Welcome all to curtain call [Kali]

[rii]

"Oh, they say 'tis a hanging
that soon I will be--
My body a-twisting from
yonder oak tree--
For daring to think that a man
could live free...
but though I may die—"

Do you really think that iss a good ssong to ssing?

Nose wrinkling, Ba'sun's voice fell quiet as he lifted his head from the arrow shaft he was shaping. The shavings falling to the grass beside on leg, while the other remained constantly busy reining in Shoal's attempts to crawl and walk beyond the limit of the blanket he had set out for the kid. Ekarth was on the far side with tail and nose to steer the toddler back if he escaped too far. "Well I don't hear any complaints from Kirv."

Expression narrowing, Ba'sun squinted at the unresponsive child that was having more fun with the grass at the edge of the blanket. It didn't really mean anything that Shoal didn't respond to the name; being only one, children at that age responded more to tone than actual words. Still, Ba'sun didn't fail to make a argument with his dragon just for the sake of it. "I don't think he likes that name." It's Kirvene. "Yeah, or that. I'm going to call him.." A dismissing wave of hand and knife followed the trailing statement that failed to finish itself. "Something else." Ssomething elsse, how endearing. Ba'sun snorted, nudging Shoal with a bare foot before turning his eyes back to his work.

"In days of old in a kingdom bold, there lived a fearsome dragon.
And the King he was in great distress and the countries spirits flagoned.
Until one day there came a knight, he was handsome, bold, and charming.
And he slew the dragon with his sword with a smile that was so disarming.
With a hey and a ho and a hey nany no, a smile that was so disarming.."

Ekarth's wings flopped dramatically over his face, embarrassed for his rider's sake. The other one wass more appropriate. "Hey," Ba'sun pointed the shaved stick at his dragon. "You wanted cheerful." I wanted good, which you are not. "Just needs a pluck of strings-

"Said the King I wish to know your name, but the knight said do not bother.
For the name of a knight of the realm says he, is the same as any other.
Said the King tonight in my daughter's bed you shall take your leisure.
And she'll reward you for your deed, with a night of exhausting pleasure.
With a hey and a ho and a hey nany no, anight of exhausting pleasure.

One daughter she had raven hair, a maiden young and chaste.
And she slept all night in the pale moonlight, naked to the waist.
The other daughter she was fair, the fairest in the town.
And she slept all night in the pale moonlight naked from her small waist down.
With a hey and a ho and a hey nany no, naked from her small waist down."

He paused at hearing an approach from behind, still a little way off, but he still casually stretched out his leg to block the path to Shoal. The grin wide as he half turned to try and view his nearby company. "I've been told I sing better when drunk." He actually wasn't bad, for no training in the ways of the harpers - what he learned was late night drinks with friends just wanting to have a good time. He didn't care to have the exact tone right as long as he had the bounce and rhythm flowing smoothly.

[Requiem]

It was weird where your feet decided to take you sometimes, when you were lost in thought. This was the time she normally spent with Lust, but he was on a shelf in a certain bluerider's weyr right now. No longer sulking but not in much of a mood to wander out, either, even though Kalierre was of the opinion that a couple hours couldn't hurt. The dragonhealer was fine with being actually fully alone, however, instead of plagued by the melancholy of one mindmate or another. Of course, that left her to her own. Mindhealers would say that you needed to come to terms yada yada. She didn't know all of that mindhealer talk (despite getting a crash course in the very basics from a clearly bored master healer who thought it as much hogwash as most did) but a moment to herself was nice.

If nothing else, it helped her separate things out into what was hers and what wasn't.

She supposed she should be grieving her weyrmate. Yes, that was what most people would be doing. The woman was fond of him, even if he'd more or less kidnapped her when she was too out of it to raise a protest. In reality, though, it was more of a loneliness than actual grief, like there was something missing. Something...not necessary, but still desired. Sad to say she actually missed Sel'n and S'rei more. S'rei, who she'd more or less sniped at since they'd arrived here seven turns before. And Sel'n, who really was such a basketcase, but he amused her. It may have only been Vanity, but with her, at least, he was playful. Kalierre liked playful. She was far too prone to being too serious when left to her own devices.

So maybe it shouldn't have been surprising that it was up the hill to the drumheights that her feet carried her, resting her weight lightly on her cane. Salenth and S'rei had spent so much of their time here...The greenrider blinked as she caught brief snatches of a song drifting downward. People were so rarely up here. Curious. She was seriously considering turning back and finding someplace more peaceful when she realized that the song...was familiar. A tickling on the edge of memory.

The woman caned up the hill, taking in Ekarth at a glance - not surprised since in the time it took her to crest the hill the memory of the song had returned in full - and Ba'sun. Former wingmate, grounded though he'd been. Kalierre's eyes settled on the toddler, and flicked back to Ba'sun with a certain surprise that smoothed from her face by the time he glanced back over his shoulder. She snorted softly, still a half dragon's length away. "Mm. I've always thought people sing better when I'm drunk, too," the woman commented, a touch amused.

"Well the knight he spends many hour behind the castle wall.
But the ending to my story dear, isn't what it seems at all.
For in neither bed of neither maid was he repaid for his glory.
But he slept all night with the King instead for this is a fairy story.
With a hey and a ho and a hey nany no, for this is a Fairy story."

She winked at the end of the song, moving forward, then let loose a dramatic sigh. "See? It just doesn't sound nearly as good when I'm not giddy off wine."

[rii]

Ba'sun's grin grew more genuine, the corners of his eyes crinkling to make a different between it and the jovial smile he freely offered. Kalierre, former wingmate, though her reputation was bettern known for her position of Dragon Weyrhealer in the infirmary. He hadn't spent the last several turns at Selenitas, and the most musing he had about the infirmary was to make jokes about it being run by a one eyed, three legged creature that was three-fourths woman and the last quarter questionably male. Though, as she finished off the last verse, Ba'sun's head tilted a little and the gaze turned faintly inquisitive.

"I didn't think anyone around here would know that song," Days long past, when he still had the friends around to entertain with a bawdy song. A brow rose as his head tilted yet further, not even paying notice to the stretch of his leg used to steer Shoal back onto the blanket and toward Ekarth's corralling tail. "Oh it wasn't too bad – but the wine definitely would help." He ran his fingers down the shaft, checking the straightness with a skeptical gaze down its length, then another cheeky smile at the dragon healer. "The audience of course. Helps them boo louder."

Shifting knife and arrow into one hand, Ba'sun brushed the wood shavings from the other side of the rock. "But now that I've lured your here with a love song, and snared you with unwitting charm, have a seat?"

He couldn't recall a real moment in the past he had paused long enough to have a conversation with Kalierre – not while playing good for his dear keeper at the wing lessons. Even if the glares shot his way were highly amusing. Nope, no fraternizing done there. "So did they let you go freely, or did you slip your chains and are in the process of making an daring escape?"

[Requiem]

There was a certain quirk to the woman's smile that changed it from the reassuring healer's mask to something a touch more wry - and that much more genuine. The healer had a good memory. It was almost a given for healers, given the sheer multitude of facts, symptoms and treatments that had to be committed to memory. Kalierre was strangely pleased to have surprised him with something as insignificant as knowing a few bawdy lyrics. She chuckled. "You're supposed to tell a woman she's good at everything, even when she's failing miserably. Didn't anyone tell you?"

The woman slid onto the section of rock he'd cleared for her with surprising grace for a cripple. Kalierre never made any apologies for herself. If she was self-conscious about her appearance - and make no mistake: she was - no one would be able to tell by how she carried herself. Hair was pulled back from her scarred face in a tight braid, she looked at people directly and her posture was always proudly erect, despite the limp.

She gave him an amused glance before setting her face into serious planes. "Now, if I told you that, I'd have to kill you." The dragonhealer then made a show of looking around before leaning in close, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Let's just say that there are benefits to driving our young Weyrhealer crazy." She returned to her former half-lounging position, stretching out her back. "In all actuality, this is the most free time I've had since Healer Hall. It's decidedly odd to have nowhere I have to be and nothing I have to be doing. Suppose that'll change once the triage wing starts seeing more use. For now, I'm taking advantage of the lull to train." Which, considering R'wign was next to useless in the field due to his myriad of compulsions, was to say she spent much of her time training Erilena and the weyrlings that would be future members of her wing.

It was not to discuss work, however, that she'd climbed the hill, and the dragonhealer turned the conversation away from the topic. "I must say, though, this is the first time I've been serenaded in quite awhile." She turned her medium brown eyes on Ba'sun, the amusement behind them more than clear. After a suitably dramatic pause, the woman continued, "I have a rather shameful confession to make, bluerider. The rumors as to my gender have been greatly askew. I am not, in fact, a man at all." Here she let her eyes drop to the ground, as if the confession was almost too difficult to utter.

[rii]

Ba'sun spared Kalierre a quick smile as she sat down, effecting a puzzled look afterward and cocking his head with feigned nativity. "I was told I am suppose to agree with everything a woman says. Nod my head and tell her she's right - even when she's wrong." The literal words made him think of Ur'h, and Ba'sun once again began quietly chuckling at his thoughts. It was good to have some of the other wastelanders around again. They were his family more than Selenitas riders were; but that was a given since he had gone through more with his fellow Bendenites than he had the southerners.

The bluerider made the appropriate oh dear face to the threat of death, casually going back to sliding the knife down the length of the arrow while listening to her voice. He didn't imagine it was too hard to drive R'wign crazy, the one-eyed lad got all bent out shape over messes – Ba'sun was sure knocking over a couple more jars would get him 'banned' from the infirmary all together. He never lingered long in there anyway, only breezed through to check on a few known injured – teasing or joking with them before slipping back out before he could suffer some wrath of an on-duty healer.

The playful dip in voice again drew Ba'sun into smiling, and he leaned toward Kalierre to make sure got most out of the confession. A skeptical brow rose as he leaned away, dark eyes scanning Kalierre's face - darting doubtfully down to her breasts then back to her face. The idea of groping her to prove her 'wrong', and be 'surprised' to find her words true, crossed his mind. Although he was enjoying her company and it just wouldn't do to incur her wrath so soon - the only rumors he heard about the Dragon Lady was that she was a fiery woman.

"If that is so, then.. a one eyed, three-legged healer that is all woman runs the infirmary, instead of a body being a quarter male. I will repair the rumors with the weyrfolk at once," Ba'sun mused with no inkling that bring attention to Kalierre having to use a cane might be rude. "This is a relief though," Ba'sun glanced around for eavesdroppers, checking on Shoal's position by Ekarth's tail before staging his own whisper. "It is much easier to serenade a woman than it is a man. Shall I demonstrate?"

[Requiem]

"Mmm." She managed to maintain the serious face, though just barely. "I can see how those could sometimes contradict each other." Her face might have been suitably stoic, but the ripple of amusement behind her voice most definitely betrayed her.

That amusement only grew as his eyes dropped to her chest, and she barked a laugh at the look, shoving lightly at his arm. Don't start that! The woman made a show of protecting her bosoms from his eyes with her hands, shooting him a mock glare. "What happened to agreeing with everything a woman says? Put that look away." She hugged herself tighter. Oh, her poor breasts, in danger of the man's scalding eyes.

The laughter was back in full force, and her hands slipped back down to her lap. Though Kalierre wasn't at all sure how a R'wign-Kalierre hybrid ended up having three legs and one eye, she was more than willing to take it for what it was and laugh at R'wign's expense. Poor guy really did come off pretty feminine sometimes, didn't he? All that fuss and bother and the need to have everything just so...it was fun to mess with him. Kalierre, of course, had her own compulsive behaviors (it was like a necessity to be a healer, or something) but hers tended to be odd. Like the maze of file piles scattered over the floor of her office. Odd or simply pragmatic. An organized infirmary was an efficient one. Of course, she could leave most of that to R'wign; it just made him look like the fussbody and not her. He took care of the things that made him twitch, and her rages were reserved for incompetent healers. Win/win.

"So tempting," she drawled, her mouth quirking at him. "But I don't think that I could ever hope to evade your charm if you turned it full on me. Another serenade would be my undoing." Okay, so she was something of a flirt. Old habit. Besides, it was fun to not take something seriously, for once. Her eyes drifted toward Shoal on the edge of the blanket, and again she couldn't help but wonder if Ba'sun knew whose child he was watching so carefully. When she'd heard the bodies of the twins had been found...It was a terrible thing, and her anger had been hard to contain.

She allowed herself an easy smile. "I see you've gotten yourself a fosterling of your own. What's the little one's name? He can't possibly be more than two." The woman waved at Shoal, wiggling her fingers.

[rii]

Ba'sun enjoyed making people smile, laugh, and generally relax from whatever they let weigh on their minds. It was no only a small escape for them, but for him as well. The bluerider didn't like to be alone with his thoughts, and with Ekarth around he rarely had a moment to reflect, or stir up emotions and occurrences better laid to rest. Most people enjoyed his antics, Kalierre no exception, but he knew there were some that would rather stick by their miseries and wallow. Their loss. He didn't couldn't phantom why people allowed themselves to be so self-destructive..

The corners of his eyes again crinkled in a smile, "Fickle woman. Playing hard to get, are you? I should serenade you anyway to see how well you evade - but not now. This must be a thing done at night outside a window when you least expect it." He had done such a thing twice in his life, more for amusement on his part than anything else. The hold girls, when the war was still new and those that fought in it were a sight to awe at, use to love it - when he was a younger man. It was still fun now to make some of the more reserved types squirm and blush under the direct attention, but Kalierre was not of that sort.

As the jokes waned, Ba'sun too looked in Shoal's direction. "I would place my guess around one. He's mastered the crawling but not quite steady enough on his feet to older than a turn - a turn and a half." Purposely skipping over the question of a name, because he could and he really didn't want to answer it. Erilena had been right, Shoal did need a permanent name so that he didn't draw up an immediate blank when someone asked. "Kirvene. Kirv. I think I am just going to keep calling him little guy, buddy, or kiddo."

Casually spoken, thought Ba'sun was curiously watching the side of Kalierre's features to determine whether or not she knew the kid's real name. His dark eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and he leaned forward to get a better look at her face in full. With the topic on children, it was hard to keep his mind from wandering to thoughts of his own boys; memories both good and bad. But in them there was a mental tugging of familiarity that once before he had contributed to the fact Kalierre had been on his wing - thus a face he would grow to easily recognize. Now, though, he was trying to stare past the scars at a younger face.

The intent study of her features ended in a quietly spoken realization, "You were there when Bo died."

[Requiem]

"Pity I've no windows," the woman commented remorsefully, but her smile couldn't quite be hidden.

She nodded slightly at the man's assessment of the boy's age, laughing outright at the name. "Kirvene? Someone was drunk when they named the poor kid. Yes, Kiddo is definitely better." Her eyes flicked toward him, catching him watching her face, and she couldn't quite help the quirk to the side of her lips. Seemed he knew. That was better, actually. He'd know what things to keep the child away from to avoid any associations. Thinking about it, though, made her miss her old friend a little. The sober mood settled over both of them swiftly.

Still, she did not quite expect what came out of his mouth when it did. Surprised that anyone would see the young woman in the woman she was now, Kalierre regarded him with an unguarded expression for a moment. Bo. The name was not familiar, but Ba'sun's face was. The healer...didn't remember all her patients. She'd had far too many of them, and some things were better to forget. But she couldn't seem to help but remember kids. Not something most people knew about her.

"Yes," she agreed, equally quietly. Bo had to be the boy with the crushed arm... "Was out when it happened but, yes, I was there later." Kalierre studied her hands for a moment, not meeting the man's eyes. She hated losing patients, especially the young ones. Even when they'd never really been hers. And she knew what it meant to lose a child. It must be worse for someone who had seen them grow up; hers hadn't even been born yet. The healer let a small smile touch her lips. "Kirvene seems energetic. He hasn't been giving you too much trouble, I hope? Rel misses his father. K'lir. You may have met him. Obnoxious, mouthy little greenrider. Blind. Good father, though, you can just tell."

Her gaze returned to Ba'sun's. "I suppose you're glad to finally get some freedom back, hm?"