A Special Scarf

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 1st April 2024

Characters: Talryne, R'ayl
Description: Talryne helps R'ayl as he starts working on his craft again.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 18 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: N'vanik, R'lor

Talryne

Talryne was working in the Weavers' room, frowning over the lace she
was making. Not her favorite, but the journeywoman wanted her to work
on all aspects of the Craft. **Well, if I can get this finished I can
get back to the things I actually like.**

While she worked, a young boy slipped into the room and looked around,
reminding himself of his surroundings. Since he'd finished weyrling
training but was yet to be posted to a Wing, R'ayl had been given the
choice of picking up his craft again. He'd only been an apprentice for a
few months and wasn't sure yet if he would continue, but for now, it was
better than sacking firestone or watch duty, and he did have an idea for
a project.

The weavers' room looked almost exactly as it had when he'd first come
there as a candidate, even down to the woman who was working there.
R'ayl cleared his throat politely. "Ma'am?"

Talryne glanced up and her eyes widened. "Oh, you're that bluerider."
She'd heard about the events of the Hatching, first from Loseth's
disjointed comments, then from N'vanik's explanation. She hadn't seen
him that furious in Turns.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm R'ayl, rider of Delorth." He'd got used to people
recognizing him from what had happened to Delorth at the Hatching.
Usually they were sympathetic, although sometimes wary or suspicious
about his family background. During his weyrlinghood he'd been mostly
insulated from the rumors, but now he had to interact more with weyrfolk
outside his class. "We completed our training, but I'm not old enough to
fight yet. The Weyrlingmaster said I could spend some time practicing my
craft."

"I'm glad you and Delorth are okay. It could have been . . ." The
shadow of grief fell over her. The emptiness that was always there,
always waiting.

"It didn't happen," R'ayl said. He tried not to think about what might
have happened, both for the horror of it and because it upset Delorth.
He sensed there was more to her words, though he didn't know what, but
wouldn't have dreamed of prying. "And he's healthy now, just the same as
his clutchmates."

Talryne struggled to pull herself away from the darkness. She gripped
her needles and her own voice seemed to be coming from far away. "You
seem to be doing well too."

"I am, thank you, ma'am. The healers say there's no reason I shouldn't
be strong enough to fight when I'm older, if I keep on eating properly
and exercising." R'ayl came a little closer, enough to see what she was
working on. "Is that lace?" He'd only seen it made before at the Weaver
Hall.

"Oh, yes." Talryne blinked as things slowly came back into focus.
"It's an assignment." She looked down at her progress. "It's not very
good."

"It looks good to me," R'ayl said, with a tentative smile. Though he was
hardly an expert, he liked the delicate repeating patterns of it. "I've
never tried to make it. Is it difficult?"

She sighed. "It's _frustrating_." She knew what it was supposed to
look like, what the Masters and journeymen and even some of the
apprentices were able to produce, and her own attempt looked sad in
comparison. "The journeywoman keeps telling me not to expect to be
good at something on the first try."

"I get that a lot," R'ayl said, thinking of weyrling training, and how
long it'd taken him to toss a firestone sack even half as far as the
others. At the Weaver Hall they'd been less kind about his
attempts...except for Master Shuvan, but he tried not to think about
that. "I was thinking of maybe trying knitting, but it's been a long time."

"Oh! I love knitting. That's what got me into apprenticeship in the
first place."

"My Mama taught me a little, but there wasn't a lot of wool to practice
with," R'ayl explained. He'd found the repeated motions relaxing,
occupying his mind so that he soon forgot his worries. "I haven't tried
since before I Impressed, so I don't know how much I'll remember."

Talryne happily set her lacework aside. "I can show you. Let's get
some needles and yarn." She headed over to one of the storage shelves.

"Thank you." He followed her over. Even though he'd got used to the
abundance of everything at the Weyr, the rainbow array of different
colors on the weavers' shelves still fascinated him. There was a basket
of needles, and there, a ball of wool almost the exact shade of
Delorth's sea-blue hide. "There was something I was thinking of
making...if it would be all right?"

"Sure. What is it?" Talryne passed the boy a pair of needles suitable
for beginner work and took some for herself as well.

"Well..." The boy looked down, shyly. "I was thinking of a gift for
Weyrlingmaster R'lor. He's been kind to me since I was a candidate, and
especially before we flew to Thread for the first time, when I was
scared. I wanted to thank him. It could be something simple, like a
scarf, for long flights. It gets cold up there."

"Oh, that's nice." She smiled. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it. Scarves
are one of the easiest things to make. It was one of my first
projects, too."

R'ayl brightened, relieved to know that he'd chosen a suitable project
for a beginner. "I was thinking of a blue one, like his dragon, and
mine?" There were so many different shades of yarn on the shelf - and
what looked like different types and textures, too.

"I think that's a great idea." It was adorable, actually. "Why don't
you pick out some colors in the same weight and we'll see what you
remember about knitting."

"Yes, ma'am." R'ayl walked along the shelf, examining the different
shades. Long flights could be chilly, but they didn't have to deal with
the icy weather or high altitudes of other Weyrs, like Dragonsfall, so
he thought he'd better use a medium weight rather than the thickest
wool. He found the shade he thought closest to Kularth's hide, then
after looking carefully, picked out a pale stone grey which he thought
would contrast well. Together, they reminded him of the colours he'd
seen flying sweeps over the mountain lakes of the Weyr's territory.

He turned around and held them up. "What do you think?"

"It's a nice combination. Let's see how they look knit together."
Usually Talryne avoided the younger apprentices, but R'ayl was sweet
and quiet. How was this boy Grevan's brother?

"Okay." R'ayl took a seat and placed the two bundles of wool on the
table beside him. He thought back, trying to remember what his mother
had shown him. They had practiced casting on together many times in the
evenings at the cothold, so it quickly came back to him as he looped the
blue yarn around one of the needles and began to make stitches.

Talryne watched him for a while and quietly started her own knitting.
"It seems you remember pretty well."

"I can remember how to start..." R'ayl completed a short row, then
switched over the needles and began a new one, his brow creased in
concentration. "I'm not sure I know how to change colors, though."

"Let me know when you get to that point and I can help." Talryne's
heart stuttered when she realized she was offering to . . . _teach_
someone. Well, this was just a one-time thing, it wasn't as if showing
someone how to knit was any kind of commitment. Besides, she was still
only an apprentice herself.

The boy looked up and smiled. He'd got over his surprise and wariness
when his classmates offered him help - perhaps it was the same for
apprentices here. "Thank you." He kept working, his stitches coming a
little faster as the technique came back to him, until he thought he had
just enough to compare the colors. "Okay, shall I switch now, and see if
they look good together?"

"Yes." She paused her knitting to watch him.

R'ayl picked up the second ball of yarn, trying to think back to what
his mother had shown him. Since they'd moved to the cothold they'd only
had plain undyed wool, but he thought it might be the same as switching
over to a new ball when the first was used up. He took the loose end of
the grey wool and wrapped it around the needle, then slowly began to
knit again. "Like this?"

"Just like that," she agreed. "You've got it." It seemed R'ayl
remembered more than he thought.

With growing confidence, R'ayl continued to make stitches, completing
several rows with the grey wool. Then he switched back to the blue,
thinking that he'd make the scarf mostly in that color, but with bands
of grey at the ends. Soon, he had a small blue knitted patch with a grey
stripe hanging from his needle, which he held up at arm's length.

"What do you think?" He frowned. "Should I have chosen a lighter grey? I
thought it might contrast more..."

"I think it would look nice either way." Talryne smiled. "You can try
a lighter grey and do a few stitches to see how that works."

R'ayl returned to the shelf where he'd found the knitting wool and held
up the grey wool so that he could choose one that was a shade lighter.
Remembering how he'd switched colors before, he added two more rows of
the lighter grey, then back to the blue again.

"Hmm - I'm not sure. I think the first one was better?" There was a note
of concern in his voice. "I can undo it, so it won't be wasted."

"You can start over if you like. We have plenty of yarn." Talryne
gestured vaguely toward the supply shelves. A few rows of stitching
didn't use much.

"That's all right. It won't take long." R'ayl still hadn't quite grown
used to the abundance of everything at the Weyr, even knitting yarn. He
decided that his first choice had been the right one - the grey stripe
was subtle, but still looked well against the blue - and began to undo
the last rows. "How big do you think I should make the scarf? I suppose
it shouldn't be too long." For dragonriders, there was the risk that a
loose scarf would get caught in the riding straps - or worse, in Thread.

"Long enough to tie a good knot in it, but you're right, not too long."

"Okay." R'ayl was quiet for a while as he concentrated on undoing the
little patch he'd made to test the colors. Once he was done, he began
on the blue again, this time adding more stitches so it'd be wide enough
to wrap warmly around the neck. He pictured the finished scarf in his
mind, deciding to make about a handspan of blue, then a narrow grey
stripe, and repeat the pattern at the other end. It was absorbing work -
he had to concentrate so that he didn't miss his count of stitches, but
not so much that he couldn't relax.

After a few rows, he looked up, noticing that Talryne was knitting too
and had put the lace aside. "Are you working on something too?"

The boy was so quiet she'd almost forgotten he was there, aside from
the click click of his needles. "Oh, I started making a scarf out of
habit. I used to make a lot of them at Dragonsfall." Warm clothing
wasn't needed much here, but still useful for high altitude and going
/between/.

R'ayl remembered she'd said that she came from Dragonsfall, with the
Weyrleader. "It gets really cold there, doesn't it?" He'd only been
there practicing jumps /between/ with the weyrlings' wing, and that had
been in the summer, but he'd heard stories.

Talryne nodded. "_Much_ colder than here. It snows half the Turn."

"Half the Turn," R'ayl echoed, awed. "I've only ever seen snow from
above, on the mountains." He thought of what the Weyrlingmaster had told
him, that he and Delorth could go anywhere together now. "Perhaps I
should knit myself a scarf, then I could go and see."

"You should. Snow isn't fun to live with all the time, but it is fun
to visit." Dolphin Cove was hot enough that on a few occasions she and
N'vanik had traveled to colder places. Talryne nodded toward the
scarf. "Keep working on that, and if you have any problems, you can
come here and ask anyone who's around for help."

"Thank you, ma'am." R'ayl settled to his work, thinking that he was glad
that he'd followed R'lor's advice to take up his craft again. As the
stitches began to flow more easily, he began to daydream of flying with
Delorth over a snow-covered landscape, a soft woolen scarf wrapped
around his neck. Blue, of course.

Last updated on the April 7th 2024

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A Special Scarf