Post by Katlyn on Apr 1, 2011 0:00:37 GMT -5
Lorina had been busy on the main island, with the events of the last two days. She'd left the candidates under the care of those on the island, and tried to help get things settled back down at the main weyr. The news had broken everyone's heart, but she needed to know where she was going with them from that point. But now she had to get back to them. Finally, she returned though, and Descanth had informed all the candidates that they would have their first "lesson" that evening after dinner.
Finally the time came, and she waited for them all to file into the their barracks' main lounge. The few girls trickeled in from one side, and the boys from another until all 19 candidates were gathered and seated. She waited for everything to settle down before she spoke.
"As you know three days ago Fraith and Tsunath rose. They met in the sky, they challenged, and as a result our senior queen, Authanth, died. This leaves us with three facts. There is now a queen-less clutch on the Sands. This hasn't happened since my Descanth was clutched. I'll be discussing with our Weyrwomen at a later date if it will be possible for you to visit that clutch, but in the end, it will be Taenia's decision still, I'm sure. There are 9 eggs in that clutch." She stayed quiet why the first fact trickled in.
"Second, we now have two golds who will be, in about three months time, laying their clutches. Assuming Authanth's clutch follows tradition, that's about a month after our next hatching. Fraith and Tsunath have already proven themselves to be somewhat violant towards eachother, so we're not sure yet how and where those clutches will be lain, or if Ardalae, Kolteya and Josiath will force them to share the sands. And five months or so from now, we'll have two hatchings. So, you all have a lot of work to start doing," she said, giving them a smile.
"I'm going to do things a little bit differently this time than the last few clutches. There are fewer of you, but our need is greater than ever. You've all been busy building here, and that's great. This island is starting to look wonderful. But now we need to start getting you ready for your duties as riders and weyrlings. Besides, the weather is slowly turning a bit too nasty to build much more, I'm sure. So...." and then she stood away from the wall she'd been leaning on.
"Tradition states that candidates will not stand until they're 12 turns old. Our five youngest," and she pointed to the twins, Shicnor, Siarie, and Evie, "are 10, 11, and 12 turns. You are the babies of the bunch. It's been decided that, if it's deemed you're suitable to Stand, then you will Stand. So there's a chance you may be asked to wait a bit longer, but there's a chance you'll number those on the Sands. Some of you," she stopped to point at the candidates aged 13 through 17, "are at the average ages for first starting candidacy. The rest of you are near 20, and thus on the opposite end of the spectrum. Traditionally, you boys stop standing at 21, and ladies, at 24. Traditionally speaking. Who knows if our Weyrwomen will make exceptions, considering our unusual circumstances. I've taught one or two of you before, but most of you are new to the program. Already Kolteya and Ardalae are organizing Searches. Hopefully, the Holds and the Halls will cooperate. That being said, here's the plan."
"I'm going to be splitting you all into four groups. Consider these your 'wings'. Your leaders were chosen at random from those of you who are 17 and older. For the boys, you've got Aarsell and Sildron. Aarsell, you're the 'wingleader' for Conneray, Mirent, Dienom, and Markon. Sildron you're the 'wingleader' for Yolgord, Rytan, Nimrant, Lyam and Shicnor. As for you ladies, your 'wingleaders' are Tria and Eraydine. Tria, you've got responsibility to and for Mili, Alyan, and Siarie. Eraydine, you've got Karnial, Salisa, and Evie. Disputes, arguments, fights...Those are to be brought up to Aarsell, Sildron, Tria, and Eraydine. They'll work together to assign morning chores to keep this building up and running, and chores around the island. And they'll come to me when they need help. Consider yourselves mini-wings. Eventually, as hatchings and candidates come and go, there will be rearrangements, exactly as wings work. I'll leave it to them to assign their 'seconds', if they want to." Hopefully this experiment of hers would work.
"Chores are to be done in the morning before your noon meals. I'll be on the main island, still helping in the creche and working out details of clutch visits and trying to get Searches put together, until noon. Then after lunch, we'll all meet here. For two to three candlemarks in the after noon, anyone who's fifteen and older will be working directly with a 'rider mentor'. They may have you helping them with their chores around the islands, or taking care of their dragons. Lady Ardalae is specifically asking for the girls over 15 to come to her once a week. Salisa, you'll go day one, Karnial day two, Eraydine three, Tria four, and Mili five. Lady Kolteya also would like to be involved, so every other week, you'll go to her instead. Boys, I'm going to talk to our weyrleader and his seconds about them doing the same thing for you. Those of you who aren't yet fifteen will stay here and work directly with me. You'll get the same experience, I'm just going to keep you together because we'll also be continuing and finishing any of your harpers' lessons you have left to complete.” She stopped to take a small break and to see if she was being understood before continuing.
“Then everyone will have an hour or so to themselves, no chores or anything, just relaxing, before dinner. Then three days of the week, immediately following dinner, we'll meet back here for extra lessons. Weyr leadership, history, customs and courtesies, dragon color information, and so on. That'll be the first, third, and fifth evenings of the sevenday. The sixth evening will be a pop quiz type evening, just to see if you've learned what's been taught. Second and fourth evenings are study evenings. And the sixth and seventh days are going to be rest days, at least for now. There’s no point in working you all to death. And, depending on how things are going on the main island, those days may eventually be the days that you get to join the main weyr. No promises though.” She hoped that she made sense. It seemed like it was fairly self explinatory, though she wasn’t positive. It was just an idea that she’d come up with over the last two days or so.
“I know before, I made everything very very structured. You all had to continue working on crafts and the like, but we just don’t have that sort of capability here. And, candidacy is supposed to be the easy step of the rider process, if you want to consider it that way. Of course, if you want to continue doing a craft or start going to craft lessons, we can work that out, just let me know. Anyone who falls into that category will more than likely be released two to three afternoons a week. But for now, does anyone have any questions or shall we start your first candidate lesson?”
Finally the time came, and she waited for them all to file into the their barracks' main lounge. The few girls trickeled in from one side, and the boys from another until all 19 candidates were gathered and seated. She waited for everything to settle down before she spoke.
"As you know three days ago Fraith and Tsunath rose. They met in the sky, they challenged, and as a result our senior queen, Authanth, died. This leaves us with three facts. There is now a queen-less clutch on the Sands. This hasn't happened since my Descanth was clutched. I'll be discussing with our Weyrwomen at a later date if it will be possible for you to visit that clutch, but in the end, it will be Taenia's decision still, I'm sure. There are 9 eggs in that clutch." She stayed quiet why the first fact trickled in.
"Second, we now have two golds who will be, in about three months time, laying their clutches. Assuming Authanth's clutch follows tradition, that's about a month after our next hatching. Fraith and Tsunath have already proven themselves to be somewhat violant towards eachother, so we're not sure yet how and where those clutches will be lain, or if Ardalae, Kolteya and Josiath will force them to share the sands. And five months or so from now, we'll have two hatchings. So, you all have a lot of work to start doing," she said, giving them a smile.
"I'm going to do things a little bit differently this time than the last few clutches. There are fewer of you, but our need is greater than ever. You've all been busy building here, and that's great. This island is starting to look wonderful. But now we need to start getting you ready for your duties as riders and weyrlings. Besides, the weather is slowly turning a bit too nasty to build much more, I'm sure. So...." and then she stood away from the wall she'd been leaning on.
"Tradition states that candidates will not stand until they're 12 turns old. Our five youngest," and she pointed to the twins, Shicnor, Siarie, and Evie, "are 10, 11, and 12 turns. You are the babies of the bunch. It's been decided that, if it's deemed you're suitable to Stand, then you will Stand. So there's a chance you may be asked to wait a bit longer, but there's a chance you'll number those on the Sands. Some of you," she stopped to point at the candidates aged 13 through 17, "are at the average ages for first starting candidacy. The rest of you are near 20, and thus on the opposite end of the spectrum. Traditionally, you boys stop standing at 21, and ladies, at 24. Traditionally speaking. Who knows if our Weyrwomen will make exceptions, considering our unusual circumstances. I've taught one or two of you before, but most of you are new to the program. Already Kolteya and Ardalae are organizing Searches. Hopefully, the Holds and the Halls will cooperate. That being said, here's the plan."
"I'm going to be splitting you all into four groups. Consider these your 'wings'. Your leaders were chosen at random from those of you who are 17 and older. For the boys, you've got Aarsell and Sildron. Aarsell, you're the 'wingleader' for Conneray, Mirent, Dienom, and Markon. Sildron you're the 'wingleader' for Yolgord, Rytan, Nimrant, Lyam and Shicnor. As for you ladies, your 'wingleaders' are Tria and Eraydine. Tria, you've got responsibility to and for Mili, Alyan, and Siarie. Eraydine, you've got Karnial, Salisa, and Evie. Disputes, arguments, fights...Those are to be brought up to Aarsell, Sildron, Tria, and Eraydine. They'll work together to assign morning chores to keep this building up and running, and chores around the island. And they'll come to me when they need help. Consider yourselves mini-wings. Eventually, as hatchings and candidates come and go, there will be rearrangements, exactly as wings work. I'll leave it to them to assign their 'seconds', if they want to." Hopefully this experiment of hers would work.
"Chores are to be done in the morning before your noon meals. I'll be on the main island, still helping in the creche and working out details of clutch visits and trying to get Searches put together, until noon. Then after lunch, we'll all meet here. For two to three candlemarks in the after noon, anyone who's fifteen and older will be working directly with a 'rider mentor'. They may have you helping them with their chores around the islands, or taking care of their dragons. Lady Ardalae is specifically asking for the girls over 15 to come to her once a week. Salisa, you'll go day one, Karnial day two, Eraydine three, Tria four, and Mili five. Lady Kolteya also would like to be involved, so every other week, you'll go to her instead. Boys, I'm going to talk to our weyrleader and his seconds about them doing the same thing for you. Those of you who aren't yet fifteen will stay here and work directly with me. You'll get the same experience, I'm just going to keep you together because we'll also be continuing and finishing any of your harpers' lessons you have left to complete.” She stopped to take a small break and to see if she was being understood before continuing.
“Then everyone will have an hour or so to themselves, no chores or anything, just relaxing, before dinner. Then three days of the week, immediately following dinner, we'll meet back here for extra lessons. Weyr leadership, history, customs and courtesies, dragon color information, and so on. That'll be the first, third, and fifth evenings of the sevenday. The sixth evening will be a pop quiz type evening, just to see if you've learned what's been taught. Second and fourth evenings are study evenings. And the sixth and seventh days are going to be rest days, at least for now. There’s no point in working you all to death. And, depending on how things are going on the main island, those days may eventually be the days that you get to join the main weyr. No promises though.” She hoped that she made sense. It seemed like it was fairly self explinatory, though she wasn’t positive. It was just an idea that she’d come up with over the last two days or so.
“I know before, I made everything very very structured. You all had to continue working on crafts and the like, but we just don’t have that sort of capability here. And, candidacy is supposed to be the easy step of the rider process, if you want to consider it that way. Of course, if you want to continue doing a craft or start going to craft lessons, we can work that out, just let me know. Anyone who falls into that category will more than likely be released two to three afternoons a week. But for now, does anyone have any questions or shall we start your first candidate lesson?”
