Something Useful

Writers: Avery, Eimi
Date Posted: 5th October 2007

Characters: Kapera, T'mahl
Description: Kapera wants to find something useful to do, so she speaks to T'mahl.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 5, day 6 of Turn 4

Kapera

Her work wasn't done yet, but Kapera didn't feel like looking at lists of supplies at the moment. She knew that how much herbs the Infirmary had and which ones needed to be collected soon were important, but she felt restless, impatient, and the thought of staying in her office for even a half-candlemark longer was- to say the least- an undesirable prospect. She wanted to take a quick break from that room, but knew that it was midday and she still needed to be working. Of course, doing work that didn't require her to be in her own office still counted as working...

She left her office and headed to that of another member of the Weyr leadership. The Weyrwoman's Second knocked on the partly-open door, and then poked her head inside of it. "Weyrlingmaster T'mahl? Do you have a moment?" she inquired.

With no weyrlings and little he needed to be doing with the candidates, T'mahl had found himself with time on his hands and had thus been caught tinkering with a new mechanical toy flit. The feminine voice at his door startled T'mahl. If anyone was coming to look for him at this time of day it would have been E'naer! He jumped to his feet guiltily and cringed as tiny springs, rods and screws went scattering across his floor. "Good afternoon, weyrwoman. How may I help you?"

Kapera hadn't expected to startle him. "I'm sorry that I startled you, T'mahl." she said honestly. She did feel a bit bad that he'd dropped things. "I'm not coming for anything really important...just for a chat."

"I see. Well, I'll have some refreshments sent up for us then. What would you like? Klah? Tea? Juice?" He winced slightly as another spring fell to the floor with a *ping*.

"Klah would be fine." she said, studying him. She didn't know him all too well. Maybe she should have gotten to know him before now? "Were you a crafter before?"

"No no, I'm a crafter now." It took a moment to dawn on him how stupid that reply really was. "Oh, you mean, before..." Shards. He was getting all flustered. Taking a deep breath he deliberately calmed himself, hiding behind his mask of professionalism. "Yes, ma'am, I was apprenticed to a craft before Impressing, however I was born at the Weyrhold and Impressed on my first try Standing, so my craft has mostly been learned since becoming a dragonrider. Let me get you some klah.
One moment please."

"Oh, I see." Kapera considered his reply. He seemed pretty flustered, but she wasn't doing anything to cause that- was she? "So you learned most of it back when we could be crafters as well as riders. Now that you teach the weyrlings, you have less time to craft?" That seemed to make sense.

He peaked his head around the corner and called down to the candidate assigned to run his errands to bring klah on the double. As he did so he considered his reply carefully. The truth was, now that he was assigned to teach weyrlings, he seemed to have all the time in the world to craft. Of course, that was because there _were_ no weyrlings. "My craft is also my hobby. I practice it whenever I have a free moment."

She could understand that, to a certain extent. She knew about pursuing hobbies at a free moment. "It's fortunate that you have something you enjoy to do." she said.

"Yes, quite." Where was that girl with the Klah?

Well, that was pleasantries over. "I wanted to talk to you about work things." she said. "Candidates, weyrlings, that sort of thing."

Oh thank Faranth! T'mahl was beginning to worry this was just going to fade into uncomfortable silence. "Yes ma'am. How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you had anything to say to me." she said. "If the situation was regular, I'd be asking you about how the weyrlings are doing, getting a general feel for what you're doing and if you want to improve anything, but..." She shrugged. They both knew about the weyrling issue. Hopefully Mnaiath would rise soon- or maybe even Riyanth, first... "I thought I'd see if there was anything you need, anything I could do..." Okay, so she was starting to flounder here. She wasn't sure why she was here, really, but she should get involved with more things, and weyrlings and candidates fell under the Weyrwoman's prerogatives.

The Weyrlingmaster blinked a couple times as he mulled over her words.
What did she want him to say? 'I was wondering if you had anything to say to me...' Did she expect him to accuse her of something? What could he accuse her of? 'I thought I'd see if there was anything you need, anything I could do...' What _could_ she do? Make her gold rise faster? Make the Weyrwoman's gold rise? Make Teseada's gold mature before her time? Really, what could he expect _her_ to do about it all?
Just what in Faranth's name did she expect him to say? "Just a moment," he finally said, pushing his chair back, "I will see what's holding up that klah."

She nodded and watched him go, wondering what she should have said. She wanted to get involved, do more. She was a goldrider at Dragonsfall, she should be more involved. She just wasn't sure what to do. Kapera was very good at pretending to work, and not as good at actually doing things without being handed her duties. She wanted to learn to take on more of the Weyr, though- she might be running one someday. She twisted her hands in the chair, feeling like she was fresh out of weyrlinghood rather than a more experienced rider.

T'mahl continued to turn her question over in his mind as he stood in the hall watching the Candidate walk towards him with the tray.
Candidates! Maybe she could help with the Candidates! The Weyrlingmaster felt pleased at coming up with some sort of useful answer that sounded much more than intelligent than "Ummm...." Smiling, he took the tray and re-entered the room. "The klah has come," he said, stating the obvious. "Now, you asked what you could do to help. As you know, we have no weyrlings at the moment, not that it is anyone's fault, but we do have a Weyr full of Candidates that need instruction. To be honest, I am running out of new things to teach them. Would you be willing to give a guest talk in a class or two?"

A guest talk? In front of Candidates? Kapera considered that. She could do that. It wasn't like she didn't talk to Candidates when she had help with Riyanth. "Of course." she answered. "Is there anything in particular you think I should talk to them about?"

"Some of our Candidates have yet to see their first Hatching. Perhaps you could talk about the whole process from a goldrider's perspective.
Well," he thought he better amend that a little, "Not the _whole_
process. That is, of course, unless you _want_ to."

"You mean traumatizing them with the sex in a Weyr talk?" she asked lightly. "I could certainly speak about what to expect. I know some Candidates are afraid the gold might eat them, I could explain why some are so protective."

T'mahl thought it best not to point out that many of their Candidates had had ample time to find out all about sex in the Weyr... "Yes, I think giving them a gold's point of view might set them a bit more at ease."

"We'd be happy to do that, then. Just let me know when to come in."

"Excellent. I will make the arrangements. Say day after tomorrow?
Unless of course you need more time," he amended.

"That would be acceptable." Kapera said. Finally, something useful she could do!

Last updated on the October 6th 2007

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Something Useful