You Have a Question?

Writers: Eimi, Rochelle
Date Posted: 14th September 2006

Characters: R'mer, D'rue
Description: R'mer answers some questions for Daiirue's candidate class.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 13 of Turn 3

Well, that first week was the hardest. I guess the whole first month actually. And then it got easier. But not too easy." He looked around at the small group of people standing around him. Shards, why had they picked _him_ to talk to candidates, R'mer wondered. Just because he Impressed a bronze didn't mean he had any clue how to lead groups of people. "In fact, it's still hard work. But not as hard as that first month."

Daiirue watched R'mer carefully. He'd been surprised when R'mer had first been introduced to them, since he was a weyrling, but now he understood why. R'mer seemed very approachable, and most importantly was not weyrbred. The idea was reassuring. Tentatively he raised a hand.

"Um. You have a question?" R'mer asked the candidate nervously.
**Shards, I just hope I know the answer!**

}:You're doing fine, R'mer,:{ Hanunth said encouragingly. }:You know everything.:{

Daiirue smiled faintly, letting his polite mask slip a bit. R'mer looked more nervous than he was! "Yes. Do you really have chop their food? I see the dragons hunting..." He trailed off, realizing that some of the other candidates -the ones who had been there longer than him- were snickering again. Shardit!

"Only when they're really young. After they learn how to fly they can hunt for themselves. But yeah, at first you have to chop up their food." R'mer looked at the candidates, not quite sure what they found so amusing. He hoped it they weren't trying to ask questions just to make him look like an idiot. The bronzerider already felt like one standing there in front of them. "So... anything else?"

Daiirue hesitated, and when the rest of the group started shaking their heads, said nothing. As the group started to dissipate, he gathered his nerve to approach R'mer alone. Maybe if the others weren't laughing at his naivety, he'd get some real answers.

R'mer noticed that the one who had asked him a question wasn't leaving with the others. "Do you need something?"

Daiirue smiled apologetically. "Just some questions, but I didn't want to ask them while the others were here. I'm new." He offered as an explanation. "So I haven't had a chance to learn everything they have."

"Ah." That was kind of a relief. Maybe they weren't making fun of R'mer then... "Well, what do you want to know?"

Daiirue paused a moment. He had several questions, but the ones that mattered the most to him were more personal in nature. Training told him not to ask them. The dreamer in him ignored it, and said he could learn the practical stuff in class. "I... realize this is somewhat personal." He admitted quietly. "But I was wondering... did you do anything special to help you adjust to the weyr before you Impressed? Everything is so strange here."

R'mer cleared his throat. Shards. "Uh..." Well, there was Isaline...
"I tried to adjust as best I could. I... tried some new things. I think it helped a bit."

Daiirue nodded. It didn't look like R'mer could help him there. "Everything here is new, so I suppose we both have to just keep trying and hope." He commented with a sigh. There was a chirp as Vree popped in from /between/ and glided to his shoulder. Daiirue stroked him absently as he asked his next question. "Did you think you'd Impress?" He asked curiously.

"I thought I _had_ to. My family was counting on it. As soon as I'm settled into a fighting wing I plan to bring them to the Weyr." And R'mer couldn't wait for that day. Each letter just reminded him how very far from his family he was. They were counting on him...

Daiirue wasn't quite sure he could believe his ears, but he managed to keep his face neutral and voice even, although Vree reacted with an excited chirp. "Bring them to the weyr?" He couldn't imagine wanting to bring _his_ family to the weyr!

"They would be more comfortable here," R'mer said simply. He didn't need to share his family's troubles with the world, after all.

There had to be more to that answer than R'mer let on, Daiirue realized. But he knew better than to pry. It just wasn't polite. "Do you like the weyr?" He asked conversationally, while he tried to get his brain back on track. The image of his family at the weyr was distracting him from his real questions.

The weyrling thought about it a moment. "Yeah. I wasn't sure at first. Things are... different here. And some people are different. But everybody's really nice. And everyone's taken care of. I guess that's what really counts."

"Yeah..." Daiirue shook his head. He'd noticed that too, but he still wasn't used to it. It was so different from the hold and hall. Nothing he'd ever read or dreamed had been quite like the way the weyr really was. "When you Impressed... what did you think? They keep telling us that a bronze is a big responsibility. Was it... scary to have a voice in your head all of the sudden?" He tried to keep his tone casual, but the question came out in a rush anyway.

R'mer thought about it a moment. "No, not scary. A little strange, maybe. But it was kind of like my own thinking, but just not coming from me. You know what I mean? You know when you talk to yourself in your head? It was like that, but it didn't come from my head originally. Maybe that doesn't make any sense..."

"No, it sort of does." Daiirue said slowly, thinking about the way he heard the voices of the people he was reading about in novels in his head, and some of the clearer images he received from Vree. Those were from outside his head, but sometimes they felt like his own... "That makes more sense than some of the others answers I've gotten." He felt a blush rising along his neck, remembering his first candidate class when he'd asked a similar question and the class had started laughing. "Kind of like when you read a novel, and you hear yourself reading it in your head then?"

It was R'mer's turn to blush. He had never read a novel in his life, but he wasn't about to admit it. "Um... yeah, like that."

Daiirue nodded again. If... -he barely dared to dream about that if- ...he managed to Impress, he didn't want to think he was going crazy. He'd had nightmares about having a dragon fallow him around the hatching ground, only he hadn't realized they wanted him until it was too late. The stories had never been very clear about Impression. Probably because most of the writers weren't dragonriders...

The other candidates were almost out of sight now, and he wasn't familiar enough with the weyr to trust himself not to get lost. He'd have to save any other questions for later. "I'd better catch up. Thank you, R'mer." He said courteously. "You've been very helpful." **Shards that sounded
stupid...** He resisted the urge to kick himself. Trying to figure out what to say and how to act at the weyr was still a problem for him.

Last updated on the September 17th 2006

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