I know what I want

Writers: Emma
Date Posted: 3rd November 2007

Characters: Thanja, Tanrin
Description: On Tanrin's twelfth birthingday, he tells his mother something
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 7, day 11 of Turn 4

"There you go!" Thanja handed over a small package to her son. "Something to mark the day with, don't think that your father and I forgot."

"No Mama, I wouldn't think that you would forget, you never have so far,"
commented the lad as he began to tug on the ribbon that held the wrapping around the package. "I knew that you'd remember. Jakrin maybe, I could see him forgetting!"

He gave it one more tug, before realising that the ribbon had formed itself into a tight knot. Maybe he'd be able to slowly prise it apart, but this might take a belt knife otherwise. As he began to start work on it, he looked up at his mother.

"Mama, can I tell you something?" he asked, sounding like a small child once more; one that was about to confess to something. In a way he was, he was finished with his Harper classes and there were decisions to be made now.

"Of course you can son, you know you can tell me anything. No matter what it is, I'm your mother and I'm here to listen to these things," she assured him. "What ever it is you can tell me."

"I," he began. "I don't think I want to be a Printer." Tanrin looked up to his mother's face, hoping she wouldn't be mad. His sibling had followed their parents into the craft, just as they had followed his grandparents.
As far as he could find out from asking, his great grandparents had been members of the printer craft too. And he wanted to buck tradition.

She could see why he'd be nervous telling her something.like that. It had become a family tradition that her and Kanydrin's children would become apprentices in their craft. First Nytha, she'd walked the tables before impressing. Then Jakrin, and An'dr. Even An'dr was now apparently working towards senior apprentice knots, now he was in the wings. Jakrin showed signs of heading for a specialisation in binding, seeming to have the knack for it. She looked at him once more, was she going to lose the youngster with him travelling far away to some other hall, or was it the lure of the Weyr, or the Dolphins that had caught his attention.

"What do _you_ want to do?" she asked him. "I'm not going to be mad, whatever you say. Your father would say the same things as me."

"I want to be a Healer," said the lad. "I think I'd like that more than Printing. I want to see people get better because of something that I have done, because I helped them."

There seemed to be conviction in his words, thought his mother and while he'd perhaps rehearsed them, there was something there. "Are you sure about this?" asked his mother. "Choosing any craft is a big decision." She needed to know he wasn't just saying the words because she would be the Hallsecond, and he was worried about being teased because of that. "No matter what you do, there will be a lot of hard work and study involved to get to the top of your craft."

"I'm sure Mama, but I don't think I want to go away to study unless I have to. I heard they'll take apprentices at the Weyr. Mama, would you talk to Master Pacham for me? See if there is room for me too? Please?"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes Mama, I've thought about nothing else for the last month."

Perhaps her baby was growing up at last, thought Thanja as a small smile crossed her face. "I'll make arrangements to speak to him, on one condition. You need to tell your father of your decision yourself, it must come from you."

"I'll tell him tonight," promised the boy. "I promise."

Last updated on the November 9th 2007

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I know what I want