On the Bottom

Writers: Ames, Chelle, Noli, Paula
Date Posted: 16th September 2013

Characters: N'tur, Rhosyn, D'lorn, Ameala, B'jon, Ikervu
Description: The weyrlings learn about rank in the Weyr as well as its history.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 11 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: U'das

After the weyrlings settled in the classroom, D'lorn came up to the
front. "Good morning. I hope breakfast settled well. Today, we're
going to talk about the chain of command in the Weyr and what it means
to you as well as a bit of Weyr history. To help us with the first
part, we're being joined today by the Weyrwoman." Rhosyn stepped
forward from where she had been in the corner. "I trust you will
give her your undivided attention." His eyes roamed theirs to let them
know they better behave.

The Weyrwoman came forward, smiling at the group of young riders.
"Some of you I know well, others I don't. Before, as candidates, you
didn't have any rank in the Weyr. Now, as a weyrling, you still don't
have any. All other dragonriders in this Weyr outrank you."

"Here, in the Weyr, the Weyrleaders are at the top of the rank
structure. Everyone else reports to us in one way or another. The
headwoman reports to me and the Wingleaders and Weyrlingmasters report to
the Weyrleader. K'sedel of bronze Nikornath is your Weyrleader. He
has been for some time now. I'm your Weyrwoman until the day I can't
fly any longer." Rhosyn wanted them to understand that. The Weyrwoman
was permanent, the Weyrleader was not.

"We have several Wingleaders who have Wingseconds and Wingthirds. In
the weyrling wing, you have your weyrlingstaff which is led by the
Weyrlingmaster, his second, and his third. Amongst the wingriders, we
go by color. Bronzeriders and junior goldriders will naturally be the
Weyr's future leaders and would be higher in rank than the rest." She
paused to make sure they were still following her. Most of this would
be obvious to the weyrbred boys and girls. "The Headwoman is in charge
of all things domestic. The Craft Masters in the Weyr report to her,
though they are autonomous."

"So your chain of command would be the senior weyrlings, the
weyrlingstaff, and the Weyrleaders. If you need help, you will use
your chain of command in that order. If you go to the bottom step and
they can't help you, go to the next step and so on. The same thing
will be true when you're a wingrider." She stopped talking, wondering
if they understood all of that. "Any questions?"

** So we are at the bottom of the pile here,** B'jon thought silently
to his lifemate.

}: I'm not bottom of anything, I'm pretty, :{ Denenth replied,
obviously missing his point completely.

B'jon just had to hide his smile. She was so amusing with her totally
random remarks.

Ameala felt rather small after the talk from the Weyrwoman. It
had made her feel rather insignificant.

}:You and I are anything but insignificant,:{ Ingoth replied to her,
turning her head to look at her rider. }:One day we will fly against
Thread. We will be fast. We will destroy it.:{ Ameala smiled to her
green. Ingoth always seemed to know how to cheer her up.

"Now just because your superiors may outrank you doesn't mean
they aren't available. The Weyrlingstaffs' doors are always open.
They would love to help you with your problems. The Weyrleader and I can
be reached if it's something they can't assist you with. We are here
to help you and let our turns of experience work for you. We all want
you to succeed." She smiled and then continued the subject. "From time
to time you will see guests from other Weyrs, especially during
Hatchings and other times. They are to be treated with respect, befitting
their rank, but they are not within your chain of command."

N'tur sat rigidly in his seat, carefully filing away Rhosyn's words.
Although nothing so far had been strictly new information, he absorbed
it in a new way now that it was directly applicable to his life.

}: To _our_ life. :{ Graileth's voice was soft in his mind, with just
the smallest hint of reproach. N'tur was immediately apologetic. "I'm
sorry," he whispered, momentarily forgetting that he didn't have to
actually speak for his lifemate to hear him. He felt the love and
forgiveness that his brown partner sent in his direction, and settled
back in to focus on the lesson.

Ameala was trying to absorb all the information that was being shared.
She'd had to learn so many new things since coming to the Weyr. At
times her head felt so full of new information she thought it just
might explode.

"Can someone tell me why rank structure within a Weyr is important?"
Rhosyn looked over their faces, thinking the weyrbred might just get
the answer first.

B'jon lifted his hand.

"Go ahead B?jon." Rhosyn waited to hear what he had to say.

"Because in tight spot, like I presume Fall is, there's no time to ask
around who's in charge. And if something happens to leader, everyone
must know who is the next in line and who'll step up to replace him,"
it wasn't that different than in a Hold, B'jon thought. "It creates
security. Like in the hold, if something happens to the Lord, you
know there's the Steward to take care of things."

"That's a huge part of it yes. Now that we're in a Pass, we can and do
lose leadership. This can happen during Fall, through injuries, or for
other reasons like U'das stepping down recently due to health issues.
It's important to have several trained individuals ready to fill those
voids as well as for the other riders to look to and have confidence
in." Rhosyn also brought up another point. "It's also good to have
people that can take care of the smaller tasks first so that the
Weyrleadersdo not have to handle everything. We depend on our
subordinates for a lot."

After a little bit more, Rhosyn told them goodbye and headed out. She
had other duties to attend to, though it was nice to see the weyrlings
were growing well. In her place was a harper. Journeyman Ikervu smiled
at the young ones.

"Now that the Weyrwoman is finished, I am going to tell you about
River Bluff Weyr." The harper sat down on a stool and smiled. "River
Bluff Weyrhold was founded three Turns before the end of the Ninth
Pass, supposed to be the Last Pass. People moved in, but because it
was so hot, there weren't as many as the Weyrhold could accommodate.
During the Long Interval, though, the population increased slowly as
folks moved here instead of other places."

"But then, some Turns before the Tenth Pass began, the queens started
laying again. And boy were they laying. We had eggs all over the Sands
and people were scrambling to find candidates. Everyone wondered what
was going on. Five turns before Thread returned, Lady Weyrholder
Rhonia retired. And then Tsaera became Weyrwoman when the Weyrhold
became a Weyr again. She was our Weyrwoman for ten turns before she
decided to retire. Weyrwoman Zharesti took over briefly before Rhosyn
and her gold Orlaith rose over River Bluff."

"Our territory includes Jade Harbor Hold, Garnet Valley Hold, and
Sunstone Seahold as well as the Smith Hall and the Seacraft Hall. We
share a common border with Dragonsfall Weyr to the south and Dreams?
End territory on the East. Vista Point Weyr is on our west side. Any
questions so far?" He looked over their heads.

N'tur raised his hand. "What instances may cause a Weyrwoman
to retire early?" Although he had been raised in the Weyr and vaguely
remembered the time when Tsaera had stepped aside, at the time he had been
more interested in his friends and his new? apprenticeship than in
the politics of the matter. Now he felt it important to know, however.

"It depends. In most cases, it is simply turns as it was in Tsaera's
case. In others, it may be illness such as Weyrwoman Zharesti.
Injuries may also play a factor, though that is rare." Indeed,
the Queens' Wing flew on the bottom for a reason.

Ameala was doing her best to absorb all the information that was
shared. There was still so much she had to learn.

Once all the questions had been answered, the harper nodded to D'lorn
who came to the front again. "Well class is dismissed for the day.
Feel free to ask one of the staff if a question pops into your
head later. Now go bathe and oil your dragonets." The greenrider
smiled, knowing that the little ones were growing nicely.

Last updated on the October 5th 2013

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