Starlight, Star Bright.

Writers: Avery, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 1st September 2016

Characters: Talwynn, A'kua, M'kot
Description: First star to the right and straight on 'til morning.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 25 of Turn 8

A'kua rubbed his hands over his face and took one more look at the star charts in front of him. They weren't making as much sense as he would like; he had never navigated by stars before. When he had been holdless, he had made camp at night like any sensible traveler, and since he'd had no idea where he was going and didn't even want to encounter other people at first, he hadn't minded being completely lost anyway. That was apparently biting him on the arse now. Finally, he inquired, "Zei, any weyrlin'staff available to help with this?"

The bronze, who had been trying to clean between his teeth, grunted and sent a thought out. }:Riveth, is your rider available? A'kua's homework is bothering him.:{ If she wasn't, then he would try someone else.

}:Mine is free,:{ Riveth relayed. It wasn't late enough for her rider to be asleep, and she wasn't tangled with another. }:Your weyr, or elsewhere?:{

}:Anywhere that's convenient, if your rider doesn't want to come here,:{ Zeiranth offered.

Riveth consulted with her rider and replied, }:She says five minutes, then meet her at the watchpost.:{

}:All right!:{ Zeiranth cheered, and turned to A'kua. }:Put on my straps and let's go to the watchpost!:{

A little confused, but going with it, A'kua put his dragon's straps on him, put on his riding jacket and gloves, and tucked his homework into his belt before mounting up. Zeiranth hopped off his ledge and glided to the watchpost at the rim of the Weyr, landing easily.

Brown Fuirath turned to look at them, but said nothing. His rider M'kot grinned. "Hello, company."

Riveth came to the post and let Talwynn slide off her back. The greenrider had a satchel on her back that looked to be full. She tapped her green on the shoulder and let her fly off, then laid down the satchel and started unpacking. "Hey there," she said. "Thanks for letting us get in your way."

"A chance to do a little more crafting isn't a bother," the brownrider said.

"This is M'kot. He's a Starsmith too, so he doesn't mind us sitting up here and looking at things."

"Oh." A'kua's shoulders tensed, and he edged away from M'kot while trying to get a read on the stranger. Probably no threat, so he attempted to focus on Tal, bringing out the star charts. "I'm supposed to navigate to Garnet Valley, Sunstone Seahold, and Opal Cove with these. I can't figure it out."

"What's your experience of the stars prior to this?" Talwynn asked him. She finished pulling out the glow basket and offered it to him. "Here, these are dim enough we can read the chart without ruining our vision to be able to look at the sky."

A'kua accepted the basket and opened it a crack to let his eyes adjust. "Non-existent," he admitted. "Back at the hold, no one traveled at night. Huntin' parties caught out late just camped, and the kids never went so far they couldn't see the glows in their houses. Even when I left, I was glad to be lost, and I didn't travel at night either. Too many safety issues, especially when I was alone."

"Where was your cothold again, not too far?" she asked. "Go ahead and look up at the sky, and tell me if the stars now look like what they did there."

A'kua paused, trying to remember how long it had taken him to get to Dragonsfall and from which direction. He hadn't thought about it in a while. "The Weyr is southeast of the hold; I basically traveled in a diagonal line for about a month, I think. We weren't close to the Western Barrier Range, if that helps put it in perspective," he said, thinking aloud. "If I turn this way and look up, I can see that faint cluster from the corner of my eye. I could find that cluster on clear nights back there."

"Sounds like you weren't too far north, though," she answered. "What you'll learn about stars is their appearance differs based on where on Pern you are. River Bluff and Vista Point will have a night sky that looks different from here, but some of the stars will be the same. Dolphin Cove will be even more divergent. The North sky might be unrecognizable."

"Great," A'kua muttered sourly. "Okay, but how do I do this here and now with these locations?"

"Where stars are or aren't changes predictably by your location on Pern - longitude and latitude. So as you go farther north, what you see at midnight will be different because other stars are below the horizon. The charts are going to show you what that sky pattern looks like at that location."

She picked up two charts out of her own bag and showed them to A'kua.

"This one on the left is here at midnight, facing north. The one on the right is Dolphin Cove at midnight, also north. Do you see the difference?"

The weyrling studied the charts, and nodded. "It's pretty clear, but I'm failin' to see how this gets me to the locations in my homework," he doubtfully stated.

"You said one of the target locations is Garnet Valley? Pick up that chart and compare it to the Dragonsfall one. Now, based on the char, where would you say Garnet Valley is from here?" He might know from drill points.

A'kua studied her chart, then the one corresponding to Garnet Valley for several moments. Then a look of comprehension dawned, and he stared up into the sky. "It's almost directly north of us."

"Exactly," she said, giving him a smile. "Now if I gave you this one..."

She handed him another one from her bag. This one she'd drawn herself. It was a small cothold in the Dolphin Cove territory, so it probably wouldn't have been a recognition point for him.

The redhead gave it a long stare, then shook his head. "I'm guessin' that won't get me to Sunstone Seahold or Opal Cove."

"Nope," she agreed. "It is north of here, though."

"That narrows it down," A'kua drawled sarcastically, and handed the chart back to her to re-examine the still unsolved charts.

He was starting to grasp it, she thought, but was he all the way there? "You know what direction Sunstone is, besides north?"

Her student paused, mulling that over. He looked up at the sky, then at the Sunstone chart once more. "North.... west?" he ventured, very hesitantly.

"Close. Look at these constellations, here," she said as she tapped the map.

A'kua made an inarticulate noise of frustration and looked again. "It'd help if I could find the pictures people say is in these things. All I see are stars," he muttered. "Northeast?"

"Very good," she said, reaching forward to touch a specific star on the chart. "This bright star here is due north from us. Notice that in the Sunstone chart, it's moved a little more easterly and it's lower down, because Sunstone's farther north than we are. In the Garnet Valley chart, it's even more easterly and it's closer to where it is for us."

She wasn't sure if this was getting through, and resolved that she needed to save up some marks to get a very nice astrolabe.

A'kua tucked the charts under his arm to pat down his pockets. Habit came through again, and he brought out a charcoal pencil, quickly circling the bright star Tal had mentioned and sketching a rudimentary compass on the charts to point in the destinations' proper directions, along with a couple of notes on things Tal had mentioned. Now only one location remained. "Last one's Opal Cove." That one was especially important. "I know it's close, but I'm not sure which way to look."

Talwynn considered his confusion and wondered if a practical approach would help. "Do you want me to show you on the chart, or do you want to go there and see?"

"After how our first between went, no," A'kua muttered.

}:Hey, that was an accident,:{ Zeiranth objected. }:It was an accident, right?:{

"It was," the redhead soothed. He knew his bronze was sorry about the incident even if he no longer remembered it. "Just tell me which direction I should look and I'll figure it out." He hoped, anyway.

"I can give you the visual if you're worried. But if you'd rather stay here, then look at this," she said, gesturing.

"Opal Cove is east of here, but close in latitude. Remember that north star? It'll move closer to ours."

"Closer," A'kua muttered, studying the map, then looking up at the sky as he turned slowly. Wait- that angle- "Opal Cove is southeast of us," he realized. "Just barely because it's so near, but it is a little south too."

"There you go," she said with a pleased smile. "You're getting a lot better."

"Let's not say that until I actually pass a test on this," A'kua said, marking out the directions on the map. "Which might not happen, but I at least have a shot with your help. Thanks, Talwynn."

"Not a problem. I enjoy spending time with my craft," she reassured him.

The weyrling gave her a smile, carefully folding the maps and tucking them in a pocket. "C'mon Zei, we need to bed down now that we have this figured out."

}:But I was talking with Fuirath,:{ Zeiranth protested.

"You can talk later. We have our responsibilities tomorrow."

Something about the word "responsibilities" had the desired impact, and the young bronze crouched to let A'kua mount so they could go back to their weyr.

"See you in classes. And remember there's night flying drills," she
added, Those, she was looking forward to.

Last updated on the September 1st 2016

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Starlight, Star Bright.