Finding her way

Writers: Suzee, Anaria
Date Posted: 8th June 2011

Characters: K'hetah, Jylanya
Description: Timid trip to the communal baths
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 17 of Turn 6

Jylanya

Jylanya hadn't quite gotten over her first dragon ride and the awful
cold nothing of /between/. She had a new appreciation of the
dragonriders around her even though she still didn't begin to
understand their ways.

She knew the bathing caverns were communal. That much they'd told her
within her first hours of orientation when she'd been assigned her
small room. The first time she'd ventured there had scared her almost
silly with all the bare skin and she'd turned around and fled back to
her room. She felt silly and holdbound which of course she really was.
So this time it was very late at night and there was almost no sound
when she got close. Only a couple of murmuring voices from the other
side of the cavern. Not only that but it was fairly dark with most of
the glows turned. That suited her very well.

She removed her outer clothing leaving only her short innermost shift
on. Easing down into the water she closed her eyes and tried to relax.
Then dunking her head under the water to get her hair wet she emerged
facing the lip of the pool and reached for sweetsand to lather her
hair. It turned so dark, almost brown when it was wet. She smiled at
the feeling of clean strands squeaking through her fingers.

K'hetah didn't have to bathe in the communal bathing area - he was a
Wingleader after all, and with his experience and his rank, he could
easily request a weyr with it's own amenities. But he liked the
seclusion of his cliff-facing weyr, and he liked the view as well.
Also, he found that the communal bathing pools were one of the few
areas in the Weyr where he could go and actually cool down. He did try
to bathe a bit after hours though, so as not to run into his Wing
members at the bathing pools. He didn't feel right just following them
there from the Wing drills, it felt as though he was overly concerned
with what they were up to.

There were only a few other people in the bathing pools, and he
debated just finding a corner to himself. But there was a woman off in
a corner, looking like she would rather be anyplace else than there,
and K'hetah didn't recognize her. He decided to do the friendly thing
and try to spark a conversation. Perhaps she needed a friend. He
slipped into the pool while her head was underwater, cocking his head
to the side as she visibly relaxed, and even smiled a bit. "Good
evening," he said.

She didn't exactly scream but she did let out a purely involuntary
squeak when the voice sounded behind her. She whipped around to face
him and realized he was smiling. She felt a bit embarrassed by her
reaction and nodded. "Good evening," she said. "Sorry for the
reaction, I didn't expect to meet anyone. **oh Faranth let the water
hide everything.** She held her nose and submerged to rinse the suds
from her hair. "I'm... um... Jylanya."

"New to the Weyr, are we Jylanya?" K'hetah asked, his voice carefully
kept as non threatening as possible. All Weyrs tended to be liberal
regarding nudity, but Dolphin Cove took it to a whole new level. It
was one thing to be comfortable with being nude in the bathing
caverns. Another entirely to be mostly nude in the Weyrbowl. He'd
caught his own riders stripping down the moment drills were called!

"It shows doesn't it," she smiled still a little shaky but at least he
didn't seem like he was going to leap at her or anything like that.
"Yes," she said. "I just arrived yesterday actually."

K'hetah nodded. "Because of the heat, most get over their modesty
pretty quickly. I don't know if you've taken a trip down to the beach
yet, but some of the swim suits that the ladies like in this region
leave nothing at all to a man's imagination. So where did you come
from, Jylanya?"

"It _is_ pretty warm here." She realized that was a complete
understatement and giggled softly. "Ok, it's hot. I understand that
but..." understanding and dealing with it were different."Oh my," her
eyes widened at his statement about swim suits. "I'm from a small hold
on Emerald Falls Land. It was never as hot as it gets here. Are you a
rider?" She hadn't seen D'cal since he'd dropped her off in the
weyrbowl and pointed out the entrance to the lower caverns.

"Yes ma'am," K'hetah said, realizing that he hadn't introduced himself
properly. "My name's K'hetah, pardon my poor manners for not telling
it to you sooner. And I ride bronze Loeth."

She was still feeling rather shaky in her current state of undress but
nevertheless screwed up her courage. "Well met K'hetah." She knew that
bronzes were larger than the blue she'd come in on so he had to be a
huge dragon. "I would like to meet you Loeth sometime," she added with
a smile. "I'd imagine he's considerably bigger than the blue that
brought me here."

"Oh, much bigger for certain," K'hetah said. "And I'm sure that he
would love to meet you, assuming of course that you'd consent to meet
him in the ocean. The only thing I can seem to get him away from the
dolphins for is Threadfall and Drills." He shook his head grinning
ruefully. "The things they don't tell you in weyrling training..."

She laughed. Jylanya realized she liked this rider. Maybe he really
was only the second one she'd really met but hopefully he was a
representation of the rule rather than an exception. He had an easy
way about him that just made her comfortable despite the fact she was
still next to naked.

"He probably likes to be cool," she grinned.

"That was how it started," K'hetah said. "Then he saw his first
dolphin, and he hasn't been the same since. He sees the dolphins
leaping into the air, then diving back down into the water, and he
thinks that it's just grand to try and do the same. I've even seen him
completely underwater, save his tail, just like the dolphins do."

His gentle mellow baritone washed over her and she found herself
relaxing. "It's pretty funny though when you think about it. Well..."
she chuckled. "Maybe not so funny for you."

"It was funny at first. Then he started refusing to take me up to my
weyr, and called one of my subordinates to take me up instead," he
shook his head. "So I suppose it's funny when I don't have somewhere
to be. So what about you, Jylanya, what do you do here at Dolphin
Cove?"

"Well that hasn't really been figured out yet. But I'm pitching in
with preparations for the hatching feast. I guess that is supposed to
happen any time now. It will be the first I've ever seen."

"Oh, well that's going to be an experience for certain," K'hetah said.
"There's nothing like a good Hatching, especially if it's your first.
Make sure you don't work so much to prepare for it that you can't
enjoy it properly."

"I'll remember that." She said with a smile. "Maybe I'll see you
there." Her eyes shifted noting that most everyone was gone. "I guess
I need to get going." She turned to reach for her towel.

Last updated on the June 17th 2011

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Finding her way