Western Weyr - Beach to the South
This white sandy beach is located halfway between the Weyr and Half Moon Bay Hold. It is wide enough for a large dragon to walk along without brushing wings in either the thick vegetation to the north or the surf to the south. Bits of shell and driftwood are occasionally cast ashore here. There is a bit of a freshwater stream that flows down from an inland waterfall. A path leads along the edges of the stream further into the jungle to it.
Seclusion, privacy, getting away from the rat race of the Weyr, the reasons that brought Enka to this quiet little stretch of shoreline are hers and hers alone, although she's certainly not without company at the moment. A blanket, weighted down by shoes and the picnic basket atop it — not to mention the Weyrwoman herself — is stretched out across the sand near the stream, taking advantage of the shade provided by the jungle vegetation. With most of her attention on the two small figures darting through the shallows, one yelling loudly at the other, Enka is at ease, relaxed out on the blanket. With a young toddler tucked into the curve of her side, she's propped up on one elbow, chin resting atop her palm.
Naris is not pleased, but then again it isn't often that she is. More important is the fact that she isn't upset, in face she is in a bit of a neutral mood at the moment. Her reasons for coming down to the beach are simple, work. Although she doesn't come down to the beach very often she knows that other people do, and where people are things tend to get messy. A large bag is held in her hand as she makes her way down, prepaired to pick up as much garbage as she can. The sight of the beach being clear currently comes as a bit of a surprise for her, but not as much as a surprise as seeing the weyrwoman. She had figured that Enka was almost always working, huddled up in her office acting like a traditional Weyrwoman. But then again she wasn't doing that last night, maybe she just isn't the type to constantly work. With a shrug Naris begins to turn around, there doesn't seem to be anything for her to do and she doesn't want to bother the Weyrwoman.
Enka lives on an island — with that much sunshine and generally fair weather — how can anyone of sane mind and body close themselves up in some dark old office when there's such nice weather to be had. Traditional be hanged, although to be fair, with the juniors the goldrider has, she can foist some of that work off on them leaving her free to enjoy a beach picnic and outing with the kiddies. The two boys, rambunctiously romping in the surf line, don't seem to notice the newcomer, but the wee girl child catches sight of Naris, poking one little hand out in the girl's direction, and thus catching Enka's attention. "Oh." the woman remarks, turning her head somewhat for a better view before she finally pulls herself into a seated position, and plunks the toddler onto her lap. "Hello there," comes the greeting, yelled out over the sound of surf and yelling sons, "Naris, was it?"
Despite the great weather Naris rarely allows herself out to enjoy the sun. Her skin has never handled strong sunlight very well, in fact it is down right painful at times. Most of her time in spent in the lower caverns, doing one chore or another. This is actually a rather rare excursion for her, even if it doesn't end in her getting a bag full of trash like she planned. Before she can leave the Weyrwoman calls to her, causing her to turn back around. With a small nod she replies, "yes, Naris would be correct." She pauses, glancing at the children running about in the suft. Curiosity shows in her voice as she asks, "are these your children then?"
"Out enjoyin' the sun, are you?" the goldrider inquires of the younger girl, "it's a nice day, and I can't imagine there would be anyone stayin' indoors when the weather's this good although I'd rather avoid the fuss and noise down at the lagoon." Enka grins wryly for a moment and then nods. "Mmhmm, this would be some of 'em. My eldest's probably off ridin' her pony and Ezio's likely with his father, but that's Kaelen and Liam down at the water. Kaelen's the one yellin' the most, and this is Erianna," the toddler's hefted a bit, shown off like some prize little rutabaga. "You want to sit down, let your feet rest for a moment?"
Naris shrugs when Enka asks if she's out enjoying the sun, commenting, "sorta. I actually came here to pick up litter, but I guess it turns out that the weyrfolk have been rather clean recently." She smiles and nods when she introduces her children, looking at each of them as she tells her their names. They certainly seem energetic but she hasn't seen them long enough to make judgements, although she does hope they aren't very annoying. When Enka asks if she wants to sit down Naris hesitates before slowly sitting down on the sand, tucking her knees under her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. She is silent for a moment, gazing out at the water. The silence is broken by a little blue firelizard popping out of /between/ and landing on her shoulder with a happy chirp.
Enka's eyebrows quirk somewhat when the younger woman remarks on picking up litter, but then everyone has to have a hobby and chore, right? And at least keeping Mother Pern trash-free is a decent sort of hobby if one thinks about it. "Seems like everyone's been good at keepin' the trash picked up and all," she agrees, "although when the tourists start invadin' for a summer in the sun, I'm sure it's goin' to take a work crew days to clean up after them." As for annoying offspring, Kaelen's got that covered, although his preoccupation with chasing his brother around likely keeps him from being too much of a pest to anyone not named Liam at the moment. Enka watches Naris for a moment, gray eyes taking in that momentary hesitation, but the arrival of the blue 'lizard has her changing the subject to something else entirely. "Yours?" she inquires. "My three didn't want to budge, cozyin' up to Mir or somethin'. And good luck gettin' /her/ to move as much as a fingerlength before dusk."
At the mention of tourists Naris groans and leans back in an overdramatic fashion. Her voice is bitter as she says, "tourists, great. Can't they find somewhere else to go without bothering the weyr? I mean there are a bunch of holds, but weyrs have more important things to do than cater to them." She then glances as Kaelen chasing after Liam with a blank face and silently hopes that he won't come over to them. Naris has never been the most charming or social person around people her own age, she isn't eager to test herself with children. Instead of thinking about that she looks back to Enka and nods before saying, "yep, he's mine. He's called Crawlie, Zi'on named him."
Enka laughs. "Well, bein' as the tourists bring us quite a /lot/ of marks, it's hardly somethin' to complain about." Easy for the Weyrwoman to say, she's not going to be out there picking up litter till the herdbeasts come home. "Ista's got a pretty bustlin' trade too, so we tend to compete with 'em for the Northern folk who've got the marks to spend and the need to get out of their holds for some time bein'. Used to be, in the time of Thread, nobody would think of takin' a vacation, but now…" she grins and shrugs a little. "Could be worse." There's a momentary pause, as Enka shifts Erianna off her lap, putting her down at the edge of the blanket to let the toddler mash her little hands into the cool sand. "Zi'on's good at namin'." the goldrider puts in.
Naris shrugs when Enka talks about the tourists bringing in a lot of money and comments, "true, but they can be rather annoying at times. Always wandering about, littering, and putting their noses where they don't belong. Things would be so much easier if they were confined to certain areas, not as many places to clean then." She falls quiet for a moment as she thinks of something before murmuring, "I wonder what it was like to live in the time of threadfall. It sounds hard, extremely hard, but it also sounds so much more exciting. Things were also very different back then, or so I heard. Like golds used to clutch over twenty, sometimes /thirty/ eggs! And didn't women only ride golds for a while? That part sounds rather strange." Another pause before she lets out a snort and comments, "and I'm not sure about Zi'on's power of naming things, Firelizards don't exactly crawl very much. But the silly thing refuses to respond to anything else now." At that Crawlie gave a little trill and wrapped himself around Naris' neck, gazing at Enka and Erianna.
"Aint much use confinin' 'em. Tourists have a way of gettin' in the way no matter where you tell 'em to stay put. Just as long as they don't get into trouble, we just gotta deal." Again, easy enough for the Weyrwoman to say, she leaves the 'dealing' up to the Headwoman and her famous broom. "Faranth's tail fork," Enka remarks, "I wouldn't want to be livin' at a time when silver rain of death was comin' down on ya. That's not exactly my idea of 'excitin' you know. Mmmhmm, read that golds used to have /huge/ clutches, though I'm thankful Mir's never had anythin' bigger than thirteen, bad enough it sometimes feels like all she's good for is the breedin' can't imagine what it would be like if she was clutchin' three times as many as she usually does. As for women only ridin' gold, I've seen the records, and it's true. Gals were needed for makin' babies more than they were needed for ridin' dragons." she shrugs. "I don't suppose you have much faith in Zi'on's power of anythin' do you?" Well, especially after the previous night, hmm? There's a bit of a giggle from Erianna at the sound of the trilling firelizard, and she picks up a handful of sand to attempt to fling it at him, only to have Enka swoop her out of the way. "Don't do that, Eri."
Naris snorts at the talk of tourists getting into places they don't belong and mutters, "ain't that the truth. I found a kid in my room going through my clothes once. Some sun-burned Northerner with clothes that looked like they would take three months for me to afford. I had to threaten to make the bugger to clean the stables to get it to leave." She scowls slightly at this, shaking her head at the memory. The movement causes a strand of black hair that was not in her ponytail to move in front of her face, which she immediately pushes back. When Enka talks about the old times, notably girls only riding gold, she shakes her head and exclaims, "unbelievable! And what if they don't /want/ to have children?" She is quiet for a moment before adding, "but golds aren't only good for breeding, they're needed to keep the weyr in order. Like… like timing it! I'm not one hundred percent sure that it's real but if it is without the command of a gold dragons would be able to jump to any time they want, time would constantly be changing and chances are we would be living in one big paradox." With this she makes a big hand gesture, quite possibly signifying an explosion. She then frowns and adds, "no, I do have faith in Zi'on. He is smart, no matter how hard he seems to hide it at times, and the weyr hasn't completely fallen apart yet so he can't be tearing things to shreds behind the scenes. But he could be a little more serious though, and not go get drunk in public places. No matter how you try to phrase it there is no way that can be good for his image, and if the weyrleader has a bad image it could damage relations with the other weyrs and holds." Crawlie gives a chirp when Erianna throws sand at him only to launch himself off Naris' shoulder and over to the toddler, where he hovers just above her head chittering excitedly at her.
Enka offers a sympathetic grin to the turn of the topic regarding the tourists and Naris's belongings. "Should get a lock on the door," she suggests. "Ask the Headwoman." Pausing a moment to make sure both male offspring of hers are still alive and kicking, the woman turns back to regard the younger girl. "Seemed to me, based on what I was readin' at the time that girls didn't really have a choice not to, too few people or somethin' like that. And even now, some holders are a bit backwards in that kind of thinkin' if you catch my meanin'." Not that Enka is exactly childless herself, but all in all, the kids she has were spaced out approriately in age. "Thankfully these are more enlightened times and all." She shrugs. "Course I know golds aint not just good for breedin'. Though since they are the only ones who can, they get protected more, like." In any regards to timing it, Enka says nothing, just taps her finger against the side of her nose. "Aint sayin' yes or no to that. Aint somethin' everyone really knows about." Her eyebrows lift at what Naris has to say about Zi'on. "I'd hardly think that gettin' drunk in public places is goin' to be somethin' that damages his relations with other Weyrs, not considerin' the antics of some of the other Weyrleaders. And the holds …" she flips her hand about, "I mainly deal with them, and it can't be anything worse than me throwin' that runner breeder out on his ear." Quite literally, in fact. Crawlie gets a look from the goldrider as Eriana twists around, peering up at him, fingers reaching for more sand. "You make trouble," Enka promises the 'lizard, regardless of whether or not he really understands, and I'll set Mir on you, I will."
Naris tilts her head to the side and comments, "you know, I never thought of it before but a lock would be really useful. I'll ask the headwoman about it." She gives a quick nod, confirming it to herself. With that she turns her full attention back to the weyrwoman, listening to her talk about the olden days. The lower caverns worker shakes her head, none to pleased with the description of the times. "That sounds… wretched. Thank Faranth for the changing times, excited or not I don't think I would get along very well back then." At her words on not saying yes or no about timing it she raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything, that's a mystery she can unravel at another time. She simply shrugs at the talk of relations with other weyrs and holds, not completely sure what to say. Instead she turns her gaze to her firelizard and the little girl, letting out an amused snort at the Weyrwoman's promise to him. In response Crawlie gives a little trill and dives down quickly, attempting to rub his head against Erianna's cheek in a little nuzzle. With that Naris stands up, stretches, and says, "well, I should get going. Chores to do, things to clean. This was an interesting conversation, thanks!"
"Always useful to have a lock on the door," Enka admits, "and it aint like it'll cost you anythin'. Since the Weyrs take care of their own and all. Just have to ask the Headwoman to have a handyman go and put it on for you." The goldrider puffs out her cheeks into a gusty little sigh. "I sure am glad I didn't live back then. Times are excitin' enough for me as it is." There's a long look from the woman at the firelizard, and then a slight smile of approval when he rubs his head against Erianna's cheek, making the toddler squeal happily. "It has been interestin' to talk," Enka agrees, pulling herself into a standing position. "So off you go then, and off I go to makesure my boys don't end up further out in the water than I'd like." And with that, she's scooping up her daughter, and all but running down to the water's edge, and mischeivious lads frolicking where the waves laps against the sand.