Who

Ur'ki (NPC), Ulrika

What

Ur'ki and Ulrika chat. Again. Some nerves are revealed.

When

Early evening, approximately one sevenday before Zymuraith and Tsiroth's Hatching.

Where

Southern Weyr, Turquoise Pools

OOC Date 23 Mar 2019 04:00

 

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Turquoise Pools

Such beauty! Water the color of pure turquoise reflects the filtered light of Rukbat that comes through the small opening of the upper canopy; surrounded on all sides by lush greenery, the jungle stream tumbles into the brilliantly colored waters of the pool creating a waterfall that refracts the light into giving a near-constant, imperfect rainbow. The stream continues on, long past these hidden pools of turquoise, leaving behind the crown jewel of Southern's getaway spots. The spray of water from the small waterfall mists the rocks, and at some point in the centuries that Southern has been inhabited a quaint stone bridge was built to span the width of the small pools. Vines and jungle growth further add to the sense of seclusion, surrounded on all sides by nothing but nature.
The area is thickly forested with many bamboo and palm trees.


Ur'ki knew more about the lay of the land, but that didn't surprise Ulrika; he was always the type that enjoyed exploring and hunting, almost as much as their older brothers.

"Come on. It's not raining for once. You'll like the view, I promise," and Ur'ki was always good with his promises.

Ulrika grudgingly agreed to go. She'd finished all of her PT, her chores, and dinner. There were no other excuses left to avoid it. For anyone else, she would have no trouble answering questions with promptness and honesty.

But Ur'ki?

The brownrider always knew how to cut to the core of things - and it usually hurt.

On the upside, he did wait until about a sevenday before when the eggs were supposed to hatch according to the dragonhealers. She would give him credit for that much at least, though she wouldn't say as much; no point in feeding his ego any more than it already was.

He wasn't lying; the pools were gorgeous, surrounded by plenty of jungle growth to suggest a private space to speak. Avians and firelizards called in those green depths, but their conversations were nonsense so far as she was concerned. It was the kind of spot that she imagined her pair went off to when they weren't otherwise occupied.

Ebbe and Hemming were guarding her things as they usually did; with over two hundred Candidates, she trusted none of them to leave her things alone. The bronze and blue pair were excellent at scaring off interlopers, especially since it meant they got additional treats.

Ur'ki wasn't the first to speak, though, so Ulrika threw out some bait of her own.

"How's mom?"

"Still on bedrest," Ur'ki replied as he ambled to the stone bridge in the middle of it all. "And bigger than a Weyr, if we're honest. The Healers are concerned, but-" he shrugged, "she's too far along to do anything more than wait and see. She should be giving birth soon, maybe in the next couple of sevens, but they aren't sure."

Ulrika's nose wrinkled a little and she nodded as she followed him to the bridge. "Well, I hope she takes their instruction to heart."

"Aye, they're telling her no more after this. It'll break her heart to be sure, but they need able-bodied riders now, more than ever."

Ulrika blew out a breath and looked out at the waterfall with its perpetual, partial rainbow skittering across the mist. "Think she and father would think to transfer here?"

Ur'ki sucked his teeth and studied the waterfall as well. The pair stood nearly shoulder to shoulder and side-by-side; Ulrika with her arms folded, Ur'ki with his hands folded behind his back. "She might," he finally said. "Depending on the Hatching, anyway."

"How do you figure that?"

"Ah, just saying that if you Impress, she'd want to be here for you. She's never been worried about me or the other boys."

"No reason for her to worry about me, either."

"It's different."

"Is it? Really?"

Ur'ki sighed. "She says it is and she's a woman who rides a fighting dragon, so- I'd trust her on that. You want to take issue with it, you take it up with her."

"And if I don't Impress?"

Her brother shrugged. "She might still, depending on how things go, I guess."

Ulrika didn't bother digging deeper; that way was speculation and there was no way to know their mother's mind. "We'll see, then," she decided with a shrug and started down the stone bridge a pace.

"How are you doing with that white knot," Ur'ki asked after a long moment.

"As well as can be expected," she replied with a sidelong look. "Weyrwoman Treista already interrogated me, though I'm not entirely sure why. The dragons are the ones that make the decisions."

"She was probably hitting all the girls to get their measure," Ur'ki replied with a shrug. "There's a gold egg out there. It's good for her to get to know all of you, just in case."

"Aye, well." Ulrika blew out a breath and tipped her head back. "The eggs are strange. I'm not sure as I like most of the ones I touched."

"There are a lot of eggs out there, too. Eggs, like people, don't always get along with everyone. There were few like that in Ingvarth's clutch."

"Mm."

"It must have affected you, though. Probably more than I know you'll admit."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you have that little pinch, right here," he tapped her forehead gently, "that says you're thinking. And not just thinking, but deep thinking."

"Well, you caught me thinking in public, good on you," Ulrika replied with a snort. "Are you looking for some kind of prize?"

"No, just- the truth. All of it, for once."

"I have never and will never lie to you, Ur'ki."

"No, not- no, you don't," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "But you like to omit things, sometimes. You know. About feelings. Just because you don't like to talk about them doesn't mean they don't exist." He cuffed her shoulder gently and she returned the favor, if a bit harder.

"You say that like I know how to talk about them," she said with a wrinkle of her nose. A resigned sigh followed. "That's why I don't. Because there's no point in it and I don't know how or why."

"Well, you can start with how you feel right now about it all. What you'll do if you Impress, what you'll do if you don't, how you feel about it-"

Ulrika flapped a hand at him and fixed him with a Look.

"You know good and well what I'll do if I Impress and what I'll do if I don't. My duty. Either as a rider or a guard. I don't think those are much in question, do you?"

"No, no. No, I guess not," Ur'ki's mouth pulled to a side, displeasure briefly popping up.

Ulrika caught that look, sighed, and continued: "And I guess I feel like- I don't know. After touching the eggs and feeling- whatever it is that they shared, I found myself wanting to be what they wanted. For the ones I liked, anyway. But that feels wrong. I should want to be wanted and needed by any of them. Because maybe that first impression wasn't the right one - or the real one."

"Aye, well. You've always been good about being civil with everyone, even those that you aren't so keen on. I always told you that you let him off too easily."

"Aye, you and everyone else." Ulrika stiffened a little and looked away from him, her focus back to the pools again. Ur'ki backed off, hands briefly held up in a placating gesture. It was still a raw nerve, the kind of thing to be approached with caution, but the brownrider always ended up pinching it instead.

Ulrika shook it off as best she could and continued, "I just- I just want to do my duty and make sure that no one wants for anything if I can help it. Some accuse me of doing too much or trying too hard or being too helpful, but-"

"That's just as you are," Ur'ki finished for her and reached over to pull her in for a fierce, one-armed hug. "I know that. The eggs will know that, too. And if yours is out there, they'll find you - and not just because you're practically a head taller than most of the others."

Ulrika laughed and pulled away- then and reached over, slugging his shoulder a bit harder than before. "Is that how Ingvarth found you?"

"Aye, and I made sure to stand in front of some really short fellows, too. You do what you have to, you know?" His smile faded a little and shifted to a thing of seriousness. "How are you feeling, then?"

"I- I'm not going to speculate any and you know it. I'm not worrying about dragons that haven't even broken shell. I'll be fine, no matter how it goes- but…" She frowned. "I'm worried some, especially now that I want to- want to be wanted by one of them. And, besides, I'm older than you were when you became Ur'ki. Maybe they'll just want the youngest of the lot to milk as many good turns out of them as they can."

"Aye, maybe," Ur'ki replied. "But you never know."

"No, I don't. Anyway. If I don't Impress," Ulrika said after a few moments, "I want to visit mom and see how she's doing. Maybe spend a seven or so up there. Maybe stay until she has the baby."

"She'd like that. Father would, too. I guess she's been running him ragged of late."

"As well she should, for all he's put her through. Five kids and a sixth on the way? I'm surprised she's not castrated him herself."

Ur'ki laughed and started down the bridge to head for the edge of the pools. "But, if you do, you know she'll be flying in to visit as soon as she's cleared to."

"Aye, I know. She'd make the trip with still-healing stitches and the baby still attached, she would."

The brownrider laughed again and started for the trail, sliding her a sidelong look. "Don't go giving her any ideas, Rikka."

"You're the one as talks to her the most. Don't you do it. Now, go on with you. I need to get back in time for curfew and you have actual duties to tend to."

"Aye, I do. I do." The reminder was a sobering one for the Leopard-rider, his nose wrinkling a bit. "You get on, then. Do us proud."

"Aye, I'll do as I can."

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