For The Record

Writers: AmajoS, Yvonne
Date Posted: 17th October 2007

Characters: Tsaera, Benna
Description: Tsaera assigns some candidates to a task and uncovers a small problem.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 6, day 1 of Turn 4

"This is our main Records Room." Tsaera stepped inside and gestured to the stacks, where hidebound books and sheaves of hides were lined up in meticulous rows. The candidates behind her shuffled in reluctantly, and the Weyrwoman gave them a whirlwind tour before leading them into a back corner. "And this is where we keep the weather records for previous turns. Right now we've got them going back to month 3 of the year 1202, pre-Pass. I've only got room for three years, which means that all pre-Pass records will need to be boxed up, taken downstairs to the Archives, and then reshelved.
There's a trolly near the door - could one of you please retreive it?"

Benna was the closest, so she went to retreive the cart. She wheeled it over to the Weyrwoman and the rest of the group. This was the first time she'd gotten selected for this sort of work and she felt a bit nervous about it. She hoped maybe she'd get to box the records and transport them while the others sorted, but there were so many of them that she somehow doubted it.

"Thank you... Benna." It took a moment, but the young woman's name came to her in time, and Tsaera smiled at her. "All right, then. I'll get you to start taking the hides of the shelves, then, and placing them in order on the cart. You decide how you'll arrange it between yourselves - I don't really care as long as they can be arranged by date in the Archives. Any questions?"

A chorus of 'No Weyrwoman's were the response and the candidates got to work. Benna tried to figure out where she could work that wouldn't have to do a lot of the sorting, but the decision was taken out of her hands when one of the older candidates took it upon herself to divvy up the work. The others accepted their assignments, so Benna really didn't have a choice. Unfortunately, she was put in charge of arranging the scrolls on the cart according to turn after another two people had arranged them by month and day.

She stood before the cart with an armload of chronologically arranged scrolls, trying to remember enough of what she'd learned about numbers and letters to determine just what turn they'd been recorded in.

"Hurry up, Benna!" one of the other candidates whispered fiercely.
"The Weyrwoman's watching!"

Benna felt a spark of temper flare as she glared at the girl. If the Weyrwoman hadn't been watching before, she would be now. But Benna didn't know what to do about it. She could just stick the records in anywhere, but that would obviously bite her in the rear eventually.

The girl glared at her a second time, then shoved another armload of scrolls at her and turned back to her own task. After a moment someone cleared their throat quietly behind Benna - it was Tsaera.
"Any questions?" she asked delicately.

"No, Weyrwoman, well, not..." Benna was stuck really, she had no choice to but to admit she wasn't able to do this. If she just started loading scrolls onto the cart whilly-nilly, the Weyrwoman would know who'd done it anyway. So, screwing up all the courage she'd built up over turns of chasing after dare-devil brothers, Benna told the truth. "I can't read these. I don't know where to put them."

There was a small silence as the Candidates behind her froze, but then, unexpectedly, the Weyrwoman smiled. "Well then, I suppose that this isn't quite the job for you, is it? That's all right - I need someone to help tidy and restock some of the desks. I think these young folk have everything under control, so if you'll follow me...?"

Benna nodded and followed the Weyrwoman to the new job, feeling oddly relieved that the 'secret' was out and had garnered no more of a reaction than that. Of course the pointed silence from her fellow candidates was a bit irritating, but she could forget about that. Her worries that her troubles reading meant she was somehow unacceptable as a candidate were laid to rest.

Last updated on the October 21st 2007

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For The Record