There are other ways

Writers: Ang, Chelle
Date Posted: 1st February 2012

Characters: P'nal, D'ret, Saebyr, Ceton, Enrana
Description: Getting Daret out of a bit of a jam
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 14 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Headwoman, Praeti

"Oh yea?! Well, you didn't have to treat Enrana that way! She has
just as much of a right to be here as you do, Saebyr. More, since the
dragons think she'll do well while you're only here for your craft,"
Daret said in a very snide tone. The group was just returning from
their craft lessons with the weaver journeyman when Saebyr began
belittling poor Enrana.

The young girl was standing against the wall with the grip of Ceton on
her upper arm as Daret and Saebyr stood toe to toe. She was scared to
death that Daret would get hurt and be unable to Stand. "Please ...
stop," she said softly then whimpered when Ceton squeezed.

"Quiet ... he's getting what's coming to him," Ceton said.

Daret hated it when people were bullied and Saebyr, who was older and
much bigger, knows that. Hence the reason for doing it because he
loved to get Daret riled. "She's a twit and should go home. She'll
never make a good rider. Just as you won't," Saebyr smirked as he
poked Daret in the chest. "Your momma don't even want you, how could
a dragon?"

Saebyr had no idea that Daret's mother died when he was six turns old
and that he couldn't remember a thing about her. But it didn't matter
to him as he watched Daret's face pale then turn purple with rage.
This is what he was waiting for and he braced himself for the attack.
Too bad no one was around to see him break the number one rule of the
Weyr ... no physical fighting.

And Daret was furious. Without a word, he stepped back, cocked his
arm and let fly towards Saebyr's face. Enrana cried out to stop and
Ceton simply laughed.

The noise did attract someone, though it might not have been who they
would have expected. In a few moments, P'nal rounded the corner. The
Wingsecond got quite a view. Before he stopped to think about it,
though, he rushed forward. "Stop it now!" came the quick order. "And
don't even move." **Why were children always acting like idiots?**

As if he could stop! Daret cringe when he felt his fist connect with
Saebyr's jaw, the older and bigger lad surprised enough not to duck.
Saebyr yelling in pain, Enrana screaming in fear and Ceton spouting
accusations at Daret created enough noise to deafen a mute.

Standing at attention, Daret looked at who came forward and sighed
inwardly. A wingsecond … P'nal, that's his name. Shards, why did it
have to be *him* who found them? "Sorry, sir," he said with a
contrite tone and being careful to not look at Saebyr at all.

"Is that true?" The brownrider's gaze flicked to Daret. Now was his
chance. Of course they were all going down to see the headwoman and
getting extra chores for acting like idiots, but he didn't tell them
that-not yet.

"No, sir ... I mean, yes, I hit him but it's not like Ceton says,"
Daret answered glancing back at Enrana and saw the boys hand still on
her. His eyes narrowed as he grit out, "Could you tell him to let go,
sir?"

P'nal was confused and he was tired of being in that condition. "Let
go of what? And how is it then?" If this had been a life or death
situation, he was sure they would have all been dead by now.

Saebyr dropped his act and started laughing while Daret turned to look
at P'nal as if the man had lost his mind. Ceton was quick to let go
of Enrana and since she was simply crying, she ran and hid behind
Daret. She buried her face against the back of his shoulder, peaking
out at the wingsecond.

Daret took a deep breath as he counted to ten. "Sir, Saebyr and Ceton
were bothering Enrana as we were walking back from our weaver chores.
I was trying to pull her away from them when Saebyr started picking on
me," he said and everyone in the Weyr knew that he always stood up to
bullies. "I lost my temper …"

Looking at Saebyr and his current lack of behavior, it was easy to
guess how the story went. "Saebyr, shut up." Looking at the ceiling to
decide what to do with them, he considered the situation. "Enrana,
return to your cot please. You three boys are going to report later to
the headwoman's office for extra chores."

"Daret, come with me." He continued walking down the corridor to his
original destination. When they were away from the others, he sighed.
"Son, you can't resort to hitting everyone else all the time
especially once you Impress. Fighting can confuse a young dragonet."

Relief flooded through his thin body but it wasn't visible to the
brownrider. Keeping an eye on Saebyr and Ceton, he reached back to
hold onto Enrana's hand until they were gone. Saebyr glared at Daret
as he left, not liking how the wingsecond berated him.

"I don't want to leave you," Enrana whispered but Daret squeezed her hand.

"It's all right. Go find someone to be with until I get back. I
don't want you alone, okay?"

"Okay," she said, kissed his cheek, then headed back to the barracks
to find Praeti.

Grimacing at the thought of extra chores, he realized it was a better
punishment then being denied Standing at the next Hatching. Walking
beside the tall brownrider, Daret couldn't keep the pensive frown off
his face as he thought about what would happen later. "I'm sorry,
sir. I *do* know better. I just … what can I do instead? We tried
ignoring them but there's only so far one can take that kind of verbal
abuse." He truly was confused about how to handle this type of
situation.

"You've got to be smarter than them. Don't always use your fists to
speak for you. Tell me, why do you think they see you as a good
target?" P'nal tried to get him to look at this from another angle.

"Because I fall for it every time," Daret mumbled and crossed his arms
over his chest. His head knew all this but his heart was the one
unpredictable component. "I am smarter than both of them. Do you
know how far it is from the weaver rooms? They started in the moment
we walked out the door. You can't tell me that you would still be
ignoring them this far, would you?"

"For one thing, I wouldn't have been alone. There were two of them and
one of you. If there hadn't been just one of you, they might have
thought twice. Secondly, there are ways of getting back at people
without fighting. Indirect measures are usually more effective
anyway." P'nal hadn't grown up in the Weyr, but he had been a
candidate at Dragonsfall.

Daret nodded at the advice of not being alone. He supposed that
Enrana didn't count since they were bullying her first. Then he
paused when P'nal spoke of there being indirect measures to deal with
bullies. "Could you show me these … indirect measures?" he asked
carefully, aware that what the wingsecond was doing probably wasn't
what the Headwoman would agree with.

"Get creative, Daret. You're smart." He smiled, remembering his
siblings and how they used to get even with each other. "Whatever it
is, it needs to be small. It also needs to be untraceable. Like itch
powder in shorts or hiding things. Spinners in the bedfurs...I'll
leave you to it, shall I?"

A slow smile crept up on Daret's face. "Yes sir, that I can be. I'm
a weaver after all," he said as he lowered his arms. "Thank you."

"I don't want to hear your name again," he warned as he headed off in
another direction. Hopefully the boy wasn't dumb enough to get caught.

"You won't until I Impress, sir," Daret said as he watched P'nal walk
away. Then he jumped in the air with a fist pump and ran to the
barracks to find Enrana.

Last updated on the February 4th 2012

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There are other ways