bonder // preconceptions
"New, hmm?"
She almost might have missed the thin girl perched on the bunk at the far end of the room, had it not been for this dubious greeting. It's not really, though, that she's anti-social - so having seen this one other occupant of the barracks, she goes down the aisle between the beds, tosses her own small pack onto the second-last bed. "Not my first time in the Nidus, actually," she corrects conversationally, "- but it's my first as a bonder, and I hadn't been here in a while. So you could say that, I guess."
"Hmm." From the way the girl's brows arch, it seems almost like she'd have been happier without the clarification. "I'm Shandaree," she announces, hand raised in formal greeting-recognition.
"Eris," she volunteers agreeably, and she mirrors the gesture, palm to palm. Shandaree's hand is smaller, slim-fingered fair, she notices - and the other girl only permits the briefest touch for custom's sake before withdrawing her hand. Eris notes this in turn, files it with the pretty skin and the lips whose slight smile is of superiority and comes up with 'lord's child' and maybe 'Oldworlder.' Neither seems unreasonable nor unlikely.
Shandaree's returned to holding herself just distant; she hugs her legs to her chests, fingers wrapped around thin wrists, and rests her chin on her knees to regard Eris openly. "So you're another one of us hopefuls, then?" Just a bit of a challenge in her voice - daring her to profess confidence. "You think... well, we'll see. If you're still around next week..."
She's nearly pleading to be questioned, Eris sees; she complies obligingly.
Shandaree smiles more widely - almost a rodent's grin. "Oh, you wouldn't know, would you? There's an unwritten law - they won't reject a bonder outright, but there are ways. You end up out of sight and worked like a drudge - or a weyrling takes you somewhere, all friendly-like, leaves you conveniently with no way back to the island. They say only the dragons know, yeah - but if you're not what the riders want, you won't stay long enough to scorch your feet on the sands." Triumphantly: "I've been here two weeks."
She speaks like she's obviously a qualified expert.
Eris glances at her appraisingly, takes in the proud smiling smirk and decides she'd feel too bad about erasing such elation. "I've never heard that the Nidusfolk are really unfair." A quiet comment, unantagonizing. "I came back here, actually, because I'd heard one of my friends bonded - it sounded like a good idea."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Keleu - would you know him?"
Shandaree's eyes are dark and so huge now it's almost disturbing. "The Primus?" Stares and shakes her head, finally. "Oh, that's just lovely. Wouldn't that be your luck."
"Sorry?"
"... yeah, of course they'll keep you. You're so lucky - that's not fair."
Sigh. "You were right, Shandaree. I really don't know much, I guess. Would you tell me?"
Pretty porcelain-skinned Shandaree doesn't actually hate her, she discovers. All she needs is to be superior somehow, to be the one who knows - and well, Eris can understand that. Sometimes.
bonder // the way things work
Shandaree is never still, even after all their work, on the late hot nights that shift to earlier mornings. She sprawls across her bed, belly-down, legs bent back on themselves and swinging, one hand running through short unruly red hair. Eris lies perfectly still and is glad that she can - but she watches her sometimes-friend. It makes the relaxation more restful.
"Keleu." Shandaree's abruptness is no longer surprising. "I hope you never loved him," she remarks, bluntly. "It'd be stupid."
Eris manages a shrug without lifting her head from her own flat pillow. "I love people and I don't think it's ever stupid. Keleu was always my friend - almost my brother. We grew up here, actually, and 'family' in the Nidus has a very open definition."
"You must have loved him. You must." Shandaree glances at her with the ferret half-smile. "You don't know his bond, do you? He's a goldrider. I've seen Moquamth, a few times. She's beautiful."
"I'm sure."
Shandaree shoots her a look like she should definitely be more shocked.
"He shouldn't have bonded her," she mutters, later. "It's not done. The Prima tapped him as Primus anyway. It's not official yet, and maybe it won't ever be. Wouldn't the traditionalists flip?"
"Because that's not how it works?" Eris hazards, and can't help laughing just a bit, inwardly. Shandaree should talk about traditionalists!
... unless she can't help it. That would be hard.
"Do you love, Shandaree?" she wonders.
That earns her the familiar Look, until the redhead sighs finally, shrugs like whatever. "I guess so. No - I obsess. Unreachable things, you know. Domini's children get lots of training there." Pause. "I think you must be crazy. He's beautiful," she murmurs, not to Eris.
Eris offers her, nonetheless, a serious smile. "I don't know about obsessions. But there's nothing wrong with loving."
Shandaree glares. "You're not listening. He's a goldrider. That doesn't happen."
"... it does, Shandaree, or so you've told me. I wouldn't worry. It doesn't dictate anything about him."
She almost doesn't catch her friend's admission; Shandaree's turned her head away. "I don't know how to love."
"You will," Eris insists, and she takes Shandaree's hand, lightly. The other nearly jumps - it's surprise, though, not annoyance.
Perhaps she didn't know she was reaching out.
bonder // change is a good thing
"You know what your problem is, Eris? You listen too sharding well."
Eris has been giving honey-blonde hair cursory swipes with a comb - it does nothing for hair as short as she keeps hers, so it's merely a matter of principle. She looks up now, grins at Shandaree. "Yeah, I think I'd miss you too, except that's a bit of a non-issue. The invitation to Wu wasn't solely for me."
"Right." She's trying to sulk. "You'll bond, of course. You'd have to."
Eris raises an eyebrow at her. "You told me not ten minutes after I got here that the people who can't make it don't stay long. The dragons know."
"Yeah..." Shandaree shifts uncomfortably. "Y'know, that was actually just me being nasty. I didn't like you much then."
"You think I like you - spoiled Domina?" Eris smiles at her. "The thing is, you are still around. Why don't you come? The dragons do know," she repeats.
Shandaree's shrug she takes as good enough, because the redhead isn't one to really smile.
bonder // persistance
"I think they might have warned me about you," the bronze dragon tells her, thoughtfully.
Eris grins at him - a real, laughing smile. "I should hope so."
"Are you in the habit of arguing with people before you even know them?"
She shrugs. "I try not to. I'm Eris, by the way - I thought you might want to be ordering me to go away so you can mourn the infinite cruelties of your life in silence. You could argue about that, if you like."
"And you'd go away if I told you to?" She's sure he'd raise a brow, were it possible.
"Probably not. I did say 'argue.' I'd rather not, but it's your privilege, I think."
Sigh. "That's what I thought. I'm Ith," he adds, "since I suppose you'll be around for a while."
"Thank you." She tilts her head to look at him consideratively. "Anything you'd like to rant about?"
"Is there really any point when you summed it up so concisely? I've been abandoned. People like you aren't supposed to be bothering me. Actually, I would like you to go away."
Some time later, he accuses, "You don't ever listen to anyone, do you?"
She glances at him, shakes her head seriously. "No, Ith. I always listen. I don't always obey, but there's a difference."
bonder // partnership
"Bronzes don't bond girls, Eris. You know that, don't you?" His eyes, when she glances up at him, are golden-serious.
"You sound like Shandaree," she tells him, lightly, and he grins sardonically in a sudden flash of humor.
"Sometimes I think Shandaree's smarter than you."
"Possible." The hand that has been rubbing oil into his hide in smooth, circular motions halts, though she doesn't look quite at him. "I thought you'd given up on that, Ith - the 'proper' things."
"I thought I had, too."
He clears his throat some time later, shrugs away from her touch and curves his neck down until the fine bright head is nearly level with hers. "Actually, bronzes don't get abandoned, either. I've been thinking - I've already tried the... proper thing." (He doesn't mention his first rider's name, but then, she's never expected him to.)
"It's true," she agrees, "that bronzes have not been known to be abandoned by girls."
"Then would you try this with me, Eris?" (So formal, but then you only go bounding in exuberant childish infatuation once.)
"I think I could do that, Ith."
It's not love, but the shared smiles are the first thing.