Interesting Things

Writers: Devin, Eimi
Date Posted: 7th June 2006

Characters: Gilsha, N'vanik
Description: Gilsha and N'vanik manage to have a looooooong talk...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 9 of Turn 3

N'vanik

Entering the dining cavern, N'vanik glanced toward the spot where he and U'kaiah had had their fight. He didn't do it all the time, but once in a while he couldn't resist the urge. **Ahh, memories,** he thought sarcastically. It was a little more crowded than usual for the time of day, and his favorite spots in the back corners were taken. After filling his tray, he considered going back upstairs to eat in his weyr.
Since his grounding, though, he found he didn't like spending time alone as much as he used to. Looking around again, he saw Gilsha sitting alone towards the end of one table. He shrugged. **Hmmm . . . why not?** She seemed interesting, at least. Well, a _little_ interesting.

"Hey," he said, sitting down across from her.

"Ah ha! I've been wondering when you would come looking for me again,"
Gilsha smiled as she reached for the water pitcher. "Didn't have enough of me yet, bronzerider?"
A flicker of annoyance crossed his face before he smiled. "I saw you sitting alone. Thought maybe you could use some company."

"That's very kind of you, N'vanik," she said as she poured herself a glass. "Water?"

"Sure." He held it out to be filled. "So are you playing nice today?"
The bronzerider asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"I'm always nice," the greenrider chuckled. "You're just too moody to usually notice. Which isn't surprising."

N'vanik sighed and rolled his eyes. "You've always got to say something negative about me, don't you?" His tone was more amused than annoyed, though.

"Well, let's face it," Gilsha said with a helpless shrug, "it's how you _are_."

"True enough," he said with a slight smile. "How about you say something nice about me for a change? Just one nice thing." N'vanik picked up his roll and took a bite.

"Ok...." Gilsha took a few bites of her and chewed thoughtfully. Finally she swallowed and replied, "You were very nice to Arosil, and I don't even think it was for purely selfish reasons."

He hadn't been expecting a comment like that and it was a little . . .
embarrassing. "She's a nice lady," he mumbled.

"I agree," she nodded, chewing on a chuck of roll. Washing it down with a bit of water she added, "Yes, I think she's a very kind woman. I like her."

"So," N'vanik said, wanting to chance the subject. "Meet any _interesting_ people around here?"

A slow smile curved the corner of her lips. "A couple," she admitted. "There's an artist who can draw the most life-like sketches I have ever seen. And he's not even trained, except as a healer. I'm very interested in his work."

"So you like the art-types? Never had the patience for that stuff myself, though reading isn't so bad."

"Oh really?" Gilsha asked, her eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. "Now _that_, bronzerider, is interesting." She pointed a finger at him for emphasis. "What do you read?"

"Novels mostly," he said. "I'm partial to ones with lots of action in them."

"Action novels for a man of action?" she asked with a teasing tone. "What kind of action? Battles? Threadfall? Exploring? Crime?"

"Battles are interesting. I only like Threadfall ones if they're really interesting. I do enough of that in real life. Pirate stories can be pretty fun." He smiled, thinking of how boyish that was.

"Pirate stories, huh..." Gilsha chuckled. "What kind of pirates? On sea or in the sky?"

"Well, you've got to have a proper pirate _ship_ don't you?" he said. "I wanted to be a pirate when I was younger."

"Oh, trust me, you don't have to have a ship to be a pirate," Gilsha said with a far off smile. "Of course, I never _asked_ what kind of cargo Pali and I were carrying most the time, but I'm pretty sure we transported our fair share of ill-gotten gain once or twice." Or plenty more...

N'vanik's eyes widened. "And _that_ greenrider, is _very_ interesting.
How did you happen to get into transporting questionable goods?" It looked like he and Gilsha might have something in common afterall.

She shrugged a shoulder and reached for a roll from the basket. "A girl had to make a living _somehow_ during the Interval. I was never a crafter, and I wasn't content to just sit in a Weyr and rot, telling stories of the 'glory days' of dragonriding and following someone else's plan for my life. I had a green that could take me anywhere I wanted to go, and I was sharding well going to make my own way in this world."

"You lived Weyrless?" he asked, growing even more interested. "Shards, girl. Now I'm jealous."

"Well, the North needed riders too, you know, for currier services, transportation, watch riders and the like. Since there weren't any _official_ Weyrs up there at the time..." She shrugged. "We made do with what we had."

"I wish I'd done the same. I think I would have been a lot happier on my own." N'vanik pierced a slice of meat with his fork.

"Ah, now see, we were having a nice, pleasant conversation, and you had to turn negative on me again," Gilsha said giving his leg a push with her foot. "But all right, I'll bite. Why would you be a lot happier?"

"I don't like a lot of things about Weyrlife. Now that there's Threadfall, it's not so bad. But before then," he shrugged. "There's just too many rules. Too many people telling you what to do."

"And you didn't know there were going to be rules before you Impressed? I'm pretty sure they covered that in _my_ Candidate classes."

"I didn't listen very well." He smiled.

"Oh ho ho! And then who's fault is _that_?" she asked, giving his leg another playful nudge.

N'vanik tilted his head. "Usually when people do that, it's because they're flirting."

Gilsha replied with an unlady-like snort that lead into a round of chuckles and giggles. "Shards, its a good thing I wasn't drinking, I would have sprayed it _all_ over the place," she said once she finally regained control of herself. "My my, bronzerider, you really do think you're the sun we circle around, don't you. It's a good thing you said something, I was starting to doubt."

He leaned back and sighed. "Ah, so you're not flirting. Well, that's a relief. I was starting to get worried."

"Oh, trust me, you have absolutely _nothing_ to worry about," she said as she leaned forward to give his hand a pat.

"Alright." N'vanik moved his hand away from her. "Let's get back to a more interesting topic. How have you adjusted to Weyrlife after spending time free and wild?"

"Eh..." She shrugged. "It's pretty... Monotonous. Drill, sweepride, fight Thread. Drill, sweepride, ride Thread. That's it."

"I'd agree with you there, except I don't find fighting Thread monotonous at all," he said.

"Oh, well, fighting Thread is exciting to be sure. But when you have to do it every week, whether you feel like it or not, even that will eventually become tedious. And then we'll die."

N'vanik snorted. "That's not a very healthy attitude. Threadfall's never been tedious to me, and I hope to Faranth it never is. It's the only sharding thing I'm good at."

"Well, it seems I'm not he only one with an unhealthy attitdue." She drained the last of her water. "Maybe you haven't tried enough stuff to find what else you're good at. Or do you just give up before you gain any skill?"

"I don't really have the patience." He shrugged. "I tried woodcrafting after I Impressed. Didn't last very long."

"Hmmmm," Gilsha hummed thoughtfully. "So what you're saying is that you _could_ be good at other things if you just took the time and stuck to it."

"Maybe." N'vanik shrugged again. "So why don't you?"

"Never found a good reason to make the effort, I guess. Dragonriding is enough for me." He took another bite of his nearly finished meal.

"What a boring and meaningless life you lead, bronzerider," Gilsha said with a sad shake of her head.

He snorted. "Well, what do _you_ do?"

"I've met people from every walk of life on this planet, from caprine herders in the mountains to Lord Holder's in their bedchambers. I've transported wealth that could change the face of Pern politics, and I've transported a son's lifeless body back to his family after they had been separated for turns. I've tried my hand at whatever stuck my fancy, and I was never afraid to fail. I've loved and been loved by several men, and probably even a few women, and I was never afraid to admit it. I could die in the next Threadfall, and I would be happy knowing I lived a life worth living."

"A speech fit for a harper," N'vanik said, with only a hint of sarcasm.
"I've done a lot of things in my life, but there's not much I'm proud of."

"I'm getting that general sense," the greenrider nodded as she pushed what was left of her meal around on her plate. "Maybe it's time for a change?"

"Changes . . . don't seem to stick."

"Maybe you have to press harder."

"Maybe it's too late for me to change." He turned his glass from side to side on the table.

Gilsha snorted. "People don't change because either too lazy, too stubborn, too stupid or they're dead. The first two are choices, the last are is unchangeable. Which on are you?"

"I'd say the first three," he said, still turning the glass. "Although I'm smart enough to know better, which makes me even stupider."

"Well, bronzerider, I am very sorry to hear that you are such an idiot,"
the greenrider sighed as she stood up with her plate. "But I must leave you now. I actually have a life to get back to."

"Whatever," N'vanik mumbled. Why did everyone keep trying to fix him?

Last updated on the June 8th 2006

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