What You Know and What You Should Know

Writers: Aaron, Emma
Date Posted: 16th December 2018

Characters: K'don, K'sedel
Description: K'sedel impresses upon K'don the seriousness of alcohol consumption, while K'don attempts to walk the line between loyalty to his classmates and lying to his grandfather.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 15 of Turn 9

K'don

K'sedel

K'don sat, his heart thumping as he waited to be called in to speak to
K'sedel. He knew it was about the party. And he continued to rehearse in his
mind exactly what he saw and did. In his mind, it was all airtight.

I never saw anyone add anything alcoholic to their drinks, and I received
the same drink from the same person – my drink was just juice.

Therefore, he would both be denying any wrongdoing on his own part and
unable to corroborate wrongdoing on the parts of any of his comrades. No
need to be ostracized by his classmates, no need to lie to his grandfather.

"Okay K'don," K'sedel came out into the hallway to call the waiting weyrling
in. "come and tell me what you know about last night."

K'don froze. That was not how he had rehearsed K'sedel's part of this
conversation. He blinked several times until his mind caught up to what
K'sedel actually asked and then stood to enter the weyrlingmaster's office.

"Um. I went to R'fal's weyr," he said, silently cursing the need to think
off the cuff instead of launching into his prepared speech. "And..."

Shells. What should he say unprompted? What did K'sedel already know? Who
was going to get into trouble because of this? K'don had constructed his
entire plan around not even being able to provide any negative
corroboration, but if it was just a matter of who was there? There was no
denying he knew that much.

"We listened to music." Good. No need to confirm that Dessa was there,
unless K'sedel demonstrated he already knew. "And had a party."

"And," prompted K'sedel as he directed his grandson to a seat. "Anything
else you want to tell me?"

K'don sat down. That was not good. When they asked that, it always meant
they already knew. Or did it? Maybe that was just what they wanted you to
think.

"I went home before some of the others," said K'don, and that was true. He
had not stayed late enough to see anyone get sick or do anything too silly.
Plausible deniability had to be plausible. "Is everything alright?" Better
that way. Better to push for whatever it was K'sedel wanted him to say, if
he could.

"Did you see T'nep there?"

"Yes, sir, I did," said K'don. He tried to think back on anything remarkable
that happened with T'nep at the party, but now he realized he was actually
stumped. Whatever happened that K'sedel was upset about must have indeed happened after K'don left.

They were probably waiting for you to leave before they really had the most
fun, he thought.

But K'don did not mind terribly. He was just glad they invited him at all.

"Was anybody drinking alcohol?" Clearly either K'don didn't know, which to
be fair, he was one of the younger weyrlings, and the older ones might be
more experienced at hiding it, or sneaking it into drinks. Either that, or
given it was an open secret that they were related, and that K'don's father
was mated to the Weyrwoman - well not giving him a chance to potentially
snitch might be considered a good thing by whoever had brought the drink in.

"I don't know," said K'don. Finally! The part he had rehearsed. Then again,
by now, it almost seemed like a bad idea to volunteer any more information
than he was asked. "I didn't see any. And there wasn't any in my drink. They
gave me the same thing they were having as far as I saw."

"Do you know the risks of drinking alcohol?"

"I know it's bad for... people my age." K'don hated to refer to himself as a
kid if he did not have to, but it was impossible to avoid thinking of it. He
was going to be made to wait to fight until he was older, even after he had
graduated.

"Yes," agreed K'sedel. "It is bad for people who are still growing, but do
you know why it is particularly bad for weyrlings?"

K'don blinked. He supposed he should have known. But if the topic had ever
come up, he had tuned it out because it very clearly did not apply to him.
He was not drinking because it was bad for him, next lesson.

"No, sir," he admitted, blushing hotly, embarrassed for not knowing.

"Because when some people drink, particularly if they drink a lot, they can
pass out. And can you imagine how a young dragon would react to that?"
K'sedel needed to tease it out of him, needed to make him and all the
current class realise how serious the incident was.

K'don's eyes widened as the severity of the incident dawned on him. He took
as much comfort as he could in knowing that none of his classmates had
suffered such a terrible fate, the worst possible fate. He would have known,
because Maciath would have keened for it. But just knowing that it could
have happened shook him, and he shuddered.

"They might... might panic," he said. He wished Maciath were right beside
him to hug.

}:I am with you still. Don't fret,:{ the brown assured him.

"And when a weyrling dragon panics like that, because he or she can't feel
their rider, there's a danger they could go /between/, forever." K'sedel
waited to let that sink in.

To hear it out loud, the color drained from K'don's face, and he quivered.
He nodded, licking his lips as he realized they were dry.

"So it's really, really dangerous," he finally managed to say.

"Which is why if you know anything, you need to tell me. It's fine if you'd
rather talk to one of the other staffers here, but you need to tell us. We
don't want this to happen again, or to anyone else." K'sedel paused. "K'don,
you can even speak to your father if that's easier."

K'don turned his gaze up to regard K'sedel, and his eyes misted for a
moment. He wanted to hug him, but he was not sure whether that was really
appropriate when K'sedel was acting as his weyrlingmaster and not his
grandfather.

"I can talk to you. I'll always talk to you. I promise, what I told you is
true. I didn't see anyone putting anything in their drinks that wasn't in
mine," he said. "Maybe I was trying *not* to see it," he admitted. "But I
didn't see it. Next time, I'll watch for it. I didn't know it could be
so..."

"I know you didn't," K'sedel filled in where K'don trailed off. "And perhaps
we were just as much at fault in not informing your class properly of the risks. So don't feel bad about this. We just need to make sure that you are
all safe while you're weyrlings."

K'don's mouth hung open for a brief moment before he shut it with a click of
his teeth. No! No, surely they had been taught and just did not take it
seriously enough. K'don could not imagine his grandfather ever failing to
teach something that important. No, he would not argue, but K'don refused to
believe that it was the staff's fault, even if K'sedel was forgiving and
understanding about it.

"You're the best weyrlingmaster anyone could hope for. We need to try
better," was what K'don finally settled on.

"All of us need to try to be better, that's all we can do," K'sedel told his
grandson. "All of us do."

Last updated on the January 21st 2019

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What You Know and What You Should Know