A Lesson Learned?

Writers: Arale, Devin
Date Posted: 8th July 2012

Characters: N'vanik, T'nol
Description: N'vanik interviews a rider after an accident.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 4 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Sh'del

N'vanik

T'nol took a bracing breath and reached up with his good hand to knock
on the Weyrleader's door. He'd been ordered to report here after he'd
finished getting treated in the infirmary. The twisted wrist and elbow
he'd suffered in the accident had been treated and now he had to face
the fire, so to speak. It had been his own fault for not checking his
equipment properly before the drill. He'd been yelled at by several
people and now it was the Weyrleader's turn. And he had a feeling that
this would be the worst.

"Come in!" N'vanik called.

Another bracing breath and the bluerider opened the door and stepped
through. A large part of him didn't want to meet the Weyrleader's
eyes, but he forced himself to. He had a feeling that whatever the
Weyrleader was going to say, it might go worse for him if he tried to
avoid it by being evasive. "T'nol, rider of blue Ullath, Reporting as
ordered, Weyrleader." His voice remained steady, but it was a near
thing.

"Ah, the dimglow that almost got himself killed. Sit down." N'vanik's
voice was even, but it had an edge to it.

T'nol felt his cheeks heat up at the apt description and did as he was
directed. Part of him wanted to defend himself. Anyone's straps could
break during a drill! But, he knew better than to do that. That would
be like poking a sleeping feline, he imagined. He'd tried that defense
already and the reaction had been spectacular, and that had just been
with one of his fellow wingriders.

"Tell me what happened." N'vanik wanted to hear it in T'nol's own words.

The wingrider shifted a bit in his seat, the heat in his face not
dying down at the idea of having to recount the accident. "We were
practicing maneuvers to avoid clumps while still maintaining wing
formation," he began, basically repeating what his Wingleader had said
to them this morning before they'd started the drill. "Two riders were
above, dropping 'clumps' and the rest of the wing was flying below, in
formation."

"I didn't notice anything was wrong at first," he continued. The
straps had felt a little loose, but it wasn't anything unusual, he'd
thought at the time.

"It wasn't until we banked sharply that the strap broke." He'd gotten
an instant's warning from his dragon. Just enough time to grab ahold
before the momentum tried to carry him off Ullath. The force and angle
twisted the joints in his arm, tearing a few ligaments and almost
dislocating his elbow, but not quite. It had been very painful, but he
hadn't even really noticed that until they were on the ground.

"I was able to keep from falling by hanging onto the straps still
attached until Ullath had us back on the ground." The ones attached to
his flight jacket were useless as they were attached to the strap that
broke.

"You're lucky you're not dead, and your dragon with you." N'vanik
fixed him with a stare. "And you're lucky it was a drill and not the
real thing. You could've gotten one of you wingmates killed."

T'nol flinched. As much as everyone yelling had bothered him and as
much as the knowledge that it was his own doing that caused the
accident and as much as his own injuries hurt and hammered home the
fact that he could have been hurt worse... It was the knowledge that
his -dragon- could have been hurt that affected the bluerider the
most. "Yes, sir," he answered quietly, no longer able to look directly
at the Weyrleader.

Hopefully that meant his words were sinking in. "Why did the strap break?"

"The leather was stressed in one spot. It had dried and cracked and
wasn't strong enough to take my weight through the turn." He kept his
eyes lowered as he answered.

"So either you didn't check your straps or you saw they were worn and
didn't bother to replace them. Which one?"

The bluerider sighed, knowing it would come to this. The crux of the
matter. "I was running late and didn't have time to go over them very
well before it was time for the drill. They were fine last time, I
assumed they would be this time too. I won't make that mistake again,
I promise."

Yet another problem. "Why were you running late?"

Realizing he'd stepped in it now and not wanting to admit that he'd
overindulged the night before and only his dragon's insistence had
gotten him to the Drill in time at all, he simply replied, "I just
overslept a little. It got me behind the whole morning."

N'vanik sighed. "Well, I've got the perfect punishment for you. The
junior weyrlings are making their riding straps. You're going to
assist them and be a living reminder of what goes wrong if they don't
keep their straps in order."

It could be much worse, T'nol reasoned with a small sigh. Honestly,
the jolt of pain that he felt whenever he thought of what might've
happened to his own dragon if he'd died or even just been hurt worse
than he was a worse punishment. Dragons had been known to panic. The
idea of it was so horrifying that it took a comforting touch from his
blue's mind to settle himself down enough to answer, "Yes, sir."

"Report to Sh'del first thing in the morning. You're dismissed."

Last updated on the August 3rd 2012

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