A Pleasant Chat

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 22nd April 2014

Characters: Chaysea, L'pin
Description: L'pin needs a new weyr, and takes the opportunity to get to know the new Headwoman a little better
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 18 of Turn 7

Chaysea was feeling a little overwhelmed with the paper work sitting
on the Headwoman's desk. In Qorri's absence things had piled up, and
since she was a bit slower at the work, as she was still learning a
bit, she wasn't clearing out the hides nearly as fast as they were
coming in. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of how hopeless
this all was.

**Maybe I can't do this. What was I thinking? The Weyr is so much
larger and more fast paced than the Vintner Hall.** She rubbed a hand
across her forehead to keep the tears at bay.

He'd been meaning to do it for the last sevenday, but events had
conspired against him. First he had no free time, then the Headwoman
position changed... now he had a moment. L'pin knocked carefully on
the door. "Headwoman?"

Chaysea's head snapped up as she briskly reached up to make sure that
her hair was in place, and then she straightened her blouse and sat up
straighter in her chair, "Come in." She called.

L'pin slipped in and smiled at the new person behind the desk. When he
registered she was young and pretty, that smile got a little broader.
"I hope I'm not inconveniencing a pretty woman?"

A little laugh escaped Chaysea, "That you are not. Please come in.
What can I do for you?" She had not met this rider yet, or at least
she didn't think she had, because she was sure she would remember him.

"I'm L'pin," he added, so she'd know who she was dealing with. She
hadn't thrown anything at him for his presumption, which was
encouraging. Feeling emboldened, he sat in the chair and leaned back.

"I'm currently in one of the weyrs that's only accessible by dragons.
Now that I'm back on the weyrlingstaff, that's a problem. It means
candidates and junior weyrlings can't come get advice at all
candlemarks. So I'd like something with stair access so they can visit
me, and the dragon ledge should be sized for a brown, as he's that
big."

"Oh, let's see what we can do about that then." Chaysea said even as
she began scanning her eyes over her desk, looking for the telltale
edge of the Weyr map that was used to diagram riders' weyrs. She
lifted a stack here, peeked under a stack of papers there, and then
spotted the the thick piece of parchment and pulled it out with
relief, "There it is. Now," she turned the map around to face the
dragonrider, "these are the lower levels we have available with stair
access. You would know better than I which would fit the size of your
dragon."

He ran his finger along it. It was reassuring to see that his old weyr
was in use already. There was too much encoded there for him to want
to go back. He sighed with relief as his finger stopped. There was
one next to the Weyrling Barracks. It was one of the few directly on
ground level and had probably been used for convalescing dragons in
the past. The ground level meant injured or pregnant weyrlings could
make it there, and even the non-flying dragonets could waddle over.

"What about this one?" he asked, showing her.

In truth, a weyr was a weyr in Chaysea's mind, she was still learning
all of the subtle little nuances behind finding just the right weyr
for each rider, because each seemed to have exactly their own idea of
what they wanted, "If you think it would be a comfortable place for
you and your dragon then I'll put your name in." She smiled.

"I think it'll be marvelous. Now I can remember what it feels like to
have weyrlings walk in at the _most_ inconvenient times," he said,
giving her a wink.

Chaysea cocked an eyebrow in surprise, "You mean... They just walk
into your weyr unannounced?"

"You'd be surprised what upset teenagers do. Their problems are the
end of the world and need to be solved right now or the entire weyr
will come crumbling down upon our heads." He delivered it in the
melodramatic, breathy tones he'd heard more than one of the kids use.

Chaysea found herself laughing over the man's spot-on impression of a
teenager, "Now that I can relate to. I use to get all sorts of teenage
problems when I worked at the Hall. I think it must be that way
whenever you force teenagers to live in a confined space with one
another."

"And then you add in their dragons." He shook his head. "Enough to
make your hair turn prematurely grey. You'll learn, dealing with
Candidates. I'd be interested if you think they're worse than Hall
apprentices. I don't recall causing quite this much trouble as a young
harper..."

"Just before I came to the Weyr I had to deal with an apprentice....
Some of the other boys had put glue in his shampoo and when he used it
his hands were glued to his body. They also took his clothes." Chaysea
shook her head, "I hope to not encounter that sort of mischief."

He winced. "Poor kid. There's fights here, but haven't seen anything like that."

"I know, it was horrible." Chaysea shook her head. She was finding
that she liked L'pin, it was easy to be comfortable around the man,
something she hadn't felt much of since she had come to the Weyr.

He rather liked her smile and he thought he'd try to coax it out
again. "In between dealing with teenagers and solving all the Weyr's
problems, what do you think you'll be doing to relax?"

"That is a good question. I haven't really had much of a chance to
figure that out yet." Chaysea tilted her head, "What do you do around
the Weyr to relax?"

He remembered he hadn't mentioned something yet. "I have a key to a
small old classroom. It's not popularly used because it has no window
and it's dark. I use it to teach some casual lessons. I can give it
back if you ever need the room."

Then he answered the rest of it. "Most people's hobbies seem to
involve the water, given the location. Swimming's always popular, as
is watching the dolphins. Waterball is a sport here. "

"I am going to be sorely out of luck then," Chaysea chuckled, "as I
don't know how to swim. Never really had much of a need for it...
Until now."

"I can teach you, if you'd like. I haven't drowned any candidates yet."

Chaysea's lips quirked up into an amused smile, "I am more worried
about drowning _you_."

"I'm a grown man, I'll be fine." He answered her smile with a broad
one of his own. "I shall even promise not to leer, if it'll make you
feel better."

"No leering sir, or I shall be forced to splash you, and that could
break my entire concentration on staying afloat and not drowning." She
teased.

"Not that," he said, pressing a hand to his heart. "Look me up when
you're free, and I'll give you a lesson. You know where I live now,"
he said with a wink.

"Indeed, I do." She smiled.

Last updated on the May 4th 2014

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A Pleasant Chat