First Up, T'aesh!

Writers: KC Free, Len
Date Posted: 28th May 2011

Characters: Sh'del, T'aesh
Description: Sh'del hits T'aesh's weakness
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 28 of Turn 6

T'aesh sat on his little bed, leaning over looking at Raisheth who was
currently very interested in the contents of the chest that belonged
to his life-mate that sat at the end of his bed. While everyone else
was busy moving their dragonets on to the weyr lake for today's
lessons, T'aesh had been asked to stay behind by one of the
weyrlingstaff. Apparently Sh'del wanted to have a word with him.
T'aesh sighed, as he already knew what the talk was going to be about.

Another dejected looking boy walked up to T'aesh. "You coming too?
I've got to talk to Sh'del as well. He caught me picking on that
annoying Rh'yen kid. It's not like he didn't have it coming..." He
stopped when he realised his voice was beginning to take on a whinny
pitch. "So you coming or not?"

T'aesh nodded solemnly and stood up. He patted Raisheth's hide as he
walked past the little brown to leave the barracks towards Sh'del's
office. T'aesh didn't know this particular weryling, not the he had
made any great effort to get to know any of the weyrlings in his class
yet, but he sincerely hoped the Weyrlingmaster Second would want to
talk to both of them at the same time. T'aesh was not interested in
hearing about anyone's petty squabble, and he was particularly looking
forward to yet another talking to about his past behavior in front of
anyone, especially not someone he would be working with very closely
for the next Turn or so.

All too soon the two weyrlings were at the door to Sh'del's office.
T'aesh, quite ready to get this over with simply walked to the door,
knocked once and opened it, taking a step inside.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked, completely ignoring the other young rider.

"You! Outside!" Sh'del was in a bad mood and this boy barging in
without waiting for permission wasn't making things any better. He
stood up and pointed to the door. "Outside now, before I tan that
brown hide off your dragon." He saw the other boy cowering off to one
side. Pointing at him, he said in a much calmer voice, "K'tellen,
please come in. And close that door behind you, thank you." Sitting
back down, he rubbed his eyes before looking at the short boy and
getting his side of the story. The door quietly shut behind the green
weyrling.

T'aesh starred at the closed door for quite sometime. He had half a
mind to simply walk off and go join the other weyrlings. Sh'del had
been the one to call on T'aesh, not the other way around, and then to
talk about Raisheth's hide. T'aesh glared at the door, his eyes
smoldering with anger as he ran through a number of things he wanted
to say to the Weyrlingmaster Second as soon as the door opened.

A few moments later, the door did open with a quiet K'tellen coming
out. "T'aesh?" Sh'del called out. "Come in and close the door
behind you."

All that anger fled out of T'aesh the moment the door opened, leaving
his disoriented for a moment. Conflict was not something he wanted
with Sh'del. He knew that the Weyrleaders would already be checking
- Hide quoted text -
up on him, because of past actions, and he didn't want them to hear
that he was already causing trouble. T'aesh had promised Janani that
he would behave, and uphold the honor of the Weyr, and he planned to
do just that.

He pushed himself off of the wall and walked into the room, slowly
closing the door behind him.

"You wished to see me?" he asked, a lot more calm and polite, his eyes
downcast as he sat in a chair opposite of the Weyrlingmaster Second.

"Yes, have a seat." Sh'del sat back and studied him. He hadn't
missed the flare of anger in the boy's eyes as the door had shut in
his face a moment ago. Interresting. "How's Raisheth?"

T'aesh looked up, caught off guard. He definitely wasn't expecting
that question. He was sure that Sh'del's own brown dragon would
report to his rider if anything was wrong with any of the dragonets.

"Um, he is good sir" T'aesh answered. "Right now he is going through
my chest trying to figure out what the clothes are for or something."
A smile quickly crept across the young weyrling's face as he talked
about the brown dragonet, his entire world right now.

At that Sh'del laughed. "Ah yes, the curiosity of dragonets. Is he
eating well? His skin's okay?" He studied the boy's face for any
unconscious reactions to the questions.

T'aesh nodded. "Yes sir, eating great and demanding oilings every
chance he can get" he responded. Ever since their first oiling,
Raisheth had thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and would sometimes
attempt to roll in the dirt of the Weyrbowl, just to receive and extra
oiling. He was turning out to have a bit of a playful streak just
like his Rider.

"Sounds about right." The man looked down at his notes for a moment
and then studied the weyrling. "How would you feel about being group
leader this sevenday?"

T'aesh almost fell out of his chair. _That_ was definitely the last
thing he was ever expecting to hear from the Weyrlingmaster Second.
T'aesh was definitely not one to shirk his duties, he did what he was
supposed to do, and did it to the best of his abilities. However,
T'aesh did not like to be at the center of attention, nor did he enjoy
excessive amounts of responsibility.

"Um..shouldn't that be like a bronzerider sir?" T'aesh asked, racing
through his mind for a plausible reason not to be group leader.
"I mean, shouldn't they be the group leaders, in case they become
Wingleaders of Weyrleaders someday?"

Sure there were plenty of brownriders who could be Wingleaders, but
T'aesh did not aspire to be among their ranks. Wingsecond was just
fine with him. Not too low in the ranks, but not at the top either.
Somewhere in the middle was T'aesh's comfort zone.

"Oh, they will," Shdel said, trying to hide the grin that was
threatening to creep over his face. "But brown riders obviously take
leadership positions, as do the green and blue riders. All of you
will have to take a turn being group leaders, and maybe even more than
one try at it, if we think you show some promise. Remember, right
now, no bronze weyrling has any more status than you do." He paused
for a moment. "So what do you say? You up for this?"

T'aesh could think of no plausible reason to get out of being group
leader, and he knew that, I don't want to do it, was not going to cut
it with Sh'del. He sighed, resigned to his fate and nodded his
acceptance. "Yes Sh'del" he said, almost visibly cringing with the
words.

}: You will be a good leader :{ Raisheth interjected into his
melancholy train of thoughts.

**Faranth forbid I should ever let you down, my heart. ** T'aesh said.

}: You could never. :{ the young brown responded.

"Okay then, Group Leader, I want you to take charge during the the
talk about the Weyr, and learning the different parts of it, okay?"
Sh'del ruffled through a few more papers, giving the boy time for that
to sink in. "And don't panic, E'ril and I are there to help you and
tell you what you need to do."

T'aesh nodded. Talking about the Weyr should be no problem, he'd
lived here his entire life. He knew this Weyr inside and out, and it
should be easy enough to help those who weren't raised her to learn
it. At least he hoped it would be easy. In a class of over forty
weyrlings, something was bound to go wrong though. "Yes sir." T'aesh
replied, glad to know Sh'del and E'ril would be there to help fix any
blunders.

"Okay son, ready to go then?" He stood up and came around the table
to give the boy an encouraging pat on the back. "Don't worry, you'll
be fine."

T'aesh gave the older brownrider a slight smile, trying to put on a
brave face as he stood up and prepared to leave the office. "Grit and
grin" he mumbled as he left the office, preparing himself
mentally for the coming days.

Last updated on the August 3rd 2011

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

First Up, T'aesh!