Difference between revisions of "Logs:A Lakeside Chat"

Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr

The rest of the bowl may be barren, grass barely surviving at best, but here by the lake, it's brilliantly green in the warmer months: thickening and thriving in the silty, boulder-dotted soil just before it transitions to soft sand and thence to the cool, clear water itself.

A large freshwater lake fed by a low waterfall, it not only provides warm-weather bathing space for humans and dragons, but has one end fenced off as a watering hole for the livestock in the feeding grounds. The water there is often muddier than the rest of the clear lake, whose shallows drop off abruptly several yards out into deep water, and whose edge undulates against the coarse-hewn bowl wall: here close enough to just be bramble-covered rocks, there far enough away that a narrow land bridge divides the main lake from a smallish pond. Between are several rocky outcroppings that form excellent makeshift diving points, though only one -- across the bridge -- has a set of narrow, slippery, quite possibly tempting stairs.

The weather today is very pleasant. A few clouds chase each other across the mostly clear skies, and a soft breeze picks up in the afternoon to make for a fine day.

It's late afternoon and Hypatia is taking advantage of the nice weather and interesting sun angle around the lake to do some of her work outside. She's on a blanket settled on the sand, legs crossed, notebook leaned up against one knee. The healer is muttering softly to herself periodically as she sketches; anyone who can get a good look at what she's drawing will be able to identify it as a human foot, bones only, with numbers and names scribbled all over the page.

Azaylia is actually not bundled up like some woolen mummy today, and the gorgeous spring weather is the culprit. Patched up blue dress falls short and is a touch too tight in certain places, though black leggings keep lengthy limbs decent as the beastcrafter approaches. Swinging both arms, she barely avoids skipping, though her pace is quick and energetic, empty bucket clutched in one hand. She slows at the sight of Hypatia, wordlessly approaching as curiosity gets the best of her, not even realizing her own actions. Standing up on tiptoes, she tries to peer over the healer's shoulder at what she's sketching.

Hypatia lifts her head, sensing someone behind her -- and upon realizing she's being looked over, actually tilts her head all the way sideways away from Azaylia so that the beastcrafter can actually see her work, with a bit of a laugh. "Hi there," she says, smiling. "You want to sit? It's not that interesting but I don't mind giving you a look at this crap if you want, it's just a foot." Well: a foot skeleton, anyway.

"It's the nicest foot I've ever seen." Azaylia is quick, though quiet, to argue with Hypatia's depreciation of her work. The bucket is brought forward by both hands, holding it in front of herself as she offers a small smile. "Hello. Uhm, I'm getting water. For cleaning." The pail is wiggled for emphasis, " But I can sit for a little bit. I wanna see more." She descends, pausing to hover in a crouch, "If that's okay, I mean?" Her rump finally finds the blanket, legs crossing and tucked in so as not to take up too much space.

"It hasn't got any skin or muscles or anything; your taste in feet is very weird," Hypatia teases, but she's offering over the sketchbook to Azaylia entirely. "You can go ahead and look through it, though, if you want. The previous pages have a skull and a wrist-hand combination. Trying to make sure I remember all the names and metrics for exams, and I should probably take a break, so if you want to look at it that's forcing me away from it! I love the dress," the chatty healer continues to babble on apace.

Azaylia looks like a cervine caught by bright lights, brown eyes wide as she listens to Hypatia. The bucket is placed next to her, freeing her hands to take the sketchbook and look through the pages. "W-well, it's hard." She flips back to the foot, finger pointing at the bits of bones that make up the toes. "Harder than drawing a skin-foot, I mean. You have to remember so much." Whispered awe as she finds the wrist and hand sketches. The compliment catches up, and Azaylia's head lifts for a bashful smile. "Thank you. It's really old, but still good." Waste not, want not as Mama-zaylia always said.

Hypatia shakes her head a little, but she's still smiling -- obviously appreciating the praise -- as she explains, "Nah, I don't know about that. Considering drawing feet that are actually full feet need to look realistic, and it's not like people spend a lot of time staring at foot bones? But I do have to know them in case somebody breaks a foot or something. And feet have so many. They're a pain. It's a really good color on you, though," she segues back to the dress without actually pausing for a breath. The foot is not actually a good color on Azaylia, even if Hypatia might make it sound that way. "Want me to grab your water, while you're perusing? I don't mind."

Azaylia gives a short nod, "I bet the healer that did my wrist," book is nestled in the canopy of her dress as she points to the right body part with her left. "Knew a lot about it. It got sprained when I fell off a runner." She offers up, unsure as to why though not finding Hypatia the type to be annoyed with such. Perhaps it's the healer apprentice's mile a minute way of talking. And just as before, it takes the simple beastcrafter a moment to juggle both subjects. Chin tucking into her chest bashfully, her hair falls in a curtain on either side. "...thankyou. Blue is my favorite. And yellow. Uhm. You don't have to, with the water I mean. It's my job." Page is flipped to the skull which causes her to straighten up a bit. "Peopleskulls look like squashed beast skulls." Huh. Who knew?

Taking 'you don't have to' as about the same as 'no,' Hypatia -- well, she doesn't. She just nods, agreeing, "Blue's my favorite too. A pale blue, specifically, more often than anything else. You'd think it'd be purple, though, right? And I'm sure about that healer, 'cause sprains require knowing the bones and the tendons and ligaments real well to put them back in place. That's not the kind of thing I'm really ever doing but I have to know about it --" Of course, the comment about the skull does catch up to her eventually, and she lets out a loud laugh. "Oh! Do they? Which ones in particular? I'm always asking runners why the long face, and they never seem to have much to say."

"The eyeholes and noses, all beasts kinda look the same when they're skulls. Runners have funny teeth, though. That people and bovines don't have- but all the skulls have pointy bits and holes in kind of the same palce." Azaylia explains, hesitant at sounding not so bright in comparison to Hypatia's medical knowhow. With a blink, the joke sinks in and coaxes Azaylia to giggle, glancing at the healer with a squint of 'you so silly'. "It'd be wonderful if they could. Talk, I mean."

"I wonder what they'd say," Hypatia muses, pushing fallen hair from her face as she glances out halfway at Azaylia and halfway out at the lake. "I know some dragons are chatty, and a lot of runners are /mouthy/ in a literal sense -- as in, they chew on walls and stuff. Though I think they're not supposed to do that, bad for the teeth?" she guesses, not really being an expert. "My brother's got a few."

Azaylia is silent as she muses over what runners or even herdbeasts might say as she went about her daily duties. Would they sing along with her to help pass the time? Starry-eyed, the young woman is snapped out of it only by the subject of dragons. "Aaah..." Comes the fearful exhale. "Good thing only their riders can hear- that's how it works, right?" She bets they sound scary! Though the subject of animals has her nodding, "Runners chew when they get bored, which is worse for them then the actual wood. My sister and her husband breed them."

"Oh!" Suddenly, Hypatia is even more all ears than she was -- which is actually hard. "Really? Where, because maybe that's where my family gets theirs? I don't know, I haven't been to visit but a few times in a couple turns. Political tensions, et cetera, recently, and also my brother doesn't really talk that much about it to me as he assumes I'm not interested. I'm not the world's worst rider ever, though, I just don't do it much. And dragons? Yeah, only their riders can hear. I've heard rumors of dragons talking directly to others but I've never seen it."

"Keroon. They live close to home." Still quiet, there's a bit more energy in Azaylia's voice- perhaps she feels like she has to keep up with Hypatia? She glances down and realizes that she's been toying with the corner of a page for some time, going back to flipping through and looking at the apprentice's handywork. "I think I might, uhm, wet myself if a dragon talked to me." She admits, just a touch ashamed. She lives in a weyr, for goodness sake! "We've got runners just for riding in the stalls, if you ever wanted to practice."

Hypatia doesn't judge. She doesn't actually say much of anything, really, keeping a steady single expression throughout. "I probably should, really, especially if I ever actually have to go back to the Hold." How she feels about /that/ is left extremely ambiguous by her tone of voice. "Maybe you can give me a lesson? I -- think he's got the one stallion from Keroon, but the others are probably High Reaches Hold born and bred. Not that it's exactly the pinnacle of animal breeding, there."

Azaylia brightens considerably, smile wide as her eyes light up. "I'd /love/ to help you ride better!" Even that 'exclimation' is a quiet one, sounding more like a stage whisper without the forced strain. "Oh we have this dearheart, an older gelding? He'd be perfect for lessons." The excitement simmers down all too quickly, though her smile remains as she continues to talk with Hypatia. "It's important to have breeders everywhere. It's why I'm here- to see how things are done outside of Keroon."

"Better reason than mine," Hypatia confesses, considering her reasoning isn't all that fantastic: "I just moved because the craft complex here was a good excuse to be near my siblings and yet still manage to completely avoid my parents due to not being posted actually at the Hold." She actually sort of scoffs at the mention of her parents -- clearly not a fantastic relationship. "But I'd really appreciate the riding lessons. Can't pay you back in much, though, except for promised quick patch-ups and my hangover cure's getting a reputation amongst some of the riders ..."

"You... don't like your parents?" The concept sounds so alien, especially coming from Azaylia's lips and her brow wrinkles accordingly. It's only a moment later that she realizes it may be a personal question, picking up to give Hypatia a graceful way out. "Oh, no. You don't have to pay me back. I mean- it'd be so fun on it's own, and I like helping people." Her head dips and she bites her lower lip somewhat, "Besides, I don't drink." Of course she doesn't.

Hypatia shrugs. Still not judging! She does try not to, after all, unless it's in making fun of someone -- which doesn't, at the moment, seem appropriate. "Eh. My parents are very -- overbearing. Paranoid. Since my brother died. Act like they own their kids, and my mother's an assistant to the Headwoman so she's /everywhere/. Keeps my other brothers completely under her outrageously overprotective wing, because of course we are all going to get killed by stray Thread." This time, it's a real scoff. "Right, whatever. I do like my parents, you know, periodically. Once a month or so."

Azaylia is quiet as she lets Hypatia explain, blinking rapidly whenever the other girl says something shocking. She's blinking a lot. "W...well, I'm sure they're only that way because they love you so much. Uhm. My father's kind of like that." Trying not to be too contrary, however, she pipes up. "I like how you know what you want, though. It's strong." A small curl of her lips born of admiration manages to settle on her face, remaining for as long as she's able to talk to Hypatia. She won't even notice the pass of time or the fact that it's likely the most she's ever said to one person. Luckily, there are no dire consequences should her chore go undone for however long the young women sit and chat.