It's Not Right

Writers: Devin, Halyonix
Date Posted: 28th June 2024

Characters: Saedyna, Oriene
Description: Oriene and Saedyna chat while bagging firestone.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 19 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned Tirraze, Cirina, C'pier

Oriene

Oriene knew that something bad had happened Saedyna in the past but
she knew better than to bring it up. People weren't always ready to
talk about painful things, this Oriene knew. And in the months after
that, Oriene had made it a point to befriend all of the remaining
female Candidates. Each Hatching that passed where they didn't Impress
meant that the little group of them got a bit tighter. Mostly.
Sometimes. Maybe Oriene was just being hopeful on that.

Bagging firestone was one of her least favorite chores and it wasn't
because of the smell. It was because of the residue that didn't quite
wash off the first time. But today that was her chore and it looked
like Saedyna was going to be her partner. "Hey Saedyna!" she greeted
brightly as the other Candidate approached. "Lovely day to get dirty."

Saedyna wrinkled her nose. "Well, it could be worse." For chores she
wore one of her less good dresses, which was better than her best
dress had been at the hold. "I'm probably going to ruin my nails
again." She sighed. She'd never considered herself vain before. She
didn't really considerself vain _now_, it was just that she'd
discovered that she liked feeling pretty.

"Oh definitely," Oriene agreed. "My first sevenday here, I was
clipping my nails once or twice a day it seemed. At least I had
clothes that I didn't mind getting dirty in, coming from the Hall. Do
you want to bag or shovel first?"

Shovel now or shovel later? Either way it was going to be unpleasant.
"Bag," Saedyna said.

"Works for me," Oriene replied sunnily. She picked up the shovel and
gave the pile of firestone a hearty stab. "It's not so bad," she said,
"It's a good workout for sure. It just...gets in your hair and then
you smell it all day even after a bath." It was an obvious statement
but Oriene was making conversation, breaking the ice.

"I have some scented oils I mix with sweetsand to get the smell out of
my hair." Saedyna hoped the trader who'd sold it to her came back to
the Weyr soon because she was using it up quickly.

Oriene paused in her shoveling to give Saedyna a disbelieving look. "I
didn't even _think_ about scented oils! That would be perfect! Well,
as perfect as we can get, I guess. I wonder...if we could get some of
the herbs from the cook's garden to make it. Or if someone here can
and we just don't know it."

"I've been using a citron one. I didn't even think about it, but
something like lavender should work just as well." And if someone at
the Weyr made it, then it would likely be cheaper.

"We can ask the Headwoman!" Oriene suggested brightly. "I bet she has
lavender to spare. Or might. We can ask after this." She dug into
another shovel and dumped it into the satchel. There was a pause while
she considered what next to talk about. They were going to be here for
a candlemark at least. Should she ask about what happened? Was it
inconsiderate? "I know you got hurt. Um...a while ago. Did you..."
Oriene stopped. Shook her head. "You know, that's rude of me to ask.
It's something bad that happened to you and I'm being inconsiderate.
Sorry."

It had died down over the months, but for a while it seemed people
were always either asking Saedyna about what happened or very
obviously avoiding talking about what happened. "A boy tried to kill
me and now he's a dragonrider. What about it?" Whenever she saw C'pier
with his brown she wanted to scream about how unfair it was.

Oriene dropped the shovel in shock.

"He..._what_?" she asked quietly, disbelieving. Stunned.

Saedyna was a little surprised herself. She blinked and then
recovered. "Guess you didn't hear that part of the story. At first he
pretended it was one of those dragonrider-hating people, that a man
attacked both of us, but it was just C'pier. He hit me in the head and
I still don't remember anything between him following me into the
storeroom and waking up in the infirmary." Maybe that was a blessing.

"And he...he _Impressed_?"

Saedyna's eyes narrowed. "It's so sharding unfair. Why _him_?"

"It's...it's not _right_!" Oriene blurted out angrily. For all of her
life, she deeply believed that dragons chose the brave, the honorable,
the heroes. The people who wanted to make Pern better by saving it
from Thread. So to hear that a dragon had chosen a would-be violent
criminal...

"He shouldn't have been chosen at all!"

"But he was," Saedyna said. "And I was left, and you were left, and
lots of others."

Oriene had half the mind to storm down to the Weyrlingmasters and...and...

Do what? Demand that someone _unImpress_?

Instead, she stood there with her fists clenched, fuming. "I don't
care that _I_ didn't Impress. It's not fair that _he_ Impressed!
Dragons aren't supposed to choose bad people. Only the good ones."

"I guess it doesn't matter who you are or what you did." Saedyna
shrugged one shoulder. She felt cold and hot, sad and angry. "They're
making him pay me money at least." No one could do anything about the
unfairness of C'pier getting a dragon, but at least they _cared_ that
she'd been hurt. The Weyrlingmasters and even the Weyrleader had
promised to protect her, which was more than her parents had done when
she wrote to them and told them Koaz was hurting her.

"Yeah but...marks...marks don't make up for everything," Oriene
pointed out. Her tone had lessened some, deflated. "It's still not
fair. They...they should send him to another Weyr or something. Why
should he stay here? It's not right." She stabbed the shovel into the
pile of firestone with all of her might, as if she was stabbing at the
injustice of the situation, and then dumped the load into the sack.
"It's not right," she muttered again.

Saedyna stood and held the sack. It wasn't right, but so were a lot of
things in life. "People never cared before, until I got here."

That seemed to take more of the wind out of Oriene's angry sails. "Well, I care," she said. "I mean, I know we haven't really interacted much outside of class but...I care. And I'm sorry it took me hearing about this to do so. You....you deserve way, way better."

A shy smile tugged at Saedyna's lips. "Thanks. Aside from the guy who tried to kill me . . . it's been really nice here."

Oriene's smile was also shy. Hopeful. "Well, at least there's that," she said. She stabbed another shovel full of stone. "We should hang out. Outside of chores, I mean. You, me, Tirraze. Maybe some of the other girls too."

Saedyna nodded. "I like spending time with Tirraze and Cirina."

"Me too," Ori replied. "Let's do that! A girls' night of some sort. Hang out, get to know each other better. And no stupid, unworthy boys who don't deserve dragons. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great." Saedyna gave her a wide, genuine smile. She'd had a few friends growing up but they'd never been very close, and once she got married she had no friends at all. She'd almost forgotten what friendship was like.

Oriene grinned sunnily. "Then it's decided! It's going to be so much fun!"

Last updated on the July 1st 2024

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It's Not Right