Log: A Conversation with Lilah
Who: Lilah, Palia, {Eliyaveith}
When: It is a summer afternoon, 18:17 of day 8, month 6, turn 34 of Interval 10.
Where: Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
What: Palia meets Lilah and Eliyaveith
>---< Local Weather for FTW >------------------------------------------------<
Current Temp: 69 F Today's Lo/Hi: 60 F / 83 F
Belior: first quarter Timor: waning gibbous
Weather: Sunny
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little muggy, the sun is bright and puffy white clouds cruise by.
>------------------------------------< 18:18 D8 M6 T34, summer afternoon >---<
Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
The lake's shore is a broad crescent of golden-hued sand, stretching from the southwest wall near the feeding grounds and around to the southeast where the sand gives way to soil and leaf detritus from a cluster of hardy mountain trees. Where the lake deepens, clear blue water darkens to murky teal, hiding stony depths. Dragons often sun here and riders use the lake for dragonwashing in the warmer seasons, while all of the Weyr's denizens may enjoy walks and picnics among the large, smooth boulders that interrupt the smooth flow of sand. Many of the Weyr's children also play at skipping stones with the wide variety of rocks available along the water's edge.
The summer afternoon's heat has seemed to seep into everything, the mugginess hanging oppressively on the air, especially this close to the lake. But it is a bright day, the sky brilliantly blue against white clouds, and the only two points that seem to stand against this are Lilah's dark clothes, a plain pair of matched shirt and trousers in a grey dark as ashes, and the dark bronzey-gold that has planted herself in the sand, lovingly watching some of her brighter blue and green siblings play. The weyrling pays little attention to the dragons, even her own (or at least, doesn't seem to), but rather has perched herself on one of the boulders that line the lake, a book in her lap.
Along the shoreline comes Palia, very dressed down in cut off shorts and a lightweight, blue, sleeveless top, her apprentice harper's knot wound into a belt loop rather than pinned to her shoulder. Oppressive as the heat is, she seems quite comfortable, humming a little tune as she walks along. A basket swings from one of her hands, a red checked cloth peeking up over its edge: a picnic seemingly in the offing. As she passes Lilah's boulder, her gaze tilts upward, maybe clued in by the weyrling's shadow. "Nice day for a good read," she remarks in a pleasant tone.
Lilah's dark gaze lifts from the page to Palia, a study slid over the younger woman's form with a sharp attention to detail. It's likely she notes that basket and the red-checkered cloth and also the knot of the apprentice before she answers. "It's horrible, but she likes the heat," she says, lifting her hand to scrape back a sweat-damp lock of hair. "Meeting someone?" This is ventured with a slight tip of her chin to the basket.
"Not so bad," is Palia's opinion of the weather, "but I'm from Ista." A little shrug brushes the weather aside. "No, all for me," the apprentice claims of the basket's contents. "Just dinner." She pauses for a moment and looks out across the sand at the cavorting dragons. "She ... which one?" and her gaze lifts back up to Lilah.
Palia's question is met with the turn of Eliyaveith's attention on the apprentice, blue-green eyes reflecting curiosity of her own even as Lilah answers, "Her. The--gold. Eliyaveith." As if her name is enough of an invitation, the dragon drags herself to her feet, approaching Palia and snaking her neck down to explore that basket and the smells coming from it. "She wants to know why you're eating alone. She thinks you should eat with someone." A pause, and the weyrling adds dryly, "I think she'd invite herself to join you, but she wouldn't like anything in the basket. Probably. I've never fed her anything other than raw meat--."
"That would make you Lilah then," Palia more states than asks. The gold's interest in her basket earns a grin and a low chuckle. "There's some meat in there, but it's not raw. She's welcome though, if she's all right with trying something cooked, though it would barely be a bite for her." Pause. "And you too. If you're hungry." The harper takes a moment, to toe off one sandal, then the other, kicks the pair slightly to the side. "Mind if I sit here, Eliyaveith? I'm Palia."
Eliyaveith inclines that heavy-set jaw with a hint of regality for the question, allowing it. Though, she then marks the spot with her own body, or more like, around the spot as she lays back down against the sand, making a dark crescent around where Palia indicates. "I'm sorry, you have the advantage of me. You are?" questions Lilah, though she also sets her book closed, sliding down from the rock to join them on the sand. The weyrling's lips hint at a smile, briefly. "I don't think she'd like it, and it'd be a waste of your dinner. Although, if you don't mind--. I am kind of hungry."
Dropping down into a cross-legged position that adds to the arc of Eliyaveith's crescent, Palia sets the basket down in front of herself. "Plenty in here to share," she affirms the earlier invitation and pulls the cloth out first, spreads it out on the sand and starts laying out the contents of the basket on it. "Palia, senior apprentice harper, posted here just under a month ago. I've been doing a lot of catch up reading in the archives, so I read the latest hatching lists." Typical fare from the Weyr's kitchens makes up the spread: meat pies, a bowl of roasted veggies, a few pieces of fruit, a couple of sweet pastries and a small stoppered bottle. "I didn't bring cups, but if you don't mind sharing, that's lemonade."
"I feel like I've been doing a lot of catch up reading, too," Lilah admits on a breath, her lips curving into a brief, firmer smile. But, her gaze drops to that spread as Palia lays it out, a slight curve to her brow upwards as she takes it all in. "I don't know how you got the kitchen to give you all of this. I can barely get them to spare some soup for me when I go there." But, she's willing to accept the generosity, folding herself opposite of Palia into her own cross-legged position as well. Eliyaveith watches the food, rather than the women.
"I have my ways," Palia jokes with another one of her little shrugs and a half grin that carves a deep dimple into one cheek. "Help yourself," she invites and snags an apple to munch on as an appetizer. "So was that catch-up reading, or for-fun reading?" she inquires with a little gesture toward Lilah's abandoned book.
Lilah reaches for one of those roasted vegetables, but before she can eat it herself, Eliyaveith's face is /right/ there, and she gives the vegetable up in favor of her dragon, who so carefully takes it from her hand. "Catch-up reading," she answers, as she reaches to get another piece. "But, how do you teach yourself diplomacy from a book?" That may be a philosophical question, the way she poses it, because she dismisses it with a shake of her head in the next moment. "How are you liking your post?"
Eliyaveith's interference draws Palia's attention and she watches the dragon closely to see how the gold cares for vegetable sustenance. She's got a mouthful of apple going, so chews and swallows first before opening her mouth to answer: "You don't according to the archives master, just the history behind it." Another bite of apple initiates a pause before she goes on once her mouth is clear. "So far, so good. I like the teaching part a lot more than I thought I would. And it's interesting learning more of Fort's history from the Weyr's perspective. How do you like being a weyrling?"
Eliyaveith swallows it down, but likely because it would be rude to do otherwise. The gold leaves the next piece for Lilah alone, letting her head fall back against her paws and her own attention returning to Palia with interest at the harper's answer. Lilah, too, quirks up a smile at the answer, letting out a slight sigh. "It can be a bit of an adjustment, Weyr life, but I'm glad you're fitting in," she says, and seems to mean it. It's the question that trips her up more, her shoulder lifting briefly. "It isn't really designed for anyone to like it. We're placed below everyone else in the Weyr, and our days are pretty full."
"I'm Weyrbred actually - I was born here, but I grew up at Ista Weyr. It's the differences in perspectives on the same events from place to place that are so interesting to read about," Palia notes thoughtfully and finishes off the apple, the core set down beside her rather than lobbed willy nilly. "I guess not ... though it seems like parts of the training could be interesting." She picks up one of the meat pies next. "Gold though ... that comes with a lot of pressure?"
"Ah, right. Sorry. So, I guess it isn't that much of a change, really, for you. At least until we get to winter," Lilah replies, though she tips her chin at the difference of perspectives. Eliyaveith's tongue snakes out to lick at that core as soon as Palia has abandoned it, and apparently she decides she likes the taste, because it disappears into her mouth in the next second with a crunch. "Mmm." That, it seems, is all the weyrling will say on the training, though her gaze slides to the dragon as she eats that core. Or perhaps at Palia's words. "It is. I could do without the added responsibilities and, the judgements, and--. Everything, really. But you can't choose who you Impress."
"Nope," Palia agrees about the lack of change. "Been at Harper Hall for the past six turns - that first winter was the worst, it's gotten better." She shrugs and digs into the meat pie, her gaze joins Lilah's in sliding sideways as Eliyaveith steals the apple core. "How's that taste?" she addresses the young gold directly and catches a little dribble of sauce from her pie with her finger, licks it off. "I'll bet. It's a tough job ... weyrwoman," Palia seems sympethatic, but also pensive for a moment. "No. Just have to make the best of it, I guess."
Eliyaveith rumbles warmly at Palia's question, her nose pressing against the harper's leg closest to her briefly in an answer before she settles back again with her jaw resting against her paws. "Apparently, she likes fruit more than she likes vegetables," she answers for her. "She liked the crunch." She reaches for one of those meat pies as well, tempted perhaps by Palia. "I am trying to. I just--. I am trying." She pauses, considering the other woman with a tip of her head. "Have you ever thought about Standing? Being raised at the Weyr."
Eliyaveith's nose-nudge earns a smile from the harper and she pops the last of the meat pie into her mouth, uses the edge of the cloth for a napkin to wipe her fingers. "Interesting - more about the texture." She doesn't reach for a new food item this time, but pops the stopper on the bottle and has a few sips of the lemonade, careful not to backwash. "My father suggested that I should. It crossed my mind a few times. But I wanted something more --" she pauses, like she's trying to pick the word carefully, settles on "-- stable."
"Stable?" challenges Lilah of the word, curious, before she takes a bite of her meat pie carefully.
Palia takes another swig from the bottle of lemonade, then twists it into the sand to keep it upright since the stopper is left off. "When you're a dragonrider, your first duty is to your dragon and that comes with a certain amount of uncertainty, depending on the dragon's personality. Let's just say that after seeing how that affected my parents and grandparents, I'd rather go a different way."
Lilah's lips curve slightly as she glances to Eliyaveith, though when she turns her attention back to Palia, she simply nods. "I understand that much, at least," she agrees. "Why harper, then? If you don't mind my asking. It's less stable than other crafts, I would think."
"I always thought I was going to be a Baker, actually. That's what my father did before he Impressed and I was going to follow in his footsteps and be a brilliant chef, run his place at Ista when he retired." She leans back on her hands and cocks a look up at the sky. "And then I fell in love with history, and wound up following in my uncle's footsteps to Harper Hall instead. I think it depends on what aspect of harpering you wind up in. I'm not really an entertaining kind of harper," she acknowledges with a slight grin and a lift of one shoulder. "I'll probably have more than one posting, but then settle down somewhere to teach, write, do research and mind the records."
"Sounds as if you have everything figured out, then. Though, I'm surprised you don't want to aim at being Masterharper, or anything like that," Lilah replies, a hint of lightness to her words as she pops the last of the meat pie in her mouth. "What sort of place does your father run?"
Laughter answers ambitions of being Masterharper. "Shells, no," Palia replies between chuckles and sits up again, reaches for one of the pastries. Time for dessert. "I have a plan," she does agree, "but Masterharper isn't part of it. Right now, honestly, I'll just be glad if I can manage to walk the tables in the next turn or two." A bite or two from the pastry leaves flakes on her leg, brushed off absently into the sand. "Fancy restaurant on the beach," Palia explains, "but he's not at Ista anymore and it's changed hands."
Lilah's lips quirk into that smile again, as she reaches for the lemonade. She lifts it in a toast, adding a slightly dry, "To getting through the next turn or two, then." She takes a small sip, though she quickly shakes her head. The gesture is explained as she addresses the dragon, "No, you can't have some of this. I don't even know how I'd pour it for you."
"Hear, hear," Palia agrees and lifts her pastry in 'toast' answer. "Right on her tongue?" she suggests for sharing with Eliyaveith. "Though that'd probably be awfully messy. We'd have to bring you a whole bucket, to get a real taste, Eliyaveith and sadly, even my powers of persuasion wouldn't be able to move the kitchen staff that much."
The quiet croon Eliyaveith lets out at Palia's answer manages to sound sad, though she nudges her nose against the apprentice again in a gesture of forgiveness, quiet possibly. "She'll live. She probably wouldn't like the taste, anyways," Lilah replies, shaking her head again as she caps the lemonade and returns it to its place. She adds, returning to the previous topic, "You'll have to tell me where exactly it is, once she's big enough to Between. I'll go see it for myself. I've never been to a fancy restaurant."
"Or sour her stomach," Palia agrees, "though a little taste could be interesting for her." Her pastry is finished off and her fingers wiped on the cloth again. "Right on the beach, within sight of The Sandbar, that's the bar on the pier that sticks out into the bay right at the base of the Weyr's cliff. It's a short glide a-dragonback from where riders usually come out from Between above Ista, about five minutes' walk from the bar."
Lilah nods, murmuring a repetition of the directions as if to commit it to memory. She says, "I still have about six months before she's able to go to Ista, but--. The months are passing by sooner than I thought, in any case. It will probably be over before I know it."
"Ista's a good place to go to ... relax," Palia claims of her childhood home. "Half a turn ... not that long." She pauses, takes a breath before asking slowly: "Do you want it to be over sooner over later?"
"I guess it supposes what later brings," Lilah admits. "But, at least I will have to stop /saluting/ everyone." She adds the driest of smiles to those words. "I guess that is an advantage of craft over wery. At least you know things will remain a lot of the same after you walk the tables."
"Both more ... and less freedom, from what I can tell," Palia offers over, one hand skating through hair frizzed up by the humidity and pulling back a few strands that have come free of her braid. "The job is largely the same, just with more responsibility. And less 'sir' and 'ma'am'. That's one thing apprentices and weyrlings have in common."
Lilah considers that, considers /Palia/ thoughtfully before she nods simply. She replies, lightly, "I never understood that, why they all want to remind you of everyone being above you. Well, I guess this is why they don't let me make rules."
"For harpers at least, supposedly it's good training to respect the holders and leaders that you will eventually work for," Palia explains, legs unfolding from their cross and knees drawing up toward her chest instead, her chin dropping to rest on top of the platform they make. "Papa would probably say something about riders needing to follow their leaders' orders unquestioningly during Threadfall, but ... Thread is over for a long time. And what's the sense in having a weyrling kow tow to an apprentice, right?" Brow up, wry sideways grin.
"It will be a while before Thread returns," Lilah agrees with a nod, though she considers Palia's answer. "I would think that there'd be better ways to train weyrlings to follow orders unquestioningly than--saluting. I don't know that that teaches that." To the last, she laughs, humor reflected in dark eyes.
"Mm. Though regular riders salute their superiors too, right? It's probably some long-lost traditional thing - though I couldn't tell you what from, no matter how much history I've read." The breeze picks up a little and Palia lifts her face into it, joins Lilah laughing. "At least it gives your arm a good work out?" She winks and wriggles her toes in the sand then stretches. "I should get get going. I have an assignment I need to finish up and turn in to my journeyman for tomorrow before the kids' lessons in the morning."
That breeze picking up is reason enough for Lilah to get going as well, and it becomes clear enough to Palia too, likely. Eliyaveith starts rumbling again, but this time, it is in clear distress as the wind pricks along her hide. Even as Palia says it, the weyrling does as well with a hurried, "We have to go--." Her smile is strained, as she catches Palia's words. She nods, and only adds, "Thank you for the picnic." She is on her feet quickly, not bothering with brushing off sand as she escorts Eliyaveith away.
"Nice to meet you both," Palia calls after the pair. "See you around." And the apprentice gets to her feet, tidies up and heads back to the Weyr to get the rest of her work done before calling it a night.
When: It is a summer afternoon, 18:17 of day 8, month 6, turn 34 of Interval 10.
Where: Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
What: Palia meets Lilah and Eliyaveith
>---< Local Weather for FTW >------------------------------------------------<
Current Temp: 69 F Today's Lo/Hi: 60 F / 83 F
Belior: first quarter Timor: waning gibbous
Weather: Sunny
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little muggy, the sun is bright and puffy white clouds cruise by.
>------------------------------------< 18:18 D8 M6 T34, summer afternoon >---<
Lake Shore, Fort Weyr
The lake's shore is a broad crescent of golden-hued sand, stretching from the southwest wall near the feeding grounds and around to the southeast where the sand gives way to soil and leaf detritus from a cluster of hardy mountain trees. Where the lake deepens, clear blue water darkens to murky teal, hiding stony depths. Dragons often sun here and riders use the lake for dragonwashing in the warmer seasons, while all of the Weyr's denizens may enjoy walks and picnics among the large, smooth boulders that interrupt the smooth flow of sand. Many of the Weyr's children also play at skipping stones with the wide variety of rocks available along the water's edge.
The summer afternoon's heat has seemed to seep into everything, the mugginess hanging oppressively on the air, especially this close to the lake. But it is a bright day, the sky brilliantly blue against white clouds, and the only two points that seem to stand against this are Lilah's dark clothes, a plain pair of matched shirt and trousers in a grey dark as ashes, and the dark bronzey-gold that has planted herself in the sand, lovingly watching some of her brighter blue and green siblings play. The weyrling pays little attention to the dragons, even her own (or at least, doesn't seem to), but rather has perched herself on one of the boulders that line the lake, a book in her lap.
Along the shoreline comes Palia, very dressed down in cut off shorts and a lightweight, blue, sleeveless top, her apprentice harper's knot wound into a belt loop rather than pinned to her shoulder. Oppressive as the heat is, she seems quite comfortable, humming a little tune as she walks along. A basket swings from one of her hands, a red checked cloth peeking up over its edge: a picnic seemingly in the offing. As she passes Lilah's boulder, her gaze tilts upward, maybe clued in by the weyrling's shadow. "Nice day for a good read," she remarks in a pleasant tone.
Lilah's dark gaze lifts from the page to Palia, a study slid over the younger woman's form with a sharp attention to detail. It's likely she notes that basket and the red-checkered cloth and also the knot of the apprentice before she answers. "It's horrible, but she likes the heat," she says, lifting her hand to scrape back a sweat-damp lock of hair. "Meeting someone?" This is ventured with a slight tip of her chin to the basket.
"Not so bad," is Palia's opinion of the weather, "but I'm from Ista." A little shrug brushes the weather aside. "No, all for me," the apprentice claims of the basket's contents. "Just dinner." She pauses for a moment and looks out across the sand at the cavorting dragons. "She ... which one?" and her gaze lifts back up to Lilah.
Palia's question is met with the turn of Eliyaveith's attention on the apprentice, blue-green eyes reflecting curiosity of her own even as Lilah answers, "Her. The--gold. Eliyaveith." As if her name is enough of an invitation, the dragon drags herself to her feet, approaching Palia and snaking her neck down to explore that basket and the smells coming from it. "She wants to know why you're eating alone. She thinks you should eat with someone." A pause, and the weyrling adds dryly, "I think she'd invite herself to join you, but she wouldn't like anything in the basket. Probably. I've never fed her anything other than raw meat--."
"That would make you Lilah then," Palia more states than asks. The gold's interest in her basket earns a grin and a low chuckle. "There's some meat in there, but it's not raw. She's welcome though, if she's all right with trying something cooked, though it would barely be a bite for her." Pause. "And you too. If you're hungry." The harper takes a moment, to toe off one sandal, then the other, kicks the pair slightly to the side. "Mind if I sit here, Eliyaveith? I'm Palia."
Eliyaveith inclines that heavy-set jaw with a hint of regality for the question, allowing it. Though, she then marks the spot with her own body, or more like, around the spot as she lays back down against the sand, making a dark crescent around where Palia indicates. "I'm sorry, you have the advantage of me. You are?" questions Lilah, though she also sets her book closed, sliding down from the rock to join them on the sand. The weyrling's lips hint at a smile, briefly. "I don't think she'd like it, and it'd be a waste of your dinner. Although, if you don't mind--. I am kind of hungry."
Dropping down into a cross-legged position that adds to the arc of Eliyaveith's crescent, Palia sets the basket down in front of herself. "Plenty in here to share," she affirms the earlier invitation and pulls the cloth out first, spreads it out on the sand and starts laying out the contents of the basket on it. "Palia, senior apprentice harper, posted here just under a month ago. I've been doing a lot of catch up reading in the archives, so I read the latest hatching lists." Typical fare from the Weyr's kitchens makes up the spread: meat pies, a bowl of roasted veggies, a few pieces of fruit, a couple of sweet pastries and a small stoppered bottle. "I didn't bring cups, but if you don't mind sharing, that's lemonade."
"I feel like I've been doing a lot of catch up reading, too," Lilah admits on a breath, her lips curving into a brief, firmer smile. But, her gaze drops to that spread as Palia lays it out, a slight curve to her brow upwards as she takes it all in. "I don't know how you got the kitchen to give you all of this. I can barely get them to spare some soup for me when I go there." But, she's willing to accept the generosity, folding herself opposite of Palia into her own cross-legged position as well. Eliyaveith watches the food, rather than the women.
"I have my ways," Palia jokes with another one of her little shrugs and a half grin that carves a deep dimple into one cheek. "Help yourself," she invites and snags an apple to munch on as an appetizer. "So was that catch-up reading, or for-fun reading?" she inquires with a little gesture toward Lilah's abandoned book.
Lilah reaches for one of those roasted vegetables, but before she can eat it herself, Eliyaveith's face is /right/ there, and she gives the vegetable up in favor of her dragon, who so carefully takes it from her hand. "Catch-up reading," she answers, as she reaches to get another piece. "But, how do you teach yourself diplomacy from a book?" That may be a philosophical question, the way she poses it, because she dismisses it with a shake of her head in the next moment. "How are you liking your post?"
Eliyaveith's interference draws Palia's attention and she watches the dragon closely to see how the gold cares for vegetable sustenance. She's got a mouthful of apple going, so chews and swallows first before opening her mouth to answer: "You don't according to the archives master, just the history behind it." Another bite of apple initiates a pause before she goes on once her mouth is clear. "So far, so good. I like the teaching part a lot more than I thought I would. And it's interesting learning more of Fort's history from the Weyr's perspective. How do you like being a weyrling?"
Eliyaveith swallows it down, but likely because it would be rude to do otherwise. The gold leaves the next piece for Lilah alone, letting her head fall back against her paws and her own attention returning to Palia with interest at the harper's answer. Lilah, too, quirks up a smile at the answer, letting out a slight sigh. "It can be a bit of an adjustment, Weyr life, but I'm glad you're fitting in," she says, and seems to mean it. It's the question that trips her up more, her shoulder lifting briefly. "It isn't really designed for anyone to like it. We're placed below everyone else in the Weyr, and our days are pretty full."
"I'm Weyrbred actually - I was born here, but I grew up at Ista Weyr. It's the differences in perspectives on the same events from place to place that are so interesting to read about," Palia notes thoughtfully and finishes off the apple, the core set down beside her rather than lobbed willy nilly. "I guess not ... though it seems like parts of the training could be interesting." She picks up one of the meat pies next. "Gold though ... that comes with a lot of pressure?"
"Ah, right. Sorry. So, I guess it isn't that much of a change, really, for you. At least until we get to winter," Lilah replies, though she tips her chin at the difference of perspectives. Eliyaveith's tongue snakes out to lick at that core as soon as Palia has abandoned it, and apparently she decides she likes the taste, because it disappears into her mouth in the next second with a crunch. "Mmm." That, it seems, is all the weyrling will say on the training, though her gaze slides to the dragon as she eats that core. Or perhaps at Palia's words. "It is. I could do without the added responsibilities and, the judgements, and--. Everything, really. But you can't choose who you Impress."
"Nope," Palia agrees about the lack of change. "Been at Harper Hall for the past six turns - that first winter was the worst, it's gotten better." She shrugs and digs into the meat pie, her gaze joins Lilah's in sliding sideways as Eliyaveith steals the apple core. "How's that taste?" she addresses the young gold directly and catches a little dribble of sauce from her pie with her finger, licks it off. "I'll bet. It's a tough job ... weyrwoman," Palia seems sympethatic, but also pensive for a moment. "No. Just have to make the best of it, I guess."
Eliyaveith rumbles warmly at Palia's question, her nose pressing against the harper's leg closest to her briefly in an answer before she settles back again with her jaw resting against her paws. "Apparently, she likes fruit more than she likes vegetables," she answers for her. "She liked the crunch." She reaches for one of those meat pies as well, tempted perhaps by Palia. "I am trying to. I just--. I am trying." She pauses, considering the other woman with a tip of her head. "Have you ever thought about Standing? Being raised at the Weyr."
Eliyaveith's nose-nudge earns a smile from the harper and she pops the last of the meat pie into her mouth, uses the edge of the cloth for a napkin to wipe her fingers. "Interesting - more about the texture." She doesn't reach for a new food item this time, but pops the stopper on the bottle and has a few sips of the lemonade, careful not to backwash. "My father suggested that I should. It crossed my mind a few times. But I wanted something more --" she pauses, like she's trying to pick the word carefully, settles on "-- stable."
"Stable?" challenges Lilah of the word, curious, before she takes a bite of her meat pie carefully.
Palia takes another swig from the bottle of lemonade, then twists it into the sand to keep it upright since the stopper is left off. "When you're a dragonrider, your first duty is to your dragon and that comes with a certain amount of uncertainty, depending on the dragon's personality. Let's just say that after seeing how that affected my parents and grandparents, I'd rather go a different way."
Lilah's lips curve slightly as she glances to Eliyaveith, though when she turns her attention back to Palia, she simply nods. "I understand that much, at least," she agrees. "Why harper, then? If you don't mind my asking. It's less stable than other crafts, I would think."
"I always thought I was going to be a Baker, actually. That's what my father did before he Impressed and I was going to follow in his footsteps and be a brilliant chef, run his place at Ista when he retired." She leans back on her hands and cocks a look up at the sky. "And then I fell in love with history, and wound up following in my uncle's footsteps to Harper Hall instead. I think it depends on what aspect of harpering you wind up in. I'm not really an entertaining kind of harper," she acknowledges with a slight grin and a lift of one shoulder. "I'll probably have more than one posting, but then settle down somewhere to teach, write, do research and mind the records."
"Sounds as if you have everything figured out, then. Though, I'm surprised you don't want to aim at being Masterharper, or anything like that," Lilah replies, a hint of lightness to her words as she pops the last of the meat pie in her mouth. "What sort of place does your father run?"
Laughter answers ambitions of being Masterharper. "Shells, no," Palia replies between chuckles and sits up again, reaches for one of the pastries. Time for dessert. "I have a plan," she does agree, "but Masterharper isn't part of it. Right now, honestly, I'll just be glad if I can manage to walk the tables in the next turn or two." A bite or two from the pastry leaves flakes on her leg, brushed off absently into the sand. "Fancy restaurant on the beach," Palia explains, "but he's not at Ista anymore and it's changed hands."
Lilah's lips quirk into that smile again, as she reaches for the lemonade. She lifts it in a toast, adding a slightly dry, "To getting through the next turn or two, then." She takes a small sip, though she quickly shakes her head. The gesture is explained as she addresses the dragon, "No, you can't have some of this. I don't even know how I'd pour it for you."
"Hear, hear," Palia agrees and lifts her pastry in 'toast' answer. "Right on her tongue?" she suggests for sharing with Eliyaveith. "Though that'd probably be awfully messy. We'd have to bring you a whole bucket, to get a real taste, Eliyaveith and sadly, even my powers of persuasion wouldn't be able to move the kitchen staff that much."
The quiet croon Eliyaveith lets out at Palia's answer manages to sound sad, though she nudges her nose against the apprentice again in a gesture of forgiveness, quiet possibly. "She'll live. She probably wouldn't like the taste, anyways," Lilah replies, shaking her head again as she caps the lemonade and returns it to its place. She adds, returning to the previous topic, "You'll have to tell me where exactly it is, once she's big enough to Between. I'll go see it for myself. I've never been to a fancy restaurant."
"Or sour her stomach," Palia agrees, "though a little taste could be interesting for her." Her pastry is finished off and her fingers wiped on the cloth again. "Right on the beach, within sight of The Sandbar, that's the bar on the pier that sticks out into the bay right at the base of the Weyr's cliff. It's a short glide a-dragonback from where riders usually come out from Between above Ista, about five minutes' walk from the bar."
Lilah nods, murmuring a repetition of the directions as if to commit it to memory. She says, "I still have about six months before she's able to go to Ista, but--. The months are passing by sooner than I thought, in any case. It will probably be over before I know it."
"Ista's a good place to go to ... relax," Palia claims of her childhood home. "Half a turn ... not that long." She pauses, takes a breath before asking slowly: "Do you want it to be over sooner over later?"
"I guess it supposes what later brings," Lilah admits. "But, at least I will have to stop /saluting/ everyone." She adds the driest of smiles to those words. "I guess that is an advantage of craft over wery. At least you know things will remain a lot of the same after you walk the tables."
"Both more ... and less freedom, from what I can tell," Palia offers over, one hand skating through hair frizzed up by the humidity and pulling back a few strands that have come free of her braid. "The job is largely the same, just with more responsibility. And less 'sir' and 'ma'am'. That's one thing apprentices and weyrlings have in common."
Lilah considers that, considers /Palia/ thoughtfully before she nods simply. She replies, lightly, "I never understood that, why they all want to remind you of everyone being above you. Well, I guess this is why they don't let me make rules."
"For harpers at least, supposedly it's good training to respect the holders and leaders that you will eventually work for," Palia explains, legs unfolding from their cross and knees drawing up toward her chest instead, her chin dropping to rest on top of the platform they make. "Papa would probably say something about riders needing to follow their leaders' orders unquestioningly during Threadfall, but ... Thread is over for a long time. And what's the sense in having a weyrling kow tow to an apprentice, right?" Brow up, wry sideways grin.
"It will be a while before Thread returns," Lilah agrees with a nod, though she considers Palia's answer. "I would think that there'd be better ways to train weyrlings to follow orders unquestioningly than--saluting. I don't know that that teaches that." To the last, she laughs, humor reflected in dark eyes.
"Mm. Though regular riders salute their superiors too, right? It's probably some long-lost traditional thing - though I couldn't tell you what from, no matter how much history I've read." The breeze picks up a little and Palia lifts her face into it, joins Lilah laughing. "At least it gives your arm a good work out?" She winks and wriggles her toes in the sand then stretches. "I should get get going. I have an assignment I need to finish up and turn in to my journeyman for tomorrow before the kids' lessons in the morning."
That breeze picking up is reason enough for Lilah to get going as well, and it becomes clear enough to Palia too, likely. Eliyaveith starts rumbling again, but this time, it is in clear distress as the wind pricks along her hide. Even as Palia says it, the weyrling does as well with a hurried, "We have to go--." Her smile is strained, as she catches Palia's words. She nods, and only adds, "Thank you for the picnic." She is on her feet quickly, not bothering with brushing off sand as she escorts Eliyaveith away.
"Nice to meet you both," Palia calls after the pair. "See you around." And the apprentice gets to her feet, tidies up and heads back to the Weyr to get the rest of her work done before calling it a night.