Dangers from Home [Open]

Aparicus had not only been surprised to find her name on the candidate list when she’d not yet produced a child for the Weyr, but even more surprised when next to that bulletin was another stating that the candidate class would be beginning their lessons outside of the Weyr for a few days camping.  Camping in the jungle?!  Wasn’t that dangerous?!  Not only dangerous for obvious reason that it was the jungle with those huge felines and all manner of other creatures that made all sorts of noises after dark – but she’d no longer have the protection of the lock on her bedroom door that she shared with her friend.

There would also be no lock on the bathing pool door.  Where were they suppose to bathe safely?  Surely they didn’t mean for all of the candidates to bathe men and women together… could they?  No.  No no no no no, she had to push that thought to the back of her mind and firmly keep it there.  She couldn’t show up to the camping a completely terrified mess of what-if’s.  Surely they will have thought of something.

Taking the marked trail slowly, she followed a bit behind a few other candidates who’d declined the ride so that she’d not get lost and it was well into mid-day before she arrived at the camping spot.  To her relief there were several tents!  She moved toward none of them, however, and instead set her pack down nearby and out of the way of most commotion and sat upon it.  She’d wait till she spotted her friend Jisralna or another familiar face she trusted before trying to figure out which tent she was to belong in… and hopefully with how many other people if they were meant to share.  Shards, she hoped the sleeping tents at least were separated by gender… That at least, would offer some minor protection…

Mevrit had decided to make the trek to the lake on foot, not because she was wary of dragons. After being at Katila for a few turns one got used to the giant animals, and Mevrit had never truly regarded them with fear. There was some admiration in her heart for them, because she couldn't help but think to herself how much easier it would have been to get through trade routes when riding on a dragon. The air seemed to be a less rough terrain. But truly, Mevrit enjoyed the walk. It was refreshing, and reminded her of when she would ride alongside the supplies wagon on her runner. Mevrit was a hardy woman, and she wouldn't pester anyone else to take her someplace she needed to go if she could do so herself!

The only downside to walking for a few hours was that by the time the group on foot made it to the campsite, mostly everything was set up. Mevrit hardly would have minded helping getting things in order, and she was sure there were still plenty of things left to do. But... it looked like everything was being handled efficiently enough, and she could take a few moments to regain her energy. She was hardy, but hardly immune to wear and tear. Still, if she was taking a little down time, she might as well spend it trying to get to know some of her fellow Candidates.

Mevrit never seemed to really be able to just sit down and rest. Her mind was always on something, whether it was productive or not. Eyes too large for her face glanced around the outskirts of the camp, and settled on a face that was familiar, but she could hardly claim to know the individual beyond her name. Mevrit approached the other young woman, waving her hand in greeting. Her hair was a little greasy, and she hadn't taken time to wipe the sweat from her brow or upper lip. She wasn't... unpleasant, but it could still be a little off-putting. It was no wonder why she never really got hit on.

"Aparicus?" she greeted the woman with a smile. Unfortunately, the smile seemed to be completely false. There was a certain amount of 'fakeness' to her that could not be overlooked. Her mind was in the right place, but her body never seemed to follow through. Mevrit very rarely appeared to be genuine. "Did you enjoy the trek? I'm surprised you didn't take the chance to hitch a ride with one of the dragonriders."

Aparicus had jumped a little when her name was called from the direction she hadn’t been watching.  Turning her face upwards, her eyes met those of a fellow candidate and she gave the woman a smile – much friendlier than the one she’d been given.  Unlike Mevrit, Apari’s face seemed to always be an open book of emotion that was easy to read.  Of course, because of that and her own timid-ness, it often turned into a cascade of emotions playing across her face.  But at the moment, she seemed relieved and was genuinely happy to have someone to talk to.

“Hello, Mevrit.”  She said, taking only a moment to remember the woman’s name.  “Oh, the walk wasn’t terrible at all.  Nice and quiet actually.”  Far better than to have run into a large, wild feline that was for sure!  “I hope the rest of this camping trip proves as enjoyable.”  She smiled again, though the smile faltered when her fellow candidate mentioned catching a ride with a dragonrider and the farmcrafter quickly shook her head.

“Oh no…”  She said quickly, scrambling for a reason as to why she wouldn’t have taken the ride beyond the fact that the thought of being so close to another person completely terrified her.  “I w-wouldn’t want to i-impose.  You see, my legs work just fine and the weather held well.”  Her face once more switched emotions as it leapt from faltering to a look of genuine worry. 

“Oh no, you don’t think it will rain on us while we are here at the lake, do you?”  In truth, Apari loved the rain, because it was the rain that made her plants in the garden grow.  What she didn’t like, however, was not having a warm fireplace and dry bed to climb into after being chilled to the bone in the rain.  Out here… out here she doubted the tents would get very warm at all and Apari’s thin frame had poor circulation.

"I'm sure it will be," Mevrit answered with a smile that refused to falter. It was a wonder how the muscles in her face could continue to hold the expression - likely she had practiced a lot. The expression was supposed to be charming, but it lost its impact completely the more time passed. "Truthfully, this sort of experience reminds me of when I was still following trading routes with my father's caravan." Mevrit could live without luxury, which made it more questionable that her expertise in trading had been items of luxury, stuff that people didn't need but certainly wanted! When she was still with her family, it had made sense since she was a woman... and it was a womanly sort of area. Now, it seemed a little silly, especially since items of luxury weren't a huge commodity at Katila.

"That's a good attitude!" Mevrit applauded insincerely. She probably was trying to be sincere, but it hardly came out the way. It sounded more like she was praising a child for doing something right than talking to another adult. That might have made sense too since she was a mother, but she was a piss poor one at that. Her twins had been pawned off to the nearest lower cavern woman after a few sevendays with Mevrit. She visited them from time to time, but her interests were elsewhere. She did not have the time to focus on a baby, let alone two of them.

"We're here for a few days, so I would hope that it rains." Mevrit's face remained falsely pleasant, but she was silently put off by the girl's concern over the weather. Maybe she needed it explained why it was important that it rained? But, she should already know that! This likely was just idle conversation starters... but Mevrit found it sad that they had already resorted to talking about the weather. She had an impeccable poker face, simply because she was consistently fake despite what she was thinking or feeling. "I doubt it will downpour - that would be my only concern. Though, it looks like they're setting the tents far back enough from the lake that if the waters did rise our stuff would not be spoiled."

“That’s right, I believe I remember hearing that you were a trader before coming to Katila.”  She said as little tid-bits she’d overheard about the woman slowly came back to her.  They were not many, however.  Perhaps Aparicus really needed to start making a habit of actually talking to more people rather than eavesdropping from a safe distance.  After all, despite the strange feeling of emptiness in the smile she was receiving from Mevrit, her words had thus far been kind enough and Aparicus always loved kindness.

Listening to her mention the tents and distance from the lake, Aparicus looked at the tents again.  “Do you know which tent we are suppose to stay in?  Do you think they are assigned?”  she asked curiously.  She’d not heard anything about bringing her own tent – which was a good thing considering she didn’t own one.  But she was confident that meant sharing somewhere and if she didn’t spot Jissy soon… she was a little nervous about who else she might end up sharing with.  Jissy understood her need for space and her fear of touch.  Where was her friend?  She’d seen her name on the list as well and knew she’d have to be around here somewhere.

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[sub]Sorry so short![/sub]

"My father had a trading caravan. We managed fairly well." It was Mevrit's way of being open while not really being open. What one needed to do to earn someone's trust was usually minimal. Sharing a little about oneself was the normal requirement to start a friendship. Mevrit was a more driven woman, so she intentionally tried to know everyone a little, but not focus so much on making true friends. Everyone had their bit of information to share, and information was always valuable. She was a social floater, and not a very good one at that. In the business world she was perfect, in actual normal and casual situations she was terrible.

"I have no idea, I manage that will sort itself out, even if it means we all pick which tent we want to stay in." Mevrit imagined that their 'chaperones' wouldn't care so much. If boys ended up mingling with girls, and vice versa, they'd probably encourage the exploration in sexuality. In fact, they'd probably be more thrilled to see the girls tenting together and boys sharing with other boys if that were the case. The trader was sure that this trip's sole purpose was for everyone to get to know each other. They were going to likely be at Katila for the majority of their lives, they all had to learn to get along!

"I'm not too worried about it. I've slept in worse places." Not really, but she thought Aparicus needed to hear that this wasn't so bad! She seemed a little worried.

At some point during their chit chat, one of the girls will accidentally discover a small nest, nothing more than two lonely little eggs mostly buried under the sand. Had they taken the time to dig deeper, they would have found a full clutch of fifteen.

Instead, they manage only two.

Hatching:
Mevrit, Aparicus

Aparicus managed to put a faultering smile back onto her lips as the woman tried to reassure her.  It made Apari wonder that Mevrit was not also worried about the sleeping arrangements, but then again she supposed there were women who actually enjoyed the… ah… company… of men.  After all, hasn’t her own roommate pined over them time and again?  Of course Aparicus shouldn’t be afraid, but fear always did come naturally to the woman.

“No, I suppose you are right.  There are worse places to sleep.”  Such as back home…  She still was safe in the south – and better still she was with men and women of Katila.  That was just as good as being in the Weyr itself, wasn’t it?  Her smile solidified a bit as she considered this before slowly standing up off her pack and dusting off her skirt.  It was force of habit from sitting in her garden so often, not out of necessity as her pack wasn’t dirty on that side. 

“I suppose we should find out then shouldn’t we?”  She said with a smile before turning around to pick up her pack – offhandedly inviting the woman to go with her to learn of these things, though Apari would never blame her for having better things to do than escorting the farmcrafter around.

Moving her pack, she let out an ‘o’ of surprise as just beyond where she’d sat it was a little smooth, creamy-white stone barely peeking out of the sand.  Raising her eyebrows, she reached out and brushed off that bit of sand to reveal a slightly warm surface of two objects, almost perfectly matched in size, shape and color.

“Are those eggs?”  She asked, a little confused and surprised to find them half buried in the sand.  Pulling her hand back, she looked over at Mevrit and rose her eyebrows.  Last she’d checked, the eggs used in the kitchens were collected from nests in the wherry pens – not from the sands and beaches.  Who would put eggs out here?