It Won't Be Easy

Writers: Emma, Estelle
Date Posted: 18th February 2018

Characters: K'sedel, R'fal
Description: K'sedel talks to R'fal about the problems in his assignment
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 17 of Turn 9

K'sedel

R'fal yawned and stretched as he entered the weyrling barracks, wondering if he
ought to get an early night. It had been a tiring day. Tossing and catching bags
of firestone was even harder work than doing the same with bags of feed back
home on the farm, which had never been his favourite chore, and every day there
was more of Marlath to clean. Maybe there was time for a quick ball game with
the other weyrlings, if they weren't all even more tired than he was...

}: Nikornath says that his rider wants to see you. :{

** What? ** The young brown weyrling was instantly alert - and worried. ** What
did I do? ** He thought back over the events of the day, but couldn't come up
with anything bad enough to warrant the Weyrlingmaster's attention.

}: I do not think we are in trouble, :{ Marlath said, sounding concerned as he
picked up on his rider's feelings. }: But you should hurry. :{

** Yes - of course. ** Whether it was trouble or not, it wouldn't do to keep
K'sedel waiting. R'fal quickly checked that there were no spots of dirt or blood
on his tunic from Marlath's feeding and that his weyrling knots were in place,
then sped off in the direction of the Weyrlingmaster's office.

It wasn't that bad, K'sedel thought as he looked at the scrawl before him. Yes,
the spelling and grammar were poor, but the meaning was just about clear. And
from the weyrling's records it was clear he came from a small holding, so a
spotty education could be understood. But a dragonrider had to be literate,
reports from a sweepride needed to be clear and concise, a member of the
weyrlingstaff could be charged with keeping records or reviewing assignments.
And that was how this had come to his attention. His thoughts were focused more
when he was sure he heard a knock on the door.

"Come!" he called.

"Marlath said you wanted to see me, Weyrlingmaster?" As R'fal came forward to
stand before the desk, he caught sight of a familiar-looking piece of hide and
felt as though he'd been hit in the stomach with a full firestone sack. The day
had been so busy that he'd completely forgotten about the assignment...until now.

"Take a seat R'fal. And don't look so worried, neither you nor Marlath are in
trouble," K'sedel gestured to a chair.

R'fal sat down, but try as he might, even an order from the Weyrlingmaster
couldn't keep the worried expression from his face. Should he say he'd made a
mess of the assignment as a joke? No, that wouldn't work - he'd have to do it
again, and when it turned out no better he'd be in even worse trouble for lying.

"I wanted to talk to you about your assignment, I noticed you had a few problems
answering some of the questions. Not that what you wrote was wrong, it's how you
wrote it." K'sedel was watching the boy's face for a reaction. "It looks like
you had a few problems with spelling some words."

Even though he'd guessed what was wrong, R'fal's face fell. Perhaps he'd been
hoping that despite everything, his work wasn't too bad after all. He stared
down at his knees, ashamed. If only he'd listened to his mother when she'd tried
to get him to work on his lessons and stop fooling around in class! But how
could he have known he'd end up here?

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't do it on purpose! I did try, but I'm just..." He tried
to come up with an excuse, but there weren't any. "Not very good at spelling. Or
any kind of writing, really."

"Did you have a harper to teach you when you were young?"

"They used to visit the hold sometimes, but mostly it was my Ma." R'fal couldn't
recall his father teaching him anything, unless how to calculate the odds on a
game of cards counted as arithmetic. "It wasn't her fault, though! She had a lot
of work to do and I - well, to be honest I wasn't any good at studying at all. I
never thought I'd need it."

"I see," K'sedel made a note on a hide. The weylings words confirmed his
thinking. A remote holding, few visits from harpers and a need to work to keep
the place going clearly meant that education had taken a lower priority. "Would
you like to improve your writing?"

R'fal considered that cautiously. Although it was a few Turns since he'd had to
practice writing, it wasn't so long ago that he couldn't recall being trapped
indoors, copying out letters on his slate in a state of utter boredom and
frustration. He didn't want to go through that again! On the other hand, it was
embarrassing not to be able to spell when everyone else in the class could,
and... "Do I need to, sir? To be a good dragonrider?"

"It would help." K'sedel said. "When you've flown on a sweep ride, we expect a
short report on what happened. Or you may one day be a Wingsecond, or sat in my
seat here, and there's a lot or reading and writing that goes with that. Do you
understand?" He made a mental note to find a harper to have a chat with the lad
anyway. It might help to come from a person more experience in teaching than him.

"I think so." The weyrling felt for his brown dragon's comforting presence in
his mind, and took a deep breath. "I would like to get better at writing, sir,
and next time, I'll try harder. I don't want to let Marlath down."

"You'll only let him down if you don't try, and you don't seem the type to give
up easily."

"I hope I'm not, sir." The only problem now, R'fal thought, was that he didn't
have the slightest idea how he was going to go about learning to spell, let
alone how to do that while keeping up with weyrling training and caring for
Marlath. Still, he'd have to figure it out somehow. "Um...do I have to do the
assignment again?"

"No, but I'm afraid you'll have to sacrifice some of your free time for the next
few sevendays. I'm going to make an appointment for you with the Harpers.
They'll find out what you know, and give you some help to catch up. I'm sure it
won't take you long if you're determined enough." K'sedel hoped he sounded
encouraging, Nobody liked to have to order extra work for anyone, but in this
case it was needed. Another option would be to hold the pair back, but doing
that could cause a lot of distress to the pair. "It won't be easy, I'll tell you
that now, but if you're determined to try, I'm sure you'll manage it."

The boy's heart sank at the mention of harpers, but he made an effort to conceal
his dismay. He was being offered help, and it wouldn't do to seem ungrateful.
"Thank you, Weyrlingmaster. I'll do my best."

"I know you will."

Last updated on the March 2nd 2018

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It Won't Be Easy