Bendi Task-- The Aeries [Open]

[Kietis]

"Oh, she says that I'll be lucky to be a commoner. She's always saying things like that, Attia is. She thinks I'm the luckiest person in the world." Kietis grumbled when the bag shifted again. She tightened her grip around its middle, making it easier to carry but far more difficult to keep up with Cyrill. Something in Cyrill's voice was bothering her. She gasped. "Oh, it might have been someone else," she added hurriedly. "Yes... Yes, Miss, it must have been Aelett." She wasn't sure why, but Cyrill had been using the voice that Attia used when someone was about to get in trouble. Aelett was rude, always being mean to the kids that had been in the communal nurseries their whole lives, like Kietis. "People call me Kietis, Miss Cyrill Artinsan." Behind the bag, Kietis felt a grin spreading across her face. [ooc: It's been messing up for me, too. Let me check-- maybe that's what it is. If that's it, I'm really sorry about that. o-o; *fails at bbcode*]

[Cyrill]

Eris’s eyebrow lifted slightly as she listened to the girl’s answer. She got the sense that the girl was a crafty one. First, there was the story with the boys… Now, her seeming confusion with her caretaker’s name… She decided she’d have to be more alert, if only for the purpose of catching Kietis in a lie. “So, Kietis, what kind of artisan would you be if you could? What’s your most favorite thing to do?” she asked. It was a very typical question to ask a child, but Cyrill was actually interested in the answer. For some reason, the kid reminded her of her brother. She couldn’t put her finger on it yet, but there was definitely some resemblance there… ((Don't worry about it Same thing happened to me when I first started using it.))

[Kietis]

Kietis was quiet for a moment while she thought. "I don't know, really. Oh!" She stopped walking to set the bag down for a moment and patted her head. Where is it, where is it? I know I put it right-- here! "Could I make something like this?" She held up a messy, loose braid. Dangling from the end of it was a small glass pendant, not so unlike those in Cyrill's hair. "Do you think I could make these? I wouldn't know how, though," she added as an afterthought. "They usually don't let me stay near the kiln for very long."

[Cyrill]

“I reckon you could,” she said, tilting her head to one side as she examined the glass piece hanging from the girl’s hair. “May I?” she asked, reaching for the girl’s braid. She gently turned the pendant over in her hand, inspecting it from all sides. Once she was satisfied, she withdrew her hand. “You could learn, of course. Especially once you’re a little older. They didn’t let me near the kiln either when I was your age. That is, until they were satisfied I wouldn’t try to burn someone on purpose. My brother tried that once…”she trailed off, a note of amusement in her voice as she remembered Beck’s many antics. “But where did you get it?” Cyrill asked, indicating the pendant. It’s not that she thought the girl might have stolen it… Alright, maybe she did think that just a little. But one couldn’t blame her – how else would a little girl come by such a well-made piece?

[Kietis]

"My mother, I think." Kietis smiled up at Miss Cyrill. "She made it before I was here, because she left it with me when I came to live with the others." She giggled. "You brother burned someone? I wouldn't be let anywhere near the glass works if they thought I would try to burn someone." She picked up the bag again and they continued walking. "Maybe I'll tell Attia that I want to work with people like you. But you'll be big by the time I get there." Not wanting to set down the bag again, Kietis tilted her head in the direction of Cyrill's hair. "Did you get one of those from your mother, too? I bet most people get something from their momma, don't they?"

[Cyrill]

“Yes. My brother was the fiery sort. Some boy was bothering him and he got terribly wound up about it. Grabbed some hot coals and threw it at the kid. My brother couldn’t hold anything in his right hand for weeks and the other boy got a nasty burn on the side of his face,” Cyrill said with a smile. “I imagine most people do,” Cyrill said, feeling her shoulders stiffen a bit. “But my mother was an eagle rider – didn’t have the time to make things for me. And then she died when I was really young, so we didn’t get too spend too much time together anyway.” Cyrill walked in silence for a while, hating the somber mood that had suddenly swept over her. “On the bright side – my father made this for me,” she added, brushing her hand over the string of wooden beads that hung around her neck. “So, this bendi assignment of yours…Did someone really send you to deliver this – this…” Cyrill gestured vaguely at the bag, “...whatever it is, if you don’t even know where the aeries are?”

[Kietis]

"It isn't so bad. This kind of job usually goes to people that live with Attia their whole lives. The ones where you have to go and talk to people go the new people." Kietis shrugged. "I'm used to it. And Attia probably thought that I knew where it was. I've had a bendi assignment before where the Aeries were, but..." She paused. "I- I guess I just forgot. I forget a lot of things, Miss Cyrill." She shifted the bag again to try and make it more comfortable to carry, failing miserably. If anything, now it was more difficult than before, hauling the big, mysterious package around. "Is your Daddy an Artinsan, too? I bet he is. It's so... pretty and shiny! He probably taught you a bit about it, didn't he? Some of the older kids like Kettin say that their daddies and mommies teach them things while they're little. I doubt it, thought. They say they know stuff, but they're worse at some of the bendi tasks than I am." She laughed, remembering Kettin's face when he had stepped on a hot coal from one of the kiln's. Of course, they had blamed her, but she guessed that was all right, since she had been the one that kicked the coal near where he was standing, anyways. "How much farther is it?"

[Cyrill]

“Yes, he’s an artisan as well. I think at one point, he tried to teach me to work with wood. But I wasn’t really cut out for woodworking – never saw the soul inside the wood,” she said with a shrug. Cyrill gave the girl a pitying look. She might have offered to help her carry the bag, but this was a bendi task, after all – something the girl needed to do on her own. “Not too far now,” she replied. If she squinted, she could make out the entrance to the aeries at the far end of the hall. Was the girl really that forgetful? She began to remind her more and more of Beck. And Beck had always liked to bend the truth a little... “Tell me, Kietis, what do you think about the other children? Do you get along with them or do you think they can be a bit to gullible?” she asked, trying to catch the girl’s eye to better register her reaction.

[Kietis]

"Gullible?" Caught off her guard, Kietis didn't think to hide her reaction. She dropped the sack on the ground in shock, and it hit her foot; it didn't hurt very much, and mainly just squished once it hit the floor. Fortunately, this made it much easier for her to seem upset when she looked back at Miss Cyrill. "Would you please tell me what that means? Kettin and the others are always calling me gulgible. They distract me and then they take my food without asking, and sometimes cook doesn't believe me, and... and..." She rubbed her eyes. "I don't even know what gulgible means, but that's what they call me sometimes, Miss Cyrill." Kettin was a bully, and if he got in trouble for it, then she wouldn't be sorry about it at all. Besides, if anyone caught on to how she got most of her food, she would be in bigger trouble than she ever had been with Aelett.

[Cyrill]

Eris’s mouth opened, then closed. Well, this was certainly unexpected. She wouldn’t have taken the girl for someone so easily upset. She certainly wouldn’t have taken her for someone other kids took advantage of. Unless she was faking it… But could someone really fake that hurt expression? “Oh, darling, I’m sorry – I didn’t meant to upset you. Gullible just means you believe things easily,” she said, bending down so she was at eye-level with the girl. “You know, things like little white lies people tell sometimes to get out of trouble.” She hadn’t meant to make her last statement so pointed. However, once the words left her lips, she watched the girl’s reaction closely.