Before me is the future... [Tag: R'wign]

[serenitychick]

In the past few weeks, Sasheen had gotten used to a lot of new things in her life. Moving around, waking in strange places, meeting a plethora of new people and having a nearly overwhelming amount of new experiences inundate her, some good and some bad. One of the newer things since she’d left Benden Weyr was visiting healers and spending time in infirmaries. When Sasheen left her dorm for breakfast after her first night in Selenitas Weyr she knew she was going to have a full day ahead of her… getting used to her new home and its inhabitants for one, candidate lessons for another. What she had forgotten about was the need to visit the infirmary for a physical exam. That was until she received a note giving her an appointment time.

After eating the fruit and cheese she’d selected for her breakfast and enjoying two steaming cups of klah as well she had set off for the infirmary with what she thought was plenty of time to arrive. But she’d been distracted by the sight of a strange creature, a tiny thing that was running around a corridor rather than gliding like firelizards do, and before she knew it a larger amount of time had passed than she’d anticipated. Tucking the thought of the creature in the back of her mind to ask someone about later Sasheen began hurrying through the Weyr, leaving the main hall quickly behind her.

When she arrived she found an empty room and she stood for a moment, perplexed on what she was supposed to do. Finally she took a deep breath and began searching around for someone, locating a tall figure in a room after a moment or two. Relieved she wasn’t going to miss the chance to get this out of the way, she entered the room and walked up behind the … Well, there was black hair in a braid but that was definitely not the figure of a woman… man and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, I’m supposed to … be here but I fear I’m late.” She began, hating to have to admit her tardiness right off the bat. “There was this little … Well, I don’t know what it was but it was running about and … “ Sasheen shrugged a shoulder at this point, “I was trying to figure out what it was and I got distracted.”

From her short stature, the person she was talking to loomed over her by what could have easily been half a foot and Sasheen looked up at him hopefully, “Could you please feel me up and do your thing so I can figure out where the lessons are going to be? I don’t want to be late for that.” A tragic look crossed over her face at the thought of being late for her first lesson but it was quickly replaced with a very sincere, appealing expression she hoped would be helpful to his agreeing to her request.

[glamourie]

Shards, but he’d be glad when the real infirmary was built. Using Aslath’s old weyr for a makeshift one was growing tiresome. Aside from the fact that it wasn’t properly furnished for their usage, there were other things to consider - like the layout. Perfect for a queen dragon, but not fitting for trying to cram many injured people into, considering that keeping the whole place warm was nearly impossible. As it was, R’wign found himself digging in the wardrobe for another heavy blanket for a patient coming down with a head cold. There were simply no beds left to put close enough to the fireplace. None. So blankets it was, and he was worried that the infirmary would run out of those soon enough. Making a mental note to requisition more, R’wign wrapped the heavy dark gray fabric around his arms. He was just about to turn around when an unrecognized voice sounded from behind him. Making a slight face, R’wign spun around on his heel and was presented with the face of a woman he’d never seen nor spoken with before - immediately launching into an explanation.

“Look like a deformed fire lizard with a frill?” he inquired, shoving the blanket at her. “Hold that.”

Without waiting for a response, R’wign turned back to the cabinet, while the girl continued to speak. He was listening. More than capable of multitasking was he. A second blanket, this one hued shades of red, was pulled out and he set it on the side of a table next to the wardrobe before taking back the gray one from the girl. Carefully, R’wign stuffed it back onto the top shelf, and closed the cabinet doors. The patient in question was a young girl, and she’d probably appreciate the red much more than the depressing shades of gray. When it came to treating younger patients, R’wign tried to be considerate of their feelings - perhaps more so than with older. Adults were used to a lack of consideration with appearances, but children appreciated pretty things. That and he felt bad dumping gray blankets on a kid. He just did. The red one was thick enough to keep her warm.

Wait, what? Had she just asked him to feel her up? Blinking his confusion, R’wign grabbed the blanket and looked the girl over quizzically. Then his mind connected it: She was a candidate, scheduled for one of the apprentices for her checkup. Which one, though, he couldn’t recall. It was either Saeo, Savitri or Meira, but he would have been willing to bet it was Saeo. Savitri overworked herself, Meira was in a right state and he was trying to avoid scheduling her with anything, and Saeo -- well, he didn’t exactly trust the overdramatic blue weyrlingrider very much. She was borderline insane as far as R’wign was concerned, considering her habit of breaking into outbursts at the most inappropriate moments.

Regardless of who was scheduled, they were not there any more. Which left just him. He usually tried to avoid checking the female candidates -- it tended to make most of them uncomfortable. But if she had lessons soon, he probably didn’t have time to send for one of them.

“What a tempting offer. There’s an office back there for more privacy,” R’wign said, pointing toward the office he and the other journeymen had been using. “I need to get this blanket to one of the patients, she’s down with fever. You can go back there and wait a few moments, I won’t be long. Candidate, right? There’s no feeling up involved with that, I’m afraid; just simple vital checking, but we don’t really have anywhere for you to sit in here. I’ll be right back. Ellie, show her where to go?” And then R’wign spun on his heel to head toward one of the cots on the other end of the infirmary.

And Ellie, his gold fire lizard, leapt from the bed perch she’d been sitting on to fly around Sasheen with a low flute of greeting. Not coming close enough to land, the female whipped around, circling through the air before gliding forward toward the office. Follow her, follow her, she’d show the way, she would~

[serenitychick]

When he turned to face her she hadn’t been expecting an eye patch, not from a healer in a weyr. But aside from a quick blink, she’d managed to keep the surprise off of her face and focus on what he was shoving at her.

Accepting the blanket without question Sasheen nodded at his descriptive question. “Yeah, exactly like that! Wha—“ Instead of asking what the creature was, since the man was obviously busy, Sasheen decided to drop the topic entirely. She looked up at him apologetically, feeling awkward for having put herself into this situation and in turn, making herself a nuisance. She watched him as he worked, realizing she’d been babbling at him from the moment she walked up to him. Nice first impression, Sas, She thought to herself, Hello, I like to be really annoying would likely be a better way to introduce yourself next time.

It wasn’t that Sasheen wasn’t aware of the way she’d worded her request and it wasn’t exactly done intentionally. Things just had a way of popping out of her mouth like that, she couldn’t help it. His response, however, made the slip worth it and she chuckled in reaction. “Yes, Candidate, I really ---“ But again he was turning away, this time to stalk off towards the patient he had described.

She turned to find Ellie and wasn’t expecting the flash of gold that came towards her. Looking up Sasheen couldn’t help but simply stare. She’d never been this close to a gold anything before and the flit was gorgeous. “Hello.” She said softly in response to the musical greeting, “We don’t have flits at home and I’ve never seen a queen before. “ Talking aloud to the creature didn’t make her feel weird, she’d not had any personal experiences with flits but at least knew they were leagues more intelligent than the burden beasts she was used to dealing with. “You’re gorgeous,” the comment was made as her eyes followed the circle Ellie was making in the air and when she flew off, Sasheen immediately went to follow, refusing to dig her current hole any deeper.

The flit made for a polite leader, never leaving her sight. When she arrived in the office she glanced around and found a chair to sit in while she waited. Fingers tucked a strand of rich brown hair behind one ear, a strand that escaped the knot at the back of her head that the rest of her hair was folded into. Growing up Sasheen had rarely seen a healer and never the inside of such a place as this. Seeing a healer for anything at Benden had pretty much been out of the question and she was actually glad she’d never made it there… She’d only been there a sevenday after all. It wasn’t until she arrived at Selenitas Hold that she’d needed serious taking care of and she spent more time talking than she had being looked at. She wasn’t fearful of healers and had no problem being checked out; but Sasheen knew she was healthy and it seemed redundant to her to have to have a physical exam when she had literally come from another infirmary. Did the Weyr not trust the Hold?

Regardless of how she felt about it, it was a requirement and one she fully intended on fulfilling. Folding her legs to her body, Sasheen wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees as she watched the flit find a place to land, waiting.

[glamourie]

Elegance was a very intelligent creature. Easily intelligent enough to, say, understand when she was being complimented. As she lighted onto the desk, she ruffled her wings and showed off her hide, the gradient of dark to light gold more obvious in the dim glow-light of the office. She cocked her head and chirruped pleasantly before bouncing from the desk over to the girl’s lap. Her wings flared, just for a second, before closing on themselves. Her head cocked. She chirruped again. This one looked nervous, in her opinion, but why? It wasn’t as if she would bite, and Hers was nice, he was. To reassure, Ellie bumped her head against the girl’s chest before diving back to her spot on the desk. So odd, to imagine a place without her kind. There were so many of them at Selenitas. Fluting quietly to herself, Ellie nuzzled her wing and then looked back at the girl. Well, she’d called her pretty, so that made Ellie think highly of her~ She liked being complimented, she did; she could appreciate any sort of flattery, even though Ellie herself was rarely a vain creature. She didn’t need to be.

After draping the blanket over the sick girl, R’wign shuffled back to the office and gently closed the door behind him. Ellie fluted pleasantly and alighted over to his shoulder, her tail curling against his back. From behind his braid, another green fire lizard - Accident - peeked out and gave a low, insulting chirp before darting over to one of the nearby shelves. Ellie watched the green hatchling go before ruffling her wings, and R’wign moved over to sit on the edge of the desk before raising an eyebrow. His little queen rubbed her head adoringly against his jaw line, and he raised one hand to stroke the fire lizard absently.

“The little creature you mentioned -- they’re called salamandyrs. Your candidate master will probably explain it soon if he hasn’t already but they’re like fire lizards in some ways, but they bond to their owners the way dragons do. Candidates and weyrlings are forbidden from Impressing any of them so I’d recommend against going to their hatchings. The adults can and do talk, and they’re usually evil. Their temperament is akin to that of a ‘brat with an arrogance complex. My suggestion - avoid them. I don’t like them though,” R’wign explained, then nudged Ellie off his shoulder. She flew off to meet Accident on her shelf. “If you do Impress a salamandyr for any reason, you could be stripped of candidacy. I don’t know how Emoyan is about that, but due to an event caused by the girl who should be examining you - Saeo - candidates and weyrlingriders aren’t allowed to have them. You’ll learn more about that in lessons, I expect. I don’t have one.”

He also didn’t want one. Menaces. He didn’t hate salamandyrs, but he most certainly didn’t like them. He’d been robbed one too many times by the ornery little monsters to ever appreciate their personalities as little more than nuisances. The funny thing was that R’wign was unusually tolerant of most draconic species. Just not salamandyrs. Since most of them hated fire lizards, though, and the golds even ate fire lizard eggs, it made sense that he was mistrusting. No one was allowed to touch his queen’s eggs. He’d drop them in boiling pots of water, he would.

Propping his hands up on the edge of the desk, R’wign crinkled his nose and then decided to launch right into the interrogation - so to speak - which preceded the actual exam.

“All right, basic check-up -- right. First question: Are you pregnant, or is there a possibility that you could be? If so, are you adverse to jumping between with a dragon rider?” He drummed his fingers on the desk and sniffed. “Candidates can’t Stand while pregnant. Between causes spontaneous miscarriages in most women. If there’s a possibility that you could be pregnant, and you still want to stand, you’ll be required to jump between with one of the dragon riders. It’s just for the safety of the dragonet…” Was she hold bred? She sounded hold bred; he recognized an accent from Nerat in her manner of speaking. Considering that was where he was from, it made sense to him -- but he didn’t indicate any recognition… that would have been awkward.

[serenitychick]

Reaching out to stroke the skin of the flit as she landed on Sasheen’s lap, a smile crossed the young woman’s face as the creature chirruped at her and the smile erupted into laughter as Ellie bumped her head against Sasheen’s chest. The firelizard flew off and Sasheen watched her movement in the air as she landed on the desk, her attention caught by the man entering the room. After shutting the door behind him he came across the room and explained the strange creature that she’d seen.

The explanation was intriguing and the creatures more so but the thought of being removed as a candidate was downright sickening. What would she do with herself if that happened? How would she feel? Devastated for one. Sasheen had left her old life behind her when she’d chose the dragonrider over her own brothers and she knew she’d never again be fully welcome there. Her brothers felt as if she had gone against everything their parents had stood for; the tradition of generations before them, and they would never forgive her either for the humiliation of having fought for her and having her not appreciate it at all. The new life she led was all that she had left and the desire to be a dragonrider was almost overwhelming. Like almost all girls she wanted a queen but Sasheen wouldn’t be disappointed to Impress at all. Besides, she was realistic enough to know the odd were heavily stacked against her and she was already imagining herself with a green or even a blue dragon.

The mention of some event that caused the change in rules made her curious and she wanted to know what had happened, hoping she would find out in her lessons as he suggested. He changed the subject and Sasheen decided that swamping him with questions about the salamandyrs wasn’t a good idea. Besides, someone that had one would know more about them, right?

Shaking her head when he mentioned the word pregnant she shook her head sharply. “No, I’m not pregnant.” She answered, “And the healer at Selenitas Hold probably checked but her having not mentioned I was leads me to believe that I am not unaware of a pregnancy.” The last man she’d been with was the man who raped her at Benden and she was not in any way adverse to ending any pregnancy by him. “But if I was… I would jump between.” In a heartbeat. But he didn’t need to know that. Sasheen felt safe in the assumption that he didn’t want to know her full history and so didn’t launch into nervous explanations about her choices and the paths of her life that had lead her to them. Thinking of Benden had sobered her mood slightly but she tried not to let it show.

“I’m sorry… “ She said, tilting her head to look at him she offered an amused smile, “Usually I know the names of the men with whom I discuss my sex life much less my health history…”

[glamourie]

R’wign nodded. He trusted the healers at Selenitas Hold for the most part; some of them (like Asharra; he disliked anyone who didn’t like fire lizards) were crotchety and unpleasant, but most were competent, even good at their jobs. If they hadn’t mentioned a pregnancy, odds were, she wasn’t pregnant. Though, she was probably flown between upon coming to Selenitas Weyr as well. Therefore, no pregnancy. Her reassurance that she would go between surprised him a little; most hold girls were highly against that sort of thing. Even he was, though admittedly, he had the fortune of not having to carry around a baby inside of him. His position most likely would have changed if he did. Funny how that worked -- he blamed Meira. He was growing more fond of the idea of having a child because of being around her, even if she was positively depressing to be around at times. (It wasn’t her fault. Losing her wher and her fire lizard was traumatic - R’wign sympathized). He shook his head and rubbed his nose slightly before hopping off the desk.

Her last comment brought a wry smile to his face and he gestured vaguely for her to stand. Pregnancy was the big thing. The rest was a brief physical, nothing intensely personal and certainly could be done with clothes on. The only reason that women usually examined other women was the pregnancy bit -- because coming from a man, the phrase ‘You have to go between and abort it if you want to stay a candidate’ sounded beyond sexist: it was considered cruel. R’wign himself was the one who implemented the rule and he stood by it unwaveringly. Having a woman have a hysterical outburst because he or one of the other male healers said something she didn’t like was not worth his time or his effort. Most females accepted comments like that from women better. Why, he couldn’t know. It was strange, in his opinion.

“Usually,” R’wign echoed, putting one finger against his bottom lip. “Really? I don’t make a point of learning the names of the people I discuss my sex life with. But that could have something to do with alcohol loosening my lips. I need to check your height, weight, and vital stats. I’m sure you’re fine - you certainly don’t look overweight in any way - but it’s just standard procedure. Pregnancy’s the big thing. Pregnant women Standing is traumatic for the dragonet. We had a girl who Impressed a green while pregnant. Her dragon responded very poorly to the shock of childbirth, and we’re extra precautious about that as a result.” Liassa. Pregnant by some wherhandler if he recalled right. Information about her was all but nonexistent anymore, though. Not that he cared -- he didn’t much pay attention to greenriders outside of the ones that were his friends: Kalierre, Tr’esn, K’lir, and Lennae. The rest weren’t very interesting.

Her ‘subtle’ attempt at getting his name, though, was not lost on him. He knew what she was baiting for, and as he gave her time to stand up comfortably, R’wign ran his finger over the bottom of his eye patch. It itched something fierce.

“As for names -- mine is R’wign. I’m the acting WeyrHealer and second to Kalierre of Green Phremath, the Weyr Dragonhealer; she’s on injury leave after the Benden attack a few months ago.” He didn’t detail Kali’s injuries; it was none of the girl’s business and he knew the greenrider well enough to know she wouldn’t want it advertised what happened to her. He wouldn’t, in her position. “Most notable for having eight fire lizards, of whom you’ve met two thus far - Elegance and Accident. The rest are who knows where -- perhaps you’ll run into them, perhaps not. They’re fairly independent. I’m a brown rider, and my dragon, Checkoth, is out on the weyrledge. You can’t miss him, he’s the only brown in the Weyr with two tails. Only dragon, at that. Do you feel like you know me yet?”