Chap. 51 Turf war

Chap. 51  Turf war

Siena sat at the conference table with Rondair and Marais.

"We've been friends and classmates since we Impressed. I think of you two as my sisters.

So I think we need to work together, right now, to see the Weyr doesn't fall apart after losing Danelle."

Marais looked at her hands, wondering how often she had twisted them in the last few days.

"I'm scared, Siena. I am not sure what we should do. All of our golds are from the same clutch. I am sure in, let's say the next three months, one …or all of them? are going to rise to mate at the same time. I don't ever want to see a fight between our girls. Not ever.  But the weyr needs a Weyrwoman NOW. Have you ever heard of a couple girls like us taking the job on even BEFORE a mating flight?"

Rondair shook her head. "I don't think I have. I would love to talk to Lessa, see how she managed."

"I'd love to talk to her regardless. But Rondair, we've been trained. By Danelle. She was so good, so patient, especially with me. I felt so stupid when I first started, but she took so much time with me, with us." Marais thought fondly of the deceased Weyrwoman.

"I don't care which of us makes Weyrwoman," Siena said. "No matter which of us makes it, I'll back you up."

"Me, too," the others added in unison.

"So, let's look at the jobs Danelle was doing."  She got up and turned to look at the slate board hanging from a beam in the room. It showed a schedule of the myriad tasks Danelle had been responsible for.

"By the egg, when you look at this you wonder how in the world any Weyrwoman gets ANYTHING done. There's so much," Rondair said, despairing.

"Let's split these three ways, so that everything is covered until our darlings rise to mate," Siena said, "Oh, Danelle, you were so efficient. Just like she taught us, these over here are tasks needing doing every day. All the way over there are tasks needing doing once in a while. So OUR task is to split THESE up, for now. Then, when one of our golds rise, most of these will already done."

The three looked them over, deciding which ones they were ready to take on. Marais, though, was a bit distracted by the concept of her gold mating. With who? She already knew who she DIDN'T want her dragon to mate with, but…the dragons made the decision.

"Who will my Dianath mate with? I hope it's not F'mart's bronze," she groaned. She wanted nothing to do with F'mart.

"Oh, SHARDS no, but don't worry, he's too young. No matter who rises when our girls do, it won't be from his class, they're too young," Rondair reassured her.

"I hope it's not Weyrleader's Corvuth, either. I mean, I love D'nis, but…he's like a father to me. I just can't bring myself to think of me and him…."

"Don't say it. I feel the same way. I can't think of a better Weyrleader, though."

The others nodded.

"Okay, then. Let's harness up and get to work.   I'm going to list three columns from this first bunch and we'll discuss who does what," Siena said.

"Can we switch if…if," Marais asked.

"This is just arbitrary, we can always switch things around," Siena said, "we've worked together as a team for too long to start arguing now. If you don't like the job? Welll, I think the best thing to do is each of us does each of the jobs on a rotating basis. That way, everything's covered, if one of us needs back up and whenever one of us makes Weyrwoman, it's not as if we're brand new to the job."

"She's so busy, especially now, but I think we should get Hariko involved in this, too," Rondair said.

"That's a good idea. Let's discuss this and then, if it's not too late, we can go and talk with Hariko. Besides, I could use a snack."

Jenmay strode into the room, a bundle of her belongings in her arms. She stopped, shocked.

"WHAT are you kids doing here?" she shouted.

The three looked up at her. Siena was the first to react.

"Why, hello, Jenmay. How are you today?" She said it respectfully, but without a hint of friendliness. She could almost smell Jenmay's possessiveness. It was obvious to them all that Jenmay had already taken ownership of the Weyrwoman's office.  

The older woman put down the bundle, very purposefully, atop Siena's slate.

"I ask the questions, girl," she snapped, "What are you three doing here, in the weyrwomans' office?"

"My, but we're testy today. We're talking, is all," Rondair said. Like everyone else, she loathed Jenmay. She'd been the target of the Oldtimer often enough to learn that there was no empathy in the older woman.

"Not here, you're not. You're not supposed to be here."

"Neither are you," Marais, depending on her 'sisters' support, said.

Jenmay's eyes narrowed, making her look like a tunnel snake.

"I was Weyrwoman before I came forward," she said, getting angrier by the moment. These girls were not acting appropriately.

"But you aren't, now. Neither are we. But the weyr needs someone to run things, and we're having a PRIVATE conversation about it," Siena said, relishing the upcoming fight. She'd despised the way Jenmay treated everyone.

"That's why I say you're not supposed to be here. It's MY position, due to experience. Now you little ones, clear out."

"Goodness, I don't remember seeing your old queen rise to mate, in fact, has she EVER?"

"You little snip, how dare you."

"Dare what?"

 Jenmay circled around behind Siena.

"What are you going to do, Jenmay, attack me? From behind? How courageous of you," Siena said, without turning her head. The others watched, warily, waiting.

"Of course not," Jenmay said, backing off. "But Danelle told me that if something happened to her, then I would be Weyrwoman until a gold rises."

"Interesting that Danelle never said a word about that, not to anyone, not even to us, her junior golds and students, who were with her on a daily basis for over a year," Marais said.

"A TURN." Jenmay snapped.

"Even the other day, when we were fighting Thread and she was feeling so sick. I don’t remember seeing YOU out there, though," Rondair said.

"Silly Rondair, Jenmay is 'retired', because she's OLD," Marais corrected.

"Oh, how foolish of me. You're right," Rondair returned, laughing.

"You," Jenmay hissed at Marais, knowing her to be the most timid of the trio, "are too big for your boots, you are."

Marais, feigning amazement, insolently stuck her feet out and pointedly looked at them.

Rondair examined them closely. Shaking her head, she snarked, "I dunno, Jenmay, looks to me like her boots fit just fine." She smirked.

Jenmay went purple.

"You three. Out of here. NOW."

"And where shall we find you?" Siena said, gauging how far to push the old woman.  

"Here, where I belong," Jenmay said.

"You're not Weyrwoman," she said.

"But I have the experience. If I need your help, I shall ask you for it. Now get out."

"When can we expect you to actually BEGIN to do the work?" Siena asked.

Jenmay got into Siena's face. "I can make life very difficult for you. Do not cross me ever again. Do you hear?"

"Like you made it for Danelle?" Siena said, not backing up.

Something flashed in the old woman's eyes…something that looked like fear.

Siena held her stare into Jenmay's eyes for several long seconds. Then, without dropping it, she said, "Come on, gold riders," Siena said to the others, "The Oldtimer is pawing up the muck, like an old cow in her stall. It's getting hard to breathe in here. Let's go talk where we're not interrupting her day."

"You'll pay for that," Jenmay said, furious.

The other two got up and joined Siena. They walked out, all feeling as if at any moment, an arrow would thunk into their spines.

Marais was shaking.

"She's hateful. She's so evil."

Rondair said, "Why did we leave, Siena? It was just getting interesting."

Siena looked perturbed. "I didn't think it worth the fight. Not just yet. There was something there, something…something I FELT from her, something she doesn't want known. But it was so quick…I can't figure it out. And we DO need to talk to Hariko, and Jenmay doesn't DARE run us out of HER domain."