Letters and Schedules
Who: Roa and Laelle
Where: Weyrleaders' Office
What: Roa and Laelle get some of the details of Laelle's employment squared away.
It is probably not coincidence that the time Roa has asked Laelle to meet her in the office also happens to be a time she knows the weyrleader is busy observing drills and meeting with the wingleaders. Roa sits, a small figure at a big table, with a cluster of blank hides, an inkwell and a stylus, and a cluster of scribbled hides. She waits with her chin propped in one hand, her eyelids dropping occasionally before the weyrwoman blinks herself back into wakefulness.
When Laelle arrives, promptly on time, she brings a tray with her. It's a simple spread, tea and biscuits, but she manages it with both hands, her bag bumping half-full at her hip as she walks. Whether the Caucus girl is relieved or disappointed by the complete absence of the weyrleader, there is no sign of it. Instead she arrives with a small, polite smile, perhaps a touch cautious. "A woman sent this," she explains of the tray - it is not her doing. "I didn't catch her name."
"Probably, it was Dara," is Roa's murmured greeting. "She's perpetually trying to feed me." This seems to serve as a welcome for a moment while hides are shifted to make room for this unexpected meal. "Hello, there," the weyrwoman tries more properly, "How are you doing?"
Laelle turns her head, the meaning the same as a shake, but the motion too controlled to be called that. "No, I've met her, it was some other woman, though perhaps Dara did initiate it." Its certainly possible. She sets the tray on the edge of the table and slides in into some unoccupied space. The formalities of greeting are skipped, but the question gets a reply. "I'm well. And you? Are you feeling any better?" Apparently, for all the weyrwoman's insistence, Laelle is still unconvinced that Roa is in full health. "Would you like to eat or shall we let it wait?"
Roa glances over at the tray, but her nose wrinkles. "I don't think I've much of an appetite. Please, take some if you like. I'd rather not stand on too much formality. In the end, it'll mostly get in the way, anyhow." She offers a smile, lowering her hand and straightening her shoulders. "I'm fine, thank you. Now. To get down to it, tell me of this letter I'm meant to be writing?"
The request to drop excess formality is noted and so Laelle pulls out a seat and folds neatly into it. She reaches for the tray, pulling the cozy off of the teapot. She takes the pot and brings it under her nose, tipping the lid to inhale and ascertain what sort of tea it is. Then she goes about preparing a cup. "For the letter... my concern is that my family will feel that I am allying myself with the Weyr instead of our Hold. I would like to prevent that, if possible." She lifts a brow and slips her glance toward Roa. She also pushes that cup towards her. "If you decide you want it," she add off hand. She busies herself with her own cup.
There is a quick glance towards the cup, and then it is dismissed in lieu of stylus and hide, setting them down in front of her. "And what would help assuage that fear?" Roa asks, "Making your post temporary? Pointing out that you continue classes? What else?"
The first suggestion purses Laelle's lips. "Would you prefer that the post be temporary?" But for the rest, "I think that mentioning my continued attendance to classes would be well placed, perhaps some mention that my marks indicate I should be able to maintain decent grades." She wraps her fingers around her cup, soaking up the heat and her tongue works behind her lips, tasting other thoughts that are not yet words.
Glancing down, Roa begins putting words to hide, even as she notes, "I do not see how it can be other than temporary, if your intentions are to return to Nerat, once Caucus is concluded. Which is, it seems, what I'm implying, in ink, at this very moment." Blue eyes dart up, glancing quickly at Laelle before slipping away, again.
Laelle's eyes do not watch the weyrwoman; they seem content to observe the tea instead. She does not seem any less aware for the focus of her gaze. "I think the implication is appropriate for the letter." There is enough emphasis on the word 'implication' to suggest that a direct statement might be against her preferences.
Those blue eyes blinks slowly. Then Roa nods once, lowers her head, and returns to penning the formal and flowery bit of propaganda without saying anything until she finishes. Then, the hide is turned and slid over to Laelle. "Let me know what I should change."
Laelle's hand leaves her cup to take up the hide, her eyes flicking back and forth across as she reads. "Yes," that's her verdict. "Thank you. Shall I see to having it sent?" she asks, slipping the hide back to Roa, should she have other intentions for it, or at least her seal.
"I suppose, as my assistant, that's the sort of thing you're meant to do?" The hide is folded up, the weyrwoman's seal pressed down to close it, and the names and location of those it's intended for written underneath. Then it's handed gently back to Laelle. "I can, if you'd rather."
Laelle repeats that turn of her head from earlier, her own version of a shake. "Certainly not. I believe this is exactly the sort of thing I can easily save you from tending." She takes the letter and sets it aside. One task done. Then she waits to see if Roa seems to have any other work for her.
"In all honesty, I'm not exactly sure what being an assistant entails," the weyrwoman confesses. "We may have to figure it out together. But, I have put together a schedule I'd like you to look over before I propose it to the Headmaster. No sense discussing it if it turns out, once we get everything hashed out, it wouldn't work for you anyhow." As she speaks, Roa pulls out one of those pre-written-on hides and holds it out to Laelle.
Laelle smiles for the goldrider's admission. "Well, I have some experience at it," she says, her expression quiet but a touch warmer. "I may not know the work itself, but may be able to help you to determine where I can be of the most use." Ah, but the schedule. She sneaks a sip of her tea before taking the hide. It's placed on the table where she may tap her finger on the different times of day and counting hours and calculating, making notes. "These mornings I have a class, but it is an elective that I can withdraw from, with the Headmaster's permission. And this afternoon, I have a class, but I believe it is also held during this break here, so I may be able to switch it. With those adjustments, this schedule should be just fine."
With a small nod, Roa asks, "Do you wish to drop the elective? Or would you prefer I move it around so you don't need to? Nothing's set in stone. I figured we'd decide what worked best before it reached that point."
"Well," Laelle says, taking a moment to shift back to weighing her own preferences. "If there is another time that would work for you... I'm free here," she says with a point of her finger to another morning. "And I have lunchtimes as well." It's perhaps a bit tight, though, and she frowns at the page. "I don't mind dropping the class. I have taken on a fuller course load than was necessary. These classes here I have with Seleda and so I do not think that I would be able to arrange alternate times for them unless she would be amenable and the headmaster would be willing to move us both together."
"I suppose one advantage to staying longer is that you can always continue to take whatever classes must be compromised for the job," Roa offers. But it's reluctant. "Lunchtimes I spend in the Living Cavern. It's times for people to approach, and besides, you need to eat much as anyone. Could we do late afternoon, here and here, instead of morning? Between five and seven? I believe all classes end before then anyhow." She looks over, brows lifted.
Laelle gives a nod and lifts her cup again. "Would you like for me to check in during lunch? In case there is something I can do for you while you're required in the living cavern? It doesn't take me long to eat and I might be able to help you make broader use of that time if you need someone to run around then. Evenings on those days should be fine, just so long as I have few nights a seven to eat dinner with Seleda and attend to her studies."
"I try to keep dinners free as well. Do you suppose Seleda might be convinced to eat a little after seven?" Roa's eyes twinkle as she notes, "Better for the complexion, to eat in the later evening." Then she glances down at the table and shakes her head. "No. Thank you. Lunches, I'm trying to just be...normal. Approachable. I think having an assistant working then would detract from that. You're always welcome to -join- me for lunch, though."
Laelle nods again, a curt agreement on Seleda's dining hours. For the part about complexions the girl gives a pause and turns to glance at Roa, her eyes skimming the weyrwoman's cheek. "Is it? - And lunches, well... yes, understandable. I can make myself available should you need me." She hesitates on the invitation to join, though, perhaps due to certain company that may be present.
"Oh yes. Truly it is," the weyrwoman offers with utter, wide-eyed, solemnity. Then she picks up the stack of hides to straighten them. "Second day, fourth day, sixth day. Otherwise, we stagger them to give people a chance to speak to one of us without the other present."
The faint separation of Laelle's lips is the only hint of the 'ah' of understanding that a more demonstrative person might give. "I will keep that in mind," she says, quickly following with, "Thank you for the invitation." Her eyes now drift to that stack as she sips her tea again, awaiting what may come next.
What comes next are some more ledgers and some small odds and ends that need doing. It is time consuming, if not very exciting, and it will have the two women busy for several hours. It is, again, entirely by coincidence, that Roa will shoo her new assistant off fifteen or twenty minutes before R'vain is due to return.
Where: Weyrleaders' Office
What: Roa and Laelle get some of the details of Laelle's employment squared away.
It is probably not coincidence that the time Roa has asked Laelle to meet her in the office also happens to be a time she knows the weyrleader is busy observing drills and meeting with the wingleaders. Roa sits, a small figure at a big table, with a cluster of blank hides, an inkwell and a stylus, and a cluster of scribbled hides. She waits with her chin propped in one hand, her eyelids dropping occasionally before the weyrwoman blinks herself back into wakefulness.
When Laelle arrives, promptly on time, she brings a tray with her. It's a simple spread, tea and biscuits, but she manages it with both hands, her bag bumping half-full at her hip as she walks. Whether the Caucus girl is relieved or disappointed by the complete absence of the weyrleader, there is no sign of it. Instead she arrives with a small, polite smile, perhaps a touch cautious. "A woman sent this," she explains of the tray - it is not her doing. "I didn't catch her name."
"Probably, it was Dara," is Roa's murmured greeting. "She's perpetually trying to feed me." This seems to serve as a welcome for a moment while hides are shifted to make room for this unexpected meal. "Hello, there," the weyrwoman tries more properly, "How are you doing?"
Laelle turns her head, the meaning the same as a shake, but the motion too controlled to be called that. "No, I've met her, it was some other woman, though perhaps Dara did initiate it." Its certainly possible. She sets the tray on the edge of the table and slides in into some unoccupied space. The formalities of greeting are skipped, but the question gets a reply. "I'm well. And you? Are you feeling any better?" Apparently, for all the weyrwoman's insistence, Laelle is still unconvinced that Roa is in full health. "Would you like to eat or shall we let it wait?"
Roa glances over at the tray, but her nose wrinkles. "I don't think I've much of an appetite. Please, take some if you like. I'd rather not stand on too much formality. In the end, it'll mostly get in the way, anyhow." She offers a smile, lowering her hand and straightening her shoulders. "I'm fine, thank you. Now. To get down to it, tell me of this letter I'm meant to be writing?"
The request to drop excess formality is noted and so Laelle pulls out a seat and folds neatly into it. She reaches for the tray, pulling the cozy off of the teapot. She takes the pot and brings it under her nose, tipping the lid to inhale and ascertain what sort of tea it is. Then she goes about preparing a cup. "For the letter... my concern is that my family will feel that I am allying myself with the Weyr instead of our Hold. I would like to prevent that, if possible." She lifts a brow and slips her glance toward Roa. She also pushes that cup towards her. "If you decide you want it," she add off hand. She busies herself with her own cup.
There is a quick glance towards the cup, and then it is dismissed in lieu of stylus and hide, setting them down in front of her. "And what would help assuage that fear?" Roa asks, "Making your post temporary? Pointing out that you continue classes? What else?"
The first suggestion purses Laelle's lips. "Would you prefer that the post be temporary?" But for the rest, "I think that mentioning my continued attendance to classes would be well placed, perhaps some mention that my marks indicate I should be able to maintain decent grades." She wraps her fingers around her cup, soaking up the heat and her tongue works behind her lips, tasting other thoughts that are not yet words.
Glancing down, Roa begins putting words to hide, even as she notes, "I do not see how it can be other than temporary, if your intentions are to return to Nerat, once Caucus is concluded. Which is, it seems, what I'm implying, in ink, at this very moment." Blue eyes dart up, glancing quickly at Laelle before slipping away, again.
Laelle's eyes do not watch the weyrwoman; they seem content to observe the tea instead. She does not seem any less aware for the focus of her gaze. "I think the implication is appropriate for the letter." There is enough emphasis on the word 'implication' to suggest that a direct statement might be against her preferences.
Those blue eyes blinks slowly. Then Roa nods once, lowers her head, and returns to penning the formal and flowery bit of propaganda without saying anything until she finishes. Then, the hide is turned and slid over to Laelle. "Let me know what I should change."
Laelle's hand leaves her cup to take up the hide, her eyes flicking back and forth across as she reads. "Yes," that's her verdict. "Thank you. Shall I see to having it sent?" she asks, slipping the hide back to Roa, should she have other intentions for it, or at least her seal.
"I suppose, as my assistant, that's the sort of thing you're meant to do?" The hide is folded up, the weyrwoman's seal pressed down to close it, and the names and location of those it's intended for written underneath. Then it's handed gently back to Laelle. "I can, if you'd rather."
Laelle repeats that turn of her head from earlier, her own version of a shake. "Certainly not. I believe this is exactly the sort of thing I can easily save you from tending." She takes the letter and sets it aside. One task done. Then she waits to see if Roa seems to have any other work for her.
"In all honesty, I'm not exactly sure what being an assistant entails," the weyrwoman confesses. "We may have to figure it out together. But, I have put together a schedule I'd like you to look over before I propose it to the Headmaster. No sense discussing it if it turns out, once we get everything hashed out, it wouldn't work for you anyhow." As she speaks, Roa pulls out one of those pre-written-on hides and holds it out to Laelle.
Laelle smiles for the goldrider's admission. "Well, I have some experience at it," she says, her expression quiet but a touch warmer. "I may not know the work itself, but may be able to help you to determine where I can be of the most use." Ah, but the schedule. She sneaks a sip of her tea before taking the hide. It's placed on the table where she may tap her finger on the different times of day and counting hours and calculating, making notes. "These mornings I have a class, but it is an elective that I can withdraw from, with the Headmaster's permission. And this afternoon, I have a class, but I believe it is also held during this break here, so I may be able to switch it. With those adjustments, this schedule should be just fine."
With a small nod, Roa asks, "Do you wish to drop the elective? Or would you prefer I move it around so you don't need to? Nothing's set in stone. I figured we'd decide what worked best before it reached that point."
"Well," Laelle says, taking a moment to shift back to weighing her own preferences. "If there is another time that would work for you... I'm free here," she says with a point of her finger to another morning. "And I have lunchtimes as well." It's perhaps a bit tight, though, and she frowns at the page. "I don't mind dropping the class. I have taken on a fuller course load than was necessary. These classes here I have with Seleda and so I do not think that I would be able to arrange alternate times for them unless she would be amenable and the headmaster would be willing to move us both together."
"I suppose one advantage to staying longer is that you can always continue to take whatever classes must be compromised for the job," Roa offers. But it's reluctant. "Lunchtimes I spend in the Living Cavern. It's times for people to approach, and besides, you need to eat much as anyone. Could we do late afternoon, here and here, instead of morning? Between five and seven? I believe all classes end before then anyhow." She looks over, brows lifted.
Laelle gives a nod and lifts her cup again. "Would you like for me to check in during lunch? In case there is something I can do for you while you're required in the living cavern? It doesn't take me long to eat and I might be able to help you make broader use of that time if you need someone to run around then. Evenings on those days should be fine, just so long as I have few nights a seven to eat dinner with Seleda and attend to her studies."
"I try to keep dinners free as well. Do you suppose Seleda might be convinced to eat a little after seven?" Roa's eyes twinkle as she notes, "Better for the complexion, to eat in the later evening." Then she glances down at the table and shakes her head. "No. Thank you. Lunches, I'm trying to just be...normal. Approachable. I think having an assistant working then would detract from that. You're always welcome to -join- me for lunch, though."
Laelle nods again, a curt agreement on Seleda's dining hours. For the part about complexions the girl gives a pause and turns to glance at Roa, her eyes skimming the weyrwoman's cheek. "Is it? - And lunches, well... yes, understandable. I can make myself available should you need me." She hesitates on the invitation to join, though, perhaps due to certain company that may be present.
"Oh yes. Truly it is," the weyrwoman offers with utter, wide-eyed, solemnity. Then she picks up the stack of hides to straighten them. "Second day, fourth day, sixth day. Otherwise, we stagger them to give people a chance to speak to one of us without the other present."
The faint separation of Laelle's lips is the only hint of the 'ah' of understanding that a more demonstrative person might give. "I will keep that in mind," she says, quickly following with, "Thank you for the invitation." Her eyes now drift to that stack as she sips her tea again, awaiting what may come next.
What comes next are some more ledgers and some small odds and ends that need doing. It is time consuming, if not very exciting, and it will have the two women busy for several hours. It is, again, entirely by coincidence, that Roa will shoo her new assistant off fifteen or twenty minutes before R'vain is due to return.