First Impressions

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 6th April 2006

Characters: Gilsha, J'nus
Description: Gilsha misses her first morning of drills, and J'nus calls her into his office
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 1 of Turn 3

"This is not an auspicious start, is it," Gilsha said with only a
partially apologetic smile as she walked into the Cyan Wingleader's
office. "I'm really sorry. It must be the time difference between
Telgar and here that made me sleep in." That and just how warm her
bed felt that morning as compared to her cold stone weyr.

"Yes. Well." J'nus gestured at the chair across from him, glad he'd
taken the time to move his riding straps from where he'd draped them
across the chair to the hook on the wall. First impressions went both
ways. "Take a seat, Gilsha."

"Yes sir." The greenrider took the seat and began looking around the
room a bit. For some reason, the Wingleader just seemed slightly out
of place. She would have pictured the decor to be chosen by a bit
younger man...

"We'll have to get you on the wake up list. Someone will come by to
knock on your door to make sure that you're awake in time for our
drills." The bronzerider searched his desk in vain for her transfer
file - where had he scorching left it?! And how did his desk manage
to look so bad in such a short time...

"That would be perfect, thanks." Another draw back to living in the
Weyr, apparently. All she needed was someone pounding at her door at
some sharding early hour.

Ah ha! J'nus found her file in the middle of a small stack and vowed
to put the entire thing away before he went back to his weyr that
evening. "Good. Welcome back to the South, by the way."

"Thank you. It's been a while," she nodded. Gilsha wasn't entirely
sure about how she _felt_ about being south, but she was looking for
a fresh start, and this was certainly the place to be for that.

"It certainly has," J'nus said, glancing at her file before turning
his attention back to the dragonrider before him. It was the first
time he'd really looked at her, and although she was good-looking,
she also seemed... cool. Distant. "And I hope that it will agree with
you."

"I'm sure it will," she said with a fixed smile.

"Good. Well.. as you know, I'm leading Cyan right now, and my
Wingsecond is S'rak, and my 'Third a greenrider named Kenza. You'll
meet them both shortly. We drill every morning from sunup to noon,
and every second day from two candlemarks past noon until whenever
we're finished, although it usually isn't longer than two or three
candlemarks. You'll be put on the roster for Watch duty, but I
wouldn't expect it to come up for a few months. You'll also be put on
the roster for the Sweep rides closest to the Weyr, but again, I
wouldn't expect anything to come up for another month or two, and
you'll be partnered with someone with familiarity with the route.
Your file says that you used to do a lot of courier and transport
work before Thread returned - did you want to be put on the roster
for that here, as well?"

She considered that a moment. Gilsha knew too well that women were
not welcomed everywhere they went. But it would help to get the feel
for places, and to make some contacts of her own. Perhaps she could
branch out and do a bit of work on the side for a few extra marks.
"Yes, for a while at least. It would probably be good now that the
weather is getting warmer to get out of the Weyr."

The bronzerider smiled and made a note to add her name to the list.
"Excellent. I'll have someone take you around to the major Holds
under Dragonsfall's protection, and maybe some of the larger minor
Holds too, so that you can get your point references."

"Thank you. That would be helpful," she nodded. "Is there much call
for it these days?"

"Not so much, but some of the Holds, like Amethyst Cliff, do get
snowed in during the winter."

"Yes, it does seem to snow a lot more on this side of the Barrier
Range," Gilsha nodded. River Bluff Weyr was warm all year round.
You had to travel much further inland to see any change of season.

"It certainly does." J'nus cleared his throat and handed her a set of
bound hides. "Here are our current drill patterns. Please look them
over. I'll have you and Palialohath watch for the next few days
rather than participating directly so that you can get comfortable
with them before tossing you in."

Something about the word 'current' caught her attention. "Do you
change your drill patterns often?" It wasn't that unusual. They
were still early enough in the pass that they often tried out new
things to see what worked best.

"No." The bronzerider hesitated, then ploughed on. It was better if
she heard it from him rather than through the gossip channels. "Cyan,
however, is in a bit of a flux. Our usual Wingleader is- taking a
leave of absence for a while, and I'm leading until he... gets back."
**Hopefully later rather than sooner,** he thought, a bit
traitorously. "We've also had a few Wingriders come back from the
Infirmary, so there have been some changes, but for the moment I'm
going to try to keep the drills as predictable as possible without
getting overly boring."

"May I ask why the Wingleader is taking a 'leave of absence'?" It
seemed rather unusual, considering Thread was falling, for a
_wingleader_ to be given time off.

"Personal reasons," he said.

Gilsha shrugged. She was pretty sure there would be all kinds of
speculation and rumors flying around. Some of it would find its way
to her ears. "All right."

"He's been under a lot of pressure lately, and not handling it as
well as he should." The bronzerider picked up her file again. "Was
there anything else you wanted to ask?"

**Interesting... a Wingleader who can't handle the pressure... That
sets my mind at ease...** "No, I think that's it."

J'nus smiled. "Well, if anything crosses your mind, be sure to bring
it up with me. And I'll be expecting you on time for drills
tomorrow."

"Of course," she smiled. After all, how could she _avoid_ it with
someone pounding on her door and some unsightly candlemark. "Thank
you sir."

"Thank you for stopping by." The bronzerider closed her file with a
snap. "And I'll see you then."

Last updated on the April 9th 2006

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First Impressions