Not Said Soft Enough (Kaya)

[Shoki]

Afternoon
77.02.08

Another cold day at Ice Stone, and Kyuuki was keeping warm. Even in the usually agreeable dining hall, she was cozy in her layers. Of course a hot mug of Halk helped as well. Lantern was sitting on the table, taking the bits of food that Kyuuki gave him patiently. She was smiling just a little, when the man came over to her table.

“Good day, I hope I am not intruding.” Kyuuki looked up at the man, but didn’t recognize his voice off hand. Sounded somewhat familiar, with its slight boom, but cheery tone.

“No, not intruding.” She had little idea what this was about.

“Ah, still with your fine friend, hello little one.” He waved at Lantern, who gave a cheery chirp in response. If the Flame was okay with the man, she might as well be as well. But he kept on speaking. “I hope I wasn’t wrong about that egg, I pride myself on knowing the good ones. I don’t see another hanger on though.” Something clicked and Kyuuki knew exactly who she was speaking with. The local firelizard trader, a nice enough man and a well-known local fixture.

“Oh, it was, um, quite a good one. I gifted it, you see.”

“Ah, that’s alright then. So long as it’s gone well. Bronze was it?”

“Iron.”

“Ah well, good enough guess. Don’t suppose you will be needing anymore gifts? I can save some good ones for you.” Cheery enough, but always in the mood for a sale. Kyuuki merely smiled.

“Ah, no, I think I will be alright.”

“Oh well. Still, lovely to see you again Ma’am. And you too little guy.” He waved at them both before heading toward the tunnel that led outside. Kyuuki waved politely before giving Lantern a bit more food. He was a nice man, and the conversation was short enough that she hadn’t had time to seriously fret. All in all, she was glad he came in.

[Kaya]

Libby was cleaning tables in the time between lunch and dinner. There were still a few tables occupied but the hall was much quieter than it's dinner time boom. Finishing one surface, Libby dropped the rag into the bucket and moved on to the next spot. She quietly moved over to let a man go by. She started cleaning the next table content with the methodical task.

Kyuuki's voice got her to look up. Talking to that man. Hmm. She looked back to the table and listened as they spoke. Kitchen worker culture indicated listening in was the norm, and her previous life had depended on sharp ears and eyes.

The bucket was starting to weigh on her arm so she set it down on the table. Firelizards, huh? Libby knew Kyuuki had the one, they'd met with that young boy in her weyr so long ago.

But when it clicked that they were talking about her Anchor, her suddenly appeared flitt. As if on cue the Iron showed up, landing on the table and leaving streaks on the newly cleaned table. "Anchor!" Libby protested. The Iron spun about to look apologetic. His tail collided with the bucket. When she reached to stabilize the bucket it instead toppled over and onto the floor, water spilling onto her and the floor. "Shells! Shellsshellsshells..." So much for sharp senses.

[Shoki]

Even after all this time, loud noises made Kyuuki jump. She looked up, vaguely seeing someone there and hearing cursing. Lantern turned his head, mouth still full, before sending Kyuuki an image of the scene. She was always thankful for her firelizard. When things were not quite clear he could illuminate things for her.

What she saw was Libby, which made her tense up a little, but she was trying to clean up after a spill. Nervously, she wondered if she had been heard. She didn’t know, but she guessed not. Most people said that she needed to speak up even more then she already did. Still, first thing was first, it was best to get this fixed.

“Lantern, please.” The Flame swallowed what he was eating, and gave a happy chirp before disappearing for a moment. Soon enough he returned, with a few cloths to clean with. While he was gone Kyuuki straightened herself out of her chair and moved to Libby. She got there about the same time that Lantern deposited the cloths in her hands.

“Here, let me, um, dry you off.” She reached out to do that, Lantern helping her a bit with what needed drying. She needed the eyes of a firelizard a lot these days.

[Kaya]

"Oh, uh," Libby looked up. Kyuuki. Shells. "Sorry. No, that's fine. I got it," she shrugged. Anchor was set to rolling around on the table now, ruining all of Libby's work to clean it. "Anchor, no!" The Iron sat up. "No." He looked back with an innocent face. Really, she thought, I'm fine. Kitchen clothes, meant to get wet. I'll go help bake they'll dry fast...

[Shoki]

Libby’s words interrupted Kyuuki as she was doing the very thing that the Lifewing rider was doing, so it was a moment before the older woman stopped. Of course having stopped she sort of retreated into herself, making herself look small as she spoke quietly.

“Oh, sorry.” Lantern looked at Libby. Well, she wasn’t that wet, she had gotten mostly dry from that. Kyuuki fiddled with the cloths in her hand, one dropping to the floor. Lantern, spying what had happened, chirped and jumped onto the cloth, pushing it along the wet floor.

Kyuuki was baffled for a moment, trying to track Lantern and Anchor. A puzzled, but weak smile made its way onto her face and she cleared her throat. Lantern looked up, chirping again. Kyuuki was rather puzzled by the whole affair, uncertain what to do.

[Kaya]

Libby frowned as Kyuuki backed up and dropped the cloth. No. That wasn't right either. Shards. She scooped up Anchor to keep him from further dirtying the dining hall. The two of them looked at Kyuuki.

"No. I'm sorry. You were just trying to help. I heard you talking with that trader and I thought-" Libby stopped, not sure how to explain. Kyuuki must have wanted it secret to have not told her about Anchor. How the two had arrived at this relationship, Libby wondered. Perhaps she had matured a little at the Weyr. She liked to fancy she had. It wasn't Kyuuki, it wasn't that Eira lady, it was the Aerie and whatever rules they had. Rules bigger than these two. And whatever they were, it meant Libby wasn't meant for the Aerie. And Kyuuki had shown her kindness over that, while she was still mad, and not even told her. "I should thank you."

[Shoki]

Kyuuki’s face shifted from confusion to worry as Libby began to talk. She had heard her with the trader? Her eyes grew wider, and she looked even more nervous. She had heard her. Why hadn’t her soft voice worked in her favor this time, it had worked against her for turns. Lantern looked up at his nervous mistress, then back at Libby and Anchor. With a little hop into the air, he flew to her shoulder and landed there, crooning into her ear softly. She needed it, although for herself she was still bracing.

In the silence between them, Kyuuki was bracing for loudness, for anger. All the things she couldn’t take. She braced for it, her hands unable to keep still. Finally she spoke again and Kyuuki stopped. Thanking her? She wasn’t expecting that. It was hard to process that, since her mind had to be in another place, rather than bracing in fear. It took some time in silence.

“You aren’t mad?” The timid words escaped her, her expression still unsure.

[Kaya]

Mad? She had made quite a scene last time, hadn't she? Anchor chirped an echo of her question. "No," Libby got out, keeping her voice quiet. Kyuuki did spook easy. She shifted on her feet and squeezed Anchor, half hug half reminder to behave, before she put the Iron down on the dirty table. "I mean, of course I'm mad I'm not a LifeWing Rider. I traveled miles and miles, in horrible weather, and that wasn't even the worst of it, squeaked through that excuse for a Hold up here, finally made it to the Aerie and was turned down. Why do you think I approached you? I thought you were a softy. Guess not, huh?" Libby shuffled a foot into a loose kick against the air.

"So yeah, I'm mad, but not at you. I got a warm, dry place to sleep here, a respectable job and some of those cooks in there I might even call friend. Might..." her lips ticked up on one side. "And I met Anchor here. Handy little guy. Ah, so, it's the best it's been in a long time. I just gotta find somethin' new that's worth traveling across the planet to get." So there it was, a rendition of her story from the before. Not oft told, and when spoken of, it was usually to the Iron firelizard that looked on from the table.

[Shoki]

Libby kept her words down, which was good. Too loud and Kyuuki would have tried to skitter away again. Maybe it wouldn’t have been like that if she had kids, but T’ruk was the only thing close, and he was such a quiet boy when he arrived. Hardly a boy now. When had life moved so fast? Now, Libby was telling her why she was mad, but not at her.

When had things changed? Was it sudden or all at once? Things just seemed to speed by her now-a-days.

Kyuuki’s expression softened, the barest hint of a smile coming to it. A place and some work to do. Yes, that sounded like something, didn’t it? At the last sentence her smile became slightly bigger.

“Something to go across the world for…” She paused, and then said quietly, “It sounds nice. I wish, well, that I had been that wise. Um, as a girl.” Lantern crooned against the old woman’s shoulders and the vibration was relaxing. “I don’t really know, uh, what might be there now, but if you wanted an adventure, um, I know someplace sunny.” A little private joke with herself, but she added a with a little amusement, “It was too sunny for me, but you might, um, like it.”

[Kaya]

"You know a place, huh?" Libby asked with light guard and a smile, ending her words with a questioning tilt of the head. Was she ready to try someplace new? She shuffled her shoulders in thought. "I'll take a look," she shrugged, letting her arms fall to her sides. "Not making any promises though."

So she'd take a look. And if it looked promising, maybe she'd consider moving. She had it pretty good up at the Weyr as a cook. It wasn't an exciting life, but it was dependable. But was that what she wanted to wake up to in the morning? She still had a lot to consider, if this place was what she thought Kyuuki meant.

[Shoki]

Kyuuki watched Libby with some amount of fondness. It wasn’t just the words with which she answered the question, it was how she did. She knew that Libby would decide what she wanted, and not get pressured into anything. That was a good quality to have.

“I understand. I can take you for a visit, if you like. I do have someone to, um, visit there anyway. At Rainbow Mists.” She really should. Although she had been having a harder time going out and about recently. Maybe a little warm sunshine would do her good. In small doses.

[Kaya]

"Hey, since you're going anyway," Libby continued with a twitch of the shoulder. "Let me know when you're planning to go and I'll see if I can get my shift in the kitchens covered." She hadn't been out in days. She probably had even earned a day off, but she had so little else to do that she never took them. Better to be busy, useful, earn her keep at her place of residence.

"Soonish?" If she was going to be considering this, well, it would be nice to see. Plus if she weren't mistaken, this Rainbow place wasn't on the end of a bitter winter, and that would be nice, even for a visit.

[Shoki]

“Of course.” Soonish. Well, she didn’t know if soonish for the elder lifewing rider and soonish for the young lady were the same thing. But soonish indeed for at least one. But soon enough. They would like to visit to catch the summer. “I’ll let you know when.”

Vallesh opened one eye, her beak tucked in her wings. The Swan’s lifelong friend was happy. New could be good, even at this age. It was good, Vallesh so rarely got to visit a place so different, it would be nice for them both. To catch a little warmth.

[Kaya]

"Ah," Libby paused. "Thanks." It was all a little much to take it. Actually a lot much. Something. The words were jumbling and refusing to carry her thoughts. "Later," she excused herself and gathered up her working materials. The remaining tables could wait a little longer.