Guessing Games
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Corrin, Iluva
Date Posted: 13th June 2025
Characters: Q'helias, Tiyo
Description: The two Harper Candidates cross paths in the Archives
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 13 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: E’kavas
Weather - Blizzard (19°F)
Where many Candidates filled their spare time socializing, goofing off, or getting absorbed in idle chitchat, Tiyo much preferred exercise - sometimes, to excess. There wasn’t much that came close to the way steady, staggered breaths could anchor her, or how fluid and purposeful movement took over when her mind refused to quiet.
But, today, a fierce wind was howling like an injured animal off the stone cliff-face, part of the blizzard that had locked the Weyr down, biting anyone without the sense or opportunity or luck to stay inside.
So, instead, she was in her next favorite place.
Bent slightly over the brittle hides, following the carefully scrawled words with ink-stained fingers, and an expression that warned away most interruptions, Tiyo wasn’t hunting for anything in particular. There was comfort in the quiet order of things here. Facts didn’t shift beneath her feet like earth, didn’t dissolve into the utter chaos of the dining hall. Most of the world’s unpleasantness shrank away here - not gone, never gone, but quieter, further. Softer.
Still, a report on a disastrous Threadfall some eight Turns ago sat a little too vividly on the surface of her mind. **Why do I do this to myself?** She groaned softly, and tucked the report away, stretched taut arms over her head until her fingers wiggled loose, a little restless, like her thoughts.
Then she heard and more importantly _felt_ the door open behind her.
Expecting the frowning face of Journeyman Etassin come to kick her out again, Tiyo turned and was slightly surprised at who stood there. “Oh hello,” She greeted Qelhelias in a low voice, as if there were actually others pouring over hides in the archives that day. A short pause, then with a tilt of her head, “Looking for something? Someone? Or are you hiding from the storm, too?”
“Working actually,”said Qelhelias as the heavy archive doors swung shut behind him with a muffled thump. He carried a shallow wooden crate in his arms, the kind used for document transport, which he set gently on the nearest reading table. “I need to pull some volumes to send to the Hall”
He didn’t seem to be in a hurry. His gaze drifted toward the stacks, then back to her with calm interest. “Though I’d be lying if I said the storm didn’t make the Archives a more appealing place to linger. Is that why you’re here?”
“That’s one reason.” Tiyo replied, squaring her shoulders. “I hope they’re not the ones Etassin made off with - he had quite the stack.” Her lips slid into a quick smile and she set about gathering the scattered sheets of hide on the table, notes scrawled on anything and everything.
It would’ve been easy enough to grab a book and bother E’kavas. He never seemed to mind her dropping in unannounced, but it sometimes felt like that - bothering him. He had so much on his plate. Not that he ever seemed to mind that, either. It was the silence he hated, she thought privately, and the thing she so often sought.
Then, glancing up at Qelhelias, she added, “It was mostly that row there,” indicating a shelf with the flick of her dark eyes.
Qelhelias followed her gaze, approaching the shelf with the same careful, measured pace he seemed to apply to everything. He was quiet for a moment as he scanned the remaining volumes, fingertips ghosting along their spines as he checked the titles against his shipment list. “Well, that’s annoying,” he said at last. “Looks like he took a couple I need… Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to find him later.”
He started pulling the other items he needed, the ones Etassin hadn’t absconded with, moving around the stacks with the efficiency that came with deep familiarity. “So what’s the other reason you’re here?” he asked mildly when he was back in her section. “Reasons?”
Tiyo's amber eyes tracked his movements until he was just out of sight. Annoying was the word. Most of what Etassin did fell into that category - nevermind that he might say the same about her. “He's a bit of an odd one.” She added almost as an afterthought, though whether Qelhelias heard her she didn’t know.
His question stilled her hands momentarily, hovering at the back of her skull as they gathered her long hair into a tie. “Does it bother you? Not knowing?” She asked, volleying it with the same tone of mild curiosity. In the long pause that followed, she secured the tie, then continued, “Because it bothers me. This is the closest I can get, sometimes.”
“Ah, yes. That’s one of the reasons I became a harper,” said Qelhelias, a twinkle in his dark eyes. “We get to know the most about practically everything.”
“So what are you itching to know about now?” He leaned in slightly, just enough to glance at the hides spread before her. His voice stayed light, but the undercurrent of curiosity was genuine. “An old Threadfall report? And a grim one too… Are you trying to make sense of our senseless, ceaseless, enemy? Or are you trying to get a better picture of what dragonriding is really like?”
A brow did quirk into a subtle arch of suspicion, not knowing this other Harper-Candidate all that well, though Tiyo slid the hide closer for his inspection with a precise tap of her fingers. “I'm weyrborn, so I'm not _unaware_ of a dragonrider's life. Although I still know less than I thought I would by now,” she admitted with a soft, humorless smile. “And my father and his dragon died in Threadfall. My brother's the Weyrleader's ‘second here. I know some. But, even in perfect weather - see there? -” Her finger tapped a line on the hide, “you die, and I just… I need to be ready, you know?” It was a need at this point - not a want.
Qelhelias didn’t respond immediately. He scanned the offered sheet, taking in the report, the formations of the day, the casualty count, the wing speed and air pressure. He scanned it again. “That’s…. Odd. You’re right. The weather was perfect, the formations unexceptional. But the casualties were severe. I can see why it has you stewing.”
“I’d be curious what your ‘Second brother would make of it, but if I had to guess… I’d guess that it was an unfortunate event that snowballed. See? First casualty, a rider-dragon death in Azure, near the start of the Fall,” he tapped a line too. “That shook the confidence of the wing. Look at the number of threadscores they took after that. And that trickled down to the lower flights…”
He trailed a finger down the casualty report as he spoke, the numbers neither confirming or denying his tale. “That’s my guess. Human error, compounded by human error.”
Despite herself, Tiyo sighed at his assessment. “That’s the worst kind, because it’s the hardest to predict.” She muttered, leaning in enough to take in the content again with that new lens. Her dark brows knit as she read and then reread where his finger had tapped.
Human-error. That was all it took. That was the hardest to control, to trust. And trust was what really held a Wing together. More than repetitions, than formations, than a catalogue of experience to draw upon. After a moment she straightened, more irritated and unsettled than before. “Well, that’s cheered me up.” Tiyo said with dry laugh.
“Sorry, but you _did_ say you liked to know,” he reminded her, not sounding sorry at all. “Of course, I could be wrong. It was only a guess.”
Qelhelias slipped the final scroll into place in his case and clicked the latch closed with practiced care, as if the weight of words deserved reverence. “But if you're ready for something a little less soul-crushing, we did just receive a bundle of comedies from the North. Part of a traveling troupe’s collection-- absurd, clever, and mildly inappropriate in the right places. I could pull one for you.”
She _did_ want to be ready, but that didn’t always make the learning pleasant, easier. E’kavas likely _would_ be to offer better insight, as Qelhelias suggested, but she wasn’t going to infect him with her anxiety over something that happened Turns ago.
Instead, Tiyo tilted her head, regarding the other Harper thoughtfully like she was reading something beneath the surface. “Alright. Thank you.” She said, flashing him a quick smile. “Surprise me.”
“I know just the thing…”
Last updated on the June 17th 2025