The Downside of Responsibility
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Devin, Jane
Date Posted: 28th August 2009
Characters: Z'ku, Ylisahn
Description: Ylisahn comes across Z'ku on the beach and tries to comfort him.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 4 of Turn 5
Ylisahn had worked with children, then been assistant Headwoman and Headwoman; she recognised unhappy people when she saw them and the young man sitting on the rocks near the waterline was miserable.
He was also wearing weyrling knots, which did technically make him somebody else's problem, but she hadn't been so long away from the Weyr that she could hold firmly to that thought. Instead she pulled up her skirts and clambered out on the rocks to speak with the young man.
"Hello Z'ku."
He jumped at the voice and scrubbed hastily at his eyes before turning. "Headwoman ... um." Yes, she was still a Headwoman, though at the Hall now instead of the Weyr. "Ylisahn. Hello."
"What's happened?" she asked, fishing in her pocket for a clean, pressed handkerchief. She held it out to the young man. "Here."
He took it, embarrassed. "One of our classmates went /between/ today and never came back."
"Ahh. It's a terrible waste of two young lives," Ylisahn said with a sigh, thinking that this was a part of living at a Weyr that she had happily left behind her. "Who was it?"
"A boy in another group. I didn't really know him ... and he wasn't the first," Z'ku said. "The first day, there was a girl, Adari, and Lesereth ... they were in my group."
"It doesn't really matter, does it, how well you knew them? They shouldn't be dead. Sadly it does happen, and we just have to live with it."
It made sense, but it didn't make him feel better. "I was Adari's leader. I was ... responsible for her." Not to the same degree the weyrlingstaff was, but still ... This was the dark side of being a leader, feeling responsible for the things that went wrong.
Ylisahn patted the young man's shoulder. "There are some bits you just can't _be_ responsible for. Going /between/ is one of them. You know for yourself, now, how much that's just you and your dragon, don't you?"
"Yes. But I wonder if I could have done something. Helped her with visualization, or reminded her to focus."
"If there had been a need for that the Weyrlingmaster staff would have known - and done something about it," Ylisahn reminded the weyrling bronzerider. "They especially look out for any clue that things might not go well, and nobody gets to go /between/ until they're as sure as they can be that dragon and rider will survive."
"I know that, in my head. I just wish I could convince the rest of me." All the logic he could come up with hadn't been enough to stop him from finally retreating out here to cry.
"That bit can take a while," the Weyr's former Headwoman acknowledged. She patted his shoulder again. "Would you prefer to be alone?"
"Yes," he said. "But thank you."
"You're welcome, Z'ku." Ylisahn sighed as she left the young man on the rocks. Poor lad. Some parts of being a dragonrider were certainly worse than others.
Last updated on the August 31st 2009