Logs:Wingleader Notes
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| RL Date: 21 April, 2008 |
| Who: Leova, I'ro, S'trun, Sh'dor |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Leova is one of the four original weyrlings put on the "silver thread" track. Their extra work included taking notes at wingleader meetings. They aren't going to be weyrlings much longer. |
| Where: HRW |
| When: Day 7, Month 2, Turn 16 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: L'vae/Mentions, Selchin/Mentions, Melata/Mentions, B'yan/Mentions, Satiet/Mentions, F'der/Mentions, B'ren/Mentions, Shanlee/Mentions, N'thei/Mentions |
| She likes watching them work. It took her a while. First came taking notes as fast as she could, scrambling to write it all down, thinking it all could be important. And it all can be, but mostly it isn't, and she had to learn the difference. By the time she could write faster, by the time her wrist and arm no longer burned from the unfamiliar work, she had made up a template where all it took was filling things in. Template was another of her new words. She was still the slowest of their four, but she supposed someone had to be. Which didn't mean she didn't keep at it. There was a lot to fill in. The four of them came up with their own shorthand, symbols for "Pissed off some holders, same as usual." "Saved their asses, same as usual." Like that. Which also became handy for writing comments to each other in the margins, comments that would never make it into the wingleaders' copies. Some time later, she was able to listen, really listen. She started to understand, more than just by rote. She wrote down less. Made sure she got the basics, the requirements. The extras were more for the other three, and then for the other four. It was L'vae who got her noticing different things. Meetings weren't usually so long, but they still had patterns. Not just what they said or even how they said it, but who they said it to. Who they sat next to, who they never sat next to. Who met up afterward, who never did. Who did things different because they changed their minds. And who did things different only because the man in the Weyrleader's chair said to. What she got to noticing later was when the patterns broke.
These people have gotten so good at what they do. And they know each other. She likes, really likes, seeing them come to the table together and make things click. But now she also likes it when they argue. That's when she learns the most, when someone makes a point and then has to defend it. When they explain what they think and why, instead of just going with the assumptions that all of them know. Some of those assumptions, she and the other weyrlings recognize from theory by now. Others haven't made it to theory yet, haven't been separated from the people who live them. So. Arguments. Bringing out where ideas work and where they fail. Why something worked one sevenday and not another. Why they might work next sevenday. Or not. She doesn't like asking questions. Interrupting. Every now and again, though, she has to stop herself from asking things that aren't meant to get a straight answer so much as to keep them talking about the borderlines. The whys. Mostly she succeeds.
B'yan can be the most distracting, at least for her. He's the one who can never be counted on to look in a particular direction. The one who manages to pay attention without looking like it, or maybe it's just that he can pull answers out of thin air. The one who seems like he can't wait to leave but doesn't send a wingsecond in his stead. When the weyrlings drilled with Snowstrike, he had more patience than she expected. She wonders things, sometimes, but she doesn't ask. It doesn't seem right. Satiet is so quiet. Not the kind of quiet that lurks until she can say something sharp, but just quiet. The other wingleaders speak. She responds. It's afterward that a weyrling can learn the most from her, though it's better to get a solid breakfast ahead of time, because you never know how long it will last. Thing is, what she says can keep you coming back for more. Not right away. But when you can take it. Or maybe a little later than that. F'der, she couldn't follow to begin with. When she learned what a different world he came from, though, she knew why. After a while, she got to thinking she understood him a little better, but later she realized that she understood other things better, and he made sense because they made sense. She likes that. Likes what he talks about even casually, even when she's eavesdropping. And she's pretty positive Vrianth would like Icicle, too. But she's not letting it get as far as hope. There are others, of course. Including B'ren. She really, really wants to see how he does it, how he keeps his Hailstorm together. That one drill wasn't near enough. Something in her wants to go for it, to ask to fly with him, even. It's a challenge. Rough on her, maybe, she's not so blind not to see that. And she and Vrianth would do better to get more experience first, transfer in later. But it's a challenge she thinks they could really sink their teeth into. Shanlee is savvy, her mind twisty, and that serves High Reaches well in more than 'Fall. More than tactics and strategy, even. A weyrling's got a lot to learn from her. Sometimes a woman, if she weren't kept too busy, might worry about her: not what she's like on the job but afterward. So brittle. So soft. But that woman might also be pretty sure Shanlee wouldn't want her to. In the end, N'thei knows how to use Shanlee. And they're all lucky she lets him. N'thei, she watches. Mostly when he's not likely to look her way. She's wished that she could have been at the meeting when he first sat in that chair. He doesn't waste time, that much she'll give him. He's also not dismissive of the other wingleaders, unless someone says something that's actually stupid, or maybe when he's sporting his latest injury and a hangover to go with it. Even then, he usually makes them laugh. What he doesn't do is shape things so whatever they say is wrong. But then, he can't afford to try. Not with them. These wingleaders, some of them, what you see outside of meetings is what you get inside. Others are completely different beasts.
She's going to miss it. |
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