Dry Eggs

Writers: Aaron, Francesca
Date Posted: 18th November 2024

Characters: Mirima, Diara
Description: Mirima and Diara don't talk about the Clutch on the Sands.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 2, day 23 of Turn 12

The previous day's news of not only a Clutch on the Sands, but a gold
egg, had completely transformed the atmosphere in the Weyr. The girls'
side of the Candidate barracks had immediately exploded into
conversations about who would Impress the gold and whether it would be
someone already there or someone who had not been Searched yet. Diara
was not looking forward to the barracks filling up with naive girls
from tiny cotholds who had never even ridden on a dragon before being
Searched.

She grabbed her breakfast and headed to a table already half full
with Candidates, but avoided the cluster of girls who were obviously
talking about the eggs. Instead, she sat across from Mirima, who she
did not know very well. While she was holdbred, one of her brothers
had Impressed and another was a Candidate, which was a promising sign.

"Hi," Diara said. "Is it ok if we talk about anything but the eggs?"

"They are a little dry today." Mirima poked at a small pile of
scrambled yardfowl eggs on her plate with her fork. "But that doesn't
make for much of a conversation." She winked. "Have a seat. How's life
treating you? Aside from the eggs, of course."

The joke elicited an involuntary laugh. "Things are good. Last
Threadfall, I got to assist with a wing Threadscore for the first
time. I mean, I just helped get supplies and coated the injury with
numbweed," Diara admitted. "But it was really interesting. And the
wing will eventually heal." She took a bite of fruit. "What have you
been up to?"

"Nothing as exciting as all that," said Mirima. "I helped make some
numbweed. Stocked a pantry with an incoming tithe. Learned a bit about
how the Weyr keeps its ledgers and inventories. Have you helped with
any of that yet? They are very particular about what goes where on the
shelves in the pantries, even if there's a better way to do it..." Not
exciting, perhaps, but Mirima enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Yes, some of the women on the Headwoman's staff can be pretty
nitpicky," Diara agreed. "Ugh. Making numbweed has to be the worst
chore, right?" Just thinking of the smell was unpleasant.

"Oh, it's not all that bad," said Mirima. It was pretty bad. "As long
as you have the right tools. I keep a blend of oils I dab onto a
handkerchief and then tie around my face, and it does a pretty good
job of blocking out the numbweed stank."

"I guess that would help a bit." Diara was still skeptical. She took a
bite of fruit. "Do you have a favorite chore?"

"Favorite chore? Not really. Work is work," said Mirima. "Do you?" She
supposed that she would not have asked if she did not.

"Not exactly a favorite, but I do like chores where I feel like I've
actually changed something that will stick around for more than a few
candlemarks. Washing dishes is awful, because they'll just get dirty
again. But, reorganizing a storage room is nice. Craft things are
better though, even if some of it ends up just being chores." At least
becoming a senior apprentice had helped a bit with that. "You could
think about apprenticing if you want to do fewer chores."

"Chores don't hurt my feelings," said Mirima. She liked feeling the
sense of accomplishment, no matter what the task was or whether it
needed doing again. Things needed to get done, and someone needed to
keep the wheels turning and the lights on, as it were. She had never
felt the need to pigeonhole herself into doing one specific type of
thing for the rest of her life.

Never mind that she was willing to stand on the sands. But they were
not talking about that, were they? She could hardly bring up Diara's
craft directly for that very reason. There was no progression there
without a dragon of your own, and talking about getting a dragon meant
talking about the eggs.

"It's nice to have something to do."

"Yes, that's true." Sometimes her life felt like she was just filling
time between Hatchings. Diara finished off her drink. "Well, see you
in class. And thanks for not talking about... you know." She smiled.

"Any time!" Mirima returned the smile. "See you in class."

Last updated on the December 10th 2024

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Dry Eggs