Sugar Rush

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:12:17 GMT

Who: Celane, Samiya
What: Celane makes cookies. Samiya taste tests.
Where: Igen Weyr Living Cavern

Igen Weyr Living Cavern

Igen's living cavern is an immense hollow in the volcanic caldera, stretching
up two stories to a slightly charred ceiling; the light of the glows and
hearth are reflected in the quartz which peppers the unique Igen swirled
sandstone. Large enough to seat the entire weyr, the living cavern is always
buzzing with activity. Tapestries adorn the walls, depicting scenes from
Pern's past. The head table sits upon a raised platform at the far eastern
side of the room, in front of a huge and continually burning fireplace.

The stairs lead up to a wide balcony that overlooks the cavern. Large tunnels
lead west out to the bowl, and south to the kitchens. A smaller tunnel to
the east leads deeper into the inner caverns. A doorway in the northern wall
opens to the infirmary, while the small door to the northeast opens into the
Records Room. In the corner between the infirmary and the records room is a
plaque.

Samiya inches into the room with an air of mischievous hesitancy. Cocking an
ear to the throng milling about, the child halts and listens. With no shouts
of, "Hey you child, go back to the nursery!" she scurries over to the food
tables, and finding the requisite spot, stands eyeballing a plate of
cookies. Eyeing is all she can do considering how small she is, with her
eyes just barely above table-level and her nose just below. She can still
smell them though, and with a greedy sniff sniff, she murmurs hungrily,
"Yummy."

Celane, who had just put down said plate of cookies, is in the middle of
walking back towards the kitchen when she notices Samiya's movement out of
the corner of her eye. Turning to see who it is, and noticing the girl, she
changes her path and makes her way back to the meal table. "They are yummy!"
She says. "At least, I hope so! I made them. Want one?" She lifts the plate
off the table, and holds it down to where Samiya can reach it.

Eyes wide as the cookies themselves, Sami peers at the display, trying to
decipher which will taste the best. Children generally decide that by size,
and upon spying an oddly angular cookie the size of her tiny fist, she
plucks it from the plate and chimes out with excessive gratitude, "Fank
you!"

"Thank /you/! I need a good taste-tester, you know, to make sure they're good
enough for the whole Weyr. What do you think?" Celane tilts her head a bit
as she watches the child, waiting for her to take a bite. Then she puts the
plate back and takes a cookie for herself, tasting it thoughtfully. "Dunno.
More sugar, maybe?"

Upon being questioned, Sami gives an inquisitive nibble, and then pauses long
with a thoughtfulness that belies her turns. In agreement (as if she'd know
the difference) the tot nods to Celane, and states in mock adult fashion,
"Mo suga." That said, all bets are off and she munges the treat with an
intensity of a true cookie connoisseur.

"More sugar next time, then!" Celane watches the younger girl devour the
cookie, and eats her own more slowly, with a cook's analyzation of how well
her bake has actually turned out. With a shrug, she asks, "Want another?
Probably shouldn't let you, but I won't tell the nannies if you don't!"

Ooo, sugar, sugar, sugar, won't the nannies love Celane? Of course Sami barks
out a hearty, "Des, pease!" not having even finished the first. She thrusts
her empty hand out, palm up, fingers splayed wide, ready to accept the gift
from her most favorite person in the whole weyr. This is obvious by the
worshipping shine that erupts from her ocean-colored eyes as she peers with
childlike adoration up at Celane.

Celane laughs, placing another cookie in the girl's open hand. "Okay. But I
think this should be the last one, for now. If you have /too/ many sweets,
the nannies'll be able to tell, even if nobody lets them know you did!" She
piles a plate with a more grown-up pastry, and gestures to a table. "Want to
sit? Better to enjoy your sweets when you're not just standing around."

Nodding avidly, Sami agrees, "Sid," and wanders to the table. That's when she
runs into a dilemma -- one hand with a partially eaten cookie, one with a
whole cookie, how ever will she get onto the bench without shattering her
delicate delicacies? Puzzled, she peers at the seat, and then questioningly
up at Celane, brows crinkled like a angsty paperbag.

Celane laughs, observing Sami in her predicament. "I think I can help," she
says, and putting down her own pastry (wisely on a plate) on the table, she
picks up the girl and helps her onto a bench. "There!" Then the young woman
takes her own seat across the table. "Now we can eat."

And eat the child does! Who needs plates? Not Samiya. Setting the half-eaten
cookie on the table she delves into the depths of the utterly scrumptious
baked good, gnawing at it like a rodent and sending a persistent spray of
crumbles sprinkling down on her otherwise pristine dress. She pauses long
enough to grin a gritty toothy grin at Celane, and then back to work she
goes, eyes slowly traveling the distance of the cavern with the detached
perspective of a tot.

Celane watches with a grin, herself, glad to see her cookies enjoyed so much.
"Careful- don't let yourself get too dirty, or they'll all know I sneak you
cookies! And there won't be any more from where that came from." Her warning
is conspiratorial, since she's clearly happy to keep Sammy in cookies if she
can keep the 'secret' between the two of them.

Suddenly panicked, Sami peers down at herself, and with her free hand,
unwilling to set down the current cookie, she briskly brushes at the mass of
crumbs, inadvertently sending them raining down into her lap. Not noticing
the mere displacement, the child pauses to nibble the treat, /and then/ ask
in a hopeful tone, "Cean?"

Celane can't help but laugh once again. "Enough, I hope!" She shrugs-- a few
crumbs on a child could have come from anywhere, anyway. "So, what else have
you been up to today, besides sneaking a cookie or two? Any fun adventures?"
She watches the girl enjoying her treat, then realizes that she may have
caused a conundrum-- eat or answer the question?

Both! In between bites Samiya breaks into lengthy babbled explanations of her
big day. "*Nonsense babblebabble* Papa!" Munch. "*More nonsense
babblebabble* Sennth!" A moment of serious chewing, and the cookie is gone
and quickly replaced with the other half-eaten one. "Yoo do??" she politely
questions in return.

Celane tries to keep from laughing and maintain a serious face as she listens
to the garbled account, pretending to understand perfectly. "Ahh! Well,
let's see. Today I helped make a stew, and I baked those cookies. I talked
to a few riders about this and that. Nothing /nearly/ as exciting, let me
tell you! Us grown-ups are rather boring." She takes a bite of her pastry,
much more neatly than Samiya eats her cookies.

Samiya listens courteously as she finishes off the last cookie. Once done she
claps her baby-small hands together to dislodge the crumbs stuck there, only
to have them fall on her chest. Frowning, she brushes at those crumbs which
tumble onto her lap. Completely exasperated now she slaps at those pesky
persistent crumbs and grumbles, "Go 'way!" When her lap is finally somewhat
clean she turns her tiny puffed-cheeked face to Celane and grins brightly,
her childishly short memory working for everyone in this situation.

"Trouble with the crumbs?" Celane rises, going to quickly fetch a rag from the
kitchens, and comes back to use it to brush away the crumbs and then wipe
off Samiya's face. "Can't let you going around all dirty like that," she
says, still mindful of the mess, even if it doesn't seem to bother the child
after a few moments.

Content with a belly full of cookie, circulatory system full of sugar, and lap
happily absent of crumbs, Sami struggles for a moment to get her feet up on
the bench, and then the rest of her self up on the table. Stretching with
all her diminutive length she reaches across the table and curls her fingers
around an abandoned glass a quarter of the way full of milk and carefully
drags it toward herself so that she doesn't spill.

"Careful!" Is all Celane has to say as the girl reaches for her milk. "When
you finish that off, come see me in the kitchen, and I'll fetch you some
more... and /maybe/ another cookie. But for now, I should get back in
there." She flashes a smile once more at Sami, then retreats back into the
kitchen.

kitchengirl of igen

Sugar Rush