A New Direction

Writers: Len, Miriah
Date Posted: 29th July 2014

Characters: J'ackt, Sh'del, Sagan, Liandra
Description: A fed up Weyrlingmaster tries to get his candidate on the straight and narrow
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 7 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik

J'ackt

Sh'del was filing through the papers on his desk, as his tiny green
flit scrambled about, jumping on the rolled up hides and papers like
she was a feline with a ball of yarn. normally Sh'del would have been
amused but this morning he was distracted. If his plan didn't
work...well, there was no use worrying about it. If the plan didn't
work, then that boy was being taken off the register for candidates,
he didn't care what N'vanik thought about it. If the man had wanted to
be Weyrlingmaster he should have out himself forth for the job. But
no, he put Sh'del into the position and Sh'del was going to do what he
thought best.

At dawn, Jenackt appeared at the office door. His eyes were shadowed,
obviously tired. He'd stayed up later than he had planned, finishing
his assignment mostly out of sheer stubbornness. The door to the
office was open so he rapped on the frame. "You wanted to see me?"

Sh'del nodded. "Have a seat." He pointed to Jenackt's hide in his
hand. "Put that on my desk, you won't be needing it anymore. As of
this moment you are officially on probation from your candidate
studies."

Jenackt immediately frowned, putting the hide on the desk as he sat.
Lips thinned. He was being taken out of classes? Shard it, he needed
those! Was the man purposefully trying to set him up to fail or
something? He tensed and said nothing, biting his tongue.

Sh'del looked up to say something, but then there was a knock at the
door. "Come in," he said instead.
A small whispy boy slipped through the door. "Gannet said to report to
you this morning, sir."
"Ah yes, Sagan, do you know Jenackt here?" He nodded to the boy in
front of his desk.

As the door opened, Jenackt turned to see who the person was. The
moment he saw Sagan, his head whipped back to Sh'del and his lips
thinned. No matter who the man thought he was, Sh'del could not force
him to befriend the frail looking boy. Stubborn resentment immediately
curdled in his stomach at being forced into something he had already
said he did not want. It took everything he had to bite his tongue and
keep quiet. The moment he left here, he fully planned on going to the
practice yards, find a burlap sack and beat the blazes out of it.

Sh'del ignored the look on Jenackt's face. "Ah, Sagan, can you do me a
favor and take this boy to your master, please? he's to stay under
Journeywoman Liandra's care until further notice." To Jenackt, he
nodded. "You may go with Sagan now, you're dismissed from candidate
duties until further notice."

Jenackt immediately protested. "Hold on a moment. I understand
probation but who is this Liandra and why am I under her care? And why
am I not a candidate? I don't understand what's going on."

"Because you're on probation. Don't worry, kid, we'll get you back in
time for the hatching. Go with Sagan now, and just trust that I've got
your best interests at heart." Sh'del nodded to the door. "You're both
dismissed."

Sagan stood by the door, looking nervous at the prospect of having to
be alone with Jenackt.

Fury gripped him. Just like that, Sh'del had gotten rid of him. Best
interests his ass! He rose stiffly, his jaw tight at the 'kid' comment
and the dismissal. He really wanted to tell Sh'del that he could stick
his best interests up his fecking ass; biting his tongue had simply
made it sore. After all of his hard work...he should have known
better! He should have just left after the last shaffing hatching!

He stalked to the door and opened it with a jerk. Sh'del hadn't
explained a bloody thing. For all he knew, he'd be back in the
kitchens. He left the room, not even looking at Sagan and strode out,
stopping a few feet away to take several deep breaths. His knuckles
cracked as his fists tightened, but he stood still and waited.

Sagan scurried down the hall until he was slightly ahead of Jenackt.
Nervously, he pointed straight ahead. "It's...uh...we need to go over
here." He gulped and started walking.

Jenackt followed, his face set in displeasure. He said nothing to
Sagan, but simply kept walking his pace quick and jarring.

Gulping again, Sagan scurried in front of the other boy and led him
across the Weyr bowl. They walked up to the Dragonhealer's quarters
and Sagan glanced behind him. "We're to report to Journeywoman
Liandra. her office is just inside, to the right."

Jenackt paused at the entry of the quarters and his brow furrowed
deeper. Dragonhealers? Sh'del was putting him with dragonhealers? Why
in the shards was he doing that? He was no fecking healer! He followed
Sagan in to the quarters and then turned to face the office door.

Sagan could feel Jenackt's anger and that made him nervous. This,
after all, was a boy with the bad reputation in the barracks, and
after the standoffish way the rest of the boys treated the craft-bred
boy, the last thing he needed was yet another person picking in him.
Rather than make small talk, he choose to keep his mouth shut until
they were outside the door of his master's favorite journeyman.
Stuttering a bit, he nodded to the door. "just knock, she's expecting
you."

Jenackt knocked on the door and stood stiffly, waiting for it to open.
Dragonhealers. Why on Pern's Thread pocked surface was he being sent
to a dragonhealer?

"Come in!"

Opening the door, Jenackt stepped in and faced the Journeywoman.
"Sh'del told me to report to you." **And didn't tell me why.**

"Indeed he did." The woman who greeted the boys was slender and stood
only an inch taller than Sagan, who was tiny. "Have you worked with
the dragons yet?"

"Only for the classes during candidacy. And I've done my rounds in the
infirmary like every other candidate." Jenackt looked at the little
woman. "Maybe you could tell me why I'm here since Sh'del didn't
bother?"

"You're going to be one of my students, that's why. He thought the
sameness of the classes was becoming a bore for you. That and you get
to work with the dragons instead of being stuck in a stuffy classroom.
Does that not work for you?" She cocked her head at the boy, curiosity
rather than amusement on her face. By the door frame Sagan fidgeted
uncomfortably.

Sure he did. Jenackt's eye twitched. "Does it matter if it does?
Really don't have a choice either way. I'm no Healer and don't want to
be. So when do we get started?"

Liandra snorted, her face_now_showing amusement. "We'll start now."
Looking over his shoulder, she smiled to Sagan. "Thank you for
bringing him over, Master Kl'ren wanted you to help him mix herbs
today, so off you go."

After Sagan all but fled the scene, she turned her attention back to
the candidate left. Waving her hand, she said, "Come with me, we have
a rather obnoxious dragon who doesn't want to be helpful with his
threadscore and I need a strong boy to help me."

Last updated on the August 1st 2014

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A New Direction