Koi Pond
The dirt path worn smooth by the passage of many feet weaves in and out of tall, shady trees before coming to an abrupt halt at the edge of a sheer cliff. The steep rock face falls nearly a dragonslength before disappearing below the surface of the small pond tucked at its base where it continues down, making it safe for the daring of heart to attempt the jump. Trees line the cliff top, which dips and rises to offer views from various heights, and several ropeshave been tied to high branches for any who want to swing out over the sparkling water. A narrow path leads down one side of the cliff to a small rocky beach, and the opposite hillside boasts what could be a smooth, steep path, save that it leads directly to a drop-off several feet above the water. Above the path is a bucket attached to a convenient tree by a pulley - all the necessary ingredients of a mud-slide. The wind often whistles through the small valley formed by the hillside and cliff-face to join the laughter of the pond's visitors in ringing across the water's surface.
It is a winter midmorning.
Tris is here.

Tris is slumped against a wall, reading a novel silently. She looks up at her visitor and smiles warmly. "Oh hello!" She stretches lazily.

Linora makes her way up the worn path slowly, distractedly scritching a crotchety-looking brown hatchling who's perched on her shoulder. She jumps a bit at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, turning quickly to see who spoke and belatedly remembering to fix a polite smile on her face. "Oh... hey." She looks over the girl curiously. "You new here?"

Tris eyes the hatchling, obviously not accustomed to the little creatures. She focuses on the woman walking in. She slowly lifts her light body off the comfortable wall, and faces the girl. "Well, I've been here a little while, but I am still of lower rank, so I wouldn't expect you to recognize me. My name is Tris," she says nonchalantly.

Linora grins. "Naw... I only didn't recognize ya 'cause I never met ya." Although... not many look like Tris. Lin would've remembered meeting her. "I'm Linora," she says, extending a hand in the traditional greeting, markedly less awkwardly than usual. "Welcome, and stuff." On her shoulder, Fury eyes Tris right back, eyes whirling an annoyed yellow. Linora rolls her own eyes. "Don't pay no attention to him," she suggests. "He's kinda... I dunno. Touchy?"

Tris laughs. "I guess you could describe him as that," she says, but she still looks a bit nervous...usually animals liked her. What they said aboe true...they probably are different than most creatures, she thinks, and turns attention back to Linora. She extends her hand, leaning forward to take Linora's. "A pleasure to meet you...and you little friend here." She stumbles a bit awkwardly, but regains her balance. She tucks her book under her vest.

Linora giggles. "I'm hopin' he'll grow out of it, but I dunno...." She shrugs, setting off a flurry of wings as the little brown objects to the shifting and flutters off to perch on a nearby rock. "I got another one, a blue. He's nicer." As she speaks, she wonders where he's got to... "Nice t'meet you too," she adds. "Where'dja come here from?" She drops to sit on the grass, leaning back on her hands.

Tris grins. "Hmmmm...there's always a nicer of the pair." She giggles childishly, eyes sparkling. "My parents were in seacraft, and I never really had a permanent home. I used to annoy my parents all the time by asking them when we would get home. They didn't ever answer clearly--just 'soon' or other ambiguous replies. B I'm pretty happy here," she adds on quickly. She loved her parents, but hated their Craft. She shakes her head:she has been trying to break her habit of going deep in thought in mid convesation. Vexed, she regains her stance, leaning against the wall.

Linora nods. "Oh... I got a brother in the SeaCraft," she says, her own eyes looking kind of far away now. Then she shrugs. "So... were you born on a ship?" That'd be kind of interesting. "I grew up at Ista. I been on ships and stuff, but I never really /sailed/ anyplace."

Tris looks at Linora enviously. "You're lucky. As crazy as it may seem, the sea can get very tedious after a few Turns worth of sailing. I was born on a ship--my mother's sister had had many expierinces with births, so that's the only reason why I'm standing her right now." She snorts. "My mother was in such shock that I had survived that she didn't even move when my aunt tried to bring her to reality. Strange woman, my mother...but so kind..." She mentally shakes herself violently. She wanted to break the habit of babbling, too. She sighs heavily.

Linora babbles too, when she's nervous. So she kind of understands. She nods slowly. "You prolly haven't been away long enough t'miss 'em yet," she observes thoughtfully. It'll happen. She flops back to lie on the grass, lacing her fingers behind her neck and looking up at the sky. No stars... but Lin likes the sun, too. "But it is kinda nice here. I mean, the people are nice... the classes are interesting and stuff...." Her eyes kind of glaze over as she gets lost in thought.

Tris yawns sleepily, imitating Lin's gesture by gazing at the sun. She notices a slkight trace of Belior in the sky. To be so high up....she snaps out of her drowsy trance. "I already miss them, but it feels nice to be alone...and especially on land." She taps the ground expressively with her longer leg. "I can't really say anything about classes yet...I am not very well acquainted with any journeymen. But for the most part, y'all are very polite in this here Hall." She slaps the wall affectionatly, as if it were the Hall itself. She yawns again, realizing that she hadn't slept very soundly the night before.

Linora grins. "Well... you'll need t'get acquainted with the journeymen, ifya wanna take any classes. Plus y'need t'pick a mentor and stuff. Prolly not right away, though." She notices the yawn and giggles a little. "Up all night?" Getting a head start on looking at the stars?

Spray blinks in from ::between:: in a flash of silvery blue.

Tris chuckles softly, considering Lin's words. Of course, she thinks apprehensively. I need a mentor as well--forgot that one. She turns to face her companion again. "Yep...on my nights on the the water I used to look up at the stars and wonder what they meant. My dad used t'say dat dey helped him navigate the boat. Guess that's why I'm here. By the way, would you happen to know any dependable journeymen...I know some guy named Kazandar, but I've heard a few weird tales and well, I'm not so sure I'd like him as a teacher..." Her voice trails off in a loud yawn. "Need more sleep....gotta beat that instinct to look at dem at night." She suddenly sneezes loudly. "Gotta stay away from dem canines, too. Make me sneeze too much!" She giggles.

Linora shrugs in a kind of lying-down way. "Well... Carise is nice. An' Kezzra... Keris is my mentor. He's kinda funny, but he's real smart and stuff." She ticks off the possibilities on her fingers. "Um... Prolly Jorina, too. You can pick anyone y'want for your mentor... know what you wanna specialize in?" Spray circles lazily in the air, then swoops down to land on Linora's belly, neatly backwinging to settle in a contented heap. Now /there's/ a firelizard.

Tris gazes absently at the fire-lizards antics. "Thanks for the suggestions....I still have no clue what I want to specialize in. Prob'ly navigation. Maybe astronomy. Who knows?" She closes her eyes and stretches, and then props herself tautly against the wall. A stone nudges her back uncomfortable. She groans as she moves a notch to her left. A soft breeze makes her cross her arms tightly and incline her head slightly to the ground. This was her preferred position. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Lin's fire lizard, bluere then the sky. "That sho' is one cute little thing," she remarks suddenly.

Linora smiles. "Thanks. His name's Spray." One hand automatically moves to stroke the little blue, who croons his appreciation. See? Much nicer. She silently hopes the little brown learns by example. "I thought 'bout navigation," she remarks. "Only I wasn't sure I wanted t'live on a ship. I picked charting instead. It's lotsa copying so far." She makes a face. "But it's interesting and stuff."

Tris nods curiously. Charting? She hadn't bothered to seek out the possibilities. But acknowledging Lin's remark about copying and remembering her potently illedgible handwriting, she dropped the thought. She diverts her attention as she takes mental notes to brush up on her StarCraft knowledge. After all, she couldn't be a probationary apprentice forever. She let the little creatures soft sounds relax her mind. She fretted too much. "Yeah. I see whatya mean. I could never go on a boat right now anyway... I'm still recovering as it is."

Linora chuckles, shifting to sit up and brushing grass off her clothes. "Yeah... well... I gotta get back t'the hall ... chores and stuff." She flashes a bright smile at Tris. "Nice talkin' to ya... I'll prolly see ya around?" Most likely, anyhow.

Tris nods. "Sure...I gotta go take of a new baker with issues...that kid couldn't RP his way out of a mug of klah!"