Logs:Just What It Looked Like
| |
|---|
| RL Date: 15 November, 2010 |
| Who: Adiel, Varens |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Madilla earns a mentee when Varens catches Adiel with another boy. |
| Where: Healer Hall |
| When: Day 0, Month 2, Turn 24 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Madilla/Mentions |
| Healer Hall, Fort Area Patterned after its Harper neighbor, the Healer quadrangle is a couple of centuries newer and the cut of its stone is noticably different, as is the tiling on the roof, which is brown instead of orange. Most of the windows on the second floor are paned with clear glass, set back on deep sills from where the heavy bronze shutters cling to the walls. The west-facing front wing of the building is set with a gate that guards the archway into the courtyard and a gatekeeper often sits on duty just outside on a chair. Within the courtyard itself, wrought iron benches are scattered strategically along the walls, right beside the doors that grant access to each wing. Usually quiet but for the hum of apprentice conversation and the clatter of feet on the flagstone paved ground, the hall is a fairly restful place for those who have come for specialized treatment. Just outside Healer Hall, sandwiched between its southern wing and the northern wing of the Harper Hall, a series of gardens serving culinary, medicinal and decorative puposes are bordered by the cliff wall to the east and open meadow to the west. The hold road travels northward to the hold itself and eventually to Ruatha and the Reaches and in the opposite direction far south to Southern Boll and the Weaver craft. Snow crunches under the feet of Journeyman Varens as he leaves the relatively clear-of-snow courtyard for the spaces beyond. It's early month two and chilly; he's wrapped up against the weather, but not so much that he can't take long, loping strides at an easy, even kind of pace. He's alone, but there's a letter in his hands: once he's a short distance from the Hall he stops to read it, his smile soppily sweet enough to give a good indication of its contents. Laughter might be an odd sound to be coming from one of the sheds near the herb garden. Especially this time of the turn when the snow covers the land. And maybe even more especially when it's a heady, giggling sound. Maybe even as soppily sweet as that smile. It doesn't last long though before the sound fades away into the winter air. But you can't be a Journeyman around this many teenage apprentices for long without picking up a certain sensitivity to such sounds. Varens' head shoots up the moment it reaches his ears, and, his letter tucked away hurriedly in the pocket of his coat, he sets off to investigate. His path leads - after a few stops and starts - to the shed, and he stands outside, listening. About the time that Varens stops outside the shed there's a low murmur of a voice from within, and a whisper of a reply in a different, but equally male voice. It's only a few seconds of conversation before it dies off again. As the conversation dies, the thoughtful looking Journeyman reaches out to pull the door open. He stands there, highlighted by the white snow outside, the sun behind him; his eyebrows are raised, and his expression is-- well, otherwise unreadable. Inside Adiel is just drawing back from a kiss with a shorter boy, wearing the knot of a Harper's Apprentice when the door is opened. It takes no time flat for the other apprentice to take off through the snow, using his small size to dart around the Journeyman. Which just leaves Adiel staring over with an expression that clearly says, 'Oh Shit'. If Varens' first reaction is to try and grab for the Harper Apprentice, his second is to let the boy go and to turn his attention back towards Adiel. The Journeyman's family is from Fort Hold, connected to the healers with enough regularity that it's no surprise he knows Adiel-- and /his/ family. "Want to tell me what's going on here, Adiel?" At least he sounds relatively calm about it. And in the end? The fact that Varens knows Adiel's family only makes it worse. Gloved hands wring together as Adiel takes a few deep breaths. "I, uh..." It's not like Adiel to be speechless, but he is for a moment before coming up with. "Probably just what it looked like?" Varens /seems/ to appreciate the honesty, because his head nods, and the corner of his mouth lifts just slightly, even if it's far from a smile. "I thought so." Silence for a few moments, then, as he considers the Apprentice. "Shells. Has it been going on long? You should /know/ better than that. You know the rules." "Of course I know the rules." Adiel states. After all, he practically grew up in the hall. Literally. "But... I nee-wanted to try it. To see." Hands go still for a moment before he blushes. "I, no. It hasn't. Just today." Quietly; "To see? To see whether you really are--" Varens waves a hand, presumably meaning 'gay', but too polite, too well bred, to actually come out with the word. His gaze bores in to Adiel, but there's something soft about his mouth, nonetheless. "Are you?" Adiel takes a few deep breaths before he just shrugs. "Am I going to someday have a very not fun conversation with my father? Yes." And that might be a good way to get around saying the whole 'I'm gay' statement flat out. "Are you going to tell him?" A faint nod marks Varens' response to that first remark, but to the second, he sucks in his cheeks. He looks-- torn. "I caught you breaking a rule. It's my responsibility to punish you for that infraction, and make a note of it in the records." None of that is news. He takes a breath, though, and adds, "Though Faranth knows the last place I want to be is between you and your father." Who will, no doubt, find out. There's a nod from Adiel at that, and a soft sigh. "And I'll be lucky if it's just Dad who gets into it." Adiel notes, probably mostly to himself before he looks over to Varens, squaring up to his full height, tall for his age. "Of course it is. What punishment should I expect?" He's not running away from it. Adiel knew the rule and chose to break it, after all. Maybe it's that acceptance of it that makes Varens hesitate, running a hand through his light brown hair in thoughtful consideration. Whatever it is, it's enough that he's silent for several moments, and when he does speak, it's in a slow, careful kind of way, each word strung out. "Theoretically, it should be - uh, detention. No leaving the Hall for a seven. But." Apparently, he's thinking out loud. "Have you decided on a subcraft, yet, Adiel?" Adiel blinks over towards Varens. That completely wasn't the question he was expecting to be asked right about now. The nodding at the punishment goes to a look of confusion. "I, uh, yes? Not formally yet, but I'm leaning towards working with plants and herbs. I like growing things." Varens looks-- pleased. Delighted, even. It's his first smile of the encounter, and it positively lights up his face, turning a relatively unremarkable-looking man into something more interesting. "Perfect. Right. So: Adiel. Due to your interest in plants and herbs, and particularly in the use of greenhouses to grow things in what would otherwise be impossible conditions, I am recommending you for posting to High Reaches under the care of Journeyman Madilla. You, of course, are most gratified for the opportunity, and will be on your /very best behaviour/, which will no doubt please your father, your masters, and, of course, me." The look on Adiel's face when Varens smiles clearly states that the Journeyman just might be crazy. But then he listens to all of that for a moment before asking. "High Reaches? The weyr? They just built a big new greenhouse area, right?" There's more than a spark of interest at that before he pauses. "Is this like an exile from the hall?" Varens, however, seems to fully anticipate being thought to be crazy: he keeps smiling. /Particularly/ at that spark of interest. To the question, however, he has a more serious answer. "If by exile you mean 'keeping you away from that harper boy', then yes. If you mean you're being banished, never to return, and in disgrace-- I'd rather it /didn't/ get talked about that way. It's an opportunity: a chance to /not/ be under the thumb of your family all the time." "That would be very nice. /Everyone/ here seems to know my father. Or to think that I get by on everyone knowing my father. One of the two." And there's a hint of bitterness in Adiel's tone over that. "I'd rather not it be talked about that way, either." Adiel points out with a hint of a smile on his rather awkard face. That harper boy? Separation from him isn't even mentioned. Which make the encounter much more likely to be an instance of hormones than one of 'true love.' "I understand," says Varens, simply and quietly, and perhaps he does: he, after all, /still/ lives in such close proximity to all of his family. "I'll arrange it, then. Don't let me down, Adiel. By rights..." But he, apparently, is too nice for that. Or perhaps has spent too much time with Madilla, who, by Hall rumours, is his girlfriend. Adiel looks over towards Varens greatfully, tucking his gloved hands close. "I won't. Let you down that is." Adiel promises with a tone that just sounds honest. "Thank you." He adds softly. Varens' nod is long, slow, and serious: he meets Adiel's gaze directly as he performs it. Then; "I think maybe you should get inside, Apprentice. You'll have some big days ahead of you." Because, come morning? Adiel will be officially pulled aside with the news that Journeyman Madilla took a shine to him when she was last at the Hall, and has requested him as her mentee. Adiel nods his head with a slow smile spreading across his face. "Yes, of course, Journeyman." Varens gets one last look over, as if Adiel is trying to figure out why the man is doing this before he turns with one last whispered 'thank you' and starts off towards the hall through the crisp snow. Varens' expression is unreadable. He bobs his head after Adiel, but stays where he is, watching until the boy is out of sight. Then, he settles up against one wall of the shed, takes out that letter again, and begins to read. |
Leave A Comment