The First Lesson - A Good Conversation

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 12th March 2025

Characters: N'kayden, Lynavia
Description: N'kayden has his first "lesson" with Lynavia
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 4, day 7 of Turn 12

N'kayden

N'kayden showed up for dinner, having visited the bathing pools, and put on fresh clothes that weren't his typical Weyrling-chore-attire. His hair still gleamed from wash and his jawline freshly shaved.

In his hand he carried a single flower.

Walking through the Dining Cavern, he caught sight of Nava seated at a table alone and smiled. Approaching, he set the flower down on the table in front of her.

"You look lovely," he said, taking the chair across from her. So far, he'd done everything she had assigned him to do.

"Thank you." Nava was wearing the tunic and pants she'd worn yesterday and her hair was haphazardly pinned into a messy bun, so the compliment felt more like a performance than flattery. They'd have to work on that. She picked up the flower and inhaled deeply before setting it aside with a smile. "So. Here we are."

She didn't seem happy. "Hey, I did everything you asked," he pointed out.

"So you expect me to flip up my skirt here in the middle of the Dining Cavern?" Nava snorted. "Before you can be good between the furs, you need to learn to be good out of them. Seduction is more than half of what makes good sex."

"Of course I didn't expect that, but I did think... I don't know, you wouldn't be so crabby." The sentence was finished with the breath of a laugh. Women were going to be much more complicated than he had expected.

"Crabby?!" Nava glared at him. "Seriously? I wasn't crabby before, but I am now! Shards and shells, don't you know anything?!"

N'kayden winced. "Obviously I don't. That's why I'm here!" Although he was smart enough to realize he might blow his opportunity with Nara. "I'm sorry."

**He's like a stupid, adorable puppy,** Nava realized. Every so often he let his guard down enough to show genuine emotion, and it was irritatingly endearing. She held up a finger in admonishment. "Never, ever call a woman crabby again unless you want to have your eyebrows waxed off while you sleep. And no eyebrows is a very unattractive look. Got it?"

"Got it." N'kayden vowed. He was quickly realizing that the way his parents talked to one another might not actually be normal for other couples. The brownrider glanced toward the service line. "Can I get you a plate of something?"

"Cake!" she said promptly.

"Cake it is," he said as he rose from the table. Walking across the Dining Cavern, he nodded to a few people he knew along the way. For his own plate, he added a piece of fish and some deepfried bread bites. On the plate in his left hand he carried cake, as his 'teacher' had requested. "You didn't specify which kind, so I brought you some small samplings of the three different ones they had out."

Nava's smile was wide as she accepted the plate. "Thank you, this is exactly what I would have chosen for myself!" Except the slices would be bigger... but then, she had a ridiculous sweet tooth. "See? You can be thoughtful!"

N'kayden took the praise as any good puppy would - with a smile. "How was your day?" he asked, because he was afraid to say the wrong thing.

"It was the same as every other day," she said, cutting a piece of cake with her fork. "Until you showed up!"

"What's a normal day like for you?" he asked, genuinely curious. All he knew right now was the monotony of Weyrling life.

Nava blinked. Hadn't the goldrider's son been assigned drudge work before? "I work in the Kitchens, so half the time I'm up before dawn and half the time I do the evening shift. Today I was helping the cooks, so it's a lot of hauling raw food up from the storerooms, washing and chopping vegetables, and peeling. So much peeling. Do you have any idea how many fingerroots you have to peel for all the salads, soups and roasted vegetable dishes a Weyr eats in an evening?"

"I can only imagine. So are you only assigned to the kitchens? Or do you float to other areas, too?" He now looked at the fingerroots on his own plate with a whole new perspective. Despite being raised in the Weyr, N'kayden had never put much thought into how many hands it took to prepare each meal.

Nava took another bite of cake. "I like the Kitchens so I don't really get moved much. Where did you get assigned when you were a Candidate?"

"I've been everywhere," he said. "I've helped lug laundry around. Scrubbed these floors. Mucked out the latrines. Scrubbed the bottoms of pots that had scalded tubers stuck to the bottoms. Those were the _worst_ to get out."

She laughed. "Just be glad that you didn't have to deal with any burnt sugar. You could use that to glue stones together!"

N'kayden smiled at her laugh, noting the way it made her lips curve appealingly. "So do you think you'll always work in the kitchens? Or do you have your eye on Head Cook someday? Headwoman, maybe?"

"By the Egg, no! That's _far_ too much extra work!" Nava finished one slice of cake and moved on to the next. "I'd be so busy doing things for other people that I'd have no time to do the things that _I_ like to do."

That piqued his interest. "What are the things that you like to do?"

She looked slyly up at him through her eyelashes. "Men."

N'kayden sputtered over his drink, nearly inhaling it. "You don't play fair," he squeaked.

"I play perfectly fair, all of the time."

"Even in strip dragonpoker?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously." He was cute when he was... real, she decided. He was young, but cute. Even though he wouldn't have been her first choice, she was doing the women of the Weyr a good service. "All right. Want to come to my rooms? Maybe... play a hand of cards?"

"I would like that." N'kayden's smile was genuine as he stood and offered Nava his hand. "I already know the first piece of clothing I'll ask for."

"Oh?"

N'kayden smiled. "You'll see."

Last updated on the March 20th 2025

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The First Lesson - A Good Conversation