Enjoy Yourself

Writers: Emma, Estelle
Date Posted: 31st July 2018

Characters: R'fal, K'sedel
Description: R'fal is summoned to see the Weyrlingmaster again.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 26 of Turn 9

K'sedel

Since Marlath was deeply asleep after a tiring afternoon of drills, the
message was brought to R'fal by a Candidate on messenger duty. She was a
young girl of about twelve, a little out of breath from running all over
the Weyr.

"Excuse me - are you R'fal, Marlath's rider?"

"Yes, that's me." R'fal smiled. Being called that filled him with a warm
glow of pride that didn't seem to diminish no matter how many times it
happened.

"The Weyrlingmaster wants to see you." R'fal thought he detected a
slight note of sympathy in her voice before she turned and ran off to
take her next message.

**Oh no! Not again...** He remembered the last time he'd been summoned
to see the Weyrlingmaster, about his badly spelled assignment. Although
he was slightly less terrified of K'sedel now than he had been as a
brand new weyrling, it was not by much. He didn't think he'd made any
more mistakes in drills than usual, or forgotten a class, but what if he
had done something wrong without realising? Every time he thought he'd
got used to weyrlife, something happened which made him feel like a
wide-eyed newcomer once more.

Being late would only make matters worse. Trying to ignore his nerves,
R'fal turned and headed for the Weyrlingmaster's office.

This time K'sedel knew that he needed to put the youngster at ease, and
give him the good news of his improvement. So he'd made sure to have
some cold drinks set out, and rearranged his office slightly, to make it
seem a little less forbidding, by putting chairs together, rather than
across a desk. Then he waited for the youngster to arrive.

After a short while, there was a tap at the door and the brown weyrling
entered the room. R'fal noticed that the layout of the office had
changed since he'd last been there, but it didn't occur to him that it
might be on his account. The bronzerider must be expecting a friend or
colleague to visit later. "You asked to see me, Weyrlingmaster?"

"Come in and sit down." K'sedel gestured to the seats. "And don't worry,
there's nothing to worry about here."

"Yes, sir." R'fal sat nervously on the edge of one of the chairs. Last
time he'd been here, he had ended up being assigned extra classes due to
his poor writing skills. He wondered if the harpers had reported back on
his progress. Lately he'd had little time to practice writing, what with
drills and an ever-growing dragon to care for. Graduation to senior
weyrling was supposed to be coming soon. What if he was going to be held
back, after all, to wait for the next class, while his friends moved on
without him?

"Would you like a drink?" K'sedel asked as he poured some juice. The
tension was rolling off the weyrling in waves.

**Nikornath, assure his brown that there really is nothing to worry
about, he and his rider are doing well**

"Um... yes, please, sir." R'fal's throat certainly felt dry. Was the
Weyrlingmaster being kind to him to soften the blow?

}: Nikornath says we must not worry. We are a good pair. :{ Marlath
sounded sleepy, but there was pride in his voice that reassured the
young weyrling. His posture relaxed a bit and he took a sip of the
juice. Even if he did get held back, he would still have his dragon, and
that was all that mattered.

"I wanted to talk to you about your progress," K'sedel was watching the
youngster's face. "I'm hearing good things from the harpers. You're
making real improvements."

"Really?" R'fal's eyes went wide in astonishment. Some of his teachers
had told him he'd been doing well, but he was never sure if they were
just saying that so he wouldn't get discouraged. "I've been trying hard,
honest, but just lately, with the drills and the longer flights, it's
hard to find spare time..."

"Really," K'sedel repeated. "They're saying that you are not far off the
standard of the rest of the class."

"I am?" That was good news. Even if R'fal suspected that the standard he
was approaching was that of his youngest classmates, the twelve and
thirteen-Turn olds, if they could make senior weyrling, then maybe he
could, too. But was he close enough?

"Then...will I be able to graduate with the others? If I pass in
everything else? I'll work even harder if there's a chance, I promise."

"You'll graduate on time if both of you keep up the good work. It may be
that you spend a few months with the Queen's Wing just to get you over
the line with the academic work, but as some of your younger colleagues
will be there too, don't see it as being held back, but as a time to get
ready."

R'fal grinned in relief. "Thank you, sir!" Silently, he promised himself
that he would study harder than ever, so that he wouldn't have to spend
much time in the Queen's Wing. It would be far better than being held
back with the juniors, for sure, but like many a weyrling before him,
R'fal dreamed of fighting Thread alongside the Weyrleader and his
Wingleaders.

"You're welcome." K'sedel observed the weyrling for a moment. Relief in
that grin yes, and perhaps a hint of pride and pleasure too. "Well done
R'fal, your hard work is paying off."

"It's not that bad, having to go to the classes," R'fal said, emboldened
by the praise. "Some of them were really interesting, like the one on
the history of the Weyrs. I still don't much like spelling, and
definitely not punctuation, but..." He hesitated, remembering who he was
talking to. "I mean...um, I'm grateful for the help."

"Just make sure you let the harpers know that too, they've had to work
as hard as you to make this interesting and useful." K'sedel paused for
a moment, "Spelling and punctuation are important, but that will come
with time. Keep practising, and one day you'll see it all just drop into
place."

"Yes, sir. I've been writing to my family, to practice, and to tell them
how I'm getting on here." That was one of the big advantages of his
improving literacy. R'fal would have written to his parents daily if
he'd had the time and been able to afford the runners' fees. He hoped
his dwindling supply of marks would hold out until he could go home in
person.

That reminded him that he had a question. "Um, I wanted to ask...will I
be able to go back and see them soon? When Marlath can go /between/?"

"Once we know that you two are sure of what you are doing, and where you
are going, you may need a staff member to accompany you the first time,
just to double check the visualisations."

R'fal thought about that, realising that he only had the vaguest idea of
how you went /between/. "I'm not sure I'd know how to do that...I mean,
I know what my home looks like, but I only saw it from the air once."
He'd been too excited about riding a dragon to pay much attention at the
time. "Maybe L'cor or Oria would know, but they might not remember one
cothold. They must Search at a lot of places."

"And that's why you'd have someone with you, but they won't need to
stay, remember your Marlath will be able call for help. But to get back
to your original question. We'll work on going /between/ here the first
few times. Short jumps, from the beach to the star stones and back
again, just to get you used to hit. then to go a bit further out, maybe
down the coast a little," explained K'sedel.

"My home is in Emerald Falls...it's a way out from the Hold, though."
R'fal had only a vague idea of the cothold's location in relation to the
Hold. Hopefully they'd have kept a record of the Search. "Will it take
long for me to learn how to go there?"

"Some people learn quicker than others," explained K'sedel. "I really
can't say, for most, they have the hang of it in two to three sevendays.
But it then just takes practice."

R'fal thought about that, calculating that if it took a few sevendays to
learn, he might be able to go home in a little over a month! That wasn't
long at all. Assuming, of course, that he wasn't lost /between/; he'd
heard the chilling stories about weyrlings who disappeared, never to be
seen again. But he didn't mention that to the Weyrlingmaster. Marlath
was a smart dragon. Surely they'd be fine.

"I'll practice really hard, I promise - except when I'm practising
writing, or flying, or doing chores..." One advantage of the weyrling's
busy schedule was that there was barely any time to worry about what the
future held.

"Trust me, you'll have all the time you need to practice this. It's a
big step."

The boy's smile brightened his whole face as he imagined his triumphant
return home on a magnificent brown dragon. "Thank you, sir. Can I go?
I'd like to tell my friends. They've been really kind to me over the
extra work...I thought they would tease me about it, but they didn't."

"Yes, you can go." K'sedel threw the lad a genuine smile. "Go and enjoy
yourself."

R'fal left the office, light-hearted and full of energy despite his
exhausting day of training. He decided he deserved an evening off from
studying - after all, K'sedel himself had just told him to enjoy
himself, and it wouldn't do to disobey orders from the Weyrlingmaster...

Last updated on the August 26th 2018

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