One Way or Another

Writers: Rochelle, Vix
Date Posted: 9th September 2007

Characters: Ariau, Tamaca
Description: Ariau and Tamaca discuss whether it's worth getting one's hopes up over Impression.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 5, day 10 of Turn 4

Ariau slid into a seat across from the older candidate. She thought she recognized her from candidate classes, although she wasn't sure. "Mind if I sit here?"

Tamaca flashed a quick smile, though she had been hoping for some male companionship. "Be my guest."

"Thanks. I'm Ariau." The younger girl said smiling brightly back.

"Tamaca, but most call me Tam," the other replied almost automatically. "I take it that you're new here?"

"Yeah." Ariau admitted cautiously. She had heard the talk about the Dragonsfall candidates, and had already been mistaken for one once by a particularly block-headed candidate. She really didn't want it to happen again. "I transferred in from Fort Weyr."

The other girl nodded. "I figured you hadn't been here long." She gestured toward the candidate knots that the other wore. "I've known most of those who have passed through here on the way to the Hatching Grounds in the past few turns, but you aren't familiar. It has to be quite a change from the North?"

"It is." Ariau admitted with a sigh. "I didn't realize that things would be so different... but there's so much still the same. It's weird."

"Still, it must be exciting. I've spent my entire life here at this Weyr, except for occasional trips out to Gathers."

"It could be." She agreed. "I loved seeing new places. But sometimes it could be really boring."

"Oh?" Tam's fork played with the food remaining on her plate. "What was boring about it?"

"Well, the waiting for the most part." Ariau said thoughtfully, taking a bite and swallowing. "Waiting for my grandmother to finish her business when we'd been somewhere for a while. Waiting for someone to notice I was there, or to be allowed to go do something more interesting when I got stuck at formal occassions. Or..." She grinned ruefully, picking up a meatroll. "Waiting for my rear to stop hurting after spending two sevendays in the saddle."

"Two sevendays?" The other candidate shook her head. "I've ridden a few times, but even an afternoon in the saddle is uncomfortable. Why would you ride for that long?"

"To get from one major hold to the next. I traveled with my grandmother before I went to the Harper Hall and got Searched, and she did a lot of commission work." Ariau explained. "So I got to ride all over the Northern continent."

Tamaca nodded thoughtfully. "I know that most people don't have access to dragons and use other, slower forms of transportation, but I had no idea how slow they were. I can't imagine taking two sevendays to get from one place to another."

Ariau grinned. "You know, most people are so used to the time it takes that they have a hard time believing dragons can travel that far /between/ in a few moments. And two sevendays by runner isn't really that bad. I've gone by caravan, and by foot places too. A caravan can take as long as two months or more, although it's a lot more comfortable than riding."

"Comfortable or not, I don't imagine that I'd like that." The other woman shook her head. "Sometimes when I hear the other candidates talk about their homes, I wonder what it would be like to see them, but only for a visit. The Weyr is my home and I can't imagine living anywhere else."

"You've never wanted to live anywhere else?" Ariau cocked her head curiously. It had seemed a common enough dream with the people she had talked to while traveling, but there had always been a few afraid of change who had no desire to leave.

"Why would I?" Tam made a face showing her distaste. "I've heard how women are treated some places and the restrictions that are placed on them. Why would I want to go some place where I had to watch my every move and have others tell me what I can and cannot do?"

Ariau hesitated for a moment, feeling uneasy before she asked. "Well, there's always the North. But is it really that bad down here? Some of the rumors that reached us at Fort..." She shrugged helplessly.

"If those who come here aren't exaggerating, it's every bit that bad," Tamaca told her. "As to going North, I've never had any desire to do so. My grandmum talks about my uncle who went to the North, but we haven't heard from him in turns, so what's to say that it's any better there?"

"I guess I can see your point about going North." Ariau admitted. "But if it helps any, I've only heard of rare cases in the North where women are treated the way they seem to be in the holds down here."

"That may be, but I think I'll stay here," the other candidate told her. "I may Impress this time, but maybe not. Whatever happens, I'll deal with it in familiar surroundings."

Ariau tore a roll in half, and slathered it with preserve. "Do you want to Impress this time?" She asked, remembering that Tamaca had been Standing for a while.

Tamaca stared past Ariau thoughtfully. "I don't know what I want. There's no sense in wanting to Impress if I don't, is there? And I haven't many opportunities left to me."

She cocked her head to the side. "Since when have emotions been that logical?" She asked with a grin. "You can want to Impress and not want to get your hopes up. But if you don't want to Impress, there's no point in being on the sands at all, is there? Yet people stand anyway, just for the chance to say they did, or because they were Searched and they think that it's required of them."

"Maybe it's not getting my hopes up, maybe it's just being accepting of whatever happens," Tam mused. "Whatever my emotions, I'll either Impress or not and accept what happens. I doubt that any wanting on my part could affect the events in any way."

Ariau shrugged. "I don't know. I know I can't help but want to Impress, even when I try not to get my hopes up." She sighed. "The whole thing can be so confusing. And depressing." She added with a wince.

To this Tamaca nodded. "But at least we haven't much longer until we find out - one way or the other."

"One way or another." Ariau agreed with a sigh. "And hopefully we'll be happy with the result."

Last updated on the September 13th 2007

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One Way or Another