there for a while." He pushes some of his documents aside, turning to give Jynniphire his full attention for the moment, "A flight was the name for a group of wings when they rose to fight Thread."
"Oh, right, like when they did the formation flying and stuff?" Jynniphire tries to sound like she know what she's talking about, but isn't quite successful. "I heard that when they used to fight Thread, they would have all these fancy manouveres and stuff, which they would use to, what is it that they do again? Oh yeah, to char the Thread out of the sky…"
R'sul nods, "They spent a lot of time going momentarily between to dodge, though it wasn't always successful. It's really quite fascinating when you read about it, though some of the logs of injuries that they have over at Fort are quite shocking. There was at least once when pretty much a whole wing was either injured or killed."
Jynniphire's eyes open wide when she hears that. "Seriously? But how many dragons would be in a wing? How did they manage to fight thread with one wing down? I really don't know much about it, as I'm sure you can tell… I tend to concern myself with more, shall we say, grounded things?"
"There were usually upwards of twenty five dragons in each wing." R'sul replies, clearly in his elemt now that he gets to give a history lesson to someone new, "But there could be anywhere around nine wings in each weyr depending on the size. A flight was a minumum of three wings, so there were always some held in backup for when the blues and greens began to run out of energy." He opens his mouth to add something else, but pauses, "I'm sorry, you must think me a terrible bore."
Jynniphire shakes her head, picking up another cookie to nibble on. "No, not at all… I like learning new stuff, and this is pretty interesting. I mean, I live in a Weyr. I was born here, and I don't even know how things used to work - I think it's something we should all learn!" She's just about to pick up another cookie when a head pops out from the kitchens, eyeing the cavern until Jynniphire is spotted. "Jynni! Come back now, we need you in here!" The dark-hair girl sighs, rolling her eyes at R'sul after she's acknowledged the call. "Well, got to go… there's more cookies to be baked. Come find me later for some, if you'd like?" Up she stands, picking up the tray as she does, which she slides onto the food counter on her way back to the kitchen.