Bathing (Itona; Closed)

[E]

The entrance into the Weyr was both mystical and unnerving to Deltontai. The decent into the bowl was almost lazy in Deltontai’s eyes as the bronze put little effort into the glide. Del did not complain, however, as it gave both girls a good look at the layout of the bowl, and that layout Deltontai drunk in. If this was to be their new home, the holdless girls would learn every nook and cranny of it.

Once on the ground, however, it was a very different story as they were suddenly surrounded by women. Fussed right out of reach of the bronze dragon, they were escorted straight into a tunnel not far away. Twice Del pulled her sister closer and twice she slapped away a hand as its owner exclaimed over the condition of their clothes. Everything seemed to pass in a haze as they were measured by one woman while another began handing them towels and bags of sweetsand. It was a relief when they were pushed into a bathing area and told to scrub up; Finally left alone for a moment.

Del dropped what had been handed to her unceremoniously to the ground at the edge of the bathing pool before going back to the doorway to double check that nobody was outside about to burden in with more badgering. Relief was clear on her face as she found the hallway empty and the women’s voices moving away. Turning back to her sister, she let out a heavy sigh.

“I was beginning to think I would have to punch one of those women just to give us breathing space.”

[Rowen]

Itona's eyes were wide with shock, she was shaking slightly. Things had happened very fast, she had been thrilled at the short flight, but being all but swamped by people had nearly made her scream. A nervous laugh slipped past her lips as she looked at her sister still standing where she had been put the things still in her hands. Her eyes focused as she took a deep breath, her hand tightening on the things in her hand as she relaxed slightly. She felt her space had been violated and wasn't in an immediate hurry to repeat the process.

As she slowly relaxed she became aware of the things in her hand and her crushing grip, she set them down carefully, before sitting down on the edge of the water and looking into the water. Her mind re-registered what her sister had said and she smiled slightly. "I am glad they left before you lost your temper then. Are they really gone?" Itona asked the question while looking at her sister, undressing was part of becoming clean, and she had no desire to have a gathering with her when she did shed her clothing.

[E]

Deltontai nodded to her sister, “I think they are… Best we be quick just in case. I would hate for them to come back and we haven’t cleaned at all, they seem eager enough to offer to help and I’d rather avoid that.” She gave her sister a grimace before laughing and joining her at the edge of the pool.

The water of the pool seemed to be swirling and while Del was no stranger to washing in the cold rivers, it seemed strange that the water would be moving underground as well. Dipping her foot in, she let out a shout of surprise and pulled it back quickly. With a puzzled look she turned back to Itona.

“Its… Its warm… Is water underground always warm? Caves are always colder than outside unless you have a fire in it or its windy outside…” Frowning at her own question, she climbed down to her knees and stuck her hand in the water as if to double check that it was in fact still warm.

[Rowen]

Itona burst out laughing as her sister stuck her head in the water. She couldn't help it, they were no stranger to cold rivers, and though Itona understood her sisters puzzlement, Itona wasn't in a mood to question the temperature of the water as long as it did it's job. She dipped her hand in the water prepared for the warm temperature she relaxed as she felt the water move over her hand warming it to the waters temperature. She waited until her sister had removed her head from the water before she spoke. "It does feel nice..." Hearing footsteps outside the room Itona jumped and looked in the direction of the entrance, but no one entered so she relaxed as she heard the footsteps retreating.

Itona turned back to her sister then looked at the water. "I guess we better get it over with, before they do come back. I can imagine them being more than willing to help..." Itona shook her head at the thought. She grabbed the bag she'd been given and sniffed it letting out an almost helpless sigh at the smell. "It smells good Dela.."

[E]

Deltontai pulled her head out of the water and flipped her now wet hair back, spraying most of the room. Taking a breath, she wiped her face with her hands before smiling at her sister. “I think it will do the job all right.” Pulling her shirt over her head, she let it along with the rest of her clothing fall before climbing into the pool. It was then she heard the foot steps that had caught Itona’s attention.

Dipping lower into the water, she waited for them to pass before grabbing at her own bag of sweetsand. Smiling at her sister’s comment, she opened her own bag to smell inside. It did have a pleasant smell to it, much better than the ones they chanced come across in the holdless caverns. Raising her eyebrows at the thought of its worth, Deltontai decided understanding the Weyr would take some time.

“Well let’s not waste a drop then.” Pouring out a small amount into her own calloused hand, she began scrubbing at her arms and legs. She winced as she reopened the cuts on her legs, but scrubbed all the same.

[Rowen]

Her sister all but sprayed her with the water from her hair and Itona let out a shriek of surprise before she started laughing. "Watch it.." She smiled as she watched her sister, knowing that scrubbing her cuts had to hurt, Itona winced. No matter how many times Itona had been forced to do the process herself, it always hurt to scrub her own wounds. Standing she quickly stripped out of her clothes dropping them where she had stood, but kicking them away from the waters edge with her foot as she slid into the water. She let out a sigh, the water felt good.

Sinking into the water Itona dipped under the water letting it cover her head before she surfaced and reached for the bag she had left at the waters edge, she almost spilled it into the water but caught it before much spilled into the water. Itona finally managing to get a decent amount scrubbed some into her hair, and then some into her arms. "Do you suppose they will really let us stay here?" Itona smiled. She didn't really mind if they kicked them out in a few minutes, the bath was well worth the visit here, and the short flight had been enjoyable.

[E]

“I think they will keep us, at least for a short time. Those women were acting as if they never seen someone outside the Weyr… I think they enjoyed fussing over us. My bet is they will let us stay while they still enjoy it, once the novelty wears off I bet we’ll get the boot then.”

Del found her hair a much more bothersome chore. It was a tangled mass that took three scrubbings and nearly all the rest of her sweetsand before it began to even feel clean to the touch. By the time she was done, Del could have sworn she lost half of it floating away in the ever moving current. Fingers now well wrinkled, she climbed out and opened up one of the towels they had been given, glad to find it an immense one that covered her body easily.

Wrapping it around herself, she looked at her sister then at their dirty clothes. “It would seem sort of backwards to wash ourselves so well then to climb back into those huh?”

[Rowen]

Itona was giving her hair one last scrubbing, as she watched her sister. Letting out a sigh she climbed out after her eying the nearly empty bags of sweet sand as she dried herself a little before wrapping the towel around her. "It would be a little strange." Itona chewed on her lip thinking about what her sister had said. They would kick them out after they had grown tired of them? Is that really how it was here? The dragonrider had given a different offer...

Itona shook her head slightly her wet hair clinging to her shoulders, using her upper arms to pin the towel in place she lifted her hands to her hair and pulled it to one side while she wrung most of the water from it back into the pool of water. "They were taking measurements you don't suppose they'll give us something to wear do you?"

[E]

Del thought about the idea of them bringing things for the girls to wear and thought it possible. As she opened her mouth to say so, however, a knock rang from the wooden door and before Del could close her mouth again it was opened by two women.

“Oh good girls! You have washed I see, I was worried you’d still not be done.” The rounder of the two women said with a tut. Walking up to Itona, she looked the girl up and down with a nod. “Yes, yes. Morry Dear, give this girl the light tan pants we found and that nice light purple tunic. The tunic will be a little big dearie,” she said giving Itona a pat on the shoulder, “But we’ll have you nicer things before the end of the week.

Turning her attention to Del, the round woman gave a similar overview and ordered the thinner woman to hand out a darker pair of pants and a dark grey tunic which too was a little large on her slender frame. The clothes were obviously cut for men, but were in good repair and not nearly as threadbare as those laying on the floor. As the thin girl shoved the mentioned clothes into Del’s hand, Del watched the larger woman pick up their own clothes and bustle toward the door.

“We’ll have these things mended and put in your room. Once your dressed go to the WeyrHall, its down the corridor, take a left at the large double doors – they’ll be open mind you, then take the first set of doors on your right. If all else fails follow your nose. You girls look half starved.”

With that the larger woman was gone, the thinner one following quickly. She stopped at the door however, to look back at the speechless girls. “I’ll find you in the WeyrHall in a while to show you where your room is. You don’t need to worry about chores today, the Headwoman will find you soon enough about those. She’s busy though so you might even have tomorrow to wait too.” And with that the commotion disappeared again and the two sisters were alone in the room once more.

[Rowen]

Itona barely managed to hold the clothes and not drop the towel around her at the same time. She watched as the two left as quickly as they had come. Blinking she looked at her Deltontai. "Food?" Itona was completely baffled, and still a bit speechless after a pause she simply dropped the towel and started dressing finding that the women had been right. The tunic was a little big on her, but the pants fit for the most part. Itona looked down at the results of the clothes given to her, she blinked and looked up at her sister.

She opened her mouth then closed it, she really was at a loss, she was happy to have something clean to wear, they were going to get back their own clothes, and from the sounds of it they would be getting somewhere to sleep, and food too. This really was a lot more then Itona had expected.

[E]

Clothes in hand, Deltontai took a moment to stare speechless at the door before turning her gaze to Itona only to find her sister was similarly speechless. When her sister spoke the simple one worded question, Del couldn’t help but let out one of her rare laughs at the both of them. Following her sister’s example, she too pulled on the clothes, finding the fit not to be nearly as bad as some of the clothing they had managed to scrap together in the holdless caves.

“I think food sounds great and I’m not about to question it. Not yet anyways.” As if to confirm her statement, Del found her stomach grumbling noisily. Taking her sister in hand, she opened the door to stare down the hallway. Even from here they could see quite a few doors on either side. Another rumble of her stomach had Deltontai taking a step into the corridor before turning to her sister at her side.

“That woman said a left at the double doors right? I wonder what sort of food they will have…”


((A post or two more then we'll move to an open thread in the WeyrHall and see who we meet.))

[Rowen]

Itona nodded as she followed her sister. They were being given food? Food already made and fresh? Clothes, a place to stay, and food too? Did they really just get to have these things? Or would they pay later? Itona shoved the thought away as she feel quiet, she wasn't going to question it now, it was far to late, and she was far to hungry.

Itona looked around her noting details, locations, and seeing a few people moving about she gave them space as she watched them walk past. If they were going to be staying here, it would be wise to learn and remember where everything was, what places were crowded, what places weren't. Itona realized she'd need to find a good place to keep her paces so she didn't go crazy when her emotions did get out of hand...

[E]

[Closed; Moved to WeyrHall]