Candidate Meeting: Last Chance To Run

[Mikki]

In all honesty, Milune was learning something and she didn't particularly like it. Prisoners were being treated as less than humans. While she could understand that for the really violent ones, the ones who were being allowed to stand were the non-violents. Everybody was entitled to make a mistake in their life. But not everybody got caught. Apparently those that did were treated like dung. This didn't sit very well with the humanitarian healer. Sure, she wasn't against defending herself against a wayward prisoner if she had to. Shells, she'd even injured a few like that. But she was loathe to cause pain if she didn't have to.

Keen brown eyes narrowed as she listened to the banter going on around her. She would have to agree with the male candidate. Giving them false hope was cruel. The lass knew that not everybody would be fair or open minded when it came to prison weyrlings. Some people might even go out of their way to cause them trouble. That was a prospect she didn't like and her question spawned from such thoughts wasn't a particularly nice one. "What if a Weyrling has their dragon crippled then it is later found out that they did not do the crime? What can the Weyr possibly do to compensate them for something like that?", she asked with a deceptively calm tone of voice.

In reality, she was rather angry. Her firelizard was even picking up on it in her sleep, wings twitching as she dozed in her mistress's lap. Though, the woman did a very good job at hiding it herself. Her expression was carefully neutral as she stared at L'vey. Oh, his answer was bound to be a good one. She'd bet ten marks that he had no idea what they would do if such a situation arose. Indeed, the Weyr would probably end up going into a riot if a dragon was unjustly crippled, particularly the Queen.

[Wren]

Sheraz listened to L’vey explaining his opinion about metallics, and the young man scowled a little. The weyrlingmaster hadn’t really dwelt much on what would happen if a prisoner Impressed a bronze, but he put it from his mind now. It sounded as though such a weyrling would be treated exactly the same as a prisoner with any of the lower colours, and besides, the chances of their being a bronze were apparently so low that Sheraz thought he needn’t worry about it.

The young man looked about with interest at the thought of the prisoner-candidates sharing accommodation with the ordinary ones. He didn’t see why not; after all if he could be trusted enough to Stand for a clutch, surely he could be trusted not to try and hurt anyone; he wasn’t a violent man. In fact he was social by nature, even if others some people did find him unbeatable, and he thought he would quite like to properly get to know the non-prisoner weyrlings, so long as they weren’t reluctant to spend time with a prisoner. That in itself seemed rather unlikely, judging by the nervous, awkward way they looked at him and his fellows and Sheraz thought that Gwynell’s plan was unlikely to be met with much warmth.

Sheraz turned his mind back to the clutch itself, and for a moment he speculated on what the dragonets might be like. No golds or bronzes, apparently, which was sad, so that just left the ordinary greens, blues and browns. It was at that point that Sheraz decided to voice something that had been bothering him. “L’vey,” He began, pushing himself forward a little, “D’you think some of the clutch could be sort of… deformed, like the mother?” He tilted his head to the side. Everyone at the Weyr knew about Semith’s odd stunted wing, and Sheraz thought such things might be hereditary. That said, he didn’t know much about dragonkind and thought he ought to ask someone with a little more experience in the subject. After a moment he added, “And, if they are, someone who Impresses one still get the same freedom as the others?"

[lithle]

And there, at last, the soft was stripped away, and L'vey looked Milune, and then at the entire gathered group, with what momentarily appeared to be confusion. He had expected ambivalence, and shock, of course, over the crippling. But this group seemed to lean rather close to resentment. Resentment, when no one had been required to stand. When the prisoners were being given a chance at freedom they might not otherwise had.

The dragon-watch had not yet decided to handle such things, leaving Warden's in a position to simply hold people, until the watch changed their mind. It was another subject L'vey was working on.

A chance to impress, and wasn't that everything? No dragon need be harmed. There were so many dangers, but it could be okay.

It seemed he was the only one to see that.

"What if, upon impressing, a former duster uses again, and kills their lifemate, ruining themselves in the process?" he asked, in the same, soft tone he'd used the entire lecture. "What if a former dealer, once graduated, gets in touch with old contacts and uses the role of a dragonrider to reach custom all over Pern? How many lives will that destroy? How many more will it end entirely? What could I possible do to compensate for something like that?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, nightmare visions dancing briefly through his consciousness. "There are many risks. I believe the one you bring up is one of the more unlikely ones. No one wants to see a dragon crippled. It will not be done without overwhelming evidence. If it happened, nothing could compensate for what had been done. Even if it happens with reason, an innocent will be harmed in punishment for the deed of another. The act is unspeakable, regardless of the rider's guilt or innocence."

And they'd do it anyway. He'd do it anyway.

He was silent, allowing the weight of his words, and they were very heavy words, to sink in.

Sheraz's question was a blunt one, and L'vey was glad enough that Leshta wasn't in earshot. The Weyrwoman did not take the word 'deformed' well. "To answer your second question first, every prisoner who impresses will be afforded the same opportunities, regardless of the dragon's physical condition at hatching. I'm afraid the first question is unanswerable. We have no way to know. Regardless, Semith is a fine dragon, unusual or no. There is more to having a lifemate than a functional set of wings."

[twisting]

Kuriel sat quietly, her face passive, as she listened to everyone’s questions. Kuriel had already made up her mind what her course of action would be. L’vey description of what would happen should a rider turn dust distributer just about fit the bill. She planned on waiting until her dragon was old enough to earn her freedom from this place, though she was unlikely to turn down an opportunity to use before that. Should one arise. Kuriel didn’t care if any dragon she impressed was crippled, she didn’t even care if it died. Life in the prison was one colorless day after another. It wasn’t a life worth living, not without the thrill that dust gave her.

But she should seem concerned, it was only appropriate. L’ver’s final words brought the question bubbling to her lips. “Like what?” She asked in a lilting voice. “What is there to having a lifemate. . . besides the wings?” The question wasn’t entirely a filler to make it seem as though she cared. She truly was curious about what impressing a dragon would be like.

[nemix]

The sand was warm, the food was for once far from boring, and the discussion was actually something worth listening to. For Tiael, today was the most interesting day she'd had in.....well, lets say quite a while. The young woman had buried her feet in the sand, letting as much of the warmth in even as the sun set slowly. She'd listened, eaten, though quite honestly what she'd pulled off the trays was hard to remember, there'd been far more pressing matters at hand. For a start, she was here, among those prisoners who were actually going to be allowed to Stand. That, in itself, had been a monumental task in her opinion. For one, it had meant strictly behaving ever since the first whisper of getting a chance at Impressing had been mentioned. For another it had also meant she'd had to stop a rather well thought out (in her opinion), plan of escaping involving as much cloth as she could lay her hands on, some wood, and a lot of creativity.

Quite frankly, she'd dismissed the dragons as soon as she'd emerged out the other side of 'detox'. A completely pointless exercise for her, but they were insistent and who was she to argue? No, the dragons had been tantalising but she knew, far too well guarded and protected. Oh she had imagined brave attempts at sneaking onto the sands for the first few months, when a clutch was there. She'd even been sure she'd have been protected because who could argue with a dragon? Apparently, Warden's could. She'd been stunned when she'd heard about the crippling and was silently thankful she hadn't spent too much time bothering to hatch a master plan for securing a dragon egg of her own. There was no way she'd ordinarily be allowed anywhere near dragon eggs here. At least....until now.

A low profile and helpful public face had served her well so far, even if she often wondered if it was possible for parts of your brain to shut down due to monotony. When news of Standing swept round, Tiael had all but bounced at the chance. The discussion was proving, enlightening to say the least. There were rules, more rules and it seemed twice the punishment for the prisoners. It was causing a fair amount of fairly well guarded irritation and she could understand it. There would be more walls for them to even get to having a vaguely normal life by Warden standards. Yet still, there was always that horizon and always that chance, to have a life that was not her current one. The thing was, really, there'd been no mention of release. There never was. You were stuffed away here until you either went completely mad or fitted neatly in a box. Tiael had no intention of reaching either end to the road. Sure it was unfair, but at least you weren't going to be doing the same thing day in and day out. Anyone who escaped, would be dragged back. This way, you could actually (in theory) make it so that you could simply fly out the door. The main problem, was that Tiael knew she'd have to do everything by the book. Scheming, would possibly be impossible; everyone knew dragons were so honest it was almost blinding. Still, what if she could work with her dragon, what if there was a way to help get that mind round to her way of thinking? That was an idea that caused her to settle back in the sands a little and think while the rest of the discussion flowed around her.

Tiael tuned in again to hear the talk about deformed dragons and this caused her to sit up slightly. A deformed dragon could make things, tricky. However L'vey could give no guarantee either way which, given the circumstances seemed logical. Still, it was yet another point to ponder. They appeared to be fair as far as opportunities went, simply harsher on the punishment side. Quite honestly, you'd have to be an absolute dimglow to give people the higher ups more reason to pick on you. You were going to have a dragon for Faranth's sake, if you didn't take care of it properly of course they were going to stomp on any bad behaviour pretty quick. It was a huge risk on the Weyr's part, but one Tiael was glad they were taking. It would see her out and free again in...well, several turns but that was better than the alternative.

Idly Tiael flicked the sand by her legs and traced aimless patterns among the grains. It was unusual for her to be quiet, but there was so much to consider here that she really hadn't felt the need to step in the way of the flow of things. There was much to be absorbed and things seemed to be following a logical path. One question really stuck in her brain though, and the usually cheerful woman snorted as people seemed to be puzzling over what the point of the dragons were if not just a set of wings. “There's a future, for one.” Tirael said simply, leaning back on her elbows in the sand she flicked her gaze across the group and sighed. “Look it's not perfect I know, hardly fair in some cases but honestly, what else is there to do? Keep working in the fields? Wow. Maybe practice a craft you'll probably never be allowed to take up properly? Can't say that really has me jumping for joy.” She sat up and shrugged, dusting the sands off her hands and watching the mess spatter her red uniform. “We get an opportunity. Not, a fantastically fairly stacked one I'll grant you but we get a dragon, maybe. A chance to do something that's not.....” she waved her hands towards the walls of their 'home', “this. You don't have to Stand, no one is being forced, are we?” She said, flicking her gaze towards L'vey questioningly, even though they'd come to this meeting, they'd done so to understand the rules and just because they'd now been told she wanted to be sure they hadn't just been conscripted. “I'd hope not anyway.” She said, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. “I know I'd rather spend my time doing something other than the norm for this place.”

Perhaps a little over the top she mused, as she settled in and was quiet again; but you couldn't miss an opportunity for a good public opinion swaying. This program needed to work, if it was ever going to get her out of here. That meant people needed to try, or they'd just shove them back in cells and that'd be the end of it. It probably wouldn't work on that many, but maybe the promise of separate housing, what was sure to be a rousing speech from L'vey on the many benefits of dragons, along with the chance of change, would be just enough to get a few more on side and at least see the idea off the ground.

[twisting]

Kuriel listened to the other prisoner’s little speech passively. The words skittered across Kuriel like a stone skipping across a lake. Touching but not really making an impact. She waited quietly until the other girl was finished before answering. When she did speak her words were neutral, lacking anger or even passion. She may as well have been describing what the mess hall was serving for dinner. “I was more concerned about the mental aspects of impressing a dragon. As for changing the future?” She shrugged. “Whether I am in the field herding goats or on a dragon herding people I see little difference. The guards are trapped here as surely as we are.”

Kuriel thought the same of every person on the sad little planet they lived on. They were all trapped in the lives they led. Trapped in their crafts trapped in their families, trapped by their position. The walls of this prison were just a bit more solid than the walls that held the rest of the population. Kuriel’s walls hugged her closer than most, trapping her inside her own broken mind. Only dust knocked those walls down and let her live. She kept these opinions to herself however. People tended to look at her funny when she revealed her outlook on life. While she didn’t mind the funny looks, she didn’t want the weyrling master to pull her from candidacy.

[lithle]

L'vey was silent as the two young women spoke. The first speaker had asked a common question, one with few answers that could be expressed using the vocabulary that L'vey possessed. If he could have spoken of deities, of grace, of the soul, he might have had an answer. As such, he was only starting to formulate thought into words when the second woman spoke.

Her answer was, well, certainly practical. Almost distressingly so. The dragons were a path toward freedom, yes. But dragons weren't tools. They were beings, not so much equal as greater than those they bonded to. At least, they were in L'vey's rather biased and unique viewpoint.

Once they had both finished speaking, he added his own voice to the conversation. "No one has to stand," he said first, reiterating the statement, his tone firm, but not forceful. "No one will ever be forced to stand. We can only ask."

"And that you strive to more than what you have now is admirable. But, there is more to impressing a dragon than mere freedom."

He allowed his gaze to do a slow, sweeping scan of the entire crowd. "If you think of what your most passionate about, whatever has most deeply moved you, given you meaning, you have some small idea of how a rider feels toward their dragon. We use the term 'lifemate' because we can not imagine life beyond them. We begin and end with them, and they with us."

A pause then, as he looked at Faeth, before turning back to the candidates. "Dragons die, if they lose their rider. Riders generally kill themselves without their dragon. I'm sure you know this. Realize, that to stand is to allow yourself to become so intertwined with another being that you'll lack the strength to go on without them."

Well, that seemed a decent way to end things, and he did not want to keep them up too late.

"I believe that's enough for one evening, unless there are any other questions."