Just Looking Around

Writers: Eimi, Francesca
Date Posted: 29th September 2009

Characters: Kamalia, U'kaiah
Description: Kamalia follows U'kaiah into the Records Room and then makes up a reason to explain why she's there.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 23 of Turn 5

Kamalia had expected him to go to his weyr, or maybe the lake. But
instead he was walking through corridors, climbing stairs, turning. The
more Kamalia followed, the more she worried about getting caught. But,
she wanted to know where he was going. Maybe to the back entrance of
his weyr? Even after living at Dragonsfall for over a Turn, she had not
explored the corridors much. First she had been with other candidates,
then with weyrlings, and now she had her on weyr. There had been no
need to know how to get to many places.

Oh, the Records Room. Why would he go there? She had only been there
once or twice as part of training but it hadn't interested her. She did
remember the slightly musty smell though, which was already present in
the hallway. She almost turned back, but then decided it wouldn't hurt
to go inside. As she stepped through the doorway, she resisted the urge
to see where he had gone and instead concentrated on the shelves of
hides and scrolls, trying to remember how everything was organized.

U'kaiah had heard another pair of boots follow him into the Record Room,
but he had thought nothing of it. His mind was much more preoccupied
with the task at hand. He had been ignoring his studies for far too
long, and now it was starting to catch up with him. There were only so
many times he could blame putting off his assignments on his duties, and
he could tell the Master Archivist he had been studying under was less
than pleased with the latest missed deadline.

There he was, looking at some hides. Kamalia absentmindedly scanned
several of the volumes in front of her, wondering if she should just
turn around and leave. This section seemed to be about dragon anatomy
and growth. It all seemed very technical, and very boring. In fact,
everything in the room was probably old and dull. Why was he there?
And, why had she bothered following him? She didn't know what she had
expected him to do, but this certainly was not interesting to watch,
especially if he was going to sit and read for candlemarks.

The bronzerider, however, was finding the idea of sitting and reading
very interesting. It had been quite a while since he had taken the
time. There had always seemed to be something there to distract him.
Admittedly lately that something often involved either women or drink,
neither of which was particularly good for him, he had concluded. He
needed a new project to distract his time, and this archiving assignment
seemed to be exactly what he was looking for.

She inched closer, a part of her not wanting to disturb him, but she had
come this far. She might as well say something. "Oh! Hi," she said
softly, pretending to have just seen him. She didn't see anyone else in
the room, but there was probably a harper or two rummaging around in the
back.

The voice startled him and he visibly jumped at the sound. "Oh shards,
it's you!" he said with an embarrassed chuckle, recognizing the girl
immediately as the greenrider he had spoken to a few days before.
"Sorry, I get a little... absorbed, I guess."

"Sorry." Kamalia flushed. "I didn't mean to scare you." His reading
must be very interesting, or at least very important. She shouldn't
have come.

"It's all right," he quickly assured her, flipping his book closed.
"I've been accused of getting a little too engrossed in my reading
sometimes. I've been told it's not a good habit."

"What are you reading?" she asked, pleased he had immediately stopped
his work. She rarely read for pleasure, but then, the Records Room was
not the place for harper romances.

"It's the biography of an archivist named Master Trutel and how he came
up with a new system of cleaning records that had faded due to..." The
bronzerider stopped, shaking his head with a rye smile. "And it
probably isn't all that interesting, to tell the truth."

"Not really," she admitted. "Why are you reading it then?" It seemed
to have no connection with leading a Wing or being a dragonrider.

"Because I'm an archivist. Well, I'm sometimes an archivist," he
admitted with a sheepish smile. "I'm only a Junior Journeyman, but I'm
working on it. Again."

"Oh. And you come here a lot?" Imagining him there reading biographies
didn't fit with her idealized image of him, and it was difficult to
accept.

"Try to, but there are lots of things to distract me. There's the
waterball team, and being a Wingleader of course." Not to mention the
women and ale that helped keep his mind off of things. "How about you?
What are you doing here?"

She shrugged, hoping a blush wouldn't give her away. "Just looking
around. We were brought here a few times in training, but I can't
remember where things are," she admitted.

Well, that was certainly something U'kaiah could help her with! "Is
there anything I can help you find?"

"Mating flights," she replied without thinking. Why was that the first
thing that came to her mind? Well, considering who she was talking to,
it wasn't that surprising. But, she wished she had said dragon
anatomy, threadfall charts, anything else.

He cocked his head to the side slightly. Her topic of research took him
somewhat by surprise. Though, considering she was a senior weyrling
now, he supposed it shouldn't have. It was just sudden was all. "Are
you looking for a scientific opinion on the subject, or are you looking
for something more like a first hand account?"

Kamalia kept her gaze fixed on the table. She hoped no one was
listening in on their conversation. "A scientific opinion." The
location of the collection of harper romances was the only thing she
did remember from previous visits. She hadn't been the only one
who had giggled when the Weyrlingstaff had pointed out that section.

The bronzerider was picking up on her uneasiness. He wished he could
say something to her to tell her that it was all right, that it was
normal to be nervous about the whole thing. But really, what could a
_bronzerider_ say to a greenrider about Mating Flights? "This... may
not be any of my business, but... Have you talked to anyone about this?
Mating Flights, I mean?"

She wanted to crawl into a corner, or go /between/ to a deserted island.
Maybe there was some way she could get out of this conversation quickly
and then do her best to forget all about it. "Yes." At least, she had
asked Karri some general questions before she had even Impressed, and
giggled and pointed out potential bedmates with some of her clutchmates.
"It doesn't hurt to learn more though," she added, hoping she sounded
knowledgeable and confident.

She had a point, U'kaiah thought as he nodded his head thoughtfully. If
she had seemed to need someone to talk to about those things, he
certainly could have pointed out a few greenriders who would have been
willing to discuss the issue with her. But she sounded confident
enough. "All right. I think there are a few articles on the topic in
some of the anatomy and physiology books over there. Come with me."

She followed him, wondering if this meant she would need to spend the
next candlemark reading the articles. Or, maybe she could take them to
her weyr and then return them in a sevenday. All this just to cover the
real reason she had come to the Records Room. Well, she had learned her
lesson. She wouldn't follow him around anymore. Or, she quickly
amended, she wouldn't follow him into any rooms. Watching him scrub his
bronze or go to the feeding grounds was quite another matter.

Last updated on the October 17th 2009

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Just Looking Around