Ceiling Fun The Vault is a cozy little lounge where StarCraft apprentices can relax between studying and chores. And it apparently has a very interesting.... ceiling?

"Look beyond the ceiling. Don't even look at the ceiling.. just look! What do you see?" It's Cassia logic.. what do you expect?

Observing... Linora discovers the wonders of the big distanceviewer in the Observatory. Could it be she's finally ready to decide on a specialty?

Linora blinks and tears herself away from the distanceviewer, turning to see Cress. She greets him with a wide grin. "Hi!" A quick glance back at the distanceviewer. "Hey, haveya /looked/ through this thing yet? I'm just figuring it out..." Excitement just radiating off the girl.

Riding The Waterfall Linora discovers that it's a lot of fun to climb the rope ladder and coast down the waterfall into the basin below. And of course, that swimming is much more fun with two.

For just a second, Linora actually believes Cress is worried, until she sees that look in his eyes. She grins widely at the realization that she's been fooled yet again. Lucky she likes him; she doesn't even mind really. "You'd think a something," she teases. "/If/ anything happened, which it wouldn't." With a little splash she disappears under the water again, popping to the surface on the other side of Cress, having swum right under him, and fixing him with a radiant smile.

An Afternoon With Diena Linora returns to the Observatory to discover that another apprentice shares her interest, and the two strike up the beginnings of a friendship.

Linora gives Diena kind of a blank look. "See anything?" Then she gets it. "Oh, I might if I looked through it... not at it..." Meaning the distanceviewer, of course. "I mean, if you're not using it or anything? I took a peek the other day..."
Diena smiles "Go ahead.. Ive been in here all day" she says.. looking at her eyes tells you she isn't lying.

Cress' Project Linora finally gets to see the result of Cress' hours and hours of research and work. Oh, and Cress could use a haircut, too, but that will just have to wait...

Linora takes her time reading the scroll, trying hard to imagine a snow-covered anything, or being cold enough to freeze. At length she looks back up at Cress. "Wow. Those travelers were lucky their flits were so smart," she says quietly, not knowing if the story is real or legend. "An' it took a long time to find all this stuff out?" Wondering where to start looking... and how...

Dragonride! Linora meets Uillauth again - this time with his rider, Ali - and to her everlasting delight is invited to take her first ride adragonback!

Linora nods. "Bet it takes a lotta oil." Thinking of the little bottle she keeps for her own blue. Another thought, and she blurts out the question. "What's it like Between?"
"That it does," Ali gives a nod of agreement. "We have large vats of the stuff, and it usually smells something awful. I've managed to add a little aroma to the stuff I have, so it makes it less difficult to stand the smell when you're working. Once it dries, you can't tell, but until then." Tilting her head to the side, her eyes become slightly unfocused as she speaks with her lifemate, who immediately comes out of the water. "Uillauth says that if you can wait long enough for him to dry, which won't be long in this weather, we'll show you."

A Story And A Haircut Linora's so excited about sharing the news with Cress about her ride adragonback that she doesn't notice right away that he could /really/ use a haircut.

Linora nods. So that's where she's been going... makes sense. Her eyes involuntarily following the movement of Cress's hand... likes to watch his hands, she does... and fixing on his hair. She tilts her head appraisingly. Nope, doesn't like it. Covers his eyes too much. Should she state the obvious? A little grin comes to her face. "You could use a haircut, Cress."

Optics Review Linora is sharing her newfound knowledge of optics with Cress, when Journeyman Keris makes a rare appearance...

"Ohh, clever of you. Some apprentices think they can just show up to class, listen and then walk away and always remember. But that's wrong. You have to refresh things once in a while," Keris nods approvingly, grinning encouragingly at the two. "And DVs can be tricky. Or well, they can't, but it's hard to learn. I remember I couldn't keep concave and convex lenses straight for at least a couple of sevendays," journeyman confesses, grinning impishly.

A Very Interesting Afternoon... Well, it begins as Cress discovers that another of his firelizards has developed an unusual food preference... and ends with two very happy - but very naughty - apprentices. :)

Cress remembers to close his mouth, if nothing else then because it widens into a smile. "I like ya too," he says and gets up from the ground. He moves over to her and... stops. This isn't the time or the place thinks. But when, and where then? Why not now, and here? He gets his feet moving again, and comes over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders, then moves them up to the back of her head and leans in to kiss her.. On the lips.

Decisions... Of course, there had to be a morning after. (Ooh, bad country song reference!) Linora and Cress find themselves faced with an important choice...

Linora closes her eyes at Cress's light touch on her face, taking a deep breath and then letting it out slowly before she dares to speak. "What are we gonna do?" she whispers. And slowly opens her eyes to look up at him, part trusting, part fearful, pleading.

Click here for more logs.