Bored Meatrolls, (Open)

[Nessalove]

Nothing was happening. Not to her, and certainly not lately. Kyl hadn't even really made any friends during her stay at Aphelion. She spoke to Candidates, to weyrlings, to drudges, but no one seemed to stay! The poor Candidate who hadn't Impressed at the hatching she had met while sneaking into the Candidate bathing pool had disappeared. Probably gone home, she really couldn't tell. The fun little purple rider that she had met when she first arrived was far too busy to really keep up any conversations. And the drudge who had cut her finger also seemed to vanish! She had been working in the kitchens for some time, and then just gone. She couldn't help but assume the poor woman had had some kind of problem with her labor and hadn't survived. That would be terribly sad, but not unheard of.

Beyond those three, she'd only managed to talk to a few people here and there, dragonriders, Candidates, weyrlings, weyrfolk all alike. She hadn't really spent much time with the Landers, but she didn't bother on that one way or the other. She had been busy in the kitchens, most Landers were Impressed and whatnot, and generally just didn't go in the kitchens! So honestly, other than the passing drudge who was polite enough, and Lora, she really didn't have any stable friendships. Which made work harder and less enjoyable, really, and life all around less interesting.

At first Kyl hadn't even realized that she was bored. It had taken a few days of serving food filled with emotions that led people to be relatively depressed before she realized that there might be some danger to her. She had forced some cheery emotions into some deserts and served those, hoping to catch everyone who had gotten a bit of the bad batch, even if the emotions would have faded by then. She could sway those who ate her special foods only for a few candlemarks or so before they simply went right back to normal. Some not even that long, if they were strong willed enough.

She took what was left of the meatrolls filled with boredom and set about taking a lunchbreak of her own. The depression wouldn't really work on her, as it was the state she had been in when she had made them. She was already feeling that way, so they wouldn't do much. Beyond that, her cooking seemed to have a lessened effect on her, if any at all. She couldn't even make herself cheery deserts!

So she sat alone in the Main Hall with a tray of meatrolls and fruit, with a side of tasty fruitjuice, and just watched the people who came and went, entertaining herself by trying to think what was happening in their lives at the moment. Surely other people had interesting things happening! They couldn't all be bored out of their minds, what with the war and the drills and the duties they all had!

[Crystalyn]

Busy busy busy. Life was entirely too busy. Plans for this, meetings for that, duties scrambled there, and children crammed in everywhere there was room. Which wasn't much, sad to say. Tired and ready for a break, Analei headed for the main hall. It was her usual place of reprieve. There, there was good juice, and sometimes she could find people to talk to that she normally didn't get to see.

Socializing, basically. No business.

Tying her loose hair back into a short pony (now that it was finally starting to be long enough for that again), she walked into the hall and stopped. To allow her vision to adjust to the interior lighting as well as to see who all was there. It wasn't exactly a meal time after all.

Her gaze wandered the whole hall and then back again. A few people, not too many. Here, and there. But oh ... there was a face she hadn't seen in quite a while! More than a Turn, really. Analei walked over to where the kitchen girl was sitting, looking rather bored and somewhat sad in Analei's opinion.

"Hello Kyl." she greeted amiably, taking a seat across from the girl. "How have you been lately?" Okay ... that was probably a rather abrupt way to suddenly impose one's self on a kitchen girl, especially when she was the Weyrwoman. But that thought never crossed Analei's mind. She was just remembering the sweet, helpful, caring young girl she had met when she was hiding out.

[Nessalove]

Kyl had been too busy playing with the food on her plate to even realize that someone was approaching her. She pushed one meatroll to one corner, then had set about working on pushing the second to another corner before someone was apparently sitting across from her and saying hello.

Kyl looked up with a bright smile, happy to have company of any kind at all really! Then blinked at the woman who sat across from her. She didn't know her well, not well at all, but anyone who had been in the Weyr for any length of time, and she'd been here for two turns working in the kitchens!, would know exactly who this woman was. How she knew Kyl by name, the kitchen girl would never know.

"Hello, Weyrwoman," she said, startled, shooting to stand up. Of course, on her way up, she proved her klutziness and managed to whack her knees on the underside of the table. She instantly sat back down, and smiled awkwardly through the pain in her lower limbs, "Uh...I've been well. The kitchens are nice," she said.

Kylena was usually very good at making friends and talking to people. But this was the Weyrwoman. She was the woman who had the longest surviving queen at Aphelion. Well, that was still alive. And it was her dragon that would produce the next clutch, and would likely contribute to Kyl's secret desires of wanting to Impress, though she had squashed them when she had been given a task in the kitchens. She was needed there, and likely wouldn't Impress anyway, so she really ought to do her duties before daydreaming about unlikely events.

But she just couldn't come up with a reason to explain the situation. How the Weyrwoman knew her name, why she was sitting here across from her, asking her questions that seemed to be personal. Were they really impersonal? Was she going to tell Kyl she needed to step it up in the kitchens? Or maybe someone had finally noticed how she played with food and had taken it to her? Was she in trouble? Did the Weyrwoman want to chastise her?

"Is there something I can do for you, milady?" she asked, brows furrowed slightly. "Did you need something from the kitchens? I'll get you anything you need," she offered, hoping that she hadn't been found out, that the Weyrwoman wasn't coming to tell her she was in trouble. The Weyrwoman could do anything! If she wanted to, she could have Kyl sent back to the Baker Hall! Or worse, just another Hold! But surely there was a reason beyond that...hopefully there was some other meaning for this meeting....

[Crystalyn]

"Oh my goodness! Sit down, girl. What is wrong with you? You shouldn't get so excited as that. I don't need anything, no. I'm fine. I just thought I'd come over and say hi. That's all. Sit, please." Analei stressed, somewhat flummoxed that Kyl had gone and whacked herself so hard in an attempt to get to her feet.

"I came to see you, after all. Completely unofficial." She assured her, only just starting to see what the problem was. "Just relax." She gestured for Kyl to not only sit, but calm down.

Goodness, but people acted a whole lot different when they didn't know they were talking to her. "You've already done a lot for me, Kyl. I just thought I would come see if I could return the favor. You took very good care of me after all."

Shells, but she liked Kyl better the other way. Calm, self assured, and not stressing out over a surprise visit from the highest ranking person in the area. Maybe she should find a way to more easily change identities more often. Just so she could get to know the real individuals that she lived with. For this Kyl wasn't acting anything like the Kyl she remembered.

[Nessalove]

Kyl sat down the moment she was told to, and kept her mouth closed. The Weyrwoman seemed upset with her response. But...then how was she supposed to respond? The Weyrwoman had come over...to say hi? Kyl blinked a few times, trying to understand why she would bother coming over to say hello. Of course she had always known through gossip - the believable kind - that Weyrwoman Analei was a nice enough woman, but she never would have guessed that she was that nice, honestly.

Came to see her. Completely unofficial. How....unexpected?

Her next statements left Kyl entirely flabbergasted. She'd already done enough for her? The Weyrwoman wanted to return the favor? She had taken good care of her?

If Analei hadn't called her by name, she would have simply thought the woman had her mixed up with someone else. But nope, the Weyrwoman seemed to know exactly who she was. Or, who she thought she was? It was all rather strange and confusing to Kyl, honestly.

Taking a short breath, Kyl put both elbows on the table, perched her chin on her hands and stared at the Weyrwoman with her head tilted in one direction, "Forgive me, Weyrwoman, but I honestly cannot recall meeting you before. Let alone in any situation where I may have helped you," she said simply. Best to be straight forward about it.

Besides, how could a regular old cook in the kitchens have helped the Weyrwoman? Let alone without knowing it? So either the Weyrwoman was making leaps and bounds that Kyl couldn't make, or Kyl had a terrible memory when she had thought that she had had a relatively decent one.

[Crystalyn]

Analei sat in momentary silence as what Kyl said sank in. And then she grinned, and nodded. "I know." She really was silly. Maybe it was because T'kor knew, she had just assumed others would have known. Maybe it was a better kept secret than she had first thought?

She looked around a moment, and then felt of her own pockets. Hrmmmm. Oh! Lucky her. It was so hot out she'd taken to keeping a cloth with her. For either wiping sweat away or for dousing in water and draping over her shoulders to help stay cool ... er. Nothing could really daunt the heat. She pulled that from her pocket and flicked the wrinkles out of it before folding it into a triangle and tying it around her own neck. Taking the tail of the cloth, she tugged it upward until the cloth went around her hair rather than her heck, concealing most of the golden curls from view.

Analei smiled at her. "We did spend considerable time together. I admit, I didn't exactly tell you who I was, at the time. But because of your efforts on my behalf, Rinna is a very healthy little girl." And for that Analei was entirely grateful. Kyl had allowed her the good diet she would not have otherwise been able to attain while in hiding. "For that, I owe you."

[Nessalove]

She...knew...?

Kyl sat in confused but interested silence as the Weyrwoman began fishing around in her pockets, looking for something. She pulled out a cloth out of her picket and flicked it a couple of times before...folding it and tying it around her neck? Kyl couldn't help but watch with interest as the Weyrwoman took a bit of the cloth and pulled it up over her head to cover the most of her hair.

Kyl blinked a few times, noting the similarities. She looked like a blonde version of the kitchen drudge she had met. The one who had been pregnant and had cut her finger. The very one that she had made sure had decently healthy meals for the child growing within her, and that Kyl had expected had come to an unfortunate end in some kind of labor disaster. She didn't know how likely that had been, all she knew was that the woman had suddenly stopped showing up in the kitchens. Or anywhere for that matter. She had just...vanished.

The Weyrwoman was telling her now that they had spent time together. But...she didn't tell her who she was? And because of Kyl, her daughter Rinna was a very healthy girl?

Kyl sat up erect, "I thought you died!" she gasped, then covered her mouth in horror. After a moment she managed to recollect herself, and cleared her throat, this time saying at a much more reasonable volume and conversational tone, "When you stopped showing up, I guess I thought the worst," she admitted. Of course there was no way that Kyl could have ever imagined that the drudge she had been keeping fed was the Weyrwoman in disguise. Seemed a funny thing to do in your spare time.

Not that she expected Weyrwomen had any spare time.

All smiles, now realizing that one of her various friends along the way wasn't gone forever and that she had managed to make someone happy, "I'm so glad you're doing well! And you had a little girl? I bet she's just as pretty as you are!" she said, thrilled to know that the child had not only survived, but that she was doing well and happily remained with her mother. Who, as it turned out, was not only not dead, but was the Weyrwoman!

[Crystalyn]

Analei grinned and pulled the cloth off of her hair again, folding it back into a neat little package that would, eventually, go back in her pocket. Kyl was such an adorable young lady. "No, I didn't die. I was hiding, was all. And you found me. Then it came time for me to go back to work. I couldn't stay in hiding. After that ... I guess things were just too busy. Between everything and my children ..." She shrugged. "I am sorry I didn't get back to you, you really are a wonderful young lady."

Then she laughed. "I guess my disguise worked really well. No one had any idea who I was ... not even my own Weyrmate when I accidentally ran into him."

Analei nodded. "I'll have to bring her down sometime. Rinna is a very lovely little girl, though I dare say she has a lot of T'kor's features." She grinned, and tugged on a corner of a fold to straighten it out. "Anakor adores her, and does try to be helpful. But he's still a bit young yet to be any real help."

"But! What have you been up to lately? It's been so long since I saw you last. I remember seeing you during one of the feasts, but you're very good at being elusive, do you know that?" Analeit teased.

[Nessalove]

She was hiding! The Weyrwoman had been missing at the time? Well, she hadn't seen the Weyrwoman before then, so she really shouldn't have been looking for her. And wasn't, honestly. She couldn't even remember if she had really known that the Weyrwoman had gone missing. Either way, there really was no honest way anyone could have expected Kyl to realize that the dirty, pregnant drudge was the Weyrwoman in hiding.

"I'm glad you didn't die," she said. Though she said it in an amused way, she honestly meant it. She had liked Analei, even as a drudge, and had wanted to help her in any way that she could. Now, though, it seemed the woman who she really was certainly didn't need any help. She had the whole Weyr at her feet if she wanted it! Not that Kyl thought Analei wanted that, it was just what she had really. THe Weyr was nothing without a Weyrwoman.

"Oh I certainly don't blame you for being scarce," she said quickly, waving her hands a bit as if to brush off the topic. "You're a busy woman! You have a Weyr to look after, a weyrmate to look after, and children to look after! Not to mention I hear Adrainarlyth has just laid her clutch, so you've got even more to look after with eggs on the Sands and all," she said in her casual chipper tone. How the woman had managed to be in hiding at all was beyond Kyl, though she wouldn't question it. She didn't have to be a rider to know of the problems Aphelion had been having, the attempts on the queenriders, some successful and others thankfully not so much.

Kyl raised her eyebrows, "Wow, even he didn't recognize you?" Then it must have been a very good disguise indeed. Of all people, Kyl would have guessed he could have spotted her out of the crowd. However, she could tell now that Analei's natural hair color was blonde, rather than the brown shade she had had. Beyond this, Analei had always looked a bit dirty, as would be natural for a drudge, and not so much for the Weyrwoman.

"I'd love to see her!" Kyl chimed. "And I heard somewhere that that was common, that sons take after their mothers and daughters take after their fathers," she said simply. "Though it's just something I heard, nothing to put much stock in," she said with a smile. Just the thought of getting to meet Rinna made her all warm and bubbly inside! "If you need any further help with them, I would be glad to offer a hand," not that she had much practice around kids, but at least she could see to it that they ate proper meals!

When Analei redirected the conversation back to her, Kyl just shrugged, "Oh, I've been doing as I always do. I love cooking, especially in large quantities, so the Weyr has done really well for me," she said simply. "I've spent the majority of my time in the kitchens with Lora, and I do my best to help out with the events and feasts," she said simply. Though she frowned at the next bit, "I don't try to be elusive, I didn't even know I knew you!"

[Crystalyn]

Analei chuckled. "I am glad I didn't die, too. Hiding with you probably saved my life, you know. While I was down here was when they tried to take Sk'ler and Murth. Thank Faranth they failed." Even if the both of them had been gravely wounded, they had lived. Who knew what would have happened had Analei been where she was supposed to be? That very well could have been her. Even if no black could have hurt Adrainarlyth the way he had Murth. Between her Gold mind and her sheer Gold size. Adrainarlyth could have put that black down for good had she gotten a hold of him either mentally or physically. But she hadn't managed that either.

"I am busy. Too busy sometimes." Analei agreed. "But yes - Adrainarlyth has a new clutch on the sands. On the dragon sands, too. I am so glad they're fixed. This does make a new busy sort for me, but it also allows things to slow down a bit. Given she's not going to leave the clutch, I can't exactly go places and do things." She spread her hands a bit, and then laughed. "So I get to do things like ... catch up with some people." She gave a slight nod.

"I suppose it depends on the parentage." Analei shrugged. "My father swore up and down I was the spitting image of my mother when I was young." She offered with an amused smile. "I sortof grew out of that after awhile." But then, her parents had been rather similar in appearance mostly. Unlike her and T'kor. Her with golden hair and him with black. They were like night and day on a lot of their features.

"I'll bring Rinna and Anakor by some time." Analei promised. "I don't know when, but soon. I'll also have to talk to Lora on your behalf. Busy is good, but too much busy isn't. You need some time to yourself if the kitchen is all you've got, still." She pointed out. The girl needed a pet, a significant other, a hobby, something. It was all well and good that she enjoyed what she did, but sheesh! There was more to life than work. "I never said you were deliberately elusive." Analei agreed, with a smile. "I just said you were. Very hard to catch up with, speedy young lady!"

[Nessalove]

Kyl blushed a bit when the Weyrwoman agreed that she was glad she didn't die. Of course she was glad she didn't die! And Kyl really shouldn't have gone off and said something so silly like all that. Who would be glad that someone died, anyways? It made no sense! It was much better for everyone to be alive and happy. Well, until they were ready to die, and they were really old. She'd heard some riders just went between to die when they were ready.

"I had heard about the attack," she admitted softly. Everyone alive and with a working brain in the Weyr had heard about the attack. She could remember hearing the screams of dragons, which had woken her up. Not that she would tell anyone this, but she had been too scared to move, and had simply sat in her bed and listened to the horrific cries from the outside. It had seemed to last forever, though it really hadn't. Not that there was anything she could have done but get in the way, but it was still hard to admit being afraid.

"I'm glad you were safe. But are you still safe? What happens if there is another attack?" Surely they had thought of this, but Kyl liked Analei, Weyrwoman or not! She didn't want anyone attacking such a nice lady. It seemed silly to even think it was possible!

Huh, having a clutch on the Sands actually gave the Weyrwoman a reprieve? Well, she supposed it made sense. She couldn't run drills or anything of the like. Couldn't go visit other Weyrs either, she was pretty much stuck not only to Aphelion, but to the ground. She smiled at her, "Well thanks for catching up with me. I like to know that my friends didn't die during labor," she said with a smile, as awkward as that statement was.

Kyl shrugged, "I don't think I really look like either of my parents, though I would suppose my dad would say I look like my mother. She's pretty, and he thinks I'm pretty, so he links the two together," a very paternal thing to do. Well, and perhaps she did look a bit more like her mother, even if she had her father's talent in the kitchen. She certainly had her mother's Antari eyes! "So maybe girls can look like their mothers!"

She beamed when the Weyrwoman offered to bring her children down, "I would love to meet them!" She liked kids, even if she probably shouldn't be in charge of them. She was already slightly regretting offering the Weyrwoman some baby-watching, as Kyl was remembering how irresponsible and klutzy she could be. Probably not the best around very young children. But seeing them in general would be fun, wouldn't it? And she could see to it that they were eating well!

Kyl frowned and looked up at Analei. She was going to talk to Lora? "Oh no!" she said quickly, waving her hands back and forth, "You don't need to do all that. I like working in the kitchens, and she doesn't work me overly hard. I help as much as I can!" Indeed, Lora wasn't a slave driver, that was more on Kyl than on the Head Cook. "I like cooking, it's what I'm good at, and I have fun with it, so I offer to do more," she said with a simple shrug. She wasn't about to tell the Weyrwoman that she sometimes liked to spike the foods with emotion, an Antari gift she had that nobody really knew about.

She smiled again though, "I'm probably only elusive because I happen to be busy the times that you have been free," she offered. It seemed a logical explanation! "You're freest around mealtimes, I would expect, while I am busiest during those times! You're freest during feasts and events, and again, those are the times that I work," she offered. It made sense, didn't it?

[Crystalyn]

Analei gave Kyl a knowing look, and nodded simply. "Measures are in place, trust me. I'm safe." It bothered her a lot, sometimes. To know that she was always followed. Even if she, and no one else could tell. She was followed. By a creature unlike anything Pern had ever seen before ... and it would be extremely difficult for any intruder to get past such a guardian. Impossible she would say, if she hadn't known that somehow they had managed to kidnap Adros as well as the other weyrlings. How, she had no idea. It had to have been through sheer numbers. No other way. By the time that many intruders amassed to try and fight Adros down, time would have been allowed for others to join in as well. So yes ... she was safe.

Analei giggled. "I don't think I would die in labor, love. We have some very competent Healers about. On top of that ... childbirth just really isn't as bad as some women make it out to be." She assured her. "You should try it out sometime. Babies are lovely. But, I tell you what. Having a man to hug on every night is even more lovely. I tell you what, I missed him sorely when I was hiding." She admitted. "Do you have a boyfriend, Kyl? I don't remember you ever mentioning one."

She laughed a bit, and shook her head, taking Kyl's hands in her own. "Alright, I'll start at the source of the problem then." She gave the girl an amused but pointed look. "Take time to do something besides kitchen duty, Kyl. Or I will talk to Lora. Okay? There is more to life than work. Trust me. Find yourself something else to do that you enjoy. For me, that is my family. What else do you like to do?"

But what Kyl said about their free time was entirely true. Analei was only free for meals, and Meals were when the kitchen staff was busiest. How ironic. But very true. How was it that she ended up with a selection of kitchen staff as friends then?

[Nessalove]

Measures were in place. Well, that made her considerably happier and more comfortable to know that her friend, and apparently the Weyrwoman, was being taken care of. Had some sort of safety net. Whatever that safety net could be she just hadn't the sligthest clue, but she trusted the woman to be truthful, especially on such important subjects as her health! Which was more important a subject than the health of almost anyone else in the Weyr. "I'm glad to hear it," she said simply, nodding her head. She wouldn't question her on it though, that simply wasn't her place!

When Analei said she didn't think she would die in labor, Kyl gave a shrug and an impish grin, "Well, I don't know what else I could have thought happened to you. You were pregnant and you disappeared. I guess I could have assumed you got assigned elsewhere, but they usually don't reassign pregnant women to the harder tasks," she said simply. Some kitchen work was hard, but it could be made easy very easily really. Just give the individual one specific task, washing fruit, cutting vegetables, checking the supplies, it didn't have to be hard.

Her eyebrows raised considerably when the Weyrwoman said she should try it some time, and Kyl was instantly shaking her head, "I've got plenty of time to try it, I don't want to do anything right now!" she said quickly. She wasn't at all prepared to become a mother! In fact, the thought hadn't ever crossed her mind! Not even once! She was only just recently turned nineteen! She had all the capabilities of getting pregnant and having a kid, but certainly none of the desire! At least, not this very moment.

Her mouth fell agape as the Weyrwoman continued, she had to force it shut very quickly, "I don't have a boyfriend," she said simply, blinking at the swift change of topics. From being thankful she wasn't dead to having a man to snuggle with? "I haven't really been looking for one, just...doing what needs to be done, really," she said. She didn't want to admit that she had only really been working, but it was sorta the truth! She had met a few boys, but mostly they were miserable and not looking for romance. And she hadn't been looking for romance either, just trying to make the boys a little less miserable!

Then the Weyrwoman was grabbing her hands and holding them, keeping Kyl's attention right on her. Take time to do something besides kitchen duty. "What other duties are there that I could do?" she asked, almost piteously. She didn't know how to do anything else! She was good at cooking! Had gone to the Baker Hall! She didn't know how to sing or paint or weave or any other craft! "I...like to cook..." she said simply. "My dad taught me to cook. His cooking is why my mother fell in love with him," though it was his personality as well as hers that had made the union perfect. "I...I don't really know anything else," she said, almost sadly.

She didn't have a family like Analei did. She had parents, but they were back at the Hold, not here in the Weyr. She couldn't spend time with them without taking a big trip! And taking a big trip was just difficult, really. She also wasn't looking to get herself knocked up just to fill some unknown void in her life that she didn't even know was there. She could admit she could use more friends, but how was she supposed to go about meeting them? Why should she get free time to herself when there was just so much to be done! So much that she could help with! The Weyr always needed feeding!

[Crystalyn]

Analei looked at Kyl, getting so flustered so fast. And then she laughed softly, letting the girl's hands go. "I didn't say that, dear girl. 'Sometime' can be anytime between now and the day you die, you know." She reminded gently. "But you should find yourself someone you like to spend time with. Whether they are your boyfriend or not. Do something besides duties."

"And by that I mean, I don't mean that you should drop this duty to fill another one. That's not what I said. I said find something to spend your time doing besides duties. Have some fun that isn't work. It's good for your soul, trust me. Hm!" Analei took a moment to think. "If Adrain wasn't busy on the sands, I would take you for a ride. Just so you can get out and see something. Experience." She lifted her hands to frame her own eyes. "Take the blinders off, if you will." She grinned, and dropped her hands down again. "You're so focused Kyl. Which is admirable, don't get me wrong. But too much focus is just as bad as none at all."

Analei smiled at her. "I am glad you like to cook. I can see that. Your passion comes through in what you produce." she praised. "Did you learn to cook from your father? Or did you go to a Hall?"

[Nessalove]

The Weyrwoman released her hands, but they were still enough now it didn't matter much. They simply lay on the table as she stared across at Analei. Sometime could be any time between now and the day she died. Kyl took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I guess I hadn't realized that Weyrs liked to push relationships," she said with a simple shrug. It seemed something more common in the Holds, from her own experience. People thought about settling down with people in the Holds. In Halls, they thought about their learning. In Weyrs, she found most people focused on the various tasks at hand.

"I'm not saying I'm opposed to the idea of finding someone to spend time with," she amended quickly, looking up at the Weyrwoman to be certain the woman wouldn't think such a thing. "I've tried making friends, I really have," she admitted. "I don't know, maybe people just don't like to keep up with friends in the kitchens? Or maybe the people I've tried have just ended up too busy with their lives, or leaving the Weyr as a whole. No matter the situation, it usually just doesn't work out." How was she supposed to get boyfriends if she couldn't even make friendships?

Which she had been so good at in Hold and Hall! She had had a lot of friends! Wonderful, great friends! Gobs and gobs of them, and she had gossiped like any kitchen worker, talked, had fun, even spent days off with people doing various things. But those days were in the past, and she hadn't experienced them once in the Weyr. She assumed it was due to the simple business of the Weyr.

And now she was supposed to find things to do besides duties. Analei didn't want her to spend so much time in the kitchens, but didn't want her to fill her new found free time with other chores that needed doing. She wanted her to have fun? But without friends, what fun was there? Going places solo was just as depressing as anything else, only she couldn't focus on her cooking then. Couldn't entertain herself with her little pranks, couldn't watch people react to her food as easily.

Then Analei mentioned giving her a ride on her dragon and Kyl simply couldn't help but perk up. "I've only been on a dragon twice. To and from the Clydek hatching. Both times it was quick. I wouldn't say I've actually ever ridden a dragon." Most people hadn't, by her definition. Search rides didn't count, quick transporting rides in general didn't count. To actually ride a dragon, you had to be on it for a length of time, with no real destination in mind. Mostly, the only people who had ever truly ridden dragons in Kyl's mind were dragonriders.

But to even have Analei offer, though it was an empty offer given the fact that it couldn't be seen through, was uplifting. Someone would have let her ride their dragon. Even if it would never really happen, Analei, the Weyrwoman would have permitted it under better circumstances. And Kyl would have been given the chance to ride a dragon, one of the largest in all of Aphelion, not to mention the senior queen. How many honors would that have been balled up together? Too many for Kyl to keep track of.

Kyl shrugged, "It's really not hard to focus on something you love. And I doubt any amount of focus will ever change my mind about cooking, so there can't be that much danger to it," not like those people who only did something they liked over and over again until they stopped liking it. Cooking would never become that for Kyl. She would always love it. But then again, it offered more for her than it did for anyone else. Not that she could say that exactly, the Weyrwoman wasn't likely to be pleased to find out that one of her cooks had been randomly spiking her people with emotion.

Praise from the Weyrwoman. Kyl couldn't even understand how she had been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to befriend the woman. Which, she felt she had, now that she knew the woman wasn't dead and had even come back to chat with her! "Both. I grew up in my dad's kitchen, learning the basics from him. When I was old enough, he let me go to the Baker Hall. Having that head start helped me reach Journeyman status earlier than most, as well as know more about cooking than the average Baker Hall Apprentice," she said simply. "My dad loved cooking. And though my mom couldn't cook," to save her life, "she loved my father's cooking. So cooking was really just in my blood."