Early Bird Special [Bordtai]

[color=#D1CC76]I’m sleepy. Why do you have to be up so early? The dragon’s groggy voice washed over his rider. The man was already dressed in his leathers, which even in this place he wore as often as possible. He was a dragonrider and he wanted to be prepared for anything at any time. Because I like fresh bread. And that was as good a reason as any! [color=#D1CC76]Send the kithen ladies my regards. The dragon teased. His rider, for all his anti-social qualities tended to make good with the cooks. Never bite the hand that feeds…that was the lesson there. Dawn was Ph’yn’s favorite time of day. The sun’s light was only barely touching the horizon, leaving the world in a haze. The air was cool, somewhat crisp, well as crisp as it was going to be here in the South.

He could take a deep breath in knowing that a new day had begun, his dragon was alive and healthy and he could make it through one more. The Bronzerider lived on the outskirts of Katila, his hut as far out as they would allow. If it had been up to him, which was obviously not the case, he would have chosen to live outside of Katila’s boundaries. Deshenoreth would have been fine so long as Ph’yn still worked with the Katilan’s and went along with their plans for the Weyr. Ph’yn was not always understanding of leadership and he hated to be lorded over but there were people who earned his respect. For that reason and that reason alone had Ph’yn finally consigned himself to living among the others without being too upset. They had allowed him to live as far away from the center of the Weyr as they felt proper.

Deshenoreth needed a wide berth anyway. It was better to live in a hut where there were not a bunch of them built close together. The large beast was not clumsy but he certainly was not an agile creature especially on the ground. His thoughts of his dragon kept his mood up. He would do anything to make Deshenoreth happy. The Bronzerider walked passed many huts on his way to the kitchens. He enjoyed his walk in the morning. Not many people were up except those that had to work early in the morning and those people were involved in the tasks at hand. They did not have time to notice him or say hello. Ph’yn much preferred things be that way. The sentiment was nice and all but the man simply did not care for idle chatter. Hi, hello, how are you this morning, it was all trivial to him. He did not really know any of the people who said things of that nature to him. What was his answer supposed to be? I’m great, my life is so wonderful I forgot to tell you how much I love spending time among all of you disease carrying, simpletons.

Okay, the wording was a little harsh but his point was still, the whole concept had no point. Asking someone how they are doing made absolutely no sense. Most people would respond with an answer that was as vague as could be. Fine being among one of the most used. Fine was so nondescript all one could determine was that the person was alive. He was still going on about all of it in his head when he smelled the bread baking.  Fresh bread and some fruit would really start the morning off well. He didn’t bother asking if they were prepared for people to eat yet. He never really liked waiting outside the kitchens. Most of the cooks seemed not to mind him being in there so long as he didn’t get in the way. Often he managed to help rather than hinder them. He did not mind washing some dishes or lifting heavy bags of flour if it meant getting some fresh bread.

Walking over to one of the cooks, he let them know he was hoping for something fresh from the ovens. The response being, of course he was, he was in there all the time for food. Some things really had not changed since he was a boy. The man was always hungry and never seemed to gain weight. As he stepped aside, he nearly fell onto one of the children who helped in the kitchen. Ph’yn had not even seen the boy and pivoted on his heel to keep himself from landing on the small child. Once he steadied himself, he looked at the boy concerned that he might have actually struck him during his avoidance of falling down, “Kid, are you alright?”

Bordtai had been sent to the kitchens to help with chores for the morning before his dreaded classes for letters and numbers.  He was honestly beginning to wonder how much longer they would keep him in the beginner’s class before giving up and no longer demanding that he attend at all.  He was taking up attention that could be put to better use on smarter children.  Bordtai wasn’t completely dim – he knew he was a lost cause and that they now only bothered to check up on him when the other children no longer needed help.  He had no delusions that it was out of pity than any sort of hope that one day the random symbols might make sense to him.

Seeing a young boy in the kitchens, and one they knew to be a hard and quiet worker, they had sent him first to bring inside more firewood for the hearths that were busy with fresh Klah and Bread.  With both arms full of timber (only two logs, he was too scrawny to handle more at a time), he had been making his way carefully through the doorway to not bump the man standing there asking about something fresh from the ovens when the man suddenly turned – managed some rather comical movements – and still managed to bump Bordtai just enough to knock the currently-top-heavy kid off balance.

A tangle of scrawny arms went down with an ‘oof’ as the two logs he had been carrying landed heavily on his legs.  An intake of breath was all that escaped him where other kids would have cried out, however, before he pushed the logs off and brushed off the patched breeches.  Hearing the man ask if he was alright, Bordtai looked up and actually managed a smile.

Because if I smile, I might not get kidnapped again.  he thought, the memory of that rider-father carting him off to the healers still fresh in his mind.  Besides, a little bump was NOT enough to go.  Some riders, especially the father ones, were just silly.

“I’m a’right.”  He said before rolling onto his knees and standing back up.  Now it was his backside that got to be brushed off – Faranth only knew how the ladies in the kitchens could complain when he came in with too much dust and dirt.  “I’m surprised you didn’t go down in a heap with me, how much you were flailing and all.” 

In honesty, it was all Bordtai could have done to keep from laughing at the man if he had not been the one being tripped over.

He laughed, which coming from him was actually kind of a surprise. The deep and rich laugh was of pure mirth. He didn’t laugh much anymore unless he was so drunk he didn’t remember laughing. “I imagine it was comical watching my attempts at not falling. Oh but don’t you know that Dragonriders are quick on their feet. I’m more agile than I look though apparently not aware of what is going on around me this morning. ” Ph’yn eyed the boy for a moment.

“Here, let me help you up.” The man’s gruff voice came with softness. He was not a bad person, but rather quiet and unused to being around so much commotion. Although by now he ought to be, he never quite got used to being near so many people. A strong arm reached down to the boy where a calloused hand offered help. In his mind he kept thinking that he should have been more careful. He really didn’t want to hurt any of the children. Even Indi on a bad day was better than any of the adults. When the boy smiled he tried to remember his name but it eluded him. He wasn’t so good with names to begin with whereas Deshenoreth was. I used to know people well and remember their names. Now the world seems so different and people are hard to get to know without feeling pain.

He finally remembered the boy’s name because of his demeanor more so than his appearance. “You are Bordtai right?” He had better have gotten the boy’s name right. He had a hard enough time remembering the children’s names as new ones were born all the time here. Bordtai was one of the older children though and he had had time to learn most of their names and faces. What he recalled from the boy was that he was shy and tended to avoid causing any kind of confrontation or trouble. Not that this in itself was entirely a bad thing but it was not good if the boy never learned to stand up for himself. He shrugged the idea away. “I don’t think you’ll need a Healer but at least let me help with the logs to make up for knocking you down.” It wasn’t as if Ph’yn had hit him hard but he still felt bad for it.

Things might have been different if the boy were not a child. Adults were often far less forgiving and more willing to confront people. Ph’yn picked up the logs the boy had been carrying, not really waiting for a response. He was a tall, strong man and he was much more capable of carrying in logs than a ten Turn old. “What other chores do you have this morning?” He gathered carrying wood would not be the last thing on the boy’s plate today but maybe Ph’yn could get him out of more strenuous tasks for the morning. He felt rather guilty about injuring the boy even if it meant he was only bruised.

"Thanks."  The boy said as he took the man's offered hand up.  It was pretty amazing how tiny his hand felt in the man's seemingly giant paw - but Bordtai was small for his age, let alone so much younger than the adult.  Even so, he sometimes wondered if he'd ever hit a growth spurt.  Even the girls were starting to get taller than he was.

Seeing the man move to pick up the logs, Bordtai had to nearly dive at one to keep from being caught walking into the kitchens empty handed.  Last thing he wanted was for someone to call him lazy.  Carrying one log while the man carried the other, Bordtai nodded at his name then shrugged at the question of chores.

"I'm to be helping the kitchen staff all day.  Probably wood first, some dishes usually and when the fires die down they like to have me take out extra ash before bringing more wood again.  After that they shoo me out to wash myself before I get everything else dirty."

On second thought he might not be able to help the boy at all. The kitchen staff only liked him because he didn’t get in their way and generally helped them when he could in order to ensure he could come by and have something fresh out of the ovens. If he stole their little worker for the day he’d have to have a good excuse and he certainly did not want to lie to them. Maybe he should have the boy looked at by the Healers in order to get him out of these chores. When he was a boy though a little fall like that would not have landed him in the infirmary. People were much more inclined to let the little tumbles and falls go back then. Now the children were probably rushed to the Healers for any scratch they had.

No, the Healers were out of the question. Besides Bordtai would have said he needed the Healer if he needed it. From what he could see he was responsible enough for his age to know when an injury was serious and when it was not. Thinking for a moment more, he figured the boy wouldn’t want to cause any trouble by leaving before he was dismissed and Ph’yn certainly was not going to piss the kitchen staff off by requesting they let him off the hook.

“They are quite strict about the kitchen maintaining its cleanliness.” And he would never blame them for that when his own family died of a common cold. “Hmmm, well I’d like to make this up to you somehow. Only I really don’t see that I can get you out of chores and I have my own responsibilities to take care of today.”  Otherwise he would offer to take on the boy’s chores. “Is there anything you want to do or anywhere you want to go that I could help with?” Deshenoreth wouldn’t mind flying the boy around as long as it wasn’t somewhere the boy was not allowed to go. Deshenoreth would be happy not to be alone with Ph’yn all day since that’s how things normally were. In Ph’yn’s mind he did owe Bordtai something.

Bordtai set the log on the small pile away from the main food but nearby the hearths and turned to stare at the man.  He wanted to make up just bumping into him?  Did the man have a few shells cracked in that head of his?  Lifting a thumb to his mouth, he chewed on his nail for a moment before grinning up at the man.

"Actually, if you're really serious and not pulling my leg, I really want to go to the beach again.  The rocky part."  After all, if the man was serious, Bordtai could have a great day out of the Weyr.  If he was pulling his leg, then Bordtai would just spend another day at the Weyr.  Didn't seem like a terrible loss.

"The waves smooth the little rocks there, and I like to collect them."

The Bronzerider thought perhaps people weren’t used to how he was raised. He might seem to be going overboard but he genuinely cared to undo damages done. He was unable to repair the damage of his past. Perhaps it made him more willing to make up for the things he did in the present. He had not intentionally knocked the boy over but he had injured him and made his job more difficult. To Ph’yn that was worth something. When the young boy finally decided what he wanted, Ph’yn was a little surprised but far from inconvenienced by it. After all it was a good excuse, one Deshenoreth would accept, to get out of the Weyr and away from a majority of the populace.

“I’m always serious.” He insisted. “Hmmm, sounds fair to me.”  In his weyrbrat days, things like rocks were kind of fun, although he never collected them, he found skipping them enjoyable. That was before he learned to fish. He generally preferred to go fishing now, there was something soothing about it and he often brought extra food in that way. Ph’yn nodded, “I used to skip the flat ones. Don’t know if youngsters do that nowadays.” He shrugged, then asked, “When would you like to go?”

He had trouble not thinking about what his own children might have done, and their children. He should be a grandfather by now. Phiona would be 32 by now, if she’d lived more than thirteen Turns. If his children weren’t immune deficient, they would not have died. He had no idea his father’s family had issues with it. His mother’s family had respiratory issues too. How he had become such strong man without any issues was beyond him. He often wondered if he was just lucky. In a way he was the opposite having to live without the people he would have defended with his life, more than any others on Pern. Spending time with this boy was going to get to him a little but he was going to do his best not to let the past linger in his thoughts too much.

Bordtai laughed as the older man mentioned skipping stones as if it were some lost art form.  “You’re not that old, we still skip rocks.  Or at least I do.  But never the really pretty ones.”  He admitted.  Truth be told, he had once seen a woman have a man fashion a hole into one very pretty rock and strung a string through it and wore it as a necklace.  He also knew it was stones that adorned a few people’s heirlooms of rings and necklaces and even a few rare earrings.  Someday Bordtai would love to learn how to make those.  While not practical at Katila, people still treasured them.  He’d like to be able to do something that people treasured… He’d seem much less the dimglow then.  That’s why he collected the rocks.  Someday he’d learn how to turn them into treasures.

At the question of when to go, Bordtai thought about it and shrugged.  “I can’t tomorrow, I’m back here at the kitchens, but the day after is a rest day for my class and I usually don’t get more than the morning’s worth of chores on my rest day from class.  Could we go then?”  Again, he had to remind himself not to get his hopes too high, but he was finding that more and more difficult to do around the easy-to-talk-to rider.

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[sub]When we close up the thread, one of us can start up a new one going to the beach.  <3[/sub]