Of Times Past

Writers: AL, Heather
Date Posted: 24th December 2015

Characters: Endarin, Meledei
Description: The Hallmaster seeks out information from the Weyr's record room.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 17 of Turn 8

It was just her in the records room at the moment. The Weyrwoman and
Weyrwoman Second were taking care of things, but Meledei was taking care of
business right there in the room. As she sifted through piles of
parchment, double checked, then began to shelve them where they belonged,
she heard the door creak open. Of course, she was right in the middle of
getting some to the topmost shelves, perched upon the upper part of the
ladder when whomever it was arrived. From the heavier footfalls, she knew
it wasn't either of the other goldriders. "Hello!" She called out as she
slipped the last file into the proper place.

Endarin remembered the location of the records room from his last visit to
the Weyr when Meledei had shown him around. Once he'd returned to the Hall,
the new Hallmaster had realized that the Weyr's records would be a good
place to read about the past relationship between the Weyr and the Dolphin
Hall.

"Meledei," he said her name as he turned the corner. "Did you get my
message?" He'd sent word ahead about wanting the information, after all,
how silly would it have been to walk all the way to the Weyr unprepared?

"Ah, Endarin!" Meledei climbed down the ladder and nodded. "Sure did.
They're over here." She circled around the shelving units to one of the
small tables that squatted in the room. On it, she'd placed the parchments
and indicated them. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like to peruse
them. Are you looking for anything specific?"

"No, nothing in particular, just trying to find out what the precedent is."
He pulled out a chair from the plain table in the record's room, and began
spreading out the files that Meledei had found.

"I've lived here since the Weyr was established, so if you want a point of
view from the Weyr, I'm glad to oblige." In all honesty, Meledei wouldn't
mind a change of pace from filing records that were filled out and copied.
It was nice to have company too.

Endarin didn't look up from the paperwork as he said, "Ah, but you are
biased, history is not." He tapped the papers with the tip of his
forefinger. "But the insight would still be appreciated."

"Well, to say that everything was hunky dory all the time wouldn't be
correct." Meledei tugged a chair out and sat down across from the
Hallmaster. "But over all, things have been positive between the Weyr and
the hold - in between the hiccups."

He wondered exactly how that was suppose to give him insight into the
Weyr's relationship to the Hall. Endarin's eyes focused back on the
paperwork, "What did you think of the last Hallmaster?"

"Famell? He seemed nice enough and capable enough. Honestly, though, I've
had more conversations with you since you've come than I did the entire
time Famell was Hallmaster." Not that Meledei had intentionally avoided
him, they'd just never interacted all that much. "The Weyr and the Hall,
they just do their own thing, but the Weyr's always been willing to
cooperate with the Hall when need has arisen. The Dolphin Hall has always
been the same. I think the biggest issues were when the Hall first moved
here."

That caught Endarin's attention, and he looked up at Meledei, "Oh? What
kind of issues?"

"Well, you get a bunch of Crafters who are used to Holders and move the to
a Weyr...it was interesting at first." Meledei had been quite young, but
she remembered the event. "It took a while for people to get used to each
other. The Weyr, as I'm sure you've noticed, is a lot different. Then
there was the issue of the dragons...or rather, the flights."

Ah yes, mating flights. The thought of prudish holders experiencing the
broadcasting emotions of a female dragon for the first time made Endarin
chuckle. "I bet that was interesting. Now everyone has adapted, mostly, and
all I have to worry about is my youngsters running off to be Candidates."

"There have been a few, but not enough to clear out the Hall." Meledei
gave a half grin. "Have you ever been to a Weyr during a mating flight?"

"Topaz isn't far from here, yeah? We get the occasional flight that comes
out that far." There was nothing quite like being outside working and then
looking up to see the specks of chasing dragons in the air.

"It's different when you're right there, though. People had to get used to
that. Even the green flights were disconcerting to them at first."
Meledei had even heard that a couple of people were afraid to come to the
Weyr for fear they might be led to do things they didn't want under the
influence of a flight. They eventually learned that green flights weren't
nearly as powerful and not something to be afraid of.

Endarin lifted his shoulders in a little shrug. "I'm not too worried about
it." He glanced back down at the paper. "I wonder when the trend started of
people from the Weyrs running down to the dolphineers to find out if
they're pregnant or not." As if dolphineers had nothing better to do.

"That started to happen as soon as people realised that the dolphins could
do it." Meledei rest her elbow upon the table and propped her chin upon
her hand. "I remember that too, especially since when I heard about it I
just thought it was so neat. That the dolphins had special abilities, just
like the dragons."

"A regular healer can tell a woman the same thing." Endarin pointed out. A
part of him hated to think his dolphineers' time was being wasted with
something that he considered trivial.

"I've never been pregnant." Meledei would like children some day, but that
wasn't something that was going to happen any time soon, "So I can't speak
from experience, but considering women have been finding out long before we
reconnected with Dolphins, I came to the same conclusion."

Endarin laughed, shoving his fingers through his hair. "I only bring it up
because I'm wondering what the cost of such a thing really is. Something
I'm sure should be in a record somewhere."

"If you look on the bottom, there are records of finances between the Hall
and the Weyr. I imagine if you're going to find it, it'll be in one of
those." Meledei tapped the parchment that lay at the bottom of the stack.
"Mind if I ask what you hope to do with the information you learn?"

"I hope to make sure the Dolphin Hall is not giving out its services
freely. I'm not accusing the Weyr of anything, or saying that the Hall has
been lax, but a Hallmaster needs to know where the marks are going."
Endarin told her truthfully.

"Sounds like a good Hallmaster to me." Meledei approved. Those who lived
in ignorance were doomed to suffer consequences if anything were to truly
be wrong. "And here I am, distracting you. I'll let you get to your work,
but let me know if you need anything else."

Endarin appreciated a woman who had tact, so his smile was genuine when he
looked up at Meledei and said, "Thank you, I will."

Last updated on the December 29th 2015

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Of Times Past