New Shinies

Writers: Avery, Mirren
Date Posted: 13th December 2015

Characters: Ikalis, Zaeryn
Description: Ikalis commissions jewelry from the Smith.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 2 of Turn 8

Ikalis had been moping for almost a month, with only a few breaks in
her sadness. Her sister Ikara had figured out how miserable she was,
and after a long lecture about not letting your hopes rest entirely on
other people, the green rider had given her some money and told her to
do something wonderful for herself. The lower caverns girl hadn't had
this much money in a long time. She usually had to barter food for
items, or work on something custom for money. To have so much felt
almost overwhelming.

It took a few days to consider what she wanted to do. It was jewelry
was that she decided on. Something nice and permanent, something that
would last longer than clothes would. So she decided to head down to
the Smiths and see what was available. Maybe the perfect piece would
be there already. Or maybe she'd get something on commission. Did she
have enough for a commission? It depended on what she wanted…

So it was that in the early evening she found herself entering the
area of the Smiths. "Who does jewelry?" she asked a young apprentice
boy.

"Look over there," he said, pointing.

Ikalis headed over towards the side room indicated.

Whatever anyone might say about Zaeryn, she had a very long and deep
concentration span. When she was working on something, she could work
so long she forgot to eat and use the latrine. Eventually the need for
one or the other would become too intense to ignore and she'd have to
stop. Luckily today she hadn't been working for long, but she was very
focused on the bangle she was making.

"Scuse me?" the caverns girl called, seeing a crafter bent over their work.

Zaeryn had almost perfected the art of not startling when suddenly
disturbed, so she
only twitched. The movement wasn't enough to damage hours of work,
thankfully. She
put down her tool and the half-done bracelet and looked around. "Yes?"

"Hi there. I'm Ikalis, and I was hoping to talk to a Smith about some
jewelry?" The
last word was raised in query.

"All right." Zaeryn stood and stepped away from her bench. "Did you have
something
in mind?"

This was about the only part the blonde had put thought into. "Not a ring,
because I
use my hands all the time and am afraid I'd damage it. A necklace or
earrings maybe?
Something to draw attention to me."

"I see." Zaeryn nodded. "Well I could make either of those things. Or a
set of
both?"

"How much would that cost?" Both sounded good, but she had to be frugal.

"It depends on what metal is used, the size of the pieces, any stones
used, how
complex the pieces are." Zaeryn gave her a rough price range, although the
range
between highest price and lowest was large.

"I was thinking something with colorful beads, but it doesn't have to be all
precious stones. One or two to be eye-catching, maybe..." That would keep
it lower,
right?

"All right. Yes that would keep it down." Zaeryn agreed. "Here, let me
show you the
beads we have." She opened a large box she'd pulled down from the shelf.
Inside was
a dozen compartments, with the beads neatly sorted by type, starting with
lighter
colours in the top left and ending with darker in the bottom right.

"Oh, this is beautifully sorted!" Ikalis said. She really liked the way it
was laid out. Maybe it was something most folk wouldn't have cared about,
but she took pride in keeping her parts of the Weyr organized when she did
a task, and she liked the careful touch here.

There were so many colors to admire, and her eyes roved over them. "If I
said something to match my eyes, would that sound too cliche? Maybe a
color that would draw attention."

"That's often how people choose." Only Zaeryn tended to find it
difficult because once asked, she liked to find the _exact_ match.
Which of course didn't exist. She looked at the other woman's eyes and
inwardly groaned. Hazel was particularly difficult, since there were
different colours involved.

"So, which colour in your eyes did you want to match?"

"Er...how about more towards the brown?" Ikalis guessed. There were
some real pretty pieces of green jewelry being worn by green eyed
people. Maybe wearing something more brown would stand out.

"Maybe some jasper. You could pick a few different beads in the same
shade, or
different shades." Zaeryn pointed toward them.

"These are beautiful," Ikalis breathed as she looked at them. "I like the
different
shades idea. I think that would look really nice."

"Maybe in different sizes too. The earrings could start small and have a
bigger
stone at the bottom. I could show you what I mean?" Zaeryn's ideas weren't
always
what others thought she meant.

"That would be great, thanks," Ikalis agreed.

Zaeryn grabbed a sheet and writing implement and quickly drew a rough
sketch of what
she had in mind. "What do you think?"

"That looks really interesting. You've got a good eye for design," the
caverns girl
said.

"Really?" Plenty of people said otherwise. "So you want me to make these?"

"Really," Ikalis said, giving the Smith a cute smile. "Yes, that's
definitely what I
want."

"Good. It'll only take a short time to make. Can you come back after lunch?"

"Sure, I can do that. I can even bring you a treat if you want." It didn't
hurt to make friends.

"Oh. That would be nice." Zaeryn blinked in surprise. "Thank you."

"I'm a baker, it's what I like to do," Ikalis said with some pride.
"Anything you
really like?"

Zaeryn's eyes lit up. "I love stone-fruit pastries. The ones with a
sprinkle of sugar on the top."

"I'll find one for you," she promised. Or make one. How hard could it be
to find time for one extra batch?

"And I'll work faster to make your jewellery." The smith was hungry now,
at the thought of the sweet treat. "But carefully too."

"Sounds like this will work out for both of us," said the caverns girl.
Her sister was right. This had been a great idea.

"I think so too." Zaeryn agreed.

"Well, I'll catch you later then, with marks and a treat. Thank you so
much!" And maybe they could even be friends. Well, first things first,
she guessed.

Last updated on the December 14th 2015

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