Perpetually Smudged

Writers: Chelle, Jane
Date Posted: 8th July 2014

Characters: Asley, Sahna
Description: Asley comes across a junior apprentice and praises her work.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 7, day 24 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Tibby
Notes: Mentor approved.

Sahna was still in the study room despite the evening having finally rolled
around to the apprentices' short spell of free time. It was easier to spread her
things out on the tables in the study room, and since most of the others
departed after their mandatory study time she was left in peace to write her
letters home.

Or draw them, in the case of her letter to her youngest brother Tibby.

On a sheet of hide that could be sanded back and reused she had drafted the
little oblong drawings, each with a story to tell of how her sevenday had gone.
Not always telling _exactly_ the truth about how things had gone, because there
was not much entertainment in lessons-lessons-chores-and-study. So this time she
was making the little pictures tell about her disaster with the ink-making. In
reality it had been a few splashes on the already stained floor - and
unfortunately on her boots - but the Sahna in the pictures had a bigger disaster
to contend with as a tide of spilled ink spread across the room and
then out the door and across the courtyard.

Should she continue on and show it flooding the Hold and going over the Emerald
Falls? Down the river and out to sea and Tibby seeing a dark splotch in the sea
of Dolphin Cove Weyr? She stared into space, mentally calculating how many
little picture blocks she would need to make that story work.

Asley shuffled in, setting her things down. Even though it was free time, she
had nowhere to go. The printer didn't dare go out into the Hold since she was
female without an escort. And who wanted to spend time with some man anyway?
Sighing, she looked up to find Sahna already there. Things were looking up
already. "Evening."

"Good evening Asley." Sahna would have preferred to have the room to herself but
if it had to be anybody else she was glad it was the senior apprentice. "I'm
writing letters to my family." She didn't need to add that they were at Dolphin
Cove. Asley had been already part of the Hall when the Hall had been housed at
the Weyr and probably remembered when Sahna had turned up as an apprentice. It
wasn't _that_ long ago.

Her brother was still at Coral Bay Hold but Asley did write him from time to
time. It had been awhile since she had seen him. "Oh that's good of you. Do you
miss them?" It was probably harder for the younger ones, she thought in her head
as she looked over to see Sahna's pictures. The girl could be a talented
illustrator.

Sahna nodded, reminded by the senior apprentice's question just how much she did
miss them, especially Tibby who was more her baby than anybody else's. "Of
course," she muttered, frowning to keep from getting teary-eyed. Some of the
others would tease her about that and although she didn't think Asley would she
didn't want to start feeling all mopy again the way she had when she had first
moved to the new Hall.

"It gets easier as time goes. I kept myself busy at the beginning to keep from
thinking about it." Of course she'd left behind her one female friend at the
Weyr. That was something that hurt everyday. "You're a very good illustrator you
know."

"Am I?" Sahna peered at her drawings in surprise. "They're just fun things for
Tibby." She looked up at the young woman. "You mean, _illustrator_ as in I might
be able to _be_ an illustrator?"

"That's exactly what I meant. You obviously have the raw talent for it. Might be
worth taking some classes to focus on developing it." Some of them got their
pictures made into stamps. Asley smiled, trying to be properly encouraging.

Sahna looked between the page and the senior apprentice again. "I _will_. Thank
you, Asley." Some of the senior apprentices thought themselves a bit too
important to bother with the juniors, and some who hadn't been with the Hall at
the Weyr preferred to ignore the female apprentices altogether, but Asley wasn't
like that. "I'm going to make some pictures of this for Tibby. I'll put you in -
though he might not recognize the knots so I'll just make you extra tall so he
knows you're a senior and older than me."

"How many turns do you have?" She was trying to judge but sometimes it was hard.
"And you're welcome. Good illustrators are hard to come by sometimes. A lot of
them go to the artist hall and are never seen again as they try painting.
Personally I think illustrating is better. Cause when your pictures are in lots
of books versus one painting, more people will see them and keep them." There
was a bit of pride in her tone as she placed a sense of importance upon books
and their keeping.

"I have thirteen Turns and am a Turn apprenticed." Sahna's smile was impish. "I
could never leave the printercraft. I love the letters and the type too much.
Being an artist - or any other craft - can't offer me that."

"True. Ink production is my thing. The different colors and thicknesses for the
types of effects you want. Course it means I'm usually messy and perpetually
smudged." She shrugged. It wasn't like she would win a beauty contest anyway.
Asley was not that sort of girl.

"Smudged is like a badge of office for the printercraft, isn't it?" the younger
girl suggested, enjoying the conversation much more than many with her peers
some of whom seemed to be apprenticed to the craft for no better reason than
their parents weren't sure what else to do with them.

"I suppose. Sometimes I think my skin might be permanently stained at some point
though. Master says it can happen." She shrugged and looked at her hands which
did indeed bear marks of blue, black, and a few other colors.

Sahna looked at her own hands which were remarkably free of ink stains. She held
them up for Asley's inspection. "I must not be a real printer apprentice yet,"
she said with a smile.

"We all have different talents. I work directly with the ink so I handle it
more. Thus more stains. Those that actually carve the fonts for the type, they
don't even mess with the ink at all. But we're all needed to get the job done."
She nodded to herself, knowing the printercraft had many aspects.

"And I've got to learn all of them before I can specialize," Sahna recalled with
a sigh. "Thank you for being so nice about my pictures," she added, knowing she
had to get back to the letter if she wanted it go with the others to her family
at Dolphin Cove Weyr.

"You're welcome. See you around Sahna." Asley knew she didn't really need to
study so she decided to head back to the barracks to get her things ready for
the next morning. And maybe send a letter of her own.

Last updated on the July 16th 2014

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Perpetually Smudged