Weyrwoman Summit

Posted on Sun Feb 19th, 2023 @ 9:32pm by Goldrider Naela & Goldrider Kenna & Goldrider Halinah

Mission: KVW
Location: KVW
Summary: Weyrwomen from Kere Valla and Cascade Weyrs join up to discuss Weyr Business
Timeline: M4, D6

Naela walked across to the ledge where her Gold was sunning. **Sooseth, any word on our guests?**

}:They are coming.:{

**Well, yes, yes they are. Are they on their way yet?**

The gold's eyes whirled. }:Soon.:{

Naela sighed and walked back into her weyr where there was a sitting table already set with steaming Klah, iced Benden Wine, and assorted treats. They met thrice a turn, to go over any needs, wants, complaints, and general gossip. This was the time that Naela enjoyed having company. Ever since the Weyrleader had went between after a bad threadfall, she had found herself a bit lonely. Of course she had put on a strong face for the weyr. Sooseth should be rising here soon. That would be interesting to see who would catch her. Nevertheless, it was still tough dealing with everything. The wingleaders have done a wonderful job over the last couple of months and Kere Valla was doing well. **Just let me know when they arrive, please.**

Mesith bugled the arrival of her rider, Cascade Weyrleader Halinah, and the junior gold rider, Kenna. Kenna's Gold, Tith, added her own greeting for the watch dragons of Kere Valla Weyr before spiraling after the Weyrwoman and her large sleek gold. The landing on the ledge in front of the cavern that housed Weyrwoman Naela and her own gold dragon was accomplished smoothly and soon Halinah was removing Mesinth's riding harness. Mesinth nosed her rider with her wedge shaped head.

}:Hurry. The beach awaits!:{

Halinah gave her dragon a thin-lipped smile, **Wait for Tith.**

}:No!:{ Mesith snorted and launched herself off the ledge and going /between/ before her rider could reprimand her.

Halinah pulled off her helmet and straightened her thick graying braid. It irritated her knowing that her own dragon did not care for the newly transferred gold. Halinah knew that the younger woman and her gold were not quite what she hoped for in future Weyrwoman material, but gold dragons were a rare commodity and she would have to make do with what she had.

She proceeded to the entrance without a glance to Kenna, and was happy to hear the jogging footsteps catching up to her own long strides.

Kenna fell in with her Weyrwoman while pulling her wrinkled tunic smooth. The air was milder than Cascade Weyr's spring temperatures. Not as warm as the cothold in which she had been raised, but still friendlier than her new home in the North.

"Please do not embarrass me by complaining how cold it is at Cascade," Halinah advised with a side glance at the much shorter woman beside her.

Kenna could feel the scowl wanting to creep over her features, but settled into a neutral look. It was like Halinah was reading her mind!

"Yes, Halinah. I mean no... I mean," Kenna stumbled over her reply before shutting her mouth. She caught Halinah's eye roll then recomposed herself. "I won't embarrass you. I promise."

A nod from Halinah led the two woman into the darker interior of the weyr.

Naela stood after she was told they had arrived and moved over to greet them. She was dressed in a light weight linen light blue dress that complimented her fiery braided hair that was wrapped around the crown of her head, and called out to them. "Welcome back to Kere Valla, Weyrwomen Halinah and Kenna. Hopefully our warm weather for your visit will tide you over until your warm weather appears," she stated, smiling. "It's just going to be us today. The other Weyrs are busy. Come in, help yourself to refreshments. Got a lovely assortment sent from the Headwoman."

Removing her riding jacket, Halinah nodded to Naela, "I always look forward to your hospitality, Naela. I have tried to woo your headwoman away to Cascade several times over the last decade, but she is loyal. And it is spring up North, getting quite mild actually, although Kenna will try to convince you otherwise. She would surely be much happier back here on the Southern Continent but we need her at Cascade. "

Kenna's shoulders slumped. Halinah's tone, as polite and cordial as it was, still held the warning that the Weyrwoman had voiced before entering Naela's weyr. Do not embarrass me. Kenna pasted a smile on her face hoping her eyes did not betray the mild anger she was feeling.

"Yes, the weather is getting to be very pleasant " the junior gold rider stated as she took a seat at the table laden with food. Her mouth watered, but she waited for the two Senior Weyrwomen to take a leading action. Halinah had a habit of reminding Kenna to watch what she ate because 'It is obvious you tend towards being overweight if you don't watch yourself.'

Sitting down herself, Naela poured herself a glass of wine with a glass of water. She had already over done it on the klah for the day and probably shouldn't drink anymore of that herself. "Quite understandable. We, unfortunately, are in troubled times, and we have a ways to go to get things accomplished the way our ancestors had in the past. As for my headwoman, you can have her once you convince her to leave the South. Between you and I, even though I know she will only leave me over Faranth's shell, you'd probably have a better chance wooing her in the dead of winter. We do get a bit colder than Cascade does. She usually complains then."

It was all in jest. She knew that her headwoman would never leave, even though the headwoman knew that she was free to go wherever she wanted, regardless what she as the Weyrwoman wanted. "How are things going in Cascade after the winter? Thawing out? Getting back into the swing of things of worrying about Thread making landfall instead of turning into dust?"

"A winter of drilling and helping over Ista has kept everyone sharp," Halinah replied after taking a sip of excellent wine. "Kenna has been an asset along with Tith. They do fight will as a team and lead their wing with efficiency. Unfortunately there have been disturbing reports from Caybrook Fjord Hold and surrounding areas. Several raids on cotholds by bandits. A rise in murders. Very unsettling. As a weyr, we are more than busy with making sure Holds and Halls keep the green down and train their ground crews properly. We cannot fight Thread -and- take care of the policing of the Holds. That is the Lord Holder's responsibility."

Kenna sat up a bit straighter at the rare compliment from her Weyrwoman but kept silent when she heard the bitter rebuke against the Hold. She had not been privy to the news of the crime rate rise and felt a small inner wave of anger at being excluded by Halinah. She had as much right to the information since she was the Junior Weyrwoman of Cascade Weyr. Yet she kept silent as she knew speaking up would only draw down the disdain of Halinah. So she let her gaze wander over to Naela to see the Kere Valla Weyrwoman's reaction to the news.

A wave of shock and disappointment washed through Naela as she heard the news of rising crime rate. "There is precedent to remove a lord holder if he does not keep to his people, his hold, and to his lands. We may need to remind the Caybrook lord that if he can't keep to duties, we will be forced to intervene. It's a slippery slope though considering that they can refute their tithe. Very unsettling. Are you keeping a passive eye on this or letting the lord holder screw up enough to be able to remove him." She thanked the first shell that Floria River wasn't like this. Though it made her realize that maybe she should scrutinize Floria a bit more.

The Cascade Weyrwoman smiled ruefully,"Right now we will let the Lord Holder dig his own grave. No point in straining already tense ties with Caybrook. Kenna and her wing helped our Minecraft Hall create two new roads for the Hold for better access to river and to the weyr. It certainly put us in good stead with many of the cotholders as it allows for quicker trade. The Lord Holder has not been so grateful. So we shall see what comes in the next 2 months."

Kenna nearly choked on her juice when Halinah praised her for the road work. She remained silent but a warm flush suffused her face as she smiled to herself.

"And how are the Tithes from Floria River?" Halinah continued.

"They are on time, and sometimes, they toss in a couple of extra items from time to time. I don't know if they had extra or not, but we've got them in our stores for now, especially as we are now heading into the winter months. I did a personal visit the other day to make sure that everything was on track, especially since they had impending thread," she took a bite of one of the many pastries that the headwoman had sent up for them. "If you need help with keeping an eye on that Lord Holder for easier and quicker begones, especially with your Threadfall season picking up, let me know. I'll see what I can do to assist in this. How's everything else going at the Weyr?"

"I'm going to take the passive route for now," Halinah smiled darkly. "But I would appreciate it if you could send your Mind Healer Brinnlee to Caybrook. Have her go on the reason for checking in on how her program is going, but have her take stock of the situation as only a mind healer can."

Nodding, Naela took a sip of her drink and set it down. "Consider it done. I'll call her up today or tomorrow to have her head over. Schedule permitting, I can get her up within a couple of days for a duration. Can make a trip out of it and send some additional provisions. There's probably something going on in one of the halls that we can take an extended trip up North. I'll let you know when the 'caravan' is ready to go and what we find. Since you're hosting next month, I can bring the reports with me then so nothing is out of the ordinary."

"Perfect. It sounds like a smooth operation that the Lord Holder will be none the wiser for," the older Weyrwoman smiled as she started eyeing the food on the table. "I will also have Kenna visit a few of the more remote cotholds to find out what their views on our current situations are with Caybrook. No one will be wiser for a dragonrider doing a greenery check."

Again, Kenna was dumbfounded. Halinah was letting her participate actively in Weyr/Hold politics! She smiled slightly in satisfaction only to have the moment ruined by a loud gurgle from her empty stomach. She looked between Halinah and Naela in mortification. She had promised she wouldn't do anything to embarrass Halinah.

Without saying a word about the stomach growl, Naela glanced at Kenna and then down to the plate of food that was on the table. "Sounds like we have a plan. I do have some riders that venture North as well for family. They'd probably easily be willing to keep an eye out for anything unusual. We wouldn't want the babble mouths to find out so I'll keep the inquiries to the ones that I can trust."

The Cascade Senior Weyrwoman made the slightest of nods to her Second and continued her conversation with Naela, while Kenna carefully nibbled at a piece of fruit.

"The fewer people involved, the better," Halinah said. "I fully trust your choices, Naela, and appreciate your collaboration on this venture. And as I've just received word from Mesith that she has a belly full of fish and will now be taking a nap, maybe we should steer ourselves towards food and lighter topics ourselves."

Kenna grinned and nodded happily but quickly toned herself down when she caught Halinah's side eye glance.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Naela said, smiling and taking some food herself. "At least the seasons are changing for both of us; hopefully, less drastic this turn." Their conversation turned to the lighter things as their dragons napped and they finished out their meeting.