The worst is ahead

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 20th March 2008

Characters: T'mahl, Telemon
Description: T'mahl and Telemon talk about the future training of the weyrlings
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 20 of Turn 4

Telomon knocked the Weyrlingsmaster's office door. He had pile of medical reports under his arm and his green flit perched on his shoulder.

"Ah, Telemon, please," T'mahl said as he waved the Weyrhealer into his office. "Thank you for coming down."

"No problem. I needed to stretch my legs anyway. Here's the medical reports of your weyrlings," the Weyrhealer replied.

"Thank you so much. Please, come have a seat." The bronzerider pulled out a chair for the healer to use. "Would you like some klah?"

"Thank's, but no thank's. I'll have klah pouring down from my ears soon," Telemon laughed.

"Oh?" the Weyrlingmaster asked curiously. "Why's that?"

"Nightshift. You drink klah-mug after klah mug to stay awake. A danger of healer's craft."

T'mahl was impressed. "And I thought being Weyrlingmaster was a time consuming job!"

"People don't check the time of day when they get sick," Telemon said.
"Well, back to the business. In general, the weyrlings are healthy bunch of youngsters. There's some minor injuries: one broken finger, sprained wrists and so forth. There's also some cases of upper respitory infections, in other words, common colds. They are common this time of Turn."

"Yes, I'm afraid it's unavoidable this season," T'mahl nodded.
"Will F'yip's finger heal properly? It seemed quite a nasty break."

"Well, it will be rather stiff for rest of his life, but that shouldn't affect his performance as a rider," Telemon said. "He might not be as nimble fingered as before."

"I don't need him to play gitar, just catch firestone sacks." An unfortunate truth about the reality of the situation.

"He can do that," Telemon assured. "Speaking of firestone sacks, there's several shoulder and wrist injuries caused by bad throw or catch. Most of them are already healed, but I've ordered few for massage therapy."

"Not more than normal, surely." At least T'mahl hoped not. It was his first weyrling class completely under his watch.

"I've checked the past records. Looks like a normal amount of injuries," Telemon assured him.

"Thank Faranth for that. We need all these weyrlings, especially since we haven't had new recruits for so long." It was just added pressure on him. Even one at this point would be too many to lose.

"The worst part is still ahead of us. As I said, I checked the old records, and the blooding is when the most and worst injuries happen."
**Or deaths.** Telemon hadn't been weyrhealer long enough to have much experience of the weyling training, but he was already become all too familiar with the Thread scores. He dreaded the day when he would have the first Scored weyrling as patient. Young boy or girl, Scored for life, perhaps fatally. Perhaps he should run back to those distant holds, to deal with broken bones, births and chest colds.

"Yes, that is the most dangerous time in the training, but necessary.
You are lucky you were not Weyrhealer four turns ago. We all were Blooded then..." And T'mahl could still hear the screams and terrified, agonizing bugels ringing in his ears. He shook his head to clear those thoughts out of his mind.

"I was at the hold-tour back then," Telemon said. "But I did had dragonrider-patient once, during that first Turn of the Pass. He was injured by Thread and landed to the hold I was stationed. He couldn't have made it back to his Weyr, so I treated him there and then. First time ever I saw a Threadscore."

"I almost didn't make it home from that second Fall. A couple of the retired browns had to catch us as we fell. Or at least, that's what I was told. I don't remember much, except that when Uluruth went /between/ I thought we were dead." He didn't know if he had fainted from the pain or the shock.

"Some many stories and injuries," the healer sighed.

And the Pass had only begun...

Last updated on the March 29th 2008

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The worst is ahead