Hofest!

[Xinnai]

The goldrider was wolfing down food much like her dragon did. Barely pausing to breathe, Salina forked up the delicious tasting sustenance into her mouth, needing to fill the empty ache in her belly as fast as she could. She’d spent the majority of her day flying around the weyr doing chores she’d been assigned. It was exhausting work, much more exhausting than work in the kitchens had been.

Salina sat back, the temporary ache filled. She sent her eye along the room she was in. She was hardly alone, but the lower caverns were much lonelier than they usually were. The weyrling could not help but remember her days within here, cooking and helping as much as she could. It was ironic to think that her newly acquired rank bore much more responsibility than her last, due to the needs that her golden beauty Deoneth presented.

The little weyrwoman was sighing at the thought of her bonded as she ate more slowly, actually tasting the fruit she put into her mouth. Deoneth was in the barracks now, sleeping off the day. It was a blessing, to be sure. The queen took her naps daily still, but they were much hastier than before. Each one the small gold took was a much needed break no matter that the girl felt the sadness leak in when her bonded was not conscious.

It was with this scan that Salina came upon a personage she had not expected to see. She paused, fork in mouth as her smoky eyes narrowed. Hmm. It was the dark-haired girl that the weyrling had seen with the weyrleader at the hatching feast some two months before. Salina leaned back on her bench, legs crossing as she regarded the girl. Dark hair, pretty eyes. She was pretty, to be certain. She looked to be about an inch shorter than the goldrider, and Salina took pleasure in the fact. She was usually a midget to most. She had the look of a harper-pale much like the weyrling was, but soft somehow. She had none of the muscle that Salina was used to seeing in woman about the weyr. A light eyebrow arched as the girl leaned forward, chin cupped within her delicate hands. Well then.

A thought had been nagging her for some time, bumping at the back of her mind, and she thought it time to fulfill it. The girl rose, revealing the bland white cotton shirt and gray trousers she wore as she did. She pushed long hair from her face and made her way to the other girl. “I’m sorry,” she announced her presence with a light smile, “you’re the harper? Althesia? I’m Salina. I was wondering if I could request a piece of work from you.” Salina held out one narrow hand to cement the introductions, eyes warm in her face. She held no ill will towards another one of J’fel’s…interests.

[anhydrous]

Althesia found the lower caverns more interesting than the sparse isolation of the quarters she had been assigned, the constant shift of people passing through providing steady background noise for her to work to. Silence was stifling, but conversation was a breeding ground for creativity. To the drone of words and phrases her pencil arched across the page, her sketchbook nestled in her lap with the cross of her legs serving to support it.

Mostly she ignored what was happening at the tables around her, content just to listen while she tried to commit a memory to her paper. Each little stroke of her pen served a greater purpose, lines and dashes connecting to form a familiar face in three-quarters profile. It was distinctly sullen, heavy eyebrows drawn into a signature frown. Althesia couldn’t help but smile at the likeness of her bronzer, but wished that she could draw him from life instead of from memory.

She’d been down in the lower caverns since breakfast, J’rad having insisted that he had some sort of wing duty to attend to. Her path from his weyr had brought her to this very spot all those hours ago, a cold cup of klah attesting to the fact. She picked it up with intent to take a sip, frowning as the liquid met her tongue. Apparently she’d lost track of time. Now it made sense that her feet were asleep, considering the length that they had been tucked up under her

Such musings were interrupted by the sudden presence of a girl, Althesia’s eyes darting up to her face while she made her introduction. Salina was it? At first the harper couldn’t place the fair-headed weyrling, but then memories of the feast came drifting back to her. She resisted the urge to scowl while she limply shook her hand. Althesia’s calloused paint-stained fingers looked a disgrace when compared to the well-oiled perfection that Salina had offered, but she didn’t dwell on it. There were bigger fish to fry.

This little speck was the reason J’fel had not fulfilled his promise of another dance. Irrationally possessive, Althesia immediately disliked the girl. Regardless, she set her features into something amiable. “Pleased to meet you,” the harper said with a professional smile, forcing conviction into her words. She inclined her head towards a chair, laying her pencil in the bend of her sketchbook while she prepared to look attentive. In truth she was turning her bright eyes in Salina’s direction, inwardly judging while the stare that made so many uncomfortable was settling on the little queenrider. “What did you have in mind?” It might seem terse, but it was down to business. Any commission would draw marks, and she’d pretend to like just about anyone if she could get a mark or two out of it.

[Xinnai]

Salina's smile was polite, just clinging to the description of warmth. Those who received her full attention in the curving of lips usually were blown away by it. The little weyrwoman situated herself into the chair that she was motioned towards. She sat down neatly, hands folding down into her lap.

"I was actually thinking of asking for a sketch of Deoneth. My dragon," she offered in explanation, not sure if the harper would know by memory the name of Telgar's newest queen. "I just wanted to document her growth."

For the first time, she felt nerves twisting at her stomach. She knew that Althesia knew who she was. The harper had spotted her at the edge of the dance floor those few months ago. She knew that Salina and J'fel had disappeared into the night. What would the woman possibly think? The goldrider knew that their charming weyrleader was a rake and so she could not discriminate against any other women he targeted, but would the other girl? She'd naught been here for half a turn.

Salina continued, leaning forward slightly in the chair, golden hair pooling into her lap. "I'd also commission you for more sketches of her, if you're still here by the time she's full grown. I want the collection complete of course." Smile curved, slight in its movement once more. "I've enough marks to afford it, of course." She leaned back that miniscule distance into the chair back, waiting for the harper's verdict.

[anhydrous]

With her almost pleasant expression, Althesia glanced from the weyrling down to her sketchbook. It wouldn’t do to forget the name of Telgar’s newest little gold, and knowing Althesia, that was exactly what was going to happen if she didn’t commit it to writing. Most of her sketches had notes scribbled in the margin, and this lovely portrait of J’rad would be no exception. She jotted ‘Deoneth’ at the edge of the page, her smile deepening when she caught mention of marks. Now this Salina girl was talking her language.

Althsia felt obliged to make small talk, seeing as how she was going to end up with money in her pocket. “I’ll be here for another couple of months,” she said languidly, making no move to a more professional posture. She might technically be on a job, but her employer wasn’t lurking around in the lower caverns. The thought of J’fel sent a shiver down her spine, absently wishing that he was lurking around. At least that would give her something better to do than to talk to this little queenrider.

Her thoughts, however, remained silent. Instead she continued with the reason for her extended stay, perhaps attempting to explain why Salina had seen her dancing in J’fel’s company, although it was doubtful that the artist would try to justify that. “The weyrleader has commissioned a large painting,” she explained, “And oils aren’t exactly the speediest medium.” Althesia didn’t know if that was going to be interesting or not, but her eyes did brighten slightly at mentions of the painting. Already she had done preliminary planning, and the final product promised to be something unforgettable.

While the woman was trying her best to put on the show of the engaging harper that she’d been trained to be, in truth she was finding it difficult to manage very successfully. Perhaps talk of business would suit her demeanor better. “Do you want her in action?” she asked listlessly, pencil still poised on the page, “Or posed?” For the first time since Salina sat down she earned a look for genuine curiosity while Althesia waited for her response.

[Xinnai]

Watching the harper was an intriguing thing and Salina settled back to indulge herself, looking at the emotions that crossed the other girl's face. She seemed bored by the prospect before her; lounging still within her chair as if she were chatting with a friend and not a prospective client. The weyrling was torn between reluctant amusement for the move or irritation and still hadn't decided when sharp eyes caught the shiver that Althesia made.

That was interesting. Very interesting. What would make a woman shudder like that, like she was thinking of something particularly enjoyable and almost forbidden? Secret thoughts that motivated the body in response. At her next words, Salina thought she had it in the image that came to mind-dark curls and laughing, sultry eyes that belonged on a frame entirely too small to contain such an amused, explosive personality. J'fel. The goldrider bit at her tongue to stop herself from speaking, but there was no denying the light of intuition that lit at her delicate face. Instead, she switched to the question she'd just been asked, lips pulling up in amusement, though the move was slightly derisive.

"I think it would have to be a pose." Though she was still polite, her humor lingered thick on her words, sometimes dribbling through as she continued. "The only action she could perform right now would be trying to look fierce or sleeping." She bit at her tongue again to keep herself from going on. After all, Deoneth was only two months old. She couldn't do much in the ways of more mature dragons yet.

[anhydrous]

Althesia had definitely noticed the amusement coloring Salina’s face, her eyebrow twitching slightly in an effort to remain composed. She jotted ‘posed’ in her sketchbook and straightened in her chair, one foot dropped to the floor as she arched an eyebrow “Did you have something else to say?” She asked tonelessly, eyes narrowing. Whatever had crossed the young goldrider’s face did not amuse the harper.

While Althesia was not easily offended, she did not take kindly to people who alluded to something and refused to answer when questioned about it. Salina was on the fast track to being scowled at, but for now the harper was keeping her expression neutral. A weyrwoman, junior or not, was not the best person to have turned against you. Especially one that was rumored to be trysting with her employer. The last thing Althesia wanted was to be forced back to the harperhall, a certain bronzerider coming to mind when faced with reasons of why she wanted to linger at the weyr.

[Xinnai]

The harper seemed irritated when she straightened herself in her chair. Salina winced inwardly, mentally chastising herself for her injudicious use of her humor. She carefully controlled her face to neutrality, adopting a tone of nonchalance. "Oh no, not really. I was just thinking the only action Deoneth could really perform would be sleeping or pretending to be big and fierce." A smile flashed.

The weyrling wasn't quite sure what to say here. She felt the awkwardness crawling into the space between the two of them. They both innately knew what the other woman facing them was doing, but it wasn't exactly something you could say outright. No matter how much she wanted to. The goldrider took a deep breath, gray eyes meeting Althesia's own with a steely determination. "He's not just your employer, is he? I've heard the rumors of course. And you've heard the same of me, undoubtedly. So why hide it?"

[Omnia Munda]

'He' was, in fact, the source of the sound of footsteps approaching from down the hallway that led to the staff offices, but that was unlikely to be apparent until he emerged into the central space used by some of the lower caverns workers for eating, meeting and resting. It had just been used by Salina for much the same, but J'fel couldn't have known that; it was other business that had drawn him into the Weyr's bowels, places he rarely went.

Nonetheless, falls of golden hair and brunette locks alike drew his eye, and the weyrleader'd let his gaze take a quick appreciative tour of the dress and shapes of the two women conversing before it even occurred to him who they were. When it did occur to him, he stopped - then started again, steering his path right toward them.

They'd notice him before he was within earshot, he was sure; he couldn't be accused of eavesdropping. Not that I'd mind knowing what they're saying, he thought, and also reviewed quickly his excuses for approaching them: Althesia's work, which he'd like to have her up to his weyr on account of some time soon, and Salina's dragon and lessons, topics he hadn't asked after in sevens.

It was, he reflected, high time to steal another private moment with the weyrling. Perhaps soon he'd have his chance.

[anhydrous]

Deoneth? What? The harper resisted the urge to roll her eyes. That obviously wasn’t what she had been asking. Surely Salina had understood… Clearing her throat, Althesia considered that perhaps she was giving this goldrider more credit than she deserved. She had pegged the younger woman as naive, but not technically stupid. Silently brushing non-existent eraser crumbs from the paper in front of her, the harper let the quiet between them grow awkward without the slightest hint of a reply or a polite smile. This was growing tiresome.

Just when it looked like Salina was going to receive a large idiot asterisk next to her name in Althesia’s book, the junior weyrwoman said something of value. Surprised that the goldrider actually had the balls to mention J’fel, albeit offhandedly, the harper pursed her lips around a smile. Maybe she had underestimated Salina.

After a moment of sizing up the situation, Althesia allowed herself to speak. “I’m not hiding anything,” she retorted, carefully amused, “But I am curious.” At that she paused, the break drawn out while she took a drink of her disgustingly cold klah, wincing from behind the rim of the mug. “Do you usually believe everything that you hear?” The spry smile that dripped maliciously from her lips was more suggestive than anything else, not exactly condescending, but close enough. The pointed stare that accompanied the grin was more of a dare, admittance passing unspokenly between the two of them. They were more alike than either would probably care to admit.

While her initial speculations had been disappointing, Althesia was beginning to think that she might be able to tolerate this girl. Any further conversation was stalled as the object of their desires approached, the harper’s glance flickering towards J’fel’s liquid prowl. “Speak of the devil,” she said under her breath as a warning, catching Salina’s stare and directing it towards the weyrleader. How splendid.

[Xinnai]

Their little meeting was rapidly drawing closer to a squared off fight between two women who were caught between one man. That couldn’t happen. She wouldn’t allow it to. Balanced precariously enough as it was, she wasn't going to let any of the people that filled the cavern to see her come to words-or blows-with the harper. Especially as they were being carefully watched as it was.

She made smile rise, a mirror image of the one that spread across Althesia’s face. If her own was a bit more cutting, dripping just the slightest bit more poison, so be it. “Oh, you don’t believe the rumors. After all, they usually exaggerate.” Her face turned dangerously sweet, gray eyes flashing with humor. She’d not be openly hostile, but she could play just as well as the other woman.

She heard the footsteps then, but ignored them. After all, bustles of people were always moving through the lower caverns. She shouldn’t have though, she should have recognized that prowling grace, the sound of a confident man with a large ego walking past. Instead, she caught Althesia’s warning and looked beyond her. Her heart plummeted. J’fel. Oh shards, this was just going to confound an already complicated situation. Speak of the devil indeed. Rather than show any of the emotions that were crawling inside her stomach with fire-tinged claws, her smile boosted to pure pleasure, reflected in her eyes. “J’fel,” she called, voice rising easily within the room. She could feel all eyes glued to their little threesome. “Were you looking for something?” She could be casual, she could be pleasant. She had to be.

[Omnia Munda]

Althesia relished the potential this happenstance meeting offered; Salina was intent on preventing that potential from paying off. This much, J'fel could make out almost immediately; he saw it in the harper's shifted gaze and in the weyrwoman's smooth transition to that most pleasant of beaming smiles.

"I was," J'fel replied, voice raised to cover the last of the distance between himself and the women; then he closed that distance with his feet, too, and came to a stop beside them, the third point of a triangle. Dipping his head and lowering his lashes, he added in a more mellowed voice, "But I found it."

The weyrleader made certain to share out glimpses of his ocean-deep eyes with each of the women equally. It wasn't difficult to convey to them both what he thought of them, the pleasantness of his thoughts illustrated in crooked, raised brows and licked lips. "Is this a business conversation?" It was Althesia he looked at on that, but he changed his focus to Salina to add, "I would hate to interrupt."

He might just as well have said he'd love to interrupt.

[anhydrous]

Althesia’s eyes narrowed, drinking in the sweetness of Salina’s face. Oh, she was good. It was almost refreshing to have such a challenge presented to her, each girl putting on a lovely show for the other. The goldrider’s spiteful smile was a work of art, trumping Althesia’s only because she couldn’t bring herself to put that much effort into such an exchange.

More impressive was the quickness in which the little chameleon shifted her expression, offering something entirely different for her weyrleader. J’fel seemed to appreciate such a thing, but that was hardly surprising.

Clueless to the fact that nearly every eye in the cavern was pointed in their direction, Althesia watched the subtle movements of J’fel’s expressive face with something akin to boredom in her stare. Her smile was pleasant enough, half crooked and working with the fall of hair over one eye to disguise her sudden irritation. It was clear enough where J’fel’s attention was truly trained, and that particular fact was doing nothing to improve her mood.

As far as she knew, weyrlings weren’t even allowed to be involved. Apparently such a rule could be overlooked if a weyrleader decided that he had taken a fancy to a young goldrider. Her eyes didn’t speak any of these envious thoughts, brows perched perfectly in pleasantly surprised little arches. “Business between friends is hardly business,” she replied flawlessly, a smile thrown in Salina’s direction that deftly escaped being pinned to contempt.

It failed to be seen if she were trying to smooth things over or make them worse, but either way her posture remained exactly the same. She sat at the table as if an old friend had just approached, her pretty little face turned up as if no vile thoughts were swimming just below the surface of her glassy stare. J’fel’s approach didn’t have her straightening in her chair, but it almost had her straightening her demeanor.

The weyrleader’s purpose was clear enough, and while Althesia might not like it, she certainly wasn’t going to let him know that. He was a minimal loss to her, and to suggest otherwise would give him an unnecessary ego-boost.

Turning to Salina momentarily, her teeth flashing like knives, she offered a place for the weyrling to take her leave. “We can always talk about the sketches of your lovely little dragonet later, dear.” Was there emphasis on 'little?' Yes, probably, and her tone almost implied that she was doing Salina a favor by suggesting such a thing. With the same plesant expression, the artist took a sip from her mug to smother her irrational resentment.

[Xinnai]

Oh, such a dangerous little game they played, each one of them delivering lines with flawless clarity and a smoothness that could only be rivaled by a very fast talker indeed. The fact that they were all acting, every last one of them, was hardly to be noted by the casual or observant passerby. They looked like a motley group of friends, gathered impromptu and finding a pleasant sort of comfort in the fact.

Salina did not feel pleasant or comforted in the slightest. She was a mix of the chaotic and it was a force of will to keep what she did not want at bay, strangled under the restricting reigns of her control, the only things that were surfacing were her delight at seeing J’fel and her gracious, nearly condescending, acceptance of Althesia. There were sharp, slicing needles within her, needles that were penetrating deeply-the slight jealousy at seeing J’fel sharing his gaze with both of them; the annoyance at having Althesia present; the trembling panic that gripped her.

A deep inhale and she threw Althesia a look, one that could nearly be called affectionate. Where Althesia was teetering on the brink of being openly hostile, Salina was using all sweetness and charm. Laughter trilled then, light and delicate much like herself. “She speaks truth here, Weyrleader. Why mix business with pleasure? We were just doing a little musing, a little planning.”

Head angled a bit, golden hair spilling down her shoulders, curling smile directed to both people within their little triangle. Though one could only grasp the true meaning of it, that one person in the minority with possession of a certain part of the anatomy. The smile was reply enough for Althesia; head ducked, a chuckle breaking through her lips. “Oh, the lovely little dragonet is sleeping just now so I’m rather detained in the way of entertainment now. If you don’t mind of course?” Her smile matched the harper’s once more in the way that teeth gleamed. She realized the difficult situation she had put the other woman in-if Althesia refused, she’d look like an embittered woman who wished not to speak with the junior weyrwoman and if she accepted, it looked like she had been successfully outmaneuvered by a girl about three turns her junior. Difficult indeed.

[Omnia Munda]

The weyrleader paid no mind to the passerby that stared. Mostly caverns workers, they were if not quite beneath his notice, certainly beneath his concern; anyway, they were all obliged to keep on passing by lest they find themselves singled out. Tongues would wag, but what was said by the wenches and laundresses rarely worried this weyrleader.

Althesia won his smile for being first to answer. For the time that he faced her, he savored certain details of her, eyes making flickering movements: the hollow of her throat, the curve of her jawline, the shape of her lips. "Friendly business, then," he purred. But not so friendly as ours, he was sure, and assumed the harper would hear his intentions in his words.

There were intentions in his voice when he turned to Salina as well, though a wryer note lightened them; he raised a brow to the weyrling, but let his tongue pass swiftly over his lips before he spoke, too. "When women plot, men do well to be wary," said he, seeming hardly wary at all; if anything, J'fel seemed to enjoy the prospect of being caught between these specimens. "You're having a work done of Deoneth? A great idea." A keen, ill-repressed hunger lent his words a desirous edge. "You must let it be my gift."

He turned his gaze back to the portraitist for good measure, or perhaps to take the measure of her reaction. Again his voice was smoky, silky-smooth. There was a message in the oceans of his eyes, one deeper than words. "You'll accept another commission from me, I hope, Althesia."

[anhydrous]

Althesia’s attention branched in two directions, noting every subtle shift in her tablemates’ posture and noting it. She refused to let the conversation turn awkward, responding automatically to both at once. “Surely I shouldn’t bore the two of you with talk of my work,” she said meekly, subtly turning down Salina’s attempt to speak of the commission any longer without the tone that one uses when fishing for compliments.

J’fel’s none-too-subtle inclinations were not ignored, but also not expanded upon. This was not the place. “We can set up a time for me to sketch the queen later,” she assured. “There is no rush, after all.” The pleasantness arching across her face might not have been genuine, but it was just sweet enough to pass for it. J’fel could undoubtedly feel the tension, despite their efforts to mask it. It was as clear as day what he was thinking by the way he was licking his lips, but Althesia would rather not entertain such a thing.

She turned her effortless charm away from Salina momentarily, eyeing J’fel with hidden emotions that were as chaotic as they were invisible. “I could never refuse a Weyrleader,” the harper replied dutifully. There was a cruel irony in those words, unbeknownst to the rest of the world but lurking somewhere in her seldom-harried conscience. Salina was in the same figurative boat, but to Althesia it seemed that the weyrling hadn’t quite realized it yet.