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Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 20th February 2007

Characters: Ylisahn
Description: Ylisahn stops in a bathing room to check its cleanliness.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 3 of Turn 4

It was almost automatic to stop and quickly inspect the communal bathing room a she passed it. A tag on a hook outside the door indicated that it had been cleaned, and Ylisahn pushed the door open to look around.
The place was empty and she went in, looking down at the tiled floor as she walked around the pool.

Clean. Whether scrubbed or just mopped that morning was debatable but there was no evidence of mould on the grout between the tiles so somebody was keeping up with their work.

At the deepest edge of the pool she paused, watching the smooth flow of water through the grated opening in the rim. Outflow clear. Very important unless one wanted a flood. No smell. Also good.

As she walked further around the large, almost round cavern she eyed the benches along the walls. Dolphin Cove might not have some of the modern amenities that some of the other Weyrs boasted but the masons who had worked on the tropical Weyrhold had been an artistic bunch. Nothing was just functional; even the dressed stone benches around the edge of the cavern were decorated with sea motifs. More importantly to her at the moment was that the benches were all clean and dry. Polished too, she thought, running a finger along one.

Between each bench were stands that supported a number of glowbaskets at different levels and inclinations and she peeped into one to check that it was full and the glows were still active.

Walking on she had almost circled the room when she reached the shelves beside the door. There were plenty of towels and a selection of the clean and worn but still serviceable clothing for those who had dropped in to wash on their way home from their work. The laundry basket was empty.

She paused at the doorway and glanced around the room one more time. It was a large, appealing room, somewhat more attractive than the bathing room near her own rooms on the other side of the Weyr. This one with its light shafts flooding it with sunlight during the day and those glows giving a more subdued lighting during the candlemarks of darkness … She wondered if a move into accommodation on this side of the Weyr would appeal to Wirril.

A small body eased between her and the door she was holding open, followed almost instantly by an admonition: "Don't push past people like that."

Ylisahn smiled at the foster-mother and held the door open for the woman and her family.

"We beat the rush," the older woman said in explanation for their presence. "And I get to enjoy the clean bathing room."

"I hadn't realised how lovely this one was."

"It is nice." The woman nodded and then hurried after the youngster who was shedding clothes in all directions. "Fold them and put them neatly on one of the benches."

Ylisahn let the door close after her and continued down the corridor, thinking that if the boy was anything like her Ravere there would be little hope of getting anything done neatly until he was apprenticed; when somebody other than his mother insisted on certain standards.

Still smiling the assistant headwoman made a mental note to check the roster and compliment the person responsible for the cleaning. In the meantime she had something else to do. There appeared to be a problem brewing in the laundry – and it wasn't something a technician or a mason could fix. Sometimes it seemed as if people were the hardest part of any system to maintain.

Last updated on the February 24th 2007

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