Restless Chatter
When: 04:00 on day 7 of month 1 of turn 2
Where: Night Hearth
What: Insomniacs Anonymous meeting


It's 4am in the middle of winter, which means Felisa is up and restless in
the night hearth. The mug of klah she holds may not be helping matters any. Or the sweetening-laced pastry she's eating.

Z'dyr's arrival is quiet, the rider not looking entirely awake as he enters the nighthearth area and makes for the klah. Saviour of tired people, and all that. It's only after he's poured a mug and turned that the bleary-eyed man notices Felisa, and his brow furrows even as he attempts to blink the sleep from his eyes. "Why're you up so early, Felisa?" He queries, walking over to where the girl is.

Felisa grins wryly and says "I think my body is getting me back for all the early mornings in the summer. Now that I don't have to be up early, it makes sure I'm up even before I would have needed to be."

Z'dyr doesn't reply to that straight away, settling himself in a seat and cradling his klah in his lap. He watches Felisa with calm, slightly dull eyes - it /is/ very early - before drumming up a response. "Ah. Not exactly nice weather to be up early in, this. Unless you're used to it."

Felisa yawns indolently. "I sort of am, though I'm just as glad to do dishes instead of gardening this time of turn."

"Mm. Couldn't imagine there's much /to/ do in the gardens when there's frost. Or snow." Shivering a bit at the thought of chill, Zad sips his drink, steam from it curling around his face. "So...you're back in the gardens?" He asks the question as lightly as he can manage, looking at Felisa calmly.

Felisa says, "Not so much, thank goodness. Some of the other gardeners are all excited about winter roots, so I let them have the fun. I'm helping around the kitchens for the time being."

Z'dyr nods. "And how is it, working in the kitchens? Different, I'm assuming, but...yeah?" His hands curl comfortably around his klah mug, and he's sat back in the chair, leaning against the back of it.

Felisa smiles and says emphatically "Warm!" She takes a sip of the klah and looks down at the mug as if it betrayed her. Getting up, she asks automatically "Do you need anything while I'm topping this off?"

Z'dyr blinks at that; then a grin appears with startling rapidity. "Good point!" He peers into his mug and then half-lifts it, as if toasting. "I'm okay for klah, thanks. Still almost full. Too hot to drink quickly." But- "Any of those pastries going? Or are they for kitchen staff only?" A cheeky smile.

Felisa gives a michievous grin. "They might be for kitchen staff only, but I could always give you some of mine." She brings over another for herself and one for Z'dyr. "So, how are you and Kayvoth doing? The patina of fatherhood worn off yet?"

Z'dyr's grin, if anything, broadens at that. "You're too nice, Felisa." He sips his klah while she's gone, and when she returns the rider accepts the pastry with a grateful smile and a genuine, "thanks." The pastry is rested on his thigh for the time being. "Everything's back to normal, really. He's sort of forgetting what happened - he knows they're all his children, but the memories of the hatching and everything before that are fading." A shrug, before Zad focuses his gaze on Felisa. "How're you doing?" The way he says it implies that that question's more important than how he and Kayvoth are.

Felisa considers. "A bit sad, I guess. There were some cute greens in that clutch -- and blues, for that matter. And it would have been special to impress from Kayvoth's first clutch. But overall I'm fine; there will be future hatchings, and I've still plenty of turns left before I'm too old to stand."

Z'dyr nods understandingly. "Good way to think about it." He lifts his mug, again as if toasting Felisa. "There will be more clutches, yep. I'd say Esseira's Ailuth will rise next, unless Ashayath rises again before her." He lowers the mug to sip from it. "Might even be a gold in the next clutch," he says slowly, looking over at Felisa for her reaction.

Felisa says, "I hope it's Ailuth next -- maybe she won't be so sneaky about her larger eggs." She nods fervently when he mentions a gold. "The Weyr needs them so badly now." She pauses, then says playfully "And who knows, maybe I could end up being a good girl and impressing gold."

Z'dyr grins. "We can hope. I'll admit I was a bit disappointed about that egg in Ashayath's and Kayvoth's, but...well, we weren't to know." He nods at the Weyr's need for a gold. "We do. We're really going to struggle if we don't get more breeding golds soon." Felisa's last comment has his grin widening. "Yep. Dunno what your sister would have to say about that idea, though."

Felisa giggles. "She would be even less happy, I think, if I had managed to catch one of those greens who ran by me on hatching night. I was gratified to note that I didn't fall on my bum, just like she instructed. But L'ten did."

Z'dyr can't help a soft laugh. "I think you're right, there." He continues to grin, amused, at the mention of L'ten. "Oh, yes, I saw that. She told you not to full on your bum?" That's especially amusing to him, to judge by his chuckling. "She was worried about you, I think. Or was it so you didn't lose your dignity?"

Felisa says, "So I didn't disgrace my family and, more importantly, embarrass her. She did make my robe for me, though, so I think she is at least getting used to the idea of my standing."

"Ah!" Zad exclaims. "Yes, disgracing the family. No, I think you did just fine in not doing that." He sips at his now-cooler klah, considering the next. "Yes. I think she had to work things out in her own head. I'm glad you didn't have any big fights over it or anything. Unless I just haven't heard of them," he adds, smiling jokingly.

Felisa snickers. "Heard of, no -- you would have heard them. I'm glad she's come to terms with it, too. I feel much more secure when she's antagonistic." She smiles fondly at the last, much like older sisters often do.

Z'dyr cracks a smile. "Hmm." His klah is finished off; the mug set down carefully beside his chair, and the pastry started on. "Oh? I suppose a bit of excitement day-to-day; somebody against you." He's joking about, subtly. "What you think if she chose to Stand, though? Or got Searched, more likely."

Felisa says seriously "I would be proud of her." That lasts for all of a few seconds before she adds, "Of course, I wouldn't miss a chance to remind her how much she was against the idea of standing when it was me."

Z'dyr is grinning from the outset, despite Felisa's serious tone. "Siblings," he says simply. "She's proud of you really, deep down, I'm sure. Probably just...worried for you. Lots of dangers in being a rider."

Felisa says, "I'm surprised she's not more worried about my being a gardener -- so very dangerous for clothes."

"Riding a dragon's just as bad for them," Zad grins, finishing the pastry and wiping his crumb-covered fingers on his trousers. "Although...perhaps gardening is a bit worse," he concedes as he stands. "Well, sweeps are waiting for me. Dawn ones. Again." A smile. "Take care, Felisa." And so he leaves for the bowl.