Weyrfolk Hall Construction [Construction & Kitchenfolk Chore Assignments)

Unfortunately for Indivara, being eight did not excuse one from the rigours of a Katilan upbringing. Fortunately for the little girl, she had been assigned to various chores since she was five - like every other brat within the walls of Katila's founding borders, and was more than capable of doing those tasks that were asked of her. Presently, Indivara was carrying a particularly large tray, upon which were balanced two skins of icy cold wine, and half a dozen clean glasses. She wasn't sure where the iced wine had come from, and wasn't about to ask. Likely, it was dragon shifted in from one of the higher mountains up North, but, that was just speculation on the part of a gossiping child.

Grunting, Indivara stepped over a large log of wood, and then approached a large and slightly rickety looking table that had been set up. It held a tray upon it, empty, and there were scattered glasses around if one took the time to look - evidence of a previous rest break in which those currently assigned to construction had taken a rest. Helping her, more than a few of the kitchen workers behind her carried trays, pots and plates of food; the construction teams allocated food for lunch.

Currently, the Weyr was banding together to build a Weyrfolk hall - somewhere for those without dragons to live, as opposed to in one of the huts. Katila was expanding, fairly rapidly, and the outer huts were up to an almost a two hour walk away from the Halls settled within the center. As a result, the Weyr had decided a Weyrfolk Hall was required - a large building, it was planned to hold well over two hundred weyrfolk and their families. Hopefully, most of them would end up Impressing at some point, and as a result, they would be able to eventually move into the out-skirting huts or build their own. That, of course, was further into the future, but Indivara was a gossip and a sticky beak, and as such, was fairly up to date on the latest tongue-wagging of both those of rank, and those that were not.

In the end, however, as much as everyone bemoaned being assigned to the construction course, it would be better for the growing Weyr in the long run. This, of course, was the thoughts of a child that barely reached four feet in height and weighed about as much as a broken twig.

Carefully placing the tray upon the table, Indivara lifted her head and looked around. There were more than a few people about, most of them crawling like vermin all over the slowly evolving construction. Like all of Katila's buildings, the Hall was being constructed from wood, rather than stone, and looked slightly green from all the freshly cut trees. Those with dragons to assist, could be seen instructing the great beasts - from green to bronze - on what action to take, and how to help. They were making progress, all of them, however slow. But, for now, Indivara had decided it was break time.

"OI!" The child cupped her hands around her mouth, and used a well bred set of Dragonrider lungs to yell out, easily capturing the attention of those working construction around her. "LUNCH TIME!"

Those that knew of the child wouldn't be at all surprised by her lung capacity and decibel of voice, though very few of the Weyr had ever heard of or met the girl. A gossips' best work was done when no one recognised you!

Lymsleia had been working the latest project. THe construction of the Weyrfolk Hall. The building was the new housing for those without dragons and without perhaps huts. Though she had a personal hut, as she dragged building material and worked slowly to keep from getting heat stroke, she nearly dropped the log at the bellow of 'LUNCH'. Others had stopped there work and were meandering in groups towards the place where the food was.

Lymsleia who had recently taken to tying her hair back, leaned foreward over a log. IT was hard work and in the mid summer sun of the southern continent she grinned. There was food and drink to be had. She set the log down close to the building area- no one needed to trip over it and get hurt. She walked slowly but purposefully towards the food.

She noticed Indivara and grinned. "Well, hello there." she said pleasantly.

Indivara smiled warmly at the dark skinned young woman that came towards her. Holding up a dewed glass of cool fruit juice, Indivara accepted the friendly words.

"Hello, Lymsleia." She greeted, smile still in place. A gossip of the worse degree, and with ears that could hear just about anything at all within the Weyr, Indivara knew every one, though she was aware that a lot of people had no idea who she was; she rather liked it that way, it meant she could surprise them with her knowledge, and still remain anonymous. Being eight, it wasn't hard to do. Her dark hair blended in with the mass of Katila's population, and she was young enough to be easily spied as a Katilan Born - as such, she didn't get poked or prodded about her 'life before being stolen'. That, however, didn't mean she wasn't vastly interested in the stories of those around her. The North sounded pretty amazing, as far as she was concerned, and the idea of visiting it was something she dearly hoped she would be able to do soon. She was a bit young yet, but she planned on increasing her Harper Skills (or, 'evesdropping') so she could be used as an intelligence agent for the Weyr.

But that was all Turns away, yet. For now, she simply took a glass for herself and looked towards where the Hall was very slowly being constructed. Like any large building, it was taking time. The use of dragon power, however, created a fantastic advantage, and she watched the milling blues, browns, greens and bronzes that had been assigned to the task with a fondness. She adored dragons, which was probably a good thing, considering how much negativity they were prone to receiving from those they stole from the North.

"Many splinters?" Indivara asked cheerfully. While she was a part of the construction team, she was lucky enough to be under four feet tall, and a fast runner. As such, most of her required tasks were fetching tools, fetching people, or fetching food and drink. Things she was quite happy to do.

There was a reason Volfetti was trained in the seacrafting craft. Having been assigned to making clothes as a chore she had come to appreciate her craft even more and was constantly finding new ways to escape this task. Today she was going for a stroll, despite swollen feet and her prolific sweating. She had just made it past the hatching circuit when she heard the loud shriek of a girl announcing lunch time. Glancing around she decided to head over to the construction, hoping to find some sort of buffet available to the workers there.

Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand she held it there to shade her eyes, noting the long tables that weyrfolk and dragonriders were gathering around. Spying the table laden with drinks she beelined towards it, well, slowly shuffled over. Ignoring those that may have greeted her she stared at the glasses and jugs hungrily, touching each jug to find the coolest one. Glancing over to where Indivara stood offering Lymsleia a glass Volfetti noticed the frosting the icy juice was creating on the cup. Narrowing her eyes she waddled over, her rotund belly swaying as she walked awkwardly.

Reaching out she practically snatched the jug right beside Indivara, filling a tall glass with the red liquid. Downing it in what appeared to be one gulp she refilled it, this time sipping it and savouring the taste opposed to the hydration of the first glass. Now she finally looked up at Indivara and Lymsleia, acknowledging them with a small nod. Continuing to sip at the juice she stared at Lymsleia, her eyes wide and curious. For whatever reasons, Volfetti had barely spent any time with Lymsleia, having only interacted with her in the healing hall during some pregnancy-related visits. Despite coming from Ista, her naturally dark skin consumed Volfetti with curiosity; did it make her hotter? Did she get sunburnt, or tan? Her questions were left unasked for the moment, in a rare moment of respect she allowed the two to continue their conversation uninterrupted.

Fruit Juice, Thank Farnath.

Farnath-- she mused on this a moment. The name of the /first/ gold dragon, the name of a being who had helped saved Pern. One of the progenitors of the dragons here. That had now hidden themselves away from the rest of the world.

Farnath. Who had she been? Who had her rider been... somthing with an 'S', Lymsleia was aware of that. But no songs or stories were sung about her- not that her mother's ever taught her. Maybe she'd have to write some....

Lymlseia took the cup from the girl. "Indi, thank you." she said in a  tired voice as she walked towards the  the dark haired child. Lymsleia had to fight back the urge to chug the cold juice down with all of her will power.

The sun was hot and she didn't want to burn through the  cool life giving liquid too quickly. She had been at Ista, and that alone had taught her the dangerous of heat exaustion. An Istan-child didn't work in the midday sun, not without proper refresh ment.

Turning her fingers Lymselia shook her head. "Not a lot, but then, I've been using rope, to move the logs, mud-plaster to to make them stick, with stone and gravel and leaves to fill the gaps.

Noticing Volfetti, Lymsleia brighted. "Vol!" she didn't bark at the pregnant woman but she was more cautious. She'd seen Volfetti on many occasions, most the regular pregnancy checkups that came with the woman. But Lymsleia enjoyed her. A little snippy, but that was out of the ordinary, pregnancy did weird weird things to a woman. She did wonder though what Volfetti was naturally like. "How are you today? And how's the little one?" The dark skinned woman and moved closer, leaving Indivara to her desk to food distribution.

Her heterochromia was more prominent in the sun light now, though it was hard to say whether her eyes where truely both blue, or was one grey? It was hard to say, but in the sunlight the grey are was somewhat more pronounced in a muted shade. "Here." she said handing the the woman a second cup. "Drink up," On her arm were balanced two plates of food. "Hungry, we can go find some shade and sit, and talk. I wanted to just to talk. I mean..." Lymsleia seemed a bit flustered for a moment.

"I want to be more than just your healer, during the time your pregant, Volfetti." she said those words quickly as if speaking them were painful. But a small smile crossed her face, "I want to be your friend if that's ok, but for the moment I'll be your healer..." she got up a moment and spoke with another one of the workers. Who returned a few moments later with a container and some water. "Soak your feet." it was a command. She gestured to the woman's feet. "I could tell the way you were walking, take a little bit of load off of them. the waters not Telgar-cold, but it'll do,probably to take the edge off, if they're throbbing." Lymselia set the container of water down, near a down-and unsured log that hadn't been moved yet. "We can sit here,eat, and talk."

Indivara's gaze shifted, slowly, to look up at Lymsleia with an expression that darkened considerably at the use of the nickname. Indivara was particularly tempermental about her name. Her parents had given her one with three or four syllables, depending on how one stressed it. For some reason, that appeared to be about two or three more than most people could seem to link together. Was it really so hard? What really blew Indivara away, however, was that the people that most commonly slaughtered her name were those that had the education and, hence, the braincells to say the entire thing.

"Indi-vah-rah" She replied, emphasising the remainder of her name with an eyeroll and an irritable expression aimed at Lymsleia. The woman was intelligent - and a healer! The child knew she could speak a full name! Just because she liked her name shortened. An irritable expression pulled the child's lips into a flat line, before the pregnant woman snatched another fresh glass of fruit juice from her grip. Startled, Indivara turned her ferocious eight year old scowl upon the woman.

"You're welcome," she said tartly, not at all impressed by the woman's manners and not the least bit forgiving to her situation. Pregnancy was about as common as the sun at Katila, and it didn't excuse the woman for being rude! Scowling irritably, Indivara loaded up another plate of food, and, without any invitation at all, seated herself delicately atop the log the two women had claimed. Just because they were rude didn't mean they wouldn't be a good source of gossip.

Indivara made absolutely no attempt to join the conversation that Lymsleia initiated, nor did she appear to be listening, as she nibbled delicately at her food and watched the rest of the construction team mill about.

---

[sub]bwhaha, what a little snot <3[/sub]

Volfetti smiled as Lymsleia brightened and called her name. "Me? Oh I've been better of course. He seems well so far. Kicking out like always." She answered, brushing a hand across her swollen belly in reverence. Though she had no way of telling, she had decided that her baby was a boy, and was already planning for a male. Glancing up she started at the new glass of juice that had been shoved under her nose, before reaching out to take it from Lymsleia, nodding her thanks. When she began to trip over her words she laughed, but it was a kind laugh.

"Don't be so nervous. I became good friends with my midwife over the course of my first pregnancy. I liked it, she was always there to take Iriya when I needed to work the rigs." Volfetti soothed, laughing a little to herself when she thought that really, the soothing should be the other way around at the moment. Drinking the remainder of her first glass, she put it down on the table and reached out, carefully taking one of the plates balanced on Lymsleia's arm so that she could carry her own a little easier.

When she disappeared for a moment Volfetti frowned lightly, wondering what she was asking of the other worker. Spying the container of water Volfetti beamed, she could almost feel the relief already. Sitting down she put the plate beside her and put her hands down slightly behind her. Leaning back she kicked her sandals off, thankful that she had given up on wearing ones that weren't slip ons and had buckles. Slipping her feet into the water she sighed, closing her eyes. This was bliss. The heat in them escaped almost instantly, and while it wasn't Telgar-cold as Lymsleia said, it certainly felt that way to Volfetti's throbbing feet.

"Thank you so much, this is just perfect." Opening her eyes she picked up her plate, pushing the food around as she pondered what she should eat first. "So what did you want to talk about?" Volfetti asked, glancing over to Indivara who had perched herself on the same log as herself and Lymsleia. Iriya was about her age, perhaps she was serving food at the Hold now? Maybe she was being just like her mother, and getting underfoot on all the ships. While Katila was unique and had it's own beauty, Volfetti missed the ships. The lake was suitable for smaller boats, which she hadn't been on for months due to her pregnancy. Ah well.

Lymsleia frowned a little bit when Indi corrected her. "Indivara." she corrected herself. "Sorry, I got used to shortening names-- in the middle of a crisis or the middle of a birth.. Shortened names saved time." She  licked her lips. "Thank you, Indivara. Come sit with us? " she asked moving to sit down. She began to eat her food slowly .

She removed her boots and shocks and carefully dipped her own warm feet in the cool water she'd bought from Volfetti. She eat slowly. "I don't know I just wanted to talk about something. How's life going? I mean, thanks." She said softly when Volfetti says she was friends with her midwife. " It doesn't matter much, just as long as we talk. I spent a lot of my time being un---social able my first few days here. And then I got really social but I feel that if I make myself a few more friends I'll be good. I guess I want to change how I  see things. I mean finding out, dragons are real.. that my family-- well my father and brother could be alive... I guess its just a lot. And I am trying to find bonds with people." She rambled a moment and then placed a few bites of food in her mouth.

"We should find a topic? I mean how'd you end up here? What's your story if you want to share?"

Indivara answered Lymsleia with a frown and a shrug, not really interested in why the woman had shortened her name - simply adamant that it not happen again. Indivara was particularly fond of her name, and not fond of the Pernese tradition of shortening them. If she wanted a short name, she was pretty sure she would introduce herself with a short name, not a long one! Grumbling under her breath to herself, Indivara nibbled on a redfurit she'd snatched on her way out of the kitchen. She wasn't in the mood for a lot of food, really, she'd simply offered to bring lunch out so she wouldn't have to log wheelbarrows of gunk or logs of wood around. That's what dragons were for, or their riders at any rate, not children who had far more talent at discovering secrets and spreading gossip.

Indivara prided herself on her 'craft', and enjoyed the fact that it allowed her to sit a little behind the two women, and watch them prattle to one another. She had heard of both of them, naturally, and knew a little about each. But, it never hurt to further one's personal library. Indivara smiled slightly, as Lymsleia brought up the topic of arriving at the Weyr, and shifted her gaze to look at Volfetti with amusement behind the light blue, lighting them up with mirth. She knew well the story of Volfetti's arrival, as did most of those within the Weyr, and she was more than a little curious to see how Volfetti would explain it to another.

She, of course, would be more than willing to add her two - or twenty - marks, but for now, she would just listen and enjoy a topic that was probably going to become very sour very quickly. Her lips twitched in amusement, and she quickly busied herself with her fruit. One mustn't look too interested, of course.

Volfetti shuffled aside slightly to allow Lymsleia more room to let her feet soak in the bucket of water. Picking up some of the sliced fruit she nibbled on it slowly, listening to Lymsleia talk. "I don't think anyone is truly sociable the first few days they arrive. It is quite shocking after all," she commented. While of course, there were a few brought in over the turns that did react positively to their brutal abductions, the first few days were extremely disorienting, no matter how you felt. Volfetti turned her eyes to the young midwife, breathing deeply when the topic turned to her own abduction.

"Much like any other Northerner did, I suspect. Taken from my family and forced to start anew," she stared down at her protruding belly. Her feelings on the child she was soon to bring into the world were extremely mixed, swinging wildly from love to hate each day. It brought back painful memories of her young daughter in the North, growing up without her mother. Now this child would be growing up without a proper father. Volfetti knew who had impregnated her, but for the time being she refused to reveal his identity. For now, she simply observed him, preparing to potentially foist the child onto him, penance for the suffering he had put her through.

Shaking her head she looked up, reeling herself out of her brooding. After three solid turns of brooding in silence, it was a hard habit to break, and she only sought to so that her child could have a proper mother. "What kind of home did they take you from?" She asked, tired eyes slowly travelling the construction site, occasionally flicking back to Lymsleia.

Lymsleia nearly toppled backwards as Volfetti explained that no one was really socialble upon first arriving. "Then Iwas an odd person. I practically craved it." she admits. "Like.. I needed to combat that cold,darkness. I must have woken up while between briefly because I couldn't get enough of being with other people, after I got here."

She tries to avoid reaching out to hug Volfetti, her fingers stretching and then retreating, she  glanced away. "A new indeed." she chimes. "I mean our ancestors came from the stars. That's a pretty long trip- apparently so what we're doing is big, but their's was bigger." she said.

As Volfetti asked her such a question, Lymsleia smiled. "Falen's hold, or Healer travels?"  she asks politely. "Falen's hold? I haven been back since I was about twelve turns. It was a beautiful place, we owned a spot of  land on the mainland but the 'hold proper' was on this little island to hte west of Ista Isle." she explains. "We had, sun and sand, and fishing. A few runners, though the main herd was on the mainland. Breeding and such, though the hold itself was known for a variety of things." She blinked and for a moment the images of her brothers flickered through her mind. Mostly siblings by half-blood, adoption, or choice, but they were her brothers all six of them. She brushed at eyes vigorously.

"I was snatched ona lay over at a hold. I'd decided to sit down with  someone, have a bit tea, after a particularly difficult midwifery session- with a girl who was so sense-less." she gestures at a stone. "Kinda like this rock. She couldn't seem to get  that the fact she'd lain with a man and now had a child in her, that needed to come out one day..." she shook her head violently. "The stupidity of the girl makes me worry." she waved a hand. "I wasn't at home when I was swiped, but I was headed in the direction of it. I do miss Falen's beautiful, little streams, grassy lands, and beaches. No real forests, the island has  a few wooded places but not too much."  she dipped her hand in the water.  "I wander if mother is down here. She left with the riders-- I think. It means my father and brother could be here..." she inhaled. "That'd be nice. You'd like my mother, Volfetti. I think. "

Lymsleia’s odd reaction to being stolen to Katila earned her a light frown, Volfetti’s slender eyebrows knitting together. “Perhaps. Maybe I only speak with those who disliked  being taken from their homes. Misery loves company, or so they say.” She replied. Her frown deepened at Lymsleia’s talk of space, having come from a small Hold and barely listening to the teaching ballads, Volfetti knew nothing of their origins and the dark-skinned woman’s words sounded like myths. Shrugging it off she ate some of the crusty bread while she listened to Lymsleia’s origin story. It sounded quite lovely, then again, Ista itself was beautiful, so naturally one could draw the conclusion that the small islands around it were also nice.

“I think I remember hearing about Falen’s Hold. Though I was born on the eastern side of Ista, so I don’t think I ever travelled there. We tended to only travel to the eastern and southern islands, there wasn’t enough of us or our boats to spare a travel around to the western ones. Which is a shame, I hear they’re quite lovely in the summertime.” Taking a long drink from her juice she listened to how Lymsleia was stolen. She stifled a giggle at the girl she had been visiting, Volfetti knew plenty of girls that were exactly like that from her old Hold. Her concern about her mother caused Volfetti to tilt her head in confusion. “How come you don’t know if your mother left or not? Surely her absence would have been noticeable to you?”

Of course, it didn’t cross Volfetti’s mind that perhaps her mother hadn’t lived with her, that she might have relocated to the Weyr with her father. The concept was baffling to Volfetti, with her heavily ingrained morals, the thought of a child not being raised by its blood parents was a terrible idea, to her anyway. It had been how she was raised; her father returned to care for her as a baby when he realised he was the father, even though he shared no love for her mother.

She nods. "Perhaps it because you... had a life. I was.. drained working in the North. Men with their mistresses, women who were begging me to make sure they could conceive. My own lack of love life." she lickeed her lips. "It was always something. I am glad perhaps, I was taken.  I had so little left." As the talk towards home and Falen's she smiled. "Falen's is on the Western side of Ista, so  I understand, Falen's was only visited for our 'runner sales'." She  looked skyward at the thought of the summer time in Falen's. "It's beautiful. Warm breeze, sunlight- thought he thunderstorms-- when it stormed it stormed." she  clapped her hands together firmly indicating a thunder clap.

She swallowed when the question about her Mother's disappearance crossed her lips. "Mother was father's wife, his Weyrmate. "I was four, when the riders went south. Mother went with him. It's.. hard to explain. She just wasn't there. My aunts said she'd taken up with father because he needed her. My grand mother- my mother's mother, said she had abandoned the Hold. I was kept distracted, much of the times. It was little lies in those early days. She was a journey woman Healer so she could be 'gone' and it wasn't a big deal. But when it became clear she wasn't coming back..." she closed her eyes and breathing slowly.

The tears were falling. She could feel it.  "My mother's name was Arshtat, my grand mother's name was Ohalzeta, my grandmother's name was Falram..." she intone the biological litany as if it'd been ingraved into her mind. A slow,decisive exhale. " Mother traveled a lot between Ista and Falen's." she said. "A lot. She loved father. Thouh I didn't know him, even a four year old could see she missed him. I suppose being with him made her really happy." She looked at Volfetti, her eyes shining brightly, in the light. "Sorry I didn't mean to seem to weird..."

Volfetti nodded as Lymsleia spoke. To be honest, the thought had never occurred to her that perhaps people didn't enjoy their lives in the north, that they had little to no family to be taken from. Having now heard of Lymsleia's tale she jutted her jaw forward, pushing her bottom lip in front of her upper one. It was an expression of determination on her face, she wouldn't assume that another disliked something just because she had.

She flinched slightly at Lymsleia's clap, laughing at her own fright. "Were you scared of the storms?" Volfetti wondered what people thought of storms when their lives didn't depend on it. In the seacrafting business, storms meant damage to boats and nets and less fish to catch. Because of that, it was engrained into Volfetti that storms were bad, even here in Katila the vicious summer storms were feared for their destructive nature. "Storms were always bad back home. They meant we couldn't fish." Her tone was wistful, it was clear she missed fishing. Even though there was the lake to the south of Katila, it wasn't the same. There were no rough seas to battle, or sea-loving crew to haul nets with you.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" Volfetti reached over, placing a slender hand on the healer's shoulder to comfort her. She couldn't imagine her father not being present in her life, nor her mother only being there occasionally for the first few brief years. It practically broke her heart to see Lymsleia recalling what appeared to be a delicate subject, though her bravery in continuing to tell it brought a small smile to her face. "You aren't weird," Volfetti assured her. "It's natural to miss your parents, even if you only knew them for a short period of time. You're their flesh and blood, and somewhere in there you'll have memories of them." Volfetti gestured to her head as she spoke.