Who

Lyllian, Thenan

What

A candidate informs a stableboy that he's got yet another hurdle to her affections.

When

It is afternoon of the twenty-second day of the fourth month of the seventh turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Stables, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 06 Mar 2016 08:00

 

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"Well, I guess that's one way to run off! Getting yourself searched. You should really be more careful you know?"


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Stables

The powerful odor of hot runner lies heavy in the air here, and even the relative open of the stable design - roomy stalls, lofty arches, this is incongruously one of the best designed buildings in the entire Weyr, legacy of a long-ago Weyrleader of Herder origins - cannot altogether dispel the stink of Animal. The Stables serve for the Weyr's population of runners, and house a small menagerie of other creatures. Avians, caprines and porcines all have their homes here, and all add to the earthy feel of the place.


Thenan is sat on top of one of the stable dividers, his usual perch when waiting for time to pass and watching the runners in the other stalls. He has a small red fruit in his hands and is turning it in his hands as he ponders when to start his delightful mid-work snacking

A bit out of breath, Lyllian breaks through into the stables. She tries not to scare the runners, but well, she wanted to get here as soon as she had a moment to spare. "Thenan?" she calls softly, the excitement hard to hide in her voice despite the volume level.

Thenan lifts an eyebrow at the excited arrival, the pondering over his snack options paused with the fruit held out to the side "Mrph?" comes the surprised and slightly guilty reply, nervously checking it isn't someone who can yell at him for slacking. But he quickly spies it isn't and his head tilts "Well. You have been absent."

"I had reason to be." It could be the stark white plain knot on Lyllian's shoulder where her previous apprentice shoulder knot had sat, except it's been a fair bit longer than that since the two have seen each other. But she does smile warmly up at him, and there's a twinkle in her eye showing that perhaps she's still quite happy with their last encounter despite keeping her distance.

"You always find reason." Thenan answers a little poutily but he can't help but smile at her presence. It is then that he notices her knot and his nose wrinkles at her "Well, I guess that's one way to run off! Getting yourself searched. You should really be more careful you know?"

"I've sat in the Council Chambers being the official scrivner of the session; I doubt I could avoid being around Searchriders for long," Lyllian admits, then hops up to join him on the divider, careful not to knock it down with their combined weight. "The Weyrlingmaster himself asked me to Stand. What about you? Avoiding anyone partnered to a dragon right now?"

"No, just not sure I'm the dragons type." Thenan answers, maybe a bit of a raw nerve touched at his lack of a candidate knot "But, always more searches I guess. Or maybe I'll just be great." Thenan gives a little shoulder nudge to Lyllian, gentle so as not to dislodge her "You are all right though? No repurcussions from spending your time out here?"

Lyllian's eyes flick to the stall where the gold queen dragon's lust sent them and her face tinges pink as she moves her gaze to her knees. "Flights happen," she admits. "I couldn't be faulted unless the green stuff didn't do its job." She takes a deep breath and then looks at him again, smile as though she never had that brief moment of embarassment just now. "And hey, you're my age. We have a good nine or so Turns before we're no longer of interest to the Searchriders. You never know."

"I can hope. It would be nice to manage it - to matter a bit more, y'know?" Thenan muses. His cheek rubs Lyllian's shoulder and he smiles across at her "But I'm glad for you, teasing aside. I know you feel the same - want to matter, want to do what's right. Maybe more of a saving others thing - you always were all kind." The stablehand looks across to the main door "They not going to be grumpy at you being here bragging to your old mundane non-dragon loved friends?"

"Hey, I'm no Healer," Lyllian states to the 'saving others' bit. "I'm just a Harper brat with her nose forever stuck in Records, until all hours until the glows fade out." She looks up in the direction he indicated, biting her lip. "We're allowed a little bit of free time. Daresay, I have more free time than I did before, when I was an active Apprentice. I should also seek out m…" And her voice trails off, and she quickly adds, "Nevermind."

"It is a pretty cute nose" Thenan admits almost reluctantly, and with a little colouring of his cheeks "And well, I'm glad. It is good to see you. Was starting to think you were upset with me. And hey, what should you seek out?" There is a touch of curiosity tinged with jealousy there "What are you hiding, brat?"

Lyllian bites her lip. It's going to come to light anyways, so she states. "Did I ever tell you that I found out who was sending me smooth rocks?" she asks simply, then resumes biting her lip as she watches his face.

"Yes, because you totally tell me things and don't at all keep me in the dark and then run into my stables weeks later with a knot on your shoulder having kept it all from me." The sarcasm is rather evident as Thenan rolls his eyes "You just asked me to help. Then we went up to the standing stones. And then you started hiding from me. So. Nope. You didn't."

"I should have known who it was after the first half dozen rocks showed up. I told you I used to throw rocks like that when I was younger, right?" Lyllian chuckles softly and looks down. "My father's in the Now, Thenan. He's here. Here. I had no idea he went forward. I thought he was in the Oldtime after I went forward, but it so explains why information in the Records was so hard to find on him when researching my family…"

Thenan lets his brows furrow rather than try to hide the confusion as he tries to follow along with her "Your father…isn't before, he is now?" The stableboy pauses and looks over to the door "Well, that's kind of worrying. But, I guess. Good? I don't know. Are you happy - I mean, is he being nice? The rocks thing seems kind of mean, to keep you guessing."

"He's my father. He has his own unique way of being 'him'. Other people don't understand him, but I do. My mother did. My siblings did." Lyllian gives a brief smile. "I haven't told him of my Candidacy yet. I was just thinking I should do that." She crosses her legs at her ankles and looks back over towards Thenan. "But not yet."

"You should do what makes you feel right, isn't that what I always tell you?" Thenan muses, the wry smile returning as he leans his head back and looks up at the ceiling of the barn "I say you should do what you feel you want to, you want to do what you feel you ought to. Your father seems an odd sort. Maybe he won't care. He'll just want you safe. Dragon or no."

"I'd introduce you two, but he might shank you," Lyllian states with a soft laugh. "Not really, but he'd probably think it. He's not quite the brawly type." She chuckles again and then bites her lip. "So yeah, that mystery was solved."

"Yeeeaaahhhhh" Thenan drawls out "Kind of don't think I want to meet him given, y'know, his daughter kind of has a big crush on me that she is pretty awful at hiding, y'know? Brawly or not, that's dangerous." As they talk, his leg swings a little on the stable wall "And I'm glad. I know how much he means to you."

"Yeah." Lyllian smiles softly and takes a momentary pause as she continues looking down, although this time watching his feet. "So… What have you been up to? Find any lady types amongst all the visitors in the Weyr? Did you go to the recent Gather?"

"Why? Would you be jealous?" Asks the stablehand, a little grin over his face as he teases Lyllian "And, well. You know what I've been up to. As much as I dare, and as little as I can get away with. Taking care of the runners, taking care of animals, that is what I enjoy Lyl. Gives you the chance to ride and be free on occasion. You forget, I'm not stonebound like you are. I've been out in fall. And gathers were always work when we were trading."

"So, you avoid them altogether? You're no fun," Lyllian states, shaking her head softly. "And… as for the women, would it make any difference to say I would be? Not that I'm to judge, however. I did get a dance with one of your fellow Igen stablehands at the Gather. Tanjek, if you must know. And he was a gentleman throughout, and dare I say, quite handsome." The curl to her lips indicates that she's quite amused with the potential of making him a little jealous.

The trick does work and Thenan hmphs a little, kicking the divider a bit harder than he ought with the back of his boot "Ain't like I own you, I guess." Thenan murmers, a little dark glower as he glares down at the floor "And anyway, I do go when I can. I just don't pretend they ain't work for someone." His head lifts and he looks sidelong at Lyl "Anyway, what difference could you being jealous make. Your new knot means you are even further away. And no doubt you'll impress some big gold and forget about poor ol' Thenan."

"The queen isn't favoring any specific eggs, so they don't believe there's a gold on the Sands," Lyllian explains, although that certainly wasn't his point. She shakes her head slowly to herself. "As for me, it wouldn't be a very Harper thing to do to decline a dance. We're quite a social Craft. It won't be my last dance."

"And? Why do you need to tell me, Lyl?" Thenan asks, his head turning so he can give her a hurt look - though how much is his playing up to a part he'll never tell "I mean, you know I like you. If it is to make me be there so I can claim the dance, well. Tell me?" His shoulders lift with a shrug, though one of frustration rather than indifference "And well, if there is no gold I guess you may not impress this time. You are too good for a green."

"Because, even after all these Turns, I still like to tease you, Thenan," Lyllian replies with a reassuring smile. "Is it so wrong to tease you on occasion?"

Thenan mumbles something under his breath and shakes his head. His voice then lifts so she can hear "You are a pain, Lyl. Have been ever since I bumped into you with those dusty scrolls trying to be nice with the headwoman. And, seems you tease a lot." THenan drops down off the partition and turns to look up at Lyllian "I still put up with you, don't I?"

"What do you want, then?" Lyllian says with a half-smile as she looks down on him, still staying in her spot on the partition, at least for the moment. Her feet sway just a bit.

"I haven't ever changed what I want, Lyl. Not since that day in the Weyr records room. You are the one who flits about like a firelizard on her desires." Thenan seems proud of his consistantly, his chest puffing a bit "I am the reliable one. At least in those matters. You are the one always finding some new job to take you away from me."

"The jobs don't change. Well, except maybe being asked to Stand. But you know that's temporary in any case. I either Impress and get another Turn and a half of exile while I adjust to a new lifemate, or I go back to being an Apprentice, which will go another two or three Turns until I walk the tables." Lyllian bites her lip. "And THAT has been a constant, Thenan. My Apprenticeship has the same rules it had when I started."

"The rules have been constant, M'lady Harper, you have not. But, I guess, that was always my job with you. To help you understand rules were not maybe always as strict as you felt, or as necessary. I just wonder what that will mean if you do impress. Maybe you'll just be better for having known me. In which case I expect free rides between, you know." Thenan's grin returns as he looks up at the apprentice sitting above him "And anyway, just gives me a time frame either way for how long I have to break down your desire to say no."

"All our 'fights' end up this way in the end, don't they?" The small Harper laughs gently. Lyllian hops down off the partition, and then loses her balance, falling into the sturdy stablehand but probably not enough to knock him off his feet.

Thenan stumbles a little backwards, but does indeed manage to keep his footing - his arms reflexively wrapping around the smaller harper and after a moment the startled look turns to a smile and a small chuckle "What? That you are a stickler and I am a painful free spirit who tugs at that loose piece of cloth in you that wants to actually have fun? Mm. There are worse roles to have in your life than to be the one that makes you smile, Lady Harper."

Lyllian wraps her arms around Thenan's waist and holds him for a moment. Indeed, a smile softly curls upon her face. Finally, she leans upwards to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I should get back to things before I break rules I shouldn't break. Wait for me." As he has been, for Turns. "Alright?"

"What else do I ever do but wait for you, Lyl?" Thenan responds. The stablehand gives a warm smile down at her - none of his usual self assured bravado, but a genuine moment before he gives her a gentle squeeze and lets her go "You go have fun with the other candidates - and you know I'll always be there for you when you need me, Lyl."

Lyllian smiles warmly back at Thenan and then heads out into the open air, giving a wave as she leaves.

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