It's Business (tag: A'lez)

[hbk]

Weyrwoman Suynie

Suynie stood in the center of the Senior Weyrwoman's quarters, her eyes flicking around the room as she took in the bare features. Oh sure, there was a bed, and other furniture, all finely made pieces. A suitable circular rug was in the middle of the room and to the left of the bed there was a stone corridor that led down a short path to her office. It was all the space she needed, and there was even an alcove where she could set up a small loom for her weaving. It's just that Suynie hadn't imagined being inside the Weyrwoman's weyr until she was much older.

This ledge is perfect. Rhiannoth's voice oozed laziness and contentment as she draped her large, golden form over the ledge, her head tilted to the side so that she could view dragons coming and going from the Weyr. I'll have to find a nice, big bronze to share this ledge with. Rhiannoth said more to herself than to Suynie.

While there had been more than one person who had offered to help Suynie unpack, the new Weyrwoman preferred to do it herself. Unpacking gave her a simple task to keep her hands busy while her brain raced with thoughts of all the things she needed to do now that she was back at Refuge. First things first, she needed to invite A'lez over so that they could discuss Weyr business, the only problem was that she got the feeling that she wasn't very popular with the bronzerider. It certainly wasn't something she could help, Suynie thought to herself as she began unpacking, it wasn't her fault that Raelwyn and Aeriath were at Haven. Suynie was merely following orders.

If Rhiannoth would just rise and show the Weyr that she's not a Weyrling anymore, things would be better. Suynie thought, shielding them from her dragon as she neatly folded tunics and jerkins and placed them in corresponding drawers.

At least there had been some dragonriders present at her arrival that seemed happy to have her back, granted, most of them had been people that she'd graduated from Weyrlinghood with, but still, it helped knowing that there was a group, no matter how small, that believed she could be the leader that the Weyr needed.

With a sigh, Suynie blew a strand of her dark hair out of her face and then tucked it behind her ear as she put her hands on her hips and surveyed the progress of her unpacking so far. She wasn't finished, but at least the place looked like someone lived there. There was a homemade quilt on the bed, a couple of tapestries on the walls, and there were even a few knickknacks that she'd received from some of the weyrbrats at Haven before leaving.

Please inform A'lez and Neinoth that we're settled if they wish to come over to discuss Weyr business. Suynie had talked to a drudge before coming up and she was pleased to see that a fresh pitcher of klah had been delivered to her office. Settling herself in the Weyrwoman's chair, Suynie began pulling out ledgers, hides, notes, all of the hidework that had been left behind by Raelwyn.

Neinoth, my rider says that she is ready to meet with the Weyrleader to discuss business. She waits in her office. Rhiannoth informed the Weyrleader's bronze.

[Marnark]

Neinoth's head came up when he heard the young Gold's words. Turning toward where A'lez would be, even if he couldn't actually see the man working, he relayed the message. Which earned a long sigh from the Weyrleader. "I am pretty sure I told her to come see me, not to summon me like some maid-in-waiting." He grumped, taking the time to roll up everything he'd been working with.

He had a high heap to work with. What with having been more or less running the entire Weyr by himself for as long as he had. Not only did he have to cover what had traditionally been the Weyrwoman's duties of all the domestic affairs, he'd had to cover what was traditionally his duties ... as well as tacking on all this business with the North. It wasn't a small chore. He was busy all hours of every day, long into the night.

Being summoned did not bode well with him. Being summoned was also not what he'd told her. She could wait. He had things to do after all. Once he got his desk cleaned up suitably and everything put away where he could find it again (And not where Tig could shred anything), he picked up a few select scrolls before heading out to where the Weyrwoman's office was. Indeed, he did have his doubts about whether or not Suynie knew what kind of shoes she was stepping into and whether or not she was ready to fill them. She was young and inexperienced. Usually a Rider was well seasoned well before they ever stepped into any kind of leadership role - not one straight of out weyrlinghood.

When he reached the door he didn't even bother to knock. Instead he just opened it and strode into the room. Shutting the door behind him he walked over to the desk where Suynie was seated. Without any preamble he set the scrolls down on the desk, ensuring he had her attention. "Next time, pay attention to what I tell you and how I tell you." A'lez told her firmly. "You may be a Gold rider. While that does earn you status, it does not earn you respect. Respect aside, you cannot just order people around. While you can get away with that with the weyrfolk, it is ill advised. You do that to the Riders and they will grow to detest you. Bear that in mind, lest you steer this place awry. We cannot afford unrest in this Weyr."

With a single finger he tapped one of the scrolls. "Tomorrow I will bring you all of the current parchments on your duties. There are Tithes to be cataloged, Holds to be seen to. Supplies to be managed, and the Headwoman will likely wish to go over a lot of it with you. The stacks are still in my office. Don't bother with what you find here - it is all long out of date. If you need help understanding any of it, I have made footnotes. If that does not help, come find me. Do not ever summon the Weyrleader again, whether that individual is me or not. I am extremely busy, and cannot just drop everything to come running at your whim. When you have the spare time to need to see me, you come see me."

Again, he tapped a scroll. Though this time it was more of a point than of a gesture made to make a point. "This parchment holds a list of names and of damages. The names are of the dead. You will need to write notes to the families of everyone on the list and have them sent off to the Holds to inform their families. This is the aftermath of the Holdless attack that occurred here." Indeed, Haven was not the only Weyr to be hit. "We were lucky and did not lose very many Riders. But the Weyrfolk toll was high. Physical damage to our facilities were fairly minor, but they also need seen to, to make sure the resources are requisitioned for their repairs. You will also need to make sure the crafters that are needed are sent for."

"I am in the process of reworking the wings to adjust for the Dragon loss that we did sustain. I should have it completed fairly soon, the changes are not that big. Our Weyrling Gold did survive, as I am sure you have seen, since she greeted you. You are also going to have to put in a request to the Holds for more healing supplies. You'll need to meet with the Weyrhealer to find out what exactly those supplies are, as I had not gotten that far yet. Make sure you get an accurate list - getting some of what they don't need won't help them any." Some of it was common sense stuff, but he needed to make sure she paid attention to the details. For that was where the catch was. If the details were not attended to, the Weyr would fall apart at the seams.

"The Shield are staying close to home for now. They used to report directly to Raelwyn. But then she more or less got them started as what they are now. If you would prefer to delegate them elsewhere, I will keep them on. To put it bluntly, they nor I expect that the Holdless will be back terribly soon. But the guard is high anyway. Soon they will have to return to their usual rounds. Already wild feline activity is higher than it has been. The Holds are feeling the loss of Shield activity." A'lez informed her.

"So far as Holds go, we have extra Holds to deal with. I am turning the Southern Holds over to you. But you have to understand what I am doing before you can understand what you will need to be doing with them. Our Holds are fixing to be growing by leaps and bounds, possibly expanding and-or starting new Holds in new areas of the Jungle." He picked up the other scroll and unrolled it. It was massive and covered most of her desk when he laid it back down - it was a world map. "I have riders scouting out areas that would be suitable for colonization. Because these Holds..." He pointed out more than a handful of Holds on the Northern Continent. "Are going to be moving in. We are bringing their young first, integrating them into foster homes. Crafters will soon follow. With more young backs and skilled hands, Hold growth should go smoothly. Once that is established, the rest of the Northern population should integrate easily enough. Space wise."

A'lez paused for a moment. "This is where you come in. There will be unrest. North and South aren't going to mesh very easily, though I am doing my best to try and regulate it and direct it so that any clashes that happen will be minimal. The culture is different. The statuses are different ... and there is the underlying animosity. We also have additional supply management to master. I have some of the Holds gathering foodstuffs from the jungles. Riders are taking these nets of food to the North to feed those who can't come South yet. They have nothing up there. I mean nothing. Thread has ravaged them to horrifying straits. I will be attempting to run thread flights over key areas up there, but we are already stretched thin just covering our local area."

That said, he looked at Suynie and sighed slowly. In a softer tone he continued. "I hope your dragon proves fertile. We need the dragons desperately. Now more than ever before." Truth be known, they didn't have enough Gold to supply the dragons they needed. Between the two Weyrs they had a total of three golds. One adult, two weyrling. Raelwyn's beast was staying at Haven, obviously. That left Refuge with two weyrling Golds. What they needed was two or three adult Golds per Weyr ... and a half dozen more Weyrs at that.

But they didn't have it. A'lez also hoped that Rhiannoth would supply more than one clutch every seven turns. They needed the Golds to be producing every Turn. Hopefully with Thread falling, it would happen. Though he really did worry about it ... according to the records, Golds usually started upping their clutch sizes many Turns before threadfall started. It hadn't happened this time. But then according to records, Golds had usually clutched every turn even during intervals - even if the clutches had been quite small.

They were running way behind. Too far behind to even get caught up before the Pass ended some fifty turns in the future. It was a lot to worry about.

"Any questions?" A'lez asked, aware that he'd only hit the tips of the icebergs. There was a lot more that she needed to know. But he was also aware that it was best if such things were paced. The last thing he needed was for this girl to get overwhelmed and go hide under her furs.

Shardit, he needed a Weyrwoman. Not a Weyrling girl! But obviously he would have to work with what he had, and hope to Faranth she'd rise to the occasion.

[hbk]

Suynie listened to the man with inner anger beginning to swell. While she realized that she was only just out of Weyrlinghood, she was stepping into the place of the Weyrwoman regardless, and she would demand respect as such, "My apologies, Weyrleader, if you felt summoned. As you can see," she spread her hands to indicate the hidework she'd already unearthed, "I have a lot to get started on so I thought it best if you came here so that I could continue getting caught up. Yes, Rhiannoth has not risen, and yes, I am young, but I'll not tolerate being led around by the nose, either. Understood? I respect you because you're the Weyrleader and you've been under a lot of strain maintaining this Weyr by yourself. You may see me as a child, but all thoughts of childhood or Weyrlinghood ended the day I was sent to Haven. Trust me when I say I can do this," the woman's eyes were hard. "My schedule is just as important as yours and I'd like to think that we can agree to call upon each other as needed since we are a team. I won't wait around for any little spare moment in the hopes of seeing you, if I need your assistance Rhiannoth will contact Neinoth, and if you need my assistance, you can do the same."

The young Weyrwoman was not at all impressed by A'lez's behavior. While she understood the stress the man was under and while she agreed that his methods had kept the Weyr afloat, she didn't think verbally accosting the the Weyr's senior gold a wise decision either.

"Now, I will, of course, support in every way the decision to bring the Northerners down. I'll work with the Southern Holders in order to insure that the integration goes as seamlessly as possible." Suynie, while talking, was jotting down a to-do list, "The letters to the the family of those that died will be handled quickly," she told him before continuing, "and as far as Rhiannoth goes...." Here Suynie sighed a bit, "I understand your concern about her being fertile and about clutching. I know, believe me, that the Weyr needs a strong clutch, and not just one here and there, but one every Turn. I've talked to Rhiannoth about it on more than one occasion and she seems neither worried nor stressed. In fact, she's quite sure of her fertility and ability to gift the Weyr with many clutches. I guess we'll know when we see it."

Sliding her list aside, Suynie folded her hands and looked up at A'lez, "I want our partnership to work, Weyrleader, and I want you to know that I'm doing everything possible to step into this role quickly and steadfastly. I think you'll find that not only do I not quit, I'm a quick learner as well. You won't be disappointed."

[Marnark]

A'lez had just about talked himself down out of the irritation she'd provided him first thing, in telling her everything that he had told her. But her response only fired it up again. His gaze burned and flared as he regarded her in heavy silence after what she said. Just about the only thing she'd done just then was solidify the whole idea that she was just an impertinent child. A'lez straightened where he stood, resting only his fingertips on the surface of her desk.

"Your first lesson here is that respect is earned and not automatic." He rumbled. "Get the work I have assigned you done, and then we will talk further." It irritated him greatly to have the youngster already assuming herself equals in the Leadership when she was still wet behind the ears. Equals called upon one another as equals, true. But she had yet to even touch the reins, yet to feel the strength and fortitude that it took to hold them. She was a greenhorn, stepping into a ring of seasoned Riders, and demanding to be acknowledged.

She was in for a shock if she thought it worked that way. "When you have proven yourself, then I will consider you as such. Not before. Until then, it would do you good to not alienate yourself and listen when I tell you something. I am not dropping everything that is your duty on you all at once. If i did, it would be catastrophic to the Weyr. As such, I remain far busier than you can imagine. If you need me, you come to me." He reiterated.

"Now, I will leave you to your tasks. You have much to catch up on. When you are ready for updated skins, I will inform you where to find them. These you find here, as I have already said, are far out of date and will not tell you anything but what was going on back when Raelwyn left over a turn ago." A'lez stood up straight, then. "You are learning. Do not presume yourself more than that." He warned, before turning and leaving the room. He did, after all, have more than plenty to do to have the time to argue with a pompous brat who thought she knew what she was talking about.

She had no idea.

[hbk]

Suynie waved her hand to A'lez's retreating form, as he left, in a dismissal. What a pompous wherry he is, Rhiannoth. She told her dragon as she continued to read the "out of date" things left by Raelwyn. He also, apparently, does not know the value of history. If I can learn what Raelwyn was doing and what happened while she was here then I can learn patterns for mistakes and success. Now who is wet behind the ears, dear Weyrleader? Chuckling a bit over the audacity of the man, Suynie leaned back in her chair and began scribbling notes to herself with her stylus.

Apparently the Weyrleader had forgotten that the Senior Queen was the authority in the Weyr, regardless of experience. The dragons looked to the queens for guidance, reverence, and support. Granted, with the death of queens, and the departure of Raelwyn and Aeriath, perhaps A'lez had forgotten a true Weyrwoman's place. Suynie was determined that he would learn it, and soon. She wasn't there to bicker with him, but neither was she there to be treated as a child. She'd already proven that she was more than that, and if he wanted to continue to hold all of her duties to his chest, so be it. Suynie would be there to tsk at him when he faltered and it all came crashing down on his head.


OOC: Nice place to end, eh? It's been great! These two are hilarious together! Look forward to more soon!