Sweeps

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 23rd January 2009

Characters: K'hetah, Toncha
Description: K'hetah gets a report from Toncha, one of his sweepriders.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 4 of Turn 5

The bronzerider worked silently and intently on the Wing assignments, balancing the drills with the sweepriding and the inevitable errand-running, making sure each rider got an even share of each ... except where the rider needed more preparation for Threadfall. And then he added in the requirement for the Wing to provide riders for watch duty.

He winced at the mess on his drafting page, swore he would discover a better way, and then reached for a clean sheet to make a fair copy.

"Sir?" The young greenrider carried her jacket slung over her arm. She stood in the doorway as she waited for the Wingleader to acknowledge her.

"Toncha - come in. Hang your jacket up," he said waving toward the rack beside the door and glad of the reason to take a break from the assignments. "You were on a coastal sweep today, weren't you? Didgi area, inland and out to sea?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, speaking as she hung the garment. "All is basically quiet, though I did note a few things that might be of slight concern." She removed the hand-drawn map from her belt pouch as she approached his desk.

"Here's the main map," K'hetah said, getting the appropriate map from the pile of rolled hides on the shelf beside his desk. He stood up to unroll it and grabbed four weight from a drawer to keep it flat. "Now, tell me what you've got."

He liked the recently graduated riders that took their sweepriding seriously since some regarded the duty as something akin to a punishment. He hated to make the generalisation, but the riders of the smaller dragons - the blues and the greens - seemed to be more contentious about sweeps.

She stepped closer to the table, pursing her lips as she glanced at the map, taking in the larger picture before zeroing in on the section to which she had been assigned. She compared her small one to the larger one and then pointed. "Right here. There's a family that has taken up residence. It seems that they were displaced by the hurricane almost a Turn ago. Since then they've been wandering, leading a few heardbeasts, collecting a few strays as they go, moving to wherever the grass is growing best but not settling. They set up temporary shelters, but I'm still a bit concerned that they should be protected during Threadfall."

"They're trusting us more than they ought to," K'hetah agreed. "We can either deal with it as a Weyr issue - giving them advice about good shelters - or pass it on to the Lord Holder for this stretch of coast." He glanced up at the young woman. "Which would you do? And why?"

She shifted her feet uncomfortably. "It's not a matter of trust. They were actually a bit. . . short with me when I brought it up. They feel that they survived the hurricane without help and made a new life for themselves and they can survive on their own. The concerns were mine."

"No more than 'short'?" K'hetah asked with concern. He wouldn't tolerate mistreatment of his wingriders and wouldn't hesitate to make that clear to anybody - weyrfolk or holders. Discourtesy, though, was an unfortunate part of life.

"The way they acted," Toncha paused, remembering the encounter. "I don't know why, but they seemed sort of afraid. Almost as if they thought we were going to take something away from them."

He frowned. "As if we were going to report them to the Lord Holder, do you think?"

"Maybe." She replied. "And maybe not. It seemed that they've been really struggling and had to build their lives on their own since the hurricane and just don't want to lose any of it." She paused again and smiled sheepishly. "At least that was my impression of what was going on. Maybe I was reading too much into it."

"Why would they lose any of it because of us?"

"Not just us. Anyone."

"Well we should be the least of threats. We're keeping Thread off their heads and livestock and we've no interest in the land for ourselves. I'm going to put you back on this sweep area, if you don't mind, and I'd like you to see if you can establish some sort of friendship with them." He didn't like the idea of Hold folk out there behaving in unexpected ways, and the best solution for that seemed to be to learn in what way they were likely to behave.

"I'd like that, sir." She flashed a brief smile. "Before I was Searched I lived in that general direction, though further to the north."

"You're practically a local then. Make sure they know that, next time you speak to them."

"Yes, sir," she agreed, grateful that he was entrusting her with such a task. "I'll report to you on my progress?"

"Yes please. Every time you have any contact with them." That way it would be clear should anything develop that he was supervising the interaction between the rider and hold folk. Just in case there was trouble later.

"Yes, sir." She smiled sheepishly. "And there really wasn't anything else out of the ordinary during my sweep, so I've nothing else to report."

"Very good. Thank you for your efforts, Toncha. And thank Vorth, too."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She started to turn away, but quickly turned back to him. "And my regards to Loeth as well." She offered a quick smile and then hurried off, pleased that she had done her assignment well.

Last updated on the January 24th 2009

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Sweeps