Difference between revisions of "Logs:Knot and Pestle"

>---< Western Bowl, High Reaches Weyr(#250RJs) >-----------------------------<

  The bowl's vast dirt floor extends in a rough oval from west to east, only

  sparse clumps of grass surviving between the crisscrossed pathways of     

  daily traffic. To the northwest stand massive gates to the world beyond,  

  allowing people, livestock, and tithes to pass beneath some of the seven  

  jagged spires that stand sentinel over that area of the bowl. In late     

  afternoons, their spindly, fingerlike shadows stretch over that end of the

  bowl all the way to the living cavern's hulking brass doors in the far    

  north.                                                                    

                                                                            

  Eastward, the bowl sprawls on toward the lake, sloping slightly downward  

  to allow runoff from rain and snowmelt, but to the south it's caged by    

  more cliffs of dark, rough-cut granite. Rocks poke up from the ground     

  here, a few large boulders and many smaller outcroppings worn smooth in   

  spots by time and use. A few ground weyr entrances dot the wall, the most 

  frequented ledge set up like a patio while the largest ledge services the 

  Weyrleaders' complex, directly beside the huge entrance to the hatching   

  sands. A more human-sized entrance, left of that, leads to the galleries. 

                                                                            

  Fog begins to coalesce in the very early morning hours and lingers        

  throughout the day, soft and still and clammy.                            

 -----------------------------< Active Players >-----------------------------

  Edyis        F  20  5'4"  athletic, brown hair, brown eyes              0s 

  Keysi        F  16  5'7"  athletic, brown hair, blue eyes               1m

 ----------------------------------< Exits >---------------------------------

>------------------------------------------<27D 4M 37T I10, spring night >---<

Late night. A bit of fog is just barely settled above the expanse of dirt that comprises the bowl. But otherwise, the sky is clear and the stars glitter softly in the oval of space visible beyond the Reaches of the Weyr. Keysi is sitting on a medium-ish rock amongst the outcropping in the eastward direction, and looks to be deep in thought and holding what seems to be a couple of token items in her hands- a white shoulder knot and a pestle that seems to be missing it's mortar counterpart. Although, reading her expression as to how she's feeling about those thoughts, of course, is darn near impossible.

Footfalls, near silent and steady, might be audible as the brunette picks a path through the starlit bowl. Edyis's neck cranes back to look at the sky as she walks, perhaps it is night for those who feel lost, because the one-time scribe certainly looks it. It is when dark eyes rest, by chance on the healer apprentice that her course changes. Pulling the flight jacket more tightly about her sleight frame. "Sixteenth-mark for your thoughts," lilts her soft soprano voice, closing the distance between them.

Turning her head just slightly to the soft footfalls proceeding in her direction, Keysi looks down again as Edyis' familiar voice reaches her. "Many things." She says after a very long moment, seeming to need beat to decide to open those thoughts to more detail, "Some people think that you have to give up everything to have a chance at more." And she lifted, just slightly, the white knot in her left hand. "But I just feel as though if you work hard enough, you can accomplish everything you dream of." Keysi's tone is her typical neutral, but soft and rather guarded. After another pause, her steely grey-blue eyes glance over to Edyis, "What has you wondering out here?"

• wandering

There is something knowing in that light laugh at the question, something understanding in the tip of her chin. "The danger of wanting everything is that if you aren't careful you will end up with nothing in the end." She sucks a breath through her teeth, deftly ambling up the rock to sit next to the healer, hanging one leg over the outcropping and bracing herself with hands leaned back. Again those eyes lift skyward, "I imagine probably the same thing that has you out here. Weighing out all the possible futures and trying to figure out a way to avoid having to choose just one."

"Can you not pursue knowledge and training if a dragon becomes your life? Is it really so encompassing that you can have nothing else, with all of your bridges burned and aquaintances lost? I cannot imagine it to be so astranging as that." Keysi trails off as she seems to clip the stream of questions short. It appears that's hardly the tip of the iceburg that she's been pondering about the last few days. But, considering she's walking around with the knot in her hand, she must have made the decision. Edyis' response is given a moment's consideration, "You will Stand?"

There is something to the twist of her lips at the word knowledge, glancing over her shoulder at the pale woman quietly. Listening to the tumbling trail of questions with a lift of a shoulder. "I don't think there is a man or beast alive that could halt the pursuit of knowledge by a devoted seeker. It isn't in the nature of the curious to simply stop." She exhales, tipping her head back again, laying back and folding her hands on the back of her skull so that she can look up at the stars without getting a cramp in her neck. "If I could lay out every possible future and choose the one that would leave me most satisfied, perhaps that would be an easy question to answer."

Keysi seems sated with that answer, and leans back slightly as she takes a deep breath and exhales just as deeply. "To me, it is all a challenge. Life, that is. There's always some goal to reach for. You go forward at your very best, your one hundred percent, and in the end- even if you fail- you know you did all you could." She pauses, and finally looks down to study Edyis' expressions. "And with that, you must be satisfied, aye? You could do no more than you did, and try no harder than you tried. Left no opportunity untaken."

"An optimist, I wouldn't have guessed." The once-scribe chuckles darkly, "What do you strive for Keysi? What is the goal that pushes you on, driving you to greater and greater heights?"

Keysi leans forwards to put her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. There is a long pause before eventually, she shrugs just slightly. "There is always something." Is offered cryptically before she deflects. "What about you? What makes the choice to Stand or not difficult? Is there something that you'll lose by trying?

"Freedom." She replies succinctly. "The chance to expand what I know, the chance to experience new horizons as I exist now. The ability to have some measure of control over my own destiny." There is a self-depreciative snort at that, "Sounds like a load of egotistical runner shit when I say it out loud. It doesn't change the truth, but I suppose to refine the point further. I am uncertain of standing because I am afraid to change the way things are." Edyis adds after a beat, "Even as I feel dissatisfied by them."

There's a brief hint of frustration that shifts over her face as her eyes narrow for a moment, and then she returns to her baseline. "It does seem as though freedom is.. questionable." Keysi's voice drops to what could be considered a grumble. "And," she adds, "as I said, I "believed" life is a challenge. And then all of a sudden, it's whether you're meant for something or not. It doesn't matter what you've worked for." A slight change in the commisure of her lips suggests a grin that might-have-been at her words. "But," She emphasizes with a pause, "do you think it's worth wondering forever 'what if?'" She stands then, stretching her arms over her head. "And besides, for all the sparring we do on the ground, can you imagine fighting in the sky?"

"Those two tiny words, are very likely to be the death of me," Edyis admits with a wry laugh. Sitting up then to slip down off the outcropping. "What if, and why." She grins looking up at the healer, "As it happens though, the answer to your predicament, is an astonishingly easy one."

Keysi eventually lets her arms- stiff as they always are from their last confrontation with a heavy bag- fall back to her sides. A jump from the outcropping drops her back to the dirt ground below. "I have a feeling given the words I shared the other day in the caverns don't make my predicament that easy." She says in low tones before turning to look at the once-scribe, "And what is that?"

"Talk to Leova. Talk to the Weyrwomen. Healing and Dragonriding are far from mutually exclusive." Edyis grins then, raking a hand through dark curls. "You were the one who said life was a challenge. What did you wind up saying any way?"

"Aye. Dragonhealing.. I'm not sure that's for me. But I haven't really thought about it much." Keysi trails off, then shakes her head, "It all goes back to your talk about freedom. There's a lot of politics involved and I jumped in with only half-educated opinions." Her words are self-chastising and her expression grows more stern, if that's possible. "I guess there's still time to consider all the options, but I think there's only one that makes sense. It could all backlash, though." She pauses, and takes a half step or two towards the center of the bowl, "It would be nice if you were there too."

"All anybody has when it comes to politics is half-baked opinions." Edyis points out stretching almost lazily. "People healing too if you believe the Harper stories." Her expression softens and she nods. "I imagine I will be, if not on the sands, in the galleries putting heavy bets on you."