My Sharding Luck {RII!!!}

Je’kyll was sick and tired of this. Why did he get stuck with the boring things. He could heal some of the Dragons! He was a Dragonhealer! Even if he was an apprentice one. He heard a yawn from Hydeth and turned on her as she spoke to him.

You could always train more and Walk the Tables Mine. Or I could incapacitate all the other healers so you are the only one. She said sweetly.

Je’kyll rolled his eyes and turned back to his work. Yeah, sure he could, if he didn’t have a lump of a pink to take care of. He pursed his lips at the thought and immediately pushed it from his mind. That was entirely inappropriate. Hydeth was a sweetheart even if she had an odd way of showing it…

He went back to his work, studying the salves, checking each one of them. He was just pleased he didn’t actually have to make the numbweed himself. That stuff stank something awful and tended to get stuck in the skin. Not to mention accidental numbness from forgetting oilcloths. Wow, he must have been bored if he was going through the problems with numbweed…

A voice made Je’kyll look up as a boy, well, man, addressed him. Je’kyll merely nodded his assent and turned to face the Weyrling, eying him critically. He was probably someone with no idea how to do even the slightest chore related to healing. Waste of time, really. Why should they spend time telling the annoying Weyrlings and Candidates what to do!?
“Yes. We’ll be sorting through things unfortunately. Fairly mundane work but I guess it has to be done by someone. The most important thing, I guess, is to use an oilcloth before dealing with any of the numbweed. If you get any of that on your hands they’ll be numb for hours.” Je’kyll instructed, keeping his voice level.

Hydeth watched the green that had arrived with some interest. Small thing and yet one day she would be larger than her. Stupid Green. Hydeth looked at her own feet and snorted in annoyance. Curse her stupid hide and how small it was. Maybe if she ate every dragon’s feet she would be larger than them all!!

Je’kyll’s eyes narrowed briefly when the Weyrling seemed to drift off a little. Whatever. If the boy got injured over something stupid it wouldn’t be his fault. Actually, it probably would. Knowing his luck he would probably get blamed for the whole thing if the boy managed to go slack jawed for weeks from mishandling numbweed. Sharding Weyrlings. His face went blank shortly thereafter as he shook his head, returning to his own sorting.
“Shall we go to the storerooms?” Je’kyll asked.
Without waiting for an answer he walked away, in the direction of the storerooms. They were, of course, connected to both infirmaries. That meant their dragons could sit by the door if they wanted. Je’kyll suspected Hydeth would not, unless she was particularly drawn by the Weyrling green. The green might want to sit near Hers. Probably wander right into the stores actually…
“Screw up cataloguing you screw up the whole Weyr, get it?” He called over his shoulder as he walked through the door.

Hydeth tilted her head at the tiny green and hummed a little.
Hydeth. He wishes he was a healer. Hydeth snorted back with something of laughter.
You can be quiet about that, you great lump.
Hydeth hummed again, hissing a laugh. She loved Hers so much but sometimes she did like to make fun of him. Plus, he did wish he could be a proper healer. She knew that he didn’t really think being an apprentice was the same as being a journeyman.
He is an apprentice but I think he hopes to walk the tables one day.

She still eyed the green with some hostility but she was no fool pink. She knew that Weyrlings were basically untouchable. None could touch them without winding up demoted… Or worse. She settled with just glaring at the green suspiciously. She had never trusted greens… They were the ones that seemed to like messing about on the sands. Blues didn’t seem to do it as much but the greens… Silly creatures.

Je’kyll was pleased, at least, to see that the Weyrling had followed and that his green had not. He wasn’t too concerned with the dragonet but having her wandering about the stores whilst the healers were attempting to move around them. He couldn’t imagine they even liked having the apprentices, Weyrlings and candidates hanging about their stores. He certainly wouldn’t have if he ever finally made it to Journeyman. He’d just have to return to his studies more rigorously than he had been over the past four turns.
“It’s reasonably easy to tell the salves apart from one another based on smell but, considering that we probably shouldn’t smell strange substances it’s also a matter of colour and texture.” He paused for a moment wondering how best to describe the subtle differences between the healing goods.

The more he thought about it the more sure he was that only trained apprentices should have these jobs. The Weyrlings all tended to be giddy over having a dragon in their head and rarely listened to anything. The candidates were all just incredibly annoying, talking to him about impression and what not.

He looked back at the Weyrling, patience wearing thin. He’d caught onto what this boy’s problem was. He was, to say it lightly, something of an airhead. Not that he was stupid he just appeared to have his head in the clouds without even having a dragon that could fly yet. Then again, most of them seemed to have a similar attitude. Thank goodness he had never done that himself. He’d always paid attention to his instructors.

One day he will. I will make sure of that. Hydeth agreed, sniffing in something of a snobbish manner, We have only been here a few short seasons. We left Fort. They were all silly and deserved to be torn from the sky and fed to the Wherries.
That wasn’t entirely true, she had always liked Queth. He had been a lovely, nice blue. Always kind to her. Too bad he had not transferred with her. Still, there was Midnith and Pandemoniuth in Dalibor whom she found either tolerable or likeable.

Je’kyll narrowed his eyes at the cheek of the Weyrling. He had been just about to suggest something like that… He’d just thought that maybe G’dan would want to know how to identify the herbs. His face became completely blank as he turned away and shrugged his shoulders with some annoyance.
“Well all right then, but make sure you pay attention. Wouldn’t want you misidentifying something.” He said with a slight passive aggressiveness to his tone, “Over here we have some Hissop, five lots of it.”

He listed them off in a similar manner, moving quickly. The faster he got all this done the sooner he could leave. Cataloguing was not his favourite task. He would much rather be watching some of the healers at work and actually doing something. Well, he supposed it was rather important to teach them something. Still, he took some satisfaction from speaking and moving rather quickly, looking back at the Weyrling wondering whether he could keep up. He too recorded the inventory in something of shorthand in case the boy couldn’t keep up. He realised that he was only a few years older than the Weyrling but it gave him satisfaction to think of the Weyrling as a ‘boy’.

Mine, Prith has a point. You should study harder to become a healer.
Don’t you think I try to study hard!? I just can’t because I’m assigned to these stupid chores. Je’kyll responded with some aggression.

He turned swiftly to look at the Weyrling and watched him carefully.
“Got all that?” He asked.
If he didn’t and he had to go back over everything… He couldn’t really be sure what might happen. His patience had all but disappeared and the rest of it was being used to keep his anger contained, a battle he fought every day.

Je’kyll took great satisfaction in moving swiftly through the work. He was not a teacher. He probably never really would be, which was probably why he had never walked the tables. A more patient man would have taken the time to assist the young Weyrling. Indeed, had Je’kyll been in a better mood, perhaps if he had simply been assigned to the chores and then discovered he had to look after the Weyrlings things may have turned out a lot better. As it happened, Je’kyll’s mood was sadly dampened by his failures. The assertion from the Weyrling that he had not managed to take everything down caused Je’kyll to survey him coldly.

“And yet I am the one who will be blamed for your ineptitude, tell me the fairness in that.” He stated coldly, “Here. Take this, I’m better off getting this done on my own. Go do something worthwhile like shovel manure. I’ll tell them what a wonderful job you did.”

He handed the Weyrling his own up to date Hide and then moved off to take another one. He moved quicker now he didn’t have to speak but was fairly certain it would be him who wound up punished by everything. No matter what way he went about it now he would probably wind up as the one assigned to the menial tasks. Of course, he may just end up losing all his duties… Watchrider… But he was sick of coming to the infirmary and performing the same tasks as an uneducated sap.

Do you not think that this is a reason you haven’t yet become a Journeyman?
Je’kyll resolutely ignored Hydeth, aware that his distaste was showing on his features. He knew, all right, that he had to study hard and supervise those who did not know their way around an infirmary. That didn’t mean he had to enjoy it or tolerate it so readily. He blamed the other healers for even choosing him as the person to assist the Weyrlings.

Je’kyll threw a distasteful expression back at the Weyrling. He was giving him time off! What the shells? He snatched the wherhide back from the boy and looked at it.
“Well, if you’d paid enough attention I wouldn’t have needed to make another one.” He began coldly.

He looked about and then stepped closer.
“You’re lucky you’re a Weyrling or I suspect you wouldn’t still be standing right now.” He started threateningly.
He tried his best to remain calm but all the patience he had formerly had - or perhaps the impatience he had staved off – was basically non-existent.

He heard a resonating growl coming from just outside the door and looked over to see Hydeth’s maw right in front of the door as though waiting for the Weyrling to run into her mouth. He frowned at the pink and shook his head a little.
He has upset mine. I will protect you! I will love you, do not worry.
Je’kyll shook his head, glaring at her.

No, Hydeth. This one’s a Weyrling. If you poke him you’d wind up dead just about.
He waited until Hydeth had moved away from the door and then looked at the wherhide. Easy enough to make into a full account and it was most certainly not a waste of a hide. Sharding Weyrling thinking he knew everything. He started filling in the gaps, wondering whether his dismissal was clear enough or whether he needed to get really mad.

He was a Dragonhealer. It was what he had trained for initially and what he was still training for. It was what he hoped to become. Dragons were usually so much easier to deal with.

Je’kyll glared after the Weyrling. If he ever had to heal that sharding dragon he’d be doing something halfway interesting. This was just horrible. He turned and threw the wherhide on the ground, stalking out of the storeroom shortly after the weyrling had left. He needed to calm down before he could accomplish anything here. He checked that no one was watching and then climbed on Hydeth’s back. He did not say a word to the pink as she could read his emotions well enough. She took to the sky and soared around for a moment.

He needed time. His studies needed to be uninterrupted by his emotions. In the air things were clearer. He knew he had allowed his emotions to go very wrong.
You did nothing wrong Mine. He should have listened to you better.

Je’kyll knew she was just saying it to make him feel better. He sighed and shook his head knowing there would be shells to pay for all this. There would be consequences for his actions. If he had only come to Dalibor first and impressed here… Things might have been different. It Hydeth had been born in Dalibor as opposed to Fort, he may have had something of a normal life.

They glided around a few times and eventually made their way back to the infirmary where Je’kyll went back to cataloguing the stores with considerably more tranquility.

{End?}