Stitching and Sticking Together

Writers: Jelena, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 7th August 2016

Characters: Genna, Firelloa
Description: After Lissath gives her approval, Genna offers advice and friendship to Firelloa.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 2 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: A'kua and Zeiranth, Jessmyr, Yanley, Nokala.

Genna

Firelloa clutched her little sewing kit to her chest with one hand and two tunics over the kit with the other as she rushed for the appropriate weyr stairs. She was so excited, and nervous, and happy, that she thought she might burst. But she stopped at the bottom to catch her breath, then started up, heart bouncing about in her ribcage. A'kua had told her if Lissath was on the ledge, she was to curtsy, address her as Lady Lissath, and explain she was his sister, invited by Genna to stop by.

Firelloa hoped Lissath would be there; despite having lived in Dolphin Cove's territory all her life, she'd never met a gold. She'd never even met a gold fire-lizard. And the gold who had clutched Zeiranth had to be super-special like he was, right? And that also meant Lissath was like family, didn't it? So of course Firelloa wanted to meet the junior gold, and be polite about it.

She topped the stairs and lifted her head.

}: The little one is here. :{ Lissath informed her Lifemate as she heard the footsteps coming up her ledge. Though it might be hard to believe, the gold was excited about this encounter almost as much as the young girl. She was fond of Genna's dear friend A'kua and quite curious about the 'little A'kua' Genna had told her about. So when the girl reached the top of the stairs, there was a large golden head hovering just over her, her eyes whirling content greens and blues as her muzzle sniffed the air curiously.

"Meep!" The squeak jumped out unexpectedly as the girl boggled at the gold. She was big, and amazing, and gorgeous. Were all female dragons gorgeous in this Weyr? "H-Hello. Oh, you're so beautiful," she breathed, completely forgetting her brother's instructions.

The sound elicited an amused rumble from the gold and the words another as she brought her muzzle closer to the girl, her movements like one trying to calm down a scared animal as she gently edged closer with a gentle, soothing rumble in her throat. Genna had arrived at the ledge an observed the scene quietly, without making herself known to Firelloa.

** Do you like her? **

}: She smells nice. :{

Firelloa could only stare in awe for several moments before she suddenly remembered her manners. "Oh! Oh, excuse me." She curtsied awkwardly, not being able to spare a hand to move the hem of her shirt properly. "I'm Firelloa, Lady Lissath, here to see Genna. A'kua says he's sorry he couldn't send any treats this time," she babbled.

}: Hello. :{ the gold spoke very softly into Firelloa's mind, afraid to say much more in danger of scaring the child. She really was a little A'kua, it seemed, she smelled something like him and was as polite as he always was.

Genna decided to step forward then and greeted the girl with open arms. "Hello, dear, I'm so glad you could make it! And don't worry about the treats, we get spoilt enough as it is!"

The girl gawked at Lissath, who really did have a mellifluous voice. It was the first time a dragon had ever spoken to her. "Y-You honor me," she squeaked again, very overwhelmed. Genna's words almost didn't register in her stunned mind, but when they did, she became flustered another time. "Oh! Hi! I- uh-" She looked between rider and dragon. "I guess I better go inside. It was so lovely to meet you, Lady Lissath." Firelloa bent and kissed Lissath's soft muzzle, then hurried to Genna. "Sorry if I'm late. It's wonderful to see you again. I have my needles, scissors and thread under these tunics, so I'm all set. Are you ready too?"

Lissath rumbled gently once more as the girl kissed her muzzle, both surprised and amused and she watched the girl hurry off. }: She can come over more often, I like her. :{

**She will, I hope, she's a sweet girl.** Genna smiled as she ushered Firelloa inside, nodding at that last question. "Yeah, I'm ready, let me see what you've got and what you want to start on first."

The girl was looking at the goldrider's weyr with surprise. It wasn't the least bit pretentious despite Genna's rank. It was instead cozy, with comfortable, simple furniture, and a few decorations. "You have a very nice home," she complimented, looking for a place to set the tunics down. "I have two things that need hemming and a minor repair; A'kua helped me find them in storage. He said he knew where to look because of his friend Jessmyr. He wants Jessmyr to become a Headman. That can happen, right? I think I'd like to start on this gray tunic, because it needs the most work, and I want to see how easy it might be to add embroidery."

"Thank you, dear, I'm quite happy with it myself," Genna said as she indicated the small table with two chairs where she did most of her work. She couldn't help but grin at the girl's waterfall of words and just nodded along at first, until she could get a word in. "I don't see why that couldn't happen some day. For now we have a really great Headwoman though, have you met her yet? And have a seat, can I get you something to drink before we start?"

"Do you have any tea? I like tea. I'll drink any kind," Firelloa said, sitting down and finally untangling her hands from her little burdens to sort them out. Kit here, tunic there, second tunic there. They looked to be the right size for her small frame when it came to the slightly frayed hems, but the sleeves were too long, and the gray did have a rip in a side seam. Firelloa started turning them inside out, carefully. "Daddy liked tea instead of klah. Mother thought he was a few fire-lizards short of a fair because of that. But I only like klah in the mornings, and tea at any other time. I haven't met the Headwoman yet, but A'kua says she's really nice. He calls her Lady too, even though she isn't married to a Lord."

"I do have tea, let me put the kettle on," Genna said, getting up to do just that, meanwhile listening to Firelloa rattle on. She really was too cute. "Well, Yanley is a true lady in my book too. I'm sure you will like her. She's from my home Hold, Amber Hills, I don't suppose you've ever been there?"

"Uh-uh. Poor holders don't travel," Firelloa said matter-of-factly, opening her kit to see if she had any grayish thread. "I always wanted to go somewhere else, though. Not that I had any place in mind. I just wanted to go. Then Nokala's relatives found me and I got to travel on a dragon and found the place I really belonged." Ah-ha! Grayish thread. Firelloa unwound a good amount, cut it, and threaded the needle she had selected.

"Sounds like you really lucked out there," Genna laughed as she brought two cups and some sweets to the table, leaving the kettle to heat up on her tiny little stove. "So, tell me, what do you want to do with these tunics?"

"I want to make the sleeves shorter and maybe embroider something pretty on the hems, but my embroidery isn't always so great," the girl stated, knotting her thread and loosely coiling the excess around her wrist so it wouldn't tangle. "What are you going to work on?"

"I can help you with that, I have a little folder with simple embroidery examples here somewhere. We can pick something together and I could give you some tips. Not that I'm the best at that sort of stuff, but I had plenty of lessons to be able to give you some handy pointers, I think." Genna realized she was talking as fast as Firelloa now. Her enthusiasm was infectious.

The young singer paused, looking at the gray tunic for a long moment, then looked up at Genna. "Do you also have tips for handling big brothers?" she asked with surprising seriousness.

Genna was struck by the sudden seriousness in Firelloa's turn and she replied in kind. "I grew up the only girl in a house of boys, so I know a thing or two about that. What's the problem?"

Firelloa wet her lips, looking down at the rip. "Are big brothers supposed to be scary? A'kua really scared me two days ago." She went on to describe an encounter she and her friend Nariise had with Datrino, another apprentice who wasn't nice at all. A'kua had scared Datrino off, but in doing so, he had also rattled Firelloa and Nariise. "I'd never seen A'kua get that angry. I've never seen _anyone_ get that angry before. I thought Datrino was going to wet himself, he was so scary. And when I asked him why he did that, A'kua said if he hadn't, there would have been a next time, and it would've been worse." She met Genna's eyes again. "He said he was sorry for scaring us, but- but are big brothers really like that?"

"They can be," Genna replied with a serious expression. "You have to keep in mind that big brothers feel it is their job to keep their little sister safe. And sometimes they take that job so seriously, they get a little paranoid and see danger where maybe there really wasn't any. Or they overreact to a situation that wasn't as big a deal as they make it out to be."

As the teakettle started whistling, Firelloa mulled over the weyrwoman's words. A'kua _had_ promised her mother he would take care of her as best he could. He probably thought that meant protecting her if she couldn't do it herself. And the hair-pulling really had hurt; if Datrino never tried bothering her again, Firelloa would appreciate it. Her brother had also said he had seen escalating behavior before; it made her wonder what, exactly, he had gone through before he ran away from his home hold. He had been pretty vague about the subject. Maybe it was time to change that, after she again told him she had gotten over the scare. "Thank you, Genna."

"You're welcome," Genna nodded. "Are you going to talk about it some more with your brother?" It had to be strange for the girl, she imagined, a whole new life all of a sudden and trying to make sense of it all. "Always feel free to come to me with whatever's on your mind. Your brother is like family to me, so you are too. I can imagine sometimes you might like a woman's point of view on things," she winked at the girl to lighten the mood, but Genna hoped she understood what she meant by that.

The girl nodded. "Having an adult's perspective is helpful," she said. "I am going to be speaking to A'kua about it. I hope he'll be okay with talking it over." And after the tea was served, she started asking about the embroidery designs in earnest.

Yes, she was an adult now. It was weird hearing the girl say it and it felt even weirder saying it to herself, but it was true. Scary as that realization was, at least it meant she could help out young girls like Firelloa with some advice. She'd be an old auntie before long!

Last updated on the August 19th 2016

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Stitching and Sticking Together