Bendi Task-- The Aeries [Open]

[Kietis]

Kietis turned down one hallway, then another, never stopping in her path. When she came to the crossroads of three intersecting halls, she paused and stared down each one, checking for anyone that she recognized. She prepared herself for what she might need to do, should she see anyone her age, but she was fortunate enough that this was not the case. She turned around to grin at Miss Cyrill, if only for a moment. "It's just a bit farther, Miss Artinsan, I'm certain of it." she slowed her pace to give herself more time to think. She had been wandering for quite a bit with that lump of a package, and now her arms seemed empty without something to carry. She toyed with her bryda while she walked. "Have you been to the Yasi dwellings since you were a girl, Cyrill Artinsan?" Glad that she had found something that she was genuinely interested in, Kietis sighed. Not many Artinsans ever came to see the youth, unless it was a brief visit to see their children. Then again, not many people at all come to see us. Not unless they are a caretaker.

[Cyrill]

Cyrill grew more and more surprised as she followed the girl, all the while thinking that the child would give up on her story any moment. Unless, it was never a story to begin with. In which case, I’m going to look very foolish, indeed. She was not particularly familiar with this part of the warrens, and as such, she had no idea where exactly Kieits was leading her. She could guess that they were somewhere around the Yasi quarters, but she had not been there in so long… There had never been anything for her there since she left to join the Avora caste. She had no siblings there and anyone she could call a friend had moved on to their own trade at about the same time as her. Truthfully, she did not miss the Yasi section of Wind Reach in the least. There were no particularly bad memories connected with it - nothing that time hadn't smoothed over. But the only good memories were tied to Beck and she tried to think of him as little as possible. “No, I haven’t,” Cyrill replied, shaking her head. “As a matter of fact, I don’t believe I set foot in there since my fifteenth’s birthday.” Cyrill readjusted the vase in her hand as she asked a tad skeptically, “So, you’re really taking me to see Attia, are you?”

[Kietis]

"Hmm?" Kietis had been so caught up in her own thoughts tht she had nearly forgotten what it was that she had told Miss Cyrill that they were doing. "Oh, yes, Miss Cyrill Artinsan. It can't be that much farther." She would take Miss Cyrill to one of the older children. Some of them broke rules more than Attia knew, and a few could pass for one of the younger caretakers, had they a reason to try. She could always bribe them with stolen food if they were reluctant to play along. She continued walking straight forward while she thought, and giggled quietly at her plan. She turned left, to get closer to the dwellings, and ran headfirst into the wall. Startled from her reverie, she looked around to find that where there should have been quite a few halls branching away from the once they were in now, there were none. In fact, Kietis couldn't remember being in this area at all. Nervously, she turned to face Cyrill. I'm not lost, I'm not lost, I'm not lost... "Does it bother you that I call you 'Miss'. Miss Cyrill?" She couldn't recall where the question had come from, but she hoped it would buy her some time.

[Cyrill]

“No, it doesn’t bother me,” Cyrill replied, slightly taken aback by the question. “But, you may call me Cyrill if you like.” The girl asked the strangest things, which wasn’t at all a bad thing, if it wasn’t for the fact that Cyrill thought the child was stalling for time. Cyrilll couldn’t decide whether the girl was just leading her in circles in hopes that she would get bored and leave or if Kietis really didn’t know how to get where they were going. “Kietis, do you actually know where you’re heading?” Cyrill voiced her thoughts, arching an eyebrow. “Or do you just really, really don’t want me to meet Attia?”

[Kietis]

"Y-yes, of course, Miss Cyrill! Well, I mean," Becoming increasingly conscious of her hands, Kietis toyed with her hair. "Well, I mean that yes, I do know where I'm going. Of course I do. I mean, I go all over for my tasks, so I should know my way around most of the area blindfolded. Not that I've ever tried something like that!" She added hastily. Oh, there had to be some sort of landmark around here somewhere! "Why wouldn't I want you to meet Attia, Miss Cyrill? She's a nice lady. You would like each other, I think."

[Cyrill]

Seeing the girl become more and more flustered elicited a quiet sigh from Cyrill. She was starting to feel guilty for making the girl go through all of this. Even if she had been lying in the first place, it wasn’t worth it to cause some sort of emotional breakdown in the child. Just as she was about to drop the whole endeavor, the girl’s comment planted another question in her mind. “Really? Attia’s a nice lady? But you’ve been saying that she doesn’t believe you kids and that she hasn’t been very nice to you…” Cyrill trailed off suggestively, arching an eyebrow in mild amusement. Either the girl was finally getting entangled in her own little web of lies or she had a really bad memory.

[Kietis]

"Oh, I said that?" Kietis paused. This whole ordeal was exhausting to say the least, and she couldn't think of anything to say, but,"Are you sure, Miss Cyrill? I don't know... I don't know why I said something like that." She rubbed her eyes. She was almost ready to give up completely and simply tell the Artinsan everything, if only it wouldn't earn her more trouble than she could think of.

[Cyrill]

A sigh of defeat escaped Cyrill’s lips as she looked at the little girl. The child kept rubbing her eyes, which made Cyrill think that she was ready to start crying, which in turn made her feel guilty. I didn’t even do anything to her – she groaned in her mind. Cyrill readjusted the vase in her arms and knelt down by the girl so she would be at eye-level with her. “Listen, it’s alright if you got mixed up with what you told me. It’s not really alright if you lied, though – about Attia, about not knowing where the aeries were, about the other children… It’s nothing serious and it’s not like you hurt anyone by bending the truth a little. But I’d just like to know – for my own peace of mind – whether you were lying or not,” Cyrill gave her a small smile which she hoped would inspire confidence. “Just don’t cry,” she added, realizing that there was no way she was prepared to deal with a crying child. She was not trained for that kind of thing. She knew how to handle breaking glass – which she supposed was a little like a crying girl – by putting it in the fire. Still, she didn’t think the same method would apply to children.

[Kietis]

Tired of making up lies, Kietis hardly had time to register the Artinsan's words before she was spluttering out the truth in a breathless stream of chatter. "Well, I wasn't lying about all of it, Miss Cyrill, real honest, and I didn't mean you any harm by it. And some of the other kids really are mean, and they call me 'Deksponn' or something but they use these words I don't understand, and Attia's real nice, Miss cyrill, but she does sometimes say things like I-I won't be able to get things, but I don't know why she doesn't think I can do it, because I probably could if I wanted to. I-I-I j-just--" She felt like crying, but it seemed that nothing would come out, and so she began to fiercely hiccup. Kietis covered her mouth and stared at the Artinsan, waiting to see if she should run or beg, depending on her reaction.

[Cyrill]

Cyrill listened to the girl with mild surprise. She hadn’t really expected her to confess this quickly. And now, the girl looked positvely miserable. She suppressed the urge to hug the child and settled for laying a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder. “It’s alright. It’s alright,” she spoke in a soothing voice. “I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm by it. You can learn whatever you put your mind to. You just have to find something you really love to do and then work real hard at it.” She dropped her hand from Kietis’s shoulder, wondering if she was being too easy on the girl. No matter. Cyrill didn’t have much experience with children and she had no idea what she was expected to do in this kind of situation. Settling for a sterner tone, she said, “Just don’t do it again…” “Or at least, don’t get caught,” she added, a mischievous glint sparkling in her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to reprimand Kieits – she reminded her too strongly of her brother.Cyrill rose carefully, still conscious of the vase in her hand. She’d lugged the thing all over the warrens and it was time to get back where it belonged.