Chew on This

Writers: Aaron, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 8th November 2017

Characters: K'don, Ashuli
Description: A chat over lunch.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 6 of Turn 9

K'don

There was one good thing about growing up: Her mother was making sure she got more to eat. Ashuli was a little embarrassed by how much she wanted to consume these days, since it never seemed to end, but both her parents had shaken their heads lovingly and told her she had nothing to worry about. She just had to be careful not to get the crumbs of her snacks on the hides and papers she was given to copy by her new journeyman scribe teachers, so she could practice copying them clearly.

At the moment, though, she didn't have to worry about that. It was lunchtime, which meant time for a break, and her mother had brought over a huge meal, so Ashuli was enjoying it outside next to one of the Weyr tunnels. It was a cloudy day, but still pretty nice due to the temperature. With any luck, the weather would bring out other people as well, and she could watch them as she munched.

A rowdy bunch of herdsmen came through, all carrying lunch pails, and they gradually set up camp a few stones' throws away to take their meal where they were out of the way enough, but the breeze from the tunnel still cooled them.

Kedon trailed in at the back of the group, and n noticing his fellow weyrbrat, he waved and approached.

"Hallo," he said. Just to be safe, he attempted to very surreptitiously sniff himself to make sure he was not especially smelly. "Nice day, isn't it? Mind if I sit with you?" he asked.

"Not at all," Ashuli said cheerily. Someone to talk to over lunch was way better than just watching. "You're Kedon, right? We had some classes under Tameira, I think."

"That's right!" Kedon smiled brightly. He put on his thoughtful face for a moment as he tried to recall Ashuli's name before snapping and saying, "Ashuli! Right? How've you been, what are you up to?" he wondered, sitting down beside her and opening up his lunch pail.

"Aye, that's me," the girl said around a mouthful of sandwich. She gulped and had a drink of chilled tea. "I'm up to lunch, silly." She stuck out her tongue playfully. "But I've been all right. Working with the scribes is pretty interesting. I didn't know there was so much _stuff_ in the archives. It was a real eye-opener to see."

"What all's in there, anyway?" asked Kedon, similarly around a bite of his own lunch. If he was fazed by the playful sarcasm, he seemed to take it well in stride. He was more interested in what, exactly, went on in this suddenly mysterious place called the archives. He always thought it was nothing much but a bunch of old musty records of how many dragons hatched out of which clutches and how many loads of grain came in from which Hold and all that sort of thing.

"Practically eeeeverything," Ashuli said. "Tithe records, birth records, death records, inventory, and so much more. I'm really glad they have me copying simple stuff for now; I'd be worried about messing up something important."

Oh. It really was just musty old records. Kedon had hoped there might be some kind of secret knowledge or ancient wisdom recorded in there. Maybe there really was, but only archivists were allowed to know it. Kedon shrugged and took another bite of an apple.

"What's the important stuff like?" he asked, holding out one last ray of hope.

"Tithe shipments and rates, inventory, birth records and death records," Ashuli recited. "That's the backbone of the important stuff, if the numbers involved with all that are any indication. It makes my head spinny just to think about it."

The important stuff was way more boring than Kedon hoped it would be. Oh, well. If it was really all that fun, more people would probably want to be Harpers. "I don't like math all that much. But you have to know it to read the Thread charts, so, you know... Not everything is fun and games, I guess." He shoved another big bite of lunch into his mouth.

Swallowing, he said, "So, what do you copy, then, if not the big stuff?"

"So far it's been poetry," Ashuli, "which is kind of nice. Some are by harpers, and some are by sentimental weyrfolk."

"Oh, that is nice," said Kedon, clearly actually a bit surprised. He did not expect to get such a sweet answer. "I'm not really great with letters," he said, looking down a bit. "My writing is all sloppy, and I always smudge."

Ashuli frowned thoughtfully. "Which hand do you use?"

Kedon blinked. He had never really thought about which hand he used; it was just sort of natural. He looked at his hands, made a writing motion, and then said, "The left. Is that bad?"

"Oh, not at all!" Ashuli beamed at him. "Just turn your hide at an angle and don't hold your pen or charcoal so close to the base, and then the smudging will stop. Papa had a wingmate who was left-handed, and that's what he did to make his writing clearer. Papa says it really worked."

Kedon readily smiled back at the beaming Harper, encouraged. "I'll try it," he said. He was not sure what angle would be best, but he had a feeling it would be easier to just try it and see for himself than it would be to have Ashuli try to describe it and then remember.

"Maybe I'll write you a poem to say thank you." He smiled a bit of a softer smile than the one from before.

"Aw, thanks! But don't worry if you can't think of one, I'll be fine," Ashuli promised.

Kedon chuckled a bit. Swing and a miss?

"We'll see what I come up with. It'll probably be something about Snowy's little lamb," he said. "That's about all I think about aside from baby dragons right now anyway."

"_Everyone's_ thinking of baby dragons," Ashuli giggled, and picked up her lunch, scootching a little closer. "Have you heard some of the gossip going around about the bets people are making? Papa tells me lots of stuff Larzeth hears. It gets juicy, I tell you what!"

"Bets?" Kedon leaned in, intrigued. He had no marks to speak of to wager, but it was still fun to think about it, anyway. How many of each color would there be? Who would get the goldling? "Let's hear it, then!"

Last updated on the December 10th 2017

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