Smell of numbweed in the morning. (Open)

[Invisible]

It was hard to eat with the smell everywhere, but Genet was going to make an effort. More people came and went, rather rapidly, but Genet was not going to be deterred. Lunch was hit or miss since sometimes she had to catch up on work she had not gotten to yet. It was breakfast or nothing some days. “Well, then life must be extra dull for you. I cannot imagine knowing stuff so quickly. It’s more fun to find out.” Who wants figuring people out to be easy anyway?

“Twenty and a half turns,” Genet answered with a chipper smile. Chipper even in the face of numbweed stink. The klah must have been starting to work on her brain. “Well, I was searched, but it was sorta…tricky.” Not real, proven by the fact she had left the sands alone. “My brother G’tet, we’re twins see, but I am older, he was searched four turns ago. And he impressed Kalpeth and promised to bring me here, but our parents wouldn’t have it.” Before she could tell more of the story she had to eat another sweetroll. Once she was done she went on. “So, he promised to bring me here and when there was a gold egg on the sands, well, he asked a friend to bring me back. My parents wouldn’t say no to a searchrider. And once I was here I just didn’t go home.”

[blueaid]

Quietly, Rivaly repeated, "And a half." Her eyebrows crept upward with contained humor over the careful addition there, amusement spilling over to the crack of a smile. But she was conscientious not to outright mock the woman for her and-a-half, to greet it with entertainment but not derision. Dallying seemed an odd thing for her, like idle hands simply didn't come naturally to her, and-- even at rest-- she found occupation by rearranging the way she left the paddle leaning against the wall, to try and keep the puddle from spreading too wide across the floor.

She listened to the story with an expression mingled of interest and uncertainty; even a Healer, even one who could barely tell a watchwher from a dragon (hyperbole!) would find it a little odd to be promised search from one sibling to another. "Don't your parents worry about you though? Wouldn't it be kinder to explain to them that you're not happy there?" She paused, shed a sheepish smile, and added, "I'm assuming you weren't happy there, that is, or else you probably wouldn't have run away. You like the Weyr so much that you'll stay?"

[Invisible]

Sloth was not natural to Genet, but it settled over her easily when it came. The former holder, former candidate, now mere lower caverns worker grinned with an energy not apparent in the way she sat and forced herself to finish every bite of medicinal tasting food on her plate. Whatever thoughts she had of Rivaly’s inability to simply be and not be doing something were not seen anywhere in her expression.

The klah, she thought, at least still tasted like klah with just a hint of medicine. Well, it could be worse and she consigned herself to drinking lots of it rather than try to eat more food. She would just have to get her morning chores done and hope lunch tasted less of an infirmary. “My parents wanted to marry me off to a grandfather. A lecherous old beast of a man. If they worry about me now it’s the first time ever.” An unfair statement to be sure as they worried plenty. Just not about her happiness.

“You don’t understand, Rivaly. I wasn’t expected to be unhappy there. I was supposed to be just like all my other sisters and marry who they said and be content being some man’s drudge and childbearer until I died. Who wants that?” Well, plenty of girls had no problem with that but it was clear Genet was not one of them. “I don’t even want children. Screaming whining demanding to be taken care of children. Eww. Let someone else deal with that.”

The question of the Weyr drew a frown, however briefly, to her face before she shook her head to clear away those frowny thoughts. “I like the Weyr fine. I’ll like it better when G’tet is back. At least they just let me do my work and don’t try to force me into being just like my dull old sisters.”

[blueaid]

"It's natural for parents," began Rivaly, the sort of person who could empathize with anyone, "to want to give the care of their daughters into the keeping of someone else, usually a man. They only do what they must, Genet, what their parents did and their parents and back and back and back." She shrugged one shoulder in simple forgiveness for the ways of the world, but her half-smile never accused Genet for all Genet accused her parents. On the contrary, a woman in a man's world herself, Rivaly seemed if anything more inclined toward amusement and agreement with all the talk about children and neediness.

With the mask drawn back up over her face, up-and-down, up-and-down, she returned toward the edge of the cauldron and glanced back at Genet in the process. "I do understand, Genet, truly. Do you not think it would have been the same fate for me? If search and Weyr life is your escape, this is mine. Please don't think I can't relate, only that I think your anger might be misguided." She poked at the skin starting to congeal across the top of the salve, breaking through it into the bubbling brew beneath, and then hastily beckoned the utterly deflated infirmary aides-- the bigger of the two, the boy who hardly had cause to look so desperately weary while the Healer still bustled about.

An exchange between them, simple and illustrative, ended that he was to draw the cauldron off the fire and set it safely against the wall where it could cool, leaving Rivaly a few moments to supervise and continue the conversation. "If your parents hadn't been worried for you, do you think they would have sought a home and husband for you? They might have left you floundering at your own mercy, but they wanted to help you along the only life they can comprehend for a girl-child, hmnn?"

[Invisible]

Genet, at twenty and a half turns, had little space in her psyche for sympathy towards her parents. “Yea, yea, I get it. You don’t need to beat me over the head with it.” Really, if she’d wanted a lecture she could have visited any number of people who would have happily given her one. “They let you leave. Your parents. Even when G’tet asked to bring me back they said no. They were too mad at him.” Eyes rolled as she pushed away her plate with the last of her breakfast still on it.

The smell of cooking numbweed dulled her hunger some, but it was the talk of her parents that killed it entirely. “You don’t know my parents,” she said as she rose to her feet. “You have no idea what my life was like before I came here. If you think I’ll feel sorry for my parents you’re dead wrong. When I am old and grey I will still not feel sorry for them. I don’t care if that makes me a bad person because I would rather be bad then accept that they really thought the things they did to me were meant to help me.”

Picking up her plate and mug she nodded to Rivaly. “It’s my anger. I’ll put it wherever I want thank you very much. I had best get to work.” Not that she was looking forward to the tasks for the day, but really. She’d a single mug of klah in her and was expected to find understanding for anyone but herself? That was just ridiculous!

[blueaid]

Rivaly listened. Really listened. Not an easy thing for most people to do, not without looking distracted or ready to counter-argue or something other than just paying attention. And when Genet was all done, she answered only a very mild, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lecture you." She sounded truly contrite, too, or at least apologetic that her good intentions had gotten twisted up along the way.

Nothing more about Genet's parents, not about sympathy or understanding or rationale, just acceptance with a nod while she stepped back to indicate she'd make no effort to further waylay someone who had work to attend to. In the background, puffing away, the assistant stood mopping his brow and waiting to be dismissed while the pot of numbweed started immediately to congeal.

[Invisible]

Before she got too far away Genet paused and looked back at Rivaly. “It’s ok,” she assured the other woman with her normal cheerful expression back in place. “I just haven’t had my klah and don’t want to go to work. It was nice meeting you!” She sounded so sincere about it too. If she was lying she was damned good at it. The better answer might be just that she was happy to meet anyone and unbothered by any trouble that might have happened a minute or two ago. With a wave she headed off to leave her plates and get working.