Nothing to Worry About

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 15th August 2014

Characters: Sahna, Solynt, Quier
Description: Sahna has an interview with Journeyman Quier.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 8, day 3 of Turn 7

Sahna strode along as best she could, trying to keep up with the long-legged
senior journeyman who was escorting her to an appointment with the illustrators.
It was the half-skip step that drew Solynt's attention to the difficulty the
apprentice girl was having keeping up with him and he immediately shortened his
stride managing not to smile at the way they must have looked with her all but
running to avoid being left behind.

"Now, remember there is nothing to worry about, whatever the outcome of the
interview," he advised her as they started up the stairs to the upper levels of
the wing. "Even if they don't want to give you special training you will still
be learning all about illustrating in the next Turn of your apprenticeship so
you won't miss out."

Sahna nodded, thinking that nothing was more likely to cause her to worry than
being told not to. Added to that journeyman Quier had a reputation for being a
very hard taskmaster and she knew – her whole apprentice class knew to its
sorrow – that he had little tolerance for misbehaviour among the apprentices.
Naturally journeyman Solynt wasn't worried about visiting the other journeyman
since they were _brothers_ but Sahna was prepared to worry enough for both of them.

"Here we are." Solynt cast an eye over the apprentice and nodded. His elder
brother could be quick to let apprentices know if they weren't as neat and tidy
as he felt they ought to be but he should have nothing to complain about with
Sahna. She seldom looked as scruffy as the boys did, even in the old working
clothes she wore on her days in the press or compositor rooms. "Be respectful."

As if she wouldn't, Sahna thought, feeling a shiver along her spine at the
thought of not showing journeyman Quier the proper respect.

Solynt knocked and ushered Sahna inside the office at his brother's invitation.
"I've brought Sahna across to be assessed as we discussed."

"Thank you Solynt." The journeyman eyed the dark-haired girl apprentice and
indicated that she should take a seat in front of the desk. "Are you staying?"

"Thought I might," Solynt said calmly, settling himself at the other seat in
front of his brother's desk. He didn't know why Quier had the reputation he did
around the hall as a disciplinarian but the apprentices seemed to be wary of him
and Solynt rather thought Sahna would appreciate the support of a familiar
journeyman.

Quier didn't object and instead turned his attention to the apprentice. "You're
in your second Turn of your apprenticeship, I understand."

"Yes, sir."

"And what made you ask about illustrating now?"

"Oh. One of the senior apprentices saw my –" Sahna's hands waved about as she
sought for the right word, "- my little pictures that I send my littlest brother
instead of letters and said I might be good enough ..." Her voice trailed off.

"To be an illustrator?" Quier finished for her.

"Yes, sir. Or just for extra training."

Quier glanced at his brother and then back to the girl. "You don't want to be an
illustrator?"

"Hardly fair to expect a junior apprentice to be sure of their specialty
already," Solynt suggested, "when they haven't yet had a chance to study all the
possibilities."

"I suppose not." He nodded at the satchel the girl had set down at her feet.
"Tell me what have you brought to show me."

Sahna heard the emphasis. "Tell you? Well, there is my workbook with the drafts
of my story pictures I send back to my brother. And my sketches of the font that
I'm designing." She felt her cheeks grow warm with embarrassment. "I'm not
_really_ designing a font. Just playing around."

Solynt had heard from somebody else - one of the older journeymen, he thought -
about Sahna's font and though he couldn't recall the comments he thought they
had been fairly positive.

"Let's see the workbook."

Sahna rummaged around in her satchel and pulled the battered book out. Like most
apprentices her workbook was the one she had made during her first lessons at
binding - and it showed. Stepping up to the desk she let the book fall open to
the most recent page, turning the book and placing it in front of the older
journeyman.

"Stay here while I look at them," Quier said when she would have retreated to
her chair. They were larger than he expected, and not at all realistic. Not art,
in fact, but caricatures with a little story to tell and in the four on the page
she had opened the story was about a bed collapsing in a dormitory. He made an
effort not to smile and flicked back a page.

"Oh!"

He looked at Sahna in surprise as one of her hands was slapped down on the page.

"Er - I'm sure you won't want to see any more of them," she stammered, feeling
her cheeks burn considerably hotter than they had previously. She took a corner
of her workbook and tried to tug it across the table toward her.

"But I'm _not_ so sure," Quier countered, frowning, but allowing her to take the
book back after considering the ridiculousness of the situation. He suspected
from the pictures on the page _not_ covered by Sahna's hand that his recent run
in with her apprentice class might be immortalised in the sketch that was being
concealed from his view. "All right. Let's see your font design."

Quickly shoving the workbook back in her satchel Sahna offered the journeyman
the folder of loose sheets.

Quier untied the ribbons and opened the cloth-hinged boards, sitting back in his
chair as he caught sight of the page. "You can sit down, Sahna," he told her
absently, picking up the sheet and looking it over. The font she was designing
was neither here nor there to him, but the careful illustration and, even more
importantly, the dimensioning and labelling of it was exquisite. "Did somebody
show you how to do this?"

"N-not really. I like looking at the font books and they have the fonts set out
like that so I thought -" She shrugged. "- I thought that was how they were
supposed to be done."

He picked up the next page and leaned across the desk to hand the first one to
Solynt.

"You did this yourself?" Solynt asked. "Did the senior apprentice you mentioned
help you?"

"Asley? No. She just looked at my pictures for Tibby."

"Did you use the equipment in the illustrators' workrooms for these?" Quire
asked, leafing through the other pages, occasionally pulling the pages aside to
take a longer look.

"We haven't done our illustrating classes yet so we're not allowed in there."

He looked up. "'Not allowed', and 'didn't' are two different things, Sahna."

"I didn't," she assured him. "Hmm." He held out his hand for the page his
brother held and then put the pages back in order - they were numbered and dated
- closing the folder and tying the ribbons while he thought. "May I keep these
for a few days? I'd like to show them to somebody."

"You won't lose them?"

"I'll try not to," he said drily.

"All right then."

"I don't think there's any doubt that you are suitable for extra training as an
illustrator, Sahna, even if it is too soon for you to choose a specialisation,"
he added with a glance at Solynt. "I'll speak to the master of apprentices and
see what we can arrange for you."

"Oh. Thank you." She got to her feet when they did and picked up her satchel,
clutching it to her chest as she smiled at both of the journeymen in turn. "How
exciting."

Both journeymen smiled back at her, charmed by her enthusiasm.
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Last updated on the February 18th 2015

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