The Inquisition

Writers: Len, Chelle
Date Posted: 9th August 2011

Characters: J'nne, Jaylene, Rhosyn
Description: Jaylene calls the Weyrwoman over for a chat, which doesn't go well.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 1 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Roana, Im're, Briata, K'sedel

Jaylene

Well, something had to be done and, for one, Jaylene was tired of watching the Weyrwoman stalk around the place like she was waiting, just waiting, for someone to piss her off. She needed to calm down a bit, so she did. In a Weyr full of greenriders and a few more gold, it wasn't like they were all unfamiliar with the effects of being proddy. Yes, that woman needed to relax a bit and just let things happen.

Holding up her hand, Jaylene called out, "Rhosyn, over here," and
patted the empty seat at her table in the Dining Hall.

Across the table, tuning his violin, Jayonne looked wide-eyed at her
and mouthed, "Are you mad?"

The Weyrwoman's head turned, hearing her name. When she saw who
it was coming from, she was momentarily confused. Frowning, she walked
over and waited. "Can I help you?" She was used to sitting in her customary
seat at the high table with K'sedel and the rest. It usually got her served
quicker.

"Yeah, my brother and I were wondering if you'd like to sit with us
and have a drink, or two." She kicked Jayonne under the table when he
made a choking sound.

She couldn't help but be curious. With one glance back at her table, she
brought her head back and nodded. "I'm not much of a drinker, but one
glass of wine is fine." She sat down in one of the empty seats, watching
the both of them.

"No problem," Jayonne answered easily, pouring her a glass.

"So, how are you feeling?" Jaylene asked.

"Well enough and yourself?' Rhosyn disliked any questions about 'feelings'
and emotions and health and that, though she understood it coming from the
healers.

"We're good, we were just wondering when Orlaith is Rising." A good
strong Flight always uplifted the Weyr.

"Whenever she decides, I'm sure she'll let me know." Orlaith wasn't exactly
a clockwork gold. Rhosyn sometimes had warning and then others she didn't.
Not one to worry about it, she didn't bother.

Jaylene nodded at that. Reanth was more or less the same way, never
being one to let anyone know exactly when she was ready to Rise.
"That boy, Im're, any word on when he should be back in our wing?"

"I've got him for awhile. He's doing good though, but it wasn't just him.
Gormth has to heal too and for a young dragon, it's easy for them to try
and go back before they're ready." She was actually enjoying the blue pair
for the time she had them.

"He's such a cutie, take good care of him. We all miss him back in the
wing." Jaylene sighed and cast her eyes down on the table for a
moment, thinking of what could have been.

"It often happens with weyrlings though. At least it wasn't worse." Rhosyn
remembered that day and was glad that her own handiwork had made sure
that Gormth would be fine.

"No, he's alive and he'll make a full recovery," Jayonne spoke up.

"And everyone else in your wing?" she inquired, wondering. Roana wasn't in the Weyrleaders' Wing, but she could know about her weyrmate perhaps.

"They're all good. Only one injury since Im're....H'keral, one of the
new ones from the same class as Im're but his little brown should be
as good as new in a few more sevendays. You got any to send back to
us yet? How about that Feralan? How's she doing?" Jaylene smiled,
thinking about the funny girl and her overtall green.

"I'm trying to get two out of my wing every sevenday." Rhosyn wanted them out in the fighting wings as soon as possible. She knew K'sedel didn't
like flying anywhere near wing light.

"Yeah, those two hurricanes haven't helped, with all the odd wind about
and all." Jaylene, for one, would be well pleased when hurricane
season was over. Even on days that it didn't storm, it still kicked
up the wind into funny patterns, which always meant more injuries.

"Well we don't fly fall when we get those, so that's helpful. I love rain."
Rain meant things cooled off. Rhosyn still hated the heat.

"The rain's fine." And her little Reanth loved watching the lightning
and thunder, as did she. "It's more the odd winds that lead up to it
days before. I hate those, even though the hurricanes themselves
aren't so bad." At least their Weyr had weathered the two this season
in fine shape.

"Mmm sometimes they can be odd, for sure. Luckily Orlaith doesn't
move as much as your green probably does. Takes a lot to move a
house." Rhosyn smiled, thinking about her dragon.

"Yeah Reanth's like a tiny little tent compared to her!" Jayonne
teased and laughed when his sister stuck her tongue out at him.

"So besides sometimes playing music, what do you do?" Looking at Jayonne,
she found herself curious.

"You mean besides pestering his brother and sister?" Jaylene quipped.
"Nothing much, being a bother to that poor Briata, refusing to Stand
for the umtheeth time, helping his mum..." She grinned at her
brother, more than happy to get back at him for his remark about
Reanth's size.

"So you don't have a craft? And why would you refuse to Stand?" That intensely interested her. Nevermind the bit about Briata for now.

"Of course I have a craft." He eyed her curiously as he was wearing
his journeyman knots.

"What sort of duties do you perform then? Do you teach? Are you a scribe
or do you just do the song scribbling thing?" Always on the lookout
for a records help, she thought about it.

"I teach the violin students, and I play a lot in the evenings."

Sighing she went back to her other question. "And why the not standing then?"

He held up the violin. "I love this too much."

"The shells does that mean? We have riders that play instruments." Her look
was that he must be feebleminded.

Jaylene rolled her eyes. "He thinks if he has a dragon, he'll never be
the great Masterharper he wants to be."

"Well that's true. You would be ineligible for election. However you would get to save Pern and its people day in and day out, contribute to your Weyr, and save a dragonet from dying. Right now, still in the beginning of a Pass, our numbers aren't that great and we need to get all the able bodied to Stand that we can." Rhosyn saw the injured more of than most people in the Weyr. She knew how many.

"I somehow don't think any dragonet is in danger of dying with the
numbers you guys put out there for them." Jayonne gave her a
dispassionate look, having already heard this speech before and being
tired of people, particularly women of the gold riding type, not
letting things be and let others live the life they wanted.

"Tell me harper, do you know how many die every single fall that we fly? How many that get hurt? We're just now getting to a point where we don't have to worry about wing strength, just yet. Other Weyrs are not so lucky. So if we got a surplus, we could maybe send them there. Dolphin Cove is still flying wing light. Enough to where they had a gold get scored." And to Rhosyn, that had to stop.

"Tell me Weyrwoman, do you realize how many more Holders would bar
their doors to you and your Weyr's Search if it wasn't for us Harpers
teaching and reminding them of their duty to the Weyrs?" Jayonne
still looked pleasant but his sister recognized the edge in his voice
as him about to lose his temper.

"I was a holder once. And I never had harper lessons then." Not many knew about where Rhosyn had really come from and why she ended up at the Weyr as a child. Some of them thought that her father had really been a bronzerider or that some harm had come to her mother. She didn't tell many the truth-that she wasn't wanted.

"Did you turn the Holder in once you got to the Weyr then?" He gave
her a level look.

"Had to or I wouldn't have lasted long. It still comes out every now and again, but so it is." Remaining closed lipped about her childhood and later time at Vista Point, she kept his gaze. If he intended to make her feel guilty, he was not going to achieve his goal.

The two siblings exchanged looks, as that answer was about as clear as
mud, to them. Jaylene leaned forward. "I think what Jayonne was
asking was if you turned the man in who refused you and the other
children their teachings? Because to be not allowed your teaching is
against the Charter."

"There was a journeyman who came around every so often on circuit,
but my mother did most of it. Our cotholds were on the far edge of the
territory so we didn't see them as often as everyone else did." She shrugged, not caring much.

"So you_did_receive harper lessons then?" Rhosyn was making no sense,
saying one moment she had been refused harper lessons, like it was
somehow her brother's fault for that, and then saying she had in fact,
been given lessons after all. As much as Jaylene and J'zen would love
to see their brother Stand one more time--as they were both sure he
was meant to Impress--she didn't like Rhosyn trying to guilt him onto
the Sands. That wasn't fair and it smacked of one of Zheranti's old
tricks. Jaylene's brow furrowed waiting for the Weyrwoman's answer.

"We saw them, but all they did was marry people who needed it, mediate
whatever problems arose, update records with births and deaths, pass out
readers, and left. Mother did all the lessons. She knew her Duty and
Teaching Songs well enough. We had music too." Remembering the nights
spent dancing before bed, Rhosyn smiled.

"Yes, but that's against the Charter. You are allowed harper lessons
as your right. And should you_not_get them I fail to see how this is
Jayonne's fault or any other harpers, for that matter."

"I'm not saying it is his fault. I'm saying that how things _should_ be is all good and well. How things _are_ is not necessarily that way. After the plague, we didn't have as many crafters to go around especially since women weren't allowed to any longer." Rhosyn understood necessity. "So, you may want to be a harper and you can pursue that, however if you're meant to impress you will. And not walking onto the Sands won't stop it. So you might as well just take the time out of your day and Stand for the hatchings since you'll probably be there anyway. Shame to let good Weyrblood go to waste."

"But I'm done with all of this nattering. I'm hungry and there is no food here." She looked back at her table wistfully.

"Fine then." Jaylene sat back and gave the Weyrwoman a dismissive look. And here she had hoped that this woman was better than Zharesti. K'sedel deserved better; the Weyr deserved better.

Heading off in search of sustenance, Rhosyn made a beeline for the dais.

Last updated on the November 6th 2011

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