Participants:
| Date: | July 31, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Location: | Eastern Weyr: Weyrling Barracks |
| Synopsis: | Teallan and Uveline discuss candidacy, the changes on Pern, rumours, and much more. |
| Rating: | PG for suggestions of violence - darn those rumours! |
| Logger: | Uveline |
Day 09, Month 08, Turn 01, AIVAS Reckoning, First Long Pass
Eastern Weyr: Weyrling Barracks
Set back into the northeast corner of the Upper Bowl, this cavern is huge. With a doorway wide enough to admit a very large brown or a small gold, it balloons out into an almost round room. Along the walls are couches carved out of the rock, some bigger and some smaller. Next to those couches are small, utilitarian cots. In the center are rows and rows and rows of similar cots, only a wide aisle seperating them from the couch-cots. Space is at a premium here, for both Candidates and Weyrlings must share space until another barracks can be dug.
It's shortly after the breakfast meal, but before candidates are sent off to do their various assigned chores. This is the time when some practice their craft, or simply enjoy some free time. Teallan is not one to revel in free time and lazy about. Oh, no. There is a schedule to be kept. At least in her mind there is. The young woman is seated upon her cot with a gitar in her lap. Near to her is a notebook and writing implements. She seems to be — to a trained eye, of course — writing a song perhaps. A few chords are played, then notes jotted down.
Like Teallan, Uveline prefers to /do/ something during their rare 'free time', but she is more interested in reading progress reports than in music right now. The woman is working through a sheaf of papers, making notations as she goes and frowning to herself. After several minutes of this she sighs, setting the papers aside, and turns her attention to listening to Teallan play. "What are you working on?" she asks when next the younger harper pauses to record notes.
Teallan glances up and smiles warmly in Uveline's direction. She totally idolizes the Journeywoman and it's easily obvious. "I thought perhaps to write a song about being a candidate for Eastern's first Hatching. Seems it could be a nice thing… Rather than a ballad detailing the whole history of this new Weyr which is likely to happen, I thought I could write something more…" she waves the writing utensil around a moment, "personal."
Uveline listens to Teallan's reply wtih her full attention, nodding and smiling warmly as she finishes. "That's a good idea," she says immediately. "Personal stories can make phenomenal music, and people love to hear stories about things that they would like to imagine they could do, themselves. I've always felt that is one of the reason Master Menolly was so successful - her music has always been about things everyone could imagine."
"I never thought about it like that," Teallan says, eyes slightly wide. "I often felt that about her music, how approachable it was." She lays a hand on the gitar, thinking. "Yes, I think that must be it." She rolls shoulders in a shrug, "and this way, no one will think I wasn't continuing my studies despite being a candidate."
Uveline nods again, adding, "It also helps that her music is easy to remember. Simple melodies, but in a good way. Something /everyone/ can sing along with." At the mention of studies she arches a brow. "Teallan, nobody, and I do mean nobody, would expect you to have time to continue your harper studies while a candidate. Especially here, when there is so much more to be done than at the other Weyrs. I'm beginning to envy candidates elsewhere - all they have to do is bag firestone and keep the Weyr free of ill-placed growth, really. No carving new weyrs or digging a lake for them."
"I know, I know," Teallan says, almost breathless with the assurances. A glance is cast to the notebook and a few more notations made. "But should I not Impress, I want the amount of time lost on my way to Journeyman not to be too great." It's said less in a promotion-seeker way and more the way someone who is something of a workaholic might. And either she's not heard the rumors, or doesn't put stock in them. It's really hard to say. Either way, she doesn't seem to be entertaining any thoughts about death-to-those-left-Standing.
Uveline shrugs at Teallan's reply, offering, "You could view this as a learning experience. A form of liasion training, perhaps, since you are interacting with people from all walks of life. Or you could do as you are, and write a song about it, to give others an idea of what the experience means, reguardless of whether the candidate Impresses. I've been told that standing on the sands changes everyone, no matter how the day ends - just the experience of being there, watching the eggs hatch and dragons Impress from so close…" And she trails off, shrugging again.
"Guess we won't know 'til it happens," Teallan murmurs to herself, thoughtful. "Seems so far off, doesn't it?" A brief smile and she leans over the gitar, considering before playing a few more chords. A pause, thinking, and then a few more. This process repeats again, each iteration slightly different from the last. Finally, satisfied, she nods and makes a few more marks.
"Far off, and at the same time, far too soon for some," Uveline agrees. "Like those who have listened to those silly rumours. As if dragons would ever kill people on purpose," she adds with a snort. "Some people obviously never listened to their Teaching Ballads." Uveline then quiets, listening to Teallan as she continues working on her song, content to relax for a few minutes.
"I thought I'd heard something about that," Teallan says with a furrowed brow. "Overheard someone say something of the sort. I guess some Holds, if they're far away, might know less. Cotholds, perhaps? I know they get Harpers more rarely, especially with how unpredictable Fall is now." She rolls shoulders in a shrug. "If it gets out of hand, I imagine the Weyrleaders will say something."
"Who knows?" Uveline asks rhetorically. "Theoretically, every hold should have a harper coming by at least once a sevenday. I'm guessing someone is spreading them on purpose, to make mischeif - but it would be impossible to track that down." She shakes her head slightly, then nods. "They probably would, yes."
"Who would want to chase off everyone else?" Teallan frowns a bit, hand lifting from the gitar to pick up a strand of hair. She twinds that section of hair round and round in her fingers. "I mean, surely they can't think it would better their odds, if that's the cause behind it? Perhaps we would just have to find those who seem to be pranksters and inquire with them."
"I don't think it's about chasing someone off," Uveline replies. "I think someone is just playing with the candidates who don't know better. They might not have thought about the stress it will cause those who believe the rumors, after all." She pauses, then asks, "Do you really think they would admit to it, if asked? Especially if they hear how much it has upset some people?"
"Some might," Teallan points out, glancing up at the ceiling of the barracks. It only lasts a moment before dark gaze shifts and draws towards the couches. "If they're proud of what they've done. Some bully types are like that."
Uveline mmms, nodding. "There is that. Hopefully, it won't be necessary - anyone who asks me about it gets the truth, and maybe they'll spread it on. Rumours are such nasty things." She glances at the notes Teallan has marked down so far, tilting her head. "So, are you working on just the notes right now, or do you have lyrics as well?"
"Rumours are nasty things, yes," Teallan says with a wrinkled nose. The expression of one who has dealt with such herself. She glances to the notebook, then back to Uveline. "A little of both. I have some of the lyrics in mind, but I wanted to see about the tune also. I've had an idea in my head for it and I wanted to get it out onto paper."
Uveline leans back against the wall at the top of her cot, listening, but also finally relaxing a bit. "That's good. I've never been much of a composer, and always struggled getting anything to come out right, so I'm glad it is working out for you." A pause, then, "That's such a new phrase. 'Get it out onto paper.' So many of us take it for granted already, but not so long ago there was none at all, just hides for long-term record keeping, and sand tables for the short-term notations. It's incredible, how much Pern has changed in such a short span of time."
"It really is," Teallan says, brightly. She grins a little, looking to the paper and the pen she's using to make her notes. "It makes things so much easier. I can take things with me to study, rather than having to sit in a records room. I can have my own copies." She gives a small, amused sigh. "If it weren't for the issues with Thread, this would be a wonderful time."
"It still is a wonderful time, in some ways," Uveline says slowly. "The advances in healer care, smithcraft - AIVAS called it engineering, I think? - and so much more will improve how we live in leaps and bounds. Or at least, for those who embrace the forgotten knowledge. But yes, it is all very much overshadowed by the disaster. But there may be a solution to that somewhere in the records as well. Our ancestors knew so very, very much."
"They did and now much has been recovered…" Teallan plucks at a single string, looking down on the gitar thoughtfully. "I can see how some are angry and want the technology gone, but… it's been done. It's not like destroying the new things will make everything normal again. We should, I dunno, embrace it and search for solutions."
Uveline nods her agreement, shifting against the wall. "I'm with you, and I know several others are. However, so many things have changed so fast that a lot of people cannot understand what is happening anymore. And when people don't understand something, they become afraid of it. And some take it to the extreme and hate what they don't understand, lashing out. Which is how we've ended up so divided, instead of united in purpose as we were at the start of the Ninth Pass." Uveline shakes her head sadly. "It's a pity that there is so much conflict. We could achieve so much more if everyone would just agree on what to do."
"I guess it may take time," Teallan says distantly, lips curving into somewhat of a frown. She breathes another sigh and moves to put the gitar away in its case, which she keeps beneath her cot. The notebook soon follows, into her clothespress. In turn, she takes out that jar of ointment for the muscles. "I never knew how much a person could ache until I came here."
Uveline murmurs, "If it ever happens at all." Then she forces a smile as Teallan turns the topic to lighter things. "I'm with you, and I bless Healer Eissa every day for the ointment and her suggestions on some stretches. It's made a major difference, that's for sure. How are you doing? You've been at this all longer than I have."
"Ugh," Teallan says, not bothering to hide her dislike for just how hard the hard work is. "I'm /thrilled/ when I get told to do laundry or clean and I never thought that would happen. Working on the lake, or helping move rock… It's so difficult. I can barely lift my arms by dinnertime some days."
Uveline's voice is rueful as she gives her agreement. "Adn the lake is nowhere near done, and there are many more rooms to be carved - including our own barracks! I do hope that gets done before Rauzath's clutch hatches, or it will be beyond chaos in here. Hatchlings and their new weyrlings mixed in with candidates, and more weyrlings on the way after that." She shakes her head with a sigh. "So much to do, and never enough time or people to get it all done!"
"I just hope that if it /does/ happen, they don't expect /us/ to clean up after the dragons." Teallan leans in a little, even if it doesn't help much to keep quieter. "I heard that they can't go between to do their business right away, so the weyrlings have to clean it up." Nose wrinkle. "If I don't Impress, I'm not cleaning up after someone else's dragon, y'know?"
Uveline laughs softly at that concern, alternately nodding and shaking her head. "It's true, as far as I know - they cannot between until they can fly, so logically, they would have to eliminate wastes here, rather than between. But after mucking stables, how much different would cleaning up after dragons be? And at least they are likely to appreciate what you've done, unlike the runnerbeasts - those will just turn around and mess in the stall you've freshly cleaned."
"I hate mucking stables, too," Teallan mumbles, frowning a little. "I just think it'd be… I dunno. Normally, candidates wouldn't do that, right? So why should we if we are left Standing between the two clutches?" She shakes her head a little. "I guess this isn't a normal candidacy overall…"
Uveline shrugs, answering, "I don't know if candidates do or don't help with that aspect of raising dragons. I imagine it /probably/ is something the weyrlings do, but if one were hurt or sick, they might have the candidates help out. Or, in cases like ours, with two clutches which will be fairly close together, they might handle it a bit differently. They might have candidates who don't Impress at the first hatching help out for a few days - that way they will have a better understanding of weyrling duties in case they do Impress at the second hatching. Or at least they might have them observe, if other duties permit."
Teallan chews on her lip, thinking. "I think the worst would be feeding. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable being so close to them all eating." A little shudder. Not thinking, obviously, that /should/ she Impress, she'll /have/ to be there during feeding time. The girl gets to her feet and gives a little stretch after finishing with the ointment. "Well, I'm on tunnelsnake duty today, so I'd best get to that."
Uveline promptly does point out the obvious. "And if it were your dragon that needed to feed? Well, we'll find out later, when the eggs hatch. Whenever that is. Good luck with your snake hunting, and be careful - that ointment won't do a thing for a tunnelsnake bite." As Teallan departs Uveline turns her attention back to her small stack of papers, continuing her review.