Harper Timiny entered the Headwoman's office after she completed her interview with each Candidate.  She would leave to check on other things around the Weyr while he quizzed the youngsters.  After introducing himself as Master Harper Timiny, he indicates they should sit on one of the stools between the sand table and the chalk slate on the wall, and hands them a sheet of paper.

"First, read the text on this page."



After the Candidate has read - or attempted to read - aloud the top half of the sheet, Harper Timiny instructs them to answer the mathematical questions on the bottom half, indicating the chalk and slate on the wall be used for any calculations the Candidate needs to do.



After the Candidate performs - or attempts to perform - the calculations, Journeyman Timiny instructs the Candidate to transcribe his dictation of the following on the sand table.



"Alright, you're good to go."  The Harper had been taking notes throughout the examination, which he put away before opening the door to the office and waving the Candidate out.  He gave no indication of his opinion or assessment of their abilities, remaining incredibly impassive throughout the exam.

Education Scores

Reading: 1 point per word, 10 points overall for properly handling commas, periods, and other punctuation.
Math: 5 points per calculation (20 calculations total)
Writing: 1 point per word; 1 point per 2 punctuation (2 errors allowed).

#Site-Main-Plot

Shemov scowled, but finished the stew and biscuit while they waited for Harper Timiny to show up.  He didn't like the sound of this "educational exam."  More people sticking their noses where they weren't wanted.

The man came in and the woman left.  He handed Shemov a sheet of paper.  "First, read the text on this page."

Shemov looked at the scribblings on the page.  He didn't know what any of them meant.  He shrugged and made to hand the sheet back to Timiny.  "Canna read."

Slowly, Timiny took the sheet back.  "Don't you know you letters and numbers?"

Shemov shrugged again.  "Ne'er had no need fer 'em."

Timiny wrote something down on his notepad, then stepped over to the door and opened it.  "Alright, you're good to go."

Suspiciously, Shemov edged out the door, waiting for someone else to swoop down on him and haul him off to some other meeting.  There was, indeed, someone waiting for him: Z'vier.  "I can give you a lift back up to the top of the Tower, if you'd like," the man offered.

The Candidate started to refused, but changed his mind.  Like he'd told the Headwoman, the dragons were okay.  Actually, they were more than okay.  He really rather enjoyed their company, because they never talked; the riders always seemed to want to engage in conversation.  He shrugged and gestured for the bluerider to lead the way.  He smiled when he saw Ospereth, greeting the dragon by name and held out a hand to give the dragon a friendly scratch before they mounted up and flew up to the top of the Tower.  After he dismounted - and shared another draconic greeting, this time with green Meith - he retreated into his small stone hut.  The dragonriders were building a larger shelter structure at the other end of the Tower, one big enough to shelter two dragons as well as their riders.  And it seemed like there was some other sort of contraption going on top of the shelter, but he wasn't sure what.

Once in the privacy of his home, he silently railed against the invasion of his home.  He had tolerated the arrival of the others on the floor of the Weyr; they had no idea that he was living on top of this spire, nor did they seem to have any reason to know.  The dragonriders were a different story, however.  They invaded his plateau home, and now they were forcing him to mingle and interact with the others who had come here.  Not only that, but they weren't going to allow him to leave!  How dare they!

But then he thought about the dragons, and how calm they made him feel.  Would it really be so bad to have one with him all the time?  It would make finding a new home easier, too...

Education Scores

Reading: 0
Math: 0
Writing: 0

Harper Timiny knocked on the door and let himself in when Lery called out to him.  That august woman rose from her desk and exited the room, leaving Quarion alone with the blue-clad man.  He hastily finished the last few bites of the meal she had provided.  He was a bit surprised when Timiny helped himself to a mug of klah from the stove, and accepted a second cup for himself when the Harper offered it.  After pouring the klah, he handed a paper to the Candidate.  "First, read the text on this page."

Quarion considered himself reasonably well-educated, so he was taken aback when asked to read off a paper.  He cleared his throat and took a moment to skim the text before starting to read.

"Shays boil and mountayns move,
Sands hee-ayt, dragons prove
Red Star passes.
Stones pile and fires burn
Green withers, arm Pern.
Goo-ard all passes.
Star Stone watch, scan sky.
Re-ady the Way-irs, all riders fly;
Red Star passes.

Barlay, no, barlee, is a cereal gray-i--grayn that can be brewed as a t-tee to combat symptoms of cystitis, which is a common complay--complaynt of female dragonriders.

A we--weever's-length is the length from nosetip to extended arm fingertip, or approximately one yard.

The Yokohama was commanded by Admiral Paul Benden and carried two-thousand nine-hundred people."

He was puzzled by the frequency of "ea" in the text.  Much of the modern text had dropped combined vowel sounds except in a few cases, and vowel pairs were pronounced independently.  He stammered over some of the words, correcting his pronunciation when he recognized what the word was supposed to be from its context, even though it was spelled strangely.  He shook his head after he finished.

The math portion was easy - as it should be for anyone who used herbalism in their day to day lives! - and he wrote the answers out on the chalkboard:

• Tart Crust:
  
  
  
  • 1 cup butter
    
  • 4 tablespoons granulated sweetening
    
  • 5 cups flour
    
  • 1 teaspoon salt
    
  • 1 cup ice water
    
  
  
  
• Tart Filling:
  
  
  
  • 10 cups berries
    
  • 2 cups granulated sweetening
    
  • 0.5 teaspoon powdered klah bark
    
  • 4 teaspoons citrus juice
    
  • 2-4 tablespoons butter
    
  
  
  
• Gather-pie Crust:
  
  
  
  • 1/4 cup butter
    
  • 1 tablespoons granulated sweetening
    
  • 1.25 cups flour
    
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    
  • 1/4 cup ice water
    
  
  
  
• Gather-pie filling:
  
  
  
  • 1.25 cups berries
    
  • 0.25 cups granulated sweetening
    
  • 1/16 teaspoon powdered klah bark
    
  • 1/2 teaspoons citrus juice
    
  • 1/4-1/2 tablespoons butter
    
  
  
  

He felt completely confident in his calculations.  Then he was instructed to pick up a stylus and transcribe what the Harper spoke.

Drummer, bete, and piper, blo,
Harper, strik, and soljar, go.
Fre the flam and sere the grasses
Til the dahning Red Star passes.

From the Were and from the Bowl,
Bronze and brown and blu and grene,
Rise the dragonmen of Pern,
Aloff, on wing, sene, then unsene.

Ahnor those the dragons hede,
In thought and favor, word and dede.
Worlds ar lost or worlds ar saved
From those dangers dragon-braved.

Dragonman, avoyd excess;
Grede will bring the Were distress;
To the anchent Laws adere,
Prospers thus the Dragonwere.

"Alright, you're good to go."  Quarion was disappointed that he didn't receive any feedback from the man, who had remained inscrutable throughout the examination.  He lingered briefly outside the office, before striking out again for the Beasthold.  He went back to checking the animals over for injuries and then went to the Infirmary's herbal stores to inventory and mix up tinctures, salves, and other concoctions.  Winter was coming on, and there would be plenty of sore throats, coughs, and other common ailments, so he focused on stocking up on those items.

Education Scores

Reading: 94
Math: 100
Writing: 75

Timiny smiled a greeting as Lery cleared out of the office.  He knew who Marrisha was, of course; it would have been hard not to, given her precipitous addition to their little group.  Besides, he had something for her...but not until after her exam!  She'd be too distracted if he gave her the small satchel now.  "First, read the text on this page."

Marri falteringly returned his smile.  She made a face when asked to read; she'd never been very good at reading aloud.

"Sis bowl an' mowntans moff,
Sends hit, drawgens proff
Rid Ster pasts.
Stuns pill-ee an' fir-ets born
Gren wif-erts, arm Pern.
Gyard all pasts.
Ster Stun witch, skin skee.
Ridee th' Ways, all ridders flee;
Rid Ster pasts.

Berli is a kiril gren thet ken be brit as a ti t' kumbet shiptims of kisstis, wit is a kumun kumplen o' fimel drawgenridders.

A wivesh-lent is th' lent frum nustep t' estint arm fynirtyp, er ahpruxmitlee on'ee iyert.

Th' I-uh-kuh-emeh wuz kument be Aymerel Pool Beendeen an' kurit two-nine-zero-zero piuplee."

She made to hand the paper back, refusing to make eye contact with the Harper.  She didn't want to see him frown and listen to him scold her about not paying attention to her mother's reading lessons...

But he flipped the sheet over.  On the back were a bunch of numbers.  She recognized that they were recipes, because they had a handful of them at home, but she wasn't the baker in the family, that was her sister.  She knew, logically, that medicines, like salves, were sometimes written in this form, and she could match the measurement units up with the scoops and spoons she'd had for her potions, but she didn't know what the ingredients were; she learned those by rote.  When Timiny told her to answer the two questions at the bottom of the page, she froze.  She had trouble reading to begin with, how was she supposed to read that and do something with it?!

She stared at it for a moment, her hands starting to shake, not realizing the blurring of the words was because of tears in her eyes, not stress, until a drop splatted onto the paper.  She hastily tried to wipe the drop away, trying to not let the Harper see, but suddenly the sheet was slipped from her grasp and a hand patted her shoulder.  "Let's move on," the man suggested, and she thought she felt irritation and disappointment in his voice, and she choked back a sob.

He led her over to the sandtable - and now she found out what it was for!  She picked up one of the sticks on the side - one end sharply pointed, the other frayed and fluffed into a brush - while the Harper sprinkled some water onto the sand in the table dish.  She was to write with the pointed end of the stylus and use the brush to erase any mistakes.

Druhmir, bet, ant pypir, blo,
Harpir, stryk, ant sojir, go.
Free thah flam ant sir thah grahsis
Til thah dahnen Rid Ster pahsis.

After the first paragraph, she set the stylus to the side, her hand shaking and cramping.  "Please, stop!  I don't know what I'm doing."  She felt and sounded miserable, and hung her head so she didn't have to look at the Harper.

He studied her for a minute, silently (to her relief), before putting his paper aside.  He didn't dismiss her, though, and she started to think she was going to get a lecture anyway.  She considered bolting for the door - maybe she could make it outside before someone stopped her...

Timiny stood up off the stool he'd taken next to her to read and picked up the satchel he'd left at the end of the sandtable on his way in.  He wondered now if perhaps she'd have felt more confident if he'd given her the contents before the exam.  Clearly, she was frustrated and homesick, thrust into a life she'd never even imagined, and here he was, grilling her like a first-year Apprentice.  Ah, well.  Hindsight was perfect, so they said.  He noticed that she had shifted to the edge of her seat when he'd stood up, as though preparing to make a run for it.  He shifted a bit so he was between her and the door, at least until he handed her the package.

"Here, Marrisha.  We received this a couple of days ago, from your family."  He handed her the haversack.  "We were able to get them a message that you are safe, and that as soon as possible, we'll make sure you're reunited with them."

Marri looked up as he held out the bag.  As soon as he said it was from her family, she all but snatched it out of his hands.  She immediately started to open it, and then stopped, realizing she was being unbearably rude.  She carefully flattened the flap back over.  "Thank you, Harper Timiny," she all but whispered, daring to raise her gaze from the floor to his chest.

The Harper smiled, though she didn't see it.  "You're welcome, young lady.  Now, I imagine you'd like to see what they sent you, why don't you take that back to your Barracks space?"  He opened the door for her as she took the proffered exit hastily.

Education Scores

Reading: 40
Math: 0
Writing: 6

Timiny came back into the room.  He hadn't expected to do another exam quite so soon, but he realized he should have - after all, there were over a hundred people of Candidacy age in the Weyr, and not all of them had been Searched!  They were bound to be popping into Lery's office at unpredictable intervals to present themselves.  This young lady was just the first to get up the nerve to do it.

Nymine wasn't sure what "educational exam" she was about to be subjected to.  She was a little nervous about it, but she had committed herself now, there was no backing out!

Nymine Education Scores

Reading: 69
Math: 20
Writing: 85

Dynkel thought he'd done pretty well in his studies, so he wasn't intimidated by the exam.

Dynkel Education Scores

Reading: 87
Math: 25
Writing: 44

Harper Timiny didn't yet have an office. Not to mention, when he did have one, it would probably be in the Harper Hall, not in the main Weyr, anyway. The Harpers' area was marked out, but in truth, very little work had been done there. Nearly every Harper in the Weyr disavowed needing the space yet, insisting that the other Crafts needed their areas set up sooner. In this case, however, that was a bit awkward. Because of Lorler's illness, Timiny had held off on administering the educational exam for the trio from Ruatha. That meant now that it was impossible to get them into the Headwoman's office for at least a week, but they really wanted schedules established sooner!

However, the trio had a Barracks suite that would do the job, aside from the lack of a sandtable, but at least this time, he felt the use of some paper and graphite could be justified. The ones not taking the exam could remain in the common area, and he'd conduct the exam using each one's personal study (which would also prevent cheating, since there were no shared walls with the common area). He started with the youngest, figuring the older boy and the adult would be less likely to get nervous as they waited.

Lorler Education Scores

Reading: 93
Math: 35
Writing: 56

Erhom Education Scores

Reading: 98
Math: 27
Writing: 64

Aren Education Scores

Reading: 93
Math: 72
Writing: 87