Difference between revisions of "Logs:Chivalry isn't dead"

It is early in the morning when Edyis passes a message via a particular Savannah green rider, and it's that same rider (and green) she's chatting with in the bowl should the recipient decide to arrive. "Thank you again Nita, If you don't mind sticking around to pass along the coordinates I would appreciate it, If they don't show up soon, Or if he says no we can always go for drinks at the snowasis." The scribe grins at the Savannah rider who simply shakes her head with a laugh. Edyis seems dressed a bit differently than usual, with a large satchel slung across her shoulders the clothes appear like an old set, inkstains included.

A'rist and Lythronath, they show up. Not with any look of hurry about them, nor, strangely enough, with any intensity - but then, the last evening, they spent plenty of time at the pens, so the bronze still has to have a mostly full belly. Lythronath drops hard enough that his talons can gouge the ground (on purpose), a move he does regularly enough. His rider is ready, and there's no wince on impact. A'rist doesn't dismount, not at once, instead eyeballing his clutchmate and her green. They haven't landed too close, but they're near enough. Lythronath bobs his head, clicks once.

Females breed conspiracy, or so a Harper must have written once. Nita just smiles innocently or, well, about as innocently as she has ever managed. "Don't blame the messenger."

Edyis for her part seems to be counting her breaths, before: "I believe I still owe you one bribe? That is if you two are up for a little side work." Her heart is pounding through her outer facade seems calm. He's gotten bigger after all. Of course with what she has in mind that could be a good thing.

For now, the bronze is distracted by Ishikath, a second click going to that green. A'rist has moved on to Edyis readily enough. He leans forward, forearms folding overtop the neckridge in front of him, an indolent sort of position from which he peers at her. "How is it a bribe to make us work?" But it's playful.

Ishikath offers a series of chirps in reply, preening. A wry smile crosses Edyis's lips at the playful question, "Because it is work that only you two can accomplish well and thoroughly enjoy while doing it. Of course if you aren't interested - "

What was playful turns cautious, the bronzerider forcing his lips into a line, pulling back, just a little, from that lean. "You got some cots you need banged up?" Attempted levity, a crooked hint of a smile coming over his face. Lythronath, meanwhile, has turned his gaze onto the scribe. A'rist doesn't seem concerned, at least.

"Something like that." She grins, returning his own crooked smile. "I may have heard about a cot holder willing to pay quite handsomely to have some barns with wood rot knocked out and assistance trucking the new lumber from Esvay valley. It would be hard work, and require a certain amount of skill, but I think Lythronath might enjoy it, and frankly probably the only dragon strong enough to do it on his own, save Hraedhyth." She hedges, "He's in a real rush to get these down and can't burn them out. Can't start on the new barns until the old ones are down. The foundations are good it's just the timber that is rotten. Plus If you two help with it, fewer ways to divide the marks."

A'rist sits up a little bit higher. Let it never be said that flattery will get you nowhere. "He could probably do it," is agreement, laced with just a hint of ego, "without fire." Dark eyes narrow slightly, and his head cants to one side. "Does this cotholder of yours know there might be a dragon helping? Messing with his stuff?" Lythronath's step forward, toward Edyis, doesn't seem to surprise the young man, nor is he concerned with the dragon takes a long sniff at her, lips pulling just faintly from his teeth at the front of that pointed muzzle.

"The holder knows but he also knows it isn't weyr sanctioned and he signed the waiver, but we are well enough away from the main hold that even if an accident were to happen there wouldn't be any serious damage." The tone implies she doesn't think that was even necessary Of course the sniff does get her attention, and she lifts up a hand fingers curled under offering a chin scratch - well hopefully that's what the mild shaking intimates.

"A waiver," repeats A'rist, lifting one hand now to scrub over his face. Lythronath answers those curling fingers with a low, warning sort of rumble, a miniscule jerk pulling his head back, making his rider adjust. That one, that one wasn't quite expected. "Careful," says A'rist, to Lynner, to Edyis, he doesn't specify really. The hand is back to his face, a final rub over stubble that's filling in day by day, now. "Where is this? How many neighbours does he have?"

Hand dropped Edyis shrugs, and retreats over to Nita exchanging a wordless glance. "That's what Nita and Ishikath are here to help with. To pass along the coordinates, the closest neighbor is a few hours away by runner."

Nita just gives Edyis a look, before chiming in, "I can come along too, if you'd like, but I won't be helping."

A'rist leans forward once more, forearms coming to rest again on Lythronath's neckridge. "You thought at all about what this might look like, if someone does come by? Weyr wrecking up the place?" A glance over to his clutchmate, and he adds, "Greenrider for lookout while the bronze makes trouble?"

Edyis sighs, "Yes, but the likelyhood of that happening is extremely, extremely unlikely. It's a very remote area, and again I have all the proper documentation. Granted if you don't think you guys can handle it, I can always find a handful of blues. Sure the marks will have to be split multiple ways, but I suppose I will have to make do." A beat, "I guess I overestimated you two."

"Proper documentation for what?" A'rist is leaning forward, still, but now, it's more an alert pose, ready. "There's lots of stuff me and Lynner can do - can do real well -" which somehow has an ominous sound, "but- a guy who wants a dragon's help but won't go through the Weyr to get it?" He eyeballs Edyis a moment, then glances, quickly, to Nita. Back to Edyis. "What's his deal?"

The scribe draws a deep breath, though she can't help but sound impressed, impressed and frustrated. "Believe it or not there are people who don't trust the weyr. Not as a whole, but they are willing to trust individuals. Nevermind, just forget I asked."

Nita just grins at her, "Told you, you should have just asked one of the Savannah browns. At least they can tell when a girl is going out of her way to flirt with them. I'm heading to the Snowasis for a drink, if you end up wanting the coordinates just have someone ask."

"So he trusts you," starts A'rist. "Where does that leave me, when-" at which point Nita's comment has his face going a bit redder, has him clamping his jaw together. To Edyis, "Look, it's not- it's just there's been rumours going around about dragons messing things up for holders and crafters already." The shift he makes, between Lythronath's 'ridges, looks wholly to come from discomfort, though perhaps not of the physical sort. "And Lynner's not easy to miss." Staring at his hands, now. "That's all."

It isn't so much that Edyis blushes, and if she does it's only noticeable around her ears thanks to months spent under the Monacoan sun. "I'm not -" She starts to protest too quickly, but then her attention shifts to to A'rist, and she listens. It's a beat or two before she replies giving each word careful consideration. "It is worse than you think, trust me. That's the other reason I wanted you two to go with me. I trust you guys not to screw it up. It's remote, there's no chance of causing damage if something does happen, but I have faith that that won't happen."

It's at 'worse than you think' that A'rist seems to come to a decision, sitting up a little, unconsciously, in his seat on his dragon's next. Lythronath has started to shift, to sway, to swing his tail. Lythronath has started to grow bored with all this sitting and talking. A long look is pinned on Edyis, longer than might even be polite, from that alert vantage point of his. And then, "We can go check it out at least. If you want us to."

The grin that emerges after his answer is a reply all it's own, though Edyis shifts a little under that look. It's Nita who actually speaks next, "You want me to come along or just need the coordinates?" It seems more directed at her clutchmate than Edyis.

The look A'rist sends back to Nita, twisting from where he's poised on his dragon's neck, is very much one of 'why haven't you left yet.' The words he finds are slightly more civilised, with, "Just the coordinates." Glancing back to Edyis, he adds, "We'll keep our eyes open." Lythronath makes another click, and starts to crouch. "There's a passenger belt there on the straps." Differentiated from those main straps to which the belt is attached by its usual dark brown colour, not that rusty red that so neatly matches dried blood, which encircles the bronze's strong neck. The big neck, which swings, forgetting this girl A'rist wants to take with them, in favour of pinning a whirling eye on Ishikath, expectant.

Nita just wiggles her fingers with a smug smile, and Ishikath passes along the coordinates. "Have fun then." Abandoning Edyis to the bronze riding pair in favor of a cool drink in the Snowasis.

Edyis on the other hand, is probably thinking about just what she's agreed to. While the dragon's busy moving about, she is trying to figure out the best way to get to the belt. Closing the distance, nimble fingers work quickly to detach the belt and strap in before attacking the larger problem which is getting up, and hoping the bronze is distracted long enough to accomplish that task. "Um, mind giving me a hand?"

It could be distraction, that holds Lythronath still. It could be, just as well, some sort of game of hunter and prey. But A'rist has no trouble in wriggling his hand into a grip on those blood-red straps, and dipping down to hold out one arm, steady. The bronze breathes deep, blinks, rumbles something in his throat. He has the location, now. He's eager. Impatient.

Edyis takes a deep breath, reaching up and using that grip to pull herself up behind A'rist, before quickly working to secure the straps. "Thank you." She murmurs as the last lengths are tightened. "Ready?"

"Hang on," says A'rist, one arm reaching back in the general vicinity of his passenger - of Lythronath's passenger, really - though it may already be too late. The bronze is airborne, all muscle and power as he leaps, as he beats his wings. It's not long before A'rist is sitting forward. The smirk on his face will be hidden from her. It's a hand signal used once they've gained enough altitude, once they plunge into that unforgiving cold...

(area description Nestled in the mountains, this area seems as though it's been abandoned for some turns, though several large outbuildings sit tangled in the overgrown trees. The remainder of what once may have been fences laces the area, but time and weather have rendered most to a pile of rotten wood. A small lake nearby sits at the edge of the property, where presumably animals were once watered. )

... and when they re-emerge, it's only a moment of hesitation to scan the area before they're dropping, this time, with no warning to Edyis. There's no cloud cover, else they might have gone the opposite direction; a stroke of luck, though whether good or ill is uncertain.

She really had been about to say to what but the burst into the air and between renders the query useless. The second drop has her grabbing for A'rist out of pure reflex, much to her shame, but once things level out, really if they level out, her hands are in her own space firmly laced about her belt. "Lake might be the best spot, I couldn't tell from the ground if anyplace else would be large enough." She calls once her breath is caught.

In the moment, A'rist seems largely unbothered either way, when she grabs him, when she lets go. This landing is slightly softer than that in the bowl, perhaps because of the manoeuvring required to get there before they hit the ground after that dive, perhaps as well due to the wetness of it. One of Lythronath's feet is sinking, from where it splashed up that springtime-cool lakewater. Both rider and dragon are on the lookout again, A'rist sitting up higher, Lythronath swinging his head back and forth, scanning, and now, quiet. So very quiet.

Edyis, watches the two for a few moments before detaching herself and sliding down, it's evident now why she's dressed for an adventure as mud splats across the legs of her trousers. The pack is quickly opened and a map pulled as she checks it. "Like I told you before, it's pretty remote, main building is this way." She calls up, putting some distance between herself and the bronze at a casual pace.

"Yeah," A'rist agrees at length, dropping from Lythronath's shoulder only once he's had his fill of looking. The dragon carries on swinging his head, sniffing, and then pausing, all still, to listen. The rider takes a few jogging strides to catch up, adjusting his belt as he goes, not much seeming to care about the mud (though surely, as Lythronath's rider, he regularly wades through much worse). "What happened to it?"

Focused on her map, and occasionally glancing back to Lythronath, she surveys the area halting after a few more strides. "Combination of things, an inheritance dispute - and then an illness in the livestock, the herd died off and since the main hold is further down the mountain and no longer needed the extra pasture it was left to go fallow." There's something of a smirk, before she starts jogging ahead, not knowing the area well enough to go at a full run. "According to the records it was something that happened frequently during passes, cot holds like this one were abandoned because they were indefensible against thread and it helped the weyrs to consolidate sweep areas. During interval though, it's usually sickness or stupidity." She stops in front of what was the main building.

A'rist matches his pace to hers as she moves. "If it's no good in a pass," he starts, pausing mid-sentence to sweep another look about him, then turning back in her general direction, "why use it in interval? Or is it just a grazing spot? Easy to move, maybe..." he's thinking out loud, and so, soon, trailing off. Lythronath has dipped his muzzle in the lake, but not taken any of the water to drink. Dripping, and for once not with blood, he starts to move through the cothold as well. "But why not keep the buildings - at least the fence - up if they were gonna claim it again?"

"Pass isn't what holders are worried about these days, they seem to have all but forgotten the real enemy in favor of blaming the weyrs for things like missing ships. Go to a bar in Tillek sometime and you'll hear them, give them a few more generations and even the comet pass will have been forgotten in favor of rumors like disappearing ships and riders assisting in the exile of the noble blooded." Derision clear in her tone. "This particular hold is only now getting to the point where they can afford to expand again, and a wiser head leading would have kept the buildings up, but like many things -- it's only wanted when it can be useful." A stray wisp of hair pushed out of her face, as she tucks the map back in. "Where do you want to start?"

A'rist holds his tongue for the time, now, simply nodding, looking, and all the while trying to keep an ear turned toward Edyis. Those buildings in particular get his attention. And then, some of the fence. "Whose land is this, then? What happened in that inheritance thing?" Apparently, he's not ready to start yet. Lythronath carries on his motions, still eerily quiet, through the cothold.

"A family my father used to trade lumber with, the inheritance issue -- well that was about like most, two brothers wanted to fight over what they considered theirs, this place was left to the younger and his wife, but the man didn't want to leave his position in the craft hall to claim it. Later when he returned and tried to stake that claim again, it caused a dispute. The eldest brother was killed in a runner accident, landed wrong when he was thrown from his beast." She comments, "Now the younger runs the whole cot-hold." Edyis moves again, moving through the barn door into the sun dappled darkness beyond.

"Lumber," repeats the bronzerider, faint interest in his voice, though he says nothing more on that new little fact. He ducks into that barn after her, giving an orienting sort of sniff, waiting to be sure his eyes will spot any lurking obstacles that might want to trip him. "So why did they come to you? Why you, to get this done?"

Edyis ducks under a fallen beam, moving carefully. "Because the younger brother married my sister, and because -" She stops realizing she was about to delve into personal matters she wasn't exactly comfortable discussing. "Does it really matter? You will get your marks regardless." It's almost pained.

"Yeah, because all those marks you keep talking about, I've been all over those from the start." There's a dry sarcasm in that. A'rist kicks at something that probably once was fodder, that now smells like fungus. Whatever Lythronath's up to, it's still silent. "So how come me and Lythronath? Really."

Edyis sighs, of course he does have a valid point. "Because you still owe me at least one answer, and because I thought it would be something Lythronath could have fun with." She completely sidesteps any additional reasons, though her ears may faintly tint red. "Why not you two?"

"At least one," A'rist repeats, sounding almost amusedly impressed. "Faranth," comes after he's paced a ways further into the barn, where he stops, looking up to that failing ceiling, "that feels like forever ago, that first one. Lynner was..." and then, the shrug. "I guess he's always been sort of the same." Which leads into the answer to that last rhetorical question, which he'd not forgotten, not really. "Lythronath being Lythronath... maybe makes this sort of playing with fire, doesn't it."

"He was smaller then." Her mouth twists as she leans against a support beam turning to study A'rist, "He's different yes, but he's still yours. You two are a packaged deal. So yes it's dangerous, even with all the precautions taken, but at the moment it's just us three out here, miles from another living soul. Worst that happens is you or I get hurt, and I trust you and your knowledge of him enough that I think I'm relatively safe in your company." A beat, and she adds, "Granted if you say no it does mean I have to come up with another bribe, so I do request a hint this time, or a suggestion."

A'rist brings his fingers, the tips of which toy at the topmost edge of his belt before settling, instead, on diving into his pockets (with the rest of his hands following, until the fingertips hit the bottom). "He's mine. Yeah. Thing is, I'm his, too." A speculative look through one of those sunbeams at her, then, with a clear shift, a laugh. "Even if we do go for this, you might need another bribe. Depends what you're asking, I guess."

Edyis watches and listens, letting silence fill the air for a beat or two before smiling. "I thought you might say that, and since marks hold no interest for you, and food is only of moderate value, I did happen to pack lunch." She notes slipping the pack from her shoulder, to settle on the ground beside her. "All I ever have are questions, but lets start with the one you promised to answer - what your favorite part of all of it was, is." She corrects, sliding down to sit next to the pack and opening the top.

"My favourite part," repeats A'rist, pushing at his pockets until that belt is forced to catch on his hips, eyes drifting almost closed for a moment, thinking back. "About Lythronath, right? About me and him." He opens his eyes fully once more, looking to the walls of that barn, now, the supporting pillars throughout. There's another moment allowed to pass, then all at once: "Better bribe: what were you going to say about your sister?" Even as a few steps bring him over to her, where he squats, though makes no move to grab at any foodstuffs.

Edyis' mouth twists unpleasantly at the suggested bribe, it could almost be called a wince. She buys a little time pulling a cloth out first and spreading it before placing the food parcels down, along with a bottle of wine, and juice with accompanying tin cups. "I don't like talking about home, and I don't know how much you already know." She starts sorting the items, mostly things she noticed he ate the most of. "My eldest brother and I didn't part on the best of terms, I haven't been back since well before I left for Monaco." The wine is uncorked and she pours a glass for herself, leaving A'rist to choose his own poison. "I didn't go back after hatching, and developed a reputation as a result. " The tin cup is lifted to her lips, "So they think of me as the black sheep who riders do things for because I sleep with them. Add to that the fact that I'm still stupid enough to do things for the sake of my sisters and there you have the reason they asked." And the reason she wanted to avoid the subject given the somewhat bitter tone.

"Not much," is a quick answer, encouragement for her to go on, and nothing more. From there, A'rist listens, brown eyes falling to the lunch she's pulling out, and staying on the empty cup once Edyis has secured her own. "So... they think they're sort of who-" That word gets bitten back, and he shakes his head, trying again with, "They're kinda trying to use you and you're just... going along with it for your sister." And that shifts his attention outside, face fuzzing as he finds Lythronath, wherever it is the bronze has gone now. Not far, surely... but so quiet. "And if something goes wrong, what loyalty do they have, what's gonna make them be reasonable anyway?"

She doesn't miss the intentional shift of wording, dark eyes considering him all the more thoughtfully for it, her expression takes a more alert shade however as his attention shifts outside. "I go along with it because it suits my purposes to do so, and because it will help my sister. A question for a question however, and you've yet to fully answer mine." Dark eyes intently studying. "It is very much in their best interests not to be unreasonable, but I understand if you two won't do it. It is just as easy to say no and tell them to go through proper channels, and it would be a pleasure to do so."

A'rist now reaches for the empty glass, though it stays empty, turned instead between has hands as he rocks lightly from heels to toes in his squat. "You've got purposes besides helping your sister?" But, question for question. The bronzerider relents, with an easy enough shrug. "Fine." The answer isn't so easy, and it takes some thought, much more turning of that glass, and the occasional blink before he has it. Even then, it's halting. "The thing with Lythronath is... I'm his as much as he's mine. He- he gets into me, sometimes." His dark eyes are on Edyis' face with that, better to drive home the intensity of his meaning there. After he's had his fill of staring in stillness, there's a nod. "And there's nothing we aren't stronger than." Those dark eyes, they're brightly alert now. "I guess," as he forces his gaze back to the glass, "it's not really him who's the unpredictable one." And still no decision on the demolition duties.

Fingers wrap around either side of her cup as she listens the faintest tinge of white showing at the knuckles. Eyes shift upward, observing the shafts of sunlight, perhaps considering the implications of that answer - or perhaps merely avoiding the intensity of that stare. It's only after the color returns that her lips curve lazily, twisting the expression into one of long awaited satisfaction. "I wondered why you kept avoiding the question." She responds finally, leveling her gaze at last on the rider. The bottle of wine is fetched and tipped into her cup again, followed by another long sip. "Seems like everybody's got parts of themselves they don't want others to see."

A'rist's expression turns almost bemused, mouth twisting, his head tilting just a little. That cup is turned, and set down on the floor before him. "Not much to do with what others see, really." It's almost like prescience, when he glances up, just in time for some of those sunbeams to be cut off from outside, parts of the barn darkened by outside movement. "Or with avoiding." Tapping the tip of that cup with his fingernail, for the sound: "So what's your purpose other than this sister of yours?"

"Must have been my obnoxious nature then." She quips, stifling further questions. Reaching over and freeing a meat roll from it's package she considers the question again, keenly aware of the disappearance of some of those sunbeams. Time is bought with several bites, then finally, "That, requires a better bribe." Lifting her cup again, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Not about you, either," A'rist answers her, almost apologetic, but also with a quiet gravity to his tone. He settles the empty cup back on the ground, and looking to it only as an afterthought now, then to Edyis, then to her meatroll. "I'm bribing you now, huh?" is far less serious. In the space of one of those sunbeams, now, an eye. Then, teeth. That's when A'rist reaches for her arm. "What do you want done here? Not your sister, or your purposes, just you?" He's getting a foot more squarely under him as it's asked.

Grinning, she nods for the bribery bit but then he's reaching for her arm and she's downing the last of the wine before setting down the cup. It is his question that throws her into surprised silence for several moments. "I just want to do something that doesn't require a lot of thought or pretending to be anyone else for a little while."

The arm A'rist has hold of gets a light tug as he stands, though his fingers are slack enough they'll release under resistance. "So let's go somewhere without family and purposes. What's the worst happens, barn falls down on its own?" Lythronath's talons can be seen at the door, now.

She doesn't resist following the gentle momentum of the tug to her feet, a smirk for the comment about the barn. "Either way, it isn't going to be my problem anymore." The barn in all it's ruin is given one last searching look. "Let's go, wherever it is you have in mind, Let's just go."