Harping On (2/2)

Writers: Leigh M-F., Setsuna
Date Posted: 7th June 2016

Characters: Tameira, Ashuli
Description: After her pupil apologizes, Tameira begins plotting her revenge.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 20 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: L'exan.

Tameira chuckled a little at Ashuli's
cooing at Marlais. He gave her a somewhat withering look and
chittered more, eyes whirling faster for a brief moment before he
turned his back to her and began bumping his nose again Tameira's
hand. She sighed and smiled at the light mental touch between them,
understanding what he wanted and began gently stroking some oil into
the top back of his head. She did this a few moments, before a
somewhat mischievous, even wicked glint came to her light blue eyes.

She looked up at Ashuli a bit, and the
wickedness reflected in the smile that spread over her face. "You
know you're right. He does deserve some comeuppance for his little
joke. Would you like to help me plan something, Ashuli…?"

The girl squirmed. "I don't know.
He might have it coming, but Papa would get mad at me for helping you
even if he wouldn't punish me," she admitted.

Tameira's smile softened at the girls
uncomfortable body language and words. She began stroking down along
Marlais' neck and under his chin a bit. "Well I certainly
wouldn't tell him you were involved. But I wouldn't want you to feel
like you're on bad terms with your father either. But if you decide
you want to change your mind, my offer still stands. I'll have to
think on this a while to decide what would be the best revenge
against your father." Her face took a somewhat far away
thoughtful expression as she began wondering what would do as a
suitable revenge, nothing really dangerous or long lasting, but
something that would teach the pest of a rider a lesson.

The girl immediately brightened. See,
this was another reason why Ashuli liked Tameira best of all her
teachers: She _understood_ kids. Which was why she added, "I won't
tell Papa you're plotting, and you won't tell Demos, right?"
she finished, talking to Marlais.

She was pleased that Ashuli became more
positive. Good, no reason for the girl to be distressed. And she was
doubly pleased when the young girl promised not to tell her father,
though she chuckled at her words directed to her softly cooing
firelizard. She paused a moment and watched as he turned his head
slowly towards the girl, eyes slowly becoming half lidded, and he let
out a single noise.

"He won't tell Demos." Tameira
clarified, a rough approximation of the emotions she had gotten from
the little reptile. If anything, it seemed he quite agreed with her
decision to get back at the
dragonrider.

"I knew you were a good boy,"
Ashuli praised, holding out a finger for Marlais to sniff. With any
luck, he would at least know she wasn't a bother.

Marlais gave her a rather skeptical
look. He made a few chirping noises before he flipped his wings back
a bit and turned around in Tameira's lap. His tongue snaked out a
moment then he rose onto his haunches and launched into a melody. His
voice was a little low for a firelizard, but that didn't stop him
from stringing together chirps and shrill cries into an approximation
of a song.

Tameira merely gave an exasperated roll
of the eyes, though she couldn't resist the fond little smile that
found its way to her face. Typical Marlais. He continued his singing
for a few minutes before he fell silent, radiating self satisfaction
and smugness. Now he extended his head towards Ashuli, chirping in an
indulging sort of tone.

Ashuli giggled. "On your terms only,
got it," she said, and stroked the little blue's head with the
light touch of long practice. She had gotten a lot of experience with
grouchy fire-lizards thanks to Demos, who tolerated being held and
petted by her. He had never bitten her, though; L'exan had taught
him that was a big no-no. "You're a good boy, and a good singer,"
the girl praised. "Tameira is lucky to have a good boy like you."

If a firelizard could look smug,
Marlais certainly would have looked it for a moment before he relaxed
into the gentle stroking. He made a sort of purring rumbling noise
from his little chest as his eyelids nearly closed all the way. But
he didn't remain placid and like that for long, and after a few
moments he began nudging his head against her finger in a sort of
impatient manner, as if ordering her. Quickly Tameira made a miming
gesture of gently scratching with one finger nail, then pointed
subtly to a spot just behind his jaw on the back of his head.

Understanding after a moment. Ashuli
scritched where Tam indicated, grinning happily. "You're such a
sweetie, letting me pet you," she cooed to the blue. "So
tolerant. Tameira taught you so well. I like blues best, did you know
that? Papa rides blue, and he has a blue fire-lizard -maybe you know
him- and Mama says I look really good in blue. So blue is good, and
you're good."

Marlais immediately went still as she
began scratching the particular spot and his eyes closed completely.
His wings even went a little limp, just stretching out as he tilted
his head slightly. He probably wasn't even paying any attention to
Ashuli's chattering, though Tameira was, and it was making her giggle
a little at the slightly rambling girl. "I like blue too. But then
I'm a Harper, and it's the proper color for a Harper. I almost wish-"
But here she bit her lip a little. She rarely was ever able to really
speak her desire to be rider to a dragon. And of course she knew it
was impossible for a woman to impress a Blue, though she very much
wished she could. A Blue would have been more realistic than say a
Gold, but a Green was by far more realistic than either...But still,
to Impress a _dragon_.

Instead she focused on something else,
remembering L'exan's concerns. "Have you ever considered becoming a
Harper yourself, Ashuli?" She asked in a casual conversational
tone, devoid of any indications of judgment or expectations.

Ashuli shook her head. "No. I wanna
be a tailor like Mama, or maybe a rider like Papa, or maybe something
else. Just not a harper. I can't sing or play, and I don't think
I'd be a good teacher like you are."

She smiled at the girls admittance and
chuckled softly at her dismissal of being unable to sing or play,
though her cheeks did flush a little when she said she couldn't be a
good teacher like her. Well, at least she knew she was doing a good
job of it. "I think you have a lovely singing voice Ashuli. But of
course it is a matter of what you enjoy doing the most, and what you
can do the best." Now her voice took on a teasing tone. "Perhaps
you could always be a tailoring Rider. Then you needn't choose, hm?"

Ashuli giggled. "I'd like that, but
dragonriders can't really craft because Thread makes them so busy,
so they miss out on hobbies and means to practice. I need to think
about it more," she said, still scritching Marlais. "But thank
you for saying I sing nice."

Marlais leaned out a bit, laying his
head on the edge of Ashuli's knee, clearly just enjoying the
scratching. Surely a nice scratch after a thorough oiling was bliss
for a firelizard. Tameira smiled at the lizard, and the little girl.
"Ah, but Thread doesn't fall every single day, now does it? Even a
minute's practice is still practice. And I'm only speaking truth.
Maybe if you like, I could give you extra lessons on singing if you'd
like to heighten your proficiency a little. I don't know if you could
become good enough to be a Harper, but you certainly wouldn't be
silenced if you decided to hum a twiddle when you felt like it."
She smiled and reached down with a free hand, picking up a roll from
the napkin on the ground and took a few bite out of it.

"But there's no rush in any case,
you're still young. Though I think I'd suggest we put a little haste
in our movement. Lessons and chores for the day will be starting
within the hour." and with that, she gave Marlais a little nudge
with her hand and used the other to pop the last of her roll in her
mouth. He opened his eyes reluctantly, almost sulkily before he
spread open his wings and leapt into the air. He flew around their
heads a moment, before landing in Tameira's hair and clinging to the
strands, hanging on with his head laying on top of hers. Tameira
stood up and gathered the oil pot and her napkin, offering the last
breakfast roll to the young girl. "You did eat something before you
came looking for me, right?"

Ashuli nodded. "Mama always tells me
to have a good-sized breakfast 'cause it's the most important
meal of the day," she said. "But sometimes Meylle forgets to eat
because she's so energetic, so you could save that for her and she
would be really thankful." She hooked her arm through Tameira's
and started walking with her, quite pleased with how things were
going.

Last updated on the July 18th 2016

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Harping On (2/2)