ilare

Heading back down the well-lit stairs, you quickly arrive back in the
caverns.

Living Caverns
The rough-hewn majesty of this cavern far outpaces any delight in the
multitudes of curves that form its enclosure. The glabrous grey granite
is shot through with translucent obsidian, lending subtly-veined sparkle
to the walls and the foot-trodden smoothness of the floor that shows
centuries-old placements of the scarred trestle tables; carven hollows
give homes for the glow baskets and the coat-pegs that line the walls. No
mosaics, no painting, no tiles: just a few well-done tapestries mark the
pathway that lead to the kitchen to the north and the inner caverns to
the west, and frame the nighthearth's stew and snacks, while a heavier
strip of oiled canvas shields the unwary from the wind in the bowl.
Tucked into a glowlit niche are Donnan, Searcher, Quenn, Tiramisu, Gyo,
Heaven, Hunter, Kelpie, Aftiel, Nyumnyum, Ebb, Mamoru, Rude, Freak,
Truro, Boingy, Tork, Spoingy, Boink, Endel, Spuds, Leviathan, Ashleigh,
Lava, Oren, Wufei, Sociopathe, Heero, BronzeMaleFirelizard,
Lechehedonvoluptintri, Marp, Tyan, Archimedes, Pyre, Rhiannon, Vincent,
Kinky, Celta, Poldhu, Valor, Vsevolod, Amulet, Yolk, Fish, and Buffy.
You see Old Auntie sit-by-the-fire, OOC NOTICE (look sign), Food, Boots,
Hobbes, Nimbus, Generic Sign-Up Sheet, Kageri, and Gigi here.
Etowaru is here.
Obvious exits:
Bowl Kitchens Inner Caverns Crafting Area

Etowaru looks up and smiles at the newcomer. "Hello!"

Paige blinks at the greeting, before giving a smile. Slightly timid, which
is unlike her, but she's not been here long at all. "Good Morning.."
Etowaru smiles at her. "Want some klah?" she offers, patting the seat next
to her. "Where're you from?"

Paige takes the seat opposite, still damp hair clinging to her shoulders a
little. Kathryn peers at the weyrchild and cheeps in a friendly manner.
"Yes, please," she grins at the beverage offer, before giving a smile.
"Ah, me? I'm from Keroon. I'm a herder. Officially, I'm here to help
Frayum with some of the runners here," She taps the knot on her shoulder.
Leaning forward, she gives a smile and lowers her voice. "But, between
us, unofficially? I'm here to get some rest away from my hall. I've.. not
been very well."

Etowaru nods understandingly. "Poor thing," she sympathises, smiling. "Why
haven't you been feeling well?" She pours out a mug of klah and hands it
to Paige, adding, "By the way, glad to hear you're here to see the
runners. I'm a stablehand."

Witholding amusement at the friendly girl's last comment, Paige nods as
she sips her klah. "Thanks.. ah, that's good," her approval of the klah
is reflected in the bright green eyes. "Is that so? Well, I hope you've
been doing a better job with them here than the current batch of
apprentice at Keroon have.." Her voice ends in a sigh, one that ends in a
sad note. "I'd.. kind of prefer not to talk about it.."

Tilarekna arrives from deeper in the Weyr.

Etowaru nods sympathetically. "Then don't," she smiles. "You wanna see our
runners? That always cheers /me/ up!" Spotting Tilarekna, she waves.

Tilarekna emerges from the Weyr's inner caverns with a yawn, drawn by the
sent of klah. "Morning," is called by sleepy lips, and then.. Freezing,
Reka's jaw drops. "Paige? Paige!!"

Paige grins. "They cheer me too." Especially her three, the cheeky-- Her
name is yelled, and putting down her mug, she manages to turn in time to
brace herself for the flying impact of heer younger cousin's tacklehug.
"Tee?" she blinks in surprise, before hugging the former Ista weyr
resident and current candie. "Tee! What are you doing here?"

Etowaru laughs. "I take it you two know each other, then."

Tilarekna grins and hugs her father's cousin tight, before nodding at
Etowaru. "Yup. this iss my cousin Paige, the herder one I told you
about.." she turns back to Paige and makes a noise. "I wgot Searched. Why
else would I be here? In the cold?" Okay, so it's not THAT cold anymore,
but complaining is FUN.

Etowaru grins and shoves Reka playfully. "It's /not/ cold. Not anymore,
anyway."

Paige raises an eyebrow, before chuckling. "Poor Tee, cold are we? You're
too used to Ista. You need to get out more.." And she's been telling
folks about her? Meep! Better hope she's not heard about the Smith
Incident...

Gigi twitches slightly in her sleep.

Kaslarna arrives from deeper in the Weyr.

Tilarekna thpppts at both, and looks unimpressed by their words. "It's
COLD." Thus, if she says it's cold, it's COLD. 'Nuff said. Eyes turn back
to her cousin. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Paige gives a sigh at the question. Does she really have to answer? Most
likely. Or her kin will pester. "I've not been well. Frayum invited me
here to get away from Keroon a while." Well, that's the basic outline of
the truth. No need to flesh it out. A nod is tossed Kaslarna's way,
beefore the still behugged herder reaches for her klah mug again.

Kaslarna walks into the living caverns, and halts on the periphery upon
seeing others there. Recognising Etowaru, she moves forward again,
smiling. "Good morning, or night, depending on your point of view."

Etowaru grins. "Think you can say morning, Kas."

Tilarekna blinks, and releases her cousin, giving her a once over.
"Sheesh.. Look at you. You really HAVE been ill.." Head turns and she
grins at Kaslarna. "Morning."

Kaslarna pulls up a chair, and sits in it. "Mind if I join you?" she
queries "Oh, I'm Kaslarna by the way."

Paige smiles in greeting, and raises her mug. "Good morning to you, please
join us. I'm Paige, herdercraft." Not revelation of rank, you'll note. At
the moment, the only thing she wants to do is relax and get away from
that sort of thing..

Etowaru shakes her head. "Course we don't mind. Leastways, I don't!"

Tilarekna chuckles, although her eyes glance at her cousin. "I'm
Tilarekna.. but you can call me Reka, or Rekna, or Tilar, or Til, but NOT
Rekky." Or Tee. That's Paige's name for her. "Welcome."

Kaslarna smiles."Thanks. Pleased to meet you Paige, and you Reka. I'm glad
to see I'm not the only one who gets up early here. Or all you all up
late?"

Paige chuckles.. "I'm running on Keroon time, myself. I've only been here
a couple of days, you see.."

Etowaru *gtg... thanks for the RP!

Tilarekna rolls her eyes at her cousin, but says nothing more as she
reaches for a spare mug, fills it and takes a sip. "I'm from Ista Weyr.
I'm running on alternate time, too..."

Etowaru goes home.

"I don't know what time I'm running on, probably Gigi's time." Kaslarna indicates the sleeping canine. "She wakes me up at all sorts of times,
the daft thing." Changing the topic she asks, "How are you both this
morning then?"

Paige yawns a little, cradling the mug in her hand. "You live here, I take
it?" she enquires of Kaslarna, before grinning faintly. "I'm... I'm well,
I suppose you might say."

"Yeah, I live here. Sorry, I'm still partly asleep." Kaslarna replies,
stifling a yawn.

Tilarekna gives a huge yawn, then mock-glares at Paige. YOU started me
yawning, damn yo--err, um.. "I'm pretty good. Although these three.." she
motions to Bay, Jolinar and Kairo, "Are determined to keep me awake when
they feel like it.. so I know how you feel."

Kaslarna has disconnected.
Kaslarna falls asleep.

Paige sighs and pushes back her chair. "I'd better go do some work," she
sighs, before patting her cousin's shoulder. "I'll see you around,
right?"

The housekeeper arrives to cart Kaslarna off to bed.

Tilarekna grins, and hugs her cousin again. "Liar. You get to bed. You
look shattered, whether you agree or not." With a playful push, she shoos
Paige back to her room.

Paige chuckles and shakes her head. "I'm going, I'm going..."

So many tunnels, so little time; you opt to head across the cavern and up
the long broad stairs into the rooms above the lower caverns. Working
rooms, these, filled with busy little crafters.

Thanks go to Ilare for letting me borrow a copy of the log *smooch*