Training

Western Weyr - Living Caverns
Here is the center of Weyr life, the living caverns. These two main rooms were man-shaped from smaller caves, and are joined by a carved arch with depictions of dragons in flight and dolphins leaping in swirling waves. One room has many round stone and wooden tables and a stone fire-pit instead of a hearth. Over the round-walled, gas fired pit is a large conical hood made of polished bronze, with reliefs of dragons with their riders flying over ships guided by dolphins. This hood and chimney keeps the room smoke-free. Through the archway is an enormous hall, with long tables and benches, some carved from the rock floor, many crafted of wood. This room is a combination dining and meeting hall, and can seat over 300 comfortably. Above both rooms, angled shafts lined with polished metal bring in sunlight during the day. Electric lights also burn, day and night.


T'burk sits at his table, going over a few missives from Healer Hall, letters from family, a few announcements from Harper Hall, the usual mass of info. He sips at his spiced klah and looks up to see if his bacon is still there. Ah, good. Then he looks up to see where the firelizards are.

Jessamin has her breakfast and morning's stitchery spread out on the table before her, nearest the fire pit. A tiny flit hatchling perches on her left shoulder, peering down at her work with great interest. Or is that the plate of breakfast goodies the little lady has her eye on? Jessamin just smiles, scritching the side of her neck. "Greedy little maw, didn't I just feed you? Oh, alright, I'll let you try a taste of this bacon." She breaks off a piece of a bacon strip and holds it up to the little queen, who takes it daintily between her forepaws and sniffs at it. "It's not going to bite." CHOMP. "But you might."

Diekhara enters the caverns from the bowl, fresh from exercise and possibly more awake than anyone would care to have someone be at this time of the morning. Moving crisply and chipperly across the room to food, she skirts the firelizards but finds that in a Weyr she really can't avoid the things. Sighing a tad, she moves to the nearest table with a few empty seats, which happens to be T'burk and Jessamin's, "Excuse me. Do you mind if I join you?"

T'burk looks up and smiles at the young guard. "Certainly!" He gets up to pull out a chair for her. "Have some bacon before my firelizard comes in for a snack. Jessamin, have your firelizards been keen at their work against the tunnel snakes? I haven't seen any around for a while."

Jessamin nods, grinning wide. "It's a messy job, but they don't seem to mind the hunt. I just haven't brought Empress with me on a tunnelsnake run yet. She's still too small." Diekhara gets a little nod, and the queen on Jessamin's shoulder digs her talons into her shoulder. MINE! "Hello there. Always room for one more!"

Diekhara smiles what passes for a smile for the hard-faced guard, sliding into a chair with her plate of food, "Thanks." Jessamin's possessive gold gets a sidelong glance, "Oh, I won't steal you or her. Never had a use for you nuisances." She nods to T'burk, taking a few strips of bacon, "I'm Diekhara, guard. Nice to meet some people."

T'burk offers his hand. "T'burk, WeyrHealer, rider of Green Vinteth. Welcome to Western Weyr!"

Empress cheeps once at Diekhara, nibbling on her shred of bacon

Jessamin smiles and nods to Diekhara. "I remember you from Ista. Seems the twins wanted to run from you, but I couldn't quite remember why. It's good to see you again!" The little queen gets a reproving look, and a gentle tap on the snout. "Behave yourself. Nobody's stealing me away from you, so be civil."

Diekhara inclines her head to T'burk, then to Jessa, "Oh, right. I remember. You were a candidate with the boys. I'm their sister. I don't know why they're scared of me, I only twisted Khaine's arm bad once… and I was 10." She shrugs, taking a large mouthful and chewing it carefully before offering Empress a tiny shred of ham.

Empress trills and cants her head to one side, regarding the offer warily before plucking it up with her forepaws.

Flaim glides in and sails silently over to grasp the back if the chair beside his human. There! Yes, there it is! Plate o' Bacon! He poses so he's up on his hind legs, turns his head towards T'burk and gives a gentle trill. He is rewarded, of course, with a bit of bacon.

T'burk says "Are you stationed here now, Diekhara?"

Jessamin grins, bursting out in laughter. "You… twisted Khaine's arm? Shards, no wonder he ran! But you think he'd have gotten over that by now, wouldn't he? Oh my!"

Diekhara nods, chuckling flatly, "You'd think." She raises one eyebrow and nods, "Basically. A'ven says there's not much to guard here, so I'm trying to interest people in defense lessons, but a lot of riders seem to think their dragons are enough."

T'burk chuckles in a grim sort f fashion. "I am not one of those, I want you to understand. I think that all rders should be doubly prepared to be able to defend themselves. Not always will a rider be attacked in the open where his dragon can be of assistance. And we have had problems with renegades on occasions."

Jessamin raises an eyebrow, and nibbles on her lower lip for a moment. "Well… I guess it couldn't hurt to learn. Especially since it's like T'burk said about renegades and such. Riders have the benefit of dragons. I don't." The last is a bit clipped. "Besides, the excercise would be good, and I could keep my figure."

T'burk has disconnected.

Diekhara nods, smiling somewhat genuinely, "I'd be glad to make some time to work with you. Dragons can't always help in time even if you have on, and if you have none, then all the better because it won't get mad at me if you get sore."

Empress nibbles on her chunk of ham, warbling quite happily

Jessamin says "Oh, the ones you'd have to worry about would be my faire. Especially this one. Possessive, right out of the shell!" She grins ruefully, plucking a sausage from her plate and biting off the end. "Besides, if I can't duck, that's my own fault.""

One corner of Diek's mouth pulls up in a sort of grin, "Oh, she'll learn to watch and you'll learn to duck. Too many bruises would mar your pretty face."

Jessamin says "So I earn one or two bruises. Just so as nothing's broken, it's all good." The smell of meat and the warbling of the little queen brings out the rest of the faire, eight more flits in all settling down around Jessamin for a total of nine. Each of them is cheeping and eyeing her breakfast plate intently. "Oy… you lot, greedy maws! Alright, I'll get you some snacks!"

Diekhara nods, "If it breaks, you'll have earned it." She ducks instinctively when the rest of the fair enters, then scowls, a much more natural expression for her, "How many of those sharding things do you have?"

Jessamin chuckles at Diekhara's reaction to the appearance of her faire, all of who seem to be keeping to their side of the table—likely to the guard's relief! "Just the nine. Empress is the ninth of them. Madder was my first, the big reddish-brown one there. Then there's Turquoise, Stitch, Sekhmet, Indigo, Bahrain, Pioneer, and Stripe."

Diekhara tries to follow Jessamin's introductions, but ends up just tossing each of the flits a snippet of ham, "I hope you've trained them well. You don't want them interfering, after all."

Each of Jessamin's flits proves to be a good catch, snapping the snippets of ham from the air with little trouble. "They usually don't interfere. Only once they really got it in their heads to be a nuisance in Ista, but that was at least eating from my plate all the time and not letting me have a bite." She beams with pride at the lot of them, sparing a scritch for each before she ambles on over to the serving tables. "The worst of it is getting Empress to let me do my own thing once in a while. And the rest of the faire is damn good at keeping down tunnelsnakes."

Diekhara nods as each flit makes their catch, then nods, "I haven't one for a reason. They get in the way, want to help too much."

Jessamin smiles. "At least they're company. And just you watch… even those who swear they hate flits, always seem to wind up with one. You just might be thankful. They're good couriers, marvelous at keeping tunnelsnakes down, and good fisherflits in a pinch."

Diekhara chuckles again, "I don't hate them, just don't want one. Demanding carnivorous flying stomachs that do nothing but eat and sleep." She shakes her head, "I'll hunt wild bovine first."

Jessamin grins, returning to the table with a plate full of bits and pieces of various meats, from snippets of wherry to ham, bacon, and sausage. While they all seem to perk up, neither do they attack her or her tasty burden. "Well, to each their own. Anyways, back to defense lessons… I'm not exactly rich, but what could I offer in return?

Diekhara smirks, taking another mouthful of food and swallowing before saying, "I believe in trading services. My salary is paid by the local guard center. I offer my services here to be part of the community."

Jessamin breaks up some of the pieces of bacon and sausage, feeding each of her flizzen in turn. "Well… I'm just a Weaver, not sure what you could want there."

Diekhara shrugs, "I'll be sure to let you know if something comes up that you can do. Until then I'd simply know I could ask."

Jessamin nods, and chuckles softly. "At least G'len will be able to worry about me a little less. And who knows, I might shed a little pudge and look good." As if she's pudgy to begin with!

Diekhara smirks again, "G'len? Your boyfriend? Still, you're not exactly out of shape. Still, a little strength will keep you healthy for longer."

Jessamin mutters something about stamina, and turns bright red. "That's true enough. And yes, he's my sweetheart. The healthier I am, the less he'll have to worry, and overall the better off I'll be."

Diekhara nods, "Both true. I could help you improve your flexibility, as well, if you wish. Many couples have told me that can help as much as stamina. Not that I'd know." she shrugs, "Just an offer."

Jessamin coughs. "Ummm. Well, that'll probably improve in the course of things. But anyways… what will I need to work on first, before even starting the lessons?"

Diekhara goes silent for a moment, pondering, then nods, "Start every morning by stretching every muscle you can. Especially your legs and back. Starting to run would also be good."

Jessamin grins to herself, and nods. "Maybe that's something I could do with G'len. Going for a run in the mornings, I mean. What about swimming?"

Diekhara smirks and nods, "Swimming will help with tone, running more with stamina. But they'll both help. And bonding with your partner is always important."

Jessamin says "Guess I could always volunteer for dragon duty more. If you've ever helped bathe a dragon, you'd know it takes a lot."

Diekhara nods, "That it does. It would also be good to practice your craft standing up and moving as much as possible. I know that as a weaver it can get sedentary if you don't work to make it more active."

Jessamin says "Well, then maybe I -should- let these little mischief makers into my sewing basket sometimes. I'd be chasing them down for all my tools and fabric!"

Diekhara smirks, "Perhaps. Though a method that allows you to actually get your work done still would be preferable, I think."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License