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Post by ShadowReine on Dec 9, 2008 23:50:49 GMT -5
Yselka finished the list of weyrlings in a bitter sweet manner.
Green Hideyeth to W'ska - deceased
A good pair lost, for she had no doubt they would have been. Lorisette remained locked up. She was, in part, Benden's problem. Exile to the western isles would be her fate if the Weyrwoman had anything to say about it, but there would have to be a trial. Justice would have to be seen to be done.
A Benden mark dropped near where B'toc had fallen. But he had been sure his killer was a man.
She shook her head, and turned towards a distinctly more pleasant duty.
Lyeth, love, is Allirth awake
Barely
Tell her to tell hers to come here while she gets some rest
Of what was Nebrona of Ista made? She would need to be stern stuff...to be bonded to such a dragon at such a time...
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Post by tariala on Dec 10, 2008 15:35:44 GMT -5
Lyeth’s wants to see you. Allirth relayed sleepily, shifting in her couch to what looked like a very uncomfortable position, but which apparently suited the dragon just fine.
Nebrona looked over at her, frowning slightly. “Just me?” Obviously, Allirth needed her rest, but this was still new enough that she hated to leave her dragon alone.
Just you. Allirth confirmed. Now get going, already. I need my beauty rest- one of us has to be the pretty one here.
Nebrona laughed. I already knew you’re beautiful, love. Whereas she’d felt fortunate to rate compliments of ‘pretty’ from Olorn. Or her father, but fathers were obligated to say things like that about their daughters. "So if you’re beauty, does that make me brains?"
We’ll see, after you deal with Lyeth’s. I’ll expect a full report. Allirth informed her, eyes closed, as she drifted off again. When Nebrona felt the young dragon fall asleep, she left her weyr and went calling on Yselka.
“Reporting as ordered, Weyrwoman.” She greeted Yselka neutrally, her body posture ramrod straight as she fought the urge to come to attention. “I hope you and Lyeth are well today.” The last thing she wanted to do was get off on the wrong foot with someone she’d probably be working with very closely from now on.
Unless, the thought occurred to her, Yselka had called her here to request she consider transferring to another Weyr, like Ivria. But would the other Weyrs even want a mutant queen? Nebrona knew Allirth was perfect, but she’d heard enough at the hatching feast to know that not everyone was ready to share her opinion.
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Post by ShadowReine on Dec 11, 2008 1:07:36 GMT -5
Yselka stepped back into the Weyr, indicating that the young woman (which of the two was even the younger?) should take a seat. "How is Allirth?" she asked first, quite calmly.
On the table were set out snacks, fruit and juice. "And both I and Lyeth are fine. Lyeth is very glad not to be Sands bound any longer."
But then, that was part of a queen's duty. Yselka took Nebrona in. Ex guard, hence the almost-attention. That at least meant the girl had discipline...frankly, she would have expected...
...nothing about that hatching had gone as expected. Two mutants, a blue choosing a girl. Maybe three mutants, maybe that blue had been affected in ways that were not visible, confusing his sense of who he should Impress to. Maybe...
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Post by tariala on Dec 11, 2008 20:52:43 GMT -5
“Allirth is fine.” Nebrona entered the room, and took the offered seat. “Sleeps a lot, but I guess that’s normal for any newborn.” Seeing the snacks on the table, she relaxed a bit more. Food made this meeting feel more informal- though she was still itching to get down to business, whatever it may be.
She noted Yselka’s study of her, and resisted the urge to tense up again or bristle. Let the Weyrwoman look. She had nothing to hide, and nothing could take Allirth away from her. Compared to that, anything else was secondary. She looked back at Yselka with a practiced calm, honed from Turns of practice in a career where some men constantly looked to pounce on any hint of ‘over-emotional female’, and waited for the Weyrwoman to make the next move.
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Post by ShadowReine on Dec 11, 2008 23:41:38 GMT -5
Yselka nodded. "I remember that too. It lasts for about the first three to four weeks, then they really start to perk up and get out of the eating and sleeping cycle...and that's when their personality really starts to shine through. Queens tend to be...strong-willed."
She smiled, relaxing. "Am I right in recalling that you used to be a guard?"
Allirth might be atypical in many ways, but she had still made a queen-like choice...a woman not of the Weyr. A woman of strong will.
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Post by tariala on Dec 13, 2008 2:18:25 GMT -5
Allirth? Stronger willed than now? Nebrona could almost feel that headache coming on already.
"Yes, I was." She pushed the feeling of sudden foreboding away and answered Yselka's question with a smile of her own. "Not exactly a common career choice for a woman, but it's something of a family tradition. Frankly, I had expected a fighting green for me. Not -before Allirth-" she qualified quickly, "that I would have said no to keeping the gold here for Ista." She smiled wryly, faintly chagrined at her competitive streak.
Though, really, recent events had proven that her hostility toward the idea of the foreign-weyr female candidates, if not completely justified, hadn't been entirely wrong, either.
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Post by ShadowReine on Dec 13, 2008 19:58:25 GMT -5
Yselka nodded. "The queens choose as they will. Sometimes, their choices make sense. At other times...sadly, Pern has seen some weak and incompetent goldriders. But I don't see you as falling into either category."
She reached to claim a slice of redfruit for herself, taking a bite before continuing. "You will be taking some lessons with the weyrlings and others one on one with me. No matter what, Allirth is your first concern. Because of her difference, I'm going to be asking you to take certain records...I want her growth pattern recorded and anything unusual, physical or mental, noted down. Some people around the Weyr are callng her the 'platinum', and I think it might stick."
A rare and precious metal, indeed. "Be warned, as you spend less time raising your dragon, I will start throwing some of the paperwork your way."
That was what extra queenriders were for, after all.
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Post by tariala on Dec 14, 2008 4:40:24 GMT -5
Nebrona knew she looked appropriately horrified at the warning. She could write a report as well as anybody, but she’d never had a whole Weyr’s records to potentially mess up, either. And numbers just plain scared her. But she’d muddle through it somehow- and who knew, Allirth might be able to help her there, too.
The request for record-taking was met with a nod of acknowledgement. She’d have to run down a dragonhealer or someone and get estimates for a queen’s normal growth patterns, to compare Allirth’s to, but that shouldn’t be a problem. “These records… are they intended for general knowledge of the first white queen,” so Nebrona had begun mentally tagging her, “or have the other Weyrleaders specifically asked to be informed of her progress as well?”
Nebrona would never fudge a record, but the latter purpose might demand a little more care and attention to how and what she said than the former.
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Post by ShadowReine on Dec 14, 2008 17:04:50 GMT -5
"General knowledge. The only thing the other weyrleaders seem to care about is whether or not she clutches." Yselka gave a wry smile. "Lyeth, of course, insists there is nothing wrong with her."
Lyeth was still incredibly smug about *two* queens, and while her memory would fade with time, Yselka's would not...and Lyeth was, after all, a gold. "The primary reason I want records is if she passes it on...or if another one like her is hatched, for the benefit of that rider. I'm going to be asking the same of T'ik, too."
Now that was an odd looking dragon...and an odd rider. Not that there was anything that odd about a girl who chose to live as a boy, but...
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