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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 12, 2007 19:29:35 GMT -5
Nisha sat looking dejected. While cutting up meat for her Green, the newly made Weyrling had grown sick- and looking a little green in her face, she'd run off to take care of the problem, and gone back to cutting up more meat, hoping that no one had seen.
Well, of course they'd seen, but no one made a big deal about it. And then it had been time for hauling heavy objects, like bags of firestone, around, when Nisha had been struck but sudden weakness, and nearly dropped her load. She hadn't, but she'd felt fearful that she would.
And at the near end of her day, Nisha had escaped to down a hall, sat down, and contemplated what she could do. And couldn't think of anything.
Her clothing was dirty, scuffed, with parts of the skirt fraying, and the long sleeved shirt(a dirty gray color), hardly fitting at all, being stretched tight across her stomach. Her hair was tightly braided, but more than just little wisps had escaped, and it didn’t look like she’d recently washed her hair. Nisha looked a simple mess.
Close to tears, and feeling awful about herself, Nisha sat there, oblivious to everything around her.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 12, 2007 19:46:28 GMT -5
That was settled. Finally! If she didn't love that woman's organizational skills, she'd have the cooks flay her alive. Maybe thats what Headwomen were for. She had promoted the irritating woman herself. Remember, she has always shown us curtesy and she never does anything important without your approval.Too true, my darling. Still, could she have more silly topics for me to examine. Isn't anyone in the Weyr having a genuine problem? I swear she is trying to keep me from doing anything strenuous. I'm not THAT old.
Marisol looked much stronger since the illness had left. The children who had gotten it and survived looked stronger and healthier than ever. The Retired Weyrwoman was a busy body at best and knew most of what was going on in the Weyr. All the gossip and all the nuances did not escape her all to eager mind. She liked knowing. Curiosity had gotten her to the Weyr to begin with... well that and her good looks, charm and a certain Bronzerider.
Her smile visibly diminished as she rounded a corner to find a young woman who looked as lost as a person could be. Perfect! She squeeled to Beynath in delight. Someone I can help!Barsamith's rider of Adeloth's latest clutch. Nisha.The Gold always made it a point to know who was bonded to whom and with the Hatching so fresh in the Gold's memory she seemed to have taken a liking to those of the latest clutch. Bey wanted to know all the young ones as usual. She loved dragonets.
The older woman knelt down in front of Nisha and put a hand on the younger woman's hand. "My dear, I think you should come with me. Your in need of a good cup of warm milk and some care." Marisol was kind in her tone and wanted the girl to feel that she would be safe in her keeping.
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 12, 2007 20:27:06 GMT -5
Nisha jumped slightly when Marisol touched her. Really, she scolded herself silently, she ought to have been paying more attention. It wasn't as if anyone should not notice the Weyrwoman, even if she was retired.
And when the older woman offered milk and comfort, Nisha knew her eyes were tearing up. It wasn't as if the Weyrling wasn't aware that she was dirty, and and she knew that very few people would want to bring her, and her problems into a room with them. Smiling hesitantly, Nisha looked into Marisol's warm eyes.
"I- I think that would help a lot, Ma'am." She pushed herself up, and smoothed her dark brown skirt nervously. It wasn't everyday that you drank with the Weyrwoman, and her eyes watched carefully to make sure nothing she did gave offense to the Weyrwoman.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 12, 2007 20:40:46 GMT -5
Marisol smiled and slowly stood with the Weyrling. "We can all use a warm cup of milk now and again. I know just where we should go to enjoy it." Beynath, I'll be up shortly... Q'tre is?He is in the Records room. Shall I inform Tlanth of our visitor?That would be best. The Gold did not respond after that, nor did she need to.
Q'tre would know that Marisol meant for him to stay in the Records room until she had set this girl right. This wouldn't be the first time this week she had done so. Rarely did the Weyr have every single member happy and healthy. Marisol seemed to happen upon the unfortunates, which suited her just fine.
The old woman wrapped an arm around the girl, in a motherly fashion. "How is Barsamith? Beynath tells me she's a very energetic green..." Beynath was entirely too keen on this clutch. Perhaps it was because she no longer had any clutches herself. Dragons didn't look back, nor did they think on the future. They were usually content to live in the present. That was what was strange to their human counterparts. Things were far less complicated when one thought only for the moment.
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 13, 2007 21:29:38 GMT -5
Nisha leaned into the comforting body of Marisol, feeling some of her worries drain away. It felt good to let someone else take the lead, and have someone else do the thinking, just like back when she'd been a simple drudge with a proclivity for illicit activity.
But that happy existence of simple following couldn't stay there, and nor could the basic question about Barsamith be delayed for long at all.
"She's a good girl." Nisha responded softly, without the usual Weyrling exuberance about her dragon. "Barsamith never causes any trouble." If only her rider could follow the little Green's excellent example. Nisha sighed, feeling even worse than before. If only she could be good as the other half of the rider pair.
Trying to distract herself from thoughts that would cause more harm than good, Nisha looked about the hall without much interest. It was gloomy, though that might have been her frame of mind talking, and it needed to be dusted. It was the kind of hall she would have cleaned back when she was a drudge.
It would have been better to continue thinking on dragons.
"How is Beynath?
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 14, 2007 17:18:37 GMT -5
"Like rider like dragon." Marisol spoke in a tone that suggested that riders were more like their dragons than they knew. Besides once you got to Beynath and Marisol's ages there was nothing the other didn't know and you had lived through every situation together. Beynath felt all that Marisol had since she was a younger girl than Nisha was.
"Beynath is keeping herself occupied, looking in on the newest dragons. She is very keen on this latest clutch. Still the mothering type even if she won't be having any more of her own." Marisol was wistful but made no more comment along that line. Silly to think of things like that so late in ones life. There were other things to enjoy now.
When Marisol walked into her weyr, a personal drudge immediately came to wait on her. "I'll be needing a couple mugs of warm milk...Thank you." The drudge was a cheery middle aged woman who, despite being a bit bossy was very good at making sure Marisol had what she needed to make it through the day. She had set out Marisol's slippers and a warm blanket lay on her couch.
The weyr was one of the largest in Telgar... Elisha's was the largest but not by much. The Retired Weyrwoman had decorated richly with color but not too much. It was apparent by her weyr that she had some sense of modern style though still clung to an older generation. "Here, have a seat on my couch, its very comfortable. Had it specially made for me, in my older age." It was in front of the fire place. Which crackled welcomingly at its visitors. Marisol needed a good sit by the fire today anyway. It felt colder than Between out there tonight.Not that cold... but still it seems more so now than before.Agreed.
Marisol sat down on one end of the couch, there was still plenty of room for Nisha to sit. "Tell me, what is troubling you?" There probably was more than one thing troubling the young woman and she could try to guess at what was wrong but the girl ought to tell her everything. Much like her dragon the people of the Weyr felt compelled to tell her things. Which was just the way the busy body wanted it.
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 15, 2007 19:16:42 GMT -5
Nisha smiled gamely at Weyrwoman. She had to admit, it would be weird for a Queen dragon after she stopped clutching, or at least, that's how she felt. A Queen's greatest gift were her children, and after that was over with, how would a Queen feel about that?
Really, it was much better that Barsamith was a green. She'd always be useful, even when she stopped flying. Searchriding could happen even after they retired from a regular Wing, and they could help with any female rider, they could be trusted to deliver messages, and well, just about anything! Greens were never to high and mighty to refuse to do hard, grubby labor.
A pale thought of how much better it was to be a Green filled her mind, and had Nisha been better at sending, she would have told her Green how perfect she really was.
But the Weyrwoman was asking her a question, and Nisha had to answer it- she'd been trained to obey authority from birth.
"I'm not good enough to be a rider." She replied flatly.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 15, 2007 19:41:22 GMT -5
"Codswallop. You Nisha are exactly what we need in a rider. Someone who cares about others as much as you do will work great in any wing. You have no problems doing work when asked, that also makes a good rider. You are also a good listener and someone who can take direction is much more useful in a wing than someone who gives it. " She paused as the drudge came in with teh two mugs of milk and put one in Marisol's hands and the other in Nisha's.
"I can see that you have some self esteem issue but my dear, we all doubt at times. Do you think it was easy for me to accept the responsibility of being a rider? I was a simple farm girl who had never even been to a major Hold let alone a Weyr." Marisol admittedly never said anything about that difficult transition but she had had help from many Bronzers.
"Are you feeling well, I mean physically not emotionally? You just don't seem yourself..." Though Marisol didn't remember everything about everyone in the Weyr she had to say she remembered Nisha a little less flushed and well her cheeks were rounder. If Marisol knew anything it was what she felt like when she looked like that and it had nothing to do with being a rider and everything to do with being pregnant. Then again the girl could just be under too much pressure.
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 15, 2007 19:58:53 GMT -5
"I'm not!" Nisha head felt like it was spinning, and hoping that it was only dehydration, Nisha took a sip of the offered tea.
"Yes, I'm a good listener, and I do what I'm told- but I can't even sense Barsamith when she's more than a room or two any from me, and I can hardly speak to her in my head, and everyone else can with ease. And I should be able to!"
Another sip of the milk- Nisha was very thirsty, and more than a little hungry. But then again, she'd been hungry every day for a very long time. It felt like she was never eating enough, but Nisha had thought it was only a bleedover from Barsamith.
"I'm Weyrbred for Faranath's sake." Her voice had dropped back down to it's normal level. Which was to say, she was speaking in a tone above a loud whisper, but below a normal voice.
"And I'm gaining weight, and I nearly faint from nausea at the smell of red meat. I should have never Impressed!
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 15, 2007 20:27:02 GMT -5
"You just need to do some bonding with her. I am going to reccommend something to La'nae in fact, he and I are going to have a chat. You are under much too much pressure. Barsamith needs you to be healthy in all ways and I fear that this is all connected to one thing, which you may not know you are suffering from." Marisol sighed, why did she have to be the one to tell her?
"If you don't mind my asking, did you ummm have any sexual interactions before you impressed?" The girl was Weyrbred so she doubted that Nisha would do anything with a man when her dragon was so young. She didn't really want to say the next things but she had too.
"The symptoms you are describing remind me of my own pregnancies. I think Nisha we need to have a long chat with the WEyrlingmaster. You are in no condition to lift heavy firestone or anything like that. You shall be put on lighter chores and if the lessons are labor intensive you shall spend lesson time with me going through records."
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 15, 2007 21:10:05 GMT -5
Nisha listened to what Marisol said, though she was not nearly convinced. However, other than her need for Bonding with Barsamith, the Weyrwoman's next words were even more frightening. Nisha was always careful to avoid sex with men while she was likely to be fertile, but- but during the Queen flight.
"Oh shards." Nisha cursed. "It was just one night- one time. It couldn't be." She looked horrified, thinking of what all of this could mean. Her uncle would never forgive her, nor Rory, and oh, Barsamith- for the first time, she was glad they weren't tightly linked. Barsamith really didn't need to be exposed to all of this.
"I've always been so careful!" Tears were building up in her eyes, and Nisha had a premonition that she was going to be crying for a good while yet.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 15, 2007 21:26:09 GMT -5
Nisha was a good girl and Marisol would now have to do everything in her power to make sure she remained mentally sound for her dragon. First things first, she needed to hold the poor child. Sometimes knowing someone else was there to help could make one feel better. The retired Weyrwoman put her arms around Nisha. "Let it out, you'll feel better."
Marisol couldn't help but wonder who the father was and if he would be able to care for a child until it was old enough to go into the Creche. Something, Nisha unfortunately would have to think about when considering her future as a dragonrider. "My pregnanices always happened when I least expected. Especially my last one. My son, M'lon. Not that my first two weren't just as shocking but I wasn't really expecting to get pregnant again."
She didn't say anything else, thinking of her children sometimes made her melancholy. She had a great grandson, thats how long ago she had children of her own. One of whom she never spoke to. Reisol was not a bad woman, she was simply strange and to fear dragons when your own mother rode a Gold was practically unheard of. It was a good thing Marisol sent for R'net while he was young.
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 15, 2007 21:41:00 GMT -5
Nisha leaned into the Weyrwoman, and simply wept. She couldn't believe that she was pregnant, but it did add up. Her lack of menses, the nausea, her mood swings when it came to her Dragon, everything.
It was horrible.
When, after a good long while, she was finally able to stop sobbing, Nisha drew in a deep breath, and sighed. She was quiet for another few minutes, thinking of nothing in particular, then she moved a smidgen away from the Weyrwoman, though not out of physical contact.
"Did- did your kids do well?" She was asking how they'd turned out, how they'd gone on to be, if having a riding mother had effected them- negatively, or positively. Nisha was frightened, but this talk would help. The Greenrider could sense it.
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Post by hrsegrl on Oct 15, 2007 22:00:45 GMT -5
Marisol felt better having held the girl till she stopped crying. "My first born, Marivern was always a funny girl. I had to foster her but her foster parents were always telling me of some stunt she pulled or other. Marivern was always a tomboy so it came to no suprise that while she was old enough to stand for the Gold Egg which produced Talorath, she impressed to blue Voseth. She's quite the fun, charming bluerider. If you ever meet her you'll see what I mean." She smiled, her children were dear to her.
"Reisol, I have not spokn to in a long time. She was my second child and while I tried to understand her moods and whims, I could not keep her at the Weyr. She fears dragons." Marisol said, her voice held a great amount of remorse. She wished things had gone differently for that child.
"My third and last child, is my son, M'lon who rides brown Tevth. I was so sick during my pregnancy with him, Beynath had to talk me out of suicidal Betweening. Now though he's actually a nice guy. Very understanding and his weyrmate is a sweet woman. They named their daughter after me. Marisol of green Seryth. I have another grandchild, R'net of Bronze Torenth and my first great grandchild is three turns or so, Reiko and trust me he got all his looks and personality from my side of the family." Marisol grinned, family was important.
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Post by thedreamerlady on Oct 15, 2007 22:22:33 GMT -5
"I know R'net." Nisha admitted softly. They had been- special friends a long while ago, but that was nothing to bring up with his grandmother. "He's a good man. You should be proud of him."
That he was the son of a dragonscared woman made no sense at all. R'net never seemed like he feared anything. He seemed much more like his Grandmother- but then again, Rankers, good Rankers, the kind who looked out for those lower than them, often seemed to have that air.
"If my child turns out as a delightful person as him, I'd be proud." Nisha looked at her hands. "Do you think I'll be able to spend time with my child? I will foster it- it's only right, but could I spend time?"
Some riders, she knew, spent no time at all with their children. It was seemed like some felt like they were filling a duty in my have a child or three, but never liked them. She didn't want to be a distant mother, even if she couldn't be their full time.
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