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

Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall

Story Listing
Series Listing

Weyrling Training

Writers: Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 6th May 2007

Characters: R'haran, Taia
Description: R'haran's children find Taia working late and interrogate her on an unlikely subject.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 2 of Turn 4

"Are the puppies all gone?" Sahna asked before R'harne had a chance to announce their presence to the journeywoman beastcrafter. The other children crowded after her into the room, looking around for their friends from the previous visit.

"Oh! You're back?" Taia had grown used to the green rider and his family calling in occasionally in the evenings,but she hadn't seen them for a few days. "Umm, yes, they've gone, finally!" she smiled, "They couldn't stay forever, and you saw how big they were the last time you came."

"What will we play with when we come, then" Tellen asked as they group made their way to surround her.

"Give the journeywoman room to work," R'haran reminded the children who had their moments of behaving like a flock of wherries.

"Well. I happen to know that a feline has had babies, but they're very small right now, and not even _I_ am allowed to pick them up yet." Taia smiled at Tellen, as she skipped her way around the children and took the tray of instruments into the small sterilizing room.

"I do have one puppy here, though. One who wasn't taken off to a new home. Would you like to see him?" she asked the children, glancing quickly at R'haran to make sure he gave his approval.

The greenrider waved a hand in agreement. Far be it for him to keep the children from small animals of any kind. He suspected that the SeaHold they had called home had long since culled pets from their lives because his five adopted children were fascinated by the idea. If they hadn't been so inappropriately mature when it came to understanding their situation he was sure they would be clamouring for kittens and puppies, and even firelizards if they thought he knew where to get such things.

"Follow me.." Taia smiled and encouraged the children by taking Tibby from R'haran. "Do you want to see the puppy?" she asked the little girl, as they walked into the back of the cavern.

"Of course," Sahna said, following along with the rest of the family in her wake in height order.

"Why doesn't she have a family yet?" Iselen asked suddenly.

Tia's step faltered, for just a moment unsure if Iselen had meant her.
She turned and glanced over her shoulder. "She? You mean me?"

"I think he meant the puppy," R'haran said. "Didn't you?"

"Yes. The puppy. Why doesn't she have somebody to look after her yet?
Is there something wrong with her?"

"Don't you have a family, either?" Sahna asked the journeywoman.

"Oh..err..the puppy. No, she doesn't have anyone yet." Taia could feel her face flushing at the error she had made, and the can of worms she now appeared to have opened. She carried on the discussion with Iselen, preferring it to the question Sahna had asked. "She was the smallest of the litter, and no one wanted her."

The boy looked at Tibby in the journeywoman's arms. "Everybody wanted Tibby," he said, "And he was the littlest of us."

"Would you want Tibby if he didn't have anybody to look after him?"
Sahna asked, not going to be stopped by being ignored by her brother and the beastcrafter.

Taia's step faltered, "Me, take Tibby?" The thought of having children of her own occured from time to time, but for the most part she had the beasts to concern her, and considered herself lucky to have the opportunity to to chose her path in life, not have it chosen for her like those outside the Weyr. But now, she was being asked to confront her childless state. "If no one wanted him, I would love to have him."
She smiled down at the youngster in her arms, "How could I say no, to this sweet face?"

She stopped at the fence to the small cubicle, and their laying in a pile of old clothing, and worn hides, lay the sleeping canine. When full grown, she would be of medium height with tri-colouring of fur. A dark saddle of black fur across her shoulders and down to her back legs, with lighter fawn fur covering her lower legs. Her face was a mask of black, brown and fawn fur. Her long muzzle was the darkest, with her pointedly sharp ears twitching while she slept. Her long legs and huge paws, padded at the pile of fabric beneath her.

"And what about babies of your own? Don't you want any?" Sahna persisted, peering over the fence at the puppy. "I wish we could take her. She's like us."

Last updated on the May 6th 2007