Defensive Maneuvers
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 22nd July 2014
Characters: Ikalis, Alina
Description: Alina goes digging for information about a certain young man
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 1 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Jenackt, Ciendra
Notes: The Game 4 - this comes before "DCW: The Opening Gambit" and after "DCW: Positional Play". And here I thought I had everything in order! :P
Alina collapsed onto the stone bench beside Ikalis with a sign of relief. They were in the garden, at the top of a small hill that caught the breezes. A large tree spread its canopy above their heads and dropped the occasional pink petal on the ground at their feet. "It's too hot today," she said, fanning herself with her hands. "Or maybe it's just having to be in the laundry near all those boiling pots of water. I feel like I'm going to melt!"
"I don't know why laundry isn't done in the late evening." Actually, Ikalis knew why - there was just so much of it to do that it had to run all the time. "It's like working near the ovens...you have to time it right, and it's wonderful. Wrong time, and you want to melt."
"If I could decide my own schedule, I would. Unfortunately everyone here thinks I'm an idiot so every spare candlemark of my day is mapped out." She sighed. "I worked less on a farming Cothold. It's ridiculous!"
"Rigid schedules for apprentices, students, and candidates sounds about right. It was the same at the Hall," the weyr girl commiserated. "Anything interesting happen to you today?"
"Not really." Alina shrugged, then hesitated. Ikalis knew everybody, and a little information never hurt... "There was this guy who sat down with me at breakfast. His name is Ervine, I think. He said he was an inventory clerk," she said casually.
"Ervine? I've seen him around," Ikalis confirmed. "I give my store counts to him."
"What's he like? He seems kind of annoying." Alina wrinkled her nose. "I mean, he just sat down and started _talking_."
"Is that rude in your cothold?" Ikalis asked curiously. "It's pretty common around weyrfolk." Look at her own mouth.
The candidate pursed her lips. "Everyone knows each other. Or, at least we know everyone's names. Nadol's pretty small. I don't know. It just seemed... forward."
"Did you say you didn't want to talk to him?" She might have been too polite to comment.
"I didn't exactly urge him on, if that's what you're asking." Alina sighed, still feeling unsettled by the way he'd just sat down next to her. Maybe it was all right for Weyrfolk to force their company on others, but it didn't feel right to _her_.
"I was thinking more that if you didn't actively discourage him, he might have thought you were ok with it."
The candidate pursed her lips. She'd _thought_ she'd made it pretty clear she didn't want to be bothered. "What do you know about him?"
Ikalis tried to think. Ervine, Ervine...they didn't really travel in the same social circles.
"His friends are mostly boys," she said after a moment. "He'll come to mixed events like bonfires on the beach, but not to picnics in the garden. I've seen him at dragonpoker once or twice."
That wasn't enough of an answer to satisfy her. "What's he like?" Alina asked.
"Charming and a bit of a talker, which is a pity if he's stuck down in inventory." It wasn't a good place for someone who was highly social, not when you could be somewhere with group work. "He's not one of the bad boys like Jenackt, and he's not a brooder like Balares."
Unremarkable, then. Except for the fact that he wasn't. "Ah. Well, he is a talker," Alina said.
"Oh, and he's not a sensitive cry-baby like Deris," she added. She actually liked Deris, but she knew he was going to be a greenrider. He had the moody temperament and the love of men for it.
"Dervis _is_ a cry-baby. I bet he'll Impress a green." Although she'd never met a man who liked men back at Nadol, Alina thought she was getting much better at spotting them now that she was at the Weyr, even when she couldn't see their greenrider's knots. The blueriders still confused her, though.
"He will." Ikalis weighed the way Alina said that, wondered just how hidebound her friend was. A lot of holder-types got really freaked out about it. That holdess kid hadn't liked the implications about him. "He knows it and is happy with it, more than I can say for some."
Alina shrugged. Men who loved men were... well, they had to do something useful with their lives, and riding a dragon was certainly a worthwhile thing for them to do. "Do you think Ervine would Impress green?"
"No, I don't. I don't think blue either, or at least, I've never seen him with a man." That should reassure her, if she was worried.
"Maybe I won't see him again." The candidate resolved to put Ervine out of her mind. He wasn't worth it. "But _you_ mentioned picnics. Anything good coming up?"
"I told Ciendra we should do something down on the beach," Ikalis answered. "Sometimes there are bonfires - eat some snacks, watch the stars come out. Pretty popular among the weyrbred and candidates."
"Let me know next time one's planned. It might be fun." And with any luck, Ervine wouldn't be there.
Last updated on the July 28th 2014