Weyrling Tribulations

Writers: Anika, Avery
Date Posted: 26th December 2014

Characters: Ilyssia, Lyndie, Eskalla, Relika, Nerate
Description: Ilyssia deals with some unfriendly fellow candidates.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 13 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Z'then, E'zar, E'naer, Aluka

Ilyssia

Having cleared and swept Gwynnyth's area a well as her own, Ilyssia went to
put the broom away. She still had at least a third of a candlemark before
barracks inspection, but she wanted to wipe down a few areas yet. Her mind
wandered to today's lesson on Weyrlife and chain of command.

Lyndie sneered as she saw the trader girl walk past, carrying a broom.
"Looking more like a serving wench than a dragonrider, List," she sneered.
"Finally learned how to get rid of the dirt of the road?"

Eskalla laughed, loud and long. "People like that never lose it."

Ilyssia continued to her destination, trying not to let the girls get
to her as she considered her options. Their opinion mattered little,
really, despite how irritating their prattling voices were. Ignoring
the tunnel snakes was probably the best idea. However, if she allowed
them too much leeway they would continue to think that they could push
her around. When she returned from her errand, she looked them right
in the eye on her way past but said nothing, deciding they really
weren't worth her time or effort.

Lyndie stared back at her, not content with the lack of reaction. "Worried
they'll kick you out 'cuz you're dirty?"

Ilyssia paused, and looked back at the other weyrling. "You're very
obsessed with dirt. Odd, considering you're rather slovenly yourself,
but then I suppose you aren't used to actually having to _do_
anything. You must have been rather pampered I suspect." She, like
all of the other weyrlings, had heard Lyndie's objections to being
required to butcher the meat they fed to their dragons.

Slovenly? Lyndie might leave things lying around, but she certainly wasn't
that. "I picked up all my items and have everything in the trunk," she
huffed. "As for dusting, I came from somewhere with staff to do that. And
I have a bath every day." There were some weyrlings who, pressed for
time, didn't take the full baths they ought to.

Her obsession with dirt was misguided and long-held. Lyndie's mother had
raised her to think that anyone who didn't live inside a major Hold was
dirty. Traders, travelers, dragonriders, cotholders - they were all too
poor or too ill-mannered to be properly clean like good ladies and
gentlemen should be. Being a weyrling and constantly getting messy with
dust and oil and those unspeakable things from animals - it had been hard
on her nerves, and her green's voracious appetite hadn't helped.

Noting the older weyrling's defensive reaction, Ilyssia knew her
comment had hit the mark. She decided it was unnecessary to point out
that she too bathed everyday, a luxury she had not had in the caravan.
She supposed Lyndie was struggling with the adjustments to Impressing
as they all were, but handling it quite differently. "Well,
weyrling's don't have servants," she stated evenly. "I guess you'll
have to get used to that."

"I don't know how we're supposed to take care of the barracks and our
dragons when we have all our lessons to learn. Shouldn't the
candidates clean our personal space since we have to spend all our
time with our new lifemates?" Lyndie grumbled. Not that she would have
wanted to clean the weyrlings' space when she was one.

Behind Lyndie, another green weyrling named Relika winked in Ilyssia's
direction. "She's sore because she can't get the handsome men to do her
chores anymore."

"Well, it isn't like I wouldn't prefer having a handsome man do mine
either," Ilyssia quipped with a smile for Relika as she continued
toward her bunk.

"Nobody would do that for you," Eskalla scoffed.

"Didn't one of the twins start a fight over her?" another girl, Nerate,
said.

"I don't know why, she's too plain to bother with," Lyndie said,
pretending like she was only talking to Eskalla but really keeping an
eye on Ilyssia to see what she'd say.

"The fight _wasn't_ over me," was Ilyssia's frustrated response, far
more worried about correcting that misconception than whether Lyndie
found her plain to look at.

"Who wouldn't want someone big and strong like Slif to fight over them?"
Nerate said. "The twins are cute but they're not strong men."

"Strong enough to Impress brown, unlike Slif," shot back Relika.

"They have some integrity, which is better than being cute or strong in my
estimation," Ilyssia remarked. "Besides, someone who thinks he has to
resort to bullying kids isn't strong." Z'then's action had taken far more
inner fortitude, but Ilyssia didn't bother to say that aloud, knowing what
response she would get.

Nerate lowered her voice. "You _need_ to bully the boys who wind up as
male greenriders," she hissed. She'd been Hold-bred and raised.

Stunned, Ilyssia looked back wide-eyed at Nerate, unable to believe she had
actually voiced such an absurd notion here in the Weyr. Her first
inclination was to reach out at slap the silly right out of the girl, but
knew that was not only inappropriate, but unfare. Nerate just parroted the
bigotry with which she had been raised. Letting loose with a string of
expletives that would make Aluka proud was her second impulse and was far
more tempting, but would accomplish nothing.

"And what terrible fate do the oversexed, slutty girls who Impress green
deserve, Nerate? That's what the Holders say of _us_ isn't it? That we
have no morals and sleep with anyone who has the equipment? I don't know
about you, but that's not who I am and I certainly don't think that's what
those boys deserve and if you truly believe it is then you should sit down
and have a serious talk with E'naer." Ilyssia turned on her heal and
marched to her bunk, punching the pillow a bit more firmly than
nesscessary to plump it up, casting an exasperated glance at Relika
wondering if the other young woman found some of her fellow weyrlings as
idiotic as she did.

Nerate's eyes widened. She hadn't expected to be challenged by Ilyssia,
she'd thought the other girl was an easy target. "At least girls with men
is natural. Green dragons are girls, they shouldn't have men in their
heads. Men with men isn't anything near natural and I don't know why the
dragons do it."

Relika bit her lip as she met Ilyssia's eyes and half-shrugged.

With a sigh, Ilyssia silently agreed with Relika. What was the point of
arguing with someone like Nerate? "Well personally I think the dragons know
what their doing. How can something be unnatural if it happens naturally?
The Weyr is a place to leave off old pedjudices and join together. The
only enemy we have is Thread. One way or another, it's almost time for
inspection and you don't want the Weyrling staff hearing your opinions."

"Yeah, nobody wants to get in trouble because of _you_," Eskalla sneered
at Nerate.

Last updated on the December 29th 2014

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Weyrling Tribulations