To be a Jr. Weyrwoman [Bre]

[Nia]

Avalle was incredibly nervous. Why was she nervous? Because she was walking through the personal weyrs to someone's weyr. Something as simple as that shouldn't make her nervous, she tried to tell herself. Not even when that "someone" was the Weyrwoman herself, Fajra. There was nothing to be nervous about, right? They were going to be pretty close, since Avalle was going to be the next Jr. Weyrwoman, and all. ... oh shards, that thought just made her heart beat even faster. But the brunette had convinced herself that she was up for the job a while ago, so something like personal lessons with the Weyrwoman shouldn't make her as nervous as she was.

Except it did.

Callistath walked next to Hers, occassionally telling the girl to straighten her posture or stop dragging her feet. The Gold had grown a bit since her hatching, but she was still able to walk with Hers through the personal weyrs. She also wasn't nervous, Callistath was confident in her status as a lady. And she was certain that she had trained Hers well, even in the somewhat short time they'd been together. You do not need to be so nervous, mine. And your hair looks fine,

[/i] the Gold assured her rider, who had stopped to run her fingers through her hair.

I know, Callistath. I just can't help it, she responded, walking again. Fajra's weyr wasn't far from here, and she'd be there before she... aha, there it was. She stopped, took a deep breath and relaxed her face into a calm smile. That's it,[/i] Callistath encouraged, and Avalle knocked. "Um, excuse me? It's Avalle, I was told to come here for um... lessons?" It sounded a bit more like a question than a statement, but it worked. Except she sounded far too formal. But hey, it was only her first lesson, she was allowed to be a little nervous.

ooc: I hope I did this right. :x[/blockquote][/size]

[Admin]

I gotta tell ya,
I'll make it better,
But I know there's somethin' I needed to say.

Fajra looked up at the sound of light footsteps and dainty clicks of claws on stone. Dressed in a loose white shirt with bloused sleeves and light, orange-brown breeches, she did not look in anyway formal, especially with her red hair done up in a short ponytail. She gave a small, drawn smile at the girl and young dragonet who stood at her door, and then dumped a stack of parchment onto a table that was already high with papers in the middle of the room. Brushing the small amount of dust that tended to develop in corners of the records room off her hands, she wiped a bit of sweat from her brow. Then she looked back at the young Queen weyrling.

"Yes, that's right. We're starting on politics today. It's going to be one of the most important things for you to understand given the position Dalibor currently exists in;" she replied. She beckoned and then indicated a seat at the table. "Callistath, Kalith wants you over by the ledge." There was a rumble from the lithe Queen where she waited, sitting in noble repose.

There was a burbling chortling sound, then the croon of a firelizard. To the side, a lanky bronze flitter perched on a crib, entertaining himself and the baby inside with a head bobbing dance. The Weyrwoman glanced over at them, a faint smile coming back to her face, before focusing back on her pupil. A review of the lower cavern members of the Weyr had made it clear that a fostermother, though generally advisable, would be difficult in their current state. So, she'd designated tasks to the Weyrleader for once, such as locating more transfers for both riders and general weyrfolk, and accepted entire responsibility for son until such a time she could organize otherwise.

I wanna help her,
Maybe we were better alone,
I wanna show you how.

[Nia]

When Avalle looked over Fajra, she immediately felt better. It didn't appear to be any sort of formal meeting, which was good because Avalle had dressed herself as she usually did; throwing on whatever happened to be closest on her floor. She tried not to look like she was breathing a sigh of relief because she felt that might be a little rude, but her nervous smile got a lot more relaxed. They were almost equal rank, or they would be eventually. She had no reason to be scared of the Weyrwoman. Feeling Callistath's mental agreement just made Avalle's confidence even stronger.

The brunette nodded quickly. Politics? She hadn't really looked up a lot about the Weyr's politics, though she figured most of the stuff Fajra was going to tell her wasn't public knowledge. "Okay, um, sounds fun!" she said only half sarcastically, she'd actually been looking forward to these lessons for a while. After nudging Callistath towards Kalith, she sat down carefully at the table, trying not to accidently fall over or do something else stupid. Her nerves weren't quite gone yet, but she was sure after a while they'd go away, they always did.

Callistath felt a little strange leaving Avalle's side; she really didn't like to. The Gold approached her clutchmother and gave a little bow of her head, in respect and greeting. There were very, very few that Callistath herself would show absolute respect to, and Kalith was definitely one of them. Not that she would ever make this known beside a few nods and her general body language, but it was there.

Avalle glanced over at the cage as Fajra did, and felt a little smile grow on her face as well. For a moment, Afzal reminded her of Yulari, and she wondered if Yulari would behave like that if she were to ever... er, awkward thought. She had her thoughts wander over to her Yellow flitter instead, glad that she'd managed to convince the clingy fire-lizard to go play with her firelizard-friends (she actually had friends now!) rather than take her usual place around the brunette's neck. Though... she had to admit, her neck did feel rather empty and far too light....

[/size]

[Admin]

I was staring at the sky,
Just looking for a star,
To pray on, or wish on,
Or something like that.

As soon as Avalle was settled, and she was done straightening some papers, Fajra launched right into to what she wanted to cover, focusing on what she was doing. She showed no nerves at the fact she'd never taught another Queenrider before. "As I'm sure you know, Dalibor is slated to protect the major holds of Crescent and Western in the imminent threat of thread. Current records and predictions say that the next pass is due to start in less than five turns;" she began, speaking clearly. She stood still as she explained, but added slight inflection to make her points.

"That is why Western Hold was never authorized by the Conclave to be formed originally. It was due to it's sudden appearance and previous pressure for expansion to the Western Continent since the expansion boom in the Southern Continent that push to the Weyrleaders' into the decision of forming Dalibor." She constrained from launching into a detailed overview of the problems with Duilios, lord of Western Hold.

"The only experienced, established pair that volunteered to take on the project were Paaie and D'bor, with Larith and Stelinth, known for being the foundations of the current accepted prevalence of new strain colors. Weyrs are interested in keeping their riders for the most part right now, even in ones pushing over six hundred strong, which gives us a serious issue of a lack of riders." The gone Weyrleaders were given reverence, even though mourning and sadness had been pushed far back and compartmentalized so she could run the Weyr. "I was able to organize being transferred here do to the fact Bay had a high amount of Queens two turns ago." She paused to allow for any questions and to break up all the information she was providing.

Raising her head very tall, Kalith looked down at her clutchdaughter with careful consideration. Yours learns of the many things it takes to bring our world together. You will learn what you need to know to be the best as a Queen should; she provided simply. Now, do as I do. On the ledge, so she could, she stretched her wings wide. Then she gave them a few slow flaps up and down.

But as it came down near,
So did a weary tear,
I thought it was a bird,
But it was just a paper bag.

[Nia]

It wasn't exactly the "fun" kind of lesson that Avalle had imagined. Though, being the leader of the Weyr (what a scary thought....) wasn't the most fun job around, now was it? It wasn't all... glory and... well, no, even from the beginning the job of Weyrwoman or even Junior Weyrwoman looked like a lot of work, she failed to see why so many of those ditzy girls wanted to Impress Golds. What did they want, to be special or something? Just listening to Fajra made Avalle's head spin, though she went over what Fajra had said in her mind as she went along, trying to make sense of her words. It really wasn't all that hard to understand, it was just a lot of information at once.

But she listened intently, never taking her eyes off Fajra and only barely daydreaming. It was her responsibility to learn all this, to keep track of it and remember it. Relations with the Holds were very important... though she could sense a little annoyance in Fajra's tone when she was talking about Western Hold. Avalle had never been there, but from just the one sentence she'd heard about it she could tell it was trouble. A Hold that formed without the Conclave actually authorizing it? Sounded like trouble to her.

"So you didn't Impress here?" she asked hesitantly after Fajra had paused, only half-sure that questions were "allowed" now. Her question probably sounded really stupid and uninformed, but she didn't care, or more like she'd blurted it out kind of on impulse. She should probably stop doing that. Not that she thought Fajra would mind or anything, it just seemed like a really obvious kind of thing. Anyway.... "I guess we can't expect the other Weyrs to just hand over their riders...." she muttered, thinking. So... if they needed new riders, that meant Dalibor was depending on her and Callistath to provide them with more. Yikes, anothing scary thought.

Callistath was also listening to Fajra, though not focusing on it as much as Hers. Whatever Hers learned, she would learn, so she didn't have to worry about it. Besides, Kalith would teach her everything she needed to know. She nodded daintily and began to stretch her wings out, attempting to copy Kalith's flapping the best she could. Callistath had a pretty good amount of control and poise, managing to copy Kalith very neatly after a few attempts.

[/size]

[Admin]

Someone had to teach you things
It's time that you knew,
Now maybe you'll be satisfied with me.

"Kalith hatched at Bay Weyr, which is where I was born. She's one of the daughters of the Sr. Queen there. The Sr. Weyrleader at the time rode out an iron. Well, the Sr. Weyrleader rides an iron. Zibiath and Deria aren't known to be feckless, and P'pin has certainly shown himself to be a responsible Weyrleader. I don't believe Conrith has any intention of allowing another dragon to have a chance either;" Fajra replied to Avalle. She was happy to answer the question; she got caught up in talking about home and where it had all started for where she was. However, she soon caught herself from continuing about Bay. That was an established, Weyr; it wasn't Dalibor in any terms of population and politics.

"Anyway, Kalith was the first copper there. To more pointedly answer your question, Callistath's hatching marks her as the first Queen to hatch here. As Gneith is the first green, Detritath the first iron, Valleth the first bronze, to hatch here. Larith, nor our small group of oranges and reds, have produced a clutch here. Kalith's was the first;" she finished, drawing more of her cool, polite, direct manner about herself. She considered it no honor on her part; Kalith didn't have the idea to care about such a fact. She would have preferred to see Larith live to lay a clutch there.

"Which brings me to an important point. There hasn't been a new mutation in turns. The sudden appearance of cyans, of Rhyolith, Eccolath, and Topeth, isn't with out its problems. It is ill-placed to have happened here. We don't stand on solid ground. We've been left to fend for ourselves and we need riders. Though we will manage, we aren't not a favored political point. There are some riders, older than even Paaie or just stuck, who think of the new colors as genetic flukes, despite their steady production;" she explained. There was another pause. She shifted for a paper. The record room was going to have to become Avalle's friend, or disliked ally, and she had months of lessons to teach the girl.

Once Callistath had gotten the simple strokes under control, Kalith shifted her wings. Rather than flapping them vertically, she twisted her shoulders so that she could stroke them towards the wall of the bowl in front of her to either side at a forty-five degree angle. Her claws dug at the stone under her feet as the slow but powerful movements tried to push her away from it. Her body rippled with muscle; she was certainly in the peak of physical condition herself.

But you've had this lesson coming,
For so very long,
Our sins have a way of coming home.

[Nia]

Avalle listened intently as Fajra answered her question, nodding to show she understood. She was glad that the Weyrwoman hadn't been upset that Avalle had dragged her off track, in fact, she seemed to enjoy talking about her old Weyr. Avalle could understand, well, not really, but she figured she could. If she would ever have to leave Dalibor... she didn't really want to think about something like that, but if she ever had to then she'd miss it a lot. She'd Impressed at Dalibor, that made it special to her. She felt Callistath's mental agreement before the Gold went back to focusing on whatever task Kalith had given her.

The brunette felt herself go a little red, but nothing too noticeable, at the mention that Callistath had been the first Queen to hatch her. It made her feel kind of... proud? Yeah, that was probably it. Though she also felt a little embarrassed that Fajra had figured out what she had really wanted to know. It wasn't like she was self-centered or anything of the sort (okay... maybe a little, but she was joking!) but information like that still made her feel weirdly proud.

Anyway, she nodded in response to Fajra's next information. Kalith's clutch had been the first one here... but nothing about Fajra's demeanor told her that she was proud, and the girl immediately felt slightly more embarrassed. But at the mention of Larith's name she thought maybe she understood.... Larith had been the Queen before Kalith, right? Avalle didn't know much about her, though she figured she'd learn about Larith in one of these lessons. Maybe even this one. At that thought, she mentally scolded herself for letting her mind wander and focused on Fajra again.

She felt a guilty sort of pang as Fajra mentioned Rhyolith, but she didn't act like anything had changed. She nodded a few times and made a few sad "Muu..." noises. That was kind of depressing and really, really unlucky. Avalle mentally winced and tried not to blame her awful luck being the cause of this, and instead listened intently to Fajra. "That's not good..." she muttered, glancing around the room before looking back at Fajra.

Callistath watched Kalith move towards the wall now. She watched for a moment, stopping her flapping, trying to note exactly how the Copper did it in order to copy her. After a few minutes of contemplating she turned towards the wall herself and readied herself. She flapped once, tenatively, testing it. Her strokes weren't nearly as strong as Kalith, but they were proportional to her size and were enough to push her back a little. Copying Kalith, she flapped a few more times, getting pushed back a little each time, but less as she got the hang of digging her claws into the floor.

[/size]

[Admin]

This is not at all how,
We thought it was supposed to be,
We had so many plans for you,
We had so many dreams.

"No, it is not good;" she replied, hearing the girl's mutter with sharp ears. She stopped her shuffling, drawing out several handfuls of papers. She set them in front of the Weyrwoman in training in three neat piles. They were long notes on political situations, and carefully gathered observations and perspectives from different riders from well before either of their times "It is why you will need to become well-versed in how Benden and other Weyrs handled Jaxom and Ruth, Circe and Teth, D'bor and Stelinth, B'ion and Pelth, Pele and Selith, and all the other first riders of every color we have today. This will be your reading for this lesson;" she explained. She spoke D'bor's name with some reverence, though all the other names were treated as simple necessary historical references. She lacked any sort of connection to most of those gone or aging riders.

"I expect you will need to continue to try to get through those over the next few months of your training. It would be advisable you look up references in the Records Room, and that you start now, to conclude our lesson. I can answer any questions you have;" she addressed, making it cleared what the work for Avalle at that time. With that, she turned away, busying herself with other tasks to leave her pupil to her reading until she had anything to ask or she needed to leave for chores. The life of a Weyrwoman wouldn't be easy. She would never make it seem so. She went to her mantle and dug out some dried bits of meat. Afzal gave a happy squawk at the sight of them and launched himself over to her. She made him remember his manners and perch on someplace other than her before she fed him. It did have some perks. She never minded having her flitter.

That is very good. Now we work on other matters; Kalith said crisply after several minutes of watching the gold practice the second motion. She folded her wings smoothly against her back. You must begin to be able to remember pictures. It is very important; she stated flatly, without offering any other sort of explanation. She did not accept questions like her rider. I want you to retain these images, and show them to me again whenever I ask. A Queen did not forget what was needed. The first image she clearly fixed in her mind and passed to the dragonet was of an island much like the one where Dalibor lay, except less rocky and more tropical. Then there was one of an expanse of silvery firs, surrounding in white snow and white ice and gray tundra. The next featured the rocky slopes, green bowl, and blue lake of a large Weyr. That is Bay Weyr, the Northern Wastes, and Fort Weyr.

And I imagine you,
Where you wanted most to be,
Seeing all your dreams come true,
'Cause now you're home.