... noses ta match.

Ista Weyr - Living Caverns
Large enough to house the entirity of the weyr's population at one time, the cavern set aside to house the very heart of the weyr's life is a grandoise, somewhat circular affair, filled with rows of long tables. Bustling and busy, it is a rare moment indeed when there is not someone at work or leisure in here; the long trestle table by the kitchens is perpetually filled with plates and trays of food, a pot of something always bubbling upon the mahogany hearth, ready to fill the belly of any hungry resident or rider. Although a high table is set aside for seating respected dignitaries on formal occasions, most of the tables here are not designated to any particular group— rather, all levels of Ista's population eat together, intermingled across the broad cavern.
Great tapestries have been flung down the walls, orange and black borders remarking upon Ista's heritage, the age-faded hangings depicting scenes of importance to the Weyr— the erruption of the volcano; the first clutch; the view from the star stones, over forest, dark beach, and glistening waves of blue. Propellor-like fans have been affixed to the ceiling in more modern times, cooling the cavern on the hottest of days. Passageways lead up the stairs to the kitchens, down a second flight of stairs to the lower caverns, and out into the expanse of the broad weyr bowl.

K'ael has come out of hiding! Well, he's been out of hiding for a bit now, but now he's actually out and about. And eating in public, which is something he hasn't done in a while. At least not for dinner. Oddly enough he's not looking exactly great either, he's got a bandage over his nose, but otherwise seems to be in good spirits. It's still a bit early, so there's not too many people milling about, and K'ael is actually sitting by himself with a large mound of food in front of him.

Early is just perfect. It means that Zorya gets a chance to eat before kitchen duties come calling. After all the busiest time in this area of the weyr is meal time. The blonde has just recently plucked a pair of veggierolls from the stack and is in the process of pouring a glass of water. The completed its time to find a seat, which happens to lead to her spotting the Weyrleader. As she draws nearer his table blue eyes drift to give that bandage an odd, quizzical, look - which of course leaves her paying little attention to her path and leads to the girl running into a chair that someone forgot to push in under the table across from our dear bronzerider. "Ow," she mutters, attention quickly turned back to where it should have been in the first place. Only, not quickly enough to avoid tipping the glass in hand and spilling a portion of its contents on herself. Oups?

K'ael's plate is a smorgasboard of all the best bits of food the kitchens had to offer. Meat rolls, tubers, a steak, more tubers, some fritters, even more tubers and something that looks like breaded and fried somethings. Who could tell. There might be some sort of vegetable under there. It was likely there was, but it wasn't visible, probably mixed in with all the mashed tubers. He chuckles a bit as she bumps into a chair. "Careful there, those chairs are out to get all of us." He stands to offer her is napkin. "Why don't you get settled and I'll get you another glass of water?"

Zorya shakes her head, "No, no, that's alright. Really," she protests although both glass and plate are set aside temporarily and the napkin offered is accepted with a smile of embarrassment. Thanks.." she adds, blotting at the spilt water on her dress. "Why is it so hard ta push in a chair?" a complaint, if only to herself. Nevermind that if she'd been paying more attention it wouldn't have been a problem, but then the complaint seems more out of frustration with herself than anything.

K'ael blinks a bit. "You can have some of my juice if you'd like." He smiles to her and chuckles. "Faranth only knows why some people are unable to push in their chairs once they get up. Though they might be trying to get us. Whoever they is." He takes a seat back in his chair, and pushes the chair across from him out with his feet so she can sit down. Hopefully without any further mishaps. "So, I heard you were searched for Ankhepith's clutch. Your cousin, too. Shaping up to be quite a nice group there." No mention about the sick dragons though. Likely he didn't much want to talk about it. And he's just plain forgotten about the bump on his face.

Zorya hmms, blinking up from her blotting towards K'ael, "Oh, yeah.." Apparently she did say that out loud. But then there's only so much good a napkin is going to do. At least its just water though, should dry soon enough. "Thanks," she says, settling into the chair he's pushed out for her, only after taking care to push the one in that gave her trouble moments earlier. "Well.." she starts, but then being that he hasn't brought it up, she's not going to either and so the harper simply agrees, "We were, and it seems ta be.." The blonde pulls at one of the rolls on her plate, tearing a bit off one end and finally it must be asked, "So.. what happened?"

K'ael wasn't going to mention the spilled water on Zorya's dress any further. He was too distracted by the mound of food in front of himself. Between bites he smiles to her and nods. "It's always pretty exciting to have new candidates about. Of course I'll be pulling for you both to impress." Once she's pointed out his face he blinks a bit and it takes him a few seconds to realize what she's talking about. The bandage covering his nose! In fact, if he had remembered about it, he probably wouldn't have trotted down to the living caverns to have dinner where everyone can gawk at him. "Oh! Oh… it's uh… flight related. An accident." Sort of.

Zorya blushes just a touch from her place across the table from K'ael. "Thanks.. Ah'm sure Zipalla'll appreciate it." she replies, but then he's answering her question. At first the girl just blinks, giving the bronzerider a scrutinizing look, "Fight?" she repeats in question, though she doesn't press any further. Instead a smile pulls at the corners of her lips, even as the light flush of color across her cheeks subsides, "Sooner or later you and L'ton are gonna have noses ta match," she teases.

K'ael grins and nods. "Only Zip is going to appreciate it?" He blinks at her look, responding with his own defensive look. "A flight. Like… after the dragons fly and you're trapped in someone's bed. And it was an accident. She didn't mean to hit me." Never mind that she had tried to knee him on purpose, though she did expect him to move out of the way. He fails to mention the other party involved in the flight though. "Heh. Maybe after about… a hundred more breaks. Or if my head shrinks. Anyways, it's not broken, just bruised and tender."

"Zipalla will appreciate it too," Zorya amends her statement. A nod soon follows as he corrects her misunderstanding, "Oh… right." A glance back down at her place sees a second bite-sized piece of the roll pulled from the whole, only after the first is used to fill her mouth - if only to keep her from tripping over her words anymore than she may already have. He does, however, earn a soft laugh at his musings on the nose.

K'ael grins a bit. "Ah, alright then. Just checking and all." About her and her cousin. "Sorry. I think the bandage is making talk a bit funny. I sound a bit stuffed up. But yes, flights can be somewhat of a dangerous business if the person you wake up next to would rather you… didn't. Not that she was meaning to hurt me. Nor should I really have been at Reaches with all this… sickness mess spreading through the weyr. But I figured I ought to go instead of sending your uncle, since Dhon's been a bit more exposed. Azaeth hasn't shown any symptoms. And obviously no one has died or anything."

Zorya mmms, nodding. Yes, she is listening. The bite in her mouth is swallowed a moment later, leaving her free to speak again. "So Ah've heard." Heard, yes. Experienced, thankfully no. "And yeah, Ah know he was having a time trying ta keep Dhon off the sands the other day." Beat. "Do.. dragons get sick? Normally Ah mean. Cause Ah was talking ta D'son earlier and he said he'd never known one to.."

K'ael chuckles and nods. "Not all riders are horrible after you wake up next to them. And some are very nice but… very old. Others look great but they… knee you in the face. Hopefully once you impress you'll end up with a good first flight experience." He nods a bit to her. "Ah, yeah. Azaeth usually doesn't take much interest in the eggs, so keeping him away hasn't been difficult. But no, dragons don't usually get sick. It's not like you or me, we get a cold feel a bit under the weather and a few days with rest we're fine. That sort of thing just doesn't happen usually. And with the coughing… Not sure what is going on there. Hopefully the healers will be able to pin everything down soon. Before Ista is completely quarantined from the rest of the world."

Zorya nods, laughing as a smile continues across her lips. "Hopefully, if Ah impress Ah will," she agrees. Another nod follows the comment about Azaeth as well as for the further explanation of dragons and illness. "Ah didn't think so, but then.." Well it wouldn't be the first time she'd learned something new about the creatures. "Hopefully," she agrees, though rather than dwell on that topic for too long she shifts to a new, "So other then getting beat up by a girl after a flight how is everything with you?"

K'ael nods with a grin. "Impress a girl. Unless you dig girls, I'm not really sure. Otherwise you might be in for some awkward nights. But me, I love flights. They're tons of fun and even better if you win of course." He gives her a bit of a nod about the dragon sickness, but doesn't say anything else about it. Maybe he's hoping that if he doesn't mention it it'll just… go away? "Meh, I've been alright I suppose. Went through a bit of a depressive state after Aryll left so suddenly. Just now sort of getting back to my regular self. How about you?"

Zorya nods around another bite of her meal. "Ah'll keep that in mind.." she replies once the obstacle of food is removed from her mouth by a swallow and washed down with a sip of what remains in the waterglass. "Ah'm doin alright, made Senior Apprentice not too long ago." Of course its said more as a side note than given any real weight as an accomplishment. "And well, ya already know me and Zipalla were searched."

K'ael finally shuts up for a minute. With him that quiet it's a wonder if he's gone and choked. But no, he's just very busy stuffing his face, and the mound of food is disappearing in front of him at a rather alarming rate. He nods to her with a grin. "Yeah yeah, you mentioned that in the baths. I still can't remember what your specialty is with the harpers though. I sort of like harpers. Probably because I have no talent whatsoever." He chuckles a bit. "You've been searched at least once before though, right? So probably not a big surprise for you. Zip maybe."

Zorya raises a brow at his speed of devouring, but says nothing in that regard. "Dance," she informs as far as her specialty, though the rest does receive a bit of a laugh, "But surely you have talent for something, Weyrleader." To which a second bob of her head follows, "Eastern and Igen." Which makes twice that she's been searched, "But Zipalla's been looking forward ta being old enough ta stand for turns."

K'ael was a growing boy! Plus he was spending a lot of time exercising these days, since his free time wasn't being used by a girlfriend or even multiple girls. "Dance! Yes. I love to dance. I'm not very good, but I can usually keep off the girl's toes. There's a bar at Fort that caters to the dancing crowd, I'm not sure if you've been there or not. It's wedged between the weyr and the hold there. I'll take you one of these days, and you can make me look like more of an idiot than I already am." He nods to her about being searched. "I only stood once. So maybe I have a talent for impressing dragons?" He chuckles a bit. "Some talent though."

Zorya giggles, "Well not steppin' on toes is a start." But yes, she probably would dance circles around him if that's the case. "Ah don't think so," she continues after a moment's thought on the place mentioned. "Pi took me for a drink after my promotion, but Ah think that was at the weyr." Though she's not exactly certain of that. "Well if it is one, 'snot one Ah have."

K'ael nods with a chuckle. "Well, I've had a bit of lessons from friends over the years. Some harpers. You know." He nods to her. "It's sort of a little hole in the wall, but great fun. S'ya and I would go once in a while when we needed to get out of our respective weyrs." The bronzer is finishing up his meal, soaking up the last bits with a roll and shoving it into his mouth. A hefty drink of juice and he's all done and patting his belly. "Mmm. Whoo. I'm going to need a break before I head out for a swim. I should head back though, or I'm liable to fall asleep here." He gets up and gives her a nod. He's even left her a bit of juice.

Zorya nods, "Well then ya should get to that," she teases lightly. "Ah should be getting back ta chores here soon enough anyway," she adds with a glance over her shoulder towards the kitchens. "Was nice ta catch up with you though," the girl finishes before he's on his way, and then there's just enough time for her to finish up her own meal and return to said chores before the evening rush rolls in.

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