Wasn't That Enough?
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 30th October 2008
Characters: K'hetah
Description: K'hetah finds a surprise on his desk one restday evening.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 21 of Turn 4
There was hidework on his desk.
A great pile of the stuff, papers and hides; more than one pile, in fact. Somebody's idea of a joke, probably, because his absolute rule of never allowing the detritus of the administrative side of the job to build up on the polished wood surface of the desk was (ridiculously, in his opinion) regarded as the salient feature of his wingleadership.
Warily he edged into the room, flicking open the other glowbaskets as he did so and wishing the room was fitted with electrical light. If it had been daylight then the shutters could be opened and the room would flood with light that was almost more than was comfortable but at night the glows had to do duty in lighting the room.
Finally he approached the desk, rather glad that he had decided to check the office early on this restday evening. For if it was a joke, then it was obviously supposed to play out with an audience. His Wingsecond and Third, he supposed. This way was better. He would look over the hides and papers, and perhaps in doing so find out whose idea of humour this was.
He flicked over the first paper. It was Cyclone Wing material, and not too old. Before his arrival at Dolphin Cove Weyr in five months ago, though, and not familiar to him. Perhaps it wasn't a joke? Perhaps it had been unearthed from somewhere? A huge backlog of hidework somebody would need to check before it was filed.
He couldn't help but cast a speculative glance at the desks of his Wingsecond and Wingthird before his light-coloured eyes turned back to the stack of hides. Placing the first page to one side (it was a routine report, of little use to rider or dragon so long after the sevenday it discussed) and looked at the next – Death and injury lists from the 'Fall in mid-Turn 3 that had left the Weyr so under-strength. O'dan's 'Fall, as K'hetah always thought of it, hoping there would never be one named after him. The bronzerider who had been Weyrleader then was still around, limping, using a cane to walk, and with a barely flying dragon, but then Dolphin Cove seemed to have more than enough former Weyrleaders scattered around. J'darin ...
As the Cyclone Wingleader put the Wing status sheet aside he thought of the most recently injured and deposed Weyrleader. Or, more correctly, he thought of the man and Zelle. They didn't seem a likely couple to K'hetah, but if he tried to gather his nebulous doubts into a more coherent form all he could ever come up with was that he expected charming, bubbly, loving Zelle to pair off with somebody more – Not more like him. Certainly not.
He frowned at the next page as if the copy of a formation for an expected weather pattern from two Turns ago was responsible for his wandering thoughts.
Perhaps this unexpected deposit of papers and hides had arrived courtesy of the new Weyrleader? Perhaps some dark and dingy corner of the man's office had been persuaded to give up this eclectic collection of Wing administration? Though surely J'darin would have explored all corners of the office and weyr N'vanik now occupied? It wouldn't be like the cautious, orderly former Weyrleader to miss anything.
Though if the joke theory was right then this would have been easily enough culled from the storage racks at the back of the office. The dark-haired bronzerider turned and glanced into the shadows to see if there were any signs that the files there had been disturbed.
But what did it matter, anyway? Whether the papers and hides had come from the Weyrleader's office or from the Wing's files half a dozen paces behind his desk, the options remained the same.
He could dump the lot on the Wingsecond's desk (or divide it between the Second and Third's desks, to be fair) he could leave it until tomorrow (and allow the joke, if it was somebody's idea of a joke, to play out as intended) or – These days even K'hetah wasn't surprised that he just started to sort the papers, abandoning his admittedly meagre plans for the evening. Work, or socialise in the dining cavern; these days he didn't really care which he did.
Zelle, he thought, would be worried by that. Or angry, or exasperated. Or too bored with battling his determinedly reclusive habits to care that the bronzerider she had known when they had both lived at another Weyr was so changed.
Zelle could worry. For now he was happy with the way his life was.
And, as an unintentional consequence of his preference for focusing on his work, the Cyclone Wing hidework had achieved a reputation for always being up-to-date.
Wasn't that enough to satisfy any Wingleader?
Last updated on the October 30th 2008