Easy Enough to Get Along With

Writers: Clancey, Jane
Date Posted: 6th May 2008

Characters: Daynar, Tahvee, Kimbel
Description: Hallmaster Daynar welcomes Kimbel, the new arrival at his Hall.
Location: Smith Hall (NPC)
Date: month 10, day 4 of Turn 4

"It'll be like being a miner," Tahvee commented as she helped her journeyman weyrmate down from her green dragon's shoulders. "Working underground like that."

Kimbel put a hand to the small of his back and eased the tightness in his spine that riding on Kizth caused these days. Though he would never complain to Tahvee he did prefer to ride on a larger dragon.

**You're spoiled,** he scolded himself silently. After Turns of working at Weyrs all over the South, of having access to transport anywhere he wanted to go, he was finally revisiting his past. A posting back to the Hall he trained at, Turns before. It was a nostalgic move, and one Tahvee supported. It wouldn't be the first time they'd been posted apart. In fact, they were more often separated than together, but with Kizth's willing help their relationship had never faltered, something he was grateful for.

"It's not so bad inside," the smith journeyman said, shaking his grey-blonde fringe of hair out of his eyes as he peered at the entrance to the Hall. "Do you want to wait?"

Tahvee grinned. "Not today. Just make sure that Hallmaster understands that I'll be visiting. _Often._ And don't let him give you all the awful classes. You're a _very_ senior journeyman."

He chuckled. "If I got any more senior I'd be dead." He hugged Tahvee close for a moment then kissed her lightly, adding; "But I'm not dead yet, so make sure you _do_ visit."

"I will," the greenrider promised, snuggling against him for a moment.
They both knew perfectly well that they _could_ manage living apart but that didn't make it any more enjoyable. "Don't let the rock fall on your head," she cautioned him as she eased out of his arms and climbed back aboard Kizth. "See you tomorrow."

Kimbel moved back to give Kizth wingroom and waved a farewell to the pair, watching them until they winked /between/ leaving the cloudy sky above the Hall empty. With a sigh the journeyman resettled the straps of his bag over his shoulders and headed toward the Hall, remembering doing the same when he was barely twelve Turns old.

Thankfully - or perhaps not so much - the Hallmaster had not seen their sweet farewell, or he'd have been set against the man from the beginning.

That very same Hallmaster was grumbling over something in his study when a young apprentice came running in with barely a knock.
"Hallmaster!"

Looking up, he scowled briefly at the young lout. "Tifer! Your manners, lad. Your manners!"

Undaunted, Tifer burbled out his message and grinned. When new men arrived to be posted to the Hall, he and the other apprentices always raced to be the first to know who it was, and to tell the Hallmaster.

He was far nicer to the boys in training than he was to the women he stumbled across in the Hall. Other than his lovely wife, of course.
Miralani had settled him, though, and he even smiled outright occasionally these days.

"Well, don't just stand there, like a foolish wherry. Run and get Kimbel. And mind you treat him with respect! He's a Senior Journeyman." Very senior, but the Craft needed folks like Kimbel as much as they needed Hallmasters, or so he believed.

"Hello lad," Kimbel said as an apprentice appeared beside him. "Are you here to help me find my way?"

Tifer nodded, respectfully, but almost bouncing with excitement. "Yes sir. I'm Tifer. The Hallmaster is in his office. This way...." He led Kimbel into the Hall and down the way toward Daynar's office.

Daynar peered up as Tifer led his new Senior Journeyman into view.
He even rose to his feet to shake the man's hand. "Good day to you, Kimbel, yes?" On Daynar's desk, under a pile or three, was a note detailing Kimbel's posting back to the Hall from the Weyr. Only sensible if you asked Daynar. "Have a seat." He pointed to the only other chair in his office, and then frowned pointedly at Tifer.

"You have studies, yes?"

Kimbel smothered a smile. Surely he'd been dismissed at the same age with exactly the same line? Did nothing change at the Hall?

Tifer nodded and disappeared _very_ quickly. Daynar chuckled faintly, then returned to his seat behind his desk. "Well, hello, Senior Journeyman Kimbel. I'm Daynar, the Hallmaster here. But you know that. Welcome to Garnet Valley." He actually smiled! "So, transferring from the Weyr are you? Very wise, if you ask me."

"Wise? In what way, sir?" Kimbel thought that if anything was wise, stating his point of view before the other man said something neither of them could forget or forgive would be very wise. "I've always enjoyed my postings to the Weyrs."

Daynar peered at him silently. One of those was he? Well, no matter. Kimbel was far too experienced for Daynar to worry about changing his attitudes. But he was glad he was at the Hall now.
"Dragonriders belong in Weyrs, Kimbel. Crafters belong in Crafthalls.
They let women apprentice at the Weyr! Imagine that. Must be terribly distracting. Takes away from the work, I think." He paused, then considered he'd better explain further.

"Don't get me wrong; I appreciate and respect what dragonriders do for Pern, and I will always do my duty to them with no reluctance. I believe in tradition, so the best of my work, they get. But all those women Crafting ... seems wrong somehow." He shook his head. It made no sense to him, despite Miralani softening him a bit.

"It didn't seem wrong when I was young," Kimbel said pleasantly. "And I don't mind it now." He shrugged. "Of course, the rules of the Hall are what they are."

Daynar nodded, though he was younger than Kimbel by a good margin, so he had very view memories of women Crafters. He had some, but he had been around 12 or 13 turns when the Plague struck. His entire crafting life had been post Plague, and so his ideas were ingrained deeply. Wrongheaded or no.

"Well, I'm sure we'll get along just fine anyway, Kimbel." He smiled again; his wife was truly softening him. "Tell me what you would like to do? I have openings and several promising apprentices." He already had an advanced class of senior apprentices picked out for him, but he was willing to adjust depending on what Kimbel wanted to do.

"I'm happy to teach any level," Kimbel assured the Hallmaster. "Even the newest apprentices," he offered, knowing that many master-ranked smiths found those necessary lessons beneath their dignity. Tahvee certainly grumbled about them and they had probably been what she was meaning when she had told him to ensure he didn't get the 'awful' classes.

Daynar nodded with a faint smile; he actually enjoyed the newest ones himself as well. "How about a mix? Senior apprentices for their project work 3 days a week, and 3 days a week with the newest ones doing Introduction to Chemistry and Glasswork? And you've time for your own works too, if you'd like to take advantage of the Halls resources to do anything special."

"Not really. I've not got the cleverness needed for advanced work. I like to do my job, and teach a little, so perhaps if there's some work I could do in the rest of the time? I can turn my hand to most disciplines in the craft."

"There's always something to do here; we've been very successful this last turn." Daynar was pleased with the marks the Hall was earning of late. Miralani had had a great deal to do with increasing their business without taking a hand in the actual Craft. He still wasn't sure how she did it.

"For now, I'll send you Tifer to show you around - there have been some changes since you were last here of course - and if you have fire lizards, please don't let them fly loose." He hesitated with that, but he had never lifted that rule.

"No, no, nothing like that." Kimbel got to his feet, wondering if this was the moment to explain about Tahvee, then thinking better of it. It really wasn't such an important thing for the Hallmaster to bother about - that his new journeyman had a weyrmate at River Bluff.
Why would Daynar care about that? "Where will I find Tifer? Just outside the door, I suppose? Loitering?"

"Most likely, the scamp. He's only been here a few months. If you need anything else at all, Kimbel, my door is always open. You are very welcome here in Garnet Valley." He also rose to his feet politely. He didn't get new postings all that often.

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here," the journeyman said and left the Hallmaster's office feeling well-pleased with the interview.
Daynar seemed easy enough to get along with.

Last updated on the May 18th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Easy Enough to Get Along With