A Weyr of Their Own

Writers: Emma, Jane
Date Posted: 22nd August 2009

Characters: Zharesti, K'sedel
Description: Zharesti's Veyeth rises and K'sedel's Nikornath wins the flight
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 4, day 14 of Turn 5

K'sedel

It might not have been the best idea - to trek through the Weyr back to
her own room without the Weyrleader in tow - but it was done now and in
a couple of months people would have forgotten about it. By the time
there were new weyrlings as a result of the mating flight people would
have got over whatever issues they had with the change of Senior
Weyrwoman and, other than a little nostalgia for the long Turns when
Tsaera led them, they'd have settled into a new era.

Or, most of them, at least.

In Zharesti's opinion most people were pragmatists, and those who
weren't ought to be. Leadership based on the rising of golds the wining
of bronzes was bound to be a fickle business. What truly ought not to
be fickle was the commitment of the people moved in and out of the
leadership positions by such events. Zharesti had done her best when
she had become Senior Weyrwoman in a newly opened Weyr, when she had
lost than rank during Veyeth's illness, and when she had moved to River
Bluff as a junior weyrwoman.

River Bluff was hers now; she would do the right thing by it, as Tsaera
had for many Turns before her. No doubt there would be another
Weyrwoman after her, and more after that. The continuity and commitment
were important - not the individual.

Nevertheless the individual in this case did rather regret that her
office wasn't a a testament to tidiness and organisation. Instead there
was one pristine, gleaming wooden workbench - completely empty - and
piles and piles of papers and hides spread all over any horizontal
surface around the rest of the office. Not a chair to sit in, not a
table to put things down on. This was _not_ going to look good when she
asked somebody to give her a hand moving into the the empty quarters
than would now be hers.

"They're going to think I couldn't organise my way out of an unfastened
firestone sack," she said aloud to the empty office as she looked around
it with a critical eye. Normally she would chat away to Veyeth (she had
never been one to use only mental communication with her lifemate - she
liked to talk, Veyeth was usually happy to listen, what was wrong with
that?) but the gold dragon was sound asleep somewhere. On a beach,
apparently, with her new mate, and so the new Weyrwoman was talking to
herself.

"There you are." The Weyrleader had found time to bathe and get dressed
before going to find the new Weyrwoman. He leant against the door, "I
thought you might have stayed a little longer."

"Ahh." Zharesti hadn't expected that he would catch up with her quite
so fast. "Well, it's not my habit to hang around," she admitted.
"Gives some people the wrong idea." She cleared her throat. "And, this
time, it's not as if there's not plenty to get on with," she said,
waving a hand to indicate the mess which suddenly seemed less like a
problem than a fair excuse.

"I'd agree with you there." He straightened up. "If nothing else that
flight will make sure that people have an idea of what happened." The
Weyr had been somewhat surprised when the news had come out that there
would be a change in leadership. "Veyeth flew well, my bronze was lucky."

"He did well," the new Weyrwoman said, knowing when compliments had to
be paid. "And we'll see just how well Veyeth was flying in a month or
so. New blood - ichor - in the Weyr." With stable leadership came the
obvious problem of inbreeding the draconic lines, but Veyeth had hatched
at another Weyr and was from as distant a line as could be achieved
given the population decline during the millennium-long Interval.

"Indeed." And it wasn't as though there hadn't been competition. Almost
all the bronze dragons in the Weyr had chased, excepting those who were
injured, and there had been an audacious brown that had tried so hard.
But only one could win. In a way he was lucky, it could so easily have
been another man stood here now. "I'm sure there will be a very good
clutch, that's usually what they say after a longish flight."

"We'll see. I don't suppose you're volunteering to help me move weyrs?"
she asked, making an effort towards friendly teasing since they had to,
at the very least, establish a working relationship.

"I should get back to my weyrmate really."

"_Just_ like a bronzerider," she grumbled in a tone that couldn't really
be mistaken for complaint. "Always ready with an excuse when it comes
to work."

"She's with our child, it'll be my turn to take over," his weyrmate was
weyrborn and bred and knew that flights didn't count for anything in the
context of their relationship. "But I can organise for some help to be
sent up, if you need it."

Zharesti smiled and shook her head. "I can organise my own help, now."
Now it was _her_ Weyr, she could organise anything.

"I'm sure you can, but no doubt there will be a stack of work awaiting
us both tomorrow."

"I'm looking forward to it," River Bluff's new Senior Weyrwoman said,
and it was true. She and Veyeth had a Weyr of their own again, and in
winning it Zharesti realised how much she had missed that mingled sense
of possession and responsibility. "I'll see you tomorrow, then, K'sedel."

Last updated on the August 29th 2009

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A Weyr of Their Own