Moving Out

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 13th October 2014

Characters: Riveenata, F'lin
Description: The junior weyrlings get to pick their new weyrs, and Riven's is a bit smaller than expected.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 8 of Turn 7

Choosing a new weyr was an important rite of passage for the junior
weyrlings. As the lowest on the totem pole of the weyr hierarchy, they
tended to get the poorest choice of places to live. The seaside view
was the most popular, of course, so those were taken by those with
rank or seniority who could get into the free spaces. Usually only
bowl-view weyrs were free for weyrlings, and several of those lacked
private bathing pools. Some of her clutch mates whined at the charts
of choices, and tried to jockey for better space.

As a greenrider Riven didn't need much space on her ledge, and she'd
always had a taste for the bowl side anyway - so much more to see up
top, with the view of the bowl below and the shining ribbon of the
river. So she strode up to the map of openlocations and picked the one
she'd had her eye on for the last few sevendays.

"This one," she told Tierra.

"Are you sure, dear? It doesn't have a bathing pool," the headwoman's
assistant cautioned.

"Ti, you know I've been sharing rooms my entire life. I need to have a shared
bathing pool so I see people."

"I guess you might get lonely up there all by yourself, huh?"

"Yeah. I think I'll be fine with it."

Tierra made a mark. "It's all yours. They were cleaned earlier this
sevenday. Have fun moving!" She gave Riven a wave before turning to
the next weyrling, a
bronzerider with a sullen expression on his face.

Riven skipped out into the weyrbowl and looked down at her hide, then up
at the cliff weyrs, scanning to see if she could pick it out from the outside.

**We're getting our own weyr!** she thought at Savith.

"Hey, stranger!" F'lin altered his path when he saw Riven standing in the
sun, and he swept her into a big hug when she was close enough. "Long
time no see. They sure keep the Weyrlings busy. How are you?"

She grinned and hugged him back. "We're signing up for our new weyrs
today," she told him. "I've picked out ours, it's...somewhere up
there." She pointed up along the top.

"Really?" F'lin turned to squint at the cliff face. First they'd get
weyrs, then they'd graduate to Senior Weyrling. And then... "That's
great! When do you get to move in?"

"We have to be out by the restday. Hoping to use the evenings to move
things, I'm borrowing my parents' dragons," she admitted with a laugh.
"You'll have to come see it when it's done. I haven't even seen it yet."

"You couldn't keep me away," he promised. "Do you know anything about it?"

"It's one of the smaller ones that doesn't have a bathing pool and
it's on the bowl and river side. It was marked as "greens only" on the
sheet." She half-shrugged. "I know we lowly weyrling greens don't get
the best pick, but I'm hoping the view will make up for it."

"Well, the view will be better than the view from the Lower Caverns, I can
tell you that already. And you're welcome to use my bathing pool any
time," he added, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She laughed. "For when I don't want to see the whole weyr, that sounds
good. I wonder if Savith will be able to see you from the ledge - which
side are you on?"

"Seaside." F'lin had requested the move as soon as he was able. Having
grown up by the sea, a landlocked view was just... not right.

"Well, we can still visit you soon enough," she said with a smile. "It's
going to be so _weird_ living alone."

"There's upsides." Like alone time... Riven's Weyrlinghood was taking
_forever_, and F'lin found his thoughts drifting more and more to the
pretty healer. He shrugged and tried to turn his mind onto a different
path. "Will your weyr have interior access too, or is it only
accessible by dragon?"

"It has interior access. At least according to the map." She wrinkled her
face at it. "I guess it's a size thing, instead of having the bathing pool
in the back it has narrow corridors. Why don't we go see right now?"

Technically, she had time, as plenty of time was freed up this day for the
choice of the new weyrs.

"Sure!" F'lin held out his arm. Technically he had some straps to repair,
but that could wait until later. "First visitor... I feel honoured."

She took it, pretty sure this was still within the rules. It seemed like
it would be a bit of a walk. "At least I'm not asking you and Seneth to
help move."

The bronzerider laughed at that. "I'd noticed! But I'll help if you want
me to. Many hands make light work. How much stuff do you have, anyway?"

"Would you believe it's almost nothing? Sevenday and a half's worth of
clothes, bedding, a rug and a few trinkets, and my favorite rocking
chair." Riven wasn't normally one for things; she preferred experiences
and moments, not items. But the last was a prized possession, something
that took up most of the small space she was alotted.

"I take back my offer of help. Sounds like I'd just be in the way." F'lin
paused as a shadow crossed their path, and Seneth landed in a flurry
of dust. "Want a ride up? I don't feel like taking the stairs."

She showed him the map one last time. "If you think you can find it from
the outside, so we don't crash in on some poor person."

She was going to need to learn how to recognize things from aerial soon
enough.

"Maybe? I guess we'll find out!" F'lin leaped onto Seneth's back and held
a hand out to Riven. "Unless you want to fly with Savith? It can be
weird flying on another dragon when you have your own."

"I have to catch that ride from you," she said. Savith grumbled in her
head about the propriety. "We're not allowed to fly unsupervised yet," she
added.

"Right." He hauled her onto Seneth's back and, after making sure that she was
holding on tight, Seneth leaped skyward. The difference in her balance was
noticeable from the last time he'd flown her anywhere. She moved more like
she was helping to fly, and less like a sack of tubers. It didn't take long for
Seneth to make it to the top of the Weyrbowl, and F'lin mentally
counted the ledges until he found what he thought was Riven's
weyr-to-be.

Seneth grumbled about the tight landing, but the three of them managed to
fit onto the ledge. As soon as he was free of Riven and his rider,
Seneth took off to find somewhere more spacious. F'lin watched him go
with a bemused smile, then gestured for Riven to take the lead. "It's
only fitting that you're the first one in," he told her.

She grinned at him after she slid down. She'd thought Seneth was huge
before she Impressed, and thought Savith's size was much more reasonable.
"Thanks for the honor."

She walked in and looked around. It was pretty small, with only a
single-sized bed on one side of the room, and a wardrobe cabinet near the
door in the back. Everything else she'd have to bring in herself. There
were some shelves carved into the stone, and as she ran a finger along
one, she found...

"Hey, look at this. It's decorated!"

"What?" F'lin had immediately flopped onto the bed to test the mattress.
He rolled onto his feet and went to join her.

"Someone sacratched their names in here. R'sian & Terian, and some dates."

"I don't recognize the names... I wonder who they are?" And how long the
graffiti had been there. And what the Headwoman had done to the pair
of them when she'd found out.

"Maybe they transferred. I bet Terian wasn't a rider. There's not space
for two dragons."

"There's not even space for one normally sized dragon."

"Hopefully Savith will still be able to fit." She was growing bigger than
she had been at Hatching, that was for sure. "Still not sure how big
she'll turn our," she pondered.

F'lin ran his finger over the names scratched in the wood. "I'm going to
be mad if she grows bigger than Seneth."

"Unless she's a very poorly colored gold, that's not going to happen."

Savith let out a little grumble. }:I don't have to be large to be the best.:{

"Probably not." The bronzerider glanced around the tiny room, taking in
the small bed, the wardrobe, the knicks and scratches on the walls and
the way the light fell through the opening to Savith's ledge. He
turned to face the healer. "So what do you think? Do you like it?"

She found herself nodding. "I think it will do us fine for now. I don't
think I need much...though I'm skeptical about the chair fitting."

"I'm sure it'll fit. You might just bump your shins a lot. And if you
want, you can store it in my weyr until you have room for it." It
would be an incentive for the pretty greenrider to come over...

She laughed. "I'll figure it out. I'm sure we'll be fine for the rest of
weyrlinghood. And thanks for the offer."

"Any time," F'lin told her. And he meant it.

Last updated on the October 19th 2014

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