Caoimhe half-turns with a smile. "Ah." Then she faces Ellya once more - certainly something will come of her statement. She would be disappointed otherwise.
Ellya smiles wryly and then says, "Oh." Then she slows her speech down. "Should I talk very slowly for you so that you understand?" Then she speaks louder, "Can you understand me? " Then a brief pause, "Is that too difficult for you, are the words too long?"
Caoimhe rubs her chin slowly. "Could you try once more, please?" she asks innocently.
Ellya looks bemused as she glances the way of Arilynne and Buroughs, "Funny, I didn't know we had any drudges or incompetent, slow-witted people here at Ista. She must be new. Were you all going somewhere?" Her eyebrows raise.
Caoimhe points out, "I can't be incompetent. I don't have a job. And I've lived here all my life."
Buroughs doesn't snicker instead he answers solemnly, to Caoimhe. "Who is this Personage, Caoimhe? Is she an aquantance of yours or is she a lugubrious leech?"Arilynne belatedly follows Caoimhe's demand, leader that she is she had to confer with her fellow candidates before taking such a dramatic step. "This is it," she grimaces at the lower caverns and then makes a face at Caoimhe. "I've seen the lower caverns before." At Ellya's query, she points to the weyrgirl, "I was following her."
Caoimhe sighs. "If she's a leech, she's a very important one, wouldn't you say?" To Ellya, "That's my job. Leader. I lead, others follow. We were going to go swimming. Care to come?"
Ellya turns her gaze back to Caomimhe. "Ah. So you are only lazy. You don't do any work at all around here and we've let you remain? I'm amazed. Simply amazed." She looks upon the girl in disgust -- after all, the girl's the one that said it. "Well, if you're slow witted though, that explains it. Can't be giving slow witted people responsibility."
Caoimhe nods amiably. "Yes'm. You 'n I, lazy together."
S'era comes in from the Living Cavern.
Ellya laughs coldly. "Lazy? Child," She accentuates the word. "I've lived a very hard life filled with responsibility. You seem to be one that needs to be taken over the knee though and have it impressed upon your behind that you too should take some responsibility. I'm the one to do it too."
Arilynne's head spins with the conversation around her. Lazy, leeches, drudges, and swimming all compile into a rather unhappy scenario for the Healer. "Drudges were attacked while swimming by lazy leeches?"
"Actually, the leeches were swimming when they attacked. The drudges weren't." Turning back to Ellya, Caoimhe considers for a long moment, then nods. "Ma'am, you just think of a job that you'd /really/ want me to do. I mean, /really/." She blinks at her for a moment. "D'you want me to wash your dragon?"
Ellya smiles very confidently and advances toward Caoimhe. "In fact, if you're the insolent brat I heard about from the cook, you're supposed to be in the kitchens this very instant, scrubbing the grime from dishes." She purses her lips. "Instead of mucking about here disturbing candidates."
Ellya scoffs, "I wouldn't let you touch Narimeth, Especially since you've said you were slow-witted. You might scrub his skin off or soemthing."
Qia appears from behind a drape covering the entrance to the candidate's barrack.
Caoimhe holds her ground. "I do believe you're right," she says wonderingly. "THat's what happened to the cook, after all."
Buroughs laughs, in true marriment at Ellya's statement about candidates. "She isn't bothering me, Is she bothering you Aril? YOu seem to be the only one bothering candidates, ma'am. And if your dragon needs washing, I would be glad too, though I doubt I could do a better job than Caoimhe." He may not like everything she says, but one doesn't pester his friends.
Ellya eyes Caoimhe. "You scrubbed her skin off? I dare say you didn't. That woman's been known to wield a heavy spoon to the ears of all that talk back to her." She spots S'era and says "Do you know this little girl here?" She points at Caoimhe. "Never seen her before, but then I don't tend to pay much attention to the lower caverns folk. I have until recently spent my time in the barracks."
Stomp, stomp, stomp. S'era's boots cank heavily against the floor as she storms in from the Living Cavern, ribbons hanging limply from her black curls. Her eyes almost seem darker, more shadowy than usual, lips curved into a heavy pount. "Not letting me out of the weyr. Hmp. Not --" Abruptly, the muttering is caught off, and S'era's head tilts upwards, black eyes catching the light to shine like black onyx. "Who attacked what? Whose being lazy? Can I help them?"
Arilynne looks vastly /un/relieved. "Really," she asks naively before looking about, "Should I offer to help? Where's the infirmary?" Shoulders square and back straightens, Aril the Healer reporting for duty Sir... Ma'am... err, whatever.
Qia slips out of the barracks quietly, having made up her mind finally it would seem and lagging behind Arilynne by quite a few steps .. and quite some time besides. Slipping over towards the other candidate, she state-whispers. "What'd I miss?"
Ellya looks genuinely pleased, "A healer eh?" She muses, "We need more healers around here. If you Impress I hope you look into dragon healing. We could use every one we get. Sometimes there are accidents -- during Summer Games, or drills. Firestone can be dangerous to use." She waves a hand airily to S'era. "I was thinking we should get these poor candidates out of the barracks when I see this girl leadin' them off somewhere."
Arilynne turns her head minutely in order to whisper in Qia's general direction, "Drudges were attacked by lazy leeches while swimming and somehow she's," finger points towards Caoimhe, "Involved. She might have masterminded the whole evil deed, after all, shouldn't the weyr lake be free of leeches?"
Ellya frowns and says "The Weyr lake is very small. You can't even bathe a full grown dragon there, not properly. Thats what the ocean's for."
"I was taking them to the lake. To drown them," Caoimhe states. It's common practice. Raking hand through her hair, she glances back at Arilynne. "Actually, it's the Candidates' job to catch every leech in the lake. Not mine." Swivel, and she's forward-facing once more. Ten hut. "Oh, hi, Wingleader."
Ellya looks annoyed now. "There're no leeches in the lake." She focuses on Caoimhe, though she looks extremely pained to be doing so. "So where were you taking our candidates, girl?"
Qia blinks at Arilynne for a lonnng moment and glances at Caoimhe, whom she doesn't quite trust, so the scheme sounds plausible indeed. "Leeches... ew," she comments, then peers over at Buroughs, kind of giving him a sideways glance and a nod. She remembers him from the clutching night. And then there's S'era.. who's hopefully (please please) not proddy anymore.
"She did?" S'era swings around to stare at Caoimhe, jaw falling; "You didn't ask me to help? I'm good with leaches, but I think they should be saved -- aren't they good for healing? My Ma always says that a leech or two will help you live to long age!" S'era pauses, brows pushing down. "Drowning candidates isn't good. You're meant to use them for slaves. Isn't that right, Ellya?"
Buroughs decides to set the leech thing strait. "No. I called Blue rider Ellya, a Lugubrious leech. Thats how that got started. That and we were headed to swim."
Arilynne puffs up noticably with pride at her profession, "Accidents are what I'm best at," she boasts. Err, that didn't come out right. "You wanted to drown us," she screeches, offended, before wimpering pathetically. "But why?"
Caoimhe wilts. "I'm sorry, S'era. Next time, I'll send you for the job." She glances mildly at Ellya. "You haven't made any deragatory comments in the past thirty seconds," she comments. "You must be getting old."
Ellya looks over Buroughs now and says "Why would you call me a leech?" Her eyes narrow.
Qia's jaw drops a bit at Caoimhe, but considering what she heard out of her mouth before, she's not going to be /too/ surprised by that, and then there's Buroughs, of which she doesn't know so well /either/. "Alright, I'm confused," she admits, though not to anyone in particular.
Caoimhe glances at Arilynne with pity. "Because you're a /Candidate/." As if that explains everything. "You're the scum of the weyr. Extra puppies get drowned. They get tied in a sack full of rocks and thrown into a lake. That's what we do to you."
Buroughs looks at Ellya square in they eyes...if that is possible. "I called you a Lugubrious leech, because you are one. You are depressing and anoying. You came here for no other reason than to pick a fight. If I am out of line, you may punish me, but you can't stop me from saying it. Wheather you like it or not. Now if you have business, or wish to converse civily, do so. If not, I humbly request you leave."
Caoimhe whistles softly. "I thought you /wanted/ to be a scummy Candidate, Buroughs," she remarks laconically. "That's not the way to stay one."
Ellya draws herself up and says "Pick a fight? No, I didn't. However, you're the one speaking disrespectfully to me. I was fairly nice until you both got into it with me."
Buroughs then turns coldly to Caoimhe. "Maybe not, but I refuse to have my friends treated like scum. And that goes for you too Caoimhe." He's in trouble, and he knows it. "I do not appreciate you twisting the conversation for the sole purpose of scaring candidates. They are /not/ scum as you maintain. If they were theire would be no dragon riders."
Caoimhe clears her throat. "Actually, Ellya," she begins, "You came in here and told me that I was either wrong in the head or weak in the belly. So, in actuality, /you/ started it."
Arilynne eyes Buroughs rather wide-eyed herself. "Hsst," she whispers with an elbow jab, "That's not the way to get a rider to let you wash her dragon." Caoimhe is given a hurt look, "But I'm not a puppy," she states the obvious rather well. "And who'd want to drown a poor puppy anyway," she adds, deciding on a crusade. "Puppies are cute and helpless, what sort of mean, drastically evil person would do such a thing?" Caoimhe, of course, is given a suspicious glare.
The questionably intelligent one, that would be Qia, takes a step back and presses herself up against the wall, getting this deer in the headlights look as she watches the interplay between Ellya, Caoimhe and Buroughs. Hmm, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to come out here, but she did anyhow and now isn't quite up to moving away. She watches instead, like a car accident, she just can't look away.
Ellya adds, "Let me remind you that you are nothing but a candidate. You will speak respectfully to me. I am a dragonrider, and I was the Weyrlingmaster, and I'll not have any sass out of any of you. You're not even one of my three children to be speaking like that to me." Then she eases, "No, candidates are not scum. Candidates are not lower than lower caverns folk either." She turns her gaze on Caoimhe. "No, I did not tell you that you was. I asked you if you was. You're the one that bowed to me. I was wondering, quite pleasantly, if you were ill. One doesn't typically bow to riders, just to Lords and Ladys."
Adria has arrived.
Rogue blinks in from ::between:: with a flip of short green tail.
Jeretta appears from behind a drape covering the entrance to the candidate's barrack.
Caoimhe says indignantly, "I did not /bow/ to you! I only bow to fire lizards!" She sniffs. "I /nodded/ to you."
Ellya continues, "You're the one that said you were. Not I. I think you need to recall very closely exactly what it was that was said. I was merely jesting with you, and you are the one that brought it this far. You've only yourself to blame." Then she turns to S'era. "Faugh, you take them out with the dragons. I'm retired and I want to enjoy my retirement!"
Caoimhe flips her hands at Ellya. "Shoo, auntie, shoo."
Jeretta peers around the corner, violet eyes darting around the room. People. But more floor space. She emerges all the way out of the corridor, trailing yards of emerald green fabric and thread.
Arilynne's reaction to Ellya's words are rather less than dramatic. For once the candidate remains quiet... well, quiet for all of a second or so before she finds the courage to peep up and ask, "So there's no leech covered drudges that need prompt attention?" Pity.
Ellya eyes Caoimhe quietly and says "You bow to firelizards?" She sounds incredelous. "Oh goodness gracious. " Then she says "I've warned you, that you will not speak so to me. I'm not an auntie. I'm 'Ellya' or Rider. I think I've done enough to have earned that kind of respect, even if you do not like me. But then I didn't ASK anyone to like me and could care less." After all, someone has to be an unpleasant person some of the time, "Now, if you can't accept a jesting query, and instead twist it and turn it until another person looks horrible in everyone elses' eyes, then you've got something of a problem. I don't like being bowed to, and I'll react the same to anyone. I just want decent treatment, not fawning or beligerence."
Adria edges closer to Buroughs. "What's going on?" she asks him in a low voice. "The stories a(going) around yet?"
Caoimhe turns innocently to Buroughs. "Did I bow to her? No. I nodded to her." Honestly.
Buroughs just stands, hands clasped behind his back, eyeing Ellya, body tense, legs at shoulder width, perfect formal at ease. Taking the reprimand without a word. "I should not have said what I said, as I said it. I appologize for the rudeness of my phrasing." This to Ellya. Then to Adria, "There has been an argument." he states simply. "I believe I insulted the rider."
Ellya shrugs and says "Suit yourself. I know what I saw, and how you reacted after I asked my question. And I know that I didn't say you were anything until you said it yourself. Bah. You're not worth the effort." She says of Caoimhe. She turns and eyes Buroughs, watching him for a lengthy moment and then abruptly smiles. "Diplomatic, and able to handle me well enough. Fine then. Forgiven." And she seems abruptly calm and unruffled. "Go to your swimming if you like then. Perhaps you can help us another time with the dragons if you like." She says in a gruff voice.
Caoimhe slyly pinches Buroughs' butt. "Lighten up, 'Roughs." She chuckles. "Formality in the face of authority gets wearing after a while."
Ellya reaches out to nudge S'era. "You and I can have a drink in the Cavern. I have a query to ask you. I'm without a wing now you know, and I have to keep busy. I've never liked not to keep busy."
Ellya eyes Caoimhe and then says in a cool voice, "I don't know. I rather found it fitting. Others should see that as a fine example -- the formaility, not the beligerence." She adds.
"You would," Caoimhe notes succintly.
Buroughs glances once at Caoimhe, and nods politely to Ellya. "I shall remember that. Dragonrider. And I thank you for your forgiveness." He relaxes a notch, but only a notch.
Ellya points at Caoimhe. "I find it hard to believe you've been raised here. I don't know who fostered you girl, but they didn't do a very apt job of instilling respect into your mannerisms. I'll have to find out and recommend they not be in charge of raising any more of our weyr's children. You lack politeness as well."
Qia wanders off into her thoughts -- she's a lost cause now.
Qia has disconnected.
Caoimhe shrugs cheerily. "I went through three foster parents before they let me raise myself." She arches a brow. "There's a time and a place for politeness. Now and here is not it."
Ellya scoffs, "I doubt it sincerely. Now you're lying." She wrinkles her nose.
Caoimhe's face becomes cherubic. "Would I lie to you?"
Arilynne scuffles her feet against the hard dirt of the floor, boots stirring up more than the usual amount of dust. Someone needs to sweep, but before Aril's asked, she turns to Ellya to asks with all the sweetness she can muster, "Would it be possible to have my chores be reassigned to Healer duties?" Aril, trying to escape the unpleasantness of latrine scrubbing? You betcha!
Ellya tugs on S'era's arm and drags the greenrider off. Then she pauses to say "Ask the Weyrwoman, it might be possible, or rather, ask Janah, the weyrsecond. She might agree." She says to Arilynne.
Which is a wonderful idea, but Aril's yet to meet the infamous Janah. Nodding, she wonders just how one seeks out a reclusive - or perhaps the weyrsecond's just avoiding Aril - bluerider.
Ellya whispers softly in S'era's ear and then grins at the greenrider before letting go of S'era's arm and walking ahead into the cavern.
Ellya goes out.
"They were saying mean stuff about candidates, 'n I was a candidate, Ellya." S'era mutters darkly, turning her head slightly to shoot a glare from stoney onyx eyes towards The Two. "Can I get Vuiyth to sit on them?" This time, the greenrider's voice is childish, plaintive. "And I want a healer pet." The rider escapes, to turn back and glare, with a smile on her lips. Yes, it is posible.
Caramaena comes in from the Living Cavern.
Arilynne is rather happy to comply to S'era's request, moving to pet the greenrider in long strokes. "There you go," she finishes with a smile. That'll be two marks, please.
"Oooh!" S'era's beam grows. "Thank you!" The girl ... greenrider clasps her hands together, before moving as if to tug the healer towards the living cavern. "You all come? I'll give you /wine/. It's benden wine, too, but if Ellya's there, pretend that it's juice, and she'll naught noticed the difference."
Rogue goes out.
Caoimhe goes out.
Arilynne is tugged, rather happily. "Did you say Benden?"
"Yepyep!" With that S'era skips -- that's right, skips, white ribbons awaving -- towards the Living Cavern.
Buroughs actually, steps out of his at ease position, and seems to relax, though his mouth is clamped tightly shut. He watches Caoimhe leave, but doesn't move just yet.
S'era goes out.