Different Challenges

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 31st October 2024

Characters: R'lor, Alyena
Description: R'lor congratulates the new Headwoman
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 10 of Turn 12

R'lor

Once R'lor got permission to enter the Headwoman's office, he stepped
inside with a smile. "Congratulations on your promotion."

Alyena looked up from her work, her expression lightening.
"Weyrlingmaster! Thank you." She was still new enough to the office that
it felt strange, as if the previous Headwoman might come back at any
moment and ask her what she was doing, and so she was glad to have a
visitor. "Please, have a seat. How is Kularth?"

"He's doing well, thank you," R'lor said as he took the offered seat.
"He really seems to be in his element leading the Weyrlings. I was
surprised, but pleased, to hear you're our new Headwoman."

"You can't have been as surprised as I was," Alyena replied with a
smile. She knew she'd been an unexpected choice, having only been in the
Weyr a little over a Turn after arriving in the wake of the poisoning at
the Hatching, and she was grateful to the Weyrwoman for trusting her
with the job. "But I'll do my best, and I'm sure I'll enjoy working with
you as much as my son does."

R'lor laughed. "That's certainly a high bar. I'm looking forward to
working with you as well."

"R'ayl told me that you arrived at the Weyr about the same time as he
did," Alyena said, turning to the hearth to fetch a jug of klah. "From
Rising Moons?"

The bluerider nodded. "I came here to take on the Weyrlingmaster Third
position. I didn't want to leave my home but . . . my prospects were
limited there and I thought I could do more than be an assistant."

"And then you were chosen as Weyrlingmaster, so you must have been right
about that." Alyena remembered how thrilled R'ayl had been about R'lor's
promotion. It seemed that it was unusual for the position to go to a
bluerider, and it had been a great encouragement to her son. "Klah?"

"Yes, please." He felt both embarrassed and pleased at her comment. "It
seems a move to Dolphin Cove has been good for both of us."

"You're right, it has." She poured out the klah. "Though it wasn't as
planned on my part, it's turned out well." She expected the whole Weyr
had heard how she and her daughter had come there, and even if they
hadn't then the arrival of Gil and then her promotion had ensured the
story was being told all over again. "My children certainly think so.
They love it here."

"I'm glad to hear that." They'd all had a rough start, but it seemed all
three had settled into Weyr life. "Has your daughter considered
Standing? Or a craft?"

"Both. She's thinking of applying for an apprenticeship with the healers
when she's twelve, but what she wants most is to Stand." Alyena smiled.
"So you should be seeing her with the candidates in a few months' time."

"I'll be happy to have her. And healing is a very noble profession. My
mother is a mindhealer, and I almost followed her into the craft."

"You must have grown up in a Weyr, then?" Alyena asked. A woman wouldn't
have been able to practice that craft anywhere else. She'd heard very
little of mindhealing herself until she'd come to Dolphin Cove.

R'lor took a sip of klah. "I come from a long line of dragonriders. I
was born at Far Island, Impressed there, and moved to Rising Moons after
it opened."

"You've seen the world," she said, though she supposed any dragonrider
would have. Who wouldn't, given the ability to travel anywhere on Pern?
"Is it common to move between Weyrs? I've helped prepare for new
arrivals a few times, but the others say there were more transfers
earlier in the Pass."

"When the population of dragons increased, we started opening -- or
reopening -- Weyrs, so a lot of riders and staff needed to move." R'lor
hadn't been eager to move, but felt it was his duty. "Did you live
anywhere else besides the Weyr and your cothold?"

"Emerald Falls, at the main hold. It wasn't all that far from the
cothold, though. Not like moving halfway across the continent," she said
lightly, not wanting to burden the conversation with the memories of
those times. "Or from Hold to Weyr. Actually, I've been meaning to ask
you about the holdbred candidates, who've made the same move as I did.
It must be a big change for them, if hopefully not always in such
dramatic circumstances. I'd be glad to talk with them if it would help."

"Oh, that's kind of you." R'lor smiled. "I like to help them get
acclimated, both by having speakers in class and encouraging them to
talk with former holders outside class as well. I know it can be a
difficult adjustment."

"It can be. I was lucky to have good advice from the other staff to help
me ease in, and I had the children, so I wasn't alone." After she'd come
so close to losing her life and her daughter, the strangeness of the
Weyr had been the least of her worries. "It must be hard for a young
girl or boy, away from their home and family for the first time.
Although at least they seem to be kept busy, from what I've seen of the
candidate schedules."

"There's a lot of work that needs to be done, and a lot they need to
learn." He looked at her with a glint of humor. "And some need to be
kept busy to keep them out of trouble."

"Ah, yes, I've heard some stories from R'ayl. It sounds like your job
has its hazards." In a class of young people that size, there were bound
to be one or two jokers and daredevils. "Well, we have plenty of work in
the Lower Caverns we need help with - and some chores are less popular
than others. Numbweed has to be boiled, and latrines won't clean
themselves. Any 'volunteers' would be welcome."

R'lor chuckled. "Some of those 'volunteers' are very surprised to see
themselves assigned to the most unpleasant chores because they think I
don't know what they've been up to."

"I imagine it's easier to appear to know everything when there's a
dragon watching over them as well," Alyena suggested. She'd heard about
Kularth from R'ayl.

"Honestly there are times when even I don't know how he does it."
Kularth was very aware of what the weyrlings and Candidates were up to.

"It sounds like an advantage any parent would envy. R'ayl was always
very well-behaved, but - " She caught herself before mentioning her
older son, and covered it quickly. "But Evalya is a little more
mischievous. You'll find out, I expect."

R'lor was about to say that he couldn't imagine any of her children
being trouble, but then he remembered Grevan was her son. "Ah, well. I
suppose almost anyone would seem more mischievous compared to R'ayl." He
smiled affectionately.

"That's true enough. He's a good son." Alyena warmed to the praise of
her younger boy. "Do you have children, Weyrlingmaster?"

"I do, though we're not close. Their foster parents take good care of
them and I visit from time to time. Weyrbrats belong to the entire Weyr,
in a way, so I don't feel a great deal more affection for my children by
blood than I do for any child at the Weyr," R'lor said. "That must sound
strange to you."

"It does," she admitted. "For a long time it was just me and the
children in the cothold. We're very close. Even before, when we were at
Emerald Falls..." She tried to think how to explain. "At the Hold, it
was a mother's duty and purpose in life to care for her children. It's
not the same here, not for everyone, and it took some time to get used
to. I could never give them up, but Evalya's friends seem just as happy
with their foster parents."

"I'm closer with my foster parents as well. My father is a dragonrider,
and my mother has her Craft, so they left most of my raising to someone
who could dedicate themselves to my care," R'lor said. "I have two sets
of parents, and I was sometimes watched over by other relatives, creche
workers, friends of my foster parents. . . I can't imagine being soley
responsible for one child, let alone two."

"You're responsible for a whole clutch of teenagers and their dragons,"
Alyena said, laughing. "I expect that's just as much of a challenge in a
different way."

R'lor laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's true enough.
Though I've got the Weyrlingstaff to help and I don't have them all that
long." Though it could feel a lot longer when he was in the middle of it.

"And at least they let you sleep through the night," Alyena added. At
the weyrlings' age, the trouble was more getting them out of bed in the
morning.

"Only because I can assign the others to night watch and if there's not
an emergency." Junior weyrlings especially could have problems any time
of the day or night.

"Let's hope there aren't any of those, and you have many untroubled
nights as Weyrlingmaster." Alyena raised her klah mug in a toast.

"And I hope you have a long and successful career as Headwoman." R'lor
touched his mug to hers.

Last updated on the November 4th 2024

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