Aylani’s Escapade

Aylani was sorry to see Shianna go; she would miss her quiet roommate. Smash tackled her bootlaces, purring happily. The black and white feline had cause so much trouble, and now he was her little troublemaker. Smash wasn’t too pleased at being locked in Aylani’s room while the girl was at her pottery lessons, but there wasn’t much choice.

Every day or so, a small pot or jar with a lid was made by Aylani’s long thin hands. A pair of largish mugs had been made yesterday, and Aylani strived to keep the matching pitcher from collapsing. Apparently, she was succeeding. Jyliac smiled as the pottery wheel slowed. The red river clay held, and Aylani carefully took the thin pitcher from the wheel.

"Are you going to put a handle on that?" the Journeyman asked. Aylani smiled at the tall thin pitcher.

"No, I think not." She said.

"It more of a carafe then..." Jyliac pointed out.

"That’s fine. I like it." "That’s what counts, apprentice." The Journeyman said, a touch disdainfully. Aylani let the insult roll off. She could survive Jyliac.

A few days later, after the mugs and carafe had been fired, Aylani sat and carefully glazed her creation. She had chosen a sheer blue, which would almost make the finished pieces look purple. The "dry" glaze was like a thick paste. With a set expression, Aylani scraped away a track in the glaze, then dabbed in a deep rich blue. When the pieces had cooled from the final firing, even Jyliac was impressed.

"You’ll be wanting to sell those at the next gather." She said, pushing.

"No." Aylani said. "They’re for Shianna."

Jyliac snapped. "Why would you want to give a whole sevenday’s work to that twit?!"

Aylani did not react. "Shianna is not worthless. You falsely accused her when Smash ruined all your work, and didn’t even apologize when she and Kayrizoth came to visit. You should watch who you’re calling a twit."

The sound of Jyliac’s hand meeting Aylani’s face sharply punctuated the girl’s sentence. A gasp escaped Aylani’s mouth. Without hesitation, she picked up the mugs with the cobalt blue dragons on them and the carafe, and ran, barely escaping crashing into someone in the hallway.

Aylani ran to her room. She stopped for a moment in front of a mirror, and looked at the vivid red mark and smear of clay on her face. She wondered if anyone had seen. Aylani packed her things, and wondered briefly if she could be as lucky as Shianna and get searched on the way out.

A knock at the door shattered the thought. "Aylani?" a voice called. It was Lord Oran.

Aylani tentatively opened the door. "Yes Lord Oran?" she asked softly. "Aylani, did Jyliac assault you?"

"Yessir." She answered honestly. "By your leave, I’d like to leave now."

Lord Oran nodded. "Aylani, before you do, you need to apologize to the rider you almost ran down."

Smash"Yessir." Aylani said, scooping up her cat as he ran for the door.

"Follow me." He said. Aylani quietly followed behind.

In the courtyard sat two blue dragons, and a green dragon. Shianna smiled softly at Aylani. A male rider grinned fiendishly. Lord Oran walked up to the third. "Aylani, meet Greenrider Jeniae--of the Crimson Blade Wing. She rides with Shianna. And you know Searchrider J’rin."

Aylani nodded. "I see why you were running away, Aylani." Jeniae said.

"I’m sorry for almost running you down, Rider." She said. "No problem, if--" Jeniae said, drawing out the pause.

"If?"

"If you’ll accompany me to Falas Weyr as a Candidate." Aylani laughed aloud.

"What’s so funny?" Shianna asked.

Aylani waved at her to wait a moment. "I’ll go, rider Jeniae. Let me get my bags." Aylani said, trying to suppress the laughter.

"I’ll help." Shianna said, leading her friend off so she could find out what was so funny. When Shianna heard, she laughed too. In the room, Shianna plopped down in a chair. "This room is smaller than I remember." She said, looking around.

"You’re taller now, Shi." Aylani said, packing while smash roamed. "You’re all leg."

Shianna laughed. "Hey--did you make these?" she asked, hoisting one of the mugs.

"You like?" Aylani said, pausing in her packing. "I made them for you."

"Really? Wow, thanks Aylani!" Shianna said, leaping up and hugging her friend. "Now you’re going to be impressing..."

"Hey Shi--I’ve been Searched--I’m not guaranteed to Impress."

"Yeah, but I have such good feelings about this..."

Aylani smiled. "Me too. You bring the mugs, I’ll bring Smash."

"Smash, eh. Long time no see, catface."

"M-e-yat." Smash said, leaping for the table.

Shianna put the mugs and carafe in a carrisack and wrapped the excess around them.

Together they went back to the dragons. "Good Luck, Aylani!" Shianna called.

"I’ll need more than luck, I have Smash!" she yelled back as Phylith leapt skyward.


Aylani laughed as Jeschuteth played with Smash, the black feline. It was amusing. It wouldn’t be long before Jeschuteth was too big to play with Smash - even though he’d grown quite large himself. Dragons grew very fast.

JeschutethPeople grow too. Jeschuteth reminded her.

“Yes, Jes, we do.” Aylani said, running a brush through her hair.

Why do you call me Jes? My name is Jeschuteth.

“Jes is part of your name - using nicknames is an informal, friendly thing to do.”

So I should call Weyrleader J’kan “J”?

“Um... no.”

Why not? The green asked, confused.

“Because J’kan is our superiour. He’s the highest ranking male in all of Falas. It would be inappropriate to call him anything but Weyrleader or his full name unless he says we can.” Aylani explained patiently. A thought passed through her mind - Shianna’s blue had taken to calling Tiyanni “Ty” and they’d been caught by Tiyanni while debating it. Luckily, Tiyanni had been called Ty in her youth, and was reminiscently pleased about the whole ordeal.

That makes more sense. Jeschuteth said, nuzzling the black cat. Can I call you Ayla then?

Aylani considered. “I suppose you could, but wouldn’t ‘Ay’ just be easier?”

Ay and Jes. The dragon mused. Sounds good to me.

Aylani grinned, and then her stomach growled. “I’m hungry.”

Me too. Can we eat? Jeschuteth said, losing interest in the cat that had long since lost interest in her.

“Yes, lets.” The green’s bond said, rising. Together they exited the barracks, and went to find a meal.

-- Continue -->

Falas Weyr.
Smash comes from White River Weyr