Glittering Futures
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WHO: Kiele, Tanit
WHERE: Half Moon Bay Weyr - Galleries
WHAT: Kiele and Tanit muse over the newly clutched eggs.


**Half Moon Bay Weyr - Galleries **
An amphitheater cut of rock with row after row of hard benches to sit on. The galleries have a good view of the sands below and the action that takes place there during every hatching. Despite the times, people still come to see the new pairs formed and place bets on the outcome.


Early autumn comes swiftly in Half Moon Bay, though the weather doesn't change much aside from the presence of storms. Today is one such rainy blustery day which has driven most in doors. This might explain a particular dolphineer drying out on the benches, surveying the glittery sands and the gold therein with particular amusement even as she shakes long fine boned fingers through disheveled hair.

The scene of the crime is revisited, not only by the culprit, but also by the witness - though the witness has no idea of the culprit's identity, still. Now that the Dragon Circus has become a regular clutch of eggs being brooded over by a gold, Kiele is happy to plop herself on the benches, one up from Tanit, and lean her skinny elbows on the tops of her apron-covered knees. "They're all so beautiful," the young woman gushes, her eyes on the seven ovoids nestled in their glitter-y sand beds. "I've never seen any dragon eggs before. It's my first time and they're just as lovely as the ballads say they are."

There is a slow blink from the dolphineer at the nanny's gushing over the eggs. One which earns a more speculative study of the eggs. "Just eggs really, though I suppose the sand does lend something of the fantastic to the whole scene." She smiles, "Let me guess, you've lived on the harper songs all your life and dreamed of impression to a great and shiny dragon of your very own." It isn't quite sarcastic but there is something darkly amused in the phrasing.

Kiele doesn't allow the older woman's jadedness to effect her fascination with the eggs, and she continues to simply stare with a mixture of awe and longing. "Me? Oh, no. I never thought about anything like that. I always thought I'd marry the steward's son and have a bunch of babies, and my mother would teach me her recipes and—" She frets with her apron and offers Tanit an embarrassed smile. "That seems like long ago, even if it's not. I've only been here a few months now. I followed my father when he got posted here. But wouldn't it be something if I Impressed? Don't you wish something like a harper's ballad would happen to you too?"

Tanit laughs, "Such starry eyed optimism." And for the description of a life that the girl describes, Tanit can't help but wrinkle her nose in distaste, though it's more for the description itself than the younger woman's desire for it. "I think I can understand the feeling to an extent, I think it's been maybe - two turns? Since I came here myself. Everything before starts to feel distant. "The more power to you, but from what I've heard from friends who did impress, it's a lot of work and responsibility and mess that changes your life irrevocably. Harper's ballads are usually prettied up versions of heroes and heroines designed to make young children desire to fill a certain role in society." Tanit shrugs, "I've never had much interest in society as a whole."

Those starry eyes turn to Tanit with interest, rosy mouth forming a pensive moue. "You seem to have adapted quite well. I'm still learning, but I do enjoy the weyrfolk so far, even if they're a little more liberal as papa likes to say." Kiele offers a sparkling smile. "You're not going to stand?" She sounds surprised, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. "Don't they say the dragons know? What if yours is down there and you're not there to meet her?" It's a prospect that has her brow knitting in worry for the other woman, regardless of her disdain for this 'society'.

"I have no plans to go looking for a white knot to become free labor for the weyr, no." Tanit answers amusement glittering in those sea-green eyes. "But I do like much of the freedom that comes from living in a weyr, though if you'd listen to the aunties talking about how 'shameful' it is that Ilyscaeth laid her eggs on that stuff?" Tanit shrugs, "There are people ready to judge and chastise everywhere you go." As for dragons knowing or not knowing, her mouth slants in a thoughtful line. "I'm not someone who is really fit to take care of others Kiele, better that they leave such things to dreamers like yourself. Besides I'm not sure if you have noticed but the dragons tend to be loud and have little regard for privacy or personal space." Her lips twisting upward at the corners full of mirth. "As our - beglittered weyrleader would say, Just say no to dragons."

"That's such a shame." Kiele's reply is quiet and almost sad, but she's not here to argue with the dolphineer about accepting a spot on the candidate roster. "I think you'd make a really dragonrider. I think some people feel the same way about children. They think they're too much of a burden, too time consuming, and too cloud and needy to put up with. I," she adds, finger at her chest, "have always wanted as many children as my husband would let me. I wouldn't mind having someone to talk to all the time, even if they said things I didn't like. I'd like that a lot. Then, I'd never be alone." A little nod accompanies the nanny's response, her fingers lacing together and dropping below her knees, her smile resurfacing as her dreamy gaze returns to the eggs and what may be.

Is that guilt in Tanit's expression as Kiele makes the comparison? Perhaps only those who know the dolphineer well might be able to answer such a question. "Kind of you to say so." She will offer after a beat or two of uncomfortable silence. The assertation of chatter earns a warmer laugh, "Is that something that you dislike? Being alone?" Tanit asks softly, eyes studying the nanny more closely with a soft smile, following the gaze back to the eggs. "I've never stood, and never been partnered with a dolphin for that matter." Tanit will admit, "I think I can understand that feeling though - not wanting to be alone - or wanting someone or something that would love and accept you flaws and all unconditionally."

Fingers press more closely together over her knees, her slippered feet restless on the bench below. "I've never been alone, not really. I have two older siblings and a bunch of cousins back in Nabol. It was a bit of a wakeup call when my mother passed away. It was so sudden too," Kiele answers, nose wrinkling up. "I realized then that it's easy to lose the people you love. Not just from passing away, but also if they decide they don't love you anymore or what have you. I don't ever want to be alone." Though, pretty eggs shining like jewels down below draws her attention once more. "Dragons do that, don't they? They love you, no matter how bad of a person you are." As if the seventeen turn old can be a truly bad person, given her temperament. Still.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Softly spoken before Tanit falls to silence listening her expression shifting subtly as the younger girl goes on, thinking on the words. Weighing them perhaps. "I really don't know." Comes the honest answer soft in the cavernous space of the gallery. "I've heard that each is different, that the bond varies between pairs. No two are exactly alike. And - I have seen impression change people, for some it makes them harder - stronger, more resilient. Others it softens something in them, warms them up from the inside out. Helps to heal the broken things that they maybe haven't told another soul about." Tanit thinks on this quietly for another moment, "It doesn't scare you? The idea that you will become something - no someone else if you impress?" Sea-green eyes shifting back to the Nanny.

Kiele is quick to wave a hand in dismissal of Tanit's concerns. "It was a while ago," is followed by an upbeat, "Isn't that part the most exciting?" She squeezes her knees, locking her elbows, and teeters backwards on her rear. "You could never know which one is meant for you. You might think you're supposed to be with a happy brown, and you end up with a sad blue. But you love them and they love you, that part I've picked up from the riders here." Her focus is on that love part, lingering and relishing the idea; like a lovestruck girl with nothing but visions of her lover on hermind. "No. I'll become who I'm meant to be. It's that simple, right? Who's to say the new me will be worse than the me now?"

Tanit laughs, she can't help it. It isn't so much laughing at Kiele or her thoughts as much as the optimism bleeds a certain energy through that is mildly infectious. "Well I hope someone graces you with a brilliant white not and you find whatever it is you are looking for on those sands come hatching day. I may even bid a few marks on you impressing." To the rest Tanit only grows quiet and thoughtful a hand shaken through her rapidly drying hair. "As for me I'd say they'd likely have to black mail me to go on those sands now with all that glitter" Her smile turns truly wicked, "Can you imagine trying to get clean again after venturing into that?"

A sharp intake of breath and then Kiele's cheeks are flushing with excitement, her gap-toothed smile making another dazzling appearance. "I hope I get the chance to Stand. I plan on asking if I can stand, even if the dragons don't find me first. I might not find a dragon out of one of those eggs, but just the chance to Stand is exhilarating." She does another rock back, and her feet are coming to rest on the bench again, her fingers loosening only to rake through the mess that is her blond curls. "You wouldn't be wrong," she says, somberly, "I am still getting all of it out of my hair. I found some between my toes in the bath."

Tanit smiles, "I'm sure you will." Of glitter the dolphineer gives a longsuffering sigh, "I have been finding it literally everywhere, even when I've not been anywhere near the sands, it just sort of sneaks up on you." She frowns, "What kind of evil fiend would do such a terrible, monstrous thing."

Glitter! Glitter everywhere. Worse than the sand that finds its way into the caverns and the food. "I can't imagine who would do such a thing when it's been explicitly banned by the weyrleaders. I'm not quite sure why it was banned, but it was, which means that it's for a reason. They wouldn't make such a rule if they didn't have a good reason," Kiele ruminates, because weyrleaders must be RIGHT all the time, yes. In her fledgling brain, anyway.

"I am sure the poor weyrleader is just beside himself. Did you see all the guards posted?" Tanit leans in almost conspiratorially. "What I don't get is just how they managed it. I mean it has to be a pretty deep layer if it wasn't easily removed right?" Tipping her chin at the shimmering sands, "Ilyscaeth seems to enjoy it though, or at least had no objections to laying her eggs on it. Which one is your favorite?" The dolphineer asks idly, shifting her attention back to the sands before the twitch in her lips can give her away.

"It looks like everything has been mixed together now," Kiele notes, leaning forward on her seat, and peering down towards the glitter-sands. "Whoever did it must not have been thinking about what could happen. What if they get kicked out of the Weyr for disrespecting the ban? What if they're asked to spend hours and hours in this hot cavern cleaning it up?" Luckily, that person isn't Kiele, but she shudders for the mere thought of their punishment should they get caught. "I like that one that kind of looks like it's smiling," she says, pointing towards the Don't Fall Down Egg. "It's cute. Which one do you like the most?"

"I don't know." Tanit answers with a thoughtful pause, "R'hyn may be a lot of things, but I don't think he'd kick anyone out of the weyr unless they did something that truly endangered the dragons or the people. He's actually a very sweet man, loves to be addressed as Mr. Abs." The lip twitch at the last might suggest that he does not necessarily like the title but others close to him may be encouraging such a moniker. "Though, I imagine they will think up some clever punishment if this doesn't end up lifting the ban altogether in the first place." The dolphineer muses aloud. "Of course I've not heard much on how the search for the culprits is going."

"Oh, no," Kiele's hands press against her agape mouth, horror written in those wide green eyes of hers. "I could never call him anything like that." She winces as she lowers her hands, before scrunching them in the fabric of her apron. "I haven't heard anything, either. Everyone in the lower caverns has their conjectures, of course. Baker Anysra says it's some of those ill-born Blue Fire holders come to cause chaos in the hold, but the other nannies think it's the stablehands. They're uncouth."

Tanit laughs, "You should though." There may even be a wooden plaque with the moniker engraved upon it and set with glittery letters prepared to hang on said Weyrleader's door. Mostly though she just listens nodding thoughtfully at the list of possible suspects. In the end - she only shrugs. "Who can say, I'm sure whoever the culprit is wouldn't have stuck around for long." A glance is spared for the tunnel leading outside. Where the rain and wind have mostly let up.

Rosy cheeked Kiele will let that particular subject lie, because for both reasons of cowardice and moral spectrum, she shall not name the weyrleader as anything other than sir. "It wouldn't be smart for them to, leaving the evidence like that," she agrees, quietly.

Tanit laughs, "Only a crazy person would stay." She agrees pushing to her feet. "I better be getting back to the weyr while the weather has let up, but you have a lovely night, and I hope that you get your chance to stand for those eggs." Without much further fuss the dolphineer disappears back out into the bowl proper. Humming a jaunty little tune that might be familiar to some.

A laugh comes easily to Kiele, who offers the departing woman a wave. "Good night!" And then it's back to staring at the eggs, daydreaming of a life that might be.


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