Nighttime Musings [open!]

[slush]

|76.11.14 | late night | dining hall|

Madiren stared disconsolately at the letter before him. It was heavily creased, the edges worn. The ink had blurred in several places. Really, he needn’t bother looking at it now. He’d read it enough times to memorize the contents. But it was the last news he’d had of his family in sevendays, and he had no idea how much longer it would be until he received more.

He was sitting in the dining hall, nursing a cold cup of klah. He’d only poured it a few minutes ago, but it seemed like nothing stayed hot in this cursed icebox of a Weyr. At least the kitchens and dining hall were a smidgeon warmer than elsewhere. He gripped his mug but sighed rather than gulp down its frigid contents. His fingers ached. He felt like one of the old arthritic uncles back at the Hall, always groaning when the rains came. He flexed his fingers, wincing at their stiffness.

The Healers had told him when he arrived that he had a mild case of frostbite. He hadn’t felt a thing, then—the pain had long subsided as his skin grew red, yellow, and numb. Now, though the digits had healed nicely, they ached sporadically, and no one was certain if he’d regain full sensitivity to heat and cold. Not that he was ever likely to feel heat again here at Ice Stone. And the Weyr didn’t have much use for a shipwright, if he didn’t Impress.

His mouth twisted downward into a deep frown. It was an unnatural expression in a face born for smiling, but Madiren could not summon his usual cheer. He thumbed the letter again.

Traren is a joy, Madiren. I so wish you could see him. Have no fear; he is robust and well. Truly, it’s Trassy I worry over. She’s taken ill again with headaches. But I’m here to care for her as much as Traren. We will be all right, Maddy, I promise. And we’ll find a way to bring you home, soon. Stay warm til then. I must go—one of the felines is sniffing around him, and last time he yanked the yellow one’s tail, and you know what comes of THAT. I’ll write a longer letter later.

All of my love,
Veyala

His sister’s unwavering faith despite their predicament usually cheered him, but right now it only made him feel more alone and dispirited. He sighed again. Madiren tugged a hand through his dark, tousled hair. He glanced around the nearly-empty hall. It was later than most riders cared to be about; sensible folk were abed. But the heavy shadows beneath the Candidate’s already deep-set eyes were a telltale sign of insomnia. He hadn’t slept a full night since coming north, discounting the one he spent drugged in Ice Stone’s infirmary. Everything about him screamed exhaust, yet sleep would not come, so here he sat.

[Shoki]

Normal riders might not be interested in being up at a late hour, but some riders had particularly nocturnal companions. So it wasn’t all that surprising that a Moonlight rider came in looking for something warm. D’ziel had adjusted, for the most part, to living at Ice Stone. Unlike at Rainbow Mists, there wasn’t a big advantage to being up early, since ducking the heat of the middle of the day didn’t apply here. Instead, everyone adjusted schedules to the length of the day. However, even with that, it meant that Hocteth wanted to be up when others were not, taking in the night sky and thinking. As for D’ziel, he was a bit less introspective tonight. He went to get a mug, before looking down, and looking faintly surprised that he didn’t see anything.

“Pounce?” His feline was conspicuously absent at the moment. He could have sworn that she walked in next to him. At least, they were walking together in the halls. He looked around, though he couldn’t see the silver feline on the stone surfaces that were the dining hall caverns.

Pounce, of course, had her own agenda. Felines were well known to have such things. Tonight, she wanted a snack. Or attention. That worked as well. However, she knew that her human was not going to get her a treat, though attention he may well give her. So upon her entry she slinked off to get some other human to give in to her wishes. She didn’t have that many to choose from. She tried to approach one female, but she apparently was not at all interested in the feline. Her brief rub against her leg only got her pushed away. Pounce was far too nice a feline to hiss at that, but twitched her tail and pointedly ignored the rude lady. Perhaps her next target would be more receptive.

She approached Madiren, a new face to her, but perhaps this was the chance to make a new friend. She rubbed her head against his pant leg, giving a small purr, that more shook her body then it did make noise. Likely, she would leave a bit of silver and chocolate spotted hair behind, but such things didn’t concern felines. She then lifted her head, trying to get a good look at the man she was trying to weasel food out of, and gave a pair of ‘meow’s, hopefully to elicit the correct reaction.

What wasn’t correct was that it immediately called up her master.

“Pounce, where did you get to?” D’ziel clearly heard the meowing, and suspected its source to be his feline. However, Pounce moved to not be seen directly, so D’ziel took a moment to check behind table legs. He frowned slightly. And here he thought that she had been well trained. One could only train a feline so much though.

[slush]

Madiren was tugged from his reverie by something rubbing at his leg. He shrank away instinctively, imagining a tunnelsnake or worse. A small exclamation escaped him before he could stifle it. The lad looked down, wary.

"Oh!" It was a feline. A pretty silvery thing, too. "Here, kitty," he murmured, reaching down to rub Pounce's crown. "Where did you come from?" He continued skritching the purring feline, mildly comforted by the presence of this sympathetic being. If he hadn't seen D'ziel meandering through the hall peering between chairs, he may have started pouring out his life story to the unsuspecting Pounce.

Even as the culprit twisted behind his chair, Madiren raised a hailing hand to the Moonlight rider. "Looking for a feline?" he called, wincing at the rasp in his voice. He didn't know if it was due to disuse or he was coming down with a sharding cold.

Though he felt curiously self-conscious--something that was almost foreign to him--he forced himself to raise his eyes to meet D'ziel's. Hopefully, this man wouldn't be one of those that was instantly suspicious of his flight from Icy Caverns Hold. The man's feline seemed to have taken a shine to him, at least.

[Shoki]

Pounce didn’t like the sudden retreat, but soon the human’s face showed her that he was friendly. She leaned into his hand as his fingers rubbed her head. She purred softly. There we go, that was the sort of reaction she had been hoping for. She gave another little ‘meow’ hoping he would get the idea to give her a snack. If not, she just liked him for his lack of pushing her away. Unlike other humans that she would now pointedly ignore.

D’ziel looked up at the new voice, who sounded a bit raspy. And unbidden thought came to mind, since he really couldn’t help the association. Fire and smoke were such a big part of his life for a while there, but it took him a moment to realize that was probably not the reason this man was speaking such. He trotted over, shaking off the thought to replace it with new ones. The person who had called out looked to be much the same age as him, and perhaps around the same height, which might have been the reason he thought they were the same age.

“I am, is she lurking around here?” He looked about, and spied a tail just around the chair. “Come here Pounce.” The feline took her sweet time, but strolled out from behind the chair, taking a chance to rub on the new man’s leg once more, before walking to D’ziel and rubbing against his leg too. “Felines.” He laughed a little, then turned his attention to the other man. “Thanks for the heads up. I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.” He paused for a moment, looking the other man over. He didn’t pretend to know everyone, but he was sure he hadn’t seen this person before. They sorta looked…well not like he had that one week, more like he was exhausted.

“Are you alright? You look to be a bit under the weather.” He looked down, at the mug in his hand, down at the steaming mug of Halk. “Want my Halk? Might get a little more heat in you.” When in the icy Weyr, Halk was the more popular drink. He still preferred a good mug of K’lah, but trying new stuff was fun.

[slush]

"Trouble? None at all. She's a sweet thing." He smiled as the cat pranced back to her human. The smile twisted as he forced himself to stifle a yawn. He ran one hand through his hair, fidgeting with the edge of his letter with the other. How could a man be so exhausted and yet so unable to sleep? He gave his mug of klah a baleful stare.

Oh...the rider had stayed to speak. That was a surprise. And judging by the gentle inquiry, perhaps even a pleasant one! Madiren looked up again. "Ah, I'm fine. Just tired." So much weariness leaked into that single word that it's heavy truth was evident. Less tired and more soon-to-drop-dead-of-exhaustion, really. But that's not something one said in polite conversation with strangers.

"Halk?" The Candidate's eyebrows rose. "What in the world is Halk?" It certainly didn't sound as appealing as klah. But Madiren looked at the mug D'ziel held, at the tantalizing curl of steam rising from it. Who cared if it tasted good, if it was hot? His interest had definitely been piqued.

[Shoki]

D’ziel looked a little relieved that Pounce hadn’t been causing too much trouble. Probably just asking for too much attention. He took a moment to give her a brief pet, before his attention refocused.

“That so?” D’ziel would have to say that the other man was understating things a little bit. He considered leaving the other man under the idea that he should let him get some shut eye, but the other man was out here instead of in bed. He opened his mouth to make some manner of comment before getting a question shot at him.

“Huh?” D’ziel looked surprised for a moment then chuckled good naturedly. “New to Ice Stone then?” Maybe the other man was just tired since he hadn’t gotten used to a new bed. He’d certainly preferred his old place. Riders were privileged enough to sleep closer to the cold, dragons must fly and all. Still, everyone got used to it in time. “Halk’s the usual fair around here, but it’s similar to klah. Not as similar as folks will tell you, they do get a kick out of the newbies look of shock. It’s strong, richer, and I swear it keeps its heat longer. People tend to flavor it different, I hear some people add spices and the like but I don’t need my nose running tonight. Here, you can give it a try.” He placed the mug next to the other man, his hands now empty. To compensate, he picked up Pounce, who meowed once in protest and then melted into his arms. Yes, more attention for the feline. Good.

“I like it, but I can’t say I don’t ask for a good mug of klah more often than not. Some of the guys still rag on me for it, but that’s fairly normal.” He didn’t mind it. He was the ‘not as new’ guy. He had to say, the politics around here were a lot different from his old home, but he liked things more and more as he learned about them. He could do without the cold though.

[slush]

Madiren stared at the mug, conflicted. On the one hand, it looked blessedly warm, and he really wanted to try it. On the other, it seemed rude to just take the man's drink. But the rider hadn't seemed at all reluctant to offer...

Finally, he just had to do it. "Many thanks, rider," he said, flexing his fingers in order to wake them up enough to grab the cup. He took a sip, swallowed. It was still warm, thank Faranth! His eyebrows rose as he considered the flavor. Interesting.

"I think...it's good," he pronounced at last, setting the mug back down. "Different, certainly, but I guess I could get used to it. Unlike this sharding weather." He managed a smile as he spoke though, as though some of his troubles had melted from the heat of the drink. Or perhaps it was D'ziel's friendliness that did the trick.

"So you're not native to these parts, either?" Madiren asked, curious.

[Shoki]

D’ziel watched the other man consider the mug for a time, before uttering his thanks. The rider nodded, though he wondered if the more formal thanks was really required. He didn’t say it bothered him, since it didn’t, but he wondered sometimes. Well, maybe it was just his upbringing talking. Probably that. He leaned in slightly as the man tried it, looking expectant. Some people did not like the stuff, but judging from the slow consideration the man gave the new drink, it wasn’t horrid to him. Finally he spoke and D’ziel smiled.

“I do understand, the cold was pretty rough starting off. But I’m glad you like it. It wouldn’t be right unless you were freezing and had a cup of Halk in your hand around here.” He joked lightly, but sometimes it did seem that way. “If you want my advice, tables near the kitchen are warmer, so if you are feeling cold in the mornings, go for them.” This was true, for reasons D’ziel didn’t quite care to investigate. He did know that some of his fellow wingriders swore by them when they were feeling bad, and he’d felt the difference for himself. It did make sense though, if he cared to stop and think about it.

“No, I’m born and bred Rainbow Mists Weyr. Opposite problem there in the summer months, obviously. I have to say though, Hocteth seems to like it better here.” He felt a faint bit of attention toward D’ziel, before the Moonlight went back to his thoughtful stargazing. “But what about you? Where are you from?”

[slush]

He filed away the bit of advice about the kitchens for future reference. Every little bit would help. "Thanks for the tip," Madiren said. "I'll certainly keep it in mind. I feel like a walking icicle, most mornings," he confessed with a flash of his grin.

He smiled even wider when he heard the Moonlight rider was Southern-bred. "I'm from the South, too. Fishcrafthall, specifically. I tell you, I've know idea how fisherfolk can stand to work up here. I've been trying to learn a bit more about how they build the ships to protect them from the cold, but..." He shrugged. The others of his Craft he'd been allowed to work with at the hold weren't very forthcoming with a stranger. Or perhaps it was specific to Madiren. Either way, he hadn't gotten to expand his knowledge as he'd hoped. "I was--am--a shipwright. Haven't seen much work since I moved North, but now they're saying I can be a Candidate, so hopefully all's not lost..." He trailed off, still obviously troubled. He quickly changed the subject. "What was it like, growing up around dragons?"

[Shoki]

D’ziel chuckled in response, since he had to agree. He then settled to listen to the other man talk about the fisherhall. He listened closely, but he didn’t have much of a frame of reference for the stuff. Sure, Cliffside was nearby, but he hadn’t been there for more than casual visits, and Rainbow Mists didn’t do much in the way of fishing. So he tried to learn from what the man was talking about. When he trailed off though, D’ziel tried to get things a little more upbeat.

“Sounds like interesting work, kinda sad I haven’t ever learned about it.” He paused, and tried to be optimistic. “I’m sure you’ll impress. If not here, then maybe at my old home. They do like trading candidates around here.” Generally for big hatchings. Ice stone would lend willing candidates for Queen hatchings, or vice versa. He’d been around long enough to know it happened with some frequency.

“Growing up around dragons is pretty cool. You get used to it, especially if you are around them young. My dad, and all my grandparents were always around dragons, and they always took time to introduce me and Dan to them. So after a while you get used to them. There is a kind of pressure though, when your family is mostly dragonriders. Sometimes it takes some of the wonder out of being around dragons.” He broke into an easy smile. “It all comes back during impression though.” Althought his had been marred a bit with the whole, ‘now do it properly’ speech from Hocteth. That was just how the Moonlight was though.