Sandy Catch-Ups

Writers: Francesca, Shawna
Date Posted: 26th September 2024

Characters: Chalzie, Cirina
Description: Cirina runs into Chalzie on a morning walk and they discuss recent events
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 1, day 3 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Arrilon, Nidre (not by name)

It was sunny enough to be pleasant, and not too hot, so Cirina had
gone for a wander towards the Dolphin Hall that morning, taking a
long, leisurely walk down the beach to see if the surf had washed up
any interesting shells or odds and ends. Eventually, she wound up near
the hall itself. She'd lived at the Weyr long enough and had enough of
a beachcombing habit that she wasn't an unfamiliar face at the Dolphin
Hall, so when she saw one of the newest journeyman-journeywomen, she
sped up her steps and gave a cheery wave, "Hey, I heard you need
congratulations."

Chalzie had just finished a morning swim and wrapped herself in a
towel. Many things about her schedule had changed now that she was no
longer an apprentice, but the morning swim remained the same. She
returned the wave and smiled broadly. "Thanks! It's strange having new
knots after so many Turns." Not that she was wearing them now. "Were
you here for the Turn's End celebration or somewhere else?"

"I can only imagine," Cirina said with a wry smile. She was still
waiting on her new knots- weyrling, not craft. Despite promises to her
family, she didn't really care to progress her Harper training. "I
was! I was giving a guest a tour and we saw the dolphin show. It was
wonderful. How was your Turn's End?"

"It was so much fun!" Thinking about it gave Chalzie a rush of
excitement. "We spent sevendays working on the dolphin show, so seeing
everything go well was wonderful. You know," she lowered her voice
conspiratorially, "one of the younger dolphins almost bowed out.
Luckily, his dolphineer partner and some of the dolphins convinced him
to stay in. I'm glad we didn't have to make any last-minute changes."

The dolphineer took a seat in the sand, stretching out her legs in
front of her. "Did you go to any of the Weyr's Turn's End
celebrations? I didn't make it there this year." There was normally a
bonfire and music, as well as numerous smaller parties.

"Oh, I'm so glad they talked him into it. The show was amazing."
Cirina flopped down next to her, "Yeah, we went there after it got
dark for dinner number two and the music. You missed some really good
food, but I think the harpers that were performing by the beach were
better than the ones who performed at the Weyr." Pausing to think, she
said, with a grin, "Or maybe they were just drunk or tired by the time
I got there."

Chalzie thought back to when she had been in a relationship with
Arrilon and spent some time with the Weyr's harpers. "There's a lot
more variety with the harpers at the Weyr. Many of them are
dragonriders, so they don't practice every day. But, yeah, I'm sure
there were drunk ones too. Hey," she remembered, "you're a harper too.
Did you play or sing at all? I've never seen you perform."

Cirina wrinkled her nose, "I can sing some, and there's a bunch of
things I can play some, but I'm not really good at any of it. You
wouldn't want to see me perform, trust me. I definitely don't practice
every day." She idly ran her fingers through the sand, "My brother and
my mother are on me to practice while I wait for the next clutch, but
ugh."

"You're probably already pretty busy with Candidate classes and
things," Chalzie said. Although, as someone who worked on her craft
every day, it was hard for her to imagine being in a craft but not
really pursuing it. "Do you still like being a harper, or are you
thinking about exploring other options? I mean, besides being a
Candidate, of course."

"It just feels really pointless, you know? Once I have my dragon, I
won't use any of it, and it's not like the Weyr needs another Harper.
I'm not anything special at it, so I have to work hard to be good."

Sighing, Cirina leaned back on her elbows and looked out at the water,
"It just feels like a lot of wasted time. But it's not like there's
anything different I'd want to be doing instead. It's just a thing to
keep me busy until my dragon comes along."

Chalzie was better at helping figure out solutions than acknowledge
emotions, but Cirina didn't seem to want to change anything. "Being a
Candidate is pretty weird. Are there any other positions that make you
wait the same way?" She thought for a moment. "Maybe Lord Holder's
heir? I don't think they're just waiting for their father to die
though, so it's not really the same at all."

"It's so weird," Cirina agreed, "I never expected to have to wait this
long." She snorted at the comparison to lord holders, however, and a
bit of her usual grin came onto her face, "At least I just have to
wait for a dragon to be born, not for someone to die! I can't imagine
what that would be like! My girl just needs to hurry up and hatch.
Hopefully next time. We've got a new gold so.... you know. Fingers
crossed."

"That's true. I heard about the new goldrider, but haven't seen her or
her dragon yet. Maybe she'll come by the Hall at some point. And
hopefully her dragon rises soon." Chalzie stood, doing her best to
brush sand off herself. "Want to head over to the Hall for a bite to
eat, or do you need to get back to the Weyr?"

"She seems nice. I'm sure you'll meet her at some point. I'm holding
my breath until her gold rises for sure." Bouncing to her feet, Cirina
said, "Yeah, I could stop by the Hall. You can give me some hall
gossip to bring back to the candidates barracks," she teased.

"Hall gossip isn't usually as exciting as Weyr gossip," Chalzie said,
as they took the path towards the Hall. "However, I did hear about one
of the male apprentices who had a bit too much to drink at the Turn's
end party..."

Last updated on the October 6th 2024

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Sandy Catch-Ups