Growing Up

Jenna and Zak have a talk after their fight on Sidanna's turnday about growing up.

Jenna - Wednesday, March 20, 2002, 7:49 AM
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Your location's current time: 8:58 on day 16, month 8, Turn 39, of the Tenth Pass. It is a summer morning.

Raeche walks down the stairs from the Living Cavern to the west.
Raeche has arrived.

Inner Caverns(#944RJL$)
Lower than the Living Cavern above, this room is still a large, bustling place. Hearths heat some of the areas here, allowing elderly and ill residents to rest here rather than mount the steps to the Living Cavern above. Rooms open out to the storerooms, the children's areas, the private rooms of staff members and some of the residents. Laundry rooms and bathing areas down one set of stairs draw near-constant traffic throughout the day.
Two long corridors lead off of here, one to the east and one to the south, going to the crafters' and staff quarters respectively. Noise drifts out from the curtain to the northeast that leads to the residents dorms, and a small door to the north leads to the guest room. A short flight of stairs to the west leads back to the Living Caverns.
Contents:
Raeche
Domino Table

Jenna is dozing lightly in a chair, curled up in what looks like an impossible angle.

Sefaniah walks down the stairs from the Living Cavern to the west.
Sefaniah has arrived.

Sefaniah limps, bowlegged, down the steps, clutching the handrail for dear life and wincing everytime he moves. "Maybe I can just stay here," he mutters to himself hopefully, "Or, or maybe they'll let me -walk- back." Relative safety of the floor is reached, and Sef straightens... as much as he's able.

A fairly moistened Raeche exits the hot spring, comb in hand and being dragged through curling auburn locks with muted mutterings of annoyance at every snag along the way. She pauses by one of the hearths to put her full attention on one particularly nasty knot.

"'Scuse me," Sef calls across the room to Raeche as he hobbles in her direction. "Oh, um, Harper's duties to Fort Weyr." Mental prodding causes him to straighten, though he can't for the life of him get his legs back together. "Ma'am? Miss? Can you answer me a question?"

Raeche pauses in her combings, eyes flicking to the young man - head to toe, up, down, back up again to his face. Her nose twitches once, and she continues combing. "Fort's Duties to Harpercraft - though I'm not really a resident yet. I am capable of answering questions, yes?"

Sefaniah attempts a game smile though it's flavorted with a wince. "Ma'..miss, can you tell me where the Records Rooms are? Master Kelset sent me up here. He said there were some records that needed recopying."

"Oh. Well - as I said, I am new here. I suppose I could help you find them, if you're really hurt. What happened to your leg?" Raeche peers down, eyebrows arched.

Jenna shifts in her chair, curled at an incredibly awkward angle, eyes closed, and head resting on the padded arm. A hide scroll slips from her fingers and slithers to the floor as she moves, apparently trying to get more comfortable.

"Nothing!" Sef lies, his voice cracking as he drags one foot a few inches closer to the other. Now they're only about a foot apart - lucky him. "I, um.. well, I can always ask someone else, I guess." He doesn't move to hunt down that mysterious someone, instead blinking wide-eyes at Raeche. "Um, I'm Sefaniah, by the way."

"It certainly doesn't look like nothing," Raeche says, raising her eyes to his face again. She's paused in her combing again, and reaches down to tug at her skirt hem a little. Her foot swipes out, lightly kicking his left shin. "Is it this one?"

Jenna settles a bit more deeply asleep, one leg now draped over the opposite arm of the chair.

Sefaniah hops out of the way with a cry. "Ow! Hey, what'd you do /that/ for?" Any interest is now replaced with a younger brother's deep distrust. "Look, I'll just go.. go find 'em myself. You stay here!" And he turns to consider the multitude of doors and hallways leading off of the cavern.

Raeche's eyes widen in mock horror. "Oh, you are hurt? Maybe you shouldn't have lied about it." Raeche's slow smile is wide; she points to him with her comb, then grabs a chair and pushes it toward him. "Sit, wherryhead. I'll find your records room."

Jenna snorts herself awake at that cry, mumbling, "What'samatter?" She blinks, and then rights herself, rubbing at the sleep in her eyes.

Sefaniah truculently spits out, "I'll find it my*self*," and begins a slow hobble toward the perimeter of the room, passing Jenna's chair along with several others. "Harper's got to be self-sufficient, anyway."

Raeche tosses her wet hair, shrugging a shoulder at Jenna. "He's looking for the records room, hobbling about in pain."

Jenna stares at the boy and asks the question of the hour, "What'd you do to your legs?" Then she says, "Hey, I know you, don't I?" Still a bit fuddled from sleep, she looks over to Raeche, "Why's he doing that?" Nevermind that the lasd is right there and can likely answer himself.

Sefaniah sniffs. "/I/ didn't do anything to my legs," before turning to confront the girls. "Oh, it's you. 'Lo, Jenna. Your brother made me race up here on runnerback." From the tone of wounded innocence one might suspect that he had no little part to play in the egging on. "And now I'm stuck here until I find the records room, and /she/," he nods to Raeche, "Kicked me in the leg."

"Oh, please. You were lying - you still are," Raeche says, crossing her arms. Her comb juts out of one fist at a jaunty angle. "I'm not hurt! Oooh! I'm just limping around! Probably making it worse, too."

Jenna gives Sefaniah a bewildered look. "Which brother? Not Merrin, was it? He's *supposed* to be running, not /riding/ runner." Her tone is aggrieved. She looks to Raeche, "Did you really kick him?" She looks back to the lad and then says belatedly, "Oh! They did apprentice you after all. Congratulations."

Raeche adopts an innocent expression - innocent for her, anyway, which still looks slightly shifty. "Only lightly. A tap."

"Merrin, yeah," Sef agrees. Apparently now he's decided to blatantly ignore Raeche, even going so far as to Not Look at her, and glance every so often her way to make sure she knows it. "He said it'd be faster, and Master Kelset wants me back at the Hall before supper tonight, so..."

Jenna says mildly, "If you were that sore from a runner ride, you'd never have made it up the mountain running." That she doesn't mention her brother again promises dire things for the lad, skipping out on his training. She grins a bit at Raeche. "Tap's not a kick. I could /show/ you a kick if you like," she offers to both of them, lips quirking in wry amusement. "So what do you need the records room for anyway?"

Raeche nods to Jenna, smiling sweetly at her. "Do kick him if you like." That said, she returns to combing her hair, feigning disinterest in their conversation.

Sefaniah repeats louder - old people have bad hearing - "MASTER KELTSET sent me to copy some records." An eyeroll when he thinks Jenna's not looking. Sheesh. Girls. "It's got to be in one of these rooms..." And around the room he goes again, invisible runner still holding his legs apart.

Jenna grins at Raeche, and then eyes the harper lad. "No need to shout, boy. We can hear you just fine. But we'd best find Kate before you go mucking around in the records room. Norri's rather picky about them, and she'll have to straighten up whatever mess you make."

Raeche shakes her head a bit, snickering into her hair. The snicker dies as she encounters a nasty knot.

Sefaniah pauses with one hand on a thick door. "I," he informs you both - well, just Jenna. He's still ignoring Raeche - don't make messes. Not in records." He pushes the door open and gives a triumphant snort of laughter. "Hah!" Inside he goes, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Sefaniah steps into the Weyr's records room.
Sefaniah has left.

Jenna bursts out laughing as soon as the door shuts behind the lad. "My, but he's got a temper!"

Raeche laughs as well, a true laugh. "Incredibly silly. Mmmph - he doesn't like me now."

Jenna says mildly, "Well, at least you're in good company then. I don't think he much likes me either."

Raeche settles into the seat she pushed out for Sefaniah, mmphing again. "So many silly children about. I suppose they were right about Weyrfolk being pregnant constantly."

Jenna blinks. "What? Who said that?"

"Oh, people. At Bitra," Raeche says, shrugging a shoulder again. She peers up from beneath her eyelashes at Jenna in the midst of combing.

Jenna starts to reply to that, and then settles back in her chair again, planting slippered feet in the seat and drawing her knees up to her chest. "You said you wanted to talk to me about what it was like when I first got here?"

Raeche's head bobs a little. "Mmmn-hmmn. If you wouldn't mind. I'm just... curious."

Jenna shakes her head. "I don't mind. What do you want to know?"

Raeche shakes her head. "Just... what it was like. How you fit in."

Jenna mms. "Well, it wasn't easy at first. Fallon's is a *very* small cothold. I spent the first two sevendays just wandering around, learning what goes where. I'm an utter disaster at anything even remotely domestic."

You head outside to the bowl.
Center of the Fort Weyr Bowl(#200RJ$)
The Bowl of Fort Weyr, a large, featureless plain surrounded by steep mountain cliffs, stretches out around you. It is approximately oval in shape, about 2700 meters along the long axis running southwest to northeast, and about half that distance across the short axis. You stand in its approximate centre. The soil of the bowl is somewhat sandy.
At the closest point to the living caverns about half of the tables from within that large area are placed outside, here, in the bowl. Rider and resident and guests alike partaking of meals in the open air. Indeed, one of the tables bears blackened marks, and no one seems to want to sit there.
To the northwest is the large cavern used for the Weyrling barracks. To the west is the fenced off area where the Weyr's herds are kept, and the lake shore is to the southwest. To the northeast can be seen the ledges for the junior queens and the weyrleaders. The large entrance to the Hatching Grounds can also be seen to the northeast and to the east are the Lower Caverns.

Zalkin walks across the bowl from the Lower Caverns.
Zalkin has arrived.

Jenna is already stretching slowly to warm up.

Zalkin jogs out of the Caverns, breathing regularly. Looking around a moment, he spots the runner and stops right by her, looking up and checking the sun. "Present and ready for training Ma'am!" he says in a quite neutral voice, standing still.

Jenna nods slightly. "Let's start with a trot around the bowl to warm up. I spoke with the healers yesterday evening," she says, as she starts out at a slow pace. "They said that it was a nasty cold you caught. We'll take it easy today, to get you back in the swing of things."

"Yes Ma'am," the boy immediatly agrees, still stretching his legs with a small grimace. "I'm not as stiff as I was afraid to be, though." he reamrks in a relieved tone.

Jenna continues the leisurely jog around the bowl. "You don't have to call me ma'am, Zak." The silence lingers for a few moments and she then says, "Why are you in such a hurry to grow up?"

Zalkin now jogs along, just besides Jenna, and he keeps breathing correctly. Despite his recent lack of training, he's following well and doesn't look more tired than usual. "Looks like I'm expected to," he quickly answers between clenched teeth.

Jenna shakes her head. "You're not. You're expected only to think. Pranks are one thing. But deliberately putting your health at risk is another. And hoenstly? To impress a girl is a silly reason to do it."

Zalkin grits his teeth and frowns noticeably. "D'you think we've to talk 'bout it today?" he asks in a nervous voice, loking straight in front of him.

Jenna nods. "Yeah, I think we do." She pauses and says, "Someone pointed out to me that children grow up faster in a weyr. So why do you want to rush to the head of the class?"

Zalkin snorts disdainfully and shakes his head, breathing a bit less regularly, but seemingly not tiring yet. "Why do adults get everything wrong?" he mutters, loud enough to ne heard, unfortunately.

Jenna says patiently, "So explain it to me."

Zalkin grunts and dares looking at Jenna. "What are you thinking exactly?" he first asks. "That she's my girlfriend, that I wanted to impress her, that I kissed her cos I love her and so on and so forth?" Hearing him, he already well polished his explanations. He sounds sincere enough though.

Jenna says mildly, "What I'm thinking is: a pretty little girl has started paying attention to you. You're curious. You want to impress her generally, and one way to do that is break the rules. Show her how they don't apply to you. And, in the process, forget about what responsibilities you *do* have. You shouldn't have too many right now, Zak. You're still growing up, and your main focus show be running, harper lessons, and having fun." She pauses and points out, "You're already hiding things from me. That's a good sign you knew what you were doing was wrong. If you'd just gone with her to celebrate, that'd be one thing. But you knew it was wrong, you knew it might hurt you, and you did it anyway. That's just plain not thinking, Zak."

Zalkin rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "You're at least wrong one one point. But you're right, I wasn't allowed out of the infirmary. I mean, I knew I'd be allowed out the day after, or so, and that's not as if I caught firehead..." He sighs again, slowing a bit. "But I didn't 'break the rule' to impress her. I don't want to impress girls. It's waste of time." Yes, pure boyishness leaking there... "She's more rule-breaking than me, mind you!"

Jenna says gently, "But we're not talking about her. She's her father's responsibility. We're talking about you. And you're mine in a way, just like an apprentice is to the journeyman he's studying under. The healers thought *I'd* taken you out of the infirmary and put you back to work when you shouldn't have been. And you don't have to catch firehead to be really sick, you know. If you'd just *asked* me to help, I might have arranged a surprise party just outside in the living cavern that the healers would have let you come to. But we'll never know now, will we? I'm worried about you, Zak," She slows as well. "It just seems like you never stop to think."

Zalkin snorts angrily and shakes his head again, pushing back his hair. "One of the Apprentices saw me leave on my own. Guess he didn't tell anyone. And it was totally improvised, how could I ask anyone for help? I didn't even know it was her turnday." He pauses. "She's been visiting me every day, even sitting by my bed for Faranth knows how long. I owed her that at least, I think. And I'm really sorry if I worried you..."

Jenna says quietly, "That's the first thing you've said so far that makes an uncommon amount of sense, Zak." She drops to a walk as the circuit is completed. "But you owe *yourself* first and foremost. Even behind me." She cracks a little grin and then sobers slightly, "Take care of yourself first, and then you can take care of whomever else might come along. But you haave to be one hundred percent well in order to do that - see my point? It's why I'm always after the Weyrleaders and Norse and Lu to sit down and relax for a minute. It's not good to be 'all work' just like it's not good to be 'all play'."

Zalkin deeply sighs as he stops jogging to walk along, though it's not clear whether it's a tiredness sigh or something else. "I do understand. Well, I guess I just thought about what Tarein calls 'priorities' when he's being yelled at by mum and the girls..."

Jenna asks lightly, "What's that?"

Zalkin shrugs, looking definitely thoughtful. "Well, he says he has to choose between two things now and then, and that he shall choose the most important one to him. For others, it can be the wrong choice."

Jenna sighs quietly, offering out a hug to the lad. "I'm not saying it's wrong to choose friends, Zak. Just that the timing was. And just make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Okay?"

Zalkin can't help hugging Jenna back, tightly. "Yes Jenna," he tersely answers in a hoarse voice.

Jenna ruffles his hair. "Come on now, let's do some windsprints, okay? Half the amount we usually do."

Zalkin eagerly nods. "Yeah, you'll see I'm okay!" he enthusiastically answers.