The Devious Designs of a Drudge (1)

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 8th February 2019

Characters: Ranni, A'vel, Shelanna
Description: Ranni has been waiting for a dragonrider, and when she see's A'vel opportunity knocks.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 9, day 12 of Turn 9

Ranni

A dragon, and a green one, that was what she had been waiting for and
finally one was arriving. Ranni licked her lips, her heart thudding
loudly in her ears as she watched the green's rider dismount. Even
from a distance Ranni could tell that the rider was young, young
enough to be gullible maybe? She hoped so. She felt as if her life
depended on it.

A'vel had wanted to buy some gifts for friends, so he was looking for
ways to earn extra marks. Package delivery for marks was an easy
enough way to do that, so he'd been making himself available to
non-riders at Dolphin Cove who might need things run around. Today he
had three things to deliver, two letters and a cake someone was
sending to an elderly auntie. He'd passed off the letters, and now he
was at Sunstone Seahold with the cake in hand to deliver.

He had the reference point for Sunstone but because it wasn't part of
Dolphin Cove's territory, he didn't know it _well_, so he started
wandering in the direction of the main Hold, looking for someone who
could give him direction.

Ranni approached him before anyone else could have a chance to do so,
"Can I help you, milord?"

"Please, no need to call me milord, I'm just greenrider A'vel," he
said, before thinking that maybe drawing attention to his dragon's
color might not be the smartest idea at a Hold. "And you are?"

"Ranni, I'm a drudge. I saw you landing and figured you might need
help delivering things?" she offered.

"I would indeed. I haven't been to Sunstone before on a social visit
but I'm delivering a package here from a," he looked down at the note
in his hands. "An Apprentice Shelax, formerly of River Bluff, to be
delivered to his Auntie Shelanna."

"She's down in the kitchens, I can take you right that way," Ranni
gave him a little smile.

"Oh, thank you," he said, willing to be led. "So Sunstone's recovering
okay?"

"Yes, there has been a lot of hard work to make repairs." Ranni said,
although truthfully she had been away from Sunstone for quite some
time after the tsunami. "This way," she took him down a short cut,
typically only used by the drudges and other servants.

A'vel peered around with evident curiosity. "Is this way faster?" he
asked, suddenly a little worried. It looked a bit - well, dingy and
not as commonly used, and he remembered the warnings about being a
young greenrider alone in Holds. But no, she was his age? maybe? She
couldn't mean him harm, not like big bully boys...

"Yes, we use them all the time," she assured him. They arrived into
the kitchens via the servant's entrance. "Where's Shelanna?" she asked
the nearest scullery maid, who nodded her head in the larger woman's
direction.

"Oh, that's good." A'vel approached the woman who was taller and
broader than he was. "Hello! Apprentice Shelax sent this cake to you
for your birthingday," he reported. "He's your nephew? He called you
Auntie anyway."

"That nephew of mine, Faranth bless him," the woman wiped a little
tear from the corner of her eye as she took the cake. "I can't believe
he remembered. Give him this for me, will you?" and she plopped a big
kiss on A'vel's cheek.

A'vel blushed. "Yes, ma'am, I sure can do that. Is there anything else?"

"No but thank you sweetie," the woman gushed.

Ranni led A'vel away from Shelanna, "Sorry about that, I should have
warned you that she was the gushy type."

"It's okay," the greenrider said, a little weakly. "It could be a lot
worse."

"Come on then, let's get the rest of your things taken care of and
then I'll get you back to your lovely green." And hopefully get
herself to the Weyr....

A'vel looked at the letter he had. "Okay, do you know a... Healer
named Kateron?"

"He should be in the infirmary this time of day," Ranni said, altering
their course. "So are you from the Weyr originally?" she asked, making
small talk.

"Harper Hall," he said, pride in his tone. He had always loved being a
Harper.

"What was it like there?" she asked, weaving a bit of wistfulness into
her tone.

"Very full of music, which was nice." He sighed, wistfully. "But full of
some strictness and things I disliked. My father, he was a Master and he
had...expectations of me, that I never met."

"Because of your green dragon?" she guessed.

"Oh, I wasn't even thinking that. Though I think when I made journeyman,
he would have wanted to find me a wife. And I suppose he did want me to
be taller. But really, he wanted me to be a deep baritone, and a
composer like him, and excellent at crafting instruments. I had to be a
Harper to surpass him."

Normally he wouldn't tell someone he'd just met so much, but she sounded
so sympathetic!

Ranni twisted her lips empathetically, "That must have been hard. I kind
of know what that's like, in some ways. Once you're born a drudge here,
you're always a drudge. There's no point in dreaming of anything
different, unless you get lucky enough to be Searched, or something."

"And as a woman you can't even craft here," he blurted out before he
could stop and think.

A better dragonrider couldn't have been sent to the Hold that day, she
thought. "I've never even had the chance to see what I'm good at to
consider a craft," she said to agree with his statement. "This is the
infirmary," Ranni said, standing by the door so he could deliver his letter.

"Be right back," he said, ducking in, and asking for the Healer. he
passed on the letter, and came back out.

"Will you be able to help me find my way back?"

"Of course," she gave him her best smile. "I hope I was able to help you
with everything you needed."

"Oh, you were very helpful, I'd have gotten lost and not been done so
fast. Uhm, would you like to meet Tsogath?"

Ranni' s eyes brightened, "I would love to. I've never met a dragon
personally before."

"Oh, well, Tsogath loves people," A'vel said, beaming. "Come on and lead
me out then. Er, if I'm not taking you away from your duties."

**Oh you will be, I hope,** she thought...

Last updated on the March 3rd 2019

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The Devious Designs of a Drudge (1)