Welcome to River Bluff

Writers: Cali, Jane
Date Posted: 4th November 2009

Characters: Zharesti, Talmina
Description: Zharesti catches up with Talmina, a newcomer to the Weyr.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 5, day 23 of Turn 5

Talmina found the Weyrwoman's office without much trouble. Though the Weyr was large and she didn't care to explore most of it, _everyone_ knew where the Queens weyrs were and it wasn't hard to figure out the the office would be near by. She'd received a summons delivered by a young boy while she'd been working in the kitchens, and had come as soon as the dough she'd been kneading had been set in their pans to rise. She had no idea why the Weyrwoman would want to see her, but she knew from her time at Garnet Valley that when one of authority called you, you didn't dawdle, and that it was never good news.

"Come in, come in, whoever you are," Zharesti called as she caught sight of the shadow thrown onto the floor of her office from the open doorway.

"It's Talmina ma'am." she replied, her voice properly subdued for how one spoke to high rank. She stepped inside and approached the Weyrwoman, keeping a respectful distance when she stopped and lowering her eyes to show her diminished status.

"Hello Talmina." Zharesti studied the young woman for a moment. She was weyrbred through and through and she was never sure what to make of the women who wouldn't meet people's eyes. Her instincts were always to regard it as shiftiness, but reason told her that women from different kinds of lives in the post-Craft Ban Southern Continent had different habits. "Welcome to River Bluff Weyr. Please have a seat."

Talmina did as she was told and kept as still and as silent as possible. She was filled with dread, not knowing what this was about, and fearing that the lies the girls at the Hold were spreading had reached the Weyrwoman. If she was told to leave, she didn't know where she would go.

"How are you settling in here, Talmina?" the Weyrwoman suggested, suspecting it was going to be hard work getting anything out of this young woman.

"Fine. The Headwoman assigned me to the kitchens." Talmina wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. Had there been complaints against her?

"Do you like working there? Is that the sort of work you did at - Garnet Valley, wasn't it?"

Talmina nodded. "Yes, I've been working in the kitchens the past few turns. I'm very good at carvings and blossoms."

"Carving -" Zharesti frown for a moment. "Oh! Carving meat?" Even in her days before Impression she'd had little to do with the work in the kitchen. Since then she had taken a polite interest - which apparently might not have been enough. "And what are the blossoms?"

"They're um, decorations mostly; fruits and melons made to look like flowers and trees and other things too if you wanted." She'd made them for all the formal dinners and Gathers at Garnett Valley. Did they not have them here?

"Oh." It wasn't the Weyrwoman's kind of creativity but she supposed there were people who were equally indifferent to her own skill at sketching. "Well as long as you've found useful work here. Do you have family at Garnet Valley? Do they know you're here?"

Talmina was starting to think that the Weyrwoman knew nothing at all about her, that she hadn't done anything wrong, and that no one from Garnet Valley had spread hateful rumours about her at all. If that was the case, she certainly didn't want to bring them up now. So she lied, sort of. "I... came to stay with Briata. My family suggested it. They were concerned for her being at the Weyr all alone I suppose."

"Briata?" The former Lady Warder. At this rate the place was going to become overrun with girls from Garnet Valley. Perhaps when Veyeth's clutch had Hatched and they had their freedom back she would go and see the place for herself. "How do you know her?"

"She's my cousin." Talmina made sure her voice was even and not tainted with the distaste she felt at talking about her.

"Oh?" Perhaps Garnet Valley was ridding itself of any reminder of it's former Lady Warder. "Is that why you came here? To be with her?"

Was the Weyrwoman suspicious? Had she heard something after all? "Yes."

"That's good. It's nice for you both to have family members here." Zharesti's dark eyes studied the young woman for a long moment. "I've spoken to Briata about it but in case nobody's told you, all eligible people at the Weyr when Veyeth's eggs Hatch are going to have to Stand. "You're healthy, aren't you? And between twelve and twenty one Turns?"

Talmina paused as she took in the Weywoman's words. Surely she had misheard. "All the Weyrfolk are to Stand." Talmina had heard the kitchen girls talking about it, that even if someone wasn't Searched, they still needed to Stand. "But I'm not Weyrfolk, surely it's not to apply to me?"

"It applies to every resident at the Weyr when the eggs Hatch," Zharesti said firmly.

She felt panic rise in her, felt the cornered, trapped feeling she'd felt when the girls had followed her down the darkened cooridor at Garnet Valley. She tramped down on the emotions though, forced them down into a box where she always forced down her emotions about everything. She couldn't act out in front of the Weyrwoman, he upbringing, her sense of survival wouldn't allow it. "Are there any exceptions? I'm new here, aren't there studies that must be done before hand? I could perhaps miss this one and prepare for the next?"

"The only test that matters is whether the dragons want you or not. Mostly it's 'not', but you should be there to offer them the choice." In Zharesti's younger Turns the general populace hadn't known much about the last remnants of dragonriders; hadn't known and hadn't cared much. But now? It was a Pass, and they all lived and died by the efforts of dragonriders. Was it too much to ask that they were prepared to be involved? "So, _this_ Hatching, and the next."

She didn't _want_ to be a dragonrider though. She didn't _want_ to be exposed like those people in the bathing room. She didn't _want_ to be forced onto a man like the greenrider she'd seen driven mad by her green rising. Talmina knew that the Weyrwoman wouldn't care about what she wanted though, it was the way of people in elevated positions to only think about what is easiest for themselves and not about others.

"Yes, Weyrwoman." Talmina said finally as she lowered her eyes. There wasn't a point in pleading her case, not with the Weyrwoman. She'd have to think of something else, some way out of the situation. Briata came to mind and she suddenly realized that she'd gotten into this situation _because_ of Briata. Her heart hardened and her ears started to buzz. Briata had asked for her to come, had wanted her to come so that she would Impress and be punished. This is all Briata's fault.

"Good." That was resolved, then. "I'm pleased to have met you, Talmina, and again welcome to River Bluff Weyr."

Last updated on the November 15th 2009

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Welcome to River Bluff