Difference between revisions of "Logs:If She Wants To Be Found"

Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr

The Snowasis is rarely quiet, and even then, the high-ceilinged former weyr is kept from echoing by the fantastical booths tucked into its convoluted perimeter. The secluded seating spaces have been shaped from the truncated stalagmites that escaped the smoothing of the main floor, and are both softened and separated by colorful hangings that are thick and opaque enough to make each corner its own private nook.

Some of the smaller stalactites still roam the ceiling, their jagged teeth tracing a bumpy, inverted spine to the hearth. There, a thick rug with a low klah table and comfortable armchairs and couches sit, their upholstery and cushions changed sporadically to match the season: bright, light colors in the summer, fresh greens and yellows in the spring, warm autumnals in fall, and clear, rich hues for winter. Small tables litter the rest of the cavern, enough to fit up to four people each, while stools stand along the smooth wooden bar behind which is the passthrough window to the kitchen. Glass-paneled cabinetry behind the bar provides a clear view of the available liquors, the many colors reflecting the soft light of glows tucked into strategic niches around the cavern.

The High Reaches are already well and truly into autumn and all that entails, from the chill in the air to the bustling busyness of tithe season. Incoming dusk has brought a chill to the air, and the Snowasis patrons who were out enjoying the afternoon indoors again: business is booming. K'del sits at one of the stools near the bar, alone except for his half-finished whiskey, his thoughtful gaze tripping from the dice-players to the card-players to a pair of lovebirds twined around each other in one of the booths, to the door.

Chielyth hasn't precisely been a /stranger/ to Cadejoth in the past month, though her communication has been brief (if sunlit and consistently cheerful). Today, though, she announces her arrival with a bright, « Hi! » just as though she expects the bronze to have been expecting her. « Want to cuddle? » Her rider isn't far behind that announcement - and of course he comes to the Snowasis - though he pauses in the doorway, eyes sweeping the room before he heads for K'del's side with a nod. "Hey," is /his/ greeting. "This one taken?" with a nod to the empty stool. He does not, however, offer to cuddle.

Cadejoth, unfailingly enthusiastic in all his interactions with Chielyth, greets the green with a tinkling of silver, and a great bugle that can probably be heard throughout the bowl: hi! « Sounds like fun! » is his assessment of the situation, accompanied by an invitation (and instruction) towards his ledge. Warned, perhaps, K'del shows no visible surprise in B'kaiv's arrival, head bobbing a return as he confirms, "Free as a bird. Buy you a drink?" Drinks. Better than cuddles.

« Yay! » declares the green, and arrives on the bronze's ledge in short order, happily wriggling under a wing and stretching out so she might, maybe, almost possibly be as long as he. In the right light. "Thanks," her rider says, and takes the seat, adding, "Sir," and, "Whiskey," in that order. "I ain't heard nothing about your sister," he adds, low-voiced, once the barkeep has come and gone.

And if Cadejoth's shoulders hunch in, just so, his body compressed? It's all got nothing to do with Chielyth and her length, of course! Because all he's /really/ doing is snuggling that wing against her. His rider signals at the bartender, who sets out a new glass and fills it, before refilling the first. Sliding the new one towards his companion, K'del says, sounding unsurprised, "Figures. Thanks, though. Suspect she's probably too smart to leave hints, you know? Gotta keep hoping, though."

"Thanks," B'kaiv says again, this time adding a nod as he takes possession of the glass. "Yeah, well, if she wants you t' know where she is she'll figure out a way t' do it." With an apologetic grimace for his words he tosses back half of the whiskey at one go, breathing deep afterward. "I'll keep a eye out, though. You could talk t' th' Weyrleader too - T'rev, not T'kyn. 'Cept it ain't gonna be easy t' keep it quiet if you do that. Might scare her deeper, if she's hiding."

K'del's solemn nod suggests agreement to what B'kaiv has to say, but mention of T'rev has him smiling; amused. "Poor T'rev - back into it like that. But. Mm. Could be worth a shot. Reckon... pretty sure Kash trusted him with her secrets more than she trusted any in the family; they were friends. It's possible." His train of thought probably continues, albeit unspoken, for a few seconds after that, but then he reaches for his glass, taking a swig. "Really do appreciate it, anyway."

Kai snorts, but leaves T'rev alone to address Nakasha instead. "Maybe." After a minute or so, and after a much more delicate sip of whiskey he adds, amused, "We're fresh from drills. That's how come she ain't at him t' go flying."

The snort turns K'del's gaze directly towards B'kaiv, his pale eyebrows ever so slightly lifted. He doesn't ask, though, and seems unbothered by the silence that follows all of that. "Ah," is his eventual comment, made around the glass he's nursing. "Makes sense. Little one like her, gets tired pretty easily, I guess. What kind of drills do you do?"

"Jasper," is the answer, and with a quirk of a smile Kai clarifies, "Detail wing, back t' Fort. Mistella had th' lot of us working on wingovers until we got it right. C'ston's th' Wingleader, she's one of his 'seconds. But yeah, Chielyth goes until she can't go no more, and then she got t' rest, but once she's ready she's running after things full speed again. She don't," he adds with a fond(?) quirk of lips, "really got a half-speed."

Transferring his glass from one hand to the other, K'del nods in such a way as to confirm he knows the wing, or what they do, or /something/, at least. "Nor Cadejoth, really. It's go, go, go, go, dead asleep, with him. Maybe a bit better than when he was little, but still. She's sweet. Chielyth."

B'kaiv says, "Thanks," like he had a hand in creating her, his eyes going distant for a moment before he shakes his head again. "Asleep, like I figured. And there ain't a mean bone in her body. Cadejoth like that too? She reminds me of one of them little girls all covered in jam as don't want nothing more'n to give you a hug." And cover -you- in jam too, though he doesn't say that. "Don't know how she does it." Another beat, more whiskey. "Dunno how she ended up with /me/."

The analogy makes K'del laugh outright, his head shaking with (presumably) mirth. "Cadejoth's more-- he's like the happy, excitable puppy. Wants to go with you and do things and see things and--" He breaks off, shifting his shoulders loosely. "Well. Not mean, either, though he can be firm, sometimes, these turns. Sees the weyr as his, I guess. Definitely not the kind of dragon I saw myself ending up with, either. But he means well."

B'kaiv tilts a wry smile over, turning his glass around and around in his hands. "Little girl with jam and a puppy. Guess that's how come they like each other. Chielyth... yeah, I guess firm's th' word, only it ain't that neither. She lets me know when I messed up, sure, but she ain't mean about it or nothing." With the air of one conferring a sotto-voice word to the wise he adds, "She ever start thinking in flowers at him, that's when she's mad." With a 'you remember that' nod he has a bit more whiskey. "Yeah? What'd you think'd be looking t' you, back before you knew better?"

"Flowers," repeats K'del, thoughtfully. "Huh. We'll remember that one." He will, at least. His glass gets swirled in his hand and given a glance, somewhat more awkward now. That would be because of his answer to B'kaiv's question: "Reckon I was kinda a cocky shit, really. Walked out there believing I'd be a bronzerider, definitely, and that he'd be-- dignified, I guess. Ambitious. Focused. Stereotypical kind of bronze. It's all pretty lame, in retrospect." And embarrassing. Let's not forget embarrassing. "What about you?"

"Brown," Kai answers promptly. "Big ol' brown. Real steady. Didn't think I'd Impress, though. --There was this girl, Rhodya, she wanted a tiny little green. So of course she got th' brown and I got Chielyth. Used t' tease each other about stealing th' wrong dragon." Memory brings another bit of smile. "Ain't real fond of bronzeriders, usually," he adds, "but you ain't too bad." Isn't K'del just so lucky?

K'del's glance is a combination of appraising and thoughtful, but fades off into a frown, his head shaking, as though he /can/, but also /can't/ see Kai with that brown. Not that it lasts: he's amused for the remark about Rhodya, and looks outright pleased for the last. "Ain't too bad? I'm pleased." Genuinely, apparently. "You're good company. Guess it's impossible to see yourself with someone else's dragon in the end, huh? Even when things are like that. Can't imagine not having Cadejoth."

The greenrider says, "Gedroth...," and stops, sucks thoughtfully on a tooth. "Think I woulda turned out a'right with Gedroth. Dunno about Rho and Chielyth though. He and Chielyth was real good friends before she transferred." In an effort to lighten the mood he adds, "Glad you didn't get th' bronze you wanted. Else I'd probably be thinking on ways t' run your face int' th' wall instead of buying th' next round." Speaking of, he gives the bartender a nod, and two fingers: another, please. "What brung you t' th' Reaches from Tillek - you said it were Tillek, right?"

Transferred. /That/ makes K'del wrinkle his nose again, nodding. Again, though, the rest of what B'kaiv says makes him laugh. "Guess it worked out in the end, then. For me." His thanks for the drink is performed with a low bob of the head, as, laughing, he confirms, "Tillek, right. Little Vineyard, ways out of the main hold. I'm second youngest of nine - Kash being the youngest - and I was /determined/ to be someone. Make something of myself. /Something/. Anyway, Spent some time at the main hold, then came with the tithe to the weyr. Didn't think on the possibility of Impression at all 'til I got searched, but once I had been..."

B'kaiv says, "Shells," impressed, and tosses back the last of his drink. "Nine. That's a sharding lot. I'm th' youngest of three and there weren't near enough room some days. I come t' Fort... came t' Fort? on th' tithe, too. Back when they was having all them shortages. I figured being Searched was a good enough way t' stay at th' Weyr until spring, any road. Didn't look forward t' walking nowhere dead of winter."

"/Too/ many," is K'del's assessment of the situation, though, of course, "'course, I say that, and if there'd been fewer, guess I might never have been born. So." Tipping his head to consider B'kaiv, he asks, "So you're from 'round the Fort area, then, I guess? Mm. I guess I figured there weren't all that many ways to become great and important at a weyr, 'less you were a rider, but it was a good place to start, for me, before I figured out where else to go. Did you have a plan?"

The greenrider nods his thanks for the whiskey delivery, nudging his empty back to be taken away, and drops K'del a nod. "Close enough on dragon. I'm from a waystation about seventy, eighty miles from Fort, other side of th' mountains. Didn't hardly see no Harpers, 'cept as they were passing through." Which probably explains both his accent and exciting use of language. "Yeah, I were gonna be a guard. Fort Sea, Ruatha River, one of them. Better'n being th' youngest and working for my brother rest of my life, right?"

K'del's "I hear you," is definitely for the last of what Kai has said, quietly fervent. He reaches for his replacement glass without looking at it, adding, "Waystation. Huh. Never really thought much of them, when I was a kid. It was all: weyr, hold, craft, easy to forget that some places don't fit quite so tidy in there. Traders, too."

"T'rev's from a waystation too," Kai notes, in case K'del hadn't known. "Not like th' one I come from though." He turns this glass like he did the other, though careful not to let any slop. After a moment, "Yeah, well, if you ain't one t' travel, you ain't gonna know, right? No reason t' know. Dunno as nobody in my family went nowhere, 'cept for me, and shells, they make their living offa travelers."

"Nerat," K'del remembers, of T'rev, nodding his head once. "Suppose that's true. Most of my family is still within a day's ride of the vineyard: at the main hold, at other nearby holds, whatever. Not much travelling there. There's just Ander - he's a Harper - and me... and Kash, I guess, wherever she is. Guess even in the Interval, most people don't really travel that much." He pauses, then adds, "Though enough, I suppose, to keep your family in business, I guess."

"Get a lot of wagon drivers going up t' th' hold," Kai agrees with a nod. "Traders and th' like. --Yeah? You got a Harper in th' family? Riss ended up in th' Minecraft. I figured," with a laugh that isn't quite one, "he were getting as far away from th' station as he could. Then I ended up going farther."

"People who need to travel to make /their/ living," surmises K'del, after a moment's consideration. "Mostly, anyway. And yeah - a Harper. A vintner, too, and another brother is an assistant to Tillek's Steward. You see much of your brothers? Rest of your family?"

B'kaiv nods his agreement - travel, right - and studies his whiskey once K'del's finished speaking. After a second he glances over at the other man, and back to his whiskey, clearly thinking about saying something, even if he hasn't figured out how to do it quite yet. Finally, after a fortifying slug, and eyes fixed firmly on the bar, he offers, "I ain't-. I ain't seen 'em, I ain't wrote t' them, they don't know where I am." Giving that barely a moment to sink in he continues crisply, "They don't like no greenriders there." /Then/ he glances over, eyes wary and jaw set.

By the time B'kaiv glances at K'del again, the bronzerider's eyes are wide, though his expression is otherwise unreadable. Silence lingers for several long seconds, though during this time, he meets Kai's gaze unfalteringly. Then, "Sorry to hear that." It's deliberately polite, but the stiffness is probably unintentional. Letting out a sighing breath, he adds, "I don't-- just. Shells."

B'kaiv smiles tightly and tips his head; it's sort of a shrug and lets him turn back to his whiskey with as much grace as he can muster. "Soon as I figured out - /really/ figured out - what Chielyth meant, I knew I wasn't going back. Thanks," he adds, "for not saying as I should go back and try and teach 'em they're wrong. --I'm still looking for your sister, mind, but you got t' know if I find her th' first thing I'm asking is if she /wants/ t' be found."

K'del's nod is a solemn one, and though he opens his mouth as if he intends to argue something at the greenrider's remark about Chielyth's meaning, he doesn't. When he does speak, he's relatively calm. "Pretty sure it's the worst thing to do: tell someone to do something when you've decided against it, for better or for worse. Hurts, not knowing where a person you love is. Doesn't mean it isn't the right thing for a person, sometimes." He may not be entirely convinced of this, but he shifts his expression into a low-gauge smile, anyway. "Appreciate it, anyway. Respect it."

Kai can nod acceptance to that, the line of his shoulders easing somewhat. "Shells, I figure you ain't gonna start beating on her or nothing when you see her again. I might not be th' one t' find her, neither. But if I do...." A shoulder lifts. "Figured as you ought t' know. Don't seem right, holding that back or nothing."

"Appreciate it," says K'del, repeating himself, but with more emphasis, this time. "Your candour. Last thing I'd want is for her to be dragged home kicking and screaming, or something. /My/ hope is that she's made a life somewhere - like you have - and that it's easier to stay away. /Hope/ she isn't afraid of what'd happen if she showed herself." The idea of which seems to genuinely bother him - enough that he stares into the depth of his glass for several long seconds before he adds, "Anyway."

The greenrider nods, once and not again, and has the last of his whiskey in another single gulp. "Ain't being afraid, s'being smart. But I dunno what your sister's like. You know her better'n I do, know what she got t' look forward to if she goes back. Maybe she is afraid. I dunno." He sniffs as if to clear the conversation from his sinuses and offers a crooked smile at the topic shift. "Yeah. Anyway. Heard as one of your golds went up - th' new one. That right?"

"Afraid of being trapped again," is K'del's final assessment on the subject, in a faraway kind of voice. He snaps himself out of it, though, enough so that he can look rueful at something else altogether. "Mm. Yes. Iskiveth, our new one, went up. Got the whole weyr on tenterhooks, to find out for sure that she's turned herself into an oversized green." Beat. "Not that there's anything wrong with greens, of course."

"'Course not," Chielyth's rider agrees mildly--very mildly--and stops there, as if to see just how much of his femur K'del can swallow.

K'del turns scarlet - as though he's choking on said femur - and ducks his gaze away, coughing. Then; "It really isn't that there's anything wrong with greens. Greens are excellent. Just. Know I'd be happier with /two/ fertile queens. Just in case. Reckon your new Weyrwoman will be hoping for one, too."

"Ain't like there's gonna be no Thread," Kai points out. "And just 'cause she's fertile don't mean she's never gonna lay no gold." K'del's been forgiven, or at least Kai's unlikely to introduce him to his fist. For now. "Plus she were caught by a brown, weren't she? So there ain't gonna be no gold any road."

"No gold," agrees K'del, with a low sigh. "But probably no eggs at all, far as we can tell. And yeah, sure, Interval. But it's not many weyrs that'd be perfectly comfortable with only a single queen - just in case." It's obviously something that has been weighing heavily on him, though he attempts, now, to smile at B'kaiv. "Guess we'll have to wait and see, right? Szadath's rider is /convinced/ there'll be thirty eggs or something."

B'kaiv has another good point: "There's ways t' get around only one gold, though. Shells, I remember something from weyrlinghood where there was this one Weyr as gave away a gold egg 'cause the senior didn't want so many. So yeah, a Weyr with only one gold during a Interval ain't that big of a deal." So says the man who isn't leading one. He snorts, though, at Szadath's rider's boast. "Yeah? If I was you I'd sharding take that bet, and fleece him. Person goes around spouting off stupid sharding crap they deserve t' get took."

K'del allows the point, however reluctantly, with a nod of his head. "It's just frustrating," he reports - apparently, he finds many things frustrating. More cheerful, however, is his, "Reckon I did just that." He grins for it, too. "I think. Was pretty drunk at the time, but that was the gist of it. Not sure whether she's ignorant, or just wilfully talking things up to make herself feel better."

"She," Kai corrects easily, with a lift of his empty glass as though the toast will eliminate the foot in his own mouth. Interested, "Oh yeah? You got a witness or something? 'Cause shells, if you was so drunk you ain't remembering good there ain't much t' keep her from saying you didn't never make no bet."

A low chuckle precedes K'del's, "There was - is. A witness. Reckon he'd probably speak truth if it came down to it; trust him." But not her: that much is evidenced in the tightened grip on his glass, and the faintest narrowing of his eyes. "Think he was trying to get me shut up at the time, but-- drunk. So. Guess maybe I wasn't thinking too clearly."

B'kaiv snorts and shakes his head, catching the bartender's eye when the man looks over. "Probably ought t' go find him and make sure, huh? You remember what you're getting if there ain't no thirty eggs?"

"Good plan," agrees K'del, glancing around suddenly as though he expects to find his witness right-here-and-now; he doesn't. Glancing back at B'kaiv, he does confirm, laughing. "FIfty marks, as I recall. Which," and he lowers his voice slightly, "/I/ sure as shells don't have, and her, neither. Stupid girl."

"Ffff," the Fortian starts, and stops there as well without managing a vowel. "Ffii-? /Shells/. That ain't fleecing, that's just...!" Unable to decide just what that is he orders a beer, slanting sidelong looks at the bronzerider all the while. "So what're you going t' do when she can't pay? Or if you can't?"

K'del has, at least, the grace to look rueful at this reaction, to tip his head forward into a nod, his smile crooked and out quite right. "Won't put her in my debt monetarily for the rest of her life-- no way. That'd be counterproductive. Reckon it's more about the principle than the marks. Kinda looking forward to her admission she can't afford to pay up." And if he loses? He doesn't answer that one at all.

"Ain't gonna be making no friends that way," the greenrider points out, hands opening and closing as though he regrets the loss of his whiskey - or, at least, something to hold onto. "Nothing good's gonna come outta rubbing her face int' th' mud."

There's a note of defensiveness in K'del's tone as he responds; "Nothing good ever comes out of Taikrin. She came here as a criminal - a convict. Thought she'd been rehabilitated for a while, but it's obvious she's messed up in the head. More to the point, she needs the reminder that she's not in charge." So, evidently, he believes. Pushing his empty whiskey glass along the bar, he adds, "Anyway. Had I not taken the bet? She'd've called me a coward."

B'kaiv says, "There's good, and there's a knife in your back," like he knows whereof he speaks. "Shells, you gonna keep on being stupid just 'cause of /her/? Maybe that ain't being no coward, but it's sure as shells wherry-brained." Shaking his head, he shoots K'del a disappointed look. "Besides, why d'you care if some no-good thief thinks you're a coward? You trying t' make nice with her?"

K'del's shoulders stiffen at the accusation of stupidity, and his mouth draws together unhappily. There's a pause, though, and then he shakes his head. "Same reason as I'm forever trying to make nice with my Weyrwoman. Want everyone to like me, and if they don't, then at least I want them to respect me. Fear me. /Something/. But not dismiss me." For all it's an admission, he comes across as defensive, still.

"/That/ ain't never gonna happen," snorts Kai to 'everyone to like me'. "Like I said - how come you care if some thief invites you t' tea and crackers? Long as she listens and does as she's told, that's all you got t' worry about."

K'del looks all set to argue his point for another round, but, after a moment, simply shakes his head. "Not quite that simple," is his conclusion, though he fails to outline exactly /how/ this is. "Point is... the whole thing was her bet, her idea, and I told her it was dumb and she didn't listen. So here we are." And by his implication? She deserves anything she gets. Awkwardly, he adds, "Anyway. I-- ought to get moving. Things to do before the end of the day." Whiskey-fueled things.

B'kaiv's eyebrows would argue that it /is/ that simple, but the man himself stays quiet, at least on that topic. "Sure," he says instead, nodding as the barkeep delivers his beer. "She was dumb, you were drunk, and I ain't go no sharding idea where your ledge is, t' get Chielyth back. Suppose all I got t' do is look for Cadejoth?"

K'del slides down from his stool, looking somehow relieved at escaping this easily. "Right," he agrees, firmly, as this explains everything. "Er-- yeah. Follow the bowl around towards the hatching grounds, if you know where they are? And Cadejoth'll be pretty obvious."

"Yeah," Kai knows where they are, nodding to send the bronzerider off. "Probably she'll be awake by th' time I finish this," he hoists his beer, "but if she ain't. Good seeing you again, sir. Wish I had better news about your sister."

K'del gives the greenrider another nod, confirming what has been said, but adds, "You, too, B'kaiv. Appreciate your efforts, even if there's no news. And-- call me K'del, if you like? Next time." An invitation for there to be a next time? Either way, he doesn't leave much room for another response, taking his leave now across the Snowasis and out into the bowl.