New Candidate (Elra)

[kayla]

V'nes was in his office, looking over some notes that he was making for his meeting later with Lan'ae and M'ren, and trying not to think too much about the Green Rider who had come to play into both of those recent conversations.

He glanced up at the waterclock on his wall. The new Candidate he had noticed in class should be coming by soon for him to meet the young woman and get her settled into chores and basic introduction to the weyr and life in the weyr. He had noticed that she was a little bit older than most of the new Candidates, but he also knew that women tended to impress later than men did.

He also wondered at getting new female candidates. It was doubtful that there'd be another Gold egg so soon, and unless Elisha had a sudden and unexpected change of heart, there was not much hope for girls to stand unless there was a gold egg on the sands. V'nes almost considered it cruel to bring women to the weyr with the hope of impressing without a Gold Egg on the sands. Maybe he would visit one of the other weyrs to see if they still allowed women to stand and would consider giving his girls a chance.

[effluo]

Upon returning from the lesson, Elra found herself cold and wet, but strangely refreshed. What an experience! Washing the brown had certainly been a chore, but at the same time she wouldn’t have traded it for any amount of free time. His hide had been so warm and soft to the touch…

Having found a place to change her clothes, Elra now had her bag sung upon one shoulder and was looking around the common room of the candidate Barracks once again. Still there was not a lot of noise for it being a common room, but there were at least a few people present this time. Asking one, she was pointed toward the office she had been told to go to for a meeting with the Candidate Master.

Stomach slightly full of butterflies, she let down her hair and smoothed her shirt before taking a deep breath and knocking softly on the door. She knew there wasn’t a clutch on the sands and the blue rider hadn’t even mentioned when the queen would be rising again, but after that morning Elra could just sense that she had made a good decision.

Now to hope she wouldn’t mess it up somewhere along the way.

[kayla]

V'nes stood and moved to the door, opening it to allow the young lady in. "Come in, Elra, I believe it is? Please, come in and have a seat. I'm V'nes, the Candidate Master here at Telgar Weyr, and I would like to first welcome you to Telgar."

Once the young woman had taken a seat, V'nes moved back behind his desk and sat down himself. Elra, who was probably used to men staring at her lustfully, might find herself surprised to notice that there was no such appreciation or leering in the Candidate Master's eyes. Partly, because the man just had good self control. Most of the time, he did not even look at K'sah with a hungry expression.

"I hope you enjoyed this morning's lesson. Lessons aren't always like that, but I try to make sure that there is some element of fun in them." He smiled warmly.

"While there is much information I need to tell you to get you settled in here, I'm sure you also have a lot of questions. So why don't we start by you asking whatever questions you have, and then after I answer what I can, I'll give you the information that you need."

[effluo]

Elra walked into the room slowly, her eyes scanning the room curiously and it took her a moment before realizing he had offered her a seat. Letting out a soft, surprised ‘oh’ she took it and tried to sit up straight in the chair as her sister always told her to do – after all she wanted to make a good impression. While Elra was, in fact, use to many men looking at her with some interest, she didn’t notice the lack of it today as she was too interested in her surroundings and the topic to notice.

“Thank you for the welcome, Master V’nes.” she said, unable to keep a smile off her lips even if she wanted to. “The lesson was wonderful! I really enjoyed it.” Listening, she nodded trying to sort through the thousands of questions that flooded her mind. There was so much to know and wonder about!

Start practical Elra… she said silently to herself after opening her mouth and quickly closing it after realizing the question was probably not appropriate.

“Well, Do all of the candidates stay in the barracks? I hope there is room for me, do search riders warn you before bringing candidates? The blue rider… oh I can’t remember their name, said simply to find you.”

A dozen more questions made it through the ‘appropriate’ filter, but Elra bit her tongue not wanting to speak too much at once and having the both of them forget what she had asked initially.

[kayla]

"I'm glad you did, Eira." V'nes watched the young woman, but he was not leering at her, simply watching her and learning her. She would be his student for however long, and that meant, she would be his. He needed to know her, to understand her, to know how to reach her.

"Yes, as a Candidate, you'll live in the barracks. And not to worry, there is plenty of room, though once a clutch is laid, you might find that it seems to get crowded. Though the girls' barracks won't get as full as boys' especially if there is no Queen Egg."

He decided to address her questions first. "Some Search Riders contact me through their dragons to mine, others don't. I did know that you were being brought in though."

"You need to understand, Eira, that you might not stand for the next clutch. The current policy is that female candidates only stand if there is a Queen egg on the sands. And that you'd stand only for those eggs. I want Candidates to have hope, its important. But you should understand it might be a while before you are allowed to stand."

He grinned to her, "Any other questions?"

[effluo]

Elra found herself relieved that the search rider had contacted the Candidate Master before hand, but her sense of relief was quickly ended as the man explained that, despite the fact that she had given up everything – even possibly loosing her sister’s approval – she might not even be given the chance to stand.

Oh she had known that there wasn’t a clutch currently on the sands, and she also knew how rare it was for a golden dragon to be clutched, but it did not stop her from hoping. She was old enough to stand and a dragon rider had come to her! He had told her she was a good candidate, that had to mean something, didn’t it? Why would he have invited her if there was no chance at all?

“When, if you don’t mind me asking, is the next clutch going to be lain in the sands? Do you have a way to guess that?” Looking down, she couldn’t help but fiddle with the hem of her shirt for a moment, before her sisters voice reminded her in her memory that fiddling was a sign of weakness. “What happens if the queen doesn’t lay a gold egg before I’m too old to impress?”

There was, after all, always that chance. The idea almost made Elra regret her hasty decision to come here, especially without talking to Eisu about it first, but she wanted to prove that she too could be successful. And to be truthful, she hadn’t wanted to admit that she was struggling in the Harper classes she had told her sister many times she was doing well in. Was this simply a way for her to escape telling her sister the truth? There was no way she would be cut out to pass the journeyman knots, whether she impressed or not, oh she just had to impress!

[kayla]

"Well, I believe that we shall be having another gold flight within the next couple of months. Golds tend to rise about once a year. She'll clutch a bit after that. I cannot guarantee whether or not there will be a queen egg, but again, Queens rise once a year, and in a couple of years we'll have two clutching Queens. So there is a chance, Eira. I don't want you to think that there is no chance at all, but I do want you and the other girls to be realistic." He felt horrible about it, but they needed to understand the truth of life for female Candidates.

"What happens if you don't impress or there's no gold egg before you're too old to stand? Well, many who start as Candidates but don't impress decide that the weyr is the right place for them. Some because lifestyles that are not accepted in Holds and Craftholds are welcomed and even embraced here. Others because they come to love the Dragons and see their importance and want to play a part in that, even if not as a Dragon Rider."

V'nes smiled warmly to her, "There is also always the choice to return to your hold or craft. I was told you were searched and your name, but not much more. Where were you searched from, Eira?"

[effluo]

The excitement that Elra had felt in washing the brown was slowly melting away to place her back in reality. If she was going to be able to meet her dream, well she had to work hard, but she also had to be lucky. After all, what chance would there be for her hard work to show off if there was never a golden egg. Ah, but she would work hard none the less!

“Fort Hold, sir, well kind of… I was at the Harper Hall when I was searched.” She left out the fact of her apprenticeship. While her foster father had always encouraged the girls and while her sister had succeeded where so many failed, well Elra had not been her sister and despite the hard work she had put into the Harpering craft, it seemed that she would have been one of the women who were proof that females were not meant in the craft halls. Not knowing this man’s views on such things, well it was probably safer to simply no state her rank if not asked for it right?

“My father,” she didn’t think twice of the fact that he was not blood related as she had been fostered as soon as she was able, “is a Journeyman Healer.” It was easy to hear the pride in her voice. “And he teaches at the Hall rather than practicing elsewhere so he can care for my mother, so all of my family lives at Fort.” Again, she did not think of the fact that her mother, too, was not blood related.

[kayla]

V'nes was weyr-raised, having grew up while Marisol was the Weyrwoman of Telgar Weyr. He had absolutely no problem with women in positions of power, on fighting dragons, or even in crafts - though he well knew that women were not accepted as such much outside of Telgar Weyr, and he was not sure the conditions in the other Weyrs.

"You were at Harper Hall? Were you a servant there or an apprentice?" He had to admit that he'd feel pretty bad if the few women who managed to actually be accepted as apprentices in Harper Hall kept getting searched. He would have to talk to the Wing Leaders about keeping the Search Riders away from Harper Hall.

Of course, despite the fact that he did not find women attractive, the man was not blind. He well knew that many of the women who were searched were searched because the Search Riders thought they'd have other talents to offer the weyr, even if they were not allowed to stand for Greens. And not even all of those Search Riders were male.

"Well, Eira, if you do not impress you will be free to return to your life at Fort, at Harper's Hall or with your family or to stay here and work. There are plenty of opportunities for women here at the Weyr. Some fall in love with Riders and become weyr mates. If you like children, you could work in the creche. And if you are a Harper, I believe a place could be found for you there as well."

[effluo]

At the question, Elra found herself rather surprised that he would believe she might have been an apprentice, despite the fact that she was. Not many would have considered such an idea. The young woman with big dreams couldn’t help it as a big smile spread across her lips.

“Yes, I was an apprentice.” It was easy to tell that, since he had considered the idea she was proud she had been one. But being the dreamer she was, a dragon could take her to much higher heights than a set of pipes or a drum – at least literally. “But for the chance of being a dragonrider… well I believe it’s worth the risk.”

At the mention of children, Elra’s pride dropped a notch as she lowered her eyes. She wasn’t good with children, not in the least. But like he said, there would be many places here… If she didn’t impress would she stay? Well… Probably not. In the end, she’d probably return to her sister if she failed here. After all, her sister would know what to do next.

[kayla]

V'nes smiled warmly at the young woman's assertion that the risk was worth it to become a dragon rider. He had to admit that once the young woman knew what all was entailed with being a Candidate at Telgar, her assertion made him feel much better about joining the Candidate class. "In that case, Eira, welcome to Telgar Weyr."

"Well, before we get you settled into the barracks, there are a few more matters that I need to address. First, you will have chores to do here. Now, I cannot guarantee that every chore you do will be what you'd chose, but for the most part, we try to make sure that you do get chores you prefer or are good at. Do you have any particular preferences for where you'd like to do most of your chore work?" He'd make a note about it if there was and try to work it out with the HeadWoman that that was where she'd spend most of her chore time. However, they liked to make sure that everyone got time with all the chores.

"The other issue would be what kind of lessons might seem redundant to you. This won't excuse you from most lessons, but will let me know to maybe pair you with someone who had weaknesses where you have strength, and vice versa. As a Harper Apprentice, I assume that you can read and write and have learned basic hold etiquette. I would assume that you don't have much experience with dragons beyond being searched and this morning's lesson? Is there anything else you feel you might have already learned that will help you here?"

V'nes was always pretty interested in the backgrounds of his students. Almost all came with baggage, even from within the weyr, and he felt it greatly helpful to know where they were coming from.

[effluo]

Elra thought for a moment about possible chores, but really, who enjoyed any sort of chore? Sure she had always been fairly good at getting her chores done. Maybe not always on time… but they were always done. Was there really one that she would like more than another? Not really. There was, however, one that she’d gladly put at the bottom of the list.

“I don’t really have a preference for chores, but if I could I’d rather not work in the Creche or with children.” Blushing slightly she added, “I’m afraid I have a slight temper with them the younger they are.”

After the following statement she nodded and smiled broadly. Yes, she could read and write. Of course she had needed help when she was younger… a lot of help, but it was something she could now do. The longer words would take her a moment to sound out, but she could do it and do it correctly as long as she took her time.

“Yes, I can read and write and hold etiquette, well I was raised in a hold so I would assume I know it. And the lesson this morning was wonderful, I really did enjoy it.” Pausing a moment to think of what else she could do she finally added thoughtfully, “Well I can play the drum, but I don’ t know how useful that is and my sister taught me how to stitch though once again, I don’t know how useful that will be here. If anything might be useful I can run. I’m no runner mind you, but I can hold my own in a foot race and in distance so errands is something I can do with confidence.”



(((hehe I don't know if its just a typo that seems to like you or not, but it is Elra with an "L" not an "I"... ^_^ Her sister has an "I" though - Eisu. Not that I'm too worried about it. We know who your talking to. ^_^)))

[kayla]

(nope, was just me getting her name wrong. Sorry. I'm infamously bad with names.)

"Its good to know you can stitch. Most female candidates can, but many of the males cannot, especially those from outside of the Weyr. However, I will warn you that sewing leather is very different from stitch work you might be used to." V'nes smiled warmly, "However, most women catch onto it pretty quickly, but it will be much harder on your hands than regular stitchwork."

"And I only tend to assign Candidates to the Creche who want to be assigned to the Creche, so no worries on that account. I may put you on clothing repair for a bit since you can sew." He made a couple of notes on a hide.

V'nes grinned warmly to her, "I'm sure that we can find some use for drumming, and occasionally runners are necessary, though for messages the dragons are usually the quickest means of conveyance. Well, I think that's it. Let's get you settled in."

He stood from behind his desk and moved to the door to his office, opening it for her.