A Stitch in Time (Cainith)

[Rowana]

It was safe inside, and Porita liked it that way. She didn't have to think about the dangers that might be lurking outside the Weyr. She only had herself and her sewing. Posk was there, of course, and Neyki too. At least no one expected her to go outside. Most of her duties consisted of helping out around the apartments, kitchens and small indoor patrols to make sure all was well. She used to take Posk out for walks, but lately she'd been afraid to go out alone.

Still, at least Posk encouraged her to spend more time in the Common Room. No one usually bothered her and she could enjoy the company of the other handlers as they passed through. Posk liked it too. The more he saw of his fellow whers, the happier he was. Today, Porita had collected a pile of candidate robes to mend. With a dragon hatching on the way, they would need all the robes they could find. Not all of them could be fixed, of course, but most only need a new hem or other small repair.

Porita hummed softly as she worked. For all her numerous fears, she was growing to relax and like her new home. The people were much nicer than she was used too and Posk was much sweeter and kinder than her husband ever would have been. She was pleased she could do something, no matter how small, to help her new home.

[Aftershock]

Cainith clomped into the wherhandler common room, his massive arms bearing a number of tomes. It had taken him quite a bit of searching, asking, and sometimes begging to get this many of the valuable written works, especially with his reputation for being less than delicate with objects smaller than himself, but at long last he had been able to borrow a decent collection of books to read. Normally, Cainith would not exactly be the studious type, but Cainsk's constant beratement of his handler's intelligence had finally pushed the wherling to hunt down some books and prove to his wher that he wasn't a complete idiot.

Sitting down on one of the couches, Cainith placed the books beside him, and it was then he noticed the other quiet occupant of the room. "Er, hello. Sorry, I didn't notice you here until just now," he said, before his eyes narrowed a bit as he looked the woman over. "Wait... I think I remember you... didn't I get assigned to help you retrieve food during the attack by those strange enemies?"

Scratching his head, he tried to recall the woman's name, but came up with a blank. He remembered she had been incredibly quiet during their time working together, and no matter how he dug, he couldn't recall a single thing about her. Cainsk, sitting behind the couch Cainith had claimed, snorted in derision, and sent an image of a pitcher pouring water out of it into His' mind to help the man remember the bluehandler's name. "I... er... w-water... pitcher? Pouring? Por... something?"

[Rowana]

Porita hadn't really been taking much notice of Cainith when he came into the room. Not that he was hard to miss, but people came in and all night without usually bothering her. Posk was glad to see them though, bounding up to the younger wher with a delighted woof of greeting. Porita only looked up with Cainith spoke, jumping slightly. She blushed a little at the attention. She remember him, of course. He was hard to forget, but she didn't mind that he'd forgotten her. She never thought herself all that memorable.

"It's alright," she answered softly, managing a weak smile. He had been nice when she'd met him before, so he couldn't be all bad. He was awfully big and scary looking though. "It's Porita, sir," she added, feeling embarrassed at his attempt to remember her name. She was having a hard time recalling his either, now that she tried, but she didn't dare say. Posk was too happy to care. Wasn't it wonderful to meet again? Fate had brought them together to be friends! Of course all whers should be friends in his opinion, but that didn't mean they shouldn't spend lots of time together. Didn't Cainsk agree?

[Aftershock]

Cainith laughed, her odd way of greeting him refreshing his memory a bit of their short encounter during the most recent crisis among the handlers. "Porita! Ah, yes, I remember, you did that last time, too. Again, there is no need to call me 'sir'. Cainith is fine, honestly. Hell, you outrank me, since I'm still a wherling... perhaps I should be calling you, 'ma'am'!" Laughing loudly yet again, slapping his knee in mirth, he continued, "So, what's that you're up to? Candidate robes? Oh, yeah, there's a clutch on the Sands, isn't there? I'm crossing my fingers for my girlfriend to Impress this clutch... she's nearing aging out, so she's always depressed around the hatchings, thinking she's doomed to age out before she Impresses a dragon. She doesn't seem to like whers, either... in terms of Impressing to them, at least. Seems to be common thought around the Weyr, though, doesn't it?"

Cainsk, meanwhile, snorted in irritation as his bonded was distracted by his fellow bluehandler. He had finally convinced His to get some books, which Cainsk had come to understand contained information... he was unable to read himself, of course, but he hoped if he concentrated on their bond while Cainith read, he could absorb some of the information from the books through the link and make up for his lack of literacy. Suddenly, Posk was woofing at him, and sending platitudes of eternal friendship... in response, Cainsk teasingly sent Posk an image of a canine, and Posk, then an image showing their brains getting switched around, followed by a question mark.

[Rowana]

Porita looked up at him a bit startled and embarrassed. Imagine someone as big as Cainith calling her 'ma'am'! Still, she couldn't help a little smile as her eyes drifted back to her work. His laughter was infectious and he seemed just as nice as the last time they had met. His talk of Impressing at the Hatching made her face sadden though and she had to fight tears at the memory of her own first and last dragon hatching. Working on the candidate robes hadn't seemed like a bad idea before, but now that she was reminded of her own time wearing them, she couldn't forget those few lovely moments she'd spent with her dragon.

"I'm sorry," she rubbed her face with her scarf. She would not cry again. She'd promised Jipth she wouldn't. Posk nuzzled her leg. It was alright, he assured her. Fate always had a good plan and he was here now. Porita petted him, taking a deep breath. "I'm sure she will," she answered Cainith politely. "I wish her luck."

Satisfied that Porita would be safe with the big man to look after her, Posk turned his attention back to Cainsk. He cocked his head curiously at the other wher, wondering what the wherling was trying to tell him. Posk wondered if he looked like a dog on the outside. He checked briefly. No, he still looked as blue as ever. Perhaps Cainsk wanted to know if he liked dogs? He did, but that didn't seem quite right either. Oh! Maybe Cainsk said he thought like a dog. What an odd thing to say, Posk thought. He didn't have any idea how dogs thought. Rumbling with amusement, he nudged Cainsk playfully. His brother wher must be very smart to know how dogs thought! Perhaps Cainsk would tell him more? Posk did love to learn things, though he generally was more interested in exploring and superstitions than actually knowledge. Maybe Cainsk would know what made glows glow? Posk thought maybe there were little glowing creatures inside, like flitters.

[Aftershock]

Seeing Porita's change in mood, Cainith's laughter died away, and he scratched his head awkwardly as he said, "Er, I'm sorry if I said something wrong. Are you all right?" As she seemed to center herself once more, Cainith's smile returned slightly, and he replied, "Thanks. I'm sure she'll appreciate it, even if she never hears your kind words."

Cainsk, meanwhile, watched the older blue wher carefully, receiving his inquiring images and responding with his own. His first image response was of a canine's head, with symbols meant to represent thoughts emerging from it, and Cainsk looking at said symbols with a look of confusion. The image of the canine then changed to one of a pile of glows, with the image of a confused Cainsk unchanged. The image then changed into one of an open book, with the previous images of a canine head and glows on the pages, with the image of Cainsk looking at the book with a look of frustration. The image then shifted to one of Cainith looking at the book with a look of understanding, and arrow pointing from the book to Cainith's head, and then another arrow leading from Cainith's head to Cainsk's head, with the image-Cainsk now having a look of understanding and happiness.

[Rowana]

Porita nodded in response to Cainith's question. She would be fine, Posk was good at cheering her up as always. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for other people to loose their dragons. She had only known hers for a few minutes, to loose that part of oneself after turns would be devastating. "I hope so," she added, as the conversation returned to safer ground. She would like to meet this girls sometime, if only because they would have some common ground to start with. "What's she like? Your friend?" She asked nervously. Men back home didn't like questions, but Cainith didn't seem like that kind of man. Besides, she felt bad for worrying him.

Posk nodded slowly as Cainsk began to communicate again. His eyes widened in amazement as he began to understand. Could you really learn all that from those odd papery things? He'd never thought they were good for much except to blow prettily in the wind. He'd seen humans read them from time to time, but he'd never really understood why they did that. Was Cainsk's human good at reading? Posk sniffed the pile of books eagerly. Imagine all the things he would learn if Porita would read for him! He wondered if she knew how.

[Aftershock]

Cainith smiled wider as Porita asked about Ivy, responding, "Oh, Ivy? She's great. She's vivacious, kind, and sees me as a person, not as a big tool to lift things for her or make things go away that bother her. We've had our problems, sure," he added, his smile drifting slightly south as he remembered the incident in the jungles with F'ur, "but she's always been there for me, at the end of the day. I still have no idea what such a beautiful, young woman sees in a hairy old giant like me, but I try not to think about it too much. I'm worried I'll discover that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and end up breaking the spell," he concluded, laughing uproariously again.

Cainsk nodded in agreement to Posk's first question, though when asked about Cainith's reading ability, Cainsk sent an image of his with his skull hinged like a chest, showing his brain, which was quite tiny. Cainsk then added an image of himself, with a similarly-hinged skull, showing his own brain to be much larger than Cainith's. The images then faded, to be replaced with an image of Cainsk squinting at a book, the words flying off the pages quickly, but blurry and illegible, bouncing off of Caink's incompatible eyes. The image then switched to show Cainith and a book, and the words this time, though flying off the pages at a much, much slower pace, were clear, and sunk into Cainith's eyes without a problem. Cainsk then gave a human-like shrug, as if to say, "What can you do?"

[Rowana]

Porita smiled a bit wider her eyes growing distant. Ivy sounded like a wonderful young lady. Cainith was lucky to have her. Though perhaps Ivy was lucky to have him, since he certainly seemed lovely himself. "She sounds lovely," Porita said politely when he'd finished. She offered a tentatively smile for Cainith. "I think she's very lucky," she added shyly.

Posk was sorry Cainsk could not read. He would probably be the smartest wher ever if he could, Posk was certain. Perhaps Cainith could learn to like reading? Posk liked learning too, so he couldn't imagine anyone who didn't. Of course, Porita wasn't always interesting in the things he wanted to learn. He liked the great mysteries best. Like whether the woods around here had fairies. He was sure they were sneaking around when he wasn't looking, which was often.

[Aftershock]

Cainith nodded at Porita's opinion of Ivy, saying, "She is. Which is part of why I don't truly understand why she sticks around with me," he added with a smirk. At Porita's statement regarding her thoughts on Ivy's luck, Cainith said, "She wouldn't agree with you, I don't think. She gets glum any time dragon Impression comes up in conversation... she's convinced she's doomed to never Impress, no matter how much I try to cheer her up and convince her she'll Impress before she ages out. We'll see soon enough, though, and I hope to be proven right."

Cainsk decided to keep his opinion that he already WAS the smartest wher there ever was to himself for the moment, considering Cainith seemed to be quite involved in the conversation with Posk's handler, and he didn't quite feel like dealing with the older blue if he decided his feelings were hurt. He gave the wher equivalent of a shrug at the thought regarding Cainith learning to enjoy reading, then his eyes swirled in a confused orange when Posk mentioned fairies. Copying the image Posk sent of the creatures he had never heard of before, he followed it up with an image of a question mark, curious what his fellow wher knew of these "fairies".