So far away from home. (Tags R'fuin)

[Rei]

Ruliana sat quietly in the record room leafing through past records on Selenitas. The history, records of previous clutches, things to that effect. It was still odd to her. Weyrlife. It was almost surreal in a way. Oh she belonged here because of Amalath now. However Ruliana didn’t feel like she belonged. Not even a tiny bit really. It was sobering to say the least. She really had no friends besides Jazzheera. Life at the weyr was not what she expected and it was proving harder to adjust than she had originally thought. Still a slave to old habits an beliefs it was hard to cast them away. Especially when she had been brought up her whole life believing something completely different. A soft sigh was given as she wrapped her hand around her cup of sweetened klah and murmured a line back to herself. Hmm. Selenitas line. It was strange how the Gold dragons had seemed to follow the bloodline until just recently. It was almost how hold families followed bloodlines in terms of hierarchy.

Thoughts of bloodlines inevitably led to thoughts of her father and Ruliana frowned. A slight shiver wracked her frame in response to the cold and the thought of how angry her father must be with her. Would he ever find her? Probably just a matter of time. What could he do about it though? Nothing now that she had impressed. She was bound here by Amalath and she could no more give up the green then she could intentionally tear out her own heart. Skimming through the rest of the record in front of her she got up to replace it and examined the shelving unit for another one. Hmm. That one looked promising. Reaching for it the weyrling frowned when she realized it was to high. Looking around for a step ladder or something and finding nothing she examined the high record again. Perhaps…

Grabbing onto the shelf Ruliana pulled herself up and carefully climbed the bookshelf to reach for the record. Problem being she was obviously heavier than she thought and before she knew it the bookshelf was leaning towards her. The greenrider had time for one cry of surprise before the whole thing tipped over on her burying her in records and pinning her to the floor. Wincing slightly at the impact she struggled briefly before offering a loud. “Hello? Anyone around? Help please?” In the back of her mind she felt Amalath stir in her sleep and yet the green still did not wake. She was just about to arouse her dragon to ask someone for help when she heard footsteps. “Hello?” Maybe someone had heard her after all? “Over here!”

[Kisha-Ra]

Just for a change it would have been nice if there was a sour faced archetypical archivist in the archives R’fuin thought as he walked around the place. All he wanted was some ink for crying out loud, and he would have been more than happy to just be pointed in the right direction, not even half a moment’s work. But noooo, that was far too simple of course, instead he had to sneak around the place trying to find out where it was for himself, and more than half the supply cupboards had been locked by someone. That had to be for the added irritation value because there couldn’t be anything in this room that anyone seriously wanted to steal.

At least he was firelizard free for the moment, R’fuin took a moment to reflect on that small blessing, other people had pets they could have just sent for the ink, but his two firelizards, in addition to being rather small for such burdens were, well, not the brightest glows in the basket. In fact he was certain both of his firelizards would forget any errand he sent them on after he was out of sight. So despite the lamentable lack of help it was still easier to do things himself.

A loud crash sounded through the archives, making the bluerider freeze and look around guiltily. Once his nerves settled R’fuin came to two conclusions, one that wasn’t an archivist returning, because no archivist would ever dream of making so much noise, and two, there were actually no archivists present, because they were always attracted to noise just so they could complain about it. Well, he’d probably better go and help clean it up before someone did get back here, whatever it was it was bound to have made at least as much mess as noise, and besides, maybe whoever else was in here knew where they were hiding the ink.

Wow, that was going to take quite some time to sort out. That was R’fuin’s first thought on turning a corner and seeing the fallen bookcase. ‘You know they have some ladders and things in here.’ He commented, walking around the bookcase in case there was some amazing way to put it back as it was, but naturally, there wasn’t. ‘Or you could have dragged one of those chairs over.’ With a mental shrug for the fate of all the records that were about to get hopelessly jumbled up R’fuin hooked his fingers under one side of the bookcase and hauled it up a bit. ‘Come on out so I can move this thing about a bit more, I don’t think I’m going to get it upright again without moving it forward.’ He didn’t want to add squashed fingers or toes to the troubles of whoever it was under all those records.

[Rei]

Ruliana gave a short sigh of relief as she heard a voice address her. Ladders? But she had looked for one and hadn’t seen one. A chair though… yeah that would have been smarter. Whoops. The weyrling blamed the lapse in judgment on too much klah and not enough sleep. As the pressure on her chest eased slightly the girl did her best to wiggle out from beneath her trap. Blinking up at R’fuin Ruliana blushed slightly. Saved by a male and an attractive one to. Older though. At least older than the greenrider herself was. Making sure she was clear of the bookcase she swiftly got to her feet and backed up to allow him move to work. “Thank you so very much. I don’t know what I would have done had you not come along.” The weyrling responded politely as she adjusted her outfit. It was hard to get used to wearing pants all the time but she was making an attempt. Most of the females around the weyr tended to forgo skirts and dresses after all.

Blinking at the mess on the floor Ruliana sighed. “I guess I have really made a mess of things.” Thankfully no archivists where around. Had they been she would have been in real trouble. As it was the greenrider now had a huge mess to clean up and she had no clue where to start. Frowning the weyrling began to gather up the fallen scrolls and such as her savior worked on replacing the bookcase. Depositing an armload of the material on the polished table Ruliana wrung her hands nervously and turned back to the man. Bluerider by his knots. Oh dear she was being horribly rude and she had yet to introduce herself. Yes she now lived at a weyr but that was no reason to let her manners slide. She chastised herself mentally before striding closer to R’fuin and giving him a polite smile. “I’m terribly sorry for the mess and the intrusion into your day.” Offering her hand to him Ruliana gave a sheepish smile. “I should have introduced myself earlier. I am Ruliana of Amalath. I’m afraid I’ve never seen you around before.”

Idly she half glanced at the table behind her, hand still outstretched towards R’fuin. It was a lot of mess to clean up on her own. Would it be rude to ask if he wanted to stay and help her? He was a full fledged rider after all. He probably had better things to do then go around humoring weyrlings. Still Ruliana was lonely and he had been nice enough to rescue her. Perhaps he wouldn’t mind her company to terribly? Turning her full attention back to the bluerider the weyrling spoke before she could talk herself out of it. “I know it’s probably a lot to ask what with you already rescuing me…but. Well would you mind terribly if I asked you to stay and help me put some semblance of order back to the scrolls? I have klah and sweetbread. Not much of a reward but still.” She trailed off and tried not to look to hopeful. R’fuin was probably terribly busy and well she hadn’t exactly made the best impression on first meeting.

[Kisha-Ra]

It was with a slight air of bemusement that R’fuin watched the owner of the young female voice wriggle out from under the fallen bookcase. As he expected she was, indeed, female and young, although probably older than he’d guessed from her voice alone. What threw him off balance was the strange resemblance to the weyrhealer, although without the rather extravagant sense of er…’style’ so often displayed by Checkoth’s rider. Realising he’d been staring just a hair too long R’fuin quickly busied himself with righting the bookcase, which as he suspected took some shuffling about, while listening with half an ear to what the girl was saying. She seemed a little on the formal side for Selenitas, upbringing? Or just nerves?

‘Well, it’s not like I could wander off and leave you trapped under there is it?’ R’fuin responded in a reasonable tone. He looked down at the records around his feet with a wince, At least none of them had been crushed or torn while he was shifting the furniture back into place, that was a blessing at least. He forbore to comment on the mess, as the answer was sort of obvious, and not particularly diplomatic. R’fuin chuckled lightly as he took the offered hand. ‘R’fuin of blue Ylonth at your service. I wouldn’t worry too much about intruding on me, I was only down here for some ink, if I could just find the unlikely place they’re keeping it in!’ R’fuin’s tone clearly showed his exasperation with archivists who didn’t have the common decency to leave some ink out where he could easily find it. ‘I don’t normally come down here unless I really need to know something and I can’t just ask someone.’ He added as an explanation of why she hadn’t seen him before, he’d always hated archiving.

Even with a strong dislike of archiving R’fuin couldn’t walk away and leave the girl to face the wrath of whatever archivist eventually returned here. Probably not every archivist was actually evil, but R’fuin had certainly encountered enough of the sour ones that he was convinced something about large stacks of paper made people that way. ‘Not really, I wasn’t doing anything all that important anyway.’ R’fuin knelt and started picking up scrolls and peering at them for identifying marks. ‘Er… you wouldn’t happen to know how these were ordered would you? I don’t really know how they keep things in this archive.’ He was guessing in date order, but it would be just his luck if, having ordered them by date, they were supposed to go alphabetically or some other nonsense.

[Rei]

If Ruliana had been aware of how he examined her she gave no obvious indication. Although she might have missed it due to the slight worry she had about the scrolls. The archivists where not known for their sympathy after all. Continuing to gather them up the weyrling kept an eye on R’fuin as she did so. A slight blush colored her cheeks at his words. “No I suppose it would have been terribly rude of you to leave me there.” She offered. “All the same I can’t help but feel grateful. Bookcases are heavy after all.” That little attempt at a joke had her almost wincing. Faranth but that was an awful attempt. What was wrong with her? Ruliana chalked her frustration and jitters up to having been buried in wood and scrolls. Tilting her head up towards the bluerider as he took her hand she smiled. He really did seem to be a nice guy. Especially for a rider. Then again she wasn’t used to interacting much with dragon riders. Most of what she knew of them had been passed down from others.

Now she was in the thick of it so to speak. “Well met R’fuin.” The smile only brightened at his ink comments. Yes the archivists where a rather strange bunch. Which was why Ruliana didn’t like to spend much time around here. Sadly she didn’t know much about Selenitas however and so this was the only way she could get valid information. It wasn’t as if the weyrling could just stop a rider and ask. That would be terribly rude. “Well all the same I am glad you came down here today. Perhaps I can help you find your ink? I know the archivists keep it around for the candidates and weyrlings to use when they have chores. It can’t be to far away.” That said the greenrider shifted to pick up the last of the scrolls in that particular pile and deposit them on the table as well. Oh dear it was an awful mess. “I should have done as you do I suppose and just ask someone for information instead of pouring through these scrolls. Unfortunately I don’t know may people yet. It would be rather odd of me to just come up and ask questions.”

Giving R’fuin a sheepish smile she knelt as he did to help with the pick up. Frowning Ruliana examined the scrolls she was holding as well. “You know….I’m really not sure. I would suppose they would have to be marked in some way.” Drat this was turning out to be a bigger mess than she thought. It wasn’t as if she could just put them all on the table and leave. Some people might have saw that as a way out but not Ruliana. That was far to irresponsible. The weyrling sighed. “You really don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. This is likely going to take awhile.” Spreading some of the scrolls out on the table she gave a backwards glance to R’fuin. “If you don’t mind me asking…How long have you been at Selenitas?” if he was going to stay maybe he could answer some of her questions better than the scrolls.

[Kisha-Ra]

R’fuin wasn’t so concerned with whether or not it was rude to leave someone trapped under a heavy item of furniture as whether or not it was safe. Not to mention that if he walked off and left someone in trouble he’d be so wracked with guilt that he wouldn’t make it to the end of the corridor.

‘Thanks for that, I think they may be hiding it just to drive me mad.’ R’fuin answered with a boyish grin. ‘You know, plenty of people around here are willing to just talk.’ R’fuin turned back to examining the scrolls in his arms as he moved them over to the table. ‘Although the best sources of information aren’t always who you think. I found out a fair bit when I first arrived here by talking to drudges and those old uncles and aunties who always infest the kitchen like a plague. They’re very useful once you can get them off the subject of who’s in who else’s bed.’ R’fuin shook his head over that; there was no worse gossip than an old gossip. ‘I suppose I’m also quite lucky to have a friend who’s Selenitas born and bred, though sometimes I don’t think so, she’s got a foul temper on her at times.’ He added thoughtfully, knowing someone who’d grown up in the south did put a new perspective on things sometimes.

R’fuin shrugged carelessly and placed his burdens on the table with moderate care. ‘Well they’re all dated; I guess they go in date order. Or if they don’t someone will come along just as we get the last of them back on the shelf to say so.’ R’fuin was a great believer in the law of maximum irritation at times. ‘You know you shouldn’t try and chase off help once you’ve got it.’ R’fuin waved a finger at Ruliana. ‘Someone might take the opportunity to flee.’ Beginning to pick up scrolls and sort them into a rough order by date R’fuin considered the question. ‘Oh I’ve been here four turns now.’ He sounded somewhat surprised by his own answer, they’d been very eventful turns.

[Rei]

Ruliana smiled at R’fuin as he grinned at her. He had a very nice smile in her opinion. Still she couldn’t let herself forget he was a dragon rider. He was raised differently than she herself had been. Which really could mean nothing or anything depending on how one looked at it. “It’s no problem really. I’m glad I could help even a little. Besides you never know maybe they do hide such things juts to drive us people mad.” Giving a small laugh at that thought the weyrling began to rustle through some of the scrolls. The bluerider’s next comment almost caused her to drop the one she had been holding. Turning towards him Ruliana gave a nervous smile. “Oh I know some people like to talk but I feel horribly rude just going up and asking. Maybe that’s weird but…” She gave a small shrug. “I guess I just feel it’s not polite to be so nosy.” Then again that’s how she had found out about lots of things at Nerat.

Listening to R’fuin carefully Ruliana began to nod in response to each comment. His way of finding out information sounded much like her own had been at Nerat. If the drudged where that talkative back home it stood to reason that they would be here as well. The weyrling made a mental note to try and get to know some of them. Which really shouldn’t be a problem. Ruliana was polite and sweet and generally willing to lend a hand when she could. Bets way to get to know drudges was to immerse yourself in their work and offer a sympathetic and interested ear. Do that and they where often willing to talk said ear off. Tilting her head Ruliana pursed her lips. “You are very lucky to have a friend like that here. Even if she is cranky at times. I’m afraid I don’t know many here yet. It’s a bit hard for me to fit in here I think. Things are so different from what I am used to.” Which was a bit of an understatement really. Ruliana offered R’fuin another small smile as he shifted to the scrolls on the table.

Oh yes that was right. Scrolls. By date sounded okay. They where dated after all. If they where wrong it wouldn’t take the archivist long to fix them she was sure. Even if they would be cursing them the whole time. That thought almost made the weyrling cringe. Thinking about the archivists it took her a moment to actually decipher R’fuin’s comment. Blushing slightly Ruliana gave a small laugh. “Yes I suppose I am a tad bad at keeping company. I just hate to be a bother you see. But I am so very glad you decided to stay and help.” Which was the truth. It was very nice to talk to someone besides Jazheera and Amalath. Stepping up beside the bluerider Ruliana to began to order the scrolls by date. “Four turns? Where did you live before that? Before I impressed Amalath I lived in Nerat.” There really was no reason not to offer where she was born. Looking up at R’fuin she gave another smile. “You don’t have to answer if I’m being to nosy.”

[Kisha-Ra]

R’fuin chuckled quietly. ‘I’m sure that somewhere around there are perfectly kind and helpful archivists with sunny personalities. It’s just that I don’t think we have any here, probably too many pranks from all the youngsters around here, and if it’s not weyrbrats it’s firelizards or salamandyrs running amok. It’s easy to see why our archivists are so grouchy now that I think about it a little harder.’ A shrug followed the girl’s comment. ‘Well I’ve pretty much been sticking my nose in where it’s not wanted since I was a child. I’ve had to, my family was huge.’ He answered, he supposed it was nosy but people didn’t have to answer him, or at least, that was how R’fuin always looked at it.

For a brief moment R’fuin considered introducing Ruliana to Darya, then dismissed the idea almost in the same instant. He couldn’t predict how this refined girl would react to Darya and her blunt cynicism but he had a feeling he could guess, Ruliana might be better off finding a weyrbred friend more her own age. ‘Well I do appreciate her, just not her worst moods, or her idea of a nice present.’ R’fuin said, only half joking, he really couldn’t bring himself to find Irra anything other than a creepy, mildly amusing, nuisance. ‘I’m sure there are plenty of other people around your age that didn’t come from the Weyr, or even the south.’ R’fuin frowned slightly as he thought about socialising, but it just came naturally to him most of the time. ‘And I’m sure you have something in common with everyone in your weyrling class. Just ask after their dragons and I’m sure that will break the ice for you. I’ve never met a rider yet who didn’t love to talk about their dragon, especially when they’re young, weyrlings can be so adorable.’ Ylonth was of course, but R’fuin was mildly biased on that score.

‘The trick is not to keep telling people they can go.’ R’fuin advised with a smile. Placing the earliest dates he could find on the top shelf he turned back to the weyrling. ‘That sounds like you’re tired of people and want to get rid of them. Not that I think you want to get rid of me while there’s still a huge pile of scrolls here.’ R’fuin smiled carelessly to show that had been a joke and picked up a few more scrolls to add to the shelf. ‘I was born in High Reaches hold, but I was searched for Benden and actually Impressed Ylonth there, not that you’d know that to look at him.’ The bluerider answered the question as fully as he could while hunting down the next scroll he wanted. ‘There’s no such thing as too nosy for me.’ He assured Ruliana. ‘I can be as bad as the old aunties sometimes, so feel free to tell me when to shut my mouth.

[Rei]

Ruliana nodded quietly as R’fuin spoke for the moment enjoying the sound of another person’s voice more than the actual conversation. Wow had she really been that lonely? She hadn’t seen R’ahre since he took her to the weyr and hadn’t the guts to approach R’wign again. The brownrider had helped her out true and she /was/ extremely grateful. Still all the same he had made it pretty clear before that he had no use or need for her in his life and that kept the weyrling from seeking him out more than anything else. Ruliana simply did not want to be a bother or a source of irritation. For anyone. That wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair.

Blinking up at the bluerider she realized she had been a bit lost in her own world for the moment. Thankfully he didn’t seem to have noticed one way or another. It was a simple matter to inject herself back into the conversation. “Oh I bet having a big family was nice. I was alone growing up. I only learned I had half siblings pretty recently. So I didn’t have the benefit of sisters or brothers. I suppose most would take that to mean I was spoiled. But really I’ve always been pretty grounded I guess.” Which was the truth yes the greenrider had been given things but they where earned by behaving and with so many expectations to meet Ruliana hadn’t the time to be disobedient. At all. Being prim and proper all the time hadn’t been a picnic but it was second nature to her now. Being any other way just seemed…wrong.

The weyrling titled her head as she began to place scrolls according to R’fuin’s idea. Date based earliest to latest. It seemed like a good idea. Hopefully it was right. Still as she worked Ruliana strove to pay attention to her companion as he spoke. Yes bad moods and awkward presents, that could certainly get someone irritated. It did seem as if the bluerider certainly did care about his friend though. Just liked she cared for Jazzheera even if the majority of the girls time seemed to be spent with her brother. That was only to be expected however. The bluerider had traveled pretty far to find him. Ruliana was glad things had worked out for Jazzheera. Truly she was.

Placing another scroll she gave a nervous smile in response to R’fuin’s suggestion. “Oh I don’t know about that. A lot of them have a very different outlook on life. Amalath seems to bond with them easier than I do. I’ll give it a try but it just seems awkward at best most times.” For some reason it was just hard to fit in in general for her. Trying not to sigh the greenrider returned to the table to sort a few more scrolls by date. Maybe it was because she grew up so differently up north? Things here seemed so lax and even backwards in certain ways.

“It’s not that I want people to actually go away. Maybe I just need to revise how I come across? I’m afraid things I learned in the hold up north come across as strange to you southerners. I try to be polite and I just don’t think anyone gets it?” How else could she explain it? Ruliana wasn’t sure. She truly wasn’t trying to come off as pushing people way but it seemed to be happening? Still the greenrider just didn’t feel comfortable being open with everyone she came across. She was polite, did not speak unless spoken to, and didn’t participate in the strange games some of the younger ones seemed to enjoy. What was so fun about climbing trees or such? It seemed dangerous and a bit barbaric. Maybe she just wasn’t able to fit in? It was a sobering thought.

Attention back on R’fuin she placed the scrolls silently as he spoke of Benden. That weyr had been beholden to her hold. Not to many good things had been heard about it during her lifetime. But truly she didn’t know what to think about dragon riders. Still didn’t. Part of her wanted to ask why the bluerider and his Ylonth had left, but she wasn’t one to pry obviously and so she stayed silent. Instead she offered the man another smile. “Oh I do not think you are anything like an old auntie. I don’t mind the conversation at all.”

Ordering another set of scrolls the greenrider was surprised to see that they had made a sizeable dent in them already. “It seems as if we are making good progress. Do you think we could take a small break?” Half turning she looked back at the klah she had brought. “There’s enough for two, and maybe I could ask you a few more questions?” No she didn’t really want to be prying into his life but well she didn’t know who else she could ask and R’fuin had been so friendly so far. Might as well take advantage of his knowledge while she could. He did say he didn’t mind after all.

[Kisha-Ra]

R’fuin shrugged, never having noticed that Ruliana had spaced out on him, if he had he’d have apologised for being so boring and changed the subject. His life story probably wasn’t that interesting anyway. ‘That would depend on the day you had in mind.’ He answered wryly since he hadn’t noticed he’d lost his audience for a moment there. ‘When I say my family was big I mean huge, my father was the, er, seventh or eighth child I think, and I was the fifth of his children, so I not only had brothers and sisters but a legion of cousins too. Some days it was all of us against the world and anyone who couldn’t take a prank had to hide, and other days we’d be fighting like a sack of felines. There are days I’d cheerfully have traded places with any only child.’ R’fuin meant that too, the rivalry between the youngsters in his family had always been intense with everyone of adult status hoping to be chosen as the heir to the hold.

Lacking siblings, and maybe other companions around her age could certainly go a long way towards explaining Ruliana’s trouble fitting in with people, R’fuin considered as he shuffled a few more scrolls, if most of her interaction as a child had been with adults then she’d have to act in a way they considered proper for a young lady to get them to take her seriously. He’d had that problem with his father and uncles but thankfully all the bickering and such with other children had given him a balanced approach, or at least R’fuin thought so.

‘You probably need to relax a little more.’ R’fuin advised, turning away from the bookcase. ‘I get the impression you’re too polite for your own good, you feel awkward about taking up so much of my time, it’s not valuable by the way. But when you constantly tell people they don’t have to stay, some of them are going to think you’re dropping hints for them to leave.’ He hoped that wasn’t too harsh a way of putting it, and he supposed telling people they were being too polite was slightly strange. ‘I find the south in general more open and less formal than the north.’ He added thoughtfully. ‘So you don’t need to be nervous about exchanging a few greetings and dinnertime conversations.’ Now he knew how that felt, back in the worst days of Benden you could hardly cough without everyone looking at you sideways.

R’fuin looked at the table in surprise, finding that, indeed, progress had been visibly made. ‘Well, we have sorted a fair bit while we’ve been talking, or rather while you’ve been listening to me chatter on.’ R’fuin pulled out a chair for himself and pushed a few records out of the way. ‘I don’t mind answering more questions.’ He replied without bothering to say he wouldn’t answer anything too personal, he really couldn’t imagine that his idea of a prying question and Ruliana’s matched up at all.

[Rei]

Ruliana blinked up at R’fuin as she poured the klah. “Relax a little more?” The weyrling repeated softly before inwardly cringing. This was her relaxed. How did she relax more? This was really how she had always been. It was /wrong/ to speak without being spoken to. As far as taking up peoples time went she did feel bad, because likely they had better things to do besides talking to her. It wasn’t that she was trying to push them away she was just giving them the option of withdrawing from conversation if they so chose. It was hard to wrap her mind around just how different the south really was from the north. As well as now different dragonriders where from holders in general. It was taking a lot of getting used to and the greenrider was quickly beginning to believe that maybe she never would get used to it. That was probably an unfair assumption to make though. She hadn’t been at the weyr to terribly long. Only about six months and a few weeks. This was compared to seventeen turns in the north. Amalath made it bearable at least. The green loved her more than words could say and Ruliana had never felt that kind of love or devotion. No way she was giving that up. Not for anything.

Klah successfully poured the greenweyrling took her seat and wrapped her hand around the cup gesturing to the sweetbread on the table. “Help yourself. I got it from the kitchens this morning. It’s good.” Sipping at her drink she let her eyes fall onto the numerous scrolls still left. “We have made a sizeable dent in my mess.” She gave R’fuin another smile. “I’ve rather enjoyed your ‘chattering’ as you call it. It’s nice to get advice every once and awhile. I’ll consider what you’ve offered most definitely.” Breaking a piece off one of the buns she nibbled on it. “So you are a bluerider. Do you fight thread? I am afraid I am not sure if the dragon wars have affected the south at all. I’ve not really had to pay to much attention to such things. My teachings have always been in different subjects.”

Really she had come to the weyr after Fort had attacked and really things had been quite peaceful at Selenitas at least for a good long while now. Even up north however not much had been said about the dragon wars to her. Even less about the weyr in general besides what they had to tithe to Benden. Searches where not to common either and every time one /had/ come Ruliana had been carefully kept away. As the only heir to the hold they couldn’t very well have risked her being chosen for standing. Nibbling on the pastry and tilting her head up towards R’fuin she awaited his response attention focused on the older male. He really was terribly nice, indulgent to her questions to. Yes the greenrider decided she quite liked this rider. Perhaps he wouldn’t mind her company every now and again?

[Kisha-Ra]

R’fuin tried hard to keep puzzlement off his face, Ruliana’s current state was clearly not relaxed, but she seemed mildly shocked at the idea of relaxing more. Maybe she was past the age where it was easy to give up all those holdbred attitudes that he’d scattered to the wind as a fifteen turn old lad. Of course all he’d been thinking of at the time was physical pleasure, as any boy of that age would when presented with easygoing Weyr women who didn’t expect a lifetime of commitment. Maybe it was culture shock or something. The south was a bit of a shock he supposed, he’d always thought in a good way, but now he found himself reanalysing his thoughts.

‘Sorry I got lost in thought for a moment there.’ R’fuin apologised as the girl startled him out of his thoughts again, just as well really, they hadn’t been all that useful. He looked at the records again as he reached for one of the suns, they did smell good. ‘I’m just happy it can all be sorted out relatively quickly.’ He commented, wishing he could do something to help Ruliana with her problems fitting in, but he had a sinking feeling that the only thing that would help there was time.

The questions were a welcome distraction really; they kept R’fuin from niggling at the same thoughts over and over. ‘Well yes we do fight thread, although we’ve been moved to a wing that’s concentrating on combat now, since we have past experience.’ R’fuin automatically changed from saying I to we as he spoke of fighting thread and enemies, Ylonth was a part of him in those endeavours. ‘I’m sorry to say the reason for combat orientated wings is that the dragon wars have come here to some extent. That’s not to say the Weyr is an active participant, but when the south shelters so many former northern riders here, including our current Weyrleaders, well, the northern Weyrs have both attacked Selenitas at various times since I’ve been here.’ Though he kept the bitterness out of his voice R’fuin’s eyes flashed with pure rage for a moment, he’d lost his sister Razi in one such attack by Benden and tended to bury his feelings on the matter rather than deal with them in any way.

[Rei]

“It’s fine really.” Ruliana waved off R’fuin’s apology. What did he have to apologize for? She liked his company and Faranth knows her mind often went on such wayward paths. A bit of silence never hurt anyone. Taking another bite of her bun she found herself watching the bluerider closely. He seemed to be okay with her company. He surely looked to be in no hurry to leave. That was good because she was quite enjoying his company as well. Not just because he saved her from the evil bookcase or never-ending scroll sorting either. Pulling a couple of the scrolls over she began to line them up by date. Might as well work while she ate no? “You and me both. I don’t relish the thought of being here when the archivists finally decide to show up. The quicker we can get this done the better. For both of us. Although I wouldn’t blame you if you turned tail and ran if one of them did show up.” The light tone the greenrider aired the words in made it quite obvious she was attempting a joke. If not the smile she gave him should clear it up. Maybe.

Ruliana fell silent as R’fuin stated to answer the question she put forth. Fighting dragon on dragon had to be hard. Any time when life was taken it was hard. Even your enemies had friends, lovers, children, family. Although that realization was horrible so not many chose to think that way. You didn’t have time to think that way when it was kill or be killed. The greenrider’s eyes went to her companion noting the flash of anger under the normal calmness. It probably was a bad topic and she regretted that she had even brought it up. Emotional war was, probably even under the best of circumstances.

Ruliana wasn’t going to lie. The fact that the war had touched Selenitas, even if it was only minimally, scared her. It meant that one day her and Amalath might be involved and that was something she didn’t want to think about. Nor even consider. To that end she grasped for a change of subject. Anything would do. But what. Finally at a loss she blurted. “So your friend. Is she your girlfriend?”

Immediately afterwards she regretting asking him something that personal and she covered her mouth with her hands. Hurriedly the weyrling tried to backtrack. “Oh I’m sorry, I don’t know why I asked that. I was trying to get off of darker subject and, and,… and now I am stammering.” Blushing furiously she grabbed her klah and took a sip hoping the warm liquid would steady her a little. “You don’t have to answer that.” It was just the first thing that popped into her head. Figured it would be something embarrassing.

[Kisha-Ra]

‘I don’t want you to think I’m tired of your company. I just get distracted sometimes and lose track of how long I’ve let a pause go on.’ An awkward smile flashed across R’fuin’s face. ‘It’s a terrible habit really.’ He admitted, pausing to nibble on his sweetbread.

R’fuin flicked his hair back over one shoulder with a toss of his head and stuck his nose in the air in a terrible impression of a gather storyteller imitating a lord. ‘I flee from no archivist fair lady.’ He pronounced, and then dropped the pose with a laugh. ‘Although if we could get this done and sneak off before they get back that would be good. Then I wouldn’t have to challenge one to mortal combat, I’m afraid I’d lose.’

Apparently talking about combat training wasn’t that great a subject, not that R’fuin really felt he could blame the girl for not wanting to think about it. One day she might get dragged into a pointless fight just because her dragon had been hatched here, it was a sobering thought if you didn’t have the expectation that you’d be fighting once your dragon was grown.

Okay, that was so not that topic change R’fuin would have chosen. Despite the fact that a little fun of that sort had been precisely what he’d had in mind when he first met Darya, he now couldn’t make the concept work at all. For a moment the idea rendered him speechless, and made him look like he’d been hit in the back of the head with a board besides.

‘Don’t worry about it, I’m not offended, just mildly stunned.’ R’fuin hastened to assure the weyrling once his powers of speech returned. ‘I think I’ve gone a long way past the point where Darya could be my girlfriend, although we have been accused of acting like an old couple at times. We’re too close, the thought’s like the idea of making love to my sister.’ That was probably a bit too much information but that was pretty much how he’d come to feel about the situation. ‘Now, how about getting the rest of these back on the shelf before we get caught and complained at?’

[Rei]

Ruliana laughed along with R’fuin as he made his imitation. Covering her mouth with her hand she regarded him with a bright and amused expression. Mortal combat? Another laugh escaped as she regarded her comrade in the battle of the scrolls. Actually the greenrider was surprised to find herself glad that she had made such a mess. Meeting R’fuin was worth the time it took to reorganize the hides. Sipping on her klah she regarded the bluerider over the rim of the mug. Idly Ruliana crossed her legs under the desk and continued to line up the scrolls as he went on.

His reaction to her comment on Darya had her blushing a spectacular shade of red. Oh dear she had not meant to seem prying or anything. Her hands tightened around her klah and she nibbled on her bottom lip nervously as she waited. What the greenrider was waiting for she wasn’t sure. Maybe to be scolded? Maybe a attempt to smooth over the topic. Maybe an awkward answer? Really she was regretting opening her mouth at all. No help for it now it seemed. Oh well can’t take back words. As much as right now the weyrling wished she could.

Ruliana gave R’fuin an apologetic smile as he finally found his tongue and explained. “I see. Well good then I guess. I bet it's nice to have such a close friend.” Pushing her chair away from the table she smiled and took another sip of her klah before picking up one of the now ordered scrolls. “Yes I agree we should get this done before the archivists descend like an angry swarm and annoy us to death.” Striding over to the bookcase she placed the scroll in it’s proper place and then turned for another. “Shouldn’t take us to long now. Thanks again for the help.” With any luck maybe she had just made a new friend. Or at least an acquaintance she could drop in on every once and awhile. Looks like falling bookcases could be a good thing.

Despite still feeling very out of her element, at least for the moment she wasn’t alone.

(End Thread)