Filing Is Stupid

Writers: Eimi, Chelle
Date Posted: 27th February 2011

Characters: U'kaiah, P'nal
Description: U'kaiah assists P'nal with some records.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 13, day 24 of Turn 5

U'kaiah tried to resist the urge, but misfiled hides were one of his
greatest pet peeves. Why did people who didn't know the system insist
on filing things themselves? The archivists were happy to do it for
them! He knew he shouldn't say anything, but if he didn't say it now,
he'd just have to wait for the Wingsecond to leave and go through the
whole row to try to find the one that was out of place. And invariably
he found several and then he'd spend the whole rest of the evening
shelving misplaced records!

"Um, P'nal, I believe that hide should be on that shelf over there," the
bronzerider said, pointing to a shelf further down the aisle. "If you'd
like, I can put it away for you."

"Hmmm?" P'nal looked to his right, then turned back to U'kaiah. "The
harper told me it goes by the numbers."

Obviously not a trained archivist harper, then! "Yes, it does, but by
the numbers in the section."

"Show me an example," he requested. P'nal learned by doing, not by
being told.

"Well, if all we did was number them, the newest records would be in the
millions. It would take more time to figure out the number than it
would to write the document itself. That's why you have to know what
section a record belongs in since the lines can get a bit fuzzy." And
why they had a shelf for people to leave their documents so a properly
trained archivist could put it where it belonged! "For example, this
hide you have here. It's a diagram and descriptions of flight
formations, so you might think that it should be shelved with those.
However, though the topic might be about formations, it's actually a
historical record that's over two hundred turns old. It should be filed
over there with the rest of the historical documents."

Frowning, P'nal looked at it again, then digested what U'kaiah was
saying. "Allright so that means this one here would go..." He walked
over to their left, looking from side-to-side. "Here?"

"Nearly," the bronzerider nodded and then tapped the shelf next to it.
"You're in the Hold historical records there. This shelf is the start
of the Weyr records."

"For cracking... is there a sign somewhere stating that?" He looked
around, thinking this was the most idiotic system ever.

"Well, there's the sign that says 'Put hides for re-shelving here',"
U'kaiah said with a good-natured laugh. As annoying as it was that
people messed up his Records, he certainly didn't hold it against them.
They _thought_ they were being helpful, anyway.

"Why do we even have Hold records here?" came P'nal's next thought.

"Just because we're separate from the Holds doesn't meant that we aren't
intimately tied to them. We need to know about them. How else can we
calculate tithes? Figure out land boundaries and sweep rides? Know
where to Search? And just think of the history there is behind each
Hold!" U'kaiah was getting excited now. "As riders we tend to think of
Holds as little spots down on the ground, but most of the people of
Pern live outside the Weyrs. We have to understand them. I mean, we
lay down our lives every time Threadfalls for _them_, not for us."

"I wasn't born here," P'nal commented easily, grinning as he listened to
U'kaiah's speech.

"Oh, well, then you should know all that all ready." In U'kaiah's mind
it should have made the answer all the more obvious. "Anyway, Weyr records
are here, so it goes right in between these two." He held open the indicated
files with his fingers to make room for P'nal's hide.

The brownrider put it in there, still thinking this was very disorganized
and could probably be done better. He'd leave that to the harpers, though.
As it was, he planned to keep his own records in his filing shelf in his
office the way he wanted them kept. "Have you ever heard the saying 'work
smarter, not harder'?"

"I have," U'kaiah nodded, wondering why the brownrider might have
brought it up.

"Seems to me, this is a lot more work than it needs to be, but I'll leave
it to the harpers since it's their business I suppose." He shrugged, the
duty system having been ingrained into him a long time ago.

"Well, it only seems like a lot of work to you because you haven't been
trained in it. It makes perfect sense to me, though it did take a bit of
training to get my head wrapped around it," U'kaiah conceded. "Now I
can see the beauty in the complexity. I can find exactly what I need
just by thinking of a few numbers, like landmarks on a well drawn map."

"I guess I'm less of a hidework and filing man, and more of a let's get
out there and fly sort of guy." P'nal didn't enjoy being behind his desk
and was usually seen outdoors drilling, practicing formations, or
exercising with his wingriders. He fulfilled his office duties though he
didn't prefer them.

"Oh, I can't stand hidework," U'kaiah said with a disgusted smirk. "I
do love Records, though."

"I see it as all the same thing," P'nal admitted.

The Wingleader knew better than to argue the point. Not many
dragonriders seemed to understand his obsession with dusty old hides.
"Was there anything in particular you were looking for in the Records?"

"Just some numbers. I know they're always bad at the beginning of the
Pass, but I wondered when they started to level off." P'nal was curious
and he wanted to know when it got better.

"Ah, well, I wouldn't look for that here. Come with me." U'kaiah waved
for him to follow as he walked back down the aisle in the direction they
had just come from. "There's a more contemporary book I would personally
recommend. You were looking in the histories of individual Weyrs, but
what you need is an overview of _all_ the Weyrs. Here." He pulled out
a thick, fairly fresh looking leatherbound book. "One of the Weyrhold
Harpers went from Weyr to Weyr collecting as many old Records as he
could about previous Passes as far as actual Threadfall and put the
information he learned into one volume. I personally think it should be
required reading for every weyrling, but the sheer amount of information
makes that pretty much impossible."

P'nal looked at it, liking the heavy feel of it. "Thanks," he said as he
opened it and skimmed through the table of contents. "This does seem
mighty interesting." A table with the numbers he wanted was toward the
back. "Different tactics..."

"Many things were different then." If only U'kaiah could time it back
that far... Though Faranth knew he didn't dare! He'd had bad
experiences timing in the past.

"Well I better get going, but thanks." P'nal nodded his head to the
Wingleader as he headed away to the exit. He was already excited
about reading the book.

Last updated on the March 21st 2012

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Filing Is Stupid