Breakfast Conversations (1/2)

Writers: Francesca
Date Posted: 13th October 2024

Characters: Arrilon, Lindora
Description: Arrilon speaks with Lindora while eating his morning meal.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 13, day 17 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: Kamalia

Arrilon arrived for breakfast earlier than usual and grabbed a bread
roll with a dark purple jam and some klah to start. Not seeing any of
his friends, he took a seat at the end of a table and took out his
notes for the lesson he would be giving in a few candlemarks. However,
before he even had a chance to start reading, someone stopped right
next to him.

"Hi there," a woman's voice said. "I'm not sure if you remember me
from the other day, on the grass..."

"Hi," Arrilon said as he was looking up. She did look familiar, but
what was her name? "You're Master Palinor's daughter. Your name starts
with an L? Sorry, a lot happened that day."

Lindora was displeased at not being remembered. After all, they had
spoken for over a quarter candlemark. However, her voice and
expression remained inviting. "It's Lindora. And, that's why I came
by, to see if everything is ok with your sister. And," she gestured to
the plate in her hand, "to see if you'd like any of this banana and
cream pie. It's straight out of the oven."

"Well, I won't say no to pie. It looks good." He did not know much
about pastry, but the lattice pattern on it was nice. "Are you allowed
to sit down to eat some too? I don't want you to get into any
trouble."

He did not have to ask her twice. This was a promising start, even if
he did not remember her name. "I can sit for just a few minutes. The
breakfast rush hasn't started yet." She quickly cut two portions and
put them on the plates she had brought, giving Arrilon the larger
slice. "Your sister..." she prompted.

"Right. Well, Kamalia, my sister, did get a Threadscore. So did her
green." He narrated what had happened during Threadfall. "Alaudath
can't fly yet, but it sounds like they'll be back to normal by Turn's
End."

Lindora made the appropriate noises and facial expressions as Arrilon
spoke, which was easy to do, because it was an interesting story. "I'm
so glad they'll both be ok. Have you been able to go see her?"

Arrilon nodded. "After Joy, my firelizard, went to her and then
disappeared /between/, Kamalia knew I'd be worried. So she sent a
friend to come pick me up. And it's good she did, because I was ready
to go to the watch dragon to ask for a ride." He paused for a moment,
remembering the feel of panic and the dread of not knowing how she
was.

"She fights Thread all the time, but it's easy to not think about it
much, or to assume she'll be ok, because she has been doing it for
Turns. Now I think I'll need to send Joy to see her after every
Threadfall, just to check in." It was a relief she was currently
grounded, because he knew nothing could happen to her, and both their
injuries were fairly minor and would heal well.

"That must be hard," Lindora sympathized. She could not imagine having
a sibling who was a dragonrider.

"She promised she'll have someone come pick me up this restday so I
can see her again. By then, they should be back in their own weyr."

Feeling like he had talked enough about his own life and wanting to
turn the conversation to another topic, he took a bite of pie. "This
is really good," he said after swallowing. "The cream and the banana
are really good together. Did you make this?"

Lindora looked down modestly and smiled. "I did. I'm glad you like it."

"Wow, you're a good cook." He took another bite. "I mean, I don't know
anything about cooking or baking, but this is delicious. Did you learn
to cook here?"

She shook her head. "I spent just over four Turns at the Bakercraft
Hall as a student. I learned a lot there, and have been lucky enough
to be able to continue working in the kitchens here." She took a small
bite of the pie. If there had been any pecans or almonds available,
they would have helped temper the strong banana taste. The Bakercraft
Hall was able to trade for food from all over Pern, while the Harper
Hall was more limited. And, even if there were any nuts in the
kitchen, she doubted the head cook would let her cook with them. It
was a pretty good pie though, given her access to only basic
ingredients.

"That makes a lot of sense. Are pies your favorite thing to bake?"
Food was not something he thought about much, aside from deciding
between the available options at every meal.

"They're some of my favorites; especially when I'm able to add
decorations. At the Hall, we often focused on making small pastries,
so we didn't waste food. That allows you to practice intricate
decorations though. For this," she waved at the pie, "I didn't have
time to do much." The head cook would have considered anything more
elaborate a waste of time.

"Well, it looks pretty decorative to me." Arrilon was not even sure
what something more intricate would look like.Whatever he was going to
say next was interrupted by seeing one of the senior journeymen with a
plate of food in his hands.

Lindora saw that their nice conversation was going to be interrupted
and decided she had done enough for the moment. She stood. "I should
get back to the kitchens. It was nice seeing you Arrilon. I'm glad
your sister is going to be ok."

"Thanks, Lindora. And, thank you for the pie."

Last updated on the October 17th 2024

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Breakfast Conversations (1/2)