The whisk of a broom being applied to the floors is likely to be heard before the wielder is seen. Trying to stay out of the way of any cross traffic, Sabina is working industriously on the floors of the hall. Despite the deep temperature outside the air in the hall is oddly warm. Or perhaps that is just her. Seeing as she’s in a state of working at the moment.

Linden walks out from the hallway, presumably from the dorms, dressed for work and no doubt off to one chore or another. Stifling a yawn behind his hand, the teen moves a bit blearily.

Little puffs of dust billow up as Sabina moves along the floor with her broom. She realizes she’s attacking with a little too much force and halts herself. Standing in the middle of the hall and resting a hand on top of the broom handle. Her hair for this task is pulled back in a severe bun and little wisps have come loose to stick to her forehead. Spying the bleary eyed candidate she huffs softly. Shaking her head she goes back to sweeping. No ‘good morning’ for the candidate apparently.

Linden pauses to complete a yawn and blinks around. Spotting Sabina though, the teen grins widely and meanders over with a wave. "Sabina! So?" His eyes /gleam/. "How'd it go?"

From the look on her face, Sabina is anything but happy to see Linden right now. The young man’s greeting and question have her pausing in her work to look up at him. And she just looks at him. No glare, no smile, just a blank look. It seems she is not inclined to answer his query as she goes back to sweeping as though she’d never heard him speak.

Linden blinks and then sinks a bit into himself. Surely it wasn't /that/ bad. "Sabina?" he asks quietly, his voice hesitant.

Sabina feels her heart wrench at the tone of Linden’s voice. All she’s wanted to do all day is grin like a mad woman. But she’s managed to refrain from such silliness. Besides Linden really hurt her feelings when he pulled that little stunt. With a sigh she stops attacking the floor with the broom. “We are both very lucky that,” she glances around and lowers her voice, “Renalde was so understanding. You know that right?”

Linden takes a step closer so they can speak more in private. "Was he not pleased?" Linden whispers. "I didn't get any other chores, other than cleaning up that office…" To him, that was as good as a pat on the back!

Sabina sighs softly and shrugs her shoulder. “How it went is not really the point.” Because it went freaking great! But she isn’t about to shout that from the rooftop. It would probably startle the workers and cause one to fall or something. Instead she twists her lips a bit. “If he had been angered over that he could have taken your knot! Or worse sent me packing back to Bitra. Do you have any idea what would happen to me there?” Things a teenager shouldn’t know she reminds herself. “Linden I thought you were my friend..”

Linden blinks, his eyes widening. "What? It was just a dinner, it wasn't…it was supposed to be /nice/, I saw how you both were looking at each other, it wasn't supposed to be mean…I /am/ your friend, that's why I did it! To make you happy!" He bites hard on his lip. "He wouldn't have sent you back to Bitra. Never. Never. And he didn't take my knot, so…" He's confused over her upset, since things seem to have gone just fine?

Sabina shakes her head at Linden. “I understand honey that you meant well.” Her tone softens quite a bit as she relaxes some. “But I’m just a.. well I’m just me. And he’s the Headman!” She’s still not at all sure such a thing is even feasible. “It is well within his power to do anything he likes with me. Including sending me back to those dens.” She allows a tiny smile to grace her lips. “From now on if you get it in your head to do such a thing you make darn sure the people you’re duping actually like one another. You may not get so lucky a second time.”

Linden blinks again. "But," he whispers, "you two /do/ like each other…I saw it!" Then he bristles a little bit. "You'd never go back to Bitra. No. We'd take you to Ista, Dad would go and get you and take you somewhere safe." Ahh, Linden, still in the age where his father can do all things. "Yeah, you're Sabina and he's Renalde…you're /people/." Linden still doesn't get rank all that well.

Sabina figures if she’d ever had a little brother or nephew she’d feel just the way she does right now. Caught between needing to hug Linden and reassure him, and wanting him to learn something. “Sometimes looks aren’t enough Linden. It takes a lot more than that to know if folks like one another.” She smiles again, “I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Headman. And I would never in life dream of putting him in an awkward situation.” She flicks the knot on her shoulder. “Folks like me honey, just don’t normally mix with people of real Rank. It’s just.. not done.” Though Renalde asked her to dine with him again. So what does that say to her view of the world?

Linden sighs, looking down at his shoes. "I'm sorry," he murmurs, and looking up at her it's clear it's genuine. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I was just trying to do something nice for you. For you /and/ for him. I thought you both needed some time together, just you two, when rank didn't matter. 'cuz Dad says sometimes rank matters but sometimes it doesn't."

Sabina feels her anger completely dissolve at the downtrodden look on Linden’s face. She reaches out and grabs his shoulder, pulling him in for a brief hug if he’s willing. If not her hand will fall back to her side. “I’m very grateful to you that you did something so nice for me. I am.” She sighs softly, “But it could have dreadfully bad. You have to weigh all possible outcomes when you make an important decision.” Thankfully the outcome had turned out to be fabulous. “I didn’t realize my feelings for.. well you know, were quite so obvious.”

Linden is pulled into the hug and his arms fling around her to give her a tight enveloping hug in return. Then he steps back and smiles. "So it went good?" he asks, the barest shimmer of hope in his eyes and his voice. "You're both kind of obvious," he says with a little giggle.

Sabina chuckles and rolls her eyes at Linden. “It went better than I ever could have hoped,” she admits with a blush. “But if you repeat that to anyone I’ll deny having said it!” She emphasizes the last with a raising of her brows. “And don’t you EVER do something like that to me again. I’ll tan your hide young man. And if I don’t have the heart I’ll find someone who does.”

Linden grins /wide/, a finger to his lips. "I won't say a /thing/," he promises, voice hushed, but gleeful. Then he giggles. "I won't have to!" But then he sobers. "I won't, I promise. But…I mean if you had known what was planned you wouldn't have stayed…"

“Of course I wouldn’t have!” Sabina would have fled and hid under her cot. “Linden he is the Headman. Please for the love of.. just register that fact.” She shakes her head at the young man in exasperation. “I’m the help Linden. I scrub floors and wash your knickers! Women like me are the type of women that men like Renalde shouldn’t think twice about.” They both live in the world but not quite the same one.

Linden shrugs. "He's a man first. And he /did/ think twice about you. So…there's no problem! I wouldn't have just set you up with some random guy." He frowns. "You're /Sabina/. That's just your job. He's Renalde. Headman is just his job. It's different."

Sabina is at a loss for words. How does she explain the very real dilemma she’s found herself in? It isn’t like Renalde will have any lasting feelings for her past perhaps fondness. Friendship if she is a very lucky woman. It simply is her lot in life and that’s all there is to it. But how to explain that to Linden? “He was very understanding and nice.” Past that she’ll not breathe a word. “But a lot of times jobs aren’t just jobs Linden. They distance important people from the less important and with good reason. There is order and stability in the world. That is very much needed or nothing will ever get done at all. After all if you impress at the Hatching, you will be very much my better honey. And I’ll still just be the help.”

Linden frowns, shaking his head. He's quiet a moment, so at least he's /thinking/ about it. In the end though…"I dunno, maybe it's because I'm oldtime. I get that in Fall everyone has to do their part and follow their leaders, but when it's not Fall? Why can't people of all ranks hang out? Me impressing wouldn't make me better than you. You're more than just the help, Sabina. You're…you're awesome. No one's more or less important."

“There is always going to be a need for order Linden.” Sabina smiles encouragingly. Because at least he’s trying to wrap his head around this. “Can you imagine if I just up and asked the Weyrwoman to fetch my stew?!” She laughs a bit at that question because it really is absurd. “Everyone is important and it is equally important that everyone understand their place in the world. Without help like me you would be without clean clothes or food to fill your belly.”

Linden shakes his head. "But that's different. That's not her job. That's your job. And you said if I impressed I'd be your /better/. And I don't think that's right. I think you're just as good as me. No matter what our /jobs/ are."

Sabina reaches out to squeeze Linden’s shoulder lightly before letting her arm fall once more. “That’s the whole point sweetheart. It’s /my/ job to serve. And her job to command and lead.” She loves this kid for thinking the two of them equal. She assumes that view will change with maturity. “Even if Niyati fails to impress and goes back to her own rank, she will still be my better. It will still be my job to help her if she asks and serve her should she need it. Much as it will be with you I’m sure. Should you impress or not. If you manage to become the Headman’s assistant it will be your job to direct me in mine.”

Linden frowns, trying to take this all in. "But…that still doesn't mean I'm /better/ than you. Just…we have different jobs is all." Perhaps it's the word 'better' that's tripping him up in this.

Sabina can’t help it she giggles. “Oh Linden. You are so dear to me and in such a short time.” She sighs softly and considers what next to say. “Perhaps if you look at it this way.. Better doesn’t mean that I personally am worse. In fact if from my point of view it merely means that I am able to do things that you aren’t able to.” She smirks a bit, “I’ve met a few better women in my day that I swear would starve to death if it weren’t for servants like me.”

Linden blushes a bit, looking a bit sheepish as he shrugs. "Same," he echoes back, glancing at her with a crooked grin. She's like a big sister! "Well yeah, we all have our jobs. The Weyrleaders can't very well hunt and cook all their own meals, their job is to lead, so they've got to have folks like you to do things, and Candidates to do things…but yeah, it doesn't make them /better/ than you. Because you're a great person and I've seen some high ranked people who were idiots."

Sabina smiles happily when Linden says he feels the same way. She really does like this young man. “So perhaps ‘better’ isn’t a word that suits your point of view,” she amends with a shrug. “It is still a fact that someone of higher rank can make the life of a lower ranked person very hard should they chose to.” And that is a hard truth that she knows well. “There are some servants that aren’t altogether bright. It takes all kinds in this world to get anything done.”

Linden nods, "Yes, I know that. But…he isn't going to do that to you. If anyone was going to be in trouble it'd be me, since you didn't know about it."

“You would think so,” Sabina says with a sigh. “And yet if it becomes an embarrassment to him it would be much easier to get rid of me than you.” She smiles that self-deprecating smile she is known for. “After all you have high ranked family. While I.. well I have no family left.” She shifts on her feet a bit. “Thankfully things didn’t go wrong this time. But you must learn to take things into consideration before you act. Think things through and not just expect the best outcome. Everything we do has consequences.”

"I'm your family," Linden says firmly. As if this is something he can just decide upon. Still…it's starting to sink in a bit. His father a bronzerider, his mother /gold/…yeah, kicking him out would be vastly different than Sabina, who has…no one. His brows furrow. "I'm glad it didn't go bad." Think? Not expect the best? Perhaps someday. But not today. He is an energetic optimist.

Sabina blinks several times when Linden declares them family. Okay.. not a conversation she is going to push for now. She figures she’s given him about enough to chew on for the moment. Though her heart does warm to hear it. It would be nice indeed to count Linden as family. “I’m very glad it didn’t too.” She seems to remember suddenly that she has a broom in her hand. “And I suppose I should thank you for thinking up such an insane scheme. Just don’t do it to me again.” She really will hide next time. Who knows who the boy would try to set her up with next?! No better to nip that in the bud, thanks. “I don’t want you to get into trouble for being late dear. You should probably get on with your chores for the day.”

Too late, Linden already believes it. He shakes his head firmly. "I won't, I promise," he says, glancing around. "Oh, whoops, yeah, I should." He offers her a quick hug, and then bounds off, hastening for his duty for the day. No idea why he's running…it's latrines. Coincidence, right? Right.