Living Cavern (#4190)
The smooth, rounded walls of the vast living cavern sweep upward from an oval base, two dragonlengths long and one wide, large enough to seat every member of the Weyr at mealtimes. The soft blackness of the lava which forms these caverns swallows glowlight, so shelves for glowbaskets abound, dotting the walls every three or four paces and casting gentle greenish light up toward the sparkles of gold volcanic glass embedded in the ceiling. Ancient lustrous tables run along the long axis of the cavern, and at the far end is the raised dais and high table, where the Weyrleaders and their honored guests eat during formal occasions. Behind the high table, the Weyr's symbol is chiseled into the stone: a smoking mountain in black, on an orange shield, trimmed in gold.

Kaeryn walks with slow, cautious steps, her arms loaded with a rather large stack of books and hides, in from the caverns that lead to the Harper's Area. As usual, when the weyrharper has been hard at work, a crudely sharpened pencil peeks out from behind one ear, and the black coloring from the work marks her fingers.

Children's toys. Feh. Everyone's a big brat at heart, no? Yla grins at Skiyra. "Oh yes, you certainly have to show us." Especially if she and her hair are in the picture. Yes, siree. Raging egomaniac, right here. Well... only in her spare time, at least.

And T'rell has a sock-wherry in his hand. "What's this one's name?" he asks Yla, then checks its belly to see if it, too, is labelled in its stitching. "Oh, hi, Kae." Down goes the wherry. "Need help with those?"

Feigning injury, Lib's sock wherry begins to stagger around, eventually falling off her hand at T'rell's puppet's feet. "Tsk. Look what you've done now." Grinning, Lib pokes at the wherry a little. "These are really neat, Yla." Weyrling comments, tilting her head slightly to look at the toys. "Ooh. Yes. Show us." Greenrider then echoes, nodding at Skiyra

Kae grins and shakes her head, moving, if quite slowly, in the direction of the others. "Just a couple things I've been asked to sort through and check for inaccuracies, nothing I can't handle." Regardless of what she says, the weyrharper does release quite a sigh of relief when the books are settled on the table, and no longer in her arms. "Good morning, all."

"Zu..." Yla declares, after a moment of looking at which sockwherry T'rell had been holding. "Oh, morning Kaeryn." she says with a smile, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear.

T'rell winks to Lib as he picks up Zu the sock-wherry, gathering it up along with Zan. "See what Yla's made for the kids, Kae? Aren't they something," he adds with a grin. "If they can keep us entertained, imagine what 'Cia and Issh will think?"

Kaeryn slumps tiredly into a nearby chair, reaching out to accept one of the sock-creatures for inspection. "Thank you very much, Yla. Hopefully these will keep 'Cia from hiding my paintbrushes again. Or her Father's boots, which she tried to do early this morning."

Skiyra looks up at the three and blows the last of the charcoal dust off of the picture. "I'm done." she says. She stands, and dusts off her dress, and walks over to T'rell first, showing him the sketch. Something is making a rather annoying jingling noise.

Yla chuckles lightly. "Well, if my brothers and I are any indication, they're fairly engaging." She says with a grin. And they're gosh darned cute toys to boot.

"Only thing is, they might start desectrating your socks to make friends for Zu and Zan..." Lib observes, holding her crossed legs at her ankles and smiling at Kaeryn. "Might be an idea to hunt them out some spares they can chop up without problems. Missing socks can be a pain..." And Lib's not looking at Yla. Nope, not at all.

"What d'ye mean, tried to do? I still haven't found 'em." No, T'rell's not in bare feet, but his boots look overly worn. "Oh, hey, have a look at this," he gestures to Kaeryn as he surveys Skiyra's sketch. "What do you think, Harper?"

Kaeryn laughs quietly, upon inspection of T'rell's current footwear, "You should have checked Sejith's couch, that's where she hid my 'brushes." A soft groan accompanies the harper's movement as she leans over to look at the work. Eyebrows raise and her pink tongue slips across her lips, silently appraising the work. "Definite talent here," she mumbles quietly, glancing up at the artist and offering a smile.

Ragnar winks a goodmorning to all but continues into the weyr bowl.

Skiyra smiles at Kaeryn. "Thankyou." she says softly, not used to praise, it's just charcoal after all.

T'rell nods to Skiyra, signifying his agreement with Kaeryn's assessment. "Not bad at all. Here, guys, have a look." He tilts the sketch toward the pair of weyrlings. "She's even got your hair, Yla."

Skiyra smiles, and blushes again. How many different shade of pink can one girl blush?

Curiosity getting the better of her, Lib unfolds her legs and wonders around to where to she can get a look at the sketch. "Oooh." Greenrider coos, leaning to get a better look. "That's great! I don't suppose you could do me a copy, maybe?" Weyrling looks hopefully at Skiyra.

Yla leans forward to get a good look at the sketch, then automatically reaches up to touch her blue stripy hair which has not, mysteriously, yet grown out. Even after a turn. Could it possibly be that *gasp* She likes her stripes. "Oh yes..." she says, grinning at Skiyra. "It's a very good likeness."

Skiyra smiles "I'll have to get some loose paper.. but I'll work on it if you want.." She doesnt' really know what to say. "You really like my drawing.. Not that many people really do.. I mean not that I've shown them to many people but..

"And that explains it," T'rell cuts in with a grin. "Think you could do something with the kid, Kae?"

"I only offer praise to those that deserve it," Kaeryn replies, offering the girl a respectful nod and a tired smile. "You should stop by the harper room later today and gather a few supplies. There's a box on the table that's for apprentices and students, feel free to use those." To T'rell, she nods, though just barely, "If she's interested in studying with us, I probably could."

"I'll pay for all the materials you need, and how ever much is normal for something like that...?" Lib isn't exactly sure what that is, but she has a few marks at least. "Maybe you could do one of me, Yla and Naomi and our lifemates? I'd like something like that to hang in my weyr..."

That's what happens when you get caught sketching the wrong folk -- you wind up with career options. Well satisfied, T'rell drains his klah mug -- quite cold by this time, but better than yesterday's.

Skiyra looks around, blissfully unaware that they're talkign about her and the studying, etc. She looks over at Lib and says "I.. well.. you like it that much? Sure. I guess I could do sketches too, but.." She looks around, and then realizes what the rider and the harper has been talkign about. "Are you talking about me? I'm not a..well, I'm not in a craft, and I don't want to use what's not mine and.."

Yla looks up at the mention of her name, but having tuned out for a brief moment, she's managed to lose track of the conversation. "Uh... yeah." she says, bobbing her head as if she knows what's going on. "Well, take lessons then. Maybe the Harpers would be willing?" Of course, she can't speak for them, but the weyrharper's right there, isn't she? So go ask.

Kaeryn lifts her shoulders slightly, shrugging, "Well, what's in that box is mine, and I've offered it for your use, as long as you promise not to be wasteful, because I've students that need it as well. As for lessons, I give a few art lessons for non-harpers, just keep an ear out and join us the next time I do?" Feeling that the subject is settled, Kae's attention returns to the pile of books she carried into the room. The top book is plucked from the stack, brought down to the table and opened.

Skiyra feels as though she has no choice in the matter, but honestly doesn't care. She muuters a soft thankyou as she walks over to get her klah mug. "Yla? Did i hear right that you made those sock-puppet-things?" she says, trying to tchane the subject off of her.

"Sock /wherries/." Yla corrects automatically, bobbing her head and smiling. "And yes, I did. Cute, no?" She grins, pointing to the toys lying on the table.

T'rell again picks up the musty hide that had occupied his attentions before he was pleasantly distracted by the weyrlings and Yla's toys. Still unwilling to devote himself to study, he glances at Kaeryn's work. "What'd you get stuck with today?"

"It seems that someone feels there are discrepancies between the records found in these books," Kaeryn lifts a hand and pats the stack of books near the top, followed by the hides near the bottom, "and these hides. And they were sent to me with the request that I sort through each and everyone one of them for errors. It's usually something Torlan would do, but he's already up to his eyes in work, so they sent it to me."

Skiyra pours hot klah in her mug, looking around at who's here, and what else she could sketch.

Ragnar stands up and bellows near the top of his voice from the corner of the cavern. "Would any rider be nice enough to give me a quick ride to the Smith Hall please?"

"Still a weyrling..." Lib replies to Ragnar, wincing slightly at the volume and rubbing her ears slightly. Greenrider shrugs, then sits back down, legs crossing under her again. "Let me know when my copy's ready, please?" She asks of Skiyra.

Yla blinks at Ragnar, then glance at Lib. "Ditto." she says, in response to the 'weyrling' comment.

T'rell flicks a glance at the bellower, shakes his head slightly, sighs, then ignores. One strike. "And I thought I had it bad," he indicates to Kaeryn his hide, old and disintegrating as it is and yet nothing compared to her stack.

Ragnar doesn't appear to get angry but just walks over to the cavern door with his big canine and starts to walk out the door. "Argh a load of wet behind the ears Weyrlings and someother old invalids." Ragnar stalks out with his eyes fixed on the bowl outside.

"What's that one, then?" Kae leans over once again, peering at the hide on the table in front of T'rell, wrinkling her nose at it's condition. "Could stand to be recopied, whatever it is. I hear Torlan has an apprentice studying with him now, planning to be an archivist just like Torlan. I'm sure he wouldn't mind recopying that for you." Attention is forcefully pulled away from the hide as the demanding man takes his leave, "I only see fully competant folks here, personally, though I don't rightly understand why anyone would be willing to help a man with that sort of an attitude."

Skiyra hears the comment from the most recently exited man, and chokes on her klah. Invalids? The weyrleader's sitting here for Faranth's sake!

Yla would assume that was who Ragnar was referring to. But she ignores the recent exit in favour of leaning back in her chair and continuing to munch on her fruit with a single-minded determination. Food is important, yep.

T'rell shrugs, dismissing the retreating man with a castoff gesture. "Never mind, he'll figure it out soon enough." He grins wickedly for just a moment. "Oh, it's stuff from the last Pass about our weather and Threadfall." Back to the hide. "Only it's about half-readable." He eyes the old parchment dubiously, holding it out at arm's length to study it. "You're right, I'll ask Torlan about copying it."

Skiyra looks at Kaeryn, and says "Where are those supplies you said I could use? I want to get started on the copy for Rider Lib rght away.

"I don't know what it is about his eyes, but he can understand hides that I could never read," Kaeryn notes with a shrug of disbelief, "and I like to think that I've pretty good eyes myself." Once again, the harper's attention turns in another direction, and she faces Skiyra, "If you go through those caverns," she points at the southern caverns, "and into the harper area, there should be a box on the table there marked apprentices. If anyone asks you what you're doing there, just tell them that Master Kaeryn said you could have what you need."

"Still out class him, weyrling or not." Lib mutters, a digusted look going to the man's back. How... vulgar. "Oh, there's no rush, hon." Weyrling is back to smiling as she turns to Skiyra, the man wanting a ride forgotten. "And it's just plain Lib to friends. No need for the 'rider' business."

Yla pats Lib's arm gently from where she sits. "Just pity him and visualise him in a cage for his attitude." She says with a firm nod. It's a very nice image, no?

T'rell gives up on the hide and replaces it flat on the table. "Torlan's pretty busy, though, huh? Maybe I can slip this in," he considers, silent for a moment. "Whoops, Sejith reminds me it's nearly drills, so I'd better quick remember what we were planning today, eh?" He chuckles, just barely catching Yla's remark. "Stick that cage in the feeding grounds, just for good measure," he adds with a wink as he rises. "Don't work too hard," he cautions the Weyrharper affectionately, resting a hand lightly on her shoulder.

Kaeryn glances at the exit to the bowl once again, nose wrinkling with distaste, "A man such as that is likely to have more enemies than he does friends, especially speaking of *riders* as such. Weyrling or no, you do out rank him, but even if you didn't, no man has the right to insult a rider as so, espeically not in a weyr." A hint of fire flashes, though belatedly, in the harper's eyes, though for the insult to all riders, or for *her* rider, only she'll know. Fire melts to a calmer mood with the touch of T'rell's hand, "I won't, and if I do, 'Cia will stop me. See you at lunch." She reaches up, patting his hand affectionately, immediately followed by grabbing another book.

Skiyra smiles, and hops up, trustingly leaving her sketchbook with her things, and going off to get what she needs.

T'rell slides the musty hide from the table, carefully re-rolling it with both hands. "See you," he echoes Kaeryn with a smile. "Keep these kids out of trouble, will ye?" The request is to the harper, but it's only in fun; he grins as he tosses a salute to the two weyrlings. "Later, folks."

Yla snerks at the thought of leaving such a cage in the feeding pens and wonders if Cassie would attempt to divebomb it. She looks innocently at T'rell. Would she be /in/ trouble?

Kaeryn watches as the weyrleader returns to his duties, a look of adoration in the harper's eyes. A contented sigh escapes her parted lips and her gaze shifts back to the others at the table, "Well, you heard him, I'm to keep you out of trouble, right? So, who's good with kids?"

Lib chuckles quietly to herself, fiddling with the empty mug in front of her for a moment. Kaeryn then gets a blank look, greenrider blinking at her for a moment before responding cautiously. "Kids? Not me. No way. No, no, no..." Lib shakes her head, she still remembers that little candidate nusery incident... She's not good with kids at all.

"Uh... I made cute toys for them." Yla points to the sturdy child-friendly sockwherries on the table. "And I had lots of siblings. Still do actually." she says absently, hmming to herself. "The youngest is six." Yla says, "If that's what you call good with kids."

"I'm sure the pair of you are ready to lose that weyrling title though, aren't you? Though we all know that it's a stage all riders have to go through, it's amazing how few people think weyrlings still deserve respect," Kaeryn's voice softens, obviously trying to touch the weyrlings enough to get to know them, at least a little better.

Yla shrugs lightly. "They probably think of as as glorified apprentices or something," she says mildly. "It doesn't really bother me much... but being respected... would be nice." And she doesn't mean the doe eyed wonder of some people finding out she's a rider.

"Being an apprentice I'm used to," And Lib grins at Yla. "But it will be nice to get above latrine cleaning rank, that's for sure." Greenrider was lucky enough not to draw that duty /too/ often, but once would've been more than enough. "Mostly people have been okay though, and you can never get on with everyone..."

Skiyra walks back in, canvas in hand, and sits back down in the corner with her things. "Thankyou Harper Kaeryn."

Kaeryn nods, listening quietly as Yla speaks before offering more thoughts on the subject. "I'd been here at the weyr, on and off, as an apprentice before my promotion to journeyman and before returning her as weyrharper, so I've watched quite a few classes going through weyrlinghood, and they way people treat them. At first, there's an 'oh lucky you, you're a rider now!' stage, but then it moves to, 'oh, you aren't really a rider, you're just a weyrling', but the moment you're tapped into a wing, you'll see that people look at you differently." She pauses, grinning and shrugging, "Just don't let it go to your head."

Yla chuckles lightly. "I'll try not to." she assures the weyrharper, glancing towards Skiyra. "You got everything then?" she asks, conversationally.

"I think I'm still too grateful that 'Lisha picked me, and that I've got my friend here too, to get big headed about anything." Grinning, Lib unfolds her legs once more and gets up to go and get a juice. "Anyone want something?"

Kaeryn nods Skiyra-wards, "No problem at all. If you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask. Oh, would you mind getting an extra mug of redfruit juice, please?" Sudden change of subject, but when a person is thirsty, what can they do? "When I was promoted to journeyman, I was too shocked to realize it, and then I was off to Tillek to work there. And as for my Mastery, nothing like children to keep you grounded, until your weyrmate becomes Weyrleader. Life is full of change."

Skiyra looks over at Ylan and nods, and says to Lib "If there's anything sweet over there.." she lets the comment trail off. She'll probably only eat about a quarter of it and leave the rest anyway. She looks down at her canvas and her sketchbook and begins to copy the drawing.

"No thanks..." Yla says to Lib, waving her hand vaguely in the air. "Change can be good, I suppose." Yla says, this time towards Kaeryn.

Lib finds a pitcher of juice, fills two glasses from it and then takes a look around for something sweet. "Ah, how's some cookies?" Greenrider asks, turning to Skiyra and holding one up for her to see. Weyrling then puts a couple on a plate for herself whilst awaiting reply.

Skiyra nods at Lib. "Cookies. A xcookie would be nice, if you would." She smiles at the greenrider.

"Change is what keeps me on my toes, and in a job," Kae replies, motioning at the stack of books and hides. "But it also keeps my little ones always tugging on my skirts and begging for something or other. Just wait until you have your own, and you'll see."

Two glasses of juice in one hand, two plates of cookies in the other, Lib sweeps over to Skiyra first, placing the dish of cookies within her reach, then skirts around furniture to deliver Kaeryn's drink before settling back into her own seat with her goodies. "I should've been a hostess," Lib announces, smiling at the room in general.

Skiyra squeaks, and says "My silver broke!" more to herself than to anyone else, and she digs through her belt-pouch looking for another silver.

"Well," Yla says. "If you ever decide dragonriding is too boring, you have another career to focus on." she grins broadly.

"I'm sure there are plenty of youngsters out there that would be more than willing to be.." Kae pauses momentarily, searching for a bit of the knowledge required of her status as weyrharper, "Alishath's lifemate, if you choose to give her up. It's your lifemate you'd have trouble explaining it to, I'm afraid."

"'Lisha can balance plates on her tail with it poked through the door and help me. It's certainly flexible enough for it." Lib wouldn't give her lifemate up, nope, never. "I doubt she'd never ever spill a drop of anything, either."

"Now *that* is something I'd like to have the opportunity to paint," Kaeryn laughs, glancing up from her work again, flipping the page as she does. "Make sure you send word to me of your career change so I can witness such an event."

Usha walks in, and almost walks out. Dragonriders...Hope they're not crazy... Instead, she walks up to them, slowely, "'Llo, i'm usha...Umm, would anyone like me to get them something..." she hopes they don't need something too outragous...

Yla's eyes are somewhat unfocused, obviously having a private conversation, then she smiles. "Oh, Cassie says if Alishath gets to be painted waiting tables, she gets to be painted in her hat." She chuckles lightly then shakes her head at Usha. "No thank you, dear, I'm fine for the moment."

"I've just done the rounds, hon, but thanks." Lib replies to Usha, smiling at the girl before turning to chuckle at Yla. "Cassie has a hat?" Greenrider raises an eyebrow at that, grinning. "How'd that come about?"

Yla stares at Lib for a moment. "She's had it for many sevendays now... haven't you noticed?" She shakes her head, then says, "And she needs it to keep the sun off her. Can't have my baby getting sunstroke."

Skiyra pulls out a silver triumphantly. "Hey Yla! Just show her to me in that hat and get me the right greens and you'll have your picture!" Then she realizes she was just being rather loud, compared to her usual silent self, and after scrawling her name on the bottom of the wall hanging, walk over to Lib and hands the slightly-bigger-than-the-original wall-hanging to her. "Here you go," She doesn't even wait for a thankyou or any comment before scurrying back over to her spot.

Kaeryn shakes her head, "If I paint such things and show them to the Masterharper, she's liable to remove me from my position for fear that I've lost my mind completely," Kae's mug is lifted to show Usha that she's taken care of in a momentary pause in her sentence, "not that it has ever stopped me before, of course.

"That's wonderful! Thank you!" Admiring the picture, Lib chuckles at Kaeryn's comment. "It's the weyr. Anything can happen, right?" Greenrider smiles, then turns to Skiyra again. "How much do I owe you for this?" She asks, starting to check her pockets. She /might/ have marks on her, maybe. More likely they're in her weyr.

Usha lets out a sigh of relief. She can eat, with no hungry people around. And the riders aren't crazy...Today's a good day. She trots to the kitchen, coming back with some meatrolls and juice for herself. "If anyone needs anything, really, i can get it..."

Skiyra looks up at Lib. "Owe me.." She'd never even thought about that before. "Ah..."

Yla looks quizzically at Kaeryn. "Why would she think you've lost your mind? It's a very nice hat." She bobs her head firmly as she makes her point. "And Cassie loves it ever so much. It's all I can do to prise it off her for drills." A sidelong glance is given to Usha. Wait till Yla goes proddy. Then you'll have craziness. "OOoh... looks nice, Skiyra." she says complementarily.

Kaeryn rolls her eyes skyward, nodding at Lib's comment, "That's true. Of course, the moment the Masterharper learned of my relationship with T'rell, she was sending notes questioning my sanity. I guess I never realized just how much trouble he was when an apprentice beneath her, but I don't doubt that it was true." Yla's comment causes the harper to shake her head, again laughing, "Because she isn't aware of just how extraordinary this latest group of weyrling dragons really is?"

"You mean the whole of Pern isn't yet aware of how wonderful we all are?" Feigning shock for a moment, Lib then lapses into giggles before smoothering them with a sip of juice. "How could we have been so lax in making sure that everyone was aware, Yla?"

Yla tilts her head, considering it. "Well, we /have/ been busy with drills." she points out, a faint smile touching her lips. "It means we can't spread the word as much as we like."

"Oh, they'll know soon enough," Kae reassures Lib with another laugh, "I'm quite sure that the moment the group of you are out and about after 'Fall, they'll be running for cover. Not that I could blame them, I suppose seeing a hat-wearing dragon without being prepared for it *could* be startling."

Lib sits looking thoughtful for a minute, then turns to Yla. "How does the hat stay on her head when she's flying? And what if it got frozen to her head or something in between?" Greenrider seems mildly intrigued by this hat idea. "Must make a good firelizard perch though, like the one I had for Zak when I was back at the hall..." Now she just puts up with being clawed.

Yla looks up from her nails at Lib. "It's tied on. Very tightly. I make her take it off if we're doing a lot of betweening - like in drills -though. Because she'd be heartbroken if she lost it. But otherwise it's tied on VERY tightly."

Kaeryn downs the remainder of the juice in her mug before getting to her feet. "Forgive me ladies, but I need to get these things back to my office so I can sort through them properly, and I need to do that *before* 'Cia and Issh return from their time with the nanny." Books and hides are restacked and then *carefully* lifted into her arms, "I'll see you all around, I'm quite sure. It's hard to *not* bump into one another at least once in a while."

"Ah. I see." Lib nods at Yla's words, pondering that for a moment. "You should get a spare or two." She comments, then wiggles some figures at Kaeryn. "It was really great talking to you..." Greenrider eyes the pile the Harper lifts. "Need a hand with that at all?"

Skiyra gasps, and gathers up her things. "I'm late!" is all that is uttered before she skitters off for home.

Kaeryn shakes her head quickly, "No thanks, it isn't all that far to our weyr, just off the beach, and this pile is smaller than the others I've already brought over today. I do appreciate the offer, though." With a nod of her head to all at her table, she turns and moves, slowly, at the exit to the bowl.

Yla nods at Lib. "I already do." she says with a smile. "'Bye..." she says absent to the harper as the woman leaves the room. Everyone leaving. le sigh.

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