Caught In The Act

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 22nd March 2008

Characters: R'haran, Phira
Description: Phira catches R'haran going through her desk in an attempt to look at her notes regarding his children.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 4 of Turn 4

The greenrider switched on the electric light in the classroom and couldn't help but smile. The room hadn't changed much over the Turns and, long ago, he had taught here. But it wasn't nostalgia that bought him to the room during the evening when it would be deserted. He just wanted to check the harper's notes about the students. He pushed the door closed behind him, hearing the lock engage as the door thumped closed.

A few minutes later, there was a soft click as the lock in the door turned. It swung opened and the woman who had done so paused, surprised to see the light in the room was on and even more surprised to see someone in the room, rummaging through her desk. Most of, she was rather surprised to see that it was the weyrharper who was doing so. "Excuse me R'haran...might I ask why you are here and going through my things?"

"Phira." R'haran straightened and glanced down at his hand still in the drawer. "Er - teacher's notes. Just - er -" He pulled his hand out and tried to gather his thoughts and quiet his conscience.

"Yeees?" Phira crossed the room and glanced down in the drawer, then looked back up to the greenrider. "You know, if you want to see something, you really should ask." Her tone was stern, but there was amusement churning in her deep brown eyes.

"Hmm. Yes." R'haran discarded a few glib explanations and instead sighed. "Yes, I should have. It just seemed like a little thing. The reports would eventually cross my desk."

"Why are you looking at my reports?" Phira gently grasped R'haran's wrist and removed it from the drawer. Then she reached in and pulled out some manuscripts. "I mean, as you say, it's not as if you won't ever see them."

"Just - er -" He was sure he hadn't stammered this much since his long-ago apprentice days. He pushed his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat unnecessarily. "Just checking up on the children,"
he muttered quickly.

"I see." Phira clicked her tongue as she shifted through the pages.
Finally, she took out one, then another a few pages later, then another until all the children's reports were laid out before him. "You're welcome to look at them anytime. I would just prefer you to ask."

"Yes. I should have. I'm sorry, Phira."

"So, what do you want to know?" Phira motioned to the reports she had lain out before him. "You can look at them now and if you have anything you wish to discuss, then we can discuss it."

R'haran couldn't help but glance down at the papers, but then dragged his eyes back up to meet the harper journeywoman's. "How are the children getting along? Not their work - Are they settled, do you think?"

"Assessment would have come to you in the next sevenday or so, but I suppose now is as good a time as any." Phira tapped her fingers and then leaned against her desk, looking straight in to R'haran's eyes.
"Considering everything they've been through. Well, there are going to be issues R'haran and I'm prepared to help them. Sahna is very smart, but very reserved. I sometimes think she's almost afraid to reach out to others. Iselen has been struggling a bit. He angers easily and sometimes tries to push against authority, but we're working on it.
Tellen's not doing badly. He's much like Sahna, I think. Arwey..."
Here, Phira smiled, "Arwey is a bundle of energy. She loves to socialise and has a few attention issues, but that doesn't mean she's not doing well. Her memory is quite excellent."

"Like mine?" he asked quickly, wanting to know, if that was the case.
"Does she remember _everything_?"

Phira couldn't help but laugh. "Everything. She'll rattle on about every detail."

"Shards!" He hadn't realised. He'd been looking for any sign of his 'gift' in the children, but perhaps he'd been looking more closely at Sahna and Iselen, the eldest two. Pretty Arwey with her bubbly people-oriented personality hadn't seemed a likely candidate. "I didn't notice."

"Sometimes the people closest to others aren't the ones to notice things." Phira shook her head. "She still needs to work on paying attention, though, so I would encourage you to work with her on that and I'll do the same in class."

"The thing is, she doesn't really need to. She needs to learn to _use_
information, but having it on hand won't be a problem." With a sigh the greenrider smiled wryly at the harper teacher. "I will work with her; nobody knows better than I do what she's going to face."

Phira's lips thinned at R'haran. She felt the child did need to work on attention skills, not just using the information she gleaned. Well, it wasn't so much that she didn't pay attention enough to learn it, but often times she found other ways to amuse herself during class which could pose problems in regards to the other pupils. Perhaps she did better with her father, but she certainly had issues in the classroom.
The harper decided, however, to refrain from saying anything - for the moment. "Do you have any other questions or concerns?"

"I -" He shook his head. "No, I don't. Thank you, Phira."

A gentle smile crossed Phira's lips. "You're welcome, R'haran. Please, don't hesitant to come to me any time."

Was there a subtle reminder in her words that he hadn't done so this time? If there was he acknowledged that he deserved the rebuke. He promised he would and edged out of the classroom, feeling for all the world as he had when caught out in the long ago indiscretions of his harper class days.

Last updated on the March 29th 2008

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Caught In The Act