Working Man's Blues

Writers: AL, Chelle
Date Posted: 27th September 2010

Characters: Wodi, Bayley
Description: Peeling tubers isn't really that great.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 11, day 5 of Turn 5

Days like this, when it wasn't very warm outside, Wodi found himself
sitting in the back of the kitchens peeling tubers. He didn't mind, since he could be quiet and watch the goings-on around him. As an aspiring cook, he loved the smells. Sometimes, he was able to help with the evening meal.

Bayley, however, did mind peeling tubers. Yes, it was warmer in the
kitchens, that part he didn't mind but the actual peeling? It was boring
work. With cleaning he at least got to move around instead of sitting in
one place scraping, scraping, scraping the skin off the vegetables. He
glanced over at Wodi as he plunked his finished tuber into his bucket. "How much longer do we have to do this?"

"Till we do all those sacks that are sittin' there," he answered his friend. Wodi worked companionably with Bayley. The two of them had grown up together at the Hold and he considered him his best friend. "You got somewhere to be?"

Bayley groaned audibly and followed that with a heavy sigh. "Jus' tired of
sittin' here and doin' the same old thing over and over and over again."
The young man sliced at the tuber with jerky motions, slivers of skin
falling to thefloor. "Besides, what's wrong with eatin' them with skins?
I've eaten them with skins before, right tasty they were."

"Cause these are going to be mashed tubers, not them kind." Wodi shook his
head, as if Bayley knew nothing about cooking. Not only was Wodi unable to
share his passion for cooking with his friend, but he also couldn't tell him that he thought he was good-looking.

"But I've had mashed tubers with skins. I like it better." It was
difficult to tell if Bayley was speaking truthfully or trying to convince
someone so they wouldn't have to peel them. The young man snorted and
tossed the latest tuber into a bucket. "This is borin'. I'd rather be
outside doin' something."

"Well of course. Course we'll be outside plenty with something to do when
it's time to be picking the crops." Wodi hated that, though he knew it was
necessary. It always seemed like he was ragged on by the bigger boys cause
he couldn't keep up and he was so tired of being called a weakling.

"I'd rather pick crops than be stuck in here skinnin' tubers til they
blush." Bayley tossed his next one into the bucket, the metal resounding
with a thunk in protest. His fingers plucked another from his almost full
bucket of unpeeled tubers and he heaved a sigh. "Don't like bein' cooped
up."

"Well go be a crafter then or something." Wodi had never thought about
leaving the Hold despite realizing as he was older that he was different. He just learned not to act on things.

"Thought 'bout it." The boy admitted with another swipe of his knife in
time to his words. "Been thinkin' about being a beastcrafter or somethin'." Bayley shrugged and tossed the tuber which missed the bucket and rolled and plopped over the floor. Oops.

"Yeah but..you could do that here, without leavin'." That was a relief.

"I could, yeah. Thought 'bout harperin' but...I can't sing worth a wherry." Bayley sniffed at one potato and cringed just before tossing it into the 'no good' pile. "Thought maybe could be one of those mappin' types, but I think I still have to sing which would get me nowhere. Of course, maybe I'll get searched or somethin'."

Wodi frowned at the thought of being Searched. He was afraid of what
might happen to reveal what he didn't want known. "I thought it was the
fishers that made the maps."

"I thought it was the Harpers." Bayley looked balefully at his still mostly full pail of tubers to be peeled. "Don't like to smell like fish, though. You stay out at sea long 'nough and you reek, even after having a bath."

"Yeah but maybe it'd be fun. You'd be on a boat with a whole buncha
brothers." It appealed to Wodi, as he thought about shirtless men
everywhere.

"Yeah, smelly, stinking brothers." Bayley's face screwed up, plain about
his feelings about that idea. "No thanks. I'd rather work in the stables.
Besides, it's all crowded on boats."

"It used to be crowded here...before the.." Wodi almost said plague but
didn't.

It was a sharp look that Bayley awarded Wodi with before he hacked at
another tuber. "Yeah well. It's more crowded on the boats. There's
supposed to be a clutch soon isn't there? Or is there one on the sands
already?"

"I don't know. Just remember we got a new Weyrwoman so I guess there's
one right?" Wodi didn't keep track of those things at all. He was a lowly
holder boy. "They'll be on Search soon maybe." His tone was glum. If Bayley
left him..

"Yeah...soon." Bayley grinned, his mouth stretching wide across his face.
"Wouldn't that be somethin'?" He asked, his hand stopping its task in
forgetfulness. "To be searched by a dragon. To impress one! Do you
think so? Wouldn't you like to ride a dragon?"

"No. I don't wanna fight thread. I don't wanna get threadscored. I don't
wanna have to drag bags of firestone all over the place." Wodi didn't want
to be a rider, not at all. He was convinced it wasn't all romantic like they said.

"Yeah, but you get to ride a DRAGON!" Thread wasn't really that scary
was it? Okay, so it was, but even so, the idea of it was rather distant,
disconnected and Bayley just couldn't forget about the animals. "Just think of it!"

"Oh I have. It's not for me. I want to be a cook." Indeed it seemed like a
natural thing for Wodi, who liked food and scents and tastes.

"Well I don't wanna be a cook." Bayley sniffed at the idea. "I wouldn't
mind havin' the sky and the ability to go where I want to go without
worryin' 'bout someone else...to have a huge dragon take me anywhere..."

"You ever seen a threadscore, Bayley?" Wodi asked softly.

"Once. A brownrider came by visitin' a girl. Started braggin' about his
scar. It wasn't that bad." Bayley shrugged, "Just a line on his leg, that's all. He said he hardly felt it either."

"I think that was a lie. The ballads..they say it burns a lot. I mean..
you're bein eaten alive right?" Wodi shivered slightly, imagining that.

"Yeah but they always romanticize those things, make it worse than it really is. It's all dramatics, you know that." The pile was getting smaller, it had to be because Bayley was working but it didn't _look_ any smaller. He shook the potato he was holding, as if that might help speed up matters. Of course, it didn't. "Anyway... I need to ask you, you know Charlise, right?"

"Yeah..Moric's daughter, the one with the brown hair." Wodi tossed the
peelings into the sack for the compost pile.

"Well she's going to meet me tonight, out under that redfruit tree on the
east side. The wild one. You know what I'm talking about?" Bayley leaned
forward, his voice soft so that only his friend could hear him. "She'll be
bringing Heidela... she likes you."

Wodi suddenly found himself stricken but he tried not to show it. First, he
thought about the fact that Bayley was seeing some _girl_ and then he
thought about what he was going to say. Trying to make his breathing lessen
enough not to show, he focused, wetting his lips. "Well that's nice, but
Heidela has warts."

"Warts?" Bayley eyed Wodi, as if doubting his friend's sanity. "What do
you mean warts? She doesn't have warts, what are you talking about? A few freckles, maybe but she's cute. And she likes you."

"I mean warts where you can't see 'em. And anyway, I don't have time for
that. I'm trying to get cook to let me help with the evening meal." He
frowned, hoping that sounded like a good excuse.

"You sound like you're scared. Maybe you like her too." Bayley's smile
grew wider and he nudged his friend with his elbow. "I've been wondering
who you had your eye on."

It was then that Wodi felt like maybe it was time to just be out with it. It had been so many turns and it was _Bayley_ right? They had been snotty-nosed brats together all of their lives. He knew it was dangerous, though. What if Bayley told? What if he never wanted to be his friend again? "I am scared, but not of that.." He sighed and looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "Bayley, I don't like girls."

"Oh come _on_." Obviously Bayley didn't get it. Nope, not at all. "You
just gotta get to know her. She likes you, that's something." He twirled around his tuber and attempted to get it into the bucket, only to miss. Bayley sighed and retrieved it. "She's pretty. Not as pretty as Charlise, but nice to look at. Don't be such a wherry."

"I'm serious." Wodi wouldn't say anymore after that.

Bayley rolled his eyes. "All right, all right, if you don't want to meet with Heidela that bad, fine. I won't nagger you about it no more." The young man grumbled, then bent down to concentrate on his work. The sooner he finished the better, right?

Last updated on the October 1st 2010

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Working Man's Blues