For the Good of the Hall

Writers: Bree, Eimi
Date Posted: 31st October 2005

Characters: Carmora, Almonteo
Description: Carmora learns a little of the "scandalous" side of the Weyr...
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 8, day 13 of Turn 3

Almonteo

Carmora was red faced and flustered when she burst through the door to their quarters, closing it quickly behind her and leaning up against it for good measure. Both hands went to her flushed cheeks as she tried to slow herbreathing, so distracted that she didn't even realize Almonteo was standing in the middle of the room, looking at her oddly.

"Are you all right, wife?" he asked as he walked towards her. The fact that she was flushed and out of breath was obvious. The Hallmaster wondered just what could have happened to the woman!

His wife jumped, obviously startled to see him. "Oh... what are you doing here?" Her cheeks were still flushed with embarrassment, but there was a look in her eyes as she focused on him that was _very_ warm. "I just finished practicing the new piece," he said as he took another step towards her, surprised at, but drawn to that look in her eye. A look he knew very well. "What are _you_ doing, Carmora?"

Her voice came out high and faint. "I was taking a walk in the weyrbowl... there was... there's a... a dragon..." Her tongue seemed to get tangled up in the words. She was hardly a shy woman--especially not after so many turns of marriage and four children--but she'd never witnessed a mating flight before, either. She'd always dismissed the whispered gossip and stories as exaggerations, but now she knew... "My love, there are many dragons in the Weyrbowl this time of the day, I'm sure," he said gently as he reached out for her. He had never seen her like _this_ before.

She shook her head. "Not like this! It really _is_ scandalous, Almonteo!
How are you going to keep control of the apprentices once they arrive?"

"Carmora, my love, why don't you tell me what happened?" he said as he gently guided her towards the edge of the bed. She looked like she really needed to sit down and get ahold of herself.

Carmora took a deep breath and twisted her fingers together in her lap.
"There was a... a _mating flight_," she whispered finally, her voice sounding scandalized. "It's bad enough that I saw it, but the feelings... Almonteo, you'll _never_ be able to keep apprentices in line with such things going on! It's hard enough to keep young men out of trouble without... without making it _worse_!"

"Hmmm." Almonteo had been trying to avoid thinking about, let alone _watching_ mating flights. As the father of a greenrider himself, he didn't want to dwell on that aspect of her occupation any more than he liked to think of her fighting Thread. But he might as well face it. "And just what _were_ you feeling?"

"What do you _think_?" Carmora demanded, her cheeks bright red. "It's scandalous!" "Careful, Carmora," her husband said gently as he reached up to stroke her cheek. "Remember, this Almora too we are talking about. Surely you cannot be accussing our daughter of being scandalous."

It was the last thing she wanted to hear. "Almonteo! Please!" Now she'd have to banish _that_ image from her head. She'd always thought herself an accepting woman, but maybe she wasn't as open-minded as she'd imagined. "Dragonriders have duties, Almonteo... but we're not talking about dragonriders! We're talking about your _apprentices_ and young journeymen!" "We will deal with this by keeping them as busy as possible here in our area of the Weyr. But unfortunately, we would be fools to believe that some will not... fall to the freedoms of the Weyr. But, my love, this _is_ our home now. We will have to make adjustments the same as any candidate does when they first move to the Weyr. And after a while the novelty will wear off." It was certainly a valid point she raised, though. If they didn't keep at least _some_ measure of control, parents would be loath to send their children to the Hall, and journeymen could be loath to leave their new ways at the Weyr. Yes, he would have to give the problem careful thought.

"There will have to be rules," Carmora said firmly, resorting to planning to cover her discomfort. "There's been enough change in the Harper Hall already to last a generation! Everything can't be turned on its ear overnight." "Yes, my love, we will find a way to combat this problem. We always do." He slipped an arm around her, knowing full well why she was moving into her hyper-planning phase. Leaning closer to whisper in her ear he asked, "So, tell me, just what _were_ you thinking when you walked through that door and looked at me that way? Hmmm?"

Carmora _tried_ to act affronted, but it was hard to do so with that mischevious look in his eyes. She'd seen it in his eyes the morning of their wedding, so she couldn't pretend she hadn't known _exactly_ what she was getting in to. "Really, husband. If you haven't figured it out after all these turns..." "Oh, I figured it out all right, but you were so insistant on _talking_
I figured I'd better hear what you had to say. Now why don't you show me just how dangerous watching a mating flight could be on impressionable young minds?"

"Almonteo! This is _not_ a joking matter!" But she couldn't keep her expression stern as he smiled at her, especially not with the memory of all those highly imappropriate and terribly pleasant emotions. "You are impossible. Do you realize that? Impossible!" "No, wife, I'm practical. I need to know what I'm up against." He let his fingers trace along her spine as he said, "I suppose if you can't help me understand I could just go down and wait for a mating flight and find out for myself what these scandalous feelings entail. For the good of the Hall, of course."

"For the good of the Hall," she echoed lightly, before giving in to the urgings of her husband and kissing him soundly.

Last updated on the November 1st 2005

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For the Good of the Hall