Logs:The Nature of Convicts
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| RL Date: 23 February, 2010 |
| Who: Tiriana, Iovniath |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Tiriana and Iovniath deal with news that convicts are being searched. |
| Where: Hatching Sands, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 27, Month 13, Turn 21 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: K'del/Mentions, Phara/Mentions, Berit/Mentions, V'nian/Mentions |
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| « Tiriana, » said Iovniath, and underneath her cool voice, Tiriana could sense her worry as something instinctive, that she didn't need words or even feelings to know. It knotted her own stomach as she worked her way across Iovniath's hide, rubbing oil deep into it to protect it on the scorching sands. Yeah? She tried to keep her own reply even, unfussed. « Fierfanth has a candidate. » So? « It is one of the miners' workers. » Iovniath shied away from the cruder 'convicts.' Tiriana froze mid-stroke. « Cadejoth has ordered them not to, but--Tiriana, it is a convict. They wish my children to have criminals for riders. » There was something in her voice that Tiriana thought might be tears, if she were human. Well. We won't let them. We'll lock them in the mines if we have to, never let 'em out. They don't get nowhere near the eggs, now or ever, she answered, fiercely. « It will not work. » Of course it will work. « No, Tiriana, it will not. If my children want these people, they will have them--or they will have no one. » "They'll have whoever the hell we give them," Tiriana said, huffing out a breath. She resumed oiling, but in sharp, jerky motions now. "We'll get plenty of other people, even if we don't sort out this shit with Balen. We'll get plenty of people, let them touch the eggs, and the hatchlings won't ever know there was anyone else who could have been out there." Gently, Iovniath turned to lean her cheek against her rider, her mind a slow snowfall. « It is not for the dragons that we touch eggs. It is for you, so you can meet us first, and be ready. We already know you, as we know our names, before we ever emerge. » Another snort, skeptical, but Tiriana worked to slow her motions and leaned back against Iovniath's nose, letting the gold support her. « I would have known you, even if you had not been there for me. I would not have settled for Zibeth's, Bennath's, anyone else's, just because they touched me and you did not. So my children will want who they will, and if that is these prisoners, then they must have them. » But Iovniath did not sound happy about it, still. "Maybe they won't want them. Plenty of people don't impress; maybe just because they could doesn't mean any of our eggs would be dumb enough to pick them. Or, you know, dragons aren't evil, like these people, so--." It made Iovniath laugh, not quite cheerfully, but laugh all the same: a tinkling crystalline sound. « Do you ever think, how close we are to them? » and Tiriana understood 'we' really meant 'her.' She bristled. "I'm nothing like them." « And how many have you beaten? » the gold asked, bemused; Tiriana's annoyance only cheered her more. They made a perverse pair. « How many have you insulted, and assaulted? How many Weyrs have exiled us, and how many would not take us in at all? » That's different, but she was sulking now. « But you are still mine. I do not care what they think of my choice, even if you are unthinking, and vulgar, and sometimes cruel. » "Thanks." « Humans have their rules, » Iovniath continued, choosing to ignore her rider then. « They want to put everyone in boxes: you are a lady, or a rider, or a convict, but you must be one of those, and not anything else. And perhaps we dragons do, too, but we also know that sometimes a convict is a Weyrwoman, and perhaps someday she may be a lady as well. But--» and here her voice grew wry, indulgent, as she pushed against Tiriana, « I do not much hope for that anymore. » It made Tiriana smile, too, faintly, and she shoved back, though only Iovniath's willingness to play along made the gold's nose move at all. "You want I should tell K'del or you?" she asked. « We will... let him sort this for himself. He does not need us watching every move, you know. Cadejoth is a fool, but a well-meaning one. » Her voice was faintly fond, echoing a little the rattle of chain as she thought of her mate. « He will think of our children as I do. This is his burden, as Balen is ours. » "I'm not groveling," warned Tiriana. « I would expect no less, » said Iovniath. « I would not try to change you now; only aim you. We will find our answer soon enough. » |
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