A Dual Perspective

Writers: Avery, Suzee
Date Posted: 15th January 2021

Characters: J'lor, Kadira
Description: Kadira speaks to J'lor to clarify her thoughts.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 16 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Chioneth, A'kades

J'lor

One of the tasks Kadira was doing as a Senior Apprentice was exposure
to each of the specialties to acquire the knowledge she'd need for her
journeyman exams. The courses in each specialty that she had to take
were part of the knowledge. Another part of it was being assigned to
shadow specialists, watching them at work and asking them questions to
learn about their path.

One of the people she'd spent a couple days shadowing was J'lor, a
mindhealer. She had come away from their interactions with a positive
impression of him as a Healer. So, when she found the thoughts of her
family's challenging her to Stand continuing to rattle around in her
head, and she knew she wanted to talk to someone who understood both
dragonriding and Healing, was it a surprise she'd think of him? No.

At the end of both of their shifts one afternoon, she cleared her
throat and walked over. "Sir, do you have a moment?"

He'd been headed toward the dining cavern but stopped with a smile.
"Sure," he said. "Do you want to go into my office or will the dining
cavern work for you?"

She considered for a moment. The dining caverns would be noisy enough
nobody would overhear them, right? Then said, "The dining cavern is
fine if I won't be interrupting your meal."

"Not an issue," he smiled down at her. "You can eat too," he chuckled
and headed toward the food.

She fell in line behind him. "How are you and Luruth?"

"We're well," he smiled. "As long as he catches occasionally, he's
happy." J'lor filled his place and found a table in a quiet corner of
the dining hall. "So," he said setting his fork down and steepling his
hands around his mug of klah. "What's up?"

"I wanted some advice from somebody I'm not related to," Kadira said.
"See, when Chioneth started looking full of eggs, my brother got on me
about Standing, which is normal. All he thinks about is wanting to be
a Candidate. But then my mother was like "oh you should Stand before
you become a Journeyman in case you regret it", and I was surprised by
her suddenly talking like that."

"Why surprised," J'lor asked. "Have you expressed a desire to Stand in
the past?"

"I've never wanted to Stand, that's why I'm wondering why suddenly my
whole family is like, "you should Stand once in case you regret it
before you become too old". I've only wanted to be a Healer."

"Ah," he said and nodded. "Family pressures are not always easy to
negotiate. Have you thought about a specialty yet?"

"Herbalism," she said immediately. "I like being able to make the cure
for a person."

"Herbalism," he smiled. "Very nice." he nodded. "You do know that
having your own dragon makes it easier to find Herbs? Just a thought,"
he shrugged.

"How do you balance both sets of duties? Flying Thread, and doing your
other rider duties like sweeps, and still being a Healer?"

"Well obviously you have less time to craft than a full time crafter.
Your life mate comes first after all. But" he held up a finger.
"You'll never be alone again. And you'll be able to practice your
craft as much as you like and still advance." He smiled. "I get to
practice my craft as a mindhealer almost every day, yet I don't see as
many people as another Mindhealer would at the Hall. I actually like
it that way. There are a lot of Dragonrider that need what I can
offer."

"And you have a unique perspective that those mindhealers never will,"
she agreed. "You Impressed before Thread came back?"

He nodded with a smile. "I did. But both my parents were Dragonriders
so, for me it wasn't really as much a question of 'if' as 'when.'"

"So you knew Thread would come back and you'd have to fight it... With
both your parents riders, did you ever consider doing anything else?"
she asked.

"I did," he said. "But with my studies, I also knew that a man like me
wouldn't be accepted in the Hall and Hold." He shrugged. "Besides I
got some very good advice from my Master on the subject. But beyond
that, we didn't really know when the 'fall would start nor how
difficult it would be. Now we have a much better idea how to manage
it than we did then and training makes casualties much less severe
than they were at the beginning of the Pass."

"You didn't think about staying in the Weyr and just Healing, not
Impressing, I mean?"

"Well, I knew I would stay at the Weyr no matter what happened. But I
don't think I ever thought specifically of _not_ Standing," He looked
away for a moment. Then he smiled. "Impression was the greatest single
moment of my life," he said looking back at Kadira. "I've never
regretted that, not for an instant."

"Jadirel just thinks about the glory of searing Thread out the sky, of
wanting to be a Wingsecond or higher like our father has been. He
doesn't think about all of the other more boring daily duties, except
as things he has to suffer through to get to 'the good part'. But he
doesn't put together wounded people to see what it looks like, after
Fall. And my father has wing-rank, so he's said he's too busy with
duties to find time to craft. I like hearing from you there might be
time for both."

"Yes, I can see why that example might put you off," he smiled. "But I
make my own choices too. While I could qualify for a wingthird spot,
that entails an extra amount of time away from my patients and I'd
much rather practice my craft. So, this career path is a choice I
made. I think you have a good head on your shoulders. You can make
this choice in your own way. Whatever you choose will be right.. for
you. I personally would Stand at least once. But not if there is a
gold egg. That dragon choosing you would take away your career or at
least cut it down significantly."

"I can't imagine riding a gold, that level of responsibility is
unimaginable," she agreed. "Thank you for taking the time to talk to
me."

"Anytime," he nodded. But he smiled warmly. "I look forward to seeing
you on the Sands."

Last updated on the February 19th 2021

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A Dual Perspective