Mistaken Whispers (Open/Cait)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

74.11.14

He’d known better. He really had known better. The first rule of life for him was “never annoy those with authority”, but the conversation he’d been having with Davquil had been too interesting to just drop because class had started, so they’d been continuing it in whispers after the class started. It was only another review session on dragon care, going over stuff that they really did know already, so he didn’t think that Weyrling Master Eraviya would care. That had been a mistaken thought.

“…Perhaps you think that being able to take care of your dragon isn’t important! Or is it just that you thought to try delegating it to servants…” Eraviya continued on. T’vax wasn’t paying that much attention, but that was because he’d heard this particular riot act before. It wasn’t like he’d done anything that time, and this time, by Faranth’s egg, who cared if he and Davquil had been discussing Barrek Malvois; it wasn’t as if they didn’t already know the stuff that the class was going over.

“Now…” Eraviya’s voice trailed off as she realized that the rest of the class was still watching, instead of continuing to work. “Who told you to stop working?” she demanded, sweeping her gaze around so that she looked at every one of the Weyrlings. She held that posture for awhile, then returned her gaze to T’vax. “How long has it been since you ran the obstacle course?” she asked.

T’vax winced. It had just snowed that past night; running the obstacle course through fresh powder was not a fun experience. “I ran it the day before yesterday with the rest of the class, ma’am,” he answered.

The Weyrling Master arched an eyebrow. “Well, in that case, you can run it… until I say to stop.” Her voice was harder than frozen rock at the end. “Now! Move!”

With a sigh that likely represented regret for the lunch that he would doubtless be missing, T’vax started jogging through the snow. It wasn’t that deep, really, only powder up to the middle of his shins, but it was ice beneath that, and keeping a steady footing was only possible because the powder stopped his legs from sliding.

Over with the other weyrling dragons, Slinesteth was doing his very best to blend into the rest of the group. Of course, it helped that he was hiding behind his larger Silverlight brother, Azeriuth.

[Cait]

Of course T'vax had known better--and really, Dav had too, though she tended to be a bit too hyper for her own good at times--but when did that ever stop teenagers from commiserating during lessons? Never, of course! Of course it didn't help any that Master Eraviya had been out to get the two Weyrlings since before they had even Impressed to their dragons! And with conspiracy on the mind--mainly discussion about Barrek the Weyrsmith and his ties to Tiv's father--it was easy for Davquil's mind to imagine some grand plot against her best friend at the Weyr. So, when the miniscule woman's voice crackled in the hushed silence of the other weyrlings, Dav blinked, confused for a moment. Servants?

Are servants like drudges? You wouldn't have some strange drudge take care of me would you?[/b][/color]

Davquil blinked, distracted for a moment by the hint of concern in Niekolgoth's voice, a crease appearing between her brows. What would she ever do with...oh. OH! Drawing in a deep breath, she clamped her lips together, her cheeks puffing out as she huffed through her nose, dark eyes sparking with anger as Master Eraviya further singled out T'vax. Picking up on her agitation, the purple-gray pushed up from where he'd been sitting and began to fidget; shifting his weight from one side to the other, his tail lashing out and inadvertently knocking into another young dragon, unfurling then furling his wings again.

As the rest of the class turned to stare at the "troublesome student" twin spots of color bloomed on Dav's cheeks and to anyone who knew her well enough--which was basically the entire class excluding the oblivious ones--could see that an outburst was on its way and when the tiny woman barked at T'vax to run the obstacle course, it was the trigger. Dav shot up from where she'd been seated hands on her hips.

"Now wait just a minute, that's not fair to single him out just because he comes from Blood! He wasn't the only one talking! I...was...aw fardles." The last bit trailed off into a muttering as Master Eraviya stared at Dav with an unamused expression. Several of the Weyrlings around her snickered or shook their head and Dav's shoulders slumped. Before the old woman could open her mouth, Dav turned on her boot heel and picked her way through the gathered weyrlings and then took off at a jog after T'vax.


Eraviya snorted and nodded slightly then returned to her lesson, noting the curled lip of a particular Moonlight Weyrling as she watched the girl with the male purple-gray go off to join the Chrome Weyrling. Korvalia would likely never be comfortable around her classmates who had cross Impressed and certainly not around a girl so rambunctious as Davquil. It didn't help any that Korinath didn't seem to hold the same discriminations as her rider. A glance at the Moonlight showed that she was drifting through the gathered dragons like the social flitter she was. Briefly the young woman found herself wondering what it would be like to have been her sister Rekkora; she'd received word of her stunning Impression not long after it had happened though the missive from her sister had arrived after the weyr had officially received word of the hatching of an Abyss and it's Impression to one of the ISW Candidates. I never thought she'd actually Impress a Queen, and an Abyss of all the colors?

Did I get to meet your sister before she left? I don't think I did? How do you think she's doing? From what I hear, being the lifemate of a Queen is not much different from other dragons; they are just larger and grumpier. Oh! Do you know what a servant is? Niekolgoth is asking everyone and Vilishanth says it's like a trundle bug but that doesn't make any sense. Senphorth says it's like a drudge but she's not sure. Were you a servant before I found you?[/b]

I was not a servant before you dear. Servants are people who attend Lords and their women and children. I was a cook, not a-- She trailed off as she felt Korinath pull away, no doubt to go spread the news that a servant wasn't a bug or a drudge but something else. Smiling slightly, she turned her attention back to the review, patiently awaiting the finish of the lesson.



When Davquil finally caught up to T'vax--and it was difficult as the man had quite long legs and the going was a bit tough--she was breathing hard and could barely gasp out a chagrin greeting to her friend. "Cranky...old...wher!"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Slogging through the fresh snow — T’vax refused to refer to the activity as running, for all that the snow was not particularly deep — served as a distraction from holding strong to his “shield” that prevented him from overhearing — at full conversational volume, he always overheard it as a sort of background noise — what dragons were saying. Naturally, the thing dropped right in time for him to hear Vilishanth telling Niekolgoth that servants were like trundle bugs.

T’vax stumbled, trying to catch his breath. This was just too much. He half-expected Niekolgoth to argue the point, but it would seem that the little Purple-Grey was in the information-gathering stage of an argument, because T’vax next heard Senphorth saying that a servant was something like a drudge.

Point one to Senphorth, T’vax thought, still grinning as he continued through the obstacle course.

Why does Senphorth get the first point? Slinesteth asked.

Because she is the closest to correct, T’vax responded. Some of his follows had found it hard to get used to the whole silent communication thing, but for him, it had been almost more natural, and certainly just as easy, as speaking aloud.

T’vax ran with a cross-step for a couple strides, so that he moved diagonally. Davquil was coming up on him from behind, and he wanted her to be able to pull level. He’d picked the knowledge up from Slinesteth, he thought. At least, it was most likely Slinesteth, because it didn’t feel as foreign as knowledge obtained from another dragon.

“Cranky… old… wher!” Davquil gasped.

T’vax snorted a laugh. “She get you too then?” he asked, around a couple large breaths. He also slowed his pace slightly, so that they might be able to talk, especially now that they were out of earshot of WeyrlingMaster Eraviya.

“So, to pick up where we left off, have you heard anything new regarding those canines?” T’vax asked. It wasn’t, strictly speaking, where they had left off, but there had been a group of canines that had been absent for quite some time, and T’vax was of the opinion that Barrek had sent Tiberax something. The what, of course, was what he and Dav had been trying to figure out.

[Anaxarete]

Meanwhile, in the back of the weyrling group, Virvine winced in secondhand embarrassment. Eraviya didn't take nonsense from anyone, Blooded or no. She couldn't see well from where she was, given her height, but the Weyrlingmaster's voice carried just fine. She could see Throsnoth though, who had moved to the fringe of the jostling group of dragonets after catching a mistaken blow from Niekolgoth's tail. According to him, the others were gossiping over the meaning of the word 'servant'.

"I know you would never use such a thing, Virvi-mine," thought Throsnoth with pleasure. He did not like the thought of others touching, much less being bathed by someone who did not have his Virvine's deft hands and knowledge of exactly where to scratch.

[Cait]

Davquil let out a self-depreciating bark of laughter and shook her head, dark curls bouncing. "Me and my big mouth got me." Though now that she'd caught up to her friend it was easier to breath if not to run. Though she'd lived with it all her life and for the most part enjoyed it, snow was not fun to run through.
As Tiv continued their line of conversation, Dav frowned at the thought of the canines that still hadn't returned. It was obvious that they'd gone either a great distance or something had happened to them. reaching up to shove the thick ponytail over her shoulder, she shook her head again. "I can check with my family again to see if they've seen the sled team, but I think you might be right. That smelly smith is up to something!"

Korvalia continued to pay attention though if truth be told, her mind had long since wandered off into the realm of meal planning and her mental cache of recepies. Recently she'd been working to improve the meatroll recepie so that it was a bit more flavorful. And, just as her mind had wandered, so did her eyes, settling on the jumble of young dragons where she watched Korinath weave in and out of the others, her head bobbing contentedly as she chattered away until finally she drifted off to the edge of the group where her brother Throsnoth was located.

What are you doing aaaaall the way out here? Did you see that Slinesteth's and Niekolgoth's got in trouble? They always seem to get into trouble. Oh! I heard that when we graduate there is going to be a huge feast! My Korvalia wants to make a special desert for the feast; she's the best cook ever! What is your rider good at?

Niekolgoth stared intently at his bi-color sister and before long the two of them were in a heated debate on the merrits of servants, the purple-gray forever playing the controversial side in order to better understand the black-white's views on the matter. Of course his own personal opinion on the matter was that servants were sometimes needed but should always be treated well. Senphorth seemed to be of a differing and equally strong opinion.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’vax growled in frustration. It was singularly annoying to be certain that the Weyrsmith, Barrek, was operating on the behalf of Tiberax, and yet to be unable to voice that knowledge due to the simple fact that, frankly, the Weyrsmith was a more established and respected individual than was T’vax, son — no matter that he worked to get everyone to forget it — of Tiberax Noixay, and Weyrling of the first Chrome since the fall of Dark Mists Weyr.

“I wish we had something on him. Something so solid it’d stand up regardless of who presented it!” He made a quick cutting motion with his hand as he finished speaking, his voice lent a certain fire not just from his frustration, but from the overheard snatches of debate between Niekolgoth and Senphorth, with an overlay of Korinath informing another weyrling that there would be a feast at graduation.

“You know something,” he said abruptly. “Running aggravates headaches, even if you’re really more slogging than running.” Niekolgoth, Senphorth, could you please argue a little quieter? he asked the two weyrlings.

Slinesteth watched the other weyrlings mingle, hanging to the edge of the group when possible. He wished there was some way to make T’vax less noticeable, it was really hard to blend in when your rider attracted attention the way T’vax did. Of course, he was simultaneously trying to work out a way to find out where the sled canines had gone, and a way to deal with Barrek Malvois. He thought he had a way to combine those last two, but it would be difficult to pull off successfully, as well as requiring a friendly firelizard or two.