Slander, in Needlepoint

Writers: Shawna, Sia
Date Posted: 19th October 2025

Characters: Aleriand, N'tan
Description: Aleriand and N'tan spend another hatching feast together
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 15 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: I'thralos, O'dyn, Raleri, N'vanik, Wyndall

Aleriand

Aleriand only did a cursory loop around Dolphin Cove Weyr's hatching feast, and was long gone before any spectacle. A few weyrfolk may have noticed him leaving early. The Printer Hall, however, didn't see him until the following day.

"That's it! No more. First O'dyn, now this? Sure, he's an apprentice. It's inconvenient, but at least I only wasted two turns on teaching him anything. And I had a few turns of him running errands in his spare sharding time before he's thrown into Threadfall." Aleriand raged in the privacy of N'tan's weyr, gesticulating wildly and rudely gesturing in the vague direction of the hatching feast. "I can't afford to have all my crafters getting thrown into Threadfall. I'm banning Searchriders from the Printer Hall. I'm getting Wyndall to print a door mat that tells N'vanik to go to the Red Star."

N’tan took a sip of his wine to help hide the fact that an amused smile was tugging at his lips. “So, should we be rescheduling the poker games for the ‘Hall then, after N’vanik bans you from the Weyr?” His tone was dryly amused. “Weren’t you just bragging last month that you’d ‘stolen one back’ from a Weyr? Seems like it’s all in balance,” the brownrider couldn’t help attempting to rile the man up further.

"One child out of all the children Searched from us!" Aleriand answered hotly, jabbing a finger against N'tan's table as if that alone would make his point. "One kid without her head in the sharding clouds. They can't just snatch away every apprentice with two good hands and half a brain. But this? This is sabotage! He wasn't even Standing, N'tan! He was minding his own business. How am I supposed to defend against that? Do I need to make sure all my Journeymen are past candidate age before sending them on sharding contract? It's hard enough to get these postings filled as it is, should I have just told Ilthralos sorry, I can't guarantee you won't Impress a dragon, you can't move back home _with your family_."

“You should start interviewing your apprentices better. Try to find the less adventurous ones. Although it might not be a bad idea to keep the younger ones away from the Weyrs when you can. Not much anyone can do about a stands Impression, though. The boy didn’t look thrilled himself,” N’tan pointed out. “Don’t know what that bronze was thinking.”

"That boy stayed an apprentice through a sharding hurricane and fire, and this is what he gets in return? Thrown into Threadfall with the rest of them, like some tithe of bodies to the Weyr! The Hall rebuilt itself _twice_. The presses salvaged and cobbled together out of spite. He stayed, he worked, and for what?" Aleriand finally paused to take a long, angry breath, though it did nothing to calm his mood. "I'm sending Javor back to the Weyr. He spent the entire time here railing against the depravity of it all. See how N'vanik likes that."

“I wish you wouldn’t,” N’tan said blandly, “that man is obnoxious. You must have some journeyman in their mid twenties to send over. Maybe the boy will enjoy his new lot in life. You can’t understand, but there are perks to the job that make up for the risk of maiming.” This time he didn’t hide the quirk of his lips, “You certainly would complain more if you had to travel by runner or never leave your Hall.”

"You are _greatly_ overestimating how happy I'd be if nobody was allowed to disturb the presses." Aleriand griped. He took another long drink, not considering how it was mysteriously refilled. "Yeah, yeah, the _dragonbond_ is so perfect, it's so worth throwing away decades of study and work. The rest of us would be so honored for it. I'd almost agree if we weren't in the middle of a sharding Pass."

“You’d get bored without a crisis,” N’tan pointed out. “The dragonbond may not be for everyone,” he acknowledged, “but if a bronze liked him so much it pulled him out of the Stands, it’s probably for him. The rest of your apprentices are making choices to stand, so maybe you should consider asking them if that’s a goal before you invest too much time.”

"I do!" Aleriand insisted. "It's the next best thing to getting a prize runner for a holiday. Work the printing presses or 'become the Weyrleader someday'. I'm no longer approving any of those childrens books. Catering to a pre-Pass fantasy to encourage children to fly into Threadfall. Ugh." He paused in the tirade long enough to give N'tan a fond, half-apologetic look. "I don't fault the dragonriders for it. Or the dragons."

Then, grumpy again, "I am commissioning that print from Wyndall. I might not do it in practice, but it'll make me feel like I _can_."

“You can put it on your bedroom door and just close your eyes and think about it whenever you’re annoyed,” N’tan suggested. “It is worth the danger,” he said, “maybe not for everyone, but I don’t think the dragons pick the ones who won’t find it worth the cost. If they survive.” His eyes unfocused a little, remembering an old pain, but he was sure his son wouldn’t have said anything different about the costs.

Aleriand caught the look. He reached out to place his hand over N'tan's, squeezing it gently. "I'm sure you're right." He said, a little quieter. He mulled on the idea a little more, though, and he broke the short silence between them with a low, yet amused, "I could pay one of the kitchen ladies to make it in needlepoint."

N’tan smiled after a moment more, pulling himself from unhappy thoughts. “For the wall or for a pillow case? Because at some point there’s a line where it’s obsessive.” After a moment he suggested, “You could use it as a recruiting tactic. Ten percent of your apprentices are dragon approved.”

"No! That's worse!"

Last updated on the October 28th 2025

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Slander, in Needlepoint