Meet, Greet and Eat (tag: Friily)

[hbk]

Zaylee often found herself with the problem of not knowing who she was going to eat with at evening meal. On her lucky days, her twin sister was in the cavern as well and she would eat with her. On her unlucky days, however, Zaylee would have to forge out on her own and sit with an unknown group of people. It was a good thing that Zaylee was good at striking up conversations.

With tray of food in hand, Zaylee turned to see that there was a relatively empty table open with only one girl seated, and by the looks of the girl's shoulder knots, she was a Candidate, probably a recent addition to the Weyr, Zaylee assumed.

"Good evening," Zaylee smiled in a friendly manner as she stood near where the girl sat, "do you mind if I sit here?"

[craziestcatlady]

Friily started at the voice, nearly spilling the klah she was about to take a sip of. She looked up at the woman who had spoken to her, first startled by the woman's beauty, then startled by the realization that her shoulder knots marked her as a dragonrider.
Realizing all at once that she was staring, she shook her head. "I d-don't mind," she said, half stammering past the pounding of her heart. She took a deep breath and thinned her mouth just a little, straightened her back just the tiniest bit. By the first egg, she had no clue what would make a beautiful girl, much less a beautiful dragonrider come sit next to her, but she was determined to not be intimidated or overly shy about it.
She stuck out her hand, a little stiffly, horribly unused to meeting new people, but trying to come off as natural. "My name's Friily."
She noted with a smidge of pride that her voice did not quiver or falter this time.

[hbk]

Zaylee's smile was a natural one that curved across her face, her hand warm and firm as she shook Friily's in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Friily. I'm Zaylee and I ride green Aphrioth." She told the girl as she sat down across from her and took up her fork in one hand.

"So you're a Candidate?" Zaylee questioned conversationally before shoveling in a bit of roasted herdbeast into her mouth. The flavors were good, she had to admit, as they rolled over her tongue, and the slight char to the outside of the cut of meat gave it an extra flavor that Zaylee enjoyed.

Some nights food in the Dining Cavern wasn't so great, after all, they had to feed a lot of mouths. But there were some nights, and some particular dishes, that the Dining Cavern cooked very well.

[craziestcatlady]

Friily cautiously took a closer look at Zaylee. She gave a tentative smile as she realized the woman was being genuine. "It's nice to meet you, too ... and, yes, I'm a Candidate. No one in my family's ever been Searched." She straightened a little more, a touch of pride creeping into her voice. She had never really looked past the boundaries of the little herdbeast hold, if it could even be called a hold with its size, she had grown up in, but the arrival of dragons, and dragonriders, had made her heart pound loud in her ears, and made a longing she'd never experienced spring up to nearly choke her. Her feet moving beyond her control, she'd run out to greet them as they landed, the lone figure that was unafraid to go right up to the dragons.
The blue nearest her had ducked his head down to look better at her, and she'd been glad to scratch his eye ridges for him when he'd asked.
Scarcely a few hours later, her she was, carrying on casual conversation with a Geenrider.
She, too, took a bite of food, the corners of her mouth twitching up in amusement at how quickly things change.
She nearly moaned as the herdbeast meat touched her taste buds. Having grown up in a not-quite-poor family, she'd never known food could taste so good! Her already broadened horizon seemed to stretch a bit further with the revelation.
She shook her head a bit to try to bring herself back into the present.
"So, um, where are you from?" She asked Zaylee, gray eyes flicking back to the young woman. She took another bite of herdbeast.

[hbk]

Zaylee lifted her hands to motioning around her at the Weyr, "I was born and raised at the Weyr. I spent most of the time in the lower caverns with my foster mother as a kid." She began to tell a little about herself as she forked another bite of food into her mouth, "And I also have a twin sister, Vaylee, so if you ever see 'me' and I don't speak to you you'll know it's Vaylee." The greenrider explained with a wink.

Mentioning Vaylee made Zaylee realize that it had been a couple of days since she checked in on her sister. Going to have to rectify tha soon. She thought to herself. I also need to get those herbs to Ma. She added another item to her mental to-do list as she looked back up at Friily.

"So were you apart of a craft or anything before you came to the Weyr?"

[craziestcatlady]

Friily shook her head. "Just a little hold. Very small - just me and Mum and Pop, and of course the herdbeasts."
She felt a tiny pang at the memory of her father's tall form, summoned by the thought of him, reduced to an ant from dragonback, waving up at her, and a glimpse of a bittersweet and proud smile. She'd have to let him know how she doing, once she'd settled in properly. Maybe even visit him ...

[hbk]

"I imagine it must be hard to be away from your family." Zaylee said, intuition telling her that Friily would be missing such a close-knit connection. Not to mention the fact that Zaylee knew she'd feel desolate without her twin Vaylee around. Even though they hadn't found each other until they were five Turns old, Vaylee was still like another part of Zaylee and she felt incomplete if she couldn't see her sister each sevenday.

"Do you think your family will come to the Hatching to watch you Stand?" Zaylee asked curiously, thinking that if her Wingleader permitted she could even go and pick up the family and transport them to the Weyr for the event.