Breakfast Date

Writers: Avery, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 18th February 2016

Characters: Ikalis, Crea
Description: The breakfast goes very well indeed.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 7 of Turn 8

Ikalis hadn't forgotten that Crea had asked her to breakfast. She finished all her morning chores - baking the bread, helping prepare the morning porridge, etc - and then ducked out of the kitchens to sit down for her own meal. She looked around until she spotted the potter, then headed over. "Hey!" she said.

Crea seemed remarkably put-together for this hour of the day. Her hair was perfectly braided, her eyes looked bright, and her new pink dress had nary a wrinkle. This was, admittedly, because she had spent nearly an hour preening and making sure she looked flawless before coming to breakfast. She hoped her appetite wouldn't put Ikalis off; the potter always had a hearty breakfast, since her lunch breaks usually came a little later than usual. Today she was feasting on toast and porridge, a thick rasher of bacon, fried tuber slices and some eggs.

Crea stood on hearing Ikalis' voice, giving her a smile. "Hello again. Please, sit down," she said, motioning to the space beside her.

Unlike Crea, Ikalis hadn't had time to look nice. She was in her working clothes, and had flour speckling across her nose, which she hadn't seen. "Hi. Thanks for asking me to breakfast," she said.

"It was my pleasure," Crea said. "You look like you're ready for a break. Have things been busier than usual?" she asked, motioning to the flour freckles.

Ikalis lifted a hand to her face automatically. It came away dusted with white and she coughed. This wasn't the impression she wanted to make!

"There's a lot to do to feed people in the mornings. Though honestly, dinner is worse."

"I understand, almost. An old friend of mine had a lot of kitchen duty before he Impressed a darling little blue, It was his chief complaint. Well, at least now you have a chance to rest and refresh yourself." Crea smiled reassuringly and sat down again, gesturing once more for Ikalis to join her. She wouldn't resume eating until Ikalis had a chance for a few bites.

"Oh, who's your friend?" Ikalis asked nosily.

She started digging into her porridge greedily. The thick mass of grains had nuts and dried fruit mixed in to add sweetness and chew, and it had turned out well today. Though Crea's bacon did look good, she thought, surreptitiously eying the other woman's plate for a moment.

"His name is O'wez," Crea said, and had some klah. "We knew each other at a minor farmhold not far from here. Shells, we've known each other since we were in swaddlings. I've never had a better friend. Our parents arranged a marriage between us, actually. We decided not to tell them it wouldn't get them the results they wanted because I only like women and he only likes men. Besides, it's not a bad thing to be married to your best friend, I think. But then Search came and saved us the trouble. I stood twice before someone told me greens don't like women like me." Her crooked smile became wistful and a little angry before she smoothed the expression away. Stupid greens didn't know what they were missing. "So I started crafting instead."

"If you'd been married you could have pursued your interests on the side?" Ikalis guessed. She had hoped that holders who had the same-sex leanings could do that. None of the twits at the Baker Hall had seemed the type, but they were all looking _forward_ to their marriages.

Crea grinned wickedly. "Oh, I did that even before I was engaged," she said in amusement. "And I never got in trouble. I had-" she delicately cleared her throat "-leverage." Oh. Wait. Maybe she shouldn't show her deviousness so soon. "But what about you? What was your early life like?" she hastily asked, hoping to divert any questions.

"Leverage?" The word made Ikalis curious. Sounded like there was gossip, there.

As for the question about herself, she shrugged slightly. "Weyrbred, so I've been here most of my life. I did take a few Turns at the Baker Hall in Sapphire Meadows territory. They don't take female apprentices, but they do allow paying students, and my folks scrounged the money."

"That was very good of them," Crea said with obvious approval while pretending not to notice the question. "It sounds like it got you off to a nice start."

"It was a good experience. I could have apprenticed to the Weyr Bakers, but they're not Hall-trained, you know? I thought it was better to get instruction straight from the source. The Hall might be wedged up a dragon's tail about female apprentices, but that they take students is a positive sign. I was the only weyrbred one in my Turn, though. The rest were fancy holder daughters trying to get good talents for their upcoming happy marriages." She wrinkled her nose at that.

"The poor things didn't know any better. I blame their parents," Crea said with a shrug. "My parents didn't know any better either. I was only allowed to help with the farm work because I was their only child and Father thought I should know how it works for when I got married. To this day, he and Mother think I'm happily weyrmated with O'wez. I let them have their little delusions because it's not hurting me."

"Does it cover for his family, too?" Ikalis guessed.

"That it does. What they don't know can't hurt them, either," Crea said, and polished off more of her breakfast. "Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and O'wez loves his, but we are so aware of their shortcomings, we have to love them from a distance to protect ourselves. It's unfortunate such deception is needed when it comes to the ignorant," she finished, sighing.

"Holders are _weird_ about so many things," the caverns worker said in between bits of porridge. "I feel bad for those who have such a hard time adjusting to the Weyr's freedoms when they get here. It's like they're stuck in who they were."

"I know, it's almost tragic," Crea said, shaking her head. "I'm fortunate I fit in so well here. I wouldn't have had the courage to ask you to join me today otherwise."

"Even in Holds, friends have breakfast together," Ikalis said lightly. She wanted to hope for more meaning in Crea's words - but so few were like herself, and so she wanted to tread carefully, rather than risk falling for another unattainable girl and having her heart waste away.

The potter's lopsided smile became crafty. "Oh, _sweetheart_." She moved closer, resting a hand on the back of Ikali's neck to caress it. "Friendship is nice and all, and I would be pleased if that happened. But you're a very attractive young lady, and the more I hear about you, the more I'm sure I'll like. So I hope you don't mind that I'm planning on pursuing you."

That answered her question. Ikalis' eyes widened slightly. "Mind?" she asked, voice cracking slightly near the end. "No, no, not at all," she added breathlessly.

That was exactly what she had hoped for. Crea smiled brilliantly and slowly removed her hand, nails delicately trailing across Ikalis' neck, before resuming her meal. "So I suppose that means I can ask you to join me again at the same time on the end of the sevenday?" she asked lightly.

"I'd be honored. And I'd bring something special for you," Ikalis assured, shivering slightly under Crea's touch.

That was a surprise. "Really?" Crea asked, very flattered. "Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to it already. Can I get a hint on what it is?"

"Well, if you tell me about your favorite desserts... You're not one of those girls who doesn't eat?"

The potter looked down at the remains of her hearty breakfast, then back to Ikalis with an arched brow before smiling again to show she was teasing. "I like simple things for dessert. A nice pear tart or a wrapped fruit pastry is lovely."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Should I bring something you would like as well?"

"No, that's not necessary. Let me treat you, first," Ikalis assured.

"All right, if you insist," Crea said happily, and mentally cheered over how well this was going. Ikalis was nice, she was friendly, she hadn't objected to being touched, and she hadn't run screaming when Crea made her interest clear. With any luck, their next breakfast together would go just as smoothly. Feeling quite optimistic, the potter brought up another subject to entertain them until their food ran out.

Last updated on the February 21st 2016

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Breakfast Date