Who You Know

Writers: Chelle, Tyr
Date Posted: 18th February 2015

Characters: R'gelen, Symion
Description: Symion discovers a secret that he immediately shares with Rohagelen.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 11, day 6 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Rhosyn, Corofel

With a pleased sigh, Symion finished the last of the copying that the
Apprentice Master had set him to. Once he let it be known that he was
serious about advancement, the Apprentice Master had started assigning
extra chores and responsibilities to see how the older apprentice
fared at completing the tasks. Symion had done so well that he'd
become somewhat of an assistant to the man, which to the apprentice's
chagrin meant completing a number of onerous tasks.

If it helped him to walk the tables at promotion time then it was
worth it even if it did mean more work that he couldn't really fob off
onto someone else. One of the pluses, however, was the valuable
information that he was able to glean by being so much in the
Apprentice Master's office. Looking around to make sure that no one
was about, Symion started thumbing through some of the files on the
Master's desk. Noticing Rohagelen's name, he pulled it out and began
to read, caring little for the fact that in so doing he was invading
his friend's privacy.

Wait! What did that say? Rohagelen was - no way! Why wouldn't his
friend have mentioned that? Symion reread the print before him, just
to make sure he had it right. Well, this was certainly an interesting
tidbit that might come in handy. First he would need to ask the
younger apprentice why he'd kept such a secret, though.

~*~

"Hey, Rohagelen, wait up," Symion called, lengthening his strides to
catch up with the junior apprentice.

The boy was laden down with sacks full of empty skins, taking them on
their way to be seasoned before the wine would be poured into them.
He tried to talk, but he didn't manage much while concentrating on carrying
his awkward burden. "Yeah?" Moving slightly to avoid dropping one, he
adjusted
himself.

Taking some of the wine skins to help make his friend's load easier,
Symion looked around before speaking in a hushed tone. "How come you
never _told_ me who you're related to?"

"Well cause my Da is just a farmer. Didn't think it'd make any difference."
Giving Symion a funny look, he kept walking after giving a grateful nod for
the
help.

Symion gave the younger apprentice a sideways glance as he walked
along with him, trying to determine if he was being intentionally
dense. "I didn't mean your parents. I meant your _aunt_."

"What do you mean my aunt? I got one but she's married and lives somewhere
I don't know." He shrugged, having never met the woman as he recalled. In
fact,
he hadn't met most of his relations except for maybe an uncle.

"You really don't know," Symion remarked in astonishment. He quickly
thought the
situation over but in no scenario did it benefit him if Rohagelen _didn't_
know the
truth. "Your aunt is River Bluff's Weyrwoman Rhosyn."

That stopped the young man in his tracks. Then he laughed. "Nuh uh. Come on,
Symion,
you have better jokes than that." He shook his head and scoffed, readjusting
the weight
of the skins. "That woman...everyone says she's a goldrider who..well she
doesn't act very
well."

"She's a _goldrider_, a Weyrwoman," Symion stated with a shake of his head.
His friend
was missing the significance here. Laying claim to such a relationship
could be _very_ beneficial.
"She can act any way she pleases. Besides it's completely different in the
Weyr," Symion
continued to explain sagely as if he actually had experience. "And it's
_not_ a joke. The
Master of Apprentices had your file sitting out and I wanted to make sure
everything was okay – it
is by the way, you're getting pretty good reports. Anyway, I saw it on the
hide, plain as day.
Your mother's sister is Weyrwoman Rhosyn." The hide also held specific
instructions about
keeping this information confidential but Symion cared very little about
that.

Some time was needed for the significance of all of that to sink in. "What?
My file?"
Completely blindsided, the apprentice immediately wanted to know if that
were in fact
true. If it was in his file, though, it had to be. The Hallmaster could
verify such things.
And if it was, why would his parents keep it a secret? One reason
immediately came to
the fore. Despite being a Weyrwoman, Rhosyn was something of a..well if half
those things
were true, they were worth being embarrassed over. Especially to holders
like his parents.

"Well apparently everyone but me knows and I haven't been treated any
different. So why should
I care?" Indeed.

Symion knew this was a lot for the younger apprentice to process and didn't
want to push
him. Let it sink in a little and then maybe he could help his friend
understand how beneficial
something like this could be. He gave a shrug, "I doubt everyone knows, and
you never know.
Having influential relations can come in useful. Doesn't really change who
you are, though.
I was just surprised is all. Thought you would have mentioned it. Guess I
can see why you didn't,
since you didn't know."

"Apparently she's nothing like my Ma, if she is my Aunt and all," he
admitted ruefully. "You think
all that is true?" He turned to Symion, his source for all things
information.

"You mean that she's your aunt? Or the rumors about Weyrwoman Rhosyn?"

"The second thing." He didn't say her name since it had just occurred to him
just how similar it was
to his own. That took him aback some.

Symion's brow furrowed. His friends' relation to the Weyrwoman wasn't going
to do Rohagelen
(or Symion) any good if the young apprentice was ashamed of it. "She's from
the Weyr. They _have_
to act differently there because of the dragons. If you think about it,
it's really kind of heroic, that a
Holdbred woman will sacrifice her chastity for the greater good of Pern.
Most likely, though, the
more ugly of the rumors were just started by jealous people who don't
understand. I mean, we're in
a Pass. Thread is falling. We need the dragonriders and the queens are the
very most important of
the dragons."

"Do you think...we could see what she looked like?" He was getting more and
more curious by the moment.
What if his famous relation really was something of a hero? He had rider
blood in his veins then. What if he
could be a rider too? **Do I want something like that? I thought I wanted to
be a vintner. Why didn't Ma and
Da tell me? I wonder if she sounds like Ma.**

"Well, I don't know how. I suppose there must be likenesses of her, but I
don't know how we'd
come by one," Symion answered giving that some thought. "I wonder if
Corofel has ever seen her."

"Hmm maybe he knows more about her. Right. I bet..she's on some dragonpoker
decks. Recent ones."
Rohagelen had only recently started playing the game so he didn't yet have a
deck of his own. Symion
probably did since he knew how to play so well.

"My deck is older, she isn't on mine, but maybe Corofel's will have her. Or
maybe the Hold's Harper will
have her likeness. The old Harper in our Hold told us that in the major
Holds children learn the faces of
all the Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen in the South along with their duty
ballads."

"Hmm maybe.. I'll go ask after I deliver these." He chewed on the bottom of
his lip, thinking.

Symion grinned, pleased that Rohagelen seemed to be coming around to the
idea. Being interested was a
good start. "Want some company?"

"If you want." He finished that with a shrug, indicating he wasn't exactly
sure about the whole enterprise.

Last updated on the February 20th 2015

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