Infirmary
Echoing and austere, blank stone walls are vaulted high to overshadow the row of white-curtained cots along the back wall. Ancient metal gleams steel-bright in the form of sinks and examination table, lit relentlessly by bright glows and reflecting the colours of bottles and jars shelved above. Padlocked cabinets hide the more dangerous drugs and implements, whilst healer paraphenalia litters one solid oak table with sweetly-fragranced herbs and tattered scrolls. A small hearth contains a fire usually banked low, several cauldrons set ready nearby to for heating water. A dark staircase twists up from one corner to the dragonhealer's lair; one low door leads into the lower caverns, another to weyrhealers' quarters. Barn-sized doors open inwards with creak of hinges from the ground weyr.
Catia is here.

Catia is pottering around the infirmary - /her/ infirmary, no matter what any young Weyrhealers might think - stirring this, chopping that, and getting herb stains on her summer shirt. "Hello Lis..." she greets the appearing greenrider.

Timidly peeking around the corner, Lis spots Catia with a much-relieved sigh. Someone sane... Or mostly so. "Dragonhealer Catia?" the greenrider asks shyly of the Healer. "Think you could help me with something?" Fingers wrinkle the edge of her shirt in nervousness. Poor lil' greenrider.

"Course.... that's what I'm here for." Catia abandons her comfrey-slicing, and takes up a perch on the edge of her desk instead. "Have a seat? Is this a healer thing, or a greenrider thing, or something else entirely?"

"A little bit of both," is admitted as the greenrider ducks her head sheepishly. "See, I think I might be - no, I think I /am/ - pregnant." This is stated to the ground in front of Catia as she settles herself into a seat. [Lis]

Quara ducks in from the inner caverns.

Catia gulps. She's not unaware of the outcome of Alymath's last flight.... it's the sort of thing she keeps a weather-eye too. "Right... well...."As Quara comes in, she's gladly distracted. "Lis and I are just having a private conversation?" she hints to her younger wingmate.

Quara wanders in, looking just slightly nauseated. At Catia's mention, she flushes scarlet, exchanging green for red. "Oh, ah... Sorry. I'll... wait, then?" she half-asks, looking questioningly at Lis, and backs into one of the curtained cots. You can't see her now, so she's not there... right?

A soft grin gets sent in Quara's direction by Lis before the greenrider turns back to Catia. "I don't mind if she stays, really. Nearly the whole weyr knows about - or suspects - by now..." is added in a softer tone, but that same rueful grin keeps its place on her mouth as she knits her fingers - though one brow /does/ get quirked at the bluerider's sudden flush.

"So you just want me to confirm it?" Catia asks Lis, gaze following Quara until she disappears. Well, if Lis doesn't mind.... "What makes you think you might be pregnant?"

Quara is quite obviously there, as every other minute, a scuffle of feet or a cough can be heard. Still, she's not as unobtrusive as she could be...

Lis nods her head somberly at Catia's suggestion, answering her question in muted, embarassed tones. "Well, first of all, that I'm late... More than a month. Second, because, well, I'm developing agian, and Pyrene said that's what happens when you have a child..." Of course the nanny is a reliable source of information. "And, mostly, because I sort of forgot to take my green stuff." Watch Lis' head hang in shame...

Catia has sort-of forgotten a time or two, as 3 children prove. "Those sound like convincing reasons to me...." she agrees with Lis. "So only about 6 sevendays pregnant then, most likely. Breasts tender? Feeling tired yet?" Catia picks on a few of the likely symptoms to check in addition to those Lis listed.

Lis' head bobs - guilty on both accounts. "Aye, I was feeling tired the other day... and it never really seemed to go away much. And, erm, they are." She'll just leave it at that - 'nuf of her personal life seems to be common knowledge.

"You're grounded, then," Catia announces to Lis without further ado. "I'll tell your wingleader for you, if you want - T'sin, isn't it?"

Sasha ducks in from the inner caverns.

Catia turns to look at the girl who comes in. "Can I help?" It's clear that there's a medical consultation going on.

Quara is invisible, really she is, behind this nice curtain. Of course, you can see her feet, and you can hear her coughing, fidgeting, and generally being as unquiet as is possible. But she's invisible.

Grounded... This has big implications, and the greenrider just nods. "Aye, T'sin." At least she saw the Healer. Fingers drumming against her legs, Lis just darts a glance at Sasha, then the almost invisible Quara. Humph.

Sasha looks nervously into the room, hoping she is not interrupting. "I'm sorry, I was looking for someone called Catia? I was told I might find her hear? I can come back later." she turns to go.

"I'm rather busy at the moment," Catia answers with a slight frown. "Is it urgent?"

Sasha shakes her head. "No, I'll find you later."

Sasha wrenches open the double doors that lead outside.

Quara fidgets some more. And more. And more... Boredom is evil, isn't it?

Catia stops staring into space worriedly, and nods at Lis. "Well.... there's not much else for me to say. I can examine you now, if you want, or we can leave it a pair of sevendays.... it would only be to confirm you're healthy, and I'm sure you are."

Peering at Catia, Lis bobs her shoulders in a wonderfully indecisive way. "I s'pose I could get examined now... But Quara here has waited /so/ patiently." There's a slight tone of mockery in the greenrider's voice as the indicates the rider in question.

Catia turns her attention on the hiding bluerider. "Quara? What did /you/ want to see me about? You haven't been playing games with D'renn too, have you?" That might be faintly insulting towards Lis, but then Catia has a low opinion of D'renn.

Quara's feet have been recognized, have they? Durn. She steps out from behind the curtain, assuming an extremely shocked look. "Faranth, no! I'd never! He's... old!" Derogatory doesn't cut it there. She's disgusted, poor girl. "I'm a little nauseous, though. And... late," she adds.

Lis is too busy ducking her head in embarassment to be thoroughly insulted. Fighting the graceless flush that leaps onto her cheeks with a pair of roseate tails, the greenrider does spear her so-called friend with a leveling gaze for her comment about her baby's father. Rawr.

"You too, Quara?" Catia shakes her head, face solemn. "I see... any other symptoms? How late?"

Quara blushes just slightly. "About a month or so... Same as Lis," she explains. "And I have been tired... But I thought it was just Mara here." She gestures to the gold that seems permanently attached to her upper arm.

Catia looks from gold lizard to Quara's face... from Quara to Lis, and back again. "You're grounded too - you can tell E'ren if you like," she tells her wingmate, managing to sound amused and long-suffering all at the same time. "And an examination soon would be good..."

Lis' jaw ought to have made a sound akin to a 'thud' - t'is how fast it dropped, anyway. "Oh, /no/. You're not... With his!" Luckily for the bluerider, she keeps /her/ baby's father confidential.

Quara nods solemnly. "Yes, ma'am. I'll find him... Soon." She smiles slightly. "Hey! He's my age, at least. And F'reud is /much/ better looking than D'renn." Never mind the fact that the other bluerider is a younger D'renn with a larger libido.

Ashan comes in from the nether-reaches of the infirmary...carrying a bucket of some powerful smelling stuff. Short blond curls almost gone under a handkerchief of some gawd awful pick and purple checkered stuff (must have been a borrow from D'renn), gloves on hands, she says without really noticing who is there, "Okay, Aunt Cat, the herb room is clean and shiny... anything else?" she glances up to see the other two in the room... "Oops, sorry to interrupt, didn't realize you had patients..."

Catia waves a hand at Ashan in greeting. "Thanks for cleaning the store-room.... And don't worry. They're not exactly patients - yet." Catia just shakes her head at the two young riders. "So both of you, huh?" There's not an /awful/ lot she can say....

Quara bursts into giggles, nearly doubling over. "L-lis? Ya know... It must have been at Aly's flight," she gasps out, between various chuckles. Ooookay.

"He's prolly all talk, and nothing in his leathers. At least D'renn's..." Lis snaps her mouth shut tactfully, one hand slapped across her lips to aid the effort. Best not let Quara know what she thinks of the weyrlingmonster's leathers - might make the pregant bluerider nautious. "Well, I know /mine/ was," quips the greenrider dryly, a slight stab taken at her friend's moral character.

Quara glares icily, in a very sudden about-face of mood. "It's hardly something to brag about," she replies, a hint of pride in her voice. "And I'm hardly as bad as you seem to think," she adds. Uh-oh... fight? Wouldn't be the first time...

Quara goes home.

Catia does give Ashan a long look, glad that the girl's grown up in weyrs. "If you two have /quite/ finished," she addresses Lis and Quara quite sternly, "then I think you should go and see your wingleaders. And I have a few more suggestions for you too: no klah, no alcohol, no betweening."

Ashan moves over to set the bucket down in the corner, just /knowing/ that she'll be cleaning something else with it soon enough, "Right..." a smile quirks one corner of her mouth as she listens to the thread of conversation going on... "What's going on, Cat?" an innocent enough question... hey maybe she can graduate to actually learning something from just cleaning things... if she hadn't grown up in weyrs she'd probably be somewhere else right now... now wouldn't she?

Lis directs a mournfull look at Catia, eyes wide and as puppy dog-like as she can make them. "No klah? How ever am I supposed to wake up in the morning?" And just then, another thought hits... "Grounded. No Fall. Faranth, I can sleep in all day!" A smile curls over her lips to spread into a face-cracking grin - /someone's/ happy. Even Ashan gets beamed at.

"You can fly, but no Fall," Catia agrees with Lis... shrugging then at Ashan. "Oh, just riders getting pregnant. It happens...." she tells the girl, returning to her so-called conversation with Lis. "The middle trimester, it's safe to between - the first and last, it isn't. And besides, you'll be too fat by the last one."

Ashan grins and lets herself be the object of a beam before turning to Cat, listening and sitting down, maybe she can learn by osmosis... a crinkling of her nose accompanies the 'too fat' comment... she's never gonna have kids, nope.

Lis knows all about being too fat - she's got siblings, after all. "I 'spect I will be. So, no flying Fall for another month or so? What about the second trimester?" queries the greenrider nosily - she's milking the time off for all that it's worth.

"Oh, you don't fly Fall at all from now on. Unless you want to take up a flamethrower and join Esprit wing...." Catia's got definite opinions on that: namely, that it's fun.

Ashan is almost bubbling out of her seat with questions and just tries to keep a mental list figuring that its better that she not interrupt at the moment... a glance from Lis to Cat...and back and back... wow, isn't she being good?

Lis considers this, foolish grin still in place. "Maybe, maybe. It depends if I get bored enough by the second trimester." Of course, sitting around the caverns, socializing and eating, /does/ have its merits. Ashan gets a more curious eye now, but the greenrider's much too enthralled by this new side of being pregnant to do more than eye.

Catia fidgets, still perched on the edge of the desk. "Well, I think we've confirmed that you and Quara are both pregnant, Lis... anything else?" Cat can see that Ashan is /itching/ to ask things.

Ashan isn't /exactly/ itching... she's just sorta sitting bouncily.. as Lis eyes her she eyes Lis back... a rather childish thing to do really, but then again... she is a kid right? Once in awhile she's allowed to do childish things.

"Nothing else, then, just the examination," answers the indicated greenrider cheerfully. "But you said I could come back in two sevendays...?" The need for confirmation shows in her mud brown eyes quite plainly - after all, Lis needs to get a head start on doing nothing.

"Sure, that's fine. Were you going to tell T'sin, or did you want me to?" Catia asks as delicately as she can.... she's aware of various interests around the Weyr, although she may not repeat gossip.

Ashan raises one eyebrow at the mention of the male rider but again, with bouncy enthusiasm just keeps her mouth shut...

A look of complete relief sweeps through Lis' features at Catia's offer, the greenrider almost slumping into a human-shaped blob. "Would you? I've had more than enough trouble explaining to a good number of males I know. Haven't yet told the father either." And it's not going to be pleasant; she knows that much.

"Well, I'm always happy to inform wingleaders that their female riders will be missing... telling my own was always entertaining," Catia declares, casting a swift look at Ashan. Little pitchers have big ears, and all that.... "Are you telling him soon, then?"

Ashan is /not/ a little pitcher and her ears /are/ rather dainty for all that... a smile gets beamed Cat-ward as if to say 'Now would I say anything to anyone that was innappropriate?'

"You're wonderful Catia, just wonderful," the poor impregnanted greenrider states with another face-splitting beam. Now if only she could get her to inform fathers as well... "If I ever see him, I will. He's made himself scarce lately... Ironic, that." So states Lis.

"Go find him then?" Catia suggests with only the /slightest/ smirk. "And I'll tell T'sin, I promise...."

Ashan just smoothly glances Lis-ward waiting for her reply to that bit of instruction... Okay girl, don't get /too/ smart here...Cat will make you go clean bedpans again

"Go find him, then," is echoed by Lis with a resigned sigh, and it's only with her best effort that she manages to stand from her suddenly-comfortable seat. "Thank you again, Catia," she states with another warm grin before she departs on a mission... Hopefully the weyrlingmaster will continue to make himself scarce.

"No problem, Lis... Look after yourself, and come and see before if you don't feel well at all," Catia instructs with a smile.