Jenna returns from her time at Igen area with a present for L'nan.

Jenna - Monday, December 10, 2001, 4:24 PM
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Your location's current time: 17:19 on day 6, month 6, Turn 38, of the Tenth Pass. It is a summer afternoon.

Hot Springs
The first thing which draws your eye when entering this vast subterranean cavern is the sheer height of it - a massive bubble hollowed out of rock by the pressures of volcanic gases at some time when Fort's volcano still spurted flame. The eye is drawn up and up into the darkness of the ceiling, where occasional flecks of mica reflect the light and catch the eye, flickering like solitary fireflies. Towards the northern end of the cavern, the ceiling disappears and the sky can be seen where the volcano eventually released built up pressure so long ago - now it forms an entrance to the hot springs for dragon and rider, dropping down through the open ceiling to the rocky lake shore or to various ledges high in the walls - from which the more daredevil riders have been known to dive on occasion.

Down at ground level, the warm lake laps the shore gently, never completely still. Steam rises from the surface and ripples stir from the movement of the hot water seeping in from hidden springs. The lakeshore closest to the Weyr entrance is smooth and gently sloping, a safe place to bathe and talk, but further out there are various rocky coves that can be reached by swimming or by dragon. At night, glows set in the walls reflect their glimmer onto the water; by day, the light from the ceiling gives the lake ever changing shades of blue and gold, deepening to soft opal at dusk and dawn, casting shadows that seem to harbor small crevices.
A wide corridor leads off to the southeast, curving back to the Inner Caverns.
Contents:
L'nan
Alirath(#909OVaelps)

L'nan is soaking, resting, relaxing... snoozing? Well, the snores are coming from the blue dragon on the lakeshore, but it sure is timed well with the rise and fall of L'nan's chest. Leaning against a rock in the shallows, his head has lolled back so it looks like he'd be star-gazing... if his eyes were open.

Jenna comes in, looking rather tired and decidedly gritty. She mutters half under her breath, "... get the sand out. ... Personally wash all my clothes." Then she pauses, catching a glimpse of familiar blonde hair. The snoozing Alirath gets a grin as well, before she drops towel and steps out of clothes, leaving them in a pile on the rocks. Best to get out of them and into the water while he's still snoozing.

L'nan shifts in his nap-like state, however it's in the /wrong/ direction and his body slides down... down... down, until suddenly he sputters as he breathes in a mouthful of water. "Wha-?!" And he splashes around a bit, obviously surprised at himself. He doesn't even notice Jenna yet, because his back is to her. In fact, his entire backside is bared to her at the moment.

Jenna can't help but giggle, though she claps a hand over her mouth, trying not to let the sound carry too far. Instead, she moves to get deeper into the water before he can turn round and notice her, splashing a bit as she makes her way.

L'nan doesn't do the normal thing and duck down under the water, upon hearing signals of human life behind him - ie the splashing. Oh now, he just whirls around and squints into the caverns. "Hello?" His voice still has a bit of wariness to it, tinged with doubt. Then, seeing Jenna splashing out deeper, he breaks into a grin. "Zat you, Jenna? You back from Igen?" He dives in after her, long strokes taking him quickly out to where she's at.

Jenna squats down a bit and nods. "It's me," she confirms. The only thing she's still wearing is the leather and metal pendant given to her, and it's the only thing visible above the water line. "K'tel and Zmeth dropped me off just a bit ago. I had to get the sand out. Igen's okay, but Faranth's teeth! That sand gets into everything." Then she grins and observes, "You fall asleep in the oddest places, Lu. P'ter working you too hard?"

L'nan's eyes dart to the pendant and back, though his expression doesn't change at all. "Wish I'da known you were comin' back t'day, I would've come'n got you," he murmurs. Then, with a shrug and a chuckle at teh sand news, he adds, "Naaah, just a long day. You know, th'usual. Whiney watch-riders an' hidework up the tail end." He grins again. "So? What'd you learn? Y'look all tan'n stuff. Y'look good," he pronounces.

Jenna grins. "You should've seen me the end of the first sevenday. Fried red as a rocktail. Spend the next few days after that peeling like a tunnelsnake. I finished up at the weyr, and K'tel was nice enough to drop me back. Think he wanted to check up on P'ter and make sure we were treating him right. But, I learned a fair amount about the traces in Igen. Upper Igen's not so bad. The desert, however." She shudders.

L'nan wrinkles his nose, settling back so that he's floating and looking up. "Sounds like fun," he laughs, then, more seriously, "But y'learned what you wanted to? That's the important part. Did they teach you desert survival stuff? And what about shoes? Did you get shoes to protect your feet on the sand?" He frowns and peers at her carefully, completely the 'bad-girl' look.

Jenna laughs. "More or less. Key to desert living is lots of layers and keeping a hat on. Miserable life for a runner. And nothing really protects your feet and is light enough to be worth the effort. I did better with heavier shoes, but it also slowed me down a lot. Upper Igen's where the Crossing traces are though, which is mainly what I was interested in. I learned enough to know the Weyr and the Hold is definately *not* a good assignment for a runner."

Jenna asks right on the heels of that, "So what did you and Alirath do while I was away?"

L'nan's lips curl back into a smile. "Long's you're not getting your feet burned off," he mutters in a grumbly voice. "Well, y'shouldn't be gettin' assigned away from Fort anyhow. An' me'n Alirath have just been doin' the same. Drills and flying Fall, you know. Same stuff. Nothin' exciting. A flight or two while you were away but we missed one, that was green Shekth, and the other one we joined late an' didn't win. That was green Bimth." He shrugs, apparently not too concerned.

Jenna sniffs faintly. "Ghianath didn't rise then after all?" Then she grimaces, "Nevermind. Forget I asked. And eventually, I'll get assigned away. I'd like to open my own station you know. After I get too old to run the traces."

L'nan rolls in the water, floating dead-man style with his face in the water. Then, lifting his head and laughing, he admits, "We were out-weyr when she rose." He flips so that he's treading water, and splashes a little at her. "You? Get too old? Can't imagine that ever happenin'. Like you'd stay still... although openin' your own station's a good idea. Where do you wanna open it?"

Jenna shrugs, ducking the splash. "I dunno. I imagine with the pass ending and all, there'd be opportunities, though more senior runners would likely get preference. I'd like to stay in the Fort area, but that's pretty well covered." She flips some water back and asks, "So, no more black eyes?"

L'nan lifts a hand to his eye and grimaces. "Not for awhile, hopefully," he mournfully wails, cracking into a laugh. The hand that had gone to touch his eye darts out to make a grab-and-dunk manuever at her shoulder.

Jenna must have slow reflexes from baking in the sun all month. She is easily dunked, snorting a huge breath of water as she goes and thrashing rather wildly to get away.

L'nan lets go easily enough, backpedaling away from her. "Hah!" That's all he says as he keeps his distance, sending more splashes her way. "Gonna hafta be quicker'n that!"

Jenna surfaces, sputtering and coughing. "Shards, Lu! I hadn't even had a real decent *bath* except the last couple of days I was at the weyr. And I swear the bathing pools had silt in 'em there." She sniffles, looking rather bedraggled now, completely waterlogged.

L'nan beams at the damage he's done. "Aww, y'look even better all wet," he teases. "Besides, doesn't it feel good, Jenna? The warm water, clean clean clean? B'sides," he adds innocently. "Just tryin' t'get some've that sand outta your hair."

Jenna gives the weyrsecond a sour look. "Uh huh." She flips over on her back and starts kicking water at him in a fountain. "You were *supposed* to come over and be consoling so I could dunk *you*, silly!" The laughing words are barely heard above the splashing.

L'nan wrinkles his nose and holds up hands to guard from the spray of water, of course totally ineffectually. "Sto-o-o-o-p!" he hollers after a moment, adding, "I'll let you dunk me, I'll let you!"

Jenna stops kicking and grins rather smugly. "Teach you to mess with me. Can't beat a runner when it comes to legs." She smoothes back wet hair rather demurely.

L'nan comes obediently towards Jenna - almost too obediently. But he doesn't splash or dunk, merely floats in front of her. "I'll admit, that was a good splash," he mutters. "But y'still hadta get me to /let/ you dunk me...." He sticks out his tongue, then laughs.

Jenna snorts. "Who says I'm gonna?"

L'nan faces her squarely. "I do," he retorts. "I said I'd let ya, now you hafta." Uh-huh. So there.

Jenna folds her arms. "Nope. And you can't make me." Maturity levels are dropping drastically, all things considered." Still, her expression is amused. "And if you don't stop being such a wherry butt, I won't give you your present from Igen." So there.

"Just 'cuz you can't dunk me without me lettin' you," the bluerider teases, mimicking Jenna's folded arms. "But I can't help being what I am, now can I?" he adds with a chuckle. "An' lately I guess I'm a wherry butt..."

Jenna teases, "Just lately?"

L'nan makes his lower lip tremble and he lowers his eyes. "Awww, I thought you'd /miss/ me," he whines mock-tearfully. "Instead all y'missed was teasin' me." Sniff sniff, poor bluerider.

Jenna rolls her eyes. "Oh stop," she says with a touch of exasperation. "All those letters I sent and you think I didn't miss you? I about wore poor Hal's wings off."

Green eyes slowly but surely make their way back up to Jenna's face. "So.. you're saying you /did/ miss me?" L'nan wheedles. "An' Tash did some flyin' too, if y'didn't notice." He winks a little at the runner. "So wehre's m'present, huh huh huh?" This last in a kiddy voice.

Jenna's hand creeps up to the necklace she wears. "I noticed. And of course I missed you, silly." She hms and points up to her pile of clothes. "It's in my pouch there. I was hoping to run into you, but I didn't think it'd be in the baths."

L'nan glances idly over at the pile of clothes, though his eyes return quickly enough to Jenna's. He's quiet a moment, then he murmurs, "I missed you too." He then paddles backwards, floating once more on his back. "Well, y'don't expect -me- t'go rootin' around in some girls clothes, do you?" he sighs dramatically.

Jenna darkens slightly. With the tan, it's difficult to tell exactly when she's blushing. Chin lifts, however, and she heads towards the sand. A few moments later, she's rummaging in her pouch and withdrawing a small cloth bag dyed black, perhaps only three inches by chree inches, and with a drawstring in it. That stubborn look of her face, she turns coolly and starts making her way back to the shallows. "You gonna come here and get it or not?"

L'nan looks over and grins. "But of course, m'lady," he chuckles, paddling over and standing. He does grab a towel and wrap it around his waist out of respect for that blush Jenna's so famous for. "Should I close my eyes?" he asks innocently.

Jenna hasn't bothered with a towel, that chin still in the air. "Well, you won't be able to see it if you do." She offers over the pouch.

L'nan takes the pouch carefully, keeping his eyes on her face. Doubtlessly he's noticed the towel-lessness, but he's being polite. With the pouch in his hands, he lowers his eyes to peer at it carefully. He turns it over in his hands, then pokes at it. "There's something inside," he murmurs. "Should I look at it now?" Eyes travel back up to hers. Slowly.

Jenna grins and nods. "Go ahead." The stubbornness seems to be evaporating in the wake of her anticipation. She watches his face, clearly eager to see the reaction to her present.

Inside the pouch is a small carved and polished bit of turquoise, shaped into the delicate figure of a dragon. Blue-green stone markings hilight the area along his neck ridges and tail, while paler markings are along the sails and legs. The dragon is crouched, ready to take off, and the tip of his tail is crooked, as though it were waggling. Coupled with this is a flat stone of deep turquoise, the colors mingling as flawlessly as Alirath's hide, a slight depression in the center just right for a thumb to worry over.

L'nan grins and gaze returns to hands. He snakes his fingers into the pouch and pulls out the worry stone and small dragon statue. He just stares at the two, almost uncomprehendingly, and even after he's blinked he doesn't look up, doesn't say a word. Just keeps looking at them, silently.

Jenna chews on her lower lip. She immediately starts apologizing, "It doesn't really look like Alirath, but they worked awful hard on it at the Hold. Igen has a lot of opals and turquoise and it's not at all dearly priced. I thought you'd look funny with an opal ring or something, but..." She trails off uncertainly.

L'nan starts at Jenna's apologies, and he looks straight at her. Carefully putting the stones back into the pouch and pulling the drawstring closed, he takes a deep breath. "These're the best gifts I've ever gotten," he admits shakily. "Th'best, you know? Ever." And he leans forward to give her a hug, squeezing her hard. "They're absolutely /perfect/."

Jenna lets out a relieved breath. "Thank Faranth - I thought for a minute you didn't like them." She hugs back hard, arms going round his waist. "It doesn't exactly match, but still. And when I told the woman how Alirath always wiggles when he gets airborne, she tried to put it in."

L'nan doesn't let go of the hug, but just laughs. "The colors are really pretty," he protests. "An' I noticed the curled tail... does it really look like that?" His voice, although cheerful, has a note of pride in it too, almost quivery. "You're th'best, Jenna. They're perfect, like I said."

Jenna nestles her chin more comfortably against his collarbone. "Well, a little," she admits. "I'm just glad you like 'em. Thought you could use the worry stone too, what with all your new responsibilities." The words are a bit tight and she wiggles just a bit, trying to get more breathing room.

L'nan loosens his squeezey-hold on her immediatly, though his arms are still draped about her. "I couldn't use the worry stone," he replies, surprised. "It'd be gone in less'n a month!" He chuckles. "Though, with you back I can dunk all my frustrations, mm?" He turns to kiss her cheek softly, then lets go of her, taking a step back and grinning.

Jenna turns a bit darker again. "I suppose so. Though if you drown me, you'll have to use it." She smiles, "And I think it'd take longer than a month, don't you?"

L'nan makes his voice mournful, and holds his hand up to his forehead. "Oh, I don't know... might even be gone in a sevenday," he sighs melodramatically. "An' I wouldn't drown you." This added with an innocent look. "Then who'd I dunk?"

Jenna wraps arms over her chest, self-consciousness displaying itself at last. "Oh, I dunno. You'd find somebody."

L'nan wrinkles his nose. "Naah. You're the best dunkee I ever knew." His hand curls about the pouch again, and Alirath stretches and makes his way towards the two. "I'm gonna go put this in my weyr for now, an' go get dressed," he murmurs apologetically. "Hafta go t'drills soon." He grimaces and shrugs. "D'you wanna get together though? Like, later t'night, you could tell me more about Igen?" he asks hopefully.

Jenna nods. "Sure." She pauses and then admits, "I'd really like that."

L'nan breaks into a smile. "So'd I. Let's meet in the living caverns just after the drudges finish their last shift b'fore morning?"

Jenna nods. "You're on."

L'nan winks, then makes his way towards Alirath. When he mounts, he does it one-handed, keeping the pouch safe. Oh yeah, and he got dressed before he mounted...

Alirath waggles predictably, warbles to Jenna, then launches into the air.

Alirath launches into the sky, banking through the aerial entrance to the Bowl.
Alirath has left.