"Tarun! Tarun!" Reija called into the chaos of the kitchens preparing for the evening meal at Three Hills Hold. "Tarun! Get your hind end over here now!"
The skinny cook appeared almost instantly. How a man could be a cook and be so sharding skinny Reija wasn't sure, but it helped him to get through a crowd fast. "You called, assistant headwoman?"
"Yes I did, and don't try to be funny," Reija fumed. "We've just recieved word that a Searchrider is going to be here for the evening meal. So there's a change in meal plans. I want the best wherry roast you've ever made, that dark brown bread you made yesterday, a fresh loaf or three, a whitefish fillet, not a bone in sight, and the best wine in the wine cellars."
Tarun chuckled. "You're a bit demanding, but we can do it. It'd be nice if you'd given us more notice, though."
"I just found out two seconds ago," Reija told him. "I came to you first. Now I've got to get the best linens on the tables... just get to work." Reija was out of the kitchens and on her way before Tarun could say anything else.
Why was she not told about these things earlier? Reija wondered angrily as she stormed through the halls. As if it wasn't stressful enough that the day she was in charge of running the hold a dragonrider had shown up on her doorstep. Or would be any second now.
Reija was so involved in thinking about everything that would probably go wrong at the evening meal that she didn't notice that she was about to run into someone. Most people at Three Hills had learned to move out of the way of their fiery young headwoman, but this unfortunate person didn't. "Watch where you're going you clumsy..." Reija stopped mid-snarl as she looked up to see that she had just bumped into a dragonrider, according to the knots on the man's shoulder.
The dragonrider looked more than a little flustered. "I'm sorry, I will try to be more careful..." the rider began to apologize, but Reija cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"It's not your fault. I should have been paying attention, I guess the people here have just learned to move out of the way when they see me coming," Reija chuckled. "I assume you're the Searchrider who messed up our evening meal plans?"
The Searchrider grinned. "That would be me. I'm R'lan, searchrider on blue Ancith, from Ryslen Weyr."
Reija shifted a stack of hides and then extended her hand in greeting. "Merry meet R'lan. I'm Reija, assistant headwoman of Three Hills Hold."
"Only assistant?" R'lan chuckled. "The way you've got these people trained, I would've thoguht you were headwoman. You do look a bit young though..."
"Which is why I'm assistant headwoman, although the headwoman has given me control of the hold for the day," Reija explained. "So whatever you were going to ask her, you can ask me."
"I was going to ask her when the most Candidate-aged people would be together in one place, but I suppose no one would know better than a Candidate-aged person," R'lan replied.
"Your best bet is the dining hall at meal time," Reija suggested. "That, or the beach, but it's a bit cold yet for that to be a good place to look."
"How far away is that, by the way? Meal time, I mean," R'lan asked. "I don't know how Ancith manages to eat only once or twice a sevenday."
"Meal time is much later because of your unexpected but welcome arrival," Reija informed him. "In about two or three hours, I would say."
"Any suggestions on what I could do until then?" R'lan asked, obviously dissapointed that he'd arrived so far ahead of schedule.
"You could come down to the kitchens for a cup of klah," Reija suggested.
R'lan grinned. "Why not?"
R'lan followed Reija down to the kitchens where Terithe was mixing herself a pitcher of klah. "Aunt Terithe!" Reija exclaimed. "You're supposed to be resting!"
Terithe turned around. "And you're supposed to be working. But I'm cooking and you're flirting, so we'll call it even."
"I am not flirting!" Reija exclaimed, though she blushed in spite of herself. "I don't see why a man and a woman can't have a nice, friendly conversation without being accused of flirting."
"Because you're getting more flirting done than talking," Terithe replied. "Who's your victim this time? she inspected R'lan and gave a low whistle. "A Searchrider? The one who's changed our meal plans?"
R'lan nodded. "The very one."
"Welcome to Three Hills Hold," Terithe grinned. "I'm Headwoman Terithe, and you've already met my assistant headwoman and niece Reija."
"Bumped into her in the hallway, actually," R'lan admitted.
"So, R'lan isn't it? You've been here before, I think," Terithe joined them at the table. "Found anyone yet?"
"Not yet... I don't think..." R'lan replied. "Ancith hasn't told me if he has, at any rate."
"Well I hope you find someone here, we need some excitement," Terithe chuckled.
"Reija, have you ever thought about going to a Weyr?" R'lan asked suddenly.
"Not really," Reija admitted. "I'd like to be a headwoman at one, but beyond that, not really."
"Would you like to go to Ryslen Weyr?" R'lan asked excitedly.
"Hey, no stealing headwomen," Terithe waggled a finger. "You've got plenty in your lower caverns."
"Why would she be in the lower caverns?" R'lan asked impishly. "I was talking about as a Candidate!"
"A what?" Reija exclaimed. She'd become used to suprises in the past few months, but they had been nothing compared to this.
"You heard the man," Terithe answered for R'lan. "A Candidate! You've been Searched, Rei!"
"Of course, you don't have to go to Ryslen..." R'lan let the sentence hang. He could tell the answer from the look on Reija's face.
Reija grinned when she saw R'lan's expression. "Why wouldn't I want to?"
| |
