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 Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 6:51 pm
Luci had moved her office after the late Weyrleader's passing. No one was sure why, but then again, barely anyone knew she had migrated until they were called to see her and subject to a lot of misguided wandering. She didn't intentionally try to lead them astray, she just forgot to inform Dorath to add on the new directions when she summoned them. Fortunately, that gift Ghenza had given them - for purely political reasons Luci understood, but still felt suspicious about - had done amazing things for their dragon's memory.
Dorath not only remembered on her own to fill the green in on the location change, she remembered H'pez was with her and kindly urged her to remind her rider to knock first. Less she walk in on something.
Like an uncomfortable fight.
"Remind me why you're here again?" Luci asked, admiring her reflection in the full-length mirror; the dress was she wore was over-the-top extravagance at it's finest.
H'pez understood fashion was her way of mourning. "To make sure you fall in line. You've been a little grouchy since-"
"Since this Weyr failed to convict the right people? Yeah, I'm a little upset about the deadglow decision Kindlely made..." Luci dropped her voice, and added in a mutter, "And then going between like that and just ditching me here to handle these kids."
"I understand, but you're taking it out on everyone else. You made one of our blueriders cry yesterday, Luci, and it was a male rider."
With what could have been an allergic reaction, but was probably a snort, she returned to the seat in front of her stone desk and carefully - very carefully - sat. "I'm just wondering if something like this would never happen at Telgar or Ghenza."
"Telgar, it could have. Ghenza... Those people are immune to poison because of the venom in their own blood."
A knock at the door.
"Come in," beckoned Luci.
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:10 pm
You are in the right place, Mine, right? Palisanth interjected even as O'ri raised her hand to knock on the door. The new office and not the old one? Not that she didn't have confidence in her rider's memory or directional sense; it was more like a mother making sure their child did, in fact, remember their new locker number. Better safe than sorry, after all, especially considering who Hers was going to see. When summoned by the Weyrwoman, it was best not to be late!
Of course, Pali, the woman reassured her. You've all but engraved it in my brain. Once given permission to enter, O'ri took a deep breath and opened the door...and was met not just by the sight of Luci (who happened to be looking quite lovely), but of H'pez as well. Oh, dear. What could this be about? She wasn't a nervous sort - besides, it wasn't like she'd done anything wrong, at least to her knowledge - but she was very curious. Okay, maybe just the tiniest bit nervous. Maybe.
"Weyrwoman, Weyrleader," she acknowledged respectfully, managing a smile despite the feeling of suspense. "You wanted to see me?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:26 pm
"O'ri," H'pez greeted kindly, but he didn't leave it at just that.
Some people in the Weyr perceived his character through uneducated eyes; they grumbled and gossiped he was too docile, even for the gentlest of Weyrs - and High Reaches indeed had to be the lead runner for that title. They didn't know him as a person, just as a subject of debate, a target of rumors and as the new Weyrleader. H'pez couldn't leave well enough alone in the end, but they didn't know that yet.
Greeting her was 'well enough', but not enough; it wasn't what D'astel would have done. Many a sevenday had come and gone, yet the memory of that man was fresh in his mind when he stood from the couch, crossed the room and took O'ri's hand to shake it.
"Thank you for coming," he said.
Luci was perfectly comfortable where she was, however. "Why did you shorten your name? Since you're a woman you didn't have to."
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:39 pm
O'ri's smile brightened when the Weyrleader greeted her so kindly, and she gave his hand a firm shake. It was calming to be greeted in such a way by an authority figure, even if she still didn't know why she was here. Surely he wouldn't be so nice just to turn around and do something...well, not nice.
"Of course," she replied. 'Thanks for inviting me' didn't seem quite appropriate, at least not yet, so she left it at that.
Luci's question was not the least bit enlightening, only puzzling. Surely that didn't have anything to do with why she was here? She was far from the only female rider who'd chosen to shorten her name. Well, whatever! She didn't mind answering. "It seemed like a good idea at the time?" O'ri grinned, and even chuckled a little, but a gentle reminder from her dragon that she should be more serious cut her off. "Sorry. I thought it was cute - fun, you know."
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:58 pm
"It seemed like a good idea at the time?"
Luci grunted behind the hands folded in front of her face. The recent changes in the Weyrwoman were as glaringly obvious as the rays of sun on the brightest morning of the turn. Her tone, posture - everything was different. Almost. She had always thought that--
"That's degrading to your fellow woman rider, you know. Do you realize that you're in the most opportunistic Weyr for girls? Do you think Telgar would be calling you in here for why I'm call-"
H'pez covered her mouth and opened his. A roar outside made him second guess his actions and he hastily retreated from his post, chiding himself for forgetting how unbearably over-protective Dorath had become.
"I see girls around here all the time dressing like men, and no one says anything negative about it," Luci rambled on. "But you get some girly man and everyone has something to say about it because being a girl is something to feel bad about in Pern today, unless you have a gold, and even then. When you women here take on these male traditions you're promoting the idea they're superior to ours - superior to us."
"I think she gets it, Luci," H'pez murmured. Sympathetically, he looked to the poor soul subject to the femme fatal's rant and asked, "You understood her, right? And that isn't why you're here."
His face also had something to say: Oh, please say yes. I don't want to have to hear it when you leave.
He was a patient man, but D'astel... Shards, he must have been a saint.
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:14 pm
The smile disappeared from O'ri's face, and the color followed soon after. W-was that really why she was here? It was bad that she'd shortened her name? Was Luci going to make her change it back? Helplessly, she looked from the Weyrwoman to her former wingleader. Her lip set to quivering, and tears began to threaten to make an appearance. But Palisanth was there in her mind, reminding her to hold them back and stand up straight. She'd be fine.
If it had been anyone but the Weyrwoman, Pali would likely have told their dragon that Theirs needed to back off and be nice to Hers, but Dorath would hear no such thing. She didn't need to dig O'ri any deeper a hole!
The greenrider took a deep breath. "I understand. I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to be disrespectful. It was a long time ago."
If that wasn't why she was here, though, why was she? She wanted to ask, but had been too thoroughly chastised to be bold.
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:30 pm
H'pez felt his tongue trace along his uneven teeth. A peculiar bad habit that had manifested in childhood, ceased to be in Weyrlinghood, and again been triggered into active duty the second he woke up beside this ornery woman.
Choices were a privilege, not a right; he hadn't been given one or else he'd have still been with his wing. Still darting around with only Thread that may not even fall in his lifetime to fret about. Still surrounded by softer, nicer women - even if some of them did shorten their names.
He planned to console her later and submit to Luci that, perhaps, one of the larger problems women were facing was being too hard on each other. Not just empty words coming from him; he believed it since the first time he'd worked with his former wingsecond.
Kessa was a kind soul but had always, always unconsciously been more critical of the women in their wing.
"It's all right," H'pez granted. "We have good news."
Luci felt a nudge on her shoulder and then said, "As I'm sure you know, R'o has recently stepped down from his weyrlingmaster duties."
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:41 pm
'It's all right' wasn't much, but it helped. O'ri would take any bit of consolation she got, even if she what she really needed was a hug. That would have to wait, until this was over with and she could go curl up with Palisanth and their little firelizard, Lo. Whatever this was.
Good news? Really? Well, anything was better than being scolded by the Weyrwoman - who, despite being younger than O'ri, managed to be very intimidating.
She didn't make the connection between good news and the retirement of the Weyrlingmaster, though. On the contrary, she'd found it very sad! Try not to look clueless, Palisanth advised her, though she was a bit perplexed as well. You are on thin ice already.
So she settled for nodding and affirmed, "I'm aware."
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:59 pm
"Yeah, everyone thinks they know everything these days," Lucy complained under her breath. That personal frustration hadn't been stirred by the hand of O'ri, who would have no reasonable means of knowing what the underlined message was. The only people who would were in prison, dead, MIA or in Julis' infuriating exception waltzing around the Weyr with undeserved freedom.
Another nudge.
"Anyway..." Luci cleared her throat. Thinking of that guy left a wretched taste in her mouth. "We're in need of a new weyrlingmaster, obviously, but our clutches continue to be... Some of the dragons are..."
"Slightly hostile," H'pez offered.
"Right. Hostile. It's become clear to me - and to the Weyrleader - one method of teaching isn't a responsible way of approaching our training with these fledgling riders and their... often special dragons. We've decided to sort them into groups, but to do that, we need more than one teacher. What do you say?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 9:23 pm
Though her distress was fading, her confusion was not - this meeting just made less and less sense! Of course they needed a new Weyrlingmaster. Someone needed to teach the new dragonriders. The poor weyrlings from the last clutch were right in the middle of training! But what did that have to do with her? That or...handling hostile dragonets. Okay, she had a little first-hand experience with those, but not in a good way. O'ri rubbed the scarred side of her face unconsciously, trying to-
Wait. Hold up a minute. Were they asking her to be a weyrlingmaster? That was certainly nothing she would ever have expected, even before all this had gotten off on the wrong foot. She was relatively young, and she and her dragon were perfectly healthy, and not important or special or...
It must have been H'pez's idea. He knew her, he knew Palisanth, and Pali was practically made to be a teaching dragon, but...still! Shards, she had to answer them, but this was all so sudden! Totally out of the blue. O'ri blinked owlishly at the pair, until her dragon mentally shook her from her rushing thoughts. While her rider was in shock, the green was absolutely thrilled. She could never lay a clutch, so the prospect of teaching one, taking care of it, oh it was so exciting! Go on then, say yes!
"I- We'd be honored. And delighted." Oh Faranth, this was officially the weirdest day ever! Her gaze switched to H'pez. She was going to have some questions after this!
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 3:20 am
Luci smiled. It didn't reach her eyes, but it was more than most got these days. "Good," she said, "and I'll let you know more details when we have them. Feel free to go brag about your status while I tell your new wingleader we're pulling you from his squad."
"If you have any questions, come see me and I'll help you." H'pez thought that over, and decided, "Or I can get R'o to do so. He'd probably more help to you given his former ranking is the same."
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:06 am
O'ri felt terribly off-balance, having gone straight from a stern reprimand to 'hey, would you like to be a weyrlingmaster?', from distress to excitement. And she could feel Palisanth, for whom overjoyed was currently an understatement. It was all making her a little dizzy.
The greenrider nodded to cover her silence while she collected herself. "Thank you," she said finally, "Thank you so much."
She had the strong urge to hug H'pez, but her dragon wisely quelled it. Please try to remain serious, Mine. Dorath's does not seem in the mood for...hijinx. Well, next time she saw him then. Maybe. If he wasn't too busy.
The bright smile she'd started with returned, and she inclined her head respectfully to the pair. That had seemed like a dismissal, so she shuffled backwards towards the door; unless stopped for some reason, O'ri would be out the door and away from the gaze of the surprisingly intimidating Weyrwoman.
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