Dangrous Meals [Itona; OPEN]

[hrsegrl]

The young man wondered if he should bring any more information to their attention. It seemed they were having a hard time dealing with what he had already said. Del's thank you was accepted with a nod, while he cut into some roast wherry. To Itona's question he wanted to keep the answer simple.

A long pause ensued though he hoped it was not too akward for them. He swallowed down some of his tuber and followed it with water. "There is one thing you need to do. Have a meeting with the Candidate Master. He's really a good guy. Rides a brown dragon." Caselo anticipated that they would want to know a little about the man before they had to meet him.

"You are of age to be a Candidate and something must ahve drawn Xialanth to you. Although Bronzes aren't nearly as empathetic as blues I would say that your chances of being permitted to stand for a clutch are high. Plus, Candidate lessons are the perfect place to learn all about the Weyr and dragons." He hoped they weren't overloading with information.

"I can take you to his office when your done eating. Then he can assign you to a bunk in the Candidate Barracks or ask the Headwoman for space for you here in the Lower Caverns." Caselo went back to eating his meal. He was not watching their expressions but he felt they were already uncomfortable and the idea of meeting another dragonrider was probably not on their list of things they wanted to do today.

[E]

Focusing almost completely on her meal, there was something that the young man before them said that made her stop and finally put down her spoon. Frowning up at the man, she gave him a slightly confused, but searching look. Giving her sister a glance who seemed to be absorbing the information a lot easier, Deltontai finally looked back at the man and spoke her confusion.

“Drawn Xialanth to us? He seemed to like Itona a lot… What does em… em… empath- what does that funny word mean? And why are the blue dragons better than bronzes? I thought bronzes were the best dragon?” Of course being holdless, the girls had never had harper lessons so their knowledge of the Weyr was worse than basic – shards the girls didn’t even know how to read and write or their alphabet.

[Rowen]

((Sorry it took so long, I hit a case of road block in this thread. Heh.))

Itona ate her food quietly now, watching and listening. The food was good, and the more she ate the more she relaxed. Del didn't know what a word was, but then Itona didn't either. This reminded Itona that there was actually very little they knew about life in the weyr, and even less about dragons. Would they really be able to stay here?

If they were going to be allowed to stay, then this may be the only chance they had at learning things otherwise unavailable to them. Like the new word Caselo had used. It was like discovering a new food, a new taste. Itona wondered what else they could learn here as she took a sip of her drink while watching Caselo to see what he would tell them now.

[hrsegrl]

If they had been Weyrbred he would have been shocked at the woman's question. As things were he was sorry. The young man suddenly felt that he was not as nice as he thought he was. He was using vernacular far beyond the learning they would have been given as Holdless. Caselo was going to have to keep that in mind but not dumb things down so much that they felt he was treating them like they were stupid. He convinced himself it was better to sound a bit arrogant and have them learn than to dumb things down so they had no need to learn.

"Empathy means you can see a situation and feel it as if it were happening to you. Dragons who are more empathetic can sense what potential young people have in regards to dragonriding. Blue dragons just happen to be the ones who feel the most empathy from humans. A human's capacity for empathy and telepathy is felt by some blue and green dragons. Few of the larger dragons can sense very empathetic people. I would suggest that one or both of you feels very deeply things they are not necessarily experiencing themselves." He did not mock them for not knowing. Nor would he ever say a word about the short lesson in vocabulary. It was said to be a very hard life, being Holdless.

"Bronzes I would say are second best. Golds of course are the best dragon as they are the true leaders of the Weyr. The larger dragons have more powerful minds but smaller dragons are great for battle with Threadfall. In fact, it is hard to say which color is actually best. All five have advantages and dissadvantages. For instance browns are steadfast, loyal and great at endurance flying while greens can be flighty, changeable and more agile than any other color."

[E]

Deltontai brought a hand to her head as she closed her eyes against the onslaught of information. Well it was her fault for asking she supposed. Putting down the spoon she had been using in the other hand, she picked up the cup of water and took a long drink before putting that down as well. Running her hand over her face, she looked at Itona then at the man in front of them.

“Okay,” she said, trying to force her mind to comprehend everything that was just said to her. “So it’s the golds that lead the Weyr? But I thought a gold was suppose to be a female. Surely you are not saying the Weyr is run by females, it was a man talking to us like he ran the place.”

Thinking back to the women who had clothed them, she paused. Perhaps this place was run by women, it would explain those two at least as well as the woman this boy had called the ‘Headwoman’. That made her wonder momentarily what a ‘headwoman’ was and if she collected heads. But after the onslaught of information from her last question she decided not to word too many more.

[hrsegrl]

He realized this was a lot to take for a pair of holdless women but they continued to ask questions. Questions he was all to capable of answering. If they were going to be staying at the Weyr they did need to know some of this. Weyr etiquette was important. Candidate Lessons would surely teach them that and at length. He finished the last of his tuber while listening to her questions and statements. Must be difficult to grasp the system at all the way he explained things.

"Gold dragons are the leaders of all dragons. No dragon would dare refuse a Queen's command." Caselo stated to indicate they were in charge, despite what Bronzeriders may think. " Gold dragons only impress to women. Therefore women do run the Weyr. These Goldriders are called Weyrwomen. They mate with Bronzes who are ridden only by men. The man whose dragon catches the senior Gold becomes Weyrleader. E'dian's Bronze, Xialanth caught Gaelle's Gold, Aliath which makes him Weyrleader. Weyrwomen are responsible mostly for the running and upkeep of the Weyr but they are also record keepers and do a great deal of diplomacy or did, when there were other Weyrs and dragons were respected rather than feared. The Weyrleader mostly handles the Thread fighting side of things. wing drills, formations, choosing a Weyrlingmaster to train the young ones. That is his main duty."

He hoped he wasn't losing them and slid his fingers back through his blonde hair. Another deep breath brought on the other part of his answer. " The Headwoman, whom you've also met, works with the Weyromen and mainly focuses her attention on the Lower Caverns. How many people, what is needed supply wise, making sure everyone of us has what we need. There is no equivalent to the Headwoman as far as men go here." He hoped that satisfied her curiosity as far as women being leaders.

Drinking the rest of his water he then glanced at the girls who were obviously trying to sort out what was being said. If only he had a diagram to show them. Then again, he doubted they were literate. Not because they were women but because they were holdless.

[Rowen]

Itona stared at Caselo and put a hand to her head. "I think I should lay down..." The food in her stomach was not completely settling, and her mind was humming with information. It made sense, most of what he said, but it was all starting to blend into one ball and not make sense. The talking going on around her was echoing in her head, with Caelo's words. It had been so peaceful and mostly quiet out side that Itona had been able to listen to the blow of the wind. In here, she heard voices echoing back and forth.

Rekka closed her eyes and swayed slightly as she opened her eyes again she looked at her sister. "I'm ready for that bed now..." She reached over placing a hand on her sisters arm and pressing down on it to emphasize how much she wanted to be away from where they were. Too many people, too many voices. They may not be directed at Rekka but after the solitude it was too much. She knew she needed to be away from them, to be alone again with few others. Preferably just Dela..

[E]

Looking at her sister after her comment, Del frowned deeply. Apparently she wasn’t the only one with a headache after everything that happened that day. Putting a hand reassuringly on her shoulder, she lifted her gaze to the room and looked around. She wasn’t sure where the beds they had been promised were and didn’t know who to ask.

“I know Itona… I just…” Still looking around, her eyes fell on the man in front of them again. “I know we are full of questions, and we are glad for the help. “ Standing as if that was enough of a good bye as anyone needed, she patted Itona on the shoulder. “Lets see if we can find that room…”

Looking down at the dishes on the table, she frowned. “Do we take care of these?”

[hrsegrl]

They were very close, he surmised after the conversation seemed to wane. The young women seemed to know what eachother were thinking and he wondered how it felt to be that close to another human being. Would that confuse a dragonet? Having such a close bond with another human. He did not know but that was why the Weyr did not encourage close family ties.

"I suggest heading off toward the lower caverns." He indicated the direction with a pointed finger. He smiled and said, "Yes, I'm sure you are both tired. I'll see you around I'm sure." Caselo watched them get up, not at all alarmed by their lack of manners. One couldn't expect them to be like weyrfolk, not yet anyhow.

" Leave the trays, the drudges take care of them and whoever else is on clean up duty." He was glad he was assigned mostly to outdoor chores. The cleaning chores were the worst inside the Weyr. He didn't know how some people stood it but then some people could care less about their job. He watched them getting ready to go and smiled, back to being alone well he'd just have to find someone else to chat with for a bit.

(End Thread)