Apprentice, I Choose You!

Writers: Cymiri, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 16th November 2013

Characters: Reeva, Lokkun
Description: Looking back at when Master and apprentice met
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 15 of Turn 7

**I should get some lunch for Master Reeva while I'm in the dining hall,** Lokkun suddenly decided. As usual when he thought of something completely out of the blue, he didn't question it. Instead, he finished sweeping the room he had been assigned to, put the broom and dustpan away, and went to the dining hall. Forty minutes later, he returned with a tray of food and a mug of klah, and went to Master Reeva's office. "Master? Have you had lunch yet?" he called as he knocked on the door.

"Do I *look* like a woman who's eaten a sensible meal recently? Or ever? Or even to whom the mere word 'sensible' could be applied? Or 'lunch', for that matter?"

Her tone was dry as ever, though it was meant humorously, not to scold. What the healer *did* look like was someone way too intently sorting through only she knew what dried herbs in-front of her.

Realizing it was her apprentice and not a random head stuck around the door, she added a fractionally more sensible:

"Though with this collection in front of me, of course,I am perfectly positioned to ruin someone else's. More even then the kitchens manage alone. Do come in, lad. If I've not bitten you yet I won't start now."

Lokkun laughed quietly and walked in, setting the tray on a corner of her desk, making sure not to disturb any of the piles. Reeva was right, of course; she hadn't even so much as bared her teeth on the first day he had met her. Had that ever been a harrowing event.

~*~*(begin flashback)~*~*

He was not shaking in his boots. He was not. Okay, maybe his hands were shaking a little, but he, of all people, had been called up to see the Masterhealer. Lokkun was positive he had done something wrong, and he had a good idea of what that was: He had made an inaccurate diagnosis.

He and seven other apprentices had been called by a journeyman to oversee a minor case: The patient was red-eyed, runny-nosed, a little short of breath, and coughing and sneezing what seemed like every five seconds. When asked what they thought the trouble was, the seven other apprentices had said it was a cold, looking offended that something so simple had been put before them. Lokkun, on the other hand, had looked closer, taking note of the red eyes, and said without thinking "Allergies."

They had all been called away before they could get confirmation, but it was clear Lokkun was wrong, and thus, his head was going to get bitten off. He just knew it, and he had better get it over with, so he knocked on Master Reeva's door.

"In, do."

The cool invitation was fairly typical. As was the intent head-to-toe examination the young man received when he entered. Reeva was *not* cross-eyed as a few nay-sayers continued to insist, and that rumor about frying people on the spot with a glare was just a hysterical young apprentice on his first day away from home, but the lad could believe it or not as he chose. She gestured him to a seat.

"Your name is Lokkun, I believe? Journeyman Bellas has spoken of you to me before."

The blond gingerly sat on the edge of the seat, fists on his knees and feet flat on the floor. "Yes, Master," he said, wishing he could keep the nervousness out of his voice. At least he wasn't stammering and tripping over his tongue.

"He tells me you've an eye for...complicating things? What made you look so closely at the subject of today's lesson?"

She offered a soft smile, hoping it would put him slightly more at ease.

What had he complicated lately? Wait, that wasn't important. Reeva's question was. Lokkun mentally grabbed his brain, shook it, and tried to get it on track. "I just did," he said, even though the Master probably wasn't going to like that answer. Healers had to be careful, so careful, in order to make an accurate diagnosis.

If she could have heard his thinking, she'd have been more satisfied with the answer.

"Because you were afraid of being wrong to your Journeyman, or because you wanted to make sure you were right?"

Lokkun admitted, "I just said it without really thinking. I do that sometimes; I get a feeling, and then I say something about it." He paused, and then blurted, "I was wrong, wasn't I?"

Reeva couldn't decide whether she wanted to give the lad a reassuring hug or thump him upside of one ear. She settled for raising an arched brow sarkily.

"And you were doing *so* well til then, dear boy. Lords and Ladies preserve me from healers who diagnose on 'feelings'. I can barely tolerate harpers who sniffle so! On the other hand, I've more then a few uses for a lad with open eyes and unblinkered thoughts who actually cares to be *right* rather then look smart and listens to what the facts have to say. One of them as my personal canine's body, hapless carrier-of-things, general sarcasam target and occasional receiver-of-information. So please, dear, close up the mouth, sit up a little straighter and cease wibbling. I don't bite. At least not stripling lads of your age..."

She winked. It might frighten the poor soul to death, but there you had it.

"...and instead enlighten me as to why you were *not* wrong. You were the healer-in-charge... Faranth help the poor man... not me."

She crossed her arms and raised the other brow to match the first.

"You were right, by the way. So as I say, tell me why it was not an obvious cold."

She'd been watching the lad a while, and knew for herself that what he had stammered out as a vague 'feeling' was actually a tendancy to observe carefully and completely. That was no use, though, if it was a result of a desperate need to be seen to be right or a waffling uncertainty in himself, rather then patient interest. She was certain of the answer she'd [eventually] receive, of course, or she'd not be wasting her time. All the same, it was fun torturing the hapless apprentice.

For a moment, all Lokkun could do was stare, eyes so wide he rather resembled a vtol. He'd been correct after all? That feeling hadn't lead him astray? And Reeva was acting like she wanted him in her service, too! Lords and Ladies indeed! He gulped, sat up straighter, and desperately tried to think, to come up with a logical reason as to why he'd been right about allergies. "It was the patient's eyes," he finally said. "Colds normally don't make one red-eyed and teary."

Her lips twitched into a warmer smile.

"We may just make something of you yet!"

She settled to something more serious.

" I confess, I would like to have a hand in it. I particularly like empathy and meticulousness, and I believe you exhibit both, as well as potential- which I practically beg for. So I will leave the offer on the table. My colleagues are good people, and each and every man- and woman- who gains their knots deserve them, though for multiple different reasons that don't always match that specific. You are perfectly able- and I am obliged to stress that- to not work with any specific teacher until and unless you want to specialize in a specific subject and have Journeyman's knots to exhibit. Rather like a pair of metaphorical testicles that guarantee access to the big boy's playpen.."

Another wink.

" Working with me specifically won't do you any special favor, or any special disservice- what you achieve will ultimately be up to you. Its not an obligation to follow in exactly my specialties either. Its simply an offer to be guided by me instead of a lot of other people. If you are unlike 90% of boys your age, and can think to the future, and believe there is something in that that would specifically aid you, that may be invaluable. It may not. You may even be too dumb to know. But close your mouth- I did mention that- and take yourself back to the duties you have been assigned. If anything in the prospect of me screaming at you in copious amounts and vile language over the next few years appeals, then you may let me know that in a few days."

Lokkun was a lot of things, but he knew he wasn't an idiot. A chance to be a Master's apprentice was an amazing opportunity, even if Reeva did say it didn't have any special advantages. She was a skilled, smart woman, and he could learn a lot from her. So rather than take a few days, he went with his intuition one more time and clearly asked "When can I start, Master?"

Reeva's lips twitched.

"After lunch, if you are so eager."

~*~*(end flashback)~*~*

And thus had begun the hardest and most satisfying studying of Lokkun's life. He had grown fond of his master in their time together as well, and respected her greatly, so whenever Reeva demanded his best -which was all the time- he did his utmost to give it. And right now, he had to give it to his chores again. "Have a good lunch, Master," Lokkun said with a smile he didn't realize showed that admiration.

"Oh, get on with you!"

Reeva's smile, though, was warm.

Last updated on the November 21st 2013

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Apprentice, I Choose You!