As she made her way to the classroom on the first day of Candidate lessons, Alina was trying to figure out how many casks of salted fish they had. She and Nium thought they'd found it all, but this morning, she'd stumbled across a new alcove filled with barrels and barrels of salted fish. She, Nium, and Lery knew the Weyrfolk were heartily tired of fish, whether it was salted, baked, fried, broiled, grilled, stewed, steamed, soused, or poached. For that matter, she was tired of it, and she'd only been there for a week! What were they going to do with all this fish?!
Alina perched on a stool next to the slate, scribbling numbers in the margins of her notes while she waited for the Candidates to show up.
Expected Attendees
Amaki
Aren
Artie
Burlar
Dryden
Dynkel
Erhom
Hirana
Ildel
Kimta
Learyam
Leena
Lerane
Liadon
Liasa
Lorali
Luthi
Lyeala
Marrisha
Neme
Nemeia
Nylee
Nymine
Patelo
Pola
Quarion
Rineta
Safira
Secha
Shemov
Sindri
Skeldar
Taien
Terisan
Theirasta
Theram
Xilosci
Zerana
AmakiLike many of the other Candidates who had been brought forward, Amaki hadn't yet quite found where she fit in the social hierarchy at the Weyr. She was sticking to what she knew: the Candidate routine. She got up, ate breakfast, and joined the others in her math tutoring group. They were in the secondary Candidate classroom when Alina opened up the main classroom for their first Candidate lesson. It wasn't news to Amaki, and she could have skipped...but Lery had specifically asked those Candidates who came forward to set a good example for the new ones. And Amaki at least, was responsible: she made sure her fellow tutorlings also migrated from their room into the main classroom. She took a seat near the back of the classroom. She waved greetings to the other Candidates she recognized as they came in.
She mostly tuned out the lecture. It was old news; the only new thing was the person speaking. Instead, she watched the other Candidates. She'd heard some of them were being troublemakers, although she didn't know who they were, for the most part. She also knew that a lot of people would get their tails in a twist over the perceived "demotion" to Candidate status. She wanted to see if she could tell who those were.
ArenAren felt extremely out of place in the Weyr. He had helped Lery out some with his Truthreading, but he didn't really have a role to fill. And there was only so much watching of an 11- and a 13-year-old one could stand at a time. He'd never picked up a Craft, although he'd dabbled here and there. He was actually a bit relieved when Lery assigned him to a chores group. He had reported to Lorie bright and early that morning. It seemed their main responsibility was the creche...which, after babysitting his "nephews" for a week, was the least exciting thing he could think of doing. He had brought Lorler along. The good news was, for the first hour, most of the kids slept. They roused everyone a bit before 6am and escorted all the children to the Cafeteria for breakfast, where they helped the kids fill plates and eat. Lorler helped, which made Aren feel a little proud. And they got to eat while helping the littles. But he couldn't wait until they were released at ten minutes to 9. Not that his day was over, by any means...he made his way back to the Great Hall, and down into the alcove that was serving as classrooms for the Candidates.
He understood, perhaps better that some of the other Candidates, the reason for the firm enforcement of the ranking system. It was going to be a little strange, not being the right-hand man of an entire territory like he had been for Loraine, but he'd never had a formal rank, so it didn't bother him much. The idea of a stipend was new; most people these days were paid based on their work product. He was lucky: Loraine footed his expenses for housing and food, although officially, she paid him for the hours he spent advising her. He wondered how he'd get paid, and made a note to ask Alina or Lery in private.
ArtieGetting up and being somewhere by 5am was not on Artie's list of favorite things. But he'd done more difficult things, and he'd be left out for Thread before he'd shirk. Even laundry. How much laundry did the Weyr produce?! He was starving by the time he was released at 8:30am in order to make it back to the Great Hall in time for his first Candidate lesson. He ran part of the way there to gain some time, but had to slow to a jog before long. He made it to the Great Hall with 10 minutes to spare...barely enough time to wolf down a couple of broken pasties from the Cafeteria and wash his mouth out with some juice before scurrying to the classroom.
He was a bit puzzled by the talk of a stipend. The Hall paid him by the hour for his work, but it wasn't a guaranteed amount each week. This stipend sounded like something that was guaranteed. He raised his hand.
"What is this stipend?" he asked when Alina acknowledged him.
BurlarBurlar and Avesa had settled into the new Weyr reasonably comfortably. T'lon had immediately launched into establishing greenhouses at the Weyr, and Burlar had plenty of experience with building and growing in them, so he had no doubt whatsoever where he was needed. Avesa labored next to him, as they had at his parents' cothold. They got out early each morning and put in a couple of hours' worth of work. He went inside at 7:30 and got breakfast and then went to his reading class. He waved at Amaki as he entered the secondary classroom and settled into the section for those who were working on their reading. His ability to read
was improving, he just wished he could translate reading to writing. He could figure out words when he was reading, but he had trouble spelling when he was trying to take the invisible words in his head or that someone else spoke and put them on paper.
He stood and stretched and stood outside the classrooms for a bit. Although Lery
had specifically asked those who had been brought forward to set a good example...well, he knew that the chores block was ending, which mean Nadra and T'lon would be losing all their help in the greenhouses. They had gotten four frames put up and were just waiting on the glasssmiths to produce the sheets of glass needed to fill the frames; in the meantime, they were setting up a fifth frame. He decided that, this time, he would skip the lesson and go help on the greenhouses instead.
DrydenThe young Weaver was still trying to wrap his head around the changes to his life, and the things he had learned the night before when he reported to the Hatching Grounds as ordered by Lery. He was tired and disoriented; he barely ate breakfast before stumbling into the Candidate classroom and collapsed onto a stool behind a desk. As they waited for others to arrive, he laid his head down on his desk, barely paying attention when Alina started talking. Someone poked him in the back, causing him to jump and yelp. He turned bright red as the room fell quiet and everyone looked at him, some amused, others disapproving. He muttered and apology and tried to focus on the slate while Alina spoke. But all the words began to blur together as he propped his head on his hands. He perked up slightly when Artie asked about the stipend, and he wasn't sure why Artie was asking...he had missed the last several statements as he drifted between sleep and wakefulness.
DynkelDynkel was used to rising early, and he checked on his precious llamas first thing. After feeding and watering them, he considered mucking their stalls, but he had classes and he didn't want to go sit inside for two hours smelling of llama -- or worse, llama dung. Instead, he handed off the task to another apprentice and made his way to the Great Hall for a leisurely breakfast before reporting to the classroom for his writing lesson. He knew his letters, but he had trouble knowing where to put capital letters and punctuation, and some trouble spelling longer words. He muddled through rules about "i before e" and "change y to i and add -ed" and wondering why "height" was e before i, and "played" kept the y...augh! Also, why was "weird" spelled "ei" while "weyr" was spelled "ey"???
He really wanted to go outside, to be with his llamas after figuratively beating his head against a wall with his writing. But he had another class to attend. He plodded into the other classroom and plopped down at another desk. They were being allowed to look at some pamphlets that had the information Alina was going over verbally with them, but they wouldn't be allowed to take those pamphlets away with them. He struggled to focus, his mind still cloudy from the previous hour's spelling and grammar rules. Then one of the youngest Candidates asked about the stipend. Dynkel knew what a stipend was, in terms of the definition of the word, but that was all he knew, so he turned his attention to Alina, dropping the pamphlet paper to the surface of his desk.
ErhomErhom felt out of sorts. He'd had no responsibilities before reporting for a math tutoring session. He was thoroughly ashamed of the score he'd received on the math test that Harper Timiny had given him, and was glad that his mother hadn't been present, and that they hadn't been allowed to send her any messages. He hadn't spoken to Aren about it, either, but he was pretty sure that Aren knew. Aren had left very early in the morning with Lorler, and Erhom had slept for a while longer. He woke when someone shouted that it was time for breakfast; he wasn't sure who it was, but his stomach growled and he decided it sounded like a good idea. He wandered upstairs and ate, then lazed around the Cafeteria until it was time for his tutoring session. He slunk into the classroom and took a seat in the corner. Normally, his noble upbringing would have made him disdainful of such lessoning, but he
knew his mother would be furious with him. He felt slightly better when he saw how many other people were getting tutored, and that they were all older than he. The older girl seemed to take pity on him and gave him extra help, and she shepherded him into the other classroom when it was time for their next lesson, something called "Candidate lessons," started.
Erhom was mildly relieved when he saw that Aren was present for the lesson, and he sat down next to his "uncle." He had never seen a hierarchical chart before, but he knew that his mother would be at the top of the pyramid. As her son and heir, he would be...not immediately below (which is where Aren would be), but the next level down, or at the bottom of the second level. Now he was getting knocked down four, or even five, levels?! He bristled at the perceived insult, but refrained from insulting Alina (who, as he understood it, was Aren's equivalent, and therefore, even as heir to a Hold, his superior). But he was angry! He also didn't know what a stipend was; he'd never wanted for anything, so he had very little understanding at this point in his life about money.
HiranaHirana had no idea what she was in for when she reported to the Beasthold at 5am. "Groundskeeping," the chore list in their common room had called it. She supposed that meant outside. She didn't like being outside, not even a little bit! It was too bright, especially after the sun came up. Another girl showed up and introduced herself as Nylee. Hirana thought the name was familiar, but the other girl clarified before Hirana had a chance to think about it too much: H'lee's daughter. An older woman collected the pair of them and took them to where the greenhouses were being built. Apparently, that was the most important part of "groundskeeping" right now. For four hours, until the entire Weyrbowl was lit with blindingly bright light, the two girls slaved alongside T'lon, Nadra, and several others, carefully maneuvering glass panels into place on the first of the greenhouse frames. Each plate of glass was only half a weaver's-length wide, but they were twice that long, and they were thick and heavy. They also had the glasssmiths exhorting them to be careful; it had, apparently, taken over a week for them to produce these panels, and by everything those assembling the greenhouses held dear, they were sure as shards not going to break any of them! Hirana wondered why they were using glass instead of plastic: the plastic would be far less likely to break.
The smith was inexpressibly relieved when they were released from their chores and sent into the Great Hall with an admonition to grab something portable to eat (if they hadn't already had something to eat before, which Hirana hadn't) and report to the classroom for some sort of lesson. She tried to pry information out of Nylee about what this lesson would be, and was only partially successful: something to do with a ranking system, and where they, as Candidates, fit. She puzzled over that as she grabbed a piece of redfruit and one of the pocket pies filled with sausage and jogged toward the classroom alone -- Nylee had apparently eaten earlier and had gone straight to the classroom, leaving Hirana on her own.
She took a seat in the rear, nibbling on the pie and garnering some greedy looks from her neighbors as they caught the scent of it. She finished it quickly and then rolled the redfruit on her desk before peeling back a portion of the rind and sucking the bruised fruit and pulp out. After a reproachful look from Alina at the noise she was making, however, she set it aside in order to pay attention to what the Assistant Headwoman was saying. She was annoyed at being told that other Journeymen would now be ranked over her; she was a junior Journeywoman, certainly, but to have all of them -- and even Apprentices! -- holding a higher rank, and ordering her about, was galling!
"Does our rank as a Candidate affect us when we're actually working in our Craft? I mean, if I'm in the smithy and need an Apprentice to, oh, I don't know, uh...help run the bellows, if my Candidate rank is more important, then I can't tell the Apprentice what I need..."
IldelIldel still felt a bit off-kilter. He'd been surprised at how readily the Headwoman's "staff" had accepted him into their ranks once Lery had introduced him and mentioned some of his accomplishments at the Weyr. Most of them were Stewards and Substewards that the riders had brought with them, but a handful of those ranks were prior residents of the new Weyr, and there were a number of upper-level staff who were all "locals." When he realized that he didn't actually know any of their names, and Lery had greeted them all by name and asked them about relatives, friends, or activities that Ildel had no clue about, he started to realize why it was she'd been so easily able to take over the running of the Weyr when he'd encountered nothing but hostile resistance.
He had, in fact, been assisting Alina with the Stores, mainly by mapping out the chambers (a task which had apparently been ignored before). Part of his responsibility was to put temporary signage up on each chamber they found, usually just numbers, but sometimes numbers and letters. He'd been witness to the Assistant Headwoman's exasperation when they'd uncovered a chamber full of
more salted fish! He was glad he wasn't the only one who was tired of the stuff. Today, on their way from Stores to the classrooms, he'd detoured into the Kitchens and requisitioned a couple pitchers of klah from Nium, and a basket full of mugs, which he brought to the classroom. Although he wasn't thrilled to being in yet another class, it was nice to be out of the dark, chilly tunnels that served to store their foodstuff, and wrapping his hands -- and stomach -- around a steaming mug of klah did much to improve his disposition. He set the thermoses and glasses on the desk closest to the door so anyone else could get some if they wanted, too.
When Hirana asked her question, he had to nod in agreement. He was assisting the Stewards and Substewards, and Alina and Lery; if he was so low-ranked, how would he maintain their respect? He also didn't really understand the stipend. He knew the people who worked for his parents received payment for their services, but he had never really paid attention to how it worked, and any time he or his siblings wanted money for something, they simply asked their parents (well, okay, maybe not "simply," but it wasn't like they received payment the way the staff did).
KimtaKimta was irritable. These new lessons he was being ordered to take interfered with his regular Healing lessons. He wanted to argue about the need for reading and math, but as a Healer...well...he knew better. And he knew he wasn't as good at them as he should be. But having to take extra lessons was just making him feel worse about it. He couldn't decide if seeing how many others were in the classroom receiving extra tutelage made him feel better or worse. He was paired up with an older man named Burlar, and was charged with reading out loud. The man helped him with words he didn't recognize; halfway through the lesson period, they changed partners, and he was paired with Pola, who was slightly older than Kimta.
When they finished with the reading lesson, then it was straight into the next lesson, something to do with being a Candidate. The material covered in the lesson wasn't too bizarre; after all, the Halls had retained a similar ranking system. Except...as Candidates, they were ranked lower than the newest Apprentice? He was trying to reconcile that contradiction when Hirana asked it aloud, and he turned his attention to Alina.
LearyamLearyam tried to be everywhere at once, and somehow, he frequently managed to succeed in the illusion. He was a little bit disappointed that he had been asked -- well, ordered, really -- to stay in the Weyr until after Hatching, since Warrelith had made it abundantly clear that he had whatever ephemeral qualities the Search dragons keyed on. Several of the other Riders had assured him that, despite being Searched, it was less likely that he would Impress because he was a Harper; historically, Harpers rarely Impressed dragons, and the only apparent reason for a Harper being chosen was a dearth of other options. That information made his confinement to the Weyr all the more stifling. But the sheer volume of activity in the Weyr helped ease his doldrums, especially following up on what the Riders and the Weyrfolk they had brought with them were doing. Lery's sandtable was a marvelous example of the interesting goings-on; although many of the modern Weyrfolk thought it an antiquated device better relegated to a museum, Learyam and Benimin had both picked up on the long-term usefulness in an era where paper would soon become a luxury item. It also gave both Harpers insight into the palimpsests that were once used, and the way in which they would be used and reused until they could no longer hold ink. A sandtable kept the Harpers' demand for hides, which were in higher demand for clothing like riding leathers, to a lower level. They started actually noticing just how much paper the Weyr was using -- and throwing away -- and were talking about having discussions with the Weryfolk about wastefulness. In the meantime, though, they started squirreling away reams of paper so they wouldn't run out
too abruptly. His assignment in the Errands group with S'nom perpetuated the appearance of his ability to in multiple places at the same time.
One of the many places Learyam professed to be simultaneously with other locations was in the classroom for the remedial reading, writing, and mathematics lessons. Growing up as a Harper and spending so much of his time trying to figure out Threadfall and how to find the Riders, he had easily passed Harper Timiny's exams, so he was assisting with the teaching. Okay, technically, he was in charge of teaching, although Timiny and Benimin had produced the curricula. He arrived early to the secondary classroom and set up three groups of chairs, then put a paper (oops) sign on the wall adjacent to each group to indicate which subject was being reviewed. He partnered up the students with higher scores on Timiny's tests with those who had poorer scores and had them tutor, then he would take a few minutes to tutor each of the higher-scoring students. Each class was up to half a dozen now, which meant those with poorer scores each got about 30 minutes' worth of tutelage and 30 minutes' worth of practice, but those with higher scores were only getting about 15-20 minutes' of tutelage with Learyam, and then spent 40-45 minutes tutoring the others. He made a note to talk to Benimin and Timiny about that.
After that class, though, it was his turn to be the student. He greeted Alina and asked, briefly, how she was before taking a seat in the front row, but at the far end of the room from the door, where he'd be out of the way of others coming in. He silently made note of which students attended and which didn't. Truthfully, he didn't pay as much attention to Alina's lecture as he probably should have, so he was caught slightly off-guard when the other Candidates started asking questions. He had a piece of paper and he quickly jotted down the questions -- and Alina's answers, when she gave them. It'd be useful to assemble a booklet of the questions and answers for others to reference later...
LeenaLeena was much happier than her twin because she didn't have to get up at a horrible hour. But she had two hours of lessons instead, and she wasn't sure that was better! Although she got a look at Artie's hands when she dropped down in a desk next to him and couldn't suppress a snicker at how wrinkled his fingers were.
"Just you wait, you're up for this next," he stuck his tongue out at her.
Her mind wandered more than a little during the lesson. She was distracted by the writing exercises from her earlier class -- she started trying to spell out some of the words Alina said on her paper. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Artie asked about the stipend.
LeraneLerane was beyond bored. Although his father was still reluctant to let him -- and his half-sister -- stand as Candidates at "such a young age," he had attended the Candidate lessons for nearly two years. The
only reason he was attending yet again was because he knew that either his mother would be teaching, or Alina would be, and he would never hear the end of it from either of them (and from his father) if he didn't show up. But that didn't make it any less boring. As he straggled in after spending the morning with Lorie in the creche, he spotted Amaki in the back corner and took a seat next to her with a faint smile in greeting.
Unfortunately, they had stools, not chairs, so he couldn't lounge in his seat and take a nap while pretending to pay attention, the way he normally would. Instead, he perched on the stool and leaned forward on his elbows, cupping his chin in his hands, trying to hide that he let his eyes close. He only vaguely followed the spiel, although he did listen to the questions that were asked...and who asked them.
LiadonLiadon had been extremely uncomfortable since the whole "timing it" process. He'd finally gotten comfortable in the Weyr he'd come from, and now they were not only in a new Weyr (and it was
new, as in still being built!), but it was a completely different time period and everything that was familiar was completely gone, except for the few small things he had been allowed to bring with him. His Harper lessons and the Candidate lessons were beacons of normalcy in the insanity that he was extremely grateful for. He showed up on time for his reading lesson and slogged along through the partner work.
Unlike most of the other Candidates who had been brought forward, he paid careful attention to Alina's speech. He wanted to know if anything was going to change for him as a Candidate. It didn't seem like it was, though, although there were apparently concepts that he took for granted that were new to the local Candidates who didn't know how things worked in the Weyr...so he listened attentively, since that newness might mean that Alina or Lery would change something...
LiasaLiasa didn't understand why she had to take "remedial" reading and writing classes. She knew enough to do her math! What more did she need?! She had better things to do than sit around working with glyphs that weren't numbers. When she'd skipped her first lesson, though, she found out that it wouldn't be tolerated, and she'd been assigned the worst errands: fetching and carrying, activities that strained her physical abilities; and worse, forced her to acknowledge that being able to read and write things besides numbers were important (because how were you supposed to figure out which drawer held the items you needed without going through every single drawer, when they were labeled for anyone to read, and how were you supposed to check out and return items without being able to read
and write?). The next morning, she'd begrudgingly shown up at her tutoring session. That distressingly cheerful Harper who was responsible for bringing the Riders to the Weyr was running the lessons and she found herself exhausted just being in the same room as him, let alone trying to work on her letters and spelling...
Sooner than she thought possible, they were all whisked off to the neighboring classroom for another lesson. This was one she wasn't reluctant to attend, although she thought she saw someone slip away out of the group. She gratefully poured herself a mug of the klah someone had been thoughtful enough to set up for them and took a seat in the front row, for once, eager for a class. The Scribe was dismayed when she realized that they were being taught something that was easier to understand if she could read and write...at least until the Assistant Headwoman started talking numbers! Liasa knew about wages and promptly started calculating in her head what her wages would be if she Impressed...wait...
"How much is a weyrling's stipend?" she asked a little desperately, her mental calculations tumbling to a halt as she realized she didn't have that crucial piece of information.
LoraliUnlike many of her fellow Harpers, Lorali was able to keep her usual morning routine, more or less. Instead of a 2-hour practice session, it was truncated to 1 hour, but it was far preferable to being in a stuffy classroom with a couple dozen others trying to get a handle on her reading at that early-morning hour. Her partners in her music trio were considering presenting themselves to be Candidates, but hadn't actually decided whether or not to do it yet. Apparently, since these Candidate Lesson classes were going to be held every day for a week, the other women had decided to let Lorali go through them, and tell them all about the classes, before they decided whether or not they wanted to go through with it. Lorali wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at them when Veria told her, and they'd all laughed.
Now she was seated on a stool, behind a small desk, paying close attention to the information the Assistant Headwoman was sharing with them. Seeing the hierarchy diagram enlightened her to some of the notations in the Teaching Ballads, and how the Weyrs fit into the overall structure. She followed the stipend conversation somewhat better than most, she decided, given the number of questions being asked; in her plans to be a Route Rider, she knew she would receive compensation commensurate with the danger, not so much related to the number of hours she put in, unlike many other professions that paid wages based on the quantity and quality of work produced. However, it was definitely interesting to learn that at one time, everyone was paid that way, instead of hourly. She knew one reason there had been a push to hourly was because of unscrupulous employers who insisted on their workers doing more work with less recompense, and the hourly wage was a way to ensure that a person received a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, instead of being taken advantage of because they were exceptionally fast or responsible and reluctant to say "no" when asked to take on more responsibilities. But if Alina's statements were accurate, the Riders wouldn't have time to do much beyond fight Thread, which had to be fought whenever and wherever it fell, regardless of the hours.
Lorali had seen the Riders working seemingly tirelessly alongside the Weyrfolk over the last week, trying to ensure that their new home was able to support dragonkind and their human partners during such fighting. She found herself longing to see the dragons and their riders in action, fighting Thread; so far, the dragons had mostly helped with heavy lifting, towing damaged ships, and transporting goods, and she'd yet to see them working in more than teams of two or three...she remembered how it had looked when the entire population had materialized over the Weyr last week, and she couldn't wait to see it again! With a start, she realized she had started daydreaming, and dragged her attention back to the class.
LuthiThe young, widowed mother had been struggling to deal with the grief. Now that they were safely in the new Weyr, she'd had too much time to think about the loss of her husband and their firstborn son and, more than once, found herself raging inside at the dragonriders who had dragged them all along on this accursed journey. Her brother seemed oblivious to her struggle, as he and his wife alighted easily in their new aerie. When she stopped to think it through logically, she knew it was the dragons' or the Riders' fault that her husband and son had been killed, and they had lost one of their own, as well; but in her cups, she could help rail against them as she sobbed into one of her late husband's shirts. The work she was doing in the Beasthold did nothing to assuage her grief, although it kept her from getting drunk before her remaining children were safely tucked into bed and sound asleep.
Luthi had been told that Candidate lessons were starting, but she had no desire to attend, especially when she woke after dawn with a vicious hangover, hearing her infant son wailing for his breakfast in the inner room. She dragged herself upright into a stance that resembled standing and staggered into the bedroom where her children slept, and scooped Aughian to her breast where he greedily latched on and began to nurse. Cradling him with one hand, she helped Lautha out of her bed and to the water closet, where both females took care of the necessary. Luthi caught a wiff of Aughian's diaper and choked down the desire to retch as she detached him and changed it, before letting him resume his breakfast. As soon as he was satisfied, she took them down to the creche where she and Lautha could eat their own breakfasts. Feeling guilty, she left the two children there and slunk back to her quarters where she could be alone, passing by the Kitchens Stores in search of another bottle of wine. She didn't notice her brother as she meandered her way through the Great Hall and back toward the living quarters.
LyealaLyeala was still feeling out of sorts, waking up in her bed alone in the Candidate Barracks. She preferred sleeping in, for one thing, but mostly, she missed Terther. She dragged herself to breakfast and then to her math tutoring session. She fully understood that being able to reckon was necessary, especially in her line of work, but she really just hadn't gotten to where she was needing that skill yet, so she really hadn't given it her full attention. Besides, Terther was good enough at math for both of them! But some nagging part of her conscience wouldn't let her skip the class, either, so she went. After an hour of working on decimals and fractions, her head felt ready to explode, and she was relieved when they changed classrooms -- and topics.
She found herself mostly being distracted by the diagram of the ranking pyramids, and wondering if Terther could find her enough of the semi-precious and common stones to make a model of it...
MarrishaLuthi wasn't the only person who was depressed by her change of circumstances. Marrisha's father had sent her belongings...and a missive that disavowed her heritage as his daughter. Two days ago, she would have given anything to go home and see her family, and now she could never go home. She was finding some small amount of solace in tending to the as-yet-very-small goat herd, and Quarion was a nice enough fellow who had given her a corner in his workshop, although she still felt terribly shy around him. In place of her desire to return home, she trudged dully through the classes and chores she was given. The morning kitchen duty she had been assigned was terrifying enough that by the time she went to her first Candidate Lesson class, she felt like every nerve ending was waiting for an electric shock. She was having a difficult time following what Alina said, not to mention the sheer number of people in the classroom was compounding on her nerves.
She heard the words of the questions that the other students asked, but she didn't follow the meaning. Her head was aching, her eyes were burning, and her ears were ringing, and she laid her head on her crossed arms on her desk. She never noticed when she lost consciousness...
Neme"Her" littles were very excited to see Neme in the morning when she reported for duty with Lorie in the creche. Her brother, Dusen, was a bit angry with her for not refusing to move into the Candidate Barracks and stay with him. Mortia was doing her best to step up and fill Neme's shoes with their little group. Banvor, Carow, Naltan, and Emala mobbed Neme when she came into the common area of the creche. Seeing them lifted her spirits, which had been dampened by the unleavened darkness in the lower areas of the Lower Caverns where the Barracks were. Although most of the children were still sleeping, Mortia whispered that Emala had had a nightmare and had woken everyone up, and since they knew Neme would be coming to the creche at 5am, they had mostly stayed up, although Carow had fallen back asleep. But out of respect for everyone else who was still sleeping, Neme shepherded the group off to a quiet corner and answered their questions about what it had been like sleeping in the Barracks that night, and what she would be doing for the rest of the day, and could they go with her to the other things she was doing. She saw an older man who came in with an older boy; the boy curled up on a cot on the side and fell back asleep while the man talked with Lorie. At 6, they rousted all the littles out of bed, got them dressed and marshalled them all down to the Cafeteria for breakfast. After breakfast, they went to the bathing rooms and everyone -- including Neme -- got a hot bath before going back to the creche. The older children living in the creche, those who had no parents (like Dusen and Mortia) were encouraged to go down to the Craft Halls and look around for something that struck their fancy, assuming they didn't already have a Craft and needed to report for their lessons; Neme, being a senior apprentice, went with them to make sure they stayed out from underfoot but also got to see more than they might have on their own. Most of the Crafters were willing to show off a bit for the children.
She handed the children over to another caretaker at the end of her shift and scampered down to the classroom for her first Candidate Lesson. She met up with the older man again as they both entered the classroom. Clearing her throat, she held out her hand.
"Hi, I'm Neme. I saw you in the creche this morning in our chores group?" She took a seat in the front row and paid close attention to the content that Alina was presenting.
NemeiaIt was strange to not be sharing quarters with her husband, but Nemeia would get used to it, she decided. Having two suite-mates was a little strange, too. But one of them was a girl who had been at the Weyr since almost the first day anyone had lived here, which was helpful for her to find her way around. Other than that...the routine wasn't too unfamiliar. She got up, took a hot bath, ate breakfast, and headed for her writing class. After writing class was the Candidate Lesson. Alina flagged her down as she came in and asked her to stay for a few minutes after class.
She took a seat in the corner with Amaki and Lerane in the back corner, but only half paid attention to the content. Instead, she noticed that one of the girls in front of them was not looking so well: her hands were shaking and she looked really pale and she put her head down on her arms on her desk.
NyleeNylee had spent the early morning with Eletia, helping the Master Herder work on preparing the medications and medical equipment the dragons would be needing (according to her father). The supplies were mostly numbweed: barrels upon barrels of numbweed. In fact, the two women were coordinating with F'xal, Z'nir, and K'let to retrieve more: they started planning midnight raids to the ancient Numbweed Plain on the Southern Continent, as well as requisitioning excess quantities from the friendly Holds. They were also stitching together large bandage pads that could be laid on top of wingsail or stitched to the bottom to hold shredded sail together. Seeth accommodated them by sitting outside the Beasthold so they could use his wings to measure the size of the bandage pads they needed.
But like her half-brother, when it came to the Candidate Lessons, Nylee was
bored. And like Lerane, she would never hear the end of it if she didn't attend
every lesson. When she arrived, she was thinking that she and Lerane could probably teach the class themselves, they'd attended it so many times...but when people started asking questions, she realized that she, at least, couldn't have -- some of the questions were about things that she would never have expected. Then she was distracted when Nemeia hissed at her and jerked her chin toward the Candidate who was sitting in front of them. Nylee vaguely recognized her as the girl that Aunt Silvara had rescued from bandits, but she couldn't think of the girl's name. Nylee wasn't a human Healer, but she didn't look well. Glancing to the front of the class, she saw that Alina was absorbed in answering questions, so she eased off her stool and crouched next to the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, are you alright?" she whispered, shaking her ever so slightly.
NymineNymine had been up for a while when she was due to attend her reading lesson. She'd skipped the first one, and then Timiny had sought her out and roundly scolded her for not attending. So now she was attending, despite her wish not to. After her reading lesson -- which she thought she was getting better at, taking the edge off her grudge against it -- she went to the first Candidate lesson. She saw one of her roommates, Marrisha, settling shakily onto a stool and decided to join her.
"Hey, Marrisha," she smiled. Then her attention was drawn away by the Assistant Headwoman teaching the class, and she didn't notice Marrisha's collapse until she heard another girl asking if she was alright, causing her to look at her roommate and then start getting worried. She leaned over and touched Marrisha's other shoulder.
PateloLike most of the Herders, Patelo was up early and checking on "his" livestock and doing some of those chores before heading to the bathing rooms to wash up before breakfast. Unfortunately, he was on the verge of being late for his remedial math lesson that one of his roommates was in charge of running. That was a very strange thing. He studied under one of the other students who had a higher math score for a while, trying to gain an understanding of decimals. Fractions, he understood -- they used fractional scoops for feed for the livestock, and weighed in fractions. But decimals were confusing. One-quarter wasn't 0.4, or 0.15 (like a quarter of an hour being 15 minutes). How...then his tutor showed him how to convert from fractions to decimals and it was like a lightbulb turning on, how to do the long division to get the answer! Now why 1/4 was 0.25 made sense!
He was still relieved when the class was over and they were off to their next class, something that was special for them as Candidates. He saw his other roommate in the other classroom and took a seat in the third row, near the door. He listened to the material and paid close attention to Alina's answers to the questions.
PolaPola had, the previous evening,
finally finished inventorying what had been salvaged from the wreckage of the
Eastway, so for the first time in several days, she had a bit of a breather. She slept in and nearly missed getting something to eat as she dashed madly to her morning reading class. After that class was over, she was onto the next class, a Candidate Lesson. She saw one of her roommates in the back corner and waved vaguely before plunking herself down in the second row, nearest the door. She was fascinated by the detail that Alina was going into, especially when it came to the stipends, and she listened very carefully to the Assistant Headwoman's answers to the questions.
QuarionQuarion found the morning chores in the Kitchens to be taxing. Not because the labor was difficult, or even being around so many people...it was two specific people, namely his two fellow Candidates: Marrisha and Shemov. The former was a nice young woman, and he got along with her well enough in the Beasthold and in his workroom, but she was a nervous wreck in the Kitchens. The latter was...well, the Healer couldn't think of any words he could use in polite company for him. Quarion didn't think he intentionally tried to terrify Marrisha, but he couldn't swear to that.
He had noticed that Marrisha had barely picked at the food they were provided with during their chores, but he couldn't be certain that she hadn't had something to eat before they gathered for that duty. Despite that, she seemed awfully pale when they went to their Candidate lesson, so he made a point of taking a seat nearby, leaving a couple of desks between him and her so that she wouldn't feel crowded. He was glad when he saw a couple of other girls sit next to her, and one greeted her by name; so at least she had someone looking out for her! So he turned his attention to the lesson.
He vaguely noticed that Marrisha had put her head down on her desk, but didn't think much of it initially. He was considering the same thing! But then two of the other Candidates slipped off their stools and the movement caught his attention.
"Hey, are you alright?" one of the girls asked, shaking Marrisha slightly. Alarmed, Quarion turned his attention toward them.
RinetaRineta was assigned to an early-morning chores group, and she truly thought she hated the assignment. She was not an early riser by nature, she much preferred to lie abed until the sun was actually up! But getting to spend time with a dragonrider was interesting. She didn't really get to spend much time with the Rider, exactly...he was more like a hub and sent the Candidates off on errands. His dragon acted as a communications point, so anyone could ask any Rider for some assistance with something, and that Rider's dragon could convey the message to S'nom's dragon, Taibelinth, who would pass it to S'nom, who would send one of them off to do it, unless it was something that was best handled by a Rider or dragon. But there were intervals with nothing to do and she and the other Candidates got to just spend time with S'nom and Taibelinth. The blue was more than happy to let them fawn over him.
They also had ample time to fill their stomachs, so she wasn't hungry when she arrived for her Candidate Lesson. She glared at her sister's back as she entered and saw that Nymine was talking with some of the other girls and chose a seat as far away from her sister as she possibly could. Rineta wanted a nap more than anything at that point, and she sagged forward onto the desk, propping her chin on one hand and trying to focus on Alina's speech.
SafiraSafira woke when Nemeia got up and joined her roommate for a bath, breakfast, and their writing lesson. She was dragging a bit after doing the evening session of groundskeeping the night before. She wasn't used to doing extremely physical labor, and she'd been helping put up fences for the livestock which had been allowed to roam the entire Weyrbowl up until now. Between the Threadfall that had landed a few nights before the dragonriders arrived, and the dragons themselves, they needed to fence the livestock to keep them more easily controlled.
She took a seat in the center of the room, near her fellow Apprentice, Dryden, hoping Alina wouldn't notice how tired she was. She followed along with the lecture reasonably well, she thought, listening to the questions and Alina's answers.
SechaNormally, Secha was not a morning person. But this morning, they were going to start Candidate Lessons, and she was so excited! She flounced down to the Cafeteria early in the morning, but her stomach was all aflutter and it was difficult to eat. She selected small helpings of several dishes and sat at a table that was out of the way and picked at the food. She managed to eat enough to make her stomach happy without her nerves upsetting it all before reporting for her reading class. It was not nearly as exciting as she expected the next class to be, but it was thoroughly engrossing as she struggled with pronunciation and definitions.
When the reading lesson was over, she eagerly charged out the door and into the neighboring classroom, picking a seat in the front row. She stared curiously at the big slate next to the Assistant Headwoman, and avidly absorbed what Alina was saying, at least at first. She was confused by the talk about how their ranks would change, though, although as a junior apprentice, it didn't affect her all that much. But she listened closely to how Alina responded to Hirana's question about it.
ShemovShemov was getting incredibly put out. He kept getting shoved into situations he didn't want to be in, and they wouldn't even let him leave. He hated this. The first thing was being told that he had to "contribute to the good of the Weyr" by helping out in the Kitchens. It was disgusting. The number of dishes that they made, and the amount of equipment they used, and the absurd variety of foods they made! Give him a good porridge and a stew and he was fine, but these people! Three of four types of soups and stews every day, a massive roast every other day, about twenty kinds of breads and pastries, and dozens of finger foods. Why?! Privately, he admitted that even the simplest of these was better than what he could cook in his small cauldron over a wood fire, but he'd never admit that to anyone else.
Then he was being forced to take reading and math lessons. Who cared?! He was almost 30 years old and he'd had no use for reading and math before now, why should it matter now?!
But to add insult to injury, he was now being required to attend something called a Candidate Lesson. He'd already told everyone he didn't
want to be a Candidate, so why should he have to take some stupid lesson about how to
be a Candidate? He was fuming by the time he finished working in the Kitchens that morning and was "escorted" to the lesson by Headwoman Lery herself. He stomped into the room, glared around, and took a seat by himself in the back row. All the talk about money was boring -- yet another thing he had no use for. And the ranks were stupid; everyone could fend for themselves if they'd just put a little effort into it. And then a bunch of people started fussing over that pathetic, weakling girl who was in the chores group with him who acted like every person, every word said, was injurious. He seriously considered walking out.
SindriSindri had been working with Artie that morning, helping do the Weyr's laundry. It was hardly her favorite chore, but she had been so busy helping make furniture and setting walls for the Barracks that it was actually a pleasant change of pace. She was in better shape than Artie, apparently, as she was able to jog all the way to the Cafeteria and arrived only slightly out of breath. She grabbed a couple of the sausage pasties and wrapped them in a napkin and poured herself a tall glass of orange juice and took them with her to the class -- she knew that Alina and Lery didn't mind Candidates eating during the lesson, as long as they were quiet about it. She chose the seat next to Nylee and made herself as comfortable as possible on the stool, then unwrapped her pasties and started eating.
She wasn't truly paying close attention to the lesson. She'd sat through several renditions before, so it's not like it was anything new. She was thinking about the things on her to-do list after the lesson -- they were finishing up bunkrooms 7 and 8 on both the male and female side of the Barracks -- so she was a little startled when Nylee slipped off her seat and knelt next to one of the other Candidates whose head was down on her desk.
SkeldarAs a blacksmith, Skeldar wasn't exactly an early riser, but neither was he a night owl. Most people didn't appreciate the ring of a blacksmith's hammer and anvil in the wee hours or the morning or late in the evening. Normally, his lessons started at 8am, so he was already awake, washed up, and in the Cafeteria at 7am. But instead of a session in the smithy for the next however-many mornings, he was attending different lessons: first a remedial math lesson, which was frustrating but his Master had been after him for months to work on his math skills so...okay; next was this thing called a Candidate Lesson?
After spending an hour muddling along through decimals and fractions with another couple of Candidates named Patelo and Lyeala, he blearily made his way into the adjacent classroom and took a seat near the rear, next to a fellow smith (Hirana) and Lyeala. He struggled a bit to pay attention to the lesson; normally, he had an hour of study followed by an hour of practice on whatever the topic was, so going in the opposite order, sort of, was disconcerting.
TaienTaien was normally not excited to be up early. In order to get breakfast before his writing lesson, however, he had to get up a bit earlier than his usual time. It wasn't horrible, but it was going to take a little getting used to. He saw one of his roommates in the classroom, but in a different lesson group; he wondered where his other roommate, the one who was the Weyrlingmaster's son, was at. He hadn't really paid much attention to the lists in the Candidates' common area -- there wasn't currently any reason to spend much time in the large chamber, what with no furniture and the seemingly constant foot traffic from the Carpenters and Masons was disruptive.
After his writing lesson, he trailed into the other classroom and sought a seat near one of his fellow Journeyman Healers. He saw his other roommate back in the corner, surrounded by some of the other Candidates who had come with the Riders, and nodded a greeting before sitting down.
"Hey, Quarion. How's it going?" he asked casually. He turned his attention to the Assistant Headwoman when the lesson started. Like Quarion, however, his attention was distracted by the disturbance at the edge of the classroom, as a couple of the Candidates moved to check on a third who didn't appear to be feeling well.
TerisanTerisan was one of the few who got to keep his normal morning routine. His chores group was a midday one, and he only had his writing lessons in the evening. His normal morning routine involved checking in on the llamas -- greeting Dynkel and partnering with him to get their charges fed and watered -- and getting a quick wash in before going to the Cafeteria for breakfast. After a leisurely meal, he made his way to the primary classroom for the Candidate Lesson. He spotted his foster sister Sindri in the back and took a seat next to her.
Like her, he'd sat through these lessons several times before, so he didn't pay as much attention to the lesson as many of the new, uninitiated Candidates. So he was pretty deep into a daydream when Nylee and one of the new Candidates converged on the girl that Silvara had rescued from bandits up near Fort Hold. Taken by surprise, he could only stare at them and try to figure out what was going on.
TheirastaEvening drinking didn't lend itself to early rising, Theirasta reminded herself as she crawled out of bed and dragged herself to the bathing rooms and sank into a tub of hot water, waiting for her head to stop throbbing. She knew better, she was a vintner, shardit! Ow. She barely made it to her remedial writing lesson, and she struggled to pay attention to the grammar rules regarding commas. Like her fellows who came forward on the dragons, she'd attended the Candidate Lessons many times, so she decided that she'd risk the wrath of the Headwoman and skip, going back to bed, instead.
TheramTheram had no idea why he'd been Searched. Like everyone else in the Weyr, watching the dragons -- and the frets and flits -- fly was fast becoming a hobby. But the idea of actually going up aboard one of the great beasts? Absolutely terrifying! He had been helping most of the other Farmers with setting up the greenhouses and had greatly enjoyed working alongside the dragons, he found them to be exceptionally useful and accommodating. But he could also completely understand the reason why they had the sort of saddle-like contraptions, and why the riders had a harness for riding them (although he had seen T'lon riding without both, which he thought was completely insane!).
After helping with the greenhouses for a bit in the early morning hours, Theram grabbed a bite to eat and went to his writing lesson. He was working on his spelling today, apparently, mostly around blended vowel sounds. Then he went to the Candidate Lesson; maybe he'd learn why the dragons had Searched him! He didn't know very many of the people in the group; he recognized Skeldar as his roommate, and he'd met Hirana that morning out at the greenhouses, so he took a seat in the back row near them. He held out his hand to the girl at the next desk over.
"Hello, I'm Theram."Then the Assistant Headwoman...he couldn't remember her name...oh, right, Alina...started talking about ranks in the Weyr. It was a bit confusing that he'd be "demoted" but still retaining his rank as Journeyman...how would that--and then Hirana asked that exact question.
XilosciXilosci had grown up in the Weyr, so she was accustomed to the Riders' schedule. She'd always expected to Impress, although after four years of attending Hatchings, she was starting to wonder. However, their routine was a healthy one, so she rose with them, did their morning exercise and eating routine, but instead of the paperwork or whatever it was that the Riders did after breakfast, she went to the Infirmary for a short while. Then it was time for the Candidate Lesson. She debated not going, but she was only missing out on the stretching routine, really -- it wasn't like she could participate in the drills or dyed rope activity except in her capacity as a Healer. So, why not?
She spotted her fellow "old" Candidates back in the far corner. They all looked pretty bored, not surprisingly; that was part of why they were sitting in the back, so they'd be less of a bad role model for the "new" Candidates. She took a seat next to one of the new girls who was sitting close to the group; next to her was another girl that Xilosci thought was the one that had been kidnapped and drugged by bandits near Fort Weyr, but she wasn't certain. She smiled a greeting and settled into her seat, turning her attention to Alina. However, when the latter girl sagged in her seat and Nylee and the other girl converged on her, she joined Nylee, slipping off her stool and checked the girl's pulse, alarmed.
ZeranaZerana had
not grown up in the Weyr, she'd only visited to stand for Hatchings a few times, so this "up before the sun" thing was not her favorite thing. She was accustomed to rising that early in order to eat breakfast and be ready to get to work on her family's farm when it was light enough to see by, but this was actually starting to work before the crack of dawn. She arrived yawning to the Great Hall, meeting with S'nom and two others wearing Harper blue, and blinked blearily at them.
"Good morning, Zerana," the bluerider said drily, looking entirely too awake for the hour. She mumbled a response through another yawn. Over the next few hours, she helped various individuals throughout the Weyr with tasks, mostly fetching and carrying. By the time the Candidate Lesson period rolled around, she was well and truly awake.
Zerana ambled into the classroom after taking a pass through the Cafeteria to get a big mug of klah, not realizing someone had brought some to the classroom. But she was glad to see it was there, and took the only vacant seat adjacent to the thermoses. She had been through the lessons a handful of times, but not as much as those who had grown up near or in a Weyr, so she, unlike they, paid much closer attention to what Alina was saying...with a couple of breaks while she refilled her mug!