An Arrangement

Writers: Eimi, Bree
Date Posted: 14th September 2006

Characters: D'cal, Nistaja
Description: D'cal goes to Nistaja to find a present for Dyaera, and they decide on an exchange of services.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 13 of Turn 3

Like most of the crafters who created products suitable for gifts on the side, Nistaja had entertained plenty of visitors who were looking for last minute gifts for their loved ones. With Turn's End just around the corner, people were scrambling to find something suitable.

This time she'd been smart and spent a few months casting extra sculptures in her dragon molds. A neat line of them filled an entire shelf on the side of her workshop, waiting to be claimed. A second shelf held the ones that she'd glazed this afternoon, and a third had a few finished statues waiting to be picked up.

All in all, Nistaja felt rather proud as she surveyed her handiwork. She wasn't always the most organized person, but this turn she seemed to have figured out a good system. If only she'd had time to make a few different molds, everything would have been perfect. But that was a task for _after_ Turn's End!

"Excuse me?" D'cal said as he smiled down at the young woman up to her elbows in clay.

Nistaja set the last mold down and returned D'cal's smile. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm sorry to disturb you in the middle of your work. But I'm looking for a present, and I hear you make ceramic statues. I was wondering if I might be able to take a look at one."

"Of course!" Nodding to the shelf she'd just been perusing, Nistaja stood. "I've got some unglazed statues over there... why don't you take a look while I wash my hands?"

"All right, thank you." The bluerider walked over to the shelf and looked over the dragons in several poses. "These are really nice," he called to her as he look them over.

"Thank you!" Scrubbing at the clay on her hands with a rag, Nistaja eventually dunked both hands in a bucket of water and then dried them off. Not perfect, but she'd just be covered in clay again as soon as he was gone. "I'm thinking about trying to make a few more molds, but I never seem to find the time. But what I have seems to be popular. I can glaze them in pretty much any color you like."

"How about purple?" he asked, giving her a grin to tell her he was just teasing.

She winked. "Don't think I won't! Though purple dragons certainly aren't my most popular item, I'll admit."

D'cal chuckled. "And which are, feline stripped?"

"Not among blueriders!" She grinned and pulled out a delicate dragon that had been glazed a deep green, with lighter underwings. "Are you sure you weren't looking for something a little more traditional?"

"Hmmm. And why do you assume that I'm looking for a _green_?" D'cal asked suspiciously with eyebrows raised.

Nistaja gave him a cheerfully approving once-over. "You are handsome, my dear bluerider... but I doubt you've nabbed yourself a brown or bronze. I've found it's the safest guess."

"Only guessing? Not hoping?" A little teasing flirting never hurt. She seemed like the sort with a good sense of humor after all.

Laughing, Nistaja shook her head. "Oh, I have all the bluerider I can handle as it is! But if I didn't..." She trailed off and winked. "So, are you going to satisfy my curiosity?"

"Depends. What are you curious about?"

"Who the statue is for, of course." She hefted the green dragon statue with a smile. "It's not for a greenrider?"

"All right," he shrugged helplessly. "It _is_ for a greenrider. A _female_ greenrider at that."

"Lucky greenrider," she replied, setting the statue back down. "Well, did you like one of these for her? I don't know if I could do a custom piece if you want it by Turn's End... I'm getting to be a bit too busy."

"Do you have any with _two_ dragons?" he asked as he picked another one, a dragon in flight, off the shelf.

"I have a vase over here somewhere..." On one of the higher shelves she had one single piece she'd done, but hadn't been satisfied enough to make a mold from. Two dragons, glazed blue and green, made up the base. Their necks spiraled around a delicate glass container that was just big enough for a small bouquet of flowers. "I was hoping to make a mold from this, but it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. Still, it's not a bad piece..."

"Not bad at all," D'cal smiled. "Very pretty in fact." The bluerider wondered if Dyaera was really into flowers enough to warrant a vase... But it was pretty, and it had a blue and a green. That was a plus. "How do you make your molds?"

"Sometimes I make molds based on statues I've already done, so I can duplicate them." She reached down for the most intricate statue and held it up to him. "Someone carved this one for me out of wood and I cast a mold from it. I've been thinking about asking him to do another one for me."

"Hmmm," D'cal said thoughtfully as he turned it over in his hands. "I could do that."

"You could?" Her eyes lit up in an almost predatory fashion as turned to face him. "You do carvings, do you?"

"It's a hobby of mine," he said with a shrug. "Would you be willing to make a trade, perhaps? A carving for a sculpture?"

"I think we could arrange something..." She tapped her chin in thought, oblivious to the fact that she was leaving a smear of clay on her face. It was hardly the only one, though. "Anything in particular you like to carve? I probably could use something _other_ than dragons!"

He noticed the smear with a bemused smile. "Well, I'm best at dolphins and boats I think. Umm... Do you have a wet rag at all?"

Nistaja blinked at the change in topic. "Yes, somewhere. Why, what's wrong? Is there something on the statue? I'll clean it up before you take it, so you don't need to worry about that."

"No, not on the statue. On your cheek."

"Oh!" Nistaja waved him away with a laugh. "Don't even bother. I'll just get messy again. I could wash my face ten times a day and _still_ walk out of here looking like I'd been rolling in the mud!"

D'cal grinned. "Well, if its any consolation, you look quite charming with mud all over your face."

"So I've been told," Nistaja replied, returning his grin. "Now, you said
you can do dolphin carvings? That might not be a bad idea right now...
especially with the Dolphin Hall just down the beach."

"I can work something up. Dolphins are fairly simple. Why don't I bring you one in a couple of days?"

"Perfect! Now which statute did you want..." She gestured to the shelf again. "Anything you like, and I'll have it ready for you!"

"I think I'll go with the vase, actually." He could fill it with flowers for her too.

Last updated on the June 4th 2009

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An Arrangement