Handle With Care
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Eimi, Chelle
Date Posted: 17th January 2012
Characters: Sarban, Almonteo
Description: Sarban helps the hallmaster with some of their unloading.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 6, day 13 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Zandan
Almonteo gave a friendly nod to the group of men standing around the
front of the first building of the Harper Hall. "Sarban, I see you are
here, and early. You all are a very welcome sight." The Hallmaster
extended his hand to the Steward.
Sarban took his hand and shook it, turned, then released in the manner
of seacrafters. "No problem, Master. The earlier we are, the quicker we
get it done." He looked around, waiting for proper instructions. "Glad
to help on such a fair weather day."
"Well, I'm afraid the dragons have not yet arrived. Once they are here,
we can get your men started." He smiled and nodded to them again, quite
pleased so many had shown. "I think it might be best to organize your
men into teams based on specialization. That way there will be no
confusion exactly where each is expected to load to."
"What are the different zones?" He just wanted to double check before
he gave the wrong information.
"Well, the two where we will need the most number of people will be the
Instrumentalists, who will have plenty of fragile instruments to carry
to the practice rooms, and the Instrument Makers, who have a variety of
tools that will need to be put into workshop." Almonteo had insisted
that those two buildings should be the first to be erected rather than
the Main Hall or printer workshop in order to lessen the amount needing
to be moved later on.
"D'you hear that?" he asked the men behind him, who nodded. The quickly
split into groups with one man standing in front of each. Clearly the
two older men were meant to lead each group. "They'll be marked fragile?" he asked Almonteo.
"When it comes to instruments, assume _everything_ is fragile." Since
everything usually was.
"Everything boys. Careful." They nodded understanding and Sarban took
the time as they were waiting to chat. "So, are we on time for
construction?"
"Not exactly, but I wouldn't want to rush these things. It will
happen." Thankfully, Almonteo was rather easy going. While it would be
nice to have them all in one Hall again, he enjoyed the dragonriders,
though he was afraid of overstaying their welcome.
"How are the folk that have already moved doing?" He had seen Master
Eilomar, of course.
"Well, I believe. They seem to be happy to have windows in their living
spaces again." Most of them had been living deep within the cliff-side. The lack of natural light had prompted Almonteo to insist that both his office and his living quarters would be filled with windows.
"That's good." He'd never lived in a Weyr so it was hard to imagine how
that worked really. "We're doing everything we can to make sure it goes
smoothly." That was a priority. This needed to go well.
"And we truly appreciate you all for it," Almonteo said with a genuine
smile. "A Hall belongs in a Hold, I believe. Not that the dragonriders
haven't been exceedingly good to us over the time we've stayed with
them, but it's good to come home in the end."
"Have you met our guard captain, Master?" That was something he'd been
thinking about, for the future.
The Hallmaster had met some of the staff of the Hold, but not all. "I
don't believe I've had the pleasure yet." Their paths had not yet
seemed to have crossed.
"I'll see if he can come by today then. That way if there were ever any
problems, you'd know him by sight." They were trying to minimize things
and so far the slow reintroduction had gone fine, but Sarban was a cautious
man.
"I think today will be a bit busy, I'm afraid." Almonteo would not be
at his best since he was directing the move of a large and important
section of his Hall. Ideas were bound to clash and Almonteo would have
to be mediator as well as ultimate authority. "But I would like to meet
him, soon. What sort of man is he?"
"Zandan? He's a good man. Been with us for a long while. He's really
like family to be honest." Sarban had forgotten where he had come from
to be honest.
Well, compliments didn't come higher than that in the Hallmaster's book.
"It would be an honor to meet him in that case." His eyes lifted to
the skies when he heard a collective intake of breath. The sky had
filled with dragons, each bearing its own load of passengers and cargo.
He had lived in the Weyr for turns, and had forgotten just how amazing a
sight a sky full of dragons was. "Beautiful, aren't they?"
"Indeed." Sarban had never harbored notions of being a rider himself but
it wasn't hard to see why someone would want to be when looking at one
of Pern's dragons. They were majestic creatures and it never ceased to
amaze him that they had been built to fight thread so well. "Look alive
men!"
"Well," Almonteo said with a clap of his hands. This was going to be a
long day. "Let's get to work, shall we?"
"Aye aye," came the automatic response from the ex-seacrafter. Once the
dragons came down, the men started unloading. A sort of assembly line
was formed. They moved from one dragon to the next.
Last updated on the March 20th 2012