A Meeting with the Master

Writers: Kurt, Paula
Date Posted: 9th October 2008

Characters: Telemon, Quilya
Description: Telemon reviews Quilya's file and requests a meeting with her.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 9 of Turn 4
Notes: Mentor Approved

Telemon was going through the files of the Weyr's healer apprentices.
**What's this? She's eighteen and still junior apprentice?** He stopped at
one in particular and started to read more closely the file.

"Hhhm, hold-bred, started out late," he mused out aloud while he red and
scratched the green firelizard on his shoulder. He needed to have a talk
with her, to see how she was going, how her studies were
progressing. He wrote an note and sent it for her, inviting her to a
interview later today.

~*~

Quilya looked at the note and read it again. The master healer wanted to
see her? She chewed her lip and tucked the note away. What could he
possibly want with an apprentice? Had she done something wrong? Was she
going to be dismissed? She took a breath and forced herself to calm down.
If something was wrong, her regular mentor would have likely brought it up
with her...wouldn't he have? Well...there was only one way to know for
certain.

~*~

"Sir?" Quilya tapped at the door of the office as she entered.
"I...ah...you sent for me? I'm Quilya." Her fingers found her braid and
nervously played at it, before she caught herself in the childish habit
and quickly tucked it over her shoulder, forcing her hands down to her
sides.

"Yes, Quilya, do come in and take a seat," Telemon replied with a kind
smile. He did notice her nervousness.

Quilya moved inside and sat down in the closest available chair. She
smoothed her skirts and looked up. Well, he was smiling...surely that
couldn't be a terribly bad sign, could it? She took a breath. She wanted
to ask why she'd been sent for, to find out what it was all about, but she
didn't dare to be so rude. Instead she forced a
nervous flicker of a smile and waited.

Now that they were face to face, Telemon remember seeing her around
working. There were plenty of apprentices and only few of them were under
his direct supervision. She wasn't one of those.
"I've been going through reports of apprentices and thought we should have
a little chat about your progress so far. You study with Corell, right?"

She nodded. "Yes sir, that's correct." Inwardly, her stomach felt like
it was being wrung like a damp towel. What was wrong with her progress?
Wasn't she working hard enough? "He...hasn't indicated any issues with my
progress to met yet, sir."

"No, not at all. He's been happy with you. Says you're hard working and
studious," Telemon replied. "Do you two get along well? No
problems working with together?"

Quilya felt her insides begin to unknot. "Oh, yes sir, we get along very
well. He's demanding, but he's fair and patient, and always willing to
explain things." Quilya could not say the same for all of the healers
that worked in the weyr, and she felt fortunate to have Corell as her
mentor.

"I'm glad to hear that. So, how do you think you have progressed with your
training?" Telemon asked. As an apprentice, he had always hated that
question. Now that he was master and had apprentices, he
understood why it was asked.

"My progress?" Quilya looked a little uneasy at that. "Well, I mean-" She
glanced down and realized that she had unconsciously taken hold of her
braid again, and was twisting it between her fingers. With the slightest
tinge of color to her cheeks, she flipped it back over her shoulder and
put her hands into her lap. "I think my progress is at a reasonable
level, given my unusual circumstances." To be sure, her actual progress
frustrated her sometimes. Not only was she older than most of the senior
apprentices, but her feeling was that she knew just as much, if not more,
as they did. She longed for the day when she wouldn't have to listen to
them like they were her superiors.

"You do have a little disadvantage, since you started the craft
training at age when most apprentices are promoted to senior
apprentices. Has it affected you, given you difficulties?" Telemon asked.

"Only concerning my pride, sir," Quilya made herself say. "I'm not really
thrilled about having to obey other apprentices who are one or two years
my junior, but this is a better life than I would have ever had if I'd
stayed with my parents." She took a breath. "I know that I've got a lot
of catch-up to do, but I'm studying very hard. I know I'll be able to
make for my late start eventually."

"Well, late start isn't always a bad thing. You're more mature than the
average junior apprentice for one. Do you Stand at the hatchings?" Telemon
remarked and asked.

"No, I've never stood," Quilya admitted. "All I want is to be a
healer, and that is enough for me." She felt a little bit of pride at the
maturity remark, but, at the same time, wished it actually counted for
something.

"Good, I hate losing apprentices to the dragons," Telemon murmured.

Quilya smiled a little at that. "I guess every craft must make its
concessions to the needs for dragonriders, but unless I'm actually asked
to stand, I have no intention of volunteering myself." She
fingered the end of her long braid. "After all, they would probably make
me cut my hair." She found herself relaxing a bit more now. For a master
healer, Telemon was not hard to talk to.

Telemon answered to her smile and returned to the subject. "Corell
actually recommends you for senior apprentice. I'm going to arrange a
written exam to all those apprentices recommended for promotion to senior
status. It is to test your theorical knowledge. You must
understand why you are doing whatever you are doing to become a good healer."

"He does? You will?" Quilya's heart nearly skipped a beat. After all
this time, finally a chance to prove what she knew! "Oh, sir...thank
you!" Her face broke into her first full fledged grin of the entire
conversation. "I can pass the requirements...I know I can!
Oh...thank you so much!"

"You are welcome," the master healer replied. He got up and went to a
shelf at the side of the room. He shifted thru a pile hides and pulled out
two. He offered them to Quilya. "These are the tests from past turns. The
questions are different each time, but studying them should give you a
hint of what is asked and what you are expected to know. I'll send the
exact date of the exam to you all after I'm interviewed all of you."

Quilya was still smiling as she took the hides and rolled them
carefully. "Thank you sir, I'll be sure to study very diligently." And
she would, too. After all, she spent most of her free periods doing just
that anyway. This time, however, she'd be studying with an immediate goal
in mind.

"Keep up the good work, Quilya, which you are now free to return," Telemon
said.

The apprentice smiled and excused herself from Telemon's office. As she
went to put the exams away for safekeeping, she could scarcely keep the
smile from her face. For the first time that she could remember she was
actually going to look forward to studying!

Last updated on the October 11th 2008

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A Meeting with the Master