The Place They're From (1/2)

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 21st January 2019

Characters: K'ran, Jeyme
Description: K'ran and Jeyme get to know one another better while discussing the problems within Rapids Wing.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 5 of Turn 9

K'ran

Jeyme

"I've got a bottle of wine and," Jeyme set a basket down on the table,
"hot sandwiches to help us while we figure out what the shell all that
was about today." She pulled a chair closer to the Wingleader's desk.

"The part where suddenly half our Wing was acting like weyrlings barely
out the shell instead of people who've been wingriders for a minimum of
half a Turn now?"

K'ran stood from his desk to pull two nice glass goblets down from one
of the shelves and set them on the desk.

"Yes, that part," Jeyme smile was mirthless as she unpacked the
sandwiches. "T'ket's behavior really surprised me." Maybe it was the
stigma placed on brownriders as being solid and dependable. She just
hadn't expected his flash of temper.

He'd tried his best to keep an eye on the social dynamics of the wing at
times like mealtime or large Weyr events. At first arrival at Dolphin
Cove, it had been part of his care for his River Bluff riders, making
sure that nobody was too isolated and failing to engage with even the
wingmates they'd known, since after disasters sometimes people could
suffer too much and pull away from everyone they knew. He'd tried to
nudge the ones he was most worried about into connections.

The Wing's population had changed up after the two graduations that had
occurred,
and the natural reshuffling that occasionally occurred when wings were
imbalanced, and more Dolphin Cove natives had joined up. He'd worried at
first there would be integrational difficulties, and there had been some
issues here and there. He'd assumed most of those were normal
interpersonal difficulties, and he'd thought by now it had all been
smoothed over.

Now he had to wonder if he was completely wrong about that. Was some of
the small troubles not, in fact, just 'new transfers figuring out where
they fit into a wing, and jockeying for status until they get a feeling
for how to fit into the social group'? Had there actually been a moment
where it went from individual difficulties between people to it feeling
like there were two teams, Bluff and Cove, and wing memebrs were
starting to socially align themselves into camps along those lines? And
if so, how had he completely missed that?

"I was surprised as well. S'grul's always been a hothead, and I wasn't
surprised to see him involve himself in an issue even if it didn't
involve him. But with T'ket, I don't recall him having had a problem
before. His performance has always been solid in drills, and I'd thought
he was getting along well socially." K'ran said.

"As did I." Jeyme agreed. "Although, I mean, I did have to agree a
little that Selyna has been making mistakes. No excuse for a brawl, of
course." The Wingthird took a bite of her sandwich and leaned back in
her chair, hoping a full belly and a little wine would ease the pounding
of her headache.

K'ran nodded, willing to admit that it was something they should have
noticed and handled earlier.

"We should have spoken to her earlier about it. What about D'valis, do
you think he was at fault or was it all one-sided?"

"His throwing Selyna under the dragon, so to speak, didn't help
matters. I don't think that he is completely blameless in the
escalation of the matter. If the throw wasn't catchable then I can't
fault him on that, however." Jeyme picked off a piece of greenery from
her sandwich and then looked back at K'ran. "What was Selyna like at
River Bluff?"

"You know those people who are excellent at their jobs and then you
can't stand them outside of work? Selyna is very clever and reacts to
things very fast, and Jalath has an excellent sense of positioning.
it's why I wanted her in my wing when there. But socially, she's
rather..." He paused for a meaningfully long time as he looked for a
polite word, settled on, "Abrasive. And she can be rash, so I'm not
surprised she was escalating the issue."

He concluded with, "But her drills performance was much better then. I
don't know what's changed."

Jeyme shook her head, "I guess the move could have affected her more
than was realized by mindhealers initially? Maybe we should do some
team building activities, although you would think depending on each
other in life or death Threadfalls would do that but clearly..." The
greenrider lifted her eyebrows.

He sighed. "I think we ought to. Did you realize there was becoming
such a strong division into us versus them, bluff versus cove camps? I
had thought we were doing a good job of blending the wing."

"I honestly did not feel a cove versus bluff vibe in the Wing. Maybe
they were just doing a good job, up until today, of keeping those kind
of remarks behind our backs." Jeyme suggested.

K'ran frowned and unconsciously drummed his fingers on the top of the
desk in a staccato that belied his rare irritation. "B'lami's comments
about assuming I'd never take a Dolphin Cove rider seriously pissed me
off," he admitted.

"Yeah, before you showed up someone said that they had underwear
longer than I've been a dragonrider, so there's that," Jeyme rolled
her eyes and took a generous sip of her wine. "Their thoughts are
illogical, you chose a Dolphin Cove rider as your Wingthird."

"Is that how you see yourself?" he asked, genuinely curious. "I know
you Impressed here, but I did recruit you while you were elsewhere."

Jeyme tilted her head as she considered _why_ she felt like a 'Dolphin
Cove rider' even though she'd spent a couple of Turns at Far Island
Weyr, "Yeah, I guess I do, mostly because I've lived longer here than
I did at Far Island, and Impressed here." **And fell in love here, and
had my first child here, and had my heart broken here....** Dolphin
Cove had held a lot of things for her.

K'ran finished his wine as he took in that information, considering
how Jeyme felt and then analyzing his own feelings.

Last updated on the February 3rd 2019

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The Place They're From (1/2)