Lessons

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 17th July 2014

Characters: Sahna
Description: Sahna works on her history of printing project.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 8, day 2 of Turn 7
Notes: NPCs: unnamed apprentice and journeymen printers
Mentioned: her family (not by name), unnamed older journeyman printer
Notes: Mentor approved.

"Take a break, Sahna," the journeyman said, tapping her on the shoulder and
waiting until she straightened on the high stool at the workbench. "Get down and
walk around."

Gingerly Sahna slid down off the stool, stretching herself tall as she had been
taught to before wandering across the room to peer out the window.

The journeyman watched her go and then took a look at her work. A number of the
apprentice classes taught printing from first principles and though many of the
apprentices thought it boring in comparison to the modern hot metal setting and
mechanised printing processes it was clear that Sahna enjoyed the classes
immensely. And why not, he thought, looking at the punch she was making which
would be used to create a matrix and from there hand cast the individual letters
needed for hand-setting. Her hand skills weren't particularly noteworthy but her
passion for the subject was and it was showing results in her work.

At the window Sahna sighed and then rubbed the end of her sleeve against the
window. It cleared away the condensation from her breath but didn't improve the
visibility as the showers had left the tall windows covered in drops and
runnels. Not that she was much interested in what went on outside the Hall,
anyway. With another sigh that turned into a yawn she walked away from the
window and started on the required circuit around the room.

"Young bodies need exercise," one of the other apprentices muttered under his
breath as she passed, his words those of the elderly ink-stained journeyman who
normally took their class, and his tone a fair imitation.

Sahna couldn't help but smile.

"Exercise was a whole lot better fun at the Weyr," came a low-voiced complaint
from the other apprentice sharing the same workbench.

Sahna didn't think there was much in it. It was still a break from the fine work
they were doing, and apparently a chance for eyes to re-focus and backs to
straighten. It didn't matter much that at the Weyr they had often wandered
outside into the heat of the afternoon and the always-busy Weyrbowl. In the
purpose-built Hall the rooms were all big enough for people to wander around
them without the need to leave the room or the building. To her mind that meant
more efficient use of time and more time to work.

"How's it going?" another of the apprentices asked as she rounded the end of his
workbench.

"I'm going to have some pretty wobbly letters but I hope they'll be
recognisable. How about you?" She knew his ability to do the small work required
was far superior to her own but he was one of those boys who almost exclusively
focused on the current day processes and the machinery involved.

"I chose an easy typeface," he admitted with a shrug. "And it's going well."

"More walking less talking, please Sahna."

Obediently Sahna continued her circuit around to room with no more than a nod or
two in the direction of her friends among the apprentices.

Not all of them were friends. Some were indifferent, busy about their own
concerns. Some had other friends inside or outside the Hall and didn't need
friendships among their own level and craft. A few opposed women in crafts –
despite the printercraft being known as being a craft that accepted women – and
made a point of reminding her of their opinions. Most of her particular friends
were the ones who had joined the craft while the Hall was at the Weyr. They
weren't all Weyrbred but they might as well have been for their easy acceptance
of her as part of their apprentice group.

Her circuit of the room almost done Sahna again paused to look out the window,
wondering just for a moment what the weather was like at Dolphin Cove Weyr and
how her siblings were enjoying the less humid heat that made the winter months
at the tropical Weyr the preferred season. She must remember to ask them in her
next letter home.

Back at her workbench she climbed up on the stool, wishing those who had
designed the room had thought that not all the apprentices would be tall young
men. (In fact, she wasn't even the shortest in her group as a good many of the
boys her age were still a long way off their adult height.)

She pulled the magnifier lens back in front of the punch she was working on. The
letter looked awful under the magnification. The bowl of the letter was nicely
rounded and she was pleased that she was finally managing those better, but the
ascender and the serif were ragged and not as clean-lined as she would like. But
if she took more metal away she could very easily be starting again and she knew
now that she didn't have time to do that. The old journeyman had made them all
develop a project plan in which the work they had to do was plotted against the
sevendays they had to do it in. He would come around regularly and make each
apprentice show him where they were on their plan and Sahna had never been on
her time targets.

So.

She pushed the magnifier away, and removed the punch from the vice. She lit the
candle beside her and held the punch above the flame before pressing it on her
much-used piece of paper to get a sooty letter. The smoke proof image made her
wince and she looked at the end of the punch with a sigh. It would have to do.
The paragraph she had chosen to print was one that included every letter and
many of the punctuation symbols and she hadn't yet produced punches for half of
what she needed.

As much as she loved the work she had to keep moving and hope to get better by
repetition rather than by trying to make each letter perfect. It was a hard
lesson to learn, but she was slowly accepting that it might be a necessary one.

Last updated on the July 28th 2014

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