Concerned About Your Past

Writers: Heather, Len
Date Posted: 10th April 2019

Characters: Ranni, Sh'del
Description: Sh'del checks up on Ranni after receiving a report on her actions during the Gold Flight
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 5 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Irrkali, Chaysea

Ranni

Sh'del placed the hide Chaysea had given him carefully on his desk. Whilst Ranni wasn't the first report of a young female candidate acting traumatized during a Flight, there was extra concern being that she came from Sunstone. She wasn't the first candidate from a conservative Hold like that to seem particularly stressed out by Weyr life and Sh'del had dealt with enough girls--and some boys--in a similar state to know it was wise to get to the bottom of the issue sooner than later.

Feeling the turns-old anger towards conservative Holders and their treatment of girls, he reached out to his sleepy brown for calmness before the girl walked through the half-opened door.

Ranni didn't like it when someone in authority wanted to talk to her. She preferred to remain completely unnoticed. Except for Candidate classes, Ranni had managed to avoid speaking directly with any of the Weyrling staff, but now that Sh'del had called her to his office, she had no choice.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked, standing in front of his desk, hands clasped behind her back.

"Yes," Sh'del said, taking in her stiff stance. He waved to the chair in front of his desk. "Chaysea sent me a note, concerned about what might have happened the other day during the queen's Flight. Can you fill me in on what happened?"

Ranni sat down woodenly, inwardly horrified that Chaysea had told Sh'del. It had been hard enough talking about what had happened with the Headwoman, much less recounting it to a _man_. "Nothing much," she said coolly, shrugging her shoulders. "I was with bronzerider R'nar, there was a misunderstanding. It's been taken care of."

"And what exactly was the misunderstanding? And how was it taken care of?" Sh'del kept his tone neutral and his eyes casually on the paperwork before him.

"Panitath's flight started, we kissed some, and then I left. I apologized to R'nar and he apologized to me." Ranni said matter-of-factly.

Sh'del nodded, and asked, "And the reason for the crying?"

Ranni cocked an eyebrow. "What crying?"

"Chaysea said you looked as though you were ready to cry." He tactfully didn't mention the torn shirt. "Can you explain please?"

"I was embarrassed," Ranni said with a lift of her chin.

"Okay." Sh'del briefly lifted his eyes from the paper and met hers. He smiled gently and asked, "At Sunstone, what exactly was your position there? What did you think of both the Hold and the treatment of women?" He didn't need to know just how terrible a Hold like Sunstone was, but he wanted to hear it from Ranni's perspective. His little green Flit jumped off from her perch on top of the bookcase behind him, and landed gently on the girl's lap, crooning for some attention.

Ranni briefly glanced down at the firelizard, normally she would have been fascinated by the creature, but she was too agitated by Sh'del's line of questions. "I was a drudge," she said as if that were self-explanatory since she was sure it was one of the things that had been written on her file after Riveenata had formally Searched her. "Is all of this really necessary?" she said, avoiding his second question. What did he really want? "What is it you're trying to get out of me? Just ask." All of this beating around the bush just made her more leery of the brownrider.

"Yes, I'm afraid it all is necessary. I'm sure you know that your Hold is out of our Search area, and as such, you are the first candidate from there that I can recall. And since it's not a Hold that we have any dealings with, I'm guessing at the attitudes towards women there. I'm assuming by the gruff way you said you were a drudge that my guesses are correct, that it is a place where being a woman and being a drudge are both very hard. and with that in mind it concerns me greatly that you were seen in an agitated state during a Flight. As a longtime member of the Weyrlingmaster staff I can say it never bodes well to see either a boy or a girl in that state and that it cannot not be addressed.

"The Weyr needs all of its candidates to be of healthy body and of healthy mind before stepping out onto those Sands. We need you all to_not_panic at either the Hatching, at the work involved in taking care of a hatchling, of being brave enough to face Thread and to be prepared for your dragon's Flight. All of those you need to face bravely and without panic." He glanced down at the paperwork before him and sighed. "So when I'm being informed by one of the most important persons in the Weyr that there could be an issue concerning of those four points then yes, this is necessary."

Ranni bit down on her bottom lip. No one from Sunstone had ever Impressed at Dolphin Cove... Really? Had she gotten A'vel into that much trouble? And then her brain screeched to a halt when he began addressing the gold flight. "Headwoman Chaysea, and Journeywoman Meysa, both said that it was normal for misunderstandings to sometimes happen during a gold flight. That's it. It was a misunderstanding, I talked with the Headwoman about, and she promised she wouldn't tell anyone," Ranni glowered, "and I sorted it out with the dragonrider in question."

"Okay." Sh'del quickly wrote down a few lines on the girl's paperwork. "That's fine, but I'd like you to work one-on-one with greenrider Irrkali in place of your afternoon chores for a bit." He knew he was going to get nowhere with the girl at this time. In cases like this, turning her over to the older female assistant might be for the best. He wrote a bit more on her paperwork before pausing and looking up at the girl. "You know you're safe here, right? No one is allowed to disrespect you and you don't have to worry about being sent home. Have you ever thought about crafting?"

"I hadn't until Searchrider Riveenata mentioned it. I'm not sure what I would be good at, but I am considering it." Ranni said, feeling a little more comfortable with that question.

"Well just keep at it with the different classes Chaysea has in store for you. She's a clever woman and will know what's best. And you've a quick mind, you'd be good at Crafting." From her spot on Ranni's lap, Trouble chirped her affirmative on that thought.

Would she? Ranni wasn't so sure about it, but that was what everyone kept saying. "Thank you, sir," she said, waiting to be dismissed.

Sh'del wrote a few more things in Ranni's paperwork before smiling up at her. "It's okay. Just keep up the good work you've been doing so far, and don't forget that after today you're to work in the afternoon's with Irrkali, okay? You may go now." Trouble gave the girl one last chirp and flew off her lap.

"Thank you, sir," Ranni said again, curtsying quickly, a habit she'd yet to break from her time as a drudge, before departing from the room.

Last updated on the April 12th 2019

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Concerned About Your Past