Wearing Knots (1)

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 6th April 2007

Characters: Arateyka, R'harne
Description: Arateyka and her family visit the Tavern and meet local smithcrafters.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 3, day 17 of Turn 4

Three dragons were required, but the family travelled together to the new tavern at Amber Hills Hold. Ailinth carried his rider, Delhara, and Arateyka. Nobody in the family was ever surprised at that. If there was only room for one of his children on Ailinth, then T'kanu always chose Arateyka.

Guieth carried his rider, Delhanu, and Tey. R'harne Didn't pick and choose - he just carried the next two heaviest bodies; his weyrmate's brother and the older of the remaining sisters.

Yeulanth carried her rider and the tiddler, as Lhara was called when it came to fitting everybody on dragons. In a family that were mostly cast in the same mould Lhara was actually more sturdily built, with a more womanly shape than her wiry sisters. Her tiddler status came from age and height. She was the youngest, and even her mother was taller.

"I always arrive on a green," Lhara commented as the family divested themselves of riding gear and made their way into the main room of the tavern.

"Which is an honour," Teykara said firmly. "You're special. I don't force you to crush up with somebody else like the people riding on a brown have to."

"Of course, on a decent sized dragon, there's room for more than one passenger," R'harne said, teasing his weyrmate. He paused and looked around. "This is very nice."

"Isn't it," Delhara said, smiling widely. "Let's find a table big enough."

The eight of them moved toward a likely looking table, Tey and Arateyka brining up the rear.

"It is nice, isn't it? I thought it would be just like the dining cavern," Tey confided in her sister.

Arateyka admitted to thinking the same. "First tavern I've ever visited." She didn't usually leave the Weyr but this expedition had sounded interesting and certainly T'kanu and R'harne had been determined to visit.

~ ~ ~

Durak, always the most boisterous of the regular crowd, led the way to a table and plopped himself heavily into a chair, his two friends following suit. "This sure beats hangin' at the Hold proper," he announced. After spending the entire day there, I'd just as soon not drink the evening away there as well."

His friends agreed, though their comments were cut short by the arrival of a serving woman to take their order. The three flirted with the girl briefly, but allowed her to leave with minimal distraction - after all, she needed to bring their drinks.

"Anyhow," stated Durak, "I'm sick of Ferdin comin' in with orders, wantin' everything yesterday and . . ." He paused, his eyes going wide as they fastened on something at the next table. "Well, I'll be stripped and staked out to die. I thought I'd never see that."

"What?" Belen turned, as did Verpel, both looking for the source of Durak's amazement.

"There!" The smith punctuated his remark with a jab of his finger. "At the table behind his friends."

"So? There are dragonriders," whispered Verpel. "You've seen those before."

"The woman," insisted Durak. "Look at the woman."

"Yes, yes - a greenrider," replied Verpel. "They're actually very common."

"Not that. She. . ."

Durak was interrupted by his fellow smith, as Belen turned back to state. "She's wearing knots. She's a smith?"

All three turned to stare at those at the next table.

~ ~ ~

"We're attracting attention," Tey said, grinning at her family. "Am I sitting with heroic dragonriders?"

The others were more subtle as they followed her glance, but T'kanu just looked over the three men at the table nearby. "Usually women who behave like that." But he couldn't miss that the men were staring.
"Perhaps our colours? Not from Dragonsfall?"

"Perhaps our good-looks?" Lhara suggested. "Not you lot," she said, dismissing her siblings that took after their father. "Me and Delhara."

Her mother laughed. "You, perhaps."

R'harne shook his head, his light green eyes making better work of seeing where the men's attention was focused. "Arateyka."

"Ara?" his weyrmate said, her expression surprised. "Why would you think that? She looks just like me and Delhanu and Tey."

"Which doesn't make any of us unattractive," Delhanu pointed out.

"My knots?" Arateyka suggested, looking at R'harne for confirmation, not wanting to look over at the men herself.

The brownrider nodded. "They're smiths wearing the hold's colours."

~ ~ ~

"They're looking this way," warned Belen, turning back to their own table with Verpel following suit.

Durak, however, continued to stare, looking the female smith up and down, a sour expression on his face. "There's no way she could pass all of the requirements to make journeyman - not strong enough."

"She _could_ be," stated the other smith.

"True," agreed Verpel, his healer training coming to the forefront.
"There are stronger women and weaker men, and no real limits if the muscles are trained properly.

This produced only a snort from Durak.

"And shouldn't she be called journey_woman_?" put in Belen.

"It's journey_man_," insisted Durak, "the way it should be."

~ ~ ~

"So," Teykara said into the silence that had fallen over their party.
"What are you going to do about it?"

"Do I have to do something about people _looking_ at me?" Arateyka countered, regretting having come to the tavern at all. Nobody stared at the Weyr, or if they did she felt secure enough in her place there to ignore them.

"We could pretend they don't exist. Worked for people we didn't like when we were little," Delhanu suggested with a grin.

"But Arateyka knows they do."

"You could go and introduce yourself," T'kanu suggested. "I suppose crafters do that sort of thing. Dragonriders would."

R'harne glanced around the room and spied a few men and women wearing rider knots and forbore to comment about T'kanu's less than truthful statement. Instead he nodded toward the bar. "Shall we go and see what ales are on offer?"

"You and me?" Arateyka asked. Walking to the bar would take them past the other table - giving her an opportunity to greet the men - or not.
Two opportunities.

"And me," Lhara insisted.

"You?" Teykara said with a laugh, eyeing her littlest sister with amusement.

"What use would you be," Tey asked. "Lhara the tiddler."

"If it's going to turn into a brawl," Lhara said, waving everybody to silence when they protested. "And that's not impossible, is it, since somebody burnt the Harper Hall _down_ over a female apprentice - then R'harne can tell the Weyrleader he was looking after me. Let's face it, that's more believable than looking after Arateyka." Everybody glanced at the journeywoman smith. "It's obvious she can look after herself just fine."

"'Obvious' is a stretch," Delhara murmured, wondering why she was sitting there allowing her family to plan strategies for brawls.

"No. She's right. I _can._" Arateyka got to her feet. "I'm going to check out the ales at the bar. I don't need escorts."

She got a step away from the table before R'harne got to his feet. "My idea - and I like ale better than she does."

Lhara didn't bother to make an excuse to the table but just grinned and scurried after the other two.

Last updated on the April 8th 2007

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Wearing Knots (1)