A Gathering of Siblings (Silvio)

[Alsivor]

Silvio took in the way Genet sat and he masked a grin with another pass of his hand over his mouth. She was an interesting blend of proper and ... not so much if the words coming out of her mouth were sincere and he didn't really have any reason to believe they weren't.

"I wouln't say that Aleda's particularly happy with the idea of being married off, no. She's fought it all our lives. But she is getting to be of an older age. Older than most Caminar when they wed. She is over twenty now and my father fears he will never a make a match for her. That she's apparently run off with a greenrider who is /not/ a --" he waved his hand a little searching for a term that wasn't a derogatory Caminar word and settled on the obvious, "--lover of men and on Weyr business leaving her people behind to suffer without her skills--" he gestured again as if it was very plain. Bad, bad, bad and more bad.

Silvio considered Genet's next though and finally cast himself down in the other chair, running a hand through his hair and letting breath puff out his cheeks. "So the Weyrleader put you off. And it is always a matter of difficulty for Caminar to bear any sort of complaint. Especially when there have been less than nice things happening like fights and insults." He made a little face and absently fingered his jaw as if remembering being clocked there. "Anyway. It seems that yes, perhaps my father is more than justified in bringing complaint. Do you know of the others who went along on this mission? Or where they went?"

[Invisible]

Nonsense! Genet was propriety itself all the time! Or at least when it suited her which was quite often. It didn’t do to let someone think they might get something she would not want to give. If and when she played her games they were quite carefully done. It was not what was on her mind at the moment, but it wasn’t completely out of the question either or she would have behaved from the start. Harmless flirting was no big deal anyway.

“I hardly think it would be the end of the world to let women make their own marriage choices,” she comments with a smile. “They could hardly do worse than many of their fathers. My own was looking at men old enough to be my grandfather.” Her nose wrinkled up at the thought and she cast it from her mind by absently running a hand along the edge of the shawl she wore. When Silvio spoke of her brother she laughed brightly. “Oh, G’tet loves men all right. More than women even. He just doesn’t quite dislike women either. But I doubt he’d try anything with your sister if he thought it would get her in trouble. So, it’s not like anyone has to know his preferences.”

Shoulders shrugged as she grinned at the Caminar. Half-truths were one of her specialties. “If it’s just between us then what’s to worry? If your father asks questions at the Weyr I doubt he’d get a straight answer.” Now she frowned and thought to add, “Which is wrong, I know, but what can you do? Especially after that fight.” Genet could not remember seeing him at the brawl, but she figured he’d at least know of it. All thoughts of that flew from her mind though as she sat up straight and grinned with a flash of mischief in her eyes. “I know! Your father can come with me to demand answers from J’fel! I can get us in and he can make him behave and actually answer something!”

The idea was brilliant and she basked in that brilliance for a moment before remembering his question. “Umm. G’tet wouldn’t tell me who was going. But! I have been asking around since they left and I am pretty sure I know who is missing. There’s another greenrider named…S-something or other. And a wingsecond. He’s a Caminar too. P’nser? No, P’ntes? No…something like that. And the wingleader of Storm wing. Th’ane is his name. I think that’s all. At least all I could discover.” Her tone clearly implies that if it’s all she could discover that’s all there is to it.

[Alsivor]

"There's careful consideration of bloodlines for the Caminar," Silvio said slowly. "To avoid too many close family marriages." His eyes flicked over towards her and his shoulders rolled a little uncomfortably. He was saying too much to this strange and forward plantado girl. The Caminar's gaze followed the caress of her fingers along fabric's edge and a part of his brain tucked that away as possible fodder for haggling. "Ah. Well then. I won't be the one to tell him," Silvio made big wide eyes at Genet. "The fact that she's been gone so long in the company of /that/ many riders is ... well in the end, that's enough by itself. Possibly even with an explanation from the Weyrleader." He shook his head back and forth and leaned back in the chair, arms folded again. "Aleda will be lucky if any man worth considering will take her now."

Both brows rose as she blurted forth her brilliant plan. "Four riders and my sister. And where are they ..." he trailed off and sighed softly. "Where are they." He fell silent for a moment then looked over at Genet thoughtfully. "I think for myself, I will be glad that she is with your brother. It sounds to me like she trusts him and from you, that he can /be/ trusted. So as long as they all come back alive, I will be content with that, myself. My father? Well. There may yet be a thunderstorm within our wagon."

Silvio pushed upright and nodded. "I will speak to him. Come by tomorrow if you like and I will let you know what he says. Perhaps make an introduction." He looked over at her with a little gleam in his eyes. "How about we talk payment for that?" a little nod towards the shawl now.

[Invisible]

Genet did not know his sister, but she guessed she had to be smart to be a healer. A good one or otherwise why would the Weyrleader have picked her? “Maybe she wants that? I mean, I don’t know her, but maybe she doesn’t want to marry anyone? Not every woman does in a hold so why wouldn’t it be the same with your people?” To her it makes sense anyway. People were people no matter their differences. If they did not have stuff in common they would not be people. When he spoke well of her brother she smiled at him most brilliantly. “G’tet is really honest and dependable. He can be counted on. If they are together he will look out for her. He’s a gentleman!” And so she thought even better of the Caminar knowing even as she did that it would cost her in the end during haggling. Well, what could be done? He said good things of her twin after all.

“I hope she’s not in too much trouble. I hated getting into too much trouble. Please tell your father I will not try to talk over him or for him.” Well, Genet would try not to do the former. She had a way of just letting her mouth run, but it was no harm saying she would try not to because she would try not to. There was just little expectation of success. Best to just let that go unsaid. At least she would not try to speak for him. She knew better than that.

When the conversation turned back towards her purchase she sat up straight and made sure to pull her hands away from the shawl. It was hard, but she even managed to pull it from around her shoulders so it might lay in her lap. Which was really just an excuse to rest her hands on it, fingers smoothing it out as she looked candidly over at Silvio. “We both know I want it too much to get a decent price.” She knew, he knew, she was letting him know that she knew that he knew.

[Alsivor]

Silvio looked at Genet a little askance for her theory about his sister. "That's as may be, but it's not really -- well let's just say that it would not be a good thing. For Aleda, or for our family," the Caminar said softly and a little hint of sympathy played around his features. It wasn't really something he troubled himself over. He knew the day would come when his father would arrange things for him and then it would be between himself and his wife what he worked out.

"Honest and dependable ... both very honorable things," Silvio murmured, deliberately not bringing up what Genet had implied earlier about her brother and his proclivities. "It's not so much that it's trouble, Genet. It's that it shows disloyalty. A mission for the Weyr? Abandoning her patients? Leaving her people behind? Tha tis not the Caminar way." He tried to keep his voice gentle, but it was a hard thing to explain and his own frustration with his sister came through. Faranth knew he loved Aleda very much and they were close in a manner that not all of their siblings were. He blinked at Genet a few times for the rest of that sentence. "If you go with my father, be prepared not to speak at all until it is your turn. He will not expect a plantado girl to speak at the same time as he at all." He frowned a little, then shrugged. The worst that could happen would be that Favio said no and perhaps he and Genet went to the Weyrleader themselves. He didn't mention this aloud though.

And there. She was laying the scarf across her lap and he couldn't help but smile at what she said and the look she was giving him. "We are helping each other, Genet. So. Consider that partial payment. Especially if we make it so that they come home." And then he named a number of marks that was in fact, a very fair price, at a discount even.

[Invisible]

“Oh, gosh, Silvio, if I go with your father I will be ever so good and not say a word.” Did he believe it? Likely not since Genet made no attempt to sound believable. Probably the roll of her eyes at the end followed by a wink gave it away entirely. “I can behave until we get in to see J’fel. After that all bets are off. I will get answers whatever I have to do. He’s the only family I have. Without him I’m completely alone at the Weyr.” In the world even unless she would go back to her family which was, it would seem, out of the question. What with marriageable grandfathers waiting to snatch her up for indecent purposes.

“I don’t want to get you in trouble though,” Genet assured the man with a grin. “So, I can pretend to be a proper girl as long as I need to.” He may have only thought it, but she said it, as if it were not anything she had considered before. “Besides, we could always just go together and leave him out of it entirely.” Hey, what woman would pick some old father over an attractive man her age? Not this one at least.

She was even more inclined to be nice when he named his overly fair price for the shawl. If he thought she had been smiling before there was no way to compare it to the sunny expression that broke out now. “Really? Really? For sure? I mean, that’s…I have that right now.” She fumbled in her pocket for the pouch containing her marks which was a task made harder by her doing it one handed. The other hand was latched onto the shawl that was now hers.

[Alsivor]

Silvio couldn't help it. He burst out laughing at Genet's exaggerated statement on being good. "/I/ don't expect you to, but well, you'll see when you meet him," the Caminaer explained with a wry pull of his mouth to the side. That expression slowly softened into sympathy as the girl continued. "I can't imagine being that way. Alone." He shook his head and reached out a little awkwaredly to rest fingers lightly against her forearm, a brief show of sympathy then drew back his hand. "You won't get me in trouble. I'm my father's beloved second son and golden boy, don't worry about me."

Hazel eyes lifted back up to Genet's face as he considered that suggestion. "Someone with a little more weight, a caravan leader might be more likely to get answers. But -- I'll think about it." He reached over towards the scarf and gave it a little twitch. "Let me wrap that for you?"

[Invisible]

“Well, still, I will be on my best behavior. I have dealt with parents before.” Genet grins as she speaks. She probably has dealt with multiple parents. At the same time. The grin sort of trailed off at the sympathy because she wasn’t quite sure what to do or say. It was not something she got often, sympathy. “Well, golden boy,” she finally said with a laugh. “Thank you. I hate being alone. I wouldn’t have come if I’d know he would be gone for months. I mean, I have friends and all, but no family. It’s just not what I am used to.”

To the offer to wrap her package she shook her head. “No, thank you. I think I will wear it now.” And so Genet lifted the shawl as she stood and wrapped it around her shoulders once more. “You don’t know the Weyrleader, Silvio. He’s young and he wants to prove himself. He might respond better to a young man.” Who wouldn’t? But she’d never say those words as they might be seen as too forward. Too forward would totally ruin the friendship moment and all. “I’ll come by tomorrow then.” Letting out a heavy sigh she glanced up at him through partially lowered lashes as she grinned. “But only because you gave me such a good deal. Don’t go getting any other ideas.” Ok, maybe a little flirting because it meant nothing and surely no one could think otherwise.

[Alsivor]

"Generally a good plan around my father," Silvio noted with an answering grin and he laughed again as she adopted his own moniker to address him by. "I'm not used to it either, not with eight brothers and sisters," he added on another joke and gave her a truly warm smile this time, no showpiece with which to sell anything. "Ahh, well then, a lady of taste," Silvio quipped, but he did step closer again, lifted one hand. "May I?" indicating the scarf with a nod. "The folds are a little crooked," he explained further. Silence as he absorbed what she said about the Weyrleader. "I've seen him about, he doesn't seem any older than I am." He looked up to meet that glance of hers, a spark of mischief perhaps to be found in his at finding hers to be marginally coy. "I'll look forward to seeing you again. If only for the possibility of making another deal, then," he teased back.

[Invisible]

“Now you see, if only more people recognized my discriminating taste,” Genet teased back with a little laugh. “Unfortunately it does not seem as if Pern is ready for someone of my talents. It’s a shame too. I could turn the world around.” Here she pauses to tip her head to one side and consider her words. “Well, I’d make a mess anyway and those are fun.” When he offers to fix the shawl she nods once and gestures with one hand. “Please. It would do neither of us good for me to leave looking less than my best. I wouldn’t want to be a bad customer.”

On the subject of J'fel she has much to say. However, she contents herself with, “Ugh. I’ve met him. He’s full of himself. Pretty men always have an ego.” Genet cuts herself off and has the grace to look apologetic. “Not you, of course. I am sure you are quite modest and all.” If her look was apologetic her tone was not. He had slinked after all. Her words were teasing though, like she might have said the same thing to her brother. “I’ll be sure to loot my brother’s weyr for more marks to bring next time,” she promises with a wink.

[Alsivor]

"I'm sure that someday you will," Silvio teased back further, grinning and reached with nimble fingers to draw the cloth away, re-fold so the points formed a proper triangle then re-draped it elegantly about her shoulders and neck. "There. Now you'll draw in custom for my father from far and wide."

He only laughed about the Weyrleader and pretty men but as he moved to hold the curtain back for her, he couldn't help a mildly drawled: "Does that mean you think I'm a pretty man? And even if I am, I'll be sure to mind my manners and cling to modesty when I see you next." Beat. "With your brother's marks in tow." He winked back at her and after she'd passed him, let the curtain fall closed behind her.

[Invisible]

Once the shawl was fixed Genet craned her head down and around to check it out. “Oh, much better. My thanks indeed.” Fingers trailed along the edge of it once more as she grinned. “I shall be sure to point everyone right to this stall for the best they might find. You can thank me for any large business increase by giving me a good deal next time I am here.” Her tone was light and friendly with no seriousness to it.

As she stepped out of the stall she looked over her shoulder and laughed. “I am quite sure, Silvio, that you don’t need me to tell you how good looking you are. I’m sure, golden boy, you’ve got all the girls swooning over you.” Genet was still worried about her brother, but she felt better in thinking she had finally possibly gained an ally in her quest to get answers. Even if she’d had to go to the Caminar to find one.

[Alsivor]

Just before the curtain dropped down, Silvio flashed Genet a bright smile. "I"ll take that as a 'yes' then," he said, chuckling, "with my thanks for both the new customers and the compliment. Good day, Genet." He watched her go through the little crack in the curtain then moved back to flop into one of the chairs, staring moodily up at the canvas ceiling that billowed a little in the wind.

A few minutes later, Milo ducked inside and blinked at his brother twice. "What bit you?" Silvio's younger brother asked a little warily. Hazel eyes dropped from the canvas to meet Milo's darker ones. "I just found out where Aleda is. Sort of." Milo whistled through his teeth and flopped down into the other chair. "Spill," was all he said and Silvio quietly told him some of the highlights of the conversation omitting several details he didn't think his brother needed to know.