Hunting and Gathering [Breccan]

Tsuen was sitting in the middle, more or less, of the Hatching Circuits, and had one looked in, they would have noted that she was in deep discussion with the irritable gold who was presently crouched over the clutch of eighteen she had laid nearly a season before. Her wings were extended and her demeanor may as well have been denoting that Tsuen was about to break the shells of the entire clutch, what with her red-swirling eyes, her lowered head, and her wings unfurled wide.

"But Nirinath, love, I'm sure Ronarth would take perfect care of the eggs. You need food; look at how grey-tinged your hide has become! And I need to do my chores, and set an example, and I don't think I'm going to be dragging wherries back to the Weyr like this." She pointed at her abdomen, though the Queen scarcely batted an eyelash at the gesture. The eggs must not be harmed. If not you or I, then no one. "Nirinath, come now. Act your age. There is nothing planned today with the candidates, so it is a perfect day to go for a flight. And it'll be good to get you off these sands for a bit." Hissing a bit, Nirinath thought it over. She knew Tsuen was right; the eggs had come this far without a glitch, and Ronarth was an attentive guardian of a mate.

Alright. We can go for a little while. But I don't want to be gone long! That ordeal done with, Tsuen asked Nirinath to meet her after a short time, during which she would request Ronarth to come and watch over the eggs and likely go over with him a dozen times or so about exactly how to care for them (despite his having had a part in her previous clutch as well, as he sired it), and, almost uncharacteristically, headed to the Candidate barracks. She had recently done paperwork on a young lady brought to the weyr who specialized in botany, and as she would not be much help to Nirinath hunting, she had planned on picking some plants for dyes while Nirinath did the dirty work. Tsuen had not spoken enough with the Candidates outside of their classes, and figured this would be the perfect chance.

Finding Breccan's door wasn't difficult, and the Weyrwoman knocked solidly at the door, then stood back to wait patiently for the girl to answer.

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Edit: Please make sure you tag your threads so others know whether they can join or not, as well as including the time and date in the description. They've been added in for you based of the information given in your post. Feel free to alter them & post the update on the Time Line.

Edit2: I thought sure I did tag it, but I guess not. I was pretty sleepy, so I might have spaced it, I guess.

Breccan was altogether too not-busy today. The small garden she'd established was thriving, and any further attention would probably serve to perversely kill the cuttings that were doing just fine on their own. Her chores were done and done again, and she was sure if anyone saw her in the Craft Hall again she'd be beaten just to get the other crafters a little time to themselves. She had no real friends to speak of, and no idea where to find those few she did know, so she was stretched on her bed, feeling sorry for herself and triple-checking a few bundles of dried herbs she'd managed to hang from the roof of the hut. But mostly feeling sorry for herself.

The knock startled her, and she stared at the closed door. Who could possibly want her? The Clutch couldn't possibly be Hatching, not so early, there wasn't a lesson today, and her chores were satisfactorily completed. A little irritated, though she could hardly object to being interrupted from doing nothing, she got up, tugged her shirt straight, and took the few steps to open the door. The woman who stood there looked vaguely familiar, but no more than that.

Thankfully, some instinct kept her mouth from opening and demanding to know what this stranger wanted. Why was this woman familiar? It was no one she had treated, nor another Healer. She remembered her from something related to her Candidacy, almost surely, but....oh Faranth, this was Tsuen. Her grey eyes widened, and she wished distractedly that she'd at least attempted to straighten up the long horse's tail of blonde hair she'd been laying on. "Weyrwoman," she said levelly, trying to sound both respectful and imply a question and probably faililng at both. Did one simply ask what on Pern the Weyrwoman was doing at their door, or did you just jump up and click your heels, or put your forehead to the floor in obeisance?

She stood there awkwardly, one foot lifting to tuck itself against her opposite ankle. "Would you like to come in?" she offered, though she had no idea what Tsuen could possibly want that was in her room, "Or is there something I could do for you?" Perhaps this was some sort of Healing request, but surely there'd be a little more urgency to it if there was, and she hardly knew what she could do anyway. Talian was the emergency expert, and Lymsleia more suited if Tsuen had a concern about her advancing pregnancy. Breccan just knew plants.

The door opened after a few moments of her standing there, and Tsuen smiled cheerily at the young lady within. It seemed to take her a moment to realize who Tsuen was, but the older lady was patient -- she had altogether been lacking in time spent with the Candidates, and though she was a busy moment, it was something she wanted to remedy, and soon. Thus, this meeting. Breccan asked her if she'd like to come in, and Tsuen began to wave away the offer when the young lady added on to her query. The goldrider tried to remember how to be a person versus a leader, and as she did, framed her reply somewhat hesitantly.

"Breccan, right? I have been reviewing the paperwork I have for each of you Candidates, and..." she frowned at herself. Too professional. "Nirinath needs food, and I need to do my own chores for the Weyr. But hunting will prove difficult like this, so Nirinath is going to hunt for the both of us. I was wondering if you'd like to come out picking plants with me while Nirinath is busy." She trailed off, then swiftly added, "Don't feel obligated to agree if you have something else going on, just because of rank."

Ronarth and D'ren come to watch the eggs. Shall I meet you at the girl's hut? Nirinath asked. Yes, please, and bring the riding straps. I forgot to grab them before I came this way. She gave Nirinath an image of a rather nondescript trunk against the wall between the Queen's sheltered wallow and Tsuen's own rooms. It was large enough to hold the leather harness that fit around the queen's neck and chest as well as the seldom-used riding outfit Tsuen owned. Will do. The link slid back down, but Tsuen could tell the butternut queen was excited, despite her worry about her clutch. The straps were rarely used anymore; the pair did far less serious flying than they had done prior to becoming Weyrwoman of Katila and Last Surviving Gold.

Something about the woman's cheerful smile Breccan found surprising. She had an odd, half-formed idea that rank meant you were always the picture of rank, not ever sad or happy or anything but perfectly at work. It probably said something significant about her that that was her first dream, and all others ranked neatly in line behind that one. With difficulty, she tried to look at Tsuen as a woman and not as the Weyrwoman, but didn't entirely succeed. Accustomed as she was at measuring worth -and self-worth- by rank alone, she simply couldn't separate title from person.

Tsuen's polite uncertainty baffled her even further. She nodded hesitantly, confirming that she was indeed Breccan, and wondered what sort of paperwork there was on her. Breccan, Healer, grumpy most of the time? The idea made her half-smile. Tsuen's request only broadened that smile, and gave it a touch of something akin to shyness. Someone wanted her? Warm with pleasure, she nodded.

"No, of course, I'm not doing much," she assured the Weyrwoman with a negligent wave of her hand towards her hut, "Just checking some drying plants, but they're fine." She felt she had to assure the woman she'd been doing something productive; admitting that she'd been doing little more than pouting was completely unacceptable. She nearly gave the woman an encyclopedic list of which plants she had chosen and why, but managed not to. For one, Tsuen was not one of her Masters, checking up on her, and would probably not criticize her method of hanging or tying or somesuch. That babbling would have just been nerves, and she didn't want to appear too nervous in front of the Weyrwoman. In truth, she had no idea what sort of person Tsuen was, nor how she'd react to nerves. And in even more truth, it had never occurred to her before to wonder what the Weyrwoman was like as a person.

Curiosity flickered across her features, and her head tilted fractionally to one side. "You don't choose your own chores?" she asked, her tone marginally surprised. Who had assigned a very pregnant Weyrwoman to hunting? It surprised her, as well, to hear that Tsuen even had to do any. Sure, doing a few token duties here and there could be used to make the general population of the Weyr more amenable to their own assigned jobs, but really doing the chores...huh. Breccan found herself unaccountably interested. This day was really shaping up.

"Would you prefer to go east or west? I've been through plenty of the forest, but I haven't been east yet," she asked, glancing back into her room. She'd have to grab her bag, but it was already stocked with the leather sample containers she'd been making obsessively, and a few other things she thought she might need on one of her little expeditions. She'd never had occasion to use the knife or rope, but she flattered herself by believing she was the equal of any situation, and that she'd know precisely what to do with them when the time came. Even Brec could be blind about her faults.

Her eyes returned to the Weyrwoman, lingering on the protruding belly. It was a long walk, but she didn't quite know how to ask Tsuen if she could handle it. It had been her idea, so presumably she could. Were pregnant women supposed to do these kinds of things? Breccan wished she'd paid more attention in the classes dealing with gynecology, but they had never interested her much, and she'd dismissed most of the information as soon as she could, in order to turn her mind to more interesting pursuits.

The Healer assured Tsuen that she was not busy, and the woman nodded. Many of the plants used for dying materials worked better or with a different shade if dried as opposed to used fresh, so the idea of hanging them was not completely foreign. The encyclopedic list, however, would likely have been lost on her. She knew plants by what they looked like and what colors they produced rather than by name, though some more common names were familiar to her.

Breccan seemed surprised that Tsuen and D'ren chose chores for themselves the way everyone else received theirs - via pick of the draw. The woman began to explain after answering Breccan and allowing her to get her pack. "We'll go east, then. When we regrouped and formed Katila after the Plague, we had to take down everyone's name anyway. So E'lore and I made slips, each with the name of a rider or weyrfolk who didn't already have a set job, such as the crecheworkers or the kitchen staff. Each month, when we'd sit to assign chores, we would put each slip into a bucket. And we'd pick out so many to hunt, another amount to fish, and so on, dividing up the work so that there was not too much strain on food supply, but so that everyone was doing their fair share, wherever that might be. If someone died their name was removed; if someone new came to Katila, they were added, and non-Riders, especially the ones who didn't and don't want to touch dragons with ten foot poles, were separated to get jobs that didn't require long range transportation."

Tsuen paused in her explanation as Nirinath landed three-legged a handful of yards in front of them, the riding leathers clutched in one paw. Tsuen strode forward and took the harness from the gold, patting her neck gently, and looked back at Breccan. "How would you like to learn first-hand how to prepare a dragon for riding?" It was one of the things the Candidates were learning prior to the Hatching, she was sure, but Nirinath was arguably a big dragon, and therefore needed bigger straps than her green or even blue counterparts.

Tsuen clearly dismissed her to collect her pack, and Breccan did so quickly, too interested in this puzzle to re-check the contents or add any additional items. When she returned, she was rather pleased that Tsuen had taken her suggestion to go east, and naturally completely failed to consider if that had been the woman's plan all along. Sometimes it was nicer to just feel good about something, especially when the other person really didn't need to know.

Listening avidly to the woman's explanation, she nodded whenever Tsuen paused, her expression thoughtful. She wondered, privately, how many names had been removed from that bucket. It was probably a macabre job for the Weyrleaders, who must know at least most of the names, but had to consider the losses in terms of value. The Plague itself had had a completely different meaning for these people, she realized. It hadn't had much impact on her life. Though her father had once bought a firelizard egg, he'd been swindled into purchasing a dud, and none of the other Apprentices had had them. Dragons had been even smaller figures in her life, until recently. She hadn't even missed them when they'd stopped being an infrequent sight in the skies; she'd been too focused on her work. Now she wondered if she'd missed out on something. Perhaps it was better to be here than back up at Healer.

"Good system," she acknowledged, aware of the inherent fairness in luck of the draw. Even the system's few flaws, like assigning pregnant Tsuen to hunt, were not so serious. As she'd said, Nirinath was more than capable of picking up her slack, and she doubted anyone would be too upset if people traded chores due to physical limitations. It said something that the Weyrwoman still intended to go out in the wilderness and gather plants, though she hardly was required to. Breccan knew already she'd have a lot to think about by the time she made it back.

The sudden appearance of Nirinath, though, she was totally unprepared for. The dragon was enormous, and a butter-gold, with that particular shine she'd been told Golds and Bronzes had. She'd never had an opportunity to see it first-hand, or at least not from this close. A little belatedly, she realized Tsuen had already stepped forward to receive the riding leathers and was turning to look back at her. She smiled apologetically and stepped forward to join her, only to be surprised again at the offer. "Really?" she couldn't help but ask. They hadn't even practiced putting the straps on a living dragon yet, and here Tsuen was offering to teach her on Nirinath! "I would love to," she answered, "If Nirinath doesn't mind." She dipped her head slightly and made a small gesture towards the Gold, not wanting to leave her out of the conversation. Somehow, it seemed a little disrespectful to ask the Gold directly, but just as disrespectful to only ask Tsuen; that had been the best compromise she could come up with.

Something about the Gold was a little off-putting, and Breccan doubted it was just her size. After a moment's thought, she decided it was the dragon's presence. Even more than Grith, the only other dragon she'd come close to meeting, Nirinath was very obviously there and participating. She wasn't like an animal, like a dog or a horse, and she wasn't much like the few firelizards Breccan had ever seen, either. She was more like a person who happened to be in a very strange body. Breccan was unsettled by this impression. She'd never really had occasion to think very much about what dragons were like, not even in Katila, with the possibility of her own Impression looming.