Not Pulling His Weight

Writers: Curious, Estelle
Date Posted: 7th October 2022

Characters: R'ayl, L'saz
Description: R'ayl and L'saz agree to work together cleaning the weyrling barracks, but it doesn't end well
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 10 of Turn 10

Most of the weyrlings would sigh and groan good-naturedly when it was
time to clean up the barracks, but R'ayl didn't mind it so much.
Sweeping, scrubbing and folding clothes were chores he knew he could do,
unlike the drills where he was always afraid of turning the wrong way or
being chosen to lead - thankfully that hadn't happened yet - and his
arms ached even from the smaller firestone sack he had to practice
throwing. He had been nervous of the Weyrlingmaster's barracks
inspection at first, but he'd never been singled out for anything much.

While he carefully swept around Delorth's couch, the young blue watched
him with interest. Usually Delorth was sleepy after his feeding, but
today he'd slept through R'ayl's classes and was now wide awake. He
turned to the green in the couch next to his to chat. Her rider was like
his, he thought: quiet, and didn't talk much with the others, even
though he was much bigger. }: Hello, Faelith. :{

L'saz _hated_ cleaning out the barracks. His sighing and grumbling was
not good-natured at all. Oh no, it was done with all of the reluctance
of someone who had fully planned on going home an never partaking in
manual labor again. Unfortunately, there was no real way to explain that
to his classmates without landing himself in a world of trouble that he
wasn't prepared for. As such, he slowly chipped away at making his bed,
painstakingly pulling the sheets off before he could even begin the
process of folding them. So what if the little kid was outpacing him? If
he took longer, maybe he would be let off before he had to do anything.

Meanwhile, Faelath offered Delorth a warm trill of greeting. }: Hey,
Delorth! How are you and yours? :{

}: I am well, and my rider. :{ Delorth returned her greeting with a soft
rumble of pleasure. }: It's funny to watch them doing all of their
folding and sweeping, isn't it? Like watching when they march about. We
don't have to do such things. :{

}: It is! :{ Faelath exclaimed. }: Although, I think it might be
interesting to try sometime. :{ She paused, glancing at her rider and
giving an imperious flick of her tail. }: I would not grumble about it
half as much as my L'saz. :{

}: Your rider doesn't like sweeping and marching? :{ Delorth thought for
a moment. }: Mine doesn't mind, but he is afraid of making mistakes. He
has a funny feeling, like if he ate something wriggly and it got in his
belly. :{

}: L'saz doesn't get any of that. At least, not unless he thinks about
thread. He just doesn't like that he has to do any of this at all, :{
Faelath confided. }: If yours looks away for too long, he will leave him
to finish on his own. :{

}: That doesn't sound very fair, :{ Delorth replied cautiously, not
wanting to offend his clutchmate by criticising her rider. }: Maybe they
should help each other! Your rider is big, so he would be better at
sweeping and carrying. But mine is small and good at folding and
polishing boots. :{

Faelath noticed how carefully Delorth was stepping and felt a pang of
appreciation for the gesture. However, he needn't be so careful. She
wasn't the sort of dragon to get angry over an insult to her rider - not
be a _long shot_.

}: I never said that L'saz cares about fair, :{ she said. }: He cares
that he doesn't want to be doing this, and if he finds a way to push
everything off on your rider, he won't have to be. :{ She cast her rider
a wary glance and twitched her tail. It was difficult to notice, but he
had already started to slow down a little. }: Yours can try getting him
to work with him, but he should be careful. :{

}: All right. :{ Delorth was not sure he understood what there was to be
worried about, but he did want his rider to have friends. Reaching out,
he made the suggestion.

R'ayl looked up from his sweeping, startled. One of the older weyrlings
wanted his help? But Delorth sounded keen on the idea, and besides, if
he'd had assistance from an older boy, he wouldn't have to be worried
about the barracks inspection. "Uh...L'saz?" He realised he'd spoken too
softly to be heard, and raised his voice a little. "L'saz? Delorth says
that you might want to work together?"

L'saz gives R'ayl a flat look. "Uh, yeah, sure," he manages after a
moment, shaking his head and oh-so-slowly tucking a sheet into the
corner of the bed. "What can you do?"

R'ayl glanced around L'saz's sleeping area. The bed was almost made, but
the floor needed sweeping and his boots were never going to pass muster
with the Weyrlingmaster. He had never had to polish boots to such a
shine before he came to the Weyr, but you didn't need to be strong to do
that, just patient and careful. "If you like, I could clean those boots,
if you get the laundry bags and put the clothes away?" They were harder
to handle.

L'saz blinked. It was followed by a glance at Faelath, an unspoken
communication flowing between the two. In the end, Faelath snorted in
derision, but L'saz was smiling when he turned to face R'ayl. "Sure," he
said.

"Okay!" R'ayl finished sweeping under his bed and propped the broom up
against the wall, then picked up L'saz's boots and set them beside his
own before fetching the boot polish and cloth from a shelf in the common
area of the barracks. Boots didn't get muddy often here in the hot and
sandy Weyr, but they did lose their shine with all the dust and grit. He
started on one, then looked up at L'saz, who was just finishing his bed.
"Thank you for helping. This was a good idea! We'll get it done much
quicker this way."

"Sure," L'saz said, smiling. Did R'ayl notice how stiff and
uncomfortable his smile was? He hoped not, but at the end it the day, it
didn't matter much regardless. Before long, the blue weyrling was
distracted enough for L'saz to take his chance and quietly slip out of
the weyrling barracks.

Faelath sighed into Delorth's mind. }: Don't say I didn't warn you. :{

But Delorth had lost interest in watching the activities of the
weyrlings, and had fallen into a doze. He only snuffled in his sleep at
his clutchmate's words.

Meanwhile, R'ayl finished polishing L'saz's boots to a shine that any
Weyrlingmaster would be proud of, and started on his own, completely
oblivious to the older weyrling's disappearance. By the time he was
done, most of the others were finishing up as well and heading outside
to enjoy the last of the evening's warmth. He screwed the lid back onto
the tin of polish and looked down the row of neatly made beds towards
the door.

"Hey, R'ayl, do you need any help?" Y'marl, one of his fellow blue
weyrlings who occupied the bed two places down, called out to him.

"Oh no, I'm almost..." R'ayl turned around and stared aghast at L'saz's
bed. It was covered in a messy heap of sheets and clothes turned out
from the laundry bags, all mixed up together, and the floor still hadn't
been swept. The green weyrling was nowhere to be seen.

"Better hurry, it's not long until barracks inspection." The other
weyrling frowned. "He's going to catch it from the Weyrlingmaster," he
said, pointing at the other bed.

R'ayl sprang up and placed L'saz's boots at the end of the bed, then
began hastily sorting the freshly cleaned clothes into two piles, his
heart pounding. If he was quick, he might be able to fold all of them
and put them away, but would he have time to finish the sweeping?

Y'marl watched him for a moment, his eyes narrowed, then came over and
began picking out the smaller items of clothing from the pile and
folding them with the ease of long practice on laundry duty. "Gone off
and left you, has he?"

"I..." R'ayl didn't want to tell on his fellow weyrling, but he couldn't
help glancing at the newly polished boots. "We were going to help each
other. Maybe he just stepped out."

The older boy shook his head. "If you want my advice, R'ayl, you'll put
away your own clothes and leave the rest as it is."

"Won't L'saz get in trouble?"

"Probably, but if you let him get away with it this time, he'll do the
same tomorrow and the next day, and you'll end up on double duty until
the end of weyrling training." Y'marl paused in his folding and looked
down at the boy's worried expression. "Don't worry. The rest of us will
stand up for you if he turns mean."

"Really?" R'ayl wasn't used to anyone offering to stand up for him, but
he was starting to learn that the weyrling barracks wasn't like the
apprentice dormitory back at the Weaver Hall. And he did feel a small
flame of annoyance at L'saz's behavior. He should have finished his part
of the chores! "Well, I could put away my clothes first, and if the
Weyrlingmaster gets here before he does..."

Y'marl grinned. "You're too forgiving, R'ayl. I'd have dipped his boots
in the privy." He set the shirt down in the pile and picked up another
one. "We're classmates and we help each other, but that doesn't mean you
get away with not pulling your weight. And I think L'saz is going to get
a firm lesson in that before very long."

Last updated on the October 30th 2022

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Not Pulling His Weight