We do be weeding, (atn NDaye)

[Visar Falmaien]

(ooc: I guess it doesn't really matter what season we're in right now?  Let's say it's summer and close to midday?)

Rytali muttered a curse under her breath and briefly stretched a cramp out of her back before squatting close to the earth again.  She was knee deep in a garden filled mostly with flowers, and was not enjoying herself particularly.  Not that weeding counted as an unbearable chore for her, but with the hot sun beating down and the constant buzz of insects, many of which were of the terrifying stinging variety, it was hardly an easy task.

 

Using her small iron trowel to dig around one plant that she knew didn't belong there, Rytali pulled up a deeply rooted weed and tossed it into the nearby bucket.  She stood, again stretching her back, which was cramping again.  After quickly inspecting this particular patch of flowers, she went over to where NDaye was.  The Novice was also from Illian, and it was good to hear a familiar accent in a Tower full of women from all sorts of different places.  But Rytali had not yet worked up the courage to ask her fellow chore partner much about herself.

 

"Do you...Be you alright?" she asked tentatively, her low, quiet voice barely heard above the summer's cacophony of bees, cicadas, and the nearby Thwacking of the training warders.  Light, but Rytali thought that was an irritating sound!

 

"NDaye, right?" she tried again, a little louder.  "How does your weeding go?"

[SerenaMorrigan]

Digging her fingers down into the dirt she had freshly tilled, NDaye wiggled them around in the cool damp earth and tightened her fist. Tiny grains of mud smooshed against the palm of her pale hand and oozed out between her fingers. The Illianer novice smirked and let out a breath of relief. Light, it felt good to be back with her hands in the ground again. Tower life was not easy, but the accommodations, food, and even some of the people were better than the alternative. The Perfumed Quarter had not given her much except grief and pain; glancing down at the flattened dirt in the palm of her hand, she shook her head. No, that do no be true. The earth did always grant me salvation.

 

NDaye kept to herself, mostly. Not many of the other girls seemed to want to come too close to her. Granted, her pale skin, oily chin length dark brown hair and circles under her gray eyes didn’t make her much of an appealing person to want to approach. She shrugged as she dug her hands into the ground again and yanked at a weed, it suited her fine. The less the others approached her, the less she had to feign that she cared.  Never having learned social skills while she was growing up made it quite difficult for her to communicate.

 

Biting down on the inside of her cheek as she worked, NDaye nearly had a heart attack or jumped right out of shoes when she heard a voice arise from behind her.

 

"Do you...Be you alright?"

 

“Fortune prick me!! What in the bloody Light do you be doing?”

 

Her heart jumped up into her throat as she ran a hand through her hair. The other girls voice was low and soft, she hadn’t meant to startle her, no doubt;  but this was a rare occasion.

 

Clearing her throat, NDaye gathered herself as she pressed her dirty palms down onto the skirt of her dress. Pursing her lips, she narrowed her eyes at the other girl in confusion and speculation. What did she want from NDaye?

 

"NDaye, right?" Her voice grew a little louder as she continued   "How does your weeding go?"

 

“Yes, that do be my name.” Surprise painted NDaye's face as she wondered how anyone had paid attention enough to hear and remember her name. Light, what was the other girls name? “Rytali?” She waited for the other novice to nod in recognition before going on. “Honestly, it do be hotter than the Dark One’s back side, if you do be asking me.”

 

The sun seemed to respond and the heat of its’ rays felt as if it might burn her skin to a crisp. NDaye had been an night-owl before coming to the White Tower, and had only recently accepted that she had to go out into the day light; however, it had not been without a little persuasion.

 

“They did stick you with this accursed chore as well? Does it be going well for you?”

 

There! She had done it! Now, with Fortunes’ good luck the novice should turn and leave NDaye to her own devices.

 

 

NDaye Kishar

Novice

Slightly...odd

[Visar Falmaien]

The other novice, NDaye, seemed startled at Rytali asking how she was doing.  Rytali knew that the other Illianer didn't talk much, but she did make it a point to try to learn everything she could about potential friends.  Even if what she had heard about NDaye had been from other people. Then it seemed as if the other Illianer became annoyed, as if this was the most horrible chore to do and Rytali was only bothering her.  Well, there were parts of it that had Rytali on edge a little.

 

“Honestly, it do be hotter than the Dark One’s back side, if you do be asking me.”

 

"Aye, it do be rather warm out." Rytali admitted, though she thought that this was a mercifully dry heat compared to the humid oven of an Illianer summer's day.  Though noticing NDaye's pale complexion, Rytali found it hard to believe, despite the woman's obvious city accent, that she was Illianer at all!  Perhaps her parents had been from the north, or NDaye had otherwise not endured many days under the sweltering summer sun.

 

“They did stick you with this accursed chore as well? Does it be going well for you?”

 

Rytali nodded, not taking the hint that NDaye wanted to be left alone in her apparent misery.  "I do think it be far better than some other things they do like to make us do.  Out here in the fine summer sun, with a slight breeze and not a cloud to see!"  Rytali sighed and then forgot what she was going to say.  Oh yes, she was supposed to be getting work done!

 

"Do tell...I did finish my patch for the moment, might I help you with yours, NDaye?  We could get the job done twice as fast if we do work together.  What do you..."

 

Rytali froze in mid-speech when she saw a yellow and black wasp hover right in front of her face.  It circled her head, its deeply buzzing wings resounding in her ears like a wolf's howl.  She felt it land lightly on the back of her neck, and felt a shiver of terror shoot down her spine as it began to crawl downward onto her white novice dress.  She bit her lip and whimpered, glancing down at NDaye.

 

"du do..help!" she whispered.  "Wasp! On my back!"  She fought the urge to slap the horrid insect from her back, and slowly turned around so that NDaye could see it, and possibly do something to help.