A Little Odd

Writers: Curious, Francesca
Date Posted: 19th June 2024

Characters: Inyara, L'rin
Description: Lenorin helps Inyara find the dining hall and they have breakfast.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 13, day 1 of Turn 11

L'rin

Getting used to living in a new place was always an ordeal. Getting used to living in a new place that was so different from your home as to be a massive culture shock was even harder. Getting used to living in a culture shock of a new place without your morning klah? _Absolutely unbearable_.

Fortunately, it was well within Inyara's power to change one of those things.

The early morning saw Inyara making her way toward the kitchen. The smithcrafter was well put together for the most part. The sole exception was her eyes - angry and with dark circles beneath. She at least tried not to look like she was prepared to bite someone's head off when she stopped an unfamiliar man in the hall to ask, "Do you know where I can find the klah?"

Lenorin looked the young woman up and down. Pretty black hair, brown eyes; a little tall for his taste, but shorter than him. She seemed to be his age, but the shoulder knots marked her as a crafter. Female crafters were something he wasn't sure he would ever get used to. Before coming to the Weyrhold to work and then becoming a Candidate he would never have believed a woman could actually be in the Smithcraft. He was still skeptical, but had learned to not loudly express his opinions.

"Who's asking?" he asked. To keep from being seen as too aggressive, he smiled. "I'm Lenorin."

Unfortunately for Lenorin, Inyara couldn't care less about seeming aggressive. Not this Ealy in the morning.

"That's nice," she flatly said before narrowing her eyes. "Why should I have to introduce myself for you to tell me where the klah is?"

She was a feisty one. Completely unfazed by her response, Lenorin pointed. "It's this way. I'll show you." He started walking, assuming she would follow.

Inyara narrowed her eyes. She didn't know how she felt about the lack of any significant reaction, but in the end, he was complying. That was the important thing. "Good," she muttered, following after him.

As they walked, he looked towards her, curious. "So, did you just get here? And did you come from another Weyr?" The Southern Smithcraft Hall certainly did not allow female crafters. Maybe she was a dragonrider's lover.

Inyara barely held back a groan. She was _not_ in the mood for conversation, but... If it could get her klah faster, she would roll with it.

"I just came from the northern Smithcraft Hall," she confirmed. "I'm visiting to assist with the construction of the Weyrhold." And prove that she was worthy of being promoted in record time.

Lenorin looked back at her for a moment in surprise. She was one of the first Northerners he had met. That explained her being a crafter though. "Well, welcome to the better continent!" A moment later, they entered the dining hall and he pointed towards the drinks. "Klah is there. For food, you can take a tray and get what you want."

Inyara froze. The klah was right there, singing its siren song, but for a moment, she didn't care. All that mattered to her was that this man had said that the southern continent was-

"Better," Inyara flatly repeated. "What's better about it, pray tell?"

He hadn't expected the question, but was happy to answer and oblivious to her tone. "Well, the food for one. Lots of fresh fruit and fish and vegetables. And we have grubs, so if any Thread makes it to the ground, it usually doesn't last long. This Weyrhold has heated water and electricity. And nearby is the best red clay in all of Pern. All the tiles you see were made right here. I helped with some of that," he ended, proudly.

Slowly, and with a decent amount of suspicion, Inyara relaxed. "I see," she murmured, eyeing the tiles. After a moment of surveying, she nodded approvingly. "It's good work. You're right to be proud."

Lenorin accepted the praise he believed was his due, even though he had provided the manual labor, not the artistic clay work. "Well, let's get you some klah." He walked over to the table with mugs, pitchers of hot klah, milk, and sweetener. "Are they already putting you to work, or do you have some time to settle in?"

"Work," Inyara said, pouring herself a mug of klah. She held it up to her lips and drank deep without bothering with milk or sweetener. After she'd taken that first necessary gulp, she pulled it back to add, "That's how I like it. Too much free time would make me go insane."

He nodded in understanding. Doing a full day of hard work gave him a lot of satisfaction. "Come get some food too." He pointed to the stack of trays, followed by the many breakfast options. "So, do you have a specialty?" She seemed fairly strong for a woman but he wondered if some of the Smithcraft involved doing delicate, feminine, work.

Inyara followed Lenorin over to the food, although her mind was more on the conversation than eating. "Metalwork," she said without missing a beat. "It's incredible how much you can do with it, and turning plain boring sheets into something beautiful and functional is spectacular." She paused, the corners of her lips turning up a tad. "It's nice to work with heat and fire, too."

"Huh." Lenorin wasn't sure what to do with that information. He filled his plate with fruit, eggs, and sausages. "What kinds of things have you made?"

"Flamethrowers," was the first word out of Inyara's mouth. "I've done a lot of work on the flamethrowers used by ground crews and the queen's wing. That was largely while I was in training, though. More recently, I've been working on the internal structures of the Weyrhold as construction continues. In my private time, I've been working on theories to advance transportation methods, but it's complex and not completely within my specialty. But of course, the challenge is half the attraction."

His mind needed to do some somersaults to fit this information into his perspective on the world. Goldriders used flamethrowers, so maybe having a woman make them made some sense. He only half-listened to the rest of what she said, having no idea what 'theories to advance transportation methods' meant and not even considering asking. "Come grab a seat." At this time, the dining hall was perhaps half full, with plenty of empty seats. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"I don't have much in the way of spare time," Inyara said without an ounce of shame or sheepishness as she followed Lenorin over to a sleep. "If I don't need to eat or sleep, I find a way to make myself useful."

"It's good to feel useful," Lenorin said with a nod, eating some fruit. "It's also nice to have friends though. Are there other smiths that are, you know, like you? I know there are some female Candidates who are crafters."

Inyara sent Lenorin an odd look, but ultimately opted not to comment on 'like you'. Anyone else, she would have torn a new orifice, but... he had been decent thus far. She had known to expect idiocy about from as backwards a place as the southern continent, she supposed that she could let a little slide when the individual had more pleasant qualities to make up for it. "Some," she said, simply. "But I haven't found many to be worth knowing. There's one girl... Kettle? She seems very easy to please, but doesn't quite have the talent to make the mark."

Lenorin tried to think of the female Candidates who did masculine crafts. "Maybe Ketlyn? I think she's a smith. She's weird." Of course, he thought all female crafters had something wrong with them. He took a final sip of klah and bite of food. "I need to get to class. See you around though." She was kind of pretty. Too bad about the whole craft thing though.

Last updated on the June 21st 2024

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A Little Odd