After Curfew

Writers: Vanessa T Sommerfeld, Eimi
Date Posted: 31st December 2007

Characters: Nasiria, T'mahl
Description: T'mahl catches Nasiria after curfew
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 9 of Turn 4

T'mahl's eye might not yet have adjusted to the dark, but he'd know the outline of a slinking form even in the blackest night. It was well past curfew, and with it being so close to the Hatching he had made sure all the Starsmiths were taken off night-time crafting duties to rest up.
"Candidate! Stop right there."
**Shards!** Nasiria swallowed hard on the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her body. She considered bolting for a second, but knew she had nowhere to hide, and so she stood straight and waited. "Nasiria," the Weyrlingmaster sighed as he got stepped close enough to get a clear view of her face. "I should have known." She wasn't sure she could charm her way out of this, but she was going to give it her best try. She smiled and tried to look innocent although she knew he knew better. "I just had to go to the bathroom." "The bathroom is on the other side of the barracks." T'mahl was not impressed. "What were you doing, Narisia?"

He wasn't going for it. She tried to look contrite. "I was going to see my mother. I wanted to get some last minute advice." He knew she had stood a number of times, she hoped he did not know much about her relationship with her mother. "You know, about how to Impress?"

The Weyrlingmaster's eyebrows raised incedulously. Did she think he had just crashed his shell yesterday? "Dressed like that?" "Oh, this?" she stalled. "It's nothing. I just grabbed whatever I could get my hands on." She formed an idea at last. "You see, I had a nightmare.
About not Impressing? And when I woke up, I just wanted to talk to my mom so I just put on the first thing that I found."

She thought she was oh so tricky. T'mahl might be a new Weyrlingmaster, but he was certainly not new to the Weyrling Wing. He knew Narisia better than she thought he did. "Ah, then you wouldn't mind if I had Uluruth call your mother down here to vouch for you then?" "Certainly, although of course she had no idea I was coming.I just had this dream, you know." She wondered how far her mother would go to protect her. "You know, I'm really embarrassed about this whole thing. I'm not a new Candidate, after all. I can't believe I'm this nervous." She chuckled.
"Maybe I'll just go back to bed. Can't we just forget this whole thing?
I'd be just mortified if anyone found out I was running to my mother like a baby."

"Not until we have this cleared up." Did she really think he'd just let her walk away? How foolish did she think he was? "Why don't I just call your mother down. I'm sure she's awake since you just left her. We'll just have a chat."

Now she had him. "Oh, no, no. I was going _to_ my mother's weyr, not _from_ it, so I'm afraid my mother won't be able to help you. She wouldn't know anything." She bit her lip and hoped for the best.

"Uh huh. You were just going to wake up your mother in the middle of the night because you had a bad dream and needed some advice that just couldn't wait until morning? I don't think you really thought that through, Narisia." Some Candidates just never learned. "Well, rather than wake your mother up in the middle of the night, perhaps a better way to answer your questions will be to assign you some extra time scrubbing down dragons for some of our retired dragonriders. I'm sure they will be able to despense all sorts of advice. Some of them might even be able to help you with your nightmares." She let out her breath. "How much time?" Nasiria asked, losing all pretense of innocence. Scrubbing down shabby old dragons while their riders told her about the good old days was just about more than she could stomach.

T'mahl wasn't about to make promises. The Hatching could happen anytime, and only the dragons knew what would happen after that. "We'll see. Now off to bed. And don't let me catch you sneaking around after curfew again.
Understand?"

She frowned. "Yes, sir." She sighed and crept to her bed with the most creative of curses swimming in her head.

Last updated on the January 1st 2008

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After Curfew