Miss Clalps-Alot

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 16th December 2020

Characters: R'hil, Orifa
Description: Rushil meets Orifa and is a little confused by her
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 2 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Ninaine

Rushil sat on a rock outside the Dining Cavern after dinner, watching
the dragons circle as the sun went down. His belly was fully and his
hands unoccupied, which was still a novelty to him after a lifetime of
farmwork. Usually this time he'd be chopping wood or feeding the
ovines, or hauling water for his Mam. Or something.

Instead he just... sat and tried to figure out what all the dragons
were doing. They seemed aimless. Some flew back and forth between
ledges, some circled sky above the Weyr, but most just lay around like
large, lazy wherries. Eventually Rushil gave up and turned his
attention to the people ebbing in and out of the Dining Cavern. The
whole knot system was also confusing. Apparently they meant something,
but the only one he could recognize were the knots like the one he was
forced to wear.

And then he spotted one-- knots like his worn by a short girl with
black hair. "Oy!" Rushil called as he stood and hurried after her.

She didn't hear him at first, too lost in her own thoughts from the
lessons that she'd tried to understand from earlier in the day. It
was much harder than the Harper lessons she'd had as a child and so
much that she was expected to remember; she didn't know how she'd
remember all of it! She took notes, like everyone did, but sometimes
she struggled to make sense of it after.

Then another young man was next to her and she realized, after a
confused moment, that he'd been trying to get her attention. "Hello."
Her eyes flicked to his knots. "Oh! You're a Candidate. Are you new
too?"

"Yup. I saw you in class today, I think." There were so many people
that it was hard to keep track.

"Probably," she readily agreed with a smile. "There's lots of us in
there, huh? I'm Orifa. I'm at the far end of the barracks. Who are you?"

"Rushil." He studied her for a moment, noting her long hair and dress.
She looked more like the girls he'd spied on back at home than the
long-legged, short-haired girls that ran around the Weyr. "You're not
from here. Are you?"

"Nice to meet you, Rushil," Orifa chirped with a nod, then tilted her
head. "No. My family lives at Amber Hills Hold. Are you from here or
maybe your family?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm from-- near a mining cothold," he said,
belatedly remembering his Mam's reluctance to tell the Searchrider
where home was. She probably had a good reason. "We were on the road
to Amber Hills Hold, though, when I got Searched."

"Oh, you travelled, then! How exciting. I never left Amber Hills
before I came here." Her eyes widened as she clapped her hands. "We
lived in the Hold and my father, he's a Harper, well, he makes
instruments like harps and flutes and things. Did you craft at the
mine? Are you a minecrafter or something?"

Rushil had stopped dead in his tracks when she'd said 'Harper'. He
narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously. Good thing he hadn't said where
he was from. "No. Your father is really a Harper?"

She barely noticed he'd stopped, taking several steps forward only to
realize that he wasn't beside her. She turned, a bright smile still on
her face. "What? Oh yes. He's a Harper. But not one that sings or
anything. He just makes instruments, so he's always covered with wood
dust from his work area."

At least he wasn't one of the singing ones. Rushil whistled low.
"That's good that he let you get away, then. Or did you have to run
away?"

The way he said it sounded funny, but Orifa blushed and looked down,
scuffing her feet in embarrassment. "I ran away. I was supposed to get
married to an old man and I didn't want to, so I came here. I like it
a lot more even though I have to do more chores than I did at home."

"Well, that's good." Rushil paused. "But... how can you think this is
_more_ chores? There's so much free time!"

Orifa looked up and stared at Rushil, shocked. "What? I never really
did chores before I came here. Not really except for watching my
siblings and helping my mother keep house. There's so much to do here
and I never seem to have time to breathe! My muscles _hurt_."

He shook his head, bemused. "Are you some kind of Lady or something?
How do you keep house without doing chores?" Wood had to be chopped,
water hauled from the well, floors scrubbed, roofs patched, walls
painted. And that was just the house.

"Oh no. Not at all!" She shook her head quickly. "We didn't have a
cothold or anything like that. We lived _in_ the Hold because my
father does very valuable work. I just helped with my siblings and
cleaning up inside."

Rushil snorted when she mentioned 'valuable work'. Her father was a
lazy Harper who made instruments, of all things. Nobody _really_
needed an instrument. "So you didn't do anything?"

Her lower lip thrust out in a little pout. "I did girl things.
Embroider, sew, mend things, that sort of thing for the Hold. And I
have lots of siblings to take care of. But nothing like what we're
doing now. " Orifa's nose wrinkled. "And we weren't made to exercise
either. My dresses are going to get much too big."

His brown wrinkled in confusion. "Exercise doesn't make you shrink,"
he told her. What kind of an education had she had? "And I can sew and
mend things. All my brothers can. It's not a girl thing, it's just a
chore."

"It does if you lose weight," she pointed out easily, looking down at
herself with a sigh, then back up at him. "You can?" Orifa's face
didn't hide the surprise. "Really? My mama said only girls needed to
know that." She paused, just as confused. "Didn't your mother or
sisters do that for you?"

"Nah. I mean sure, when we were little Mam did, but we all had to take
care of our own stuff as soon as we were big enough. And I don't have
any sisters." He shrugged. "But if I did she'd have had to do chores
like the rest of us."

Orifa tilted her head at him. "I guess coming here's been kinda easy
for you then too. You're used to all this working and chores stuff.
You're really lucky." She pointed to the dining hall. "Have you eaten
yet? It's dinner time and they've got roast wherry and broiled fish
with tubers today. I can sit with you, if you want. I don't know that
many people yet."

"I already ate." He stared at her, aware that he should probably say
something else, but not having a clue what the appropriate response
would be. "Uh... have you... been up to the upper weyrlake yet?"

"No. I kinda get lost, so I've been trying just to stay near the
barracks and the dining hall." Her admittance didn't come with any
shame; she had a horrible sense of direction. "I accidently walked
into a rider's weyr once and what _he_ was doing..." Her eyes widened.
"So I just kinda stay where I know things are at."

"What was he doing?" Rushil asked curiously.

Her voice lowered and she stepped forward to whisper loudly. "What
only _married_ people should do. He was walking around _naked_." Her
eyes widened at the scandal.

"Uh." Rushil shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. He'd grown up in
a household of boys, and he and his brothers had run naked through the
woods a number of times. The only time clothes were really mandatory
was when his Mam or Auntie were around. "So... he was just walking?"

Orifa flushed a pink over her dark skin. "Well, yes...but then he
asked if I was coming in and I just ran. He was _naked_ and just kind
flopping around." She shuddered delicately. "At least in the bathing
pools water covers up people. And I cover my eyes." She declared
proudly. "So what's the upper weyrlake like?"

He shrugged. "It's like... a lake. Wanna go?"

"Sure!" Orifa agreed easily. "I'll have to follow you, though. So...do
you think the lessons are super hard? Do you think you'll remember
everything?"

"I dunno. I mean, I like the stuff about dragons," Rushil said,
starting off down the path that would take them up to the top of the
cliffs. He had a pretty good memory for getting around. "The rest of
it is a waste of time."

"What do you want to Impress?" It was a question that everyone she'd
met asked her. "My sister, she wanted to Impress a gold, but she
Impressed a green. If I don't Impress, she said she's taking me home.
She made me promise."

Rushil wrinkled his nose at that. "Why would you go home? That seems
like a dumb thing to promise if your father's just going to marry you
off to some old man you don't like."

"Ninaine doesn't want me to get hurt. She loves me." Orifa sighed.
"She was really upset that I was Searched. So, she made me promise and
you have to keep promises you make. I really don't like him much, so
I'm just hoping I'll Impress! I'd love to have a green." Her dark eyes
grew soft at the idea. "Most girls want gold, but I want a green.
They're so pretty and they fly so fast. Plus they're no so big it
doesn't take candlemarks to bathe and oil them."

"I guess so. But if your sister doesn't want you to get hurt, then why
is she making you get married?" Rushil asked. He understood that
marriages were often arranged, but to an old man? Orifa barely looked
old enough to marry his eldest brother, and his eldest brother was
barely old enough to get married at all.

Orifa's nose crinkled. "Master Weidig wouldn't have hurt me, he's just
old and he smells funny. Like old hides and those bandages in the
infirmary. I think she was more afraid of me getting hurt when I'm on
a dragon. And she said stuff about how the Weyr changes people and
stuff like that. Honestly, if I hadn't run away, I would have had to
marry _someone_ and have babies. It's what girls do."

It was the first time that Rushil had really thought about how lucky
he was to have been born a boy. After a moment's consideration, he
nodded. "I guess. I'm just happy to be here. My mam wants me to
Impress a bronze dragon."

Clapping her hands, Orifa nodded with a bright smile. "Oh, that would
be nice! A bright bronze dragon! They're so pretty and shiny! I bet
you get one!"

Orifa clapped an awful lot, Rushil realized. Perhaps it was because
her father was a Harper and demanded an audience. "I guess so," he
said after a moment.

She tucked her arm in his with a wide smile. "We're going to be great
friends, I just know it, Rushil."

Last updated on the January 13th 2021

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