The Chains of a Gentler Wind [ Eithne ]
The grass of the cherry orchards were soft in early summer, but never full of mud. How was the ground so perfect here and so uneven in other places? Was it magic, or simply good landscaping? Her feet felt comforted as she walked around Bahamut's stone temple and into the neat rows of trees whose branches were a mix of brilliant green and soft white. Her pack was slung across her shoulder as she tilted her head up to the sky -- so far blue ruled the heavens, meaning she wouldn't have to perform the first day of her duties here in miserable weather. Vera smiled slightly and pushed back her hood. The white uniform was enough. She wasn't going to be in full formal attire only to be mocked by the large creature lazing amidst the trees.
Captain Agrippa assigned her to guard the dragon only for a few turns of the sun. The bruise on her cheek was the only remnant of the fight that sent her here, outside all of trouble Trone's Merchant Guild was causing the Captain as she walked around in the sun. Vera entered the opening in the trees with a sigh and let her shoulder strap slip down the crook of her arm, into her hand. There was another white uniform there with her. Vera put her free hand over her brow to shade her eyes and realized she recognized the dark hair of the woman. It was the girl Eragos trained, Eithne. And she was producing puffs of smoke that might have been used to signal armies, had only they been in a time of war.
Vera walked over to where Eithne sat against a tree. She set down her pack and then removed the staff from her back, placing it on the ground beside her things. Finally she lowered herself to the ground as well, stretching out her legs and resting her weight on her hands. Vera did not say anything to Eithne right away, but instead looked out at the snoozing dragon -- a Kulshe dragon, she'd once been instructed -- and wondered again if this was really going to be better than merchant duty. A fate she'd avoided by getting into trouble in Trone. It had been some time since she sat in this orchard and waited for the children to come with their sticks to try to wake the enormous creature. Vera never let them play the game they were so fond of, even if they had never managed to wake the dragon before.
"So," she said to Eithne after some time passed. "I hear you have been here every day for a month and a half. What do you write your reports on?"
It was something she had thought about since she heard of Eithne's assignment. Vera lost creativity for her own reports of dragon duty, usually after a day.