Stumbling into New Beginnings [CATH]

[Nia]

The ride from Honshu Hold to Crescent Hold was not a fun one. It wasn't like traveling on a dragon; not that Valdis would know, and it took ages! She'd never been so far away from home, even when her family used to travel to the closer Holds for Gathers they never went this far. Crescent Hold was one of the big Holds on the Southern Continent, and it was connected to Dalibor Weyr. Valdis had heard rumors of Dalibor and all the odd things that happened there, so a part of her was a little bit excited to be so close to this strange Weyr. It didn't exactly make it better that she was leaving her family and everything familiar to her, but it sort of helped.

The brunette sat in the back of the wagon, clutching the firelizard egg her father had given her before she left. Her cat Marie was in a cage next to her, having fallen asleep from the rhythmic movements of the cart. Valdis' father had arranged for her to hitch a ride with some Traders already headed towards Crescent Hold. They were to drop her off, perhaps speak to the Lord Holders and offer their wares, but the Traders weren't staying long. They were headed over to Western Hold, as there was a Gather supposedly going to happen in a few days. Valdis wondered if she'd be going.

Her father had also sent his firelizard ahead with a notice to the Lord Holders of Crescent, telling them that Valdis was to arrive today. Either the Lord Holder or the Lady Holder was supposed to meet her when she arrived to get her settled in, and her father had said it would likely be the Lady Holder. The Lord Holder, Cambyses if Valdis was remembering correctly, was probably too busy to pick her up. The Lady Holder's name was Samara, and Valdis needed to be on her best behavior to make a good impression. The brunette felt rather anxious, holding the firelizard egg close to her as she watched the landscape disappear behind them. It felt like there was a lot of pressure, for some reason.

"Crescent ahead," one of the Traders up in the front of the wagon turned back to say, and Valdis nodded in acknowledgment. She felt a surge of anxiety and the urge to vomit, but she supressed it and allowed herself to take in deep breaths. Meeting new people was incredibly difficult, especially since this new person in question was going to be her new Lady Holder. Valdis was determined to start a new path for herself here, and break out on her own. She wanted to become independent, and being thrust into a brand new environment was a good way to do just that. She took a few more deep breaths anyway.

The Traders entered Crescent after clearing their way with the guards on duty, and stopped so Valdis could gather her things and exit the wagons. She fumbled a bit with her egg in her clumsy dismount from the wagon, but she managed to hang on to it. She lowered Marie's cage to the ground and started to work on gathering the rest of her things out of the wagon. Valdis didn't have a lot of bags, so she didn't really need any help carrying them. She picked up her bags and walked a little bit away from the wagons, looking at the Hold and the few people that were scattered about. She felt color drain from her face as she realized she didn't know what Samara looked like, and felt panic bubble in her as she stood with her bags, egg and cat, looking desperately around for a friendly face.

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[Cathaline]

"Help you with your things, miss?" a cheerful voice asked, and a dark-haired young man tipped his hat to her, all smiles and sweetness. Fortunately, before he could alarm Valdis too much, a far more commanding voice rang out.

"Valdis?"

Instantly the boy vanished into the crowd, and the Lady Holder strode up to her new charge, straight-backed and stiff, and watched him go with a slight frown on her lips. They eased back into neutrality when she glanced back at the girl, whose image she had received from Marcus some time ago. She was young, pretty, didn't look as confident as Samara might have wished, but that was all right. She would do just fine.

Extending a wrinkled hand, she said, "Lady Holder Samara. You must be Valdis. Welcome to Crescent Hold. May I help you with your things?" Samara was beloved by her people because she didn't mind getting her hands dirty, and even if Valdis had precious little in the way of luggage, Samara wouldn't allow her to carry everything by herself. Besides, the poor thing must be exhausted by her long journey.

Once they had sorted out the distribution of the bags, Samara led the way up to the Hold, nodding to the people they passed, though her attention remained focused on Valdis. "I do hope you didn't meet with any trouble during your trip," she said. "We have been rather concerned about bandits of late - I'm sure you heard what happened last summer, at Dalibor." The poisoners had still not been caught, which Samara took as a personal affront. They would find the assassins and cut them down, and at least there had been no further attempts on her watch. "I wouldn't say our lands are more dangerous than most, but it is still worrying." There was a whole wild continent out there, and so little of it had been properly mapped.

With a very small smile, she added, "I do not mean to frighten you immediately, of course."

[Nia]

The boy's sudden appearance and offer to help her had Valdis completely stunned on the spot. He was cute! He was too cute! She starred at him blankly and managed to stutter out a "Gguhhh," in response to him, though perhaps thankfully he may not have heard it due to the Lady Holder's call. The boy disappeared before Valdis was able to make a bigger fool of herself, and she was both thankful and disappointed. He was really, REALLY cute! Maybe she could hunt him down later and, um, talk to him, a little bit, possibly maybe....

Valdis immediately straightened up and tried to make eye-contact with Samara, though she couldn't help glancing away shyly every now and again. Eye-contact was difficult and she still wasn't the best at it, but she tried her best to keep her eyes on the Lady Holder. She was using a trick her sister had taught her, where you look sort of in the middle of someone's eyebrows rather than their actual eyes. It made it easier for her to look at Samara and smile, trying to relax. Right, relax. That was what her father told her. Just relax, you'll be fine. Relaxing was difficult, though. Valdis still very very on-edge.

"Thank you!" she said cheerfully, her face almost glowing at the welcome. She reached her hand out and shook Samara's, her handshake not exactly the strongest, but she was clearly putting a lot of effort into it. She liked Samara already, she seemed very nice and she was also very pretty. Valdis hoped she'd be able to age as well as the Lady Holder had. And she was offering to help with her bags, although a traitorous part of Valdis' mind secretly wished that the cute boy was over here helping her instead. No. She tried to restrain her thoughts. Bad! She had to focus on being a good charge to Lady Samara, and learn how to be confident.

She hesitated, looking at her bags and shuffling around a bit, giving Samara the bag with most of her clothes and possessions in it while she held on to her egg and Marie's cage. "Um, you can hold this, thanks again," she sort of mumbled as she handed Samara the bag, managing to successfully pass off the bag without dropping it. She felt rather pleased with herself for the show of skill rather than clumsiness, and it cheered her despite what Samara was saying. She listened with a sort of wide-eyed innocence, nodding occassionally. That... was kind of scary, she had to admit. Like, really scary!! The poisons were one thing, but bandits and... oh no, she really didn't like that....

"Of course!" she repeated with a slightly nervous laugh, but a genuine smile, "I'm not scared. Um, I'm excited to be here, even with all the bad things. Really," she sounded completely sincere, and she was. Lying was not Valdis' strong suit. She did feel excited. With everything she'd heard about Dalibor, it would definitely not be boring. Plus... from what she'd seen, the boys around here were pretty cute.

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