Another One

Writers: Francesca, Jane
Date Posted: 20th November 2008

Characters: Chalzie, Leisenn
Description: Leisenn sits down to speak with Chalzie for the first time.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 13, day 1 of Turn 4

Leisenn spied another apprentice she hadn't talked to. Dark-haired, tanned, about thirteen or fourteen, Leisenn thought. And Chalzie. (The Hallmaster didn't often forget names but every time she could bring one to mind on demand she regarded it as something of a triumph over her advancing age.)

"Apprentice Chalzie!" the master dolphineer called, waving the girl over from the group sitting in the shade between the outbuildings of the Hall, obviously between classes.

Chalzie turned at the sound of her name, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw who had called her. Had she done something wrong? Since the Hallmaster's arrival, she had only seen her from a distance. She hoped their first meeting wouldn't involve being warned or chastised.

Quickly excusing herself from the group, Chalzie stood and walked towards the woman. "Yes, Hallmaster?"

"I'm talking to all the apprentices," Leisenn said in explanation though she was sure word had already spread among the youngsters. "And it's your turn. Are you busy? Should you be somewhere else?"

Chalzie gave a mental sigh of relief, remembering what she had heard from friends. "No, I'm in a break between classes now." Now that she was face-to-face with the Hallmaster, she realized how old she was. Of course, Hallmasters needed to have many Turns of experience, but she must be a lot older than Mosler.

"Well let's go and sit down over there." There were convenient benches everywhere and Leisenn liked to take advantage of them. Sitting side by side reduced the reminders of the differences in their ranks but simply getting her rank knots out of sight of the apprentice. "How long have you been at the Hall, Chalzie?"

"For about half a Turn," the apprentice replied, sitting down on the bench. "I came from Dolphin Cove Weyr."

"Another one," Leisenn commented. "I suppose being close gives weyrfolk an insight into the craft." For that matter there were very few dolphineers from inland Holds for similar reasons.

Chalzie grinned. "I guess so." Seeing the dolphins frequently definitely helped, as did the convenience.

"Do you have family there?" asked Leisenn, thinking she really needed to visit the place herself and get to know a little more about the people's lives there. While some wild stories were told of life at the Weyr it seemed unlikely to the old dolphineer that the concept of family had completely ceased to exist.

"Oh yes. Everyone is there. My fostermother, my fostersisters and brothers, friends. Luckily, I see them pretty often, and will be able to go to the next Hatching." It would be strange seeing her friends Stand, and thinking she could be a Candidate if she wanted to be.

"And your parents? Are they dragonriders?"

"Yeah, they were. But I never saw them much." Although both had died in Threadfall several Turns before, Chalzie hadn't been much affected. Neither of them had been much more than names and faces to her. "Families are different in Weyrs," she stated, even though she supposed the Hallmaster would know that. However, since coming to the Hall, she had learned not to assume much. "My fostermother is really like my mother."

"I suppose she would be if you seldom saw your parents." Leisenn smiled at the young woman. "It's interesting to hear how other people live and the Weyrs ... In my youth there were very few of them, of course. But they seemed rather foreign to us. We - most people - know more about them now. Do you think coming from the Weyr has made anything about being at the Hall harder? Or easier?"

"Umm." Chalzie didn't say anything more for a few seconds. She had never sat down and thought about it. "Well, I don't think I'm inferior to boys. Lots of people who come here have problems with that. And, I lived in the candidate barracks before coming here, so I'm used to living away from my family." She shrugged, not able to think of anything else.

"They're good points," Leisenn said, wondering (as she often did) when people had decided that women being mothers rather than crafts had made the sex inferior. It said something about the value people put of motherhood, for all they said it was important. "Do you think your harper classes were as good at the Weyr as they are in the Holds and Halls?"

"I think so?" This wasn't something that came up in conversation with other apprentices. "I don't have any trouble reading and writing, and I know all of the teaching songs." What else was there to harper classes?

"Good. I'm sure you realise not all girls are given the same learning opportunities as boys, these days."

"Oh, right." Chalzie hadn't really thought of that. "But they did when you were young?" Which was a very long time ago.

"Oh yes." The elderly Hallmaster paused, and then said more honestly. "Much more so than today, anyway. There will always be parents who think their daughters need less educating than their sons. But apparently at the Weyrs things went on as if the plagues hadn't happened. Even still free to craft."

"Yeah." The apprentice wasn't sure what else to say. She tended not to spend much time evaluating her position in life, or comparing the life at the Weyr which she had grown up with with what it was like in the Holds or Halls. She knew it was different, but didn't think beyond that. Perhaps when she was older, she would.

Leisenn chuckled at the less-than-enthusiastic response, supposing that some things that were memories to her were just history to the apprentice. "Let's think of something more straight-forward to ask you. What part of the craft do you enjoy most?"

"Well, so far I like reading the history of dolphins and dolphin-human contact, and learning hand signals. Hopefully I'll be able to take a cartography or meteorology class soon, because it seems very interesting, but I don't know much about it." She paused, remembering when the Master of Apprentices had asked her a similar question her first day at the Hall. "Honestly, the best thing is spending time with the dolphins and getting to know them." Everyone probably said that, but it was the truth.

"There's really no other reason for choosing this craft, is there?" Leisenn agreed with a smile. "Do the pod come and talk to you and the other apprentices when you're swimming?"

"Almost always. They're fun, and helpful too. Some of them will let us practice hand signals and water rescue."

"Well you ask around until you find Tu. He's my partner and he's always on the look out for apprentices to talk to. He's young, yet, but I think that's why he likes to spend time with younger people. Tell him I told you to find him."

Now that was a fun assignment. Not like the yucky ones suggested by journeymen when they saw her outside of class. Chalzie grinned. "I'll be happy to do that." She wished all assignments could involve spending time with dolphins.

"All right then. I'll let you go about your business. It's been a pleasure to meet you, Chalzie."

"You too, Hallmaster." Or, at least it had been interesting.

Last updated on the November 22nd 2008

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