Be Careful

Writers: Chelle, Ames
Date Posted: 27th February 2013

Characters: Elmaldi, Asley
Description: Asley and Elmaldi chat while doing chores.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 12, day 9 of Turn 6

The printers were in a separate area from the harpers during work
hours, but when all was said and done, the apprentices were lumped
together in the barracks. And since Asley was a senior apprentice,
she
often had to supervise chores. Life back at the Hall was going to be
just wonderful. Standing in front of the group, she squared her
shoulders. "Afternoon everyone. I'm Asley-just back here from the
Weyr. Today is floor scrubbing day. The buckets are in the closet and
everyone knows where the water is. The soapsand is there too.
Everyone
get a mop. Once the mops run out, the others will be wiping down
everything with cloths and cleaning water."

When they had gotten to work, she grabbed her mop and started
scrubbing her area. Seeing a harper near her, she was afraid to say
hello so she just kept going.

Elmaldi knew her place, like the others. The girl, though new,
apparently knew her way around the Hall. Being a very new senior
apprentice herself, Elmaldi hadn't stepped up to be in charge of the
chores. Besides, she much preferred spending the extra time working
on
her art.

As she grabbed her own mop and began scrubbing, she glanced at the
new
girl. She didn't often do good meeting new people well, but it _was_
always good to get to know the others.

"You seem to know your way around," Elmaldi commented to the other
girl. "I'm Elmaldi. I'm fairly new here myself." She assumed the
other
girl was new since she hadn't seen her around much.

"Ah..Well I was at the Hall at the Weyr until they moved us all so now
I'm
back here. I'm a printer though so I started out at the Hall at Topaz
Seahold
until it was destroyed. Then they put us in with you all." She shrugged,
trying
not to show her unhappiness at being here. It was what it was and she had
to
make the best of it. "Hopefully I'll be able to get my journeyman knots
soon and
I'll go back to the Weyr. I'm Asley."

"It's nice to meet you," Elmaldi replied, even as she continued to
mop. "So, you are close to journeyman then? That's a big
accomplishment. I just became a senior apprentice recently, so I have
a long way to go yet."

"Aye, I've been a senior for awhile so I'm hoping it won't be too much
longer.
I need to see from Master what she thinks." Of course, Asley also knew that
as
a junior journeyman she would probably be expected to travel so she might
not
be able to stay at the Weyr just yet. "Did you begin your apprenticeship at
the
Weyr then?"

"No," Elmaldi replied. "I actually started my studies under the
Harper
at our Hold. He felt my talents needed better teachers, so he helped
me to make the trip here. Since I had studied most of the basics
already they said I was capable of senior apprentice classes once I
arrived. I've really just begun them though, so there is much I have
to learn." Elmaldi was surprised it was as easy as it was to talk to
the girl. Often she got so caught up in her art that she didn't
connect to other people. Asley just seemed different and easy to talk
to.

"Hmm...so what subject do you want to study?" For Asley it was ink
production
but she knew harpering was different and had many areas to choose from.
Then
again if the girl was new, she might not have chosen yet.

"My specialty is art. I've always loved art and am good at pencil
drawing. I'm still working on my painting techniques and other
things.
What about you? What do you like the best about being a printer?"
Elmaldi thought it would be exciting to have some of _her_ own pieces
of art printed by the printers someday. That hope, however, seemed
far
out of reach at the moment.

"Hmm we have artists sometimes that do the illustration tiles and create
the
typefonts." She considered it, knowing it wasn't her strong suit. "Me, I
love
the noise of the machine and the challenge in fixing it as well as putting
the
letters together. My own speciality is ink production, though, so I'm a
proven
messmaker."

"That sounds really interesting," Elmaldi replied, finding she _was_
actually curious. "I would love to see how all that works someday."
She finished mopping her section of the floor and looked around. "It
looks like most of the room is clean already!" Elmaldi exclaimed,
surprised at how quickly the apprentices had cleaned most of the
room.
"I like the people here a lot," she added with a smile, happy that
she
fit in here better than she had ever fit in anywhere else.

"That's a good thing since you're going to be here awhile. I wouldn't
venture too far outside though." Asley didn't know if she knew what
happened
to the old hall and why.

Elmaldi gave her a quizzical look, not understanding what Asley was
trying to explain. "It's not safe outside the Hall?" she asked
slightly confused.

"No. You see holders don't like us females being crafters. We're supposed
to marry
and have babies-not careers. They burned the last hall here down because of
the girls
they let in. So, even though the new Lord Holder is trying to keep us here,
watch out
for his folk." Asley was staying inside. She didn't want to fall afoul of
some man that
wanted to womanize her or some stupidity. "If you do go out, go in groups
and in daylight.
Or maybe switch your knots for holder ones."

"Oh," Elmaldi replied. Her face showing her surprise. It wasn't
totally unheard of to her, having grown up in a Hold, she knew how
most men felt. "I'm glad you told me. I didn't expect they would have
so many problems with the new Hall here. I hope nothing happens like
that again." She gave a little shiver, not having realized the full
history of what had happened.

Seeing her so afraid, Asley didn't want to fully alarm her further so
she
didn't mention what had happened to her on her way there. As it was,
she
began to carry her bucket and mop to dump and wash to put back up.

"I'm glad we got to talk," Elmaldi said as she brought her own mop
and
bucket back to where it belonged. She hoped she and Asley would get
to
talk more often in the future as well.

Last updated on the March 2nd 2013

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Be Careful