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Dolphin Hall
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Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold

Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr
River Bluff Weyr
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Story Listing
Series Listing

Weyrling Training

Writers: Noli
Date Posted: 21st July 2025

Characters: H'rell
Description: H'rell makes a most disturbing discovery in his office.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 11, day 1 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: J'nic, Viseya

H'rell huffed as he climbed down from Coranth near the staff entrance of the Weyrling barracks. The sun had not yet begun to show its face over the horizon yet, but the cool grey light promised that daylight would be along shortly. The storm from the previous day had finally subsided, though dark clouds threatened silently of further rain as the day progressed. H'rell pulled his jacket a little tighter as he approached the door, a faint smile creeping to his face despite himself. The cold was welcome; it reminded him of home.

Once inside, he navigated the short hall to his office silently. He noticed a bright light under the door to one of the other offices and growled to himself. Someone else was at work already this morning; H'rell hoped that he would not be expected to chat. To belay this possibility, he moved as quickly as he was able to without making noise, approaching his own door and opening it carefully, then easing it closed behind him until it clicked into place.

He reached for the glowbasket that he had requisitioned his first sevenday as Weyrlingmaster Third to Barrier Lake. He left the switch to the electric overhead lights untouched. H'rell despised the newfangled technology; it cast illumination that was too sharp, too revealing. The glows were kinder, able to be modulated in intensity by a turn of the basket.

As the soft light filled his office, H'rell approached his desk… and froze.

Someone had been in here.

His thoughts leaped suspiciously to J'nic and Viseya. Which of them had come in here to spy on him? What had they been seeking? Were they after his lesson plans, perhaps wishing to co-opt them and pass his work off as their own? Or perhaps it was his carefully hidden stash of bourbon they were trying to unearth. Viseya in particular seemed like the type to have been likely to commit this sacrilege. She was always flirting, not at all displaying the serious manner that weyrlingstaff should, and H'rell had confiscated an unbelievably lewd book from the female junior weyrlings’ sleeping area just last sevenday which had the author's name crossed out and replaced with hers. H'rell had assumed it to be weyrling antics at the time, but in light of current events, it suddenly seemed very obvious that she had indeed penned the text. Anyone whose mind was able to imagine such scenes as those pictured in that book would surely not be above ransacking a man's office in the middle of a storm.

As he crossed to his shelves and began to take stock of his belongings, he no longer moved quietly. When he didn't find anything obviously missing, he turned back to his desk. He retrieved the scroll that was lying half underneath the back edge and replaced it on the desktop. His eyes studied the contents of the desk carefully, noting several things which had been moved. His half-drafted lesson on breathing exercises for overcoming panic during early Threadfallsâ€" on hide, of course, not paperâ€" was hopelessly smudged, like someone had poured water on it and then attempted to scrub it clean.

His chair also betrayed an interloper. It was shoved back rudely away from its place, left to rest at an offensive angle that did not display the discipline and order that H'rell always kept in his spaces.

Animals! Indignation swelled in his chest and threatened to burst out into a draconic roar. Brutes! Creeping in like thieves under cover of darkness!

As he roughly grasped the chair back to return it to its rightful place, H'rell froze. That smell… what was that smell?!

H'rell froze in shock. That musky, faintly sweet scent could only be one thing. He looked back at his ruined lesson plans in horror.

They hadn't been here to steal. No, this was worse. Whoever had broken inâ€" and now his mind leapt to new possibilities, remembering the weyrlings’ notations in the graphic romance novelâ€" had come here and _had sex in his office!_

His vision took on a hazy red glow as he saw the disarray in a new light. Unbidden, images of the most lascivious nature sprang before his eyes. He saw writhing bodies on his desktop, paying no heed to the important work they were destroying as they twisted and moaned. He saw his chair groaning and creaking with strain as it rocked backwards and threatened to tip from occupants with no regard for its limitations. He even imagined that stainâ€" he was sure it hadn't been there yesterday!-- on the floor betrayed the spilling of fluids not ever meant to be released in a professional place like a Weyrlingmaster Third's office.

Barely able to contain his fury, H'rell practically jumped to the doorway and yanked to open with a force that would have terrified his students. He would get to the bottom of this. He would find the responsible parties and bring them to justice. Whoever had done this would pay dearly for their error. He would tear the whole Weyr apart if necessary to avenge this. Just wait.

Last updated on the August 1st 2025