Matters, Questions, Greetings (Gaelle)

[lastthoughts]

Annika tapped at the door of the new Weyrwoman's quarters without a hint of reservation. Time, rest, and food were reviving her mind and her will, and there was quite a bit of business for her to take care of. And, for that matter, some questions that had been with her nearly since her apprenticeship that she wanted to ask.

But all in due time.

First, she needed to introduce herself to the Weyr's newest leader, and to get a sense of what to expect from the hatching and its aftermath.

[fadingmemorie]

"Please, come in!" Gaelle said, raising her voice to be heard. She was seated at her desk, reading some old scrolls about candidate Impressions. It was hard to answer the answers about the female Impressions, especially the female-brown Impression. The Weyrwoman searched for the information, desiring to inform herself and any doubters.

She also searched for information on strange or out-of-ordinary gold colors. The new hatchling gold was pale like a cloud, though definitely gold. She wasn't weak, per se, but didn't seem as rambunctious as her clutchmates. Nisurath was an interesting case, but Gaelle would figure her out.

[lastthoughts]

"Good evening," said Annika, entering. She realized she really had no idea of any kind of protocol for greeting or speaking with the weyr's leaders. No matter. She walked right over to where the Weyrwoman sat at her desk.

"We haven't met before. I'm Annika, the new Masterfarmer here. I wanted to introduce myself, and to talk with you about the food situation here at the Weyr." She stood casually and her voice was, as always, mellow. Annika was a person comfortable in her own skin, and it showed. She thought the Weyrwoman looked very young, but who was she to link age with potential? People rose to fill their responsibilities, given support and time. Or they didn't, and someone else filled the gap. That was life.

She tried not to read any of the scrolls strewn about the young woman, but old habits were hard to break--and there was a reason she was held to be a progidy. Women in "male" postitions? Annika could speak to that. She smiled and returned her attention fully to the matter at hand.

[fadingmemorie]

Gaelle smiled at the Master Farmer. "Hello! Welcome to the Weyr. I'm glad you're here, I'd love to talk about the Weyr's food. The Weyrleader and I were discussing that just the other day." Glancing down at the scrolls scattered over the desk, she grinned. "Sorry for the mess. Researching old clutches." She placed them in a pile off to the side and also dusted off a chair. "Please, have a seat. I'm not much used to company in my quarters, but it's good to have you."

She brought in hot klah from the main quarters, where it stayed warm on the hearthstone. "Very well," she said, pouring into the wooden cups that accompanied the pitcher. "What are the most important things to discuss?"

[lastthoughts]

Annika sat, murmuring thanks when she took her cup of the hot brew. Klah had been a particular obsession of her grandfather's, and its scent brought her memories of long nights full of questions and of carefully nurtured seedlings. The Weyrwoman was energetic. That was endearing.

"Well," she said, "We are well supplied at the moment. Thanks to the changes to the irrigation system over the past five or six years, we've turned around the downward trend in production. So there's no immediate problem. But there could be. I saw a new face the other day. I don't know everyone, but word travels. You've sent out for new blood." She paused and took a sip of the klah. Ok, so she was definitely still overtired. Maybe tonight she'd go to bed early. And maybe she'd adopt a wherry and teach it to tapdance.

"If that's true, at some point things are going to change here," she waved a hand as though swatting away her own meaning, "Don't mistake me, I don't mean the personality of the Weyr or any rubbish like that. I mean an opening up. I don't mean to guess at your plans, and I hope I'm not overstepping. I just need information. If Aliath clutches like she just did consistently, and if we start to refill all those empty halls and craft-berths, waiting to change our methods will leave us more than strapped for food--the dragons too."

Her other questions hummed around in her brain, but one step at a time. "So I suppose what I'm asking is, just what are you up to?" Her smile was tight with witheld laughter.

[fadingmemorie]

Gaelle regarded the woman with amused eyes. The Weyrwoman had expected a conversation about the dragons beginning to feed on the foreign herds, or perhaps a detailed conversation about the new irrigation systems and the success found after initiating their use. She hadn't anticipated being asked about her plans for the Weyr, and was almost caught off guard. She recovered easily. "Master Farmer Annika, I'm up to what everyone else is: the welfare of the Weyr. I care about this Weyr as much as, if not more than, anyone." Smiling, she gestured to her hides. "Why, even moments before you arrived, I was researching ways to encourage the growth of clutches."

The problem, Gaelle had many other duties than simply poring over old hides. She had been taking Aliath out of Weyr boundaries to feed on the wild herds since Ponaa's Queen was a few sevendays over a turn. She fully believed that the clutch had benefited from the unfamiliar herds. The Weyrwoman didn't know how or why, but Aliath was bigger and healthier than most of the other dragons. And the dragons who were comparable to Aliath had riders that passed Gaelle with guilty looks on their faces; she knew they took their dragons out of bounds too, but never said a word. They, too, kept their silence.

But E'dian and Gaelle had ordered the driving of the herds closer to the Weyr, and open permissions for couples and triads of dragons and riders to hunt away from home. Since then, then dragons seemed to be more perky, bolder, and even shinier of hide. It was an amazing transformation to watch, and Gaelle wasn't the only one who had noticed. Annika's observation of "new blood" was accurate in more ways than perhaps even the Master Farmer herself knew. Gaelle smiled at the private knowledge, nodding to Annika. "The Weyrleader and I have been making experiments with feeding the dragons on different herds, not simply what's brought to the Weyr. Have you noticed a change in the dragons?"

[lastthoughts]

Noticed was such a strong word. Annika spent most of her days examining things that came up out of the ground, leaving little time for contact with the Weyr's dragons. But she had an impressive memory. She ran through her recollections of this hatching and others she'd seen before.

"Yes," she said, softly. The pieces of the Weyrwoman's response fitted together in her mind, and her brain was off to the races. There were so many opportunities in those few sentences. She wondered if the young woman even realized. She had an inkling she did.

Annika made a mental note to speak with the herders about the quality of their animals. If they weren't being nourished properly, that was something she needed to look into, although it could be a matter of disease, lack of variety of food, or inbreeding. A wild animal had access to infinite variety. Perhaps there was some plant or grass out there that contributed to dragon growth. Were they missing unknown nutrients in the soil around the mountain? What would it be, that it did not affect the plants in taste or appearance? Was it affecting the riders as well? If they could track it down... She pulled herself back off her mental sidetrack. There was time to run through some of those ideas later.

Her eyes refocused on the Weyrwoman as she came out of her reverie.

"When you say different herds...Where are they feeding from? How much contact are you starting with the holds? Tithing? I mean. Shards," she laughed, pausing in her attempt to sharpen the question into something meaningful. Her excitement was running off with her tongue. She took a deep breath.

"If the dragons are feeding far afield, then the amount of feed we can grow for animals is not as great of a problem--although I imagine wild herds are somewhat inconsistent. If you plan on bringing more beasts here, then it is an issue, especially considering the huge effect those animals have had on the dragons' health," she nodded, accenting her understanding of the changes that had taken place in the Weyr's denizens.

"We'd need to find out what they've been eating to keep them without messing up whatever it is that makes them different. And either way, more dragons means more riders, more staff. I don't claim to know everything about how much greater our capacity would have to be per dragon, but you need to know that we can't expand much more. We need to increase the amount of food we are growing, or trade for more. ," she paused again, trying to slow down. She believed in plain, open speech, but that didn't mean that she could not recognize when she was spewing information at someone.

"Searching for riders means further contact with holders, at least eventually, so maybe you already have tithing or trade in mind?"

The questions she'd come in with were still rattling in her skull: curiosity from childhood, with all the impetuous character such things could hold. What if, what if, what if.

[fadingmemorie]

Gaelle watched Annika's mind at work, pleased that she seemed almost able to distract the woman from her train of thought. She had prided herself on learning the Weyrwoman's Duties, and knew they sometimes, unfortunately, included indicating a new path a person might take to stay out of her way. The the Master Farmer opened her mouth with so many questions, it almost made Gaelle's head spin. She listened intently, cataloging the words in her head. Annika made several interesting points, and also inadvertently told Gaelle exactly what the Weyrwoman had to educate her on.

"Whoa, whoa! Okay, reign your runners, Master Farmer! Your heart is enthusiastic, and I like that, but you ask too many questions to answer at once." Gaelle giggled and held her chin in thought. "We've opened up feeding on herds from the west, near abandoned Monaco Bay, and down by Paradise River, several dragonlengths away from that abandoned hold." She nodded. "The herds there were examined by the riders--by no means experts, but familiar enough with herdbeasts to spot a healthy animal and know it." She chuckled. "We haven't had any contact with the holds, besides Ponaa, as usual." She waved her hand dismissively. "With the bounty of the jungle at the foot of our peak, there's nary a reason for tithing. It would be nice to be shown the respect due the dragonriders, but until a day as we can demand it, we shall not have it." Her eyes shone a steely silver-grey for moments, and then returned to a soft cloudy color. "In any case, yes, the population, both human and dragon, of the Weyr will be on a steady rise. The answer is not to halt that growth, but find ways to encourage it and support it. As Master Farmer, it will be your task to find procedures ot implement that achieve those ends. The Weyr must grow, the threat of thread wearies our numbers every fight." She smiled. "Also, it would behoove the Weyr to know what is different about the foreign herds and the herds at Ponaa. I would like for you to research the Farming portion of the problem and perhaps find some answers."

Gaelle was pleased with herself again. That should preoccupy Annika for some time, giving Gaelle more time to work on her own plans. It was hard enough to plan without E'dian around; the last thing she needed was a nosy crafter sniffing around.

[lastthoughts]

"Of course," Annika said. "I'll start working on both problems right away. But, ah."

She finished her drink, then looked down into the empty cup, considering.

"I had a selfish hope, I suppose, that the riders weren't heading out only to feed. I'm sure you know a bit of how the Crafters here are. I'm worried we'll get...stale." She closed her eyes, and pinched the bridge of her nose, then smiled wearily and looked back at Gaelle.

"I'm sorry, I must sound childish or rambling. Some days, though, I wish for things people used to have more freely. Journeymen on actual journeys. A chance to sit with a stranger and an equal and talk genuine innovation. Maybe I'm romantic, but there you are." Annika rolled her shoulders and set the cup aside. Her eyes brightened, and she was again the usually serene farmer.

"Anyway that said... I understand systems. It's what I do, and I'm good at it. I know I'm overreaching this time, but if you ever need someone to throw ideas at, I'm more than a fair catch," there was no haughtiness to her tone, nothing cloying, just simple honesty. It wasn't a begged favor or obsequious attempt at gaining the Weyrwoman's confidence. It was nothing more or less than an offer of assistance and of comfortable conversation.

[fadingmemorie]

Gaelle smiled. "That's a wonderful idea, Annika. I would love to send the crafters of our Weyr out and about. And perhaps send some of them among the people to assess the beliefs about dragonriders, and maybe change that." She considered for a moment. "Traditionally, we would have used Harpers for that purpose, but I think we're going to have to improvise, given the lack of journeyman harpers to send out. In fact, I'm going to talk to E'dian about it tonight." The Weyrwoman smiled at the Master Farmer. This was going well.

((sorry, gotta leave the building I'm in))

[lastthoughts]

Annika glowed. "Thank you," she said, "That's just wonderful." She set down her teacup and rose. "I think it's about time I got back to work. I appreciate you giving me so much of your time."

As usual, it took little to get her mind reentrenched in thoughts of her work and study. She was glad she had come.