Wasn't My Idea

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 6th July 2007

Characters: Rikka, Benider
Description: On Benaran's orders, Benider accompanies Rikka on her duties.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 5, day 2 of Turn 4

"... so for some reason _I_ have to have him following me ar -"
Something in the expressions and stance of her fellow journey-ranked technicians made Rikka pause and glance around. The way her day was going it wasn't entirely unexpected to find the young man she had been complaining entering the room. She hoped he hadn't been standing in the doorway long - and tried to recall if she had mentioned his name.
Benider. The Lord Holder's grandson. And her new 'shadow' for she was to have his company with her as she worked for the next few sevendays so that he could get an idea of what role technicians played in the Hold.

He had caught only a little of what was being said, but Benider really was not surprised. After all, he was of the Blood, one of those who might someday - some very distant day - be in charge of this Hold. It seemed that wherever he went, conversations stopped, and he assumed that many of them involved him.

However, he did what was expected of him: he sauntered up to the group of technicians and addressed them. "I believe that I am to accompany one of you on your duties?"

Rikka watched the journeymen all but fade from sight, leaving her even more at the front of the group than she had already been. "That would be me. Journeywoman Rikka," she said, extending a hand to the young man.

He stared at her hand, but did not take it, and then to her face. "A female? I've been assigned to accompany a female technician?" Somehow, he doubted that this is what his father had in mind.

Rikka withdrew her hand and nodded. "Wasn't my idea, let me tell you,"
she said bluntly.

This surprised him since he had always thought of the residents of the hold as _wanting_ to serve those of the Blood. His reply was uncertain.
"Oh. Well, I'm supposed to follow you?"

"Apparently when you have time, for the next sevenday or so," Rikka said, again thinking how annoying that would be. "Until you understand the role of technicians in the Hold." That was what she had been told but she wondered if this wasn't Benaran's way of discovering if the job could be done by non-crafters.

"Alright," he said resignedly. This really did not sound like an interesting assignment but he supposed that his father could have come up with worse things for him to do. "Do we start now?"

"We can, if you like, but this morning is bench work for me. You can sit next to me and watch me work, I suppose, but I don't think that's the sort of thing your father had in mind. Tomorrow I'm on minor repairs around the Hold. That might be a better place to start." It was on such a repair that she had met the young man's father.

"Probably," he agreed, but considered what would happen if his father found him at some other task rather than that assigned to him. "But I should probably know - what do you mean by bench work?"

Rikka grinned. "Come on into the workshop, then, and I'll show you."
She figured he would be bored in less than a candlemark and she would have the rest of the day to herself.

This was not what he normally liked to do, but followed just the same.
"Thank you," he remarked, remembering to always be polite - something that had been ingrained in him as a price of his life of privilege.
Perhaps in a short while he would be able to escape and take a runner ride or something that would be of more interest.

"Here." Rikka pulled up a stool for the young man and set it beside hers. "See - these little components need repair and I'm going to sit here all morning and repair each one." She was delighted that they were starting out with something so mundane that would test the ability of Benaran's son to stick around.

The young man peered at the items more closely, bending near them but not touching. "Components of what?"

"Circuits. Things like lights and power points. Switches for heating systems and water controllers. Any kind of switch, really." She nodded to all the open-faced boxes ranged around her bench. "There are all the parts that make them up."

He had never really thought about the switches that gave him light or turned it off. He reached for one of the boxes, but stopped. "Can I look at one of them more closely?"

"Sure. Just make sure you put each bit back in the box you took it out of."

He reached and picked up one tiny item, drawing back to hold it in the palm of his hand and to roll it with the other hand's forefinger to see it more completely. "How do you work with something this small?"

"Practise. And if your eyes aren't good enough for fine work then the craft makes sure you get lenses to wear."

"So exactly how do they fit together?"

Rikka held up the switch she was working on and talked the young man through removing all the component parts, including un-soldering a couple of contacts. "Does that answer your question? Or do you have to see it put back together?"

Benider shook his head. He had watched her hands, fascinated, as she had dis-assembled the switch and now could only marvel at the many small parts before him. "It's amazing how you can work with such small things and form them into something so functional. How long did you have to study before you could do that?"

"This? Not long at all. It's the learning behind it that takes the time. This actual task is no more complex than what women do when they're sewing clothes or doing fancy stitch-work."

"So I could learn to do this?" He raised his eyes to her face. "My father would never let me apprentice - he has other plans for me - but I'd like to know how to do something . . . useful."

"You'd have to ask the master technician about that. Some crafts take on students - people who can't apprentice for some reason or other but want to learn - but it's at the discretion of each craft." She grinned at the young man. "Wouldn't there be more useful things for a grandson of the Lord Holder to learn?"

Benider's nose wrinkled at the suggestion. "There are - but they aren't very interesting."

"Not many of us get to choose 'interesting' over 'useful'," she pointed out, though in fact she thought she had.

The young man's face creased into a frown but then brightened. "But my father did tell me to learn about your craft."

"For a couple of sevendays. That's not long enough to learn much - and I think he probably wanted you to know what sort of work we do - not the details."

"Yes, but if I were to find ways to help you instead of just watching you, he'd probably not complain."

Especially if he didn't know about it, Rikka thought, not quite as certain as the man's son about his reaction. "Well, then, you can find the pieces I need for repair and that way you can learn their names."

Last updated on the July 8th 2007

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Wasn't My Idea