Responsibility (2)

Writers: Devin, Cali, Francesca
Date Posted: 12th September 2009

Characters: T'kob, N'vanik, G'len
Description: T'kob and N'vanik talk with G'len about the lost weyrling.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 1 of Turn 5

N'vanik

N'vanik waited in the Weyrlingmaster's office, thinking it would be the most convenient place for them to meet.

It was awhile before T'kob and G'len arrived, they had wanted to make sure everyone was alright, especially the younger ones. "I've given them a few hours off. We'll start up again this afternoon."

N'vanik nodded. He thought that might be too early, but at the same time, training had to move on. "Do you know what happened?"

"No." G'len sat down heavily in a chair. "My best guess is that her visualization changed between the time she checked it with me and when she went /between/." But of course, they would never know.

"Adari was young. T'kob said. It might be an explanation, but then again it might not have been a factor. So often one never knew why the weyrlings or for that matter turns experienced riders, disappeared /between/.

N'vanik sighed. "Alright. I want you to know that I don't blame you. I still think you're doing a fine job." Usually when mistakes were made, N'vanik was the first to start yelling. Not this time.

T'kob nodded. Without any proof of negligence on either G'len or his part, for the Weyrleader to believe her death was anything but an accident would have been thoughtless. As he sat there though, the girl's death really started to hit, now that the weyrlings were taken care of, his mind had time to let the reality sink in. One of his weyrlings was dead. And she probably wouldn't be the first. They had several more days of /between/ training left, not to mention the more and more difficult aerial drills that often caused injury as well as death. Then there was the Blooding month. He'd only worked with two hatching groups that hadn't had serious injury or death during that time, so he'd be naive to think that this would be the last of his losses. He focused though on the scene in front of him. He'd have time to grieve when he was alone.

It didn't matter whether or not the Weyrleader blamed them for the accident, but G'len still felt a bit of relief to know that he understood. The greenrider latched on to what T'kob had said. She was young. It didn't explain everything, but could have contributed to her miscalculation, or whatever had gone wrong.

"It's hard to lose one. They all feel a little like my kids," N'vanik said. "I suppose they feel like yours, too."

"Yes." T'kob hadn't realized how tight his throat had become until the word came out as a squeak. He'd thought he'd be used to all this, numb even, since he'd worked with the weyrlings for the past five turns. It was more now though, these kids were _his_. It made it much worse.

G'len just nodded, sure his voice would sound like T'kob's if he did speak. He had learned not to become paralysed by grief and, with each death, he was able to cope a bit better, recover more quickly. But, no matter how many times it happened, the first few candlemarks were the same. That night he would replay the scene over and over again, try to find out what had gone wrong, what he could have done differently. He wouldn't be able to steal away to the Tavern for some time, but he promised himself he would go as soon as possible. There he would be able to drink and get away for a bit, to be in a place where death wasn't so commonplace. N'vanik cleared his throat, uncomfortable with their grief -- and his own. "Well, I'll get back to my hidework."

"Of course." G'len stood, perhaps more quickly he should, considering he was in the company of the Weyrleader and the Weyrlingmaster. But, he just wanted to spend time with Tobereth, not discuss a death that couldn't be undone and perhaps couldn't have been avoided either.

Last updated on the September 13th 2009

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Responsibility (2)