+- World of Pern (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum)
+-- Forum: Fort Territories (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=7)
+--- Forum: Healer Hall (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=126)
+--- Thread: [G] [O] [EVENT] 740.04.15 | All In My Head (/showthread.php?tid=4384)
740.04.15 | All In My Head - M'quel - 15.Apr.19
Sitting in the library, at one of the many small tables, her stuff sprawled across it and a frown on her face, Madiquel glared down at the question she was supposed to be writing an essay on. Today, it was how to handle burn wounds, and Madiquel was trying not to let her queasiness win out. For a while there, Madiquel had forgotten all about her inability to handle blood and gore and so such; it had quickly come back to her, though, and she’d been fighting tooth and nail not to let anyone – not her classmates, not her teachers – see how deeply affected she was by anything icky. Just the though of raw burns needing patching up was enough to make her feel lightheaded and sickly.
“Faranth,” Madiquel groaned, and gave up. At least for the afternoon. She’d try again later, when she could team up with one of her fellow students and brainstorm what ingredients were best for treating burns, and the pain associated with them. Madiquel hadn’t realised there were so many herbs on the planet – everyone knew about numbweed, of course, but it seemed like every other flower, leaf, and root had a medical property she’d never dreamed was possible. Madiquel’s head was a flurry of plant names… Never mind remembering their correct weights and process for using them!
Shaking her head, at herself mostly, Madiquel sat back in her seat and gently ran her fingers over Clover’s back. “I’m beat. Let’s get some sunshine, hey?” Smiling as Clover gave a sleepy chirm, Madiquel put all her papers, books, scrolls, ink and quills into her bag, and quietly left the library, her firelizard curled up (still far more asleep than awake) in her empty arms.
Making her way through the assorted hallways, Madiquel finally escaped out into the spring sunshine, weak as it was, though the sky was a very pretty shade of blue. It kind of reminded her of Shadow and she glanced at her sleeping green firelizard with a soft sigh. Clover and Shadow had spent quite a few hours in the (very) early morning popping between herself and A’tay with an assortment of gossip. Madiquel couldn’t remember who had started the exchange, but it had been fun and she’d enjoyed chatting with A’tay, even if it wasn’t as nice as when they got to see each other in person. She was probably the only non-Weyrling of that group who was actively counting down the days until their graduation.
“We’ll sit over there,” Madiquel decided quietly, talking to her sleeping firelizard even as she was stepping aside as a group of senior apprentices hurried past her. Glancing around quickly, Madiquel made her way to the tree, and picked out a spot on the sunnier side, settling herself near the edge of the tree’s shadow, but not quite in it. It wasn’t warm enough that she felt the need to sit in the shade, and besides, the cool breeze would more than combat the weak sunshine. Setting her bag as a pillow, Madiquel flopped back, and stared up at the sky.
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - Vaera - 18.Apr.19
There wasn’t anything in particular Vaera had left to do for the day. She’d had morning classes, of course, but those were finished with, and she didn’t have any evening ones, and no other planned activities. All her work that was due soon Vaera had finished, and she may have been a scholarly sort, but she was still a teenage girl and wasn’t going to spend absolutely all day doing schoolwork if she didn’t have to. She wasn’t totally boring. Even if she did find researching herb uses fun. Idly she wandered the grounds of the Hall, giggling at the way the light breeze swirled her skirts around her, hoping something interesting to do would make itself apparent.
Eventually, it did, taking the form of one of the Weyr Apprentices. Vaera thought they were fascinating.
“Hello, Madiquel,” she said cheerfully, carefully settling herself on the ground beside the Weyr girl, folding her skirts neatly under her. “Enjoying the weather?” Vaera knew all the Weyr people by name, of course, and had spoken with all of them at least once, but she couldn’t claim to be overly familiar with Madiquel. They shared classes, of course, but, well, they hadn’t really had a chance to get to know each other. Vaera thought perhaps they should. If only because the girl’s firelizard was adorable. She couldn’t help watching the little green creature, sleeping in Madiquel’s arms. If she touched it, would it be soft? Vaera wanted to know. For now, though, she resisted reaching out to touch it.
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - M'quel - 30.Apr.19
Madiquel, who had lost herself in the fairy-garden of idle thoughts as she watched the clouds drift across the sky, was somewhat startled by the sound of someone saying her name. She jumped, startling the firelizard who grumbled unhappily but just adjusted herself and went back to sleep. Madiquel peered up at her new companion, blinking and quickly finding the name that went with the friendly face. “Hello, Vaera,” she smiled, shy but inviting in her expression, even if she didn’t outright invite her fellow Apprentice to sit down with her.
While Madiquel wasn’t prone to partaking in gossip, she did listen to it – she’d learned a lot of things listening to gossip. Not all of those things were worth knowing, but it was a habit she’d taken up as a child and while she’d quickly learned to take what she heard with a liberal dose of scepticism, she refused to completely ignore the grains of valuable titbits that could be dug up. At any rate, she had gleaned a lot both about and from her fellows, and one of those things was that Vaera was Master Verec’s daughter. Madiquel didn’t think Vaera had ever tried to hide that, but she didn’t think the other girl strut around crowing about the fact, either. Madiquel figured it was like her being an unofficial ward of the Weyrleaders; it just wasn’t something that should be shared without caution.
“Well enough,” Madiquel smiled, answering the question that had been posed as she adjusted her position and settled Clover back into her lap as she sat up and smiled at Vaera, deciding to invite the other young woman to sit with her. “Do you want to join me?” She asked, tugging a little anxiously on the tail of her braid. As friendly and engaging as Madiquel could be, she wasn’t overly comfortable in her new situation and had found it strange to actually put effort into making friends. All her current friends – except Quinvalis – she’d made as a young child, and couldn’t recall how she’d gone about it. Quinvalis was a combination of always in the same area as her, and a nice person so he was easy to get along with.
It wasn’t really the same as the people she shared lessons with. As she’d been warned by R’nya and her own understanding of how the world worked, Madiquel (and the other girls who had joined the Hall) weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms by all of their male classmates. Some, of course, were welcoming, but most seemed disdainful or outright scornful; Madiquel got the impression that the ones that were friendly, were such more so because they simply weren’t the type to be publicly cruel, rather than because they felt the girls had any right to be there. It had a tendency to make lessons uncomfortable, but Madiquel had quickly taken to ignoring her classmates. They were immature whers!
“What’re you up to?” Madiquel asked, genuinely curious. For all that she’d been in the Hall for several months now, she hadn’t yet branched out and had very little idea of what it was her fellow classmates did during their downtime. What did someone do, when they couldn’t hop on a dragon and just… go wherever they wanted?
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - Vaera - 17.May.19
“Thank you,” Vaera said with a smile, accepting the other girl’s invitation to join her cheerfully. Madiquel always seemed friendly, and it wouldn’t hurt to know more about her. “I’m not up to anything in particular, really. Just enjoying the nice weather.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and considered Madiquel. “How about you? Doing anything exciting today, or same as me?” At least half the people out and about today were probably doing the same, and most of the rest were likely outside on some pretense as an excuse to enjoy the weather.
“So,” she asked, leaning in towards Madiquel after giving her a chance to respond, “What do you think? Of the Hall, I mean. Anything like you expected? Worse or better?” Vaera was deeply curious as to the answers. There were plenty of Apprentices who came from outside the Hall, but Vaera didn’t know any who were from the Weyrs, at least any near her age, or, more importantly, had lived in the South. How cool! Vaera figured there were lots of plants in the South that could be useful to Healing that were as of yet undiscovered. Not that Madiquel probably knew a whole lot about it, she was a kid, but she was training as Healer, maybe she’d been interested in such things growing up. Worth asking! Though that was probably a topic for a second or third conversation, not the first. Vaera didn’t want to be too enthusiastically nerdy too early in a potential friendship, after all.
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - M'quel - 17.May.19
Madiquel grinned, nodding in understanding. “About the same,” she said, turning her gaze to look out across the grounds at the other students, as well as their teachers and assorted other folks that lived within the Hall. Madiquel found it all quite intimidating, and had a new understanding for how those that were Searched felt, when they were thrown into their candidate lessons in an attempt to prepare them for life as a dragonrider. It was amazing, she’d decided, how much of her life she’d taken for granted – despite how often the rug was pulled out from under her feet!
“Oh!” Madiquel turned back to look at Vaera when she posed her question, and chewed idly on her bottom lip for a moment as she considered. “I love it!” she said, a big grin claiming her face. “Its so different from the Weyr! Much quieter!” As a rule, Madiquel had noticed that most of the healers were softer spoken, only getting loud when important orders were being issued. She had a feeling it was so they could hear when important orders were being issued, but she hadn’t actually asked about it yet, so she wasn’t sure. At any rate, there wasn’t some two-hundred or more dragons all chattering and their riders shouting greetings to each other, herdbeasts bellowing as they were hunted. Madiquel sighed. “But I miss home.”
Hoping not to draw additional attention to herself, Madiquel had only travelled home once in the time she’d been gone. She’d met her Papa halfway between Weyr and Hall a few times, since neither of them had dragons and by doing so Madiquel knew her father was getting some sunshine, some exercise, and she always took a picnic lunch for them to eat, so she knew he was eating, too. “I’m hoping to go to Ista at the end of month eight, though,” Madiquel said, smiling brightly once more, though a slight furrow kept to her eyebrows. “My best friend is graduating Weyrlinghood then, and I really don’t want to miss it!” She’d seen more Hatchings, Impressions and Graduations than she had turns to her age, but this one was probably the most important and she would not miss it!
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - Vaera - 28.May.19
Vaera smiled, happy that Madiquel liked the Hall. Well, of course she did, it was a terribly likable place. But there were people who didn’t appreciate it. “It is louder, sometimes. I don’t think you’ve been around for a shouting match — there was one last turn, a Journeyman and a Master who disagreed on a point of theory, ended up yelling in the hallway and disrupting everyone. Dad was so pissed.” She giggled, remembering. That sort of thing wasn’t common in the Hall, but they still happened, and then it was talked about for months.
She nodded as Madiquel continued talking. “Is that like walking the tables?” Vaera asked, curious. ‘Graduating’ was pretty clear and she thought Weyrlings were kinda like, maybe senior Apprentices or junior Journeymen or something, she didn’t know enough to be sure, but comparing the term to something she knew made it easier. When a Healer graduated from one rank to the next, they walked from the table of their old rank in the dining hall to the table of their new rank. That was always a pretty big deal, and Vaera thought it made sense that Madiquel wouldn’t want to miss her best friend gaining a rank in some fashion. “What’s a Graduation like?” she asked, imitating the stress pattern Madiquel had used on the word.
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - M'quel - 31.May.19
“Um,” Madiquel said, considering what she knew of the system in the hall, compared to what she knew of the dragonrider education. “I don’t really think so,” she continued, frowning. “I guess Candidacy is a bit like Walking. If you’re not good enough you don’t make it onto the Sands, and I guess the dragons are kind of like the Masters,” she giggled, picturing the dragonets all conferring seriously about who they would be picking. That would be much more civil than their more real method of wreaking havoc.
Petting Clover softly, Madiquel thought carefully. “Weyrlinghood is much more structured, I think.” She said, looking back at Vaera. “They Impress on Hatching Day, and they Graduate fifteen months later, to the day. I guess if they’re not ready, they could be held back, but I haven’t seen anyone held back before.” She paused. “Walking the tables is more… personal?” She asked, brows furrowed. That was the impression she’d been given, anyway. There was no set time frame, no structured process to have things learned by or at which date a new type of lesson would start. “There is some variation, depending on the dragon’s colour,” she continued, smiling suddenly. “Like the bigger colours – bronzes and browns – they get to start carrying a rider a few months earlier than the smaller colours – green and blues.”
Madiquel bit her bottom lip, to try and control the huge grin that was threatening to appear on her face. She shifted, pulling her knees under herself and spilling a startled Clover onto the ground. The little green scolded Madiquel but the girl ignored her. Sulking, Clover vanished between to tattle on her to A’tay. Leaning forward excitedly, Madiquel gushed, “I got to ride Xyxyth around on the ground!” It had been with A’tay sitting behind her, holding her tight and making sure she wouldn’t tumble off, and it had been on the ground – not in the air – but it had been exhilarating and Madiquel couldn’t wait to see the pair again and she wanted to go flying with her best friend in the worst way!
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - Vaera - 03.Jun.19
Vaera did her best to follow what Madiquel was saying. She thought she got the gist of it. A Healer walked the tables when they were deemed ready, which was like bonding to a dragon because it depended on when the individual person was deemed ready, by either Master Healers or a dragon. It was a little harder to find a comparison in Healing for Weyrlinghood, and she almost gave up and put it aside for the moment when a thought occurred to her.
“Is it the rider graduating, or the dragon?” She asked, thinking. Fifteen months to the day sounded more like how the Hall said you could be no younger than twelve turns (to the day) to be an Apprentice. Well, with very, very rare exceptions, but Vaera somehow doubted there were never exceptions to the Weyrling Graduation rule too. The dragon had to be old enough for the dragonrider pair to be considered full dragonriders, and a potential Apprentice had to be old enough that they could actually be sure to learn things and be away from home and stuff. It made sense to Vaera, anyway.
She squeaked as the firelizard poofed away, staring wide-eyed at the place where it left. Vaera would have asked after it, but Madiquel seemed not to register it as something to worry about and kept talking, and soon Vaera had a new question.
“Xyxyth is your best friend’s dragon?” If her best friend was graduating, it seemed logical that he would have let her ride his dragon partner. Or was it a he? Dragonriders could be girls, couldn’t they? Madiquel hadn’t used a pronoun, so Vaera couldn’t be sure either way. Most dragonriders were men, just like Healers, so it was a safer bet, but Weyrfolk were also quite strange. Vaera would believe Madiquel’s best friend was a dragonrider girl, it made just as much sense as anything else she knew about the Weyrs.
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - M'quel - 05.Jun.19
Madiquel stopped to consider Vaera’s question, blinking a couple of times, before smiling. “They both are, because they’re a team. But they cannot enter a Wing until the rider is at least sixteen. That’s an old rule, Papa says, from before the Plague. It hasn’t really been one that matters currently, because of the Weyrs getting back to normal and stuff.” She paused, thinking. “What Papa said, is that getting tapped for a Wing isn’t a guarantee, and you never knew whose Wing you would be joining. That was all sorted out with like, the Wingleaders and the Weyrleader and stuff… I think.” Madiquel smiled, and shrugged slightly. “Papa doesn’t talk about before much.” She smiled sadly, softly, shaking her head and brushing her hair out of her face.
“He is!” Madiquel gushed, beaming and laughing as Clover popped out of between with a chitter, bringing Shadow along with her and they both vied for a spot on Madiquel’s lap. Picking up Clover, Madiquel handed her over to Vaera, popping the little green gently on the other girl’s lap and stroking Shadow. “This is Taytay’s firelizard, Shadow, whom Clover clearly brought over because of her nap being disrupted.” Madiquel stuck her tongue out at the little green, who sniffed indignantly. “Oh,” Madiquel blinked, and blushed as she turned her attention back to Vaera. “His name is, um, A’tay.” Her slight hesitation before speaking it confirmed she rarely used it. It was still so strange to say! Madiquel was so glad Xyxyth had come up with the nickname, which was much more natural to the girl than ‘A’tay’ was. It was so formal!
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - Vaera - 30.Jun.19
Most of the details of Weyr life went above Vaera’s head, and she didn’t really follow all of what Madiquel said about ‘Wings’ and stuff. She did understand the part about how things had changed in the time between when the Dragonriders left and when they came back, but she didn’t have enough context of how things were now to figure out hoe before was different.
Vaera would have continued asking clarifying questions, but she was startled by the reappearance of Madiquel’s firelizard and — even more surprisingly — a second firelizard, this one blue. “Ah!” she said in amazement as Madiquel placed the little green creature — Clover, as Madiquel said a moment later — on her lap. Vaera careful reached forward to gently touch its head. Oh! It was softer than she’d thought! And warm. “She’s so cute,” Vaera gushed, excitedly petting Clover all the while avoiding the wings because she wasn’t entirely sure if the firelizard would tolerate its wings being played with. “And Shadow is A’tay’s?” she asked, wanting to confirm that ‘Taytay’ and ‘A’tay’ were the same person. It sounded like it was, but Vaera was precise and wanted to be sure. She wiggled her fingers a little at Shadow, catching his attention before gently petting him with one finger, continuing to stroke Clover with the other.
“Tell me all about them, they’re darling,” Vaera insisted, completely enraptured by the firelizards.
RE: 740.04.15 | All In My Head - M'quel - 20.Jul.19
“She is!” Madiquel agreed, watching her little green firelizard preen and puff up proudly on the lap of her healer friend, Vaera’s touch so gentle on the tiny creature it made Madiquel’s heart want to burst with affection for both girl and firelizard.
“Correct,” Madiquel said gently, flushing slightly at the implications of her awkward name hopping and assumptions. It was so rude of her! Dropping her embarrassed gaze down to Shadow, Madiquel petted him gently, listening to him make a purring sound as he settled on her lap. She wasn’t sure how long the little dear would stay with her before running back to A’tay, but she’d enjoy his company while she had it. Oh she missed TayTay so much! And she’d seen him just before coming to the Hall, too!
Looking up at Vaera’s voice, Madiquel smiled brightly. “What would you like to know?” She asked, trying to think of what type of questions Vaera might have so she could answer them up front, but failing; she’d been a child when they were discovered down on the lakeshore near Katila, and she barely remembered life without them. “Would you like to bathe and oil them later? I’m sure Shadow wouldn’t mind sticking around, and bragging when he goes back to Tay-A’tay.” Gosh, it was so hard remembering to use his actual name!