Tales from the Weyrlings' Barracks Chapter 5
K'lune called P'llomar aside after supper that night. "I want to try something different with you and your dragon."
"Are we in trouble?" P'llomar asked nervously.
"Not at all," the Weyrlingmaster reassured him. "But you and Ladrarth… you're different. The two of you gave orders to another rider's bronze dragon this morning, and the bronze obeyed you. That's very unusual, and it is also potentially a problem."
"Because you don't want green riders telling bronzes what to do," P'llomar finished for him.
"Correct, but that doesn't mean that we can't use your ability. You just have to learn to use it in ways that don't cause confusion and upset the other riders. Starting tomorrow, you will become the First Green."
"First Green?" the young man repeated. "I thought I was paying attention to your lessons on how the Weyr is organized, but I've never heard that term before."
"That's because I just made it up," K'lune admitted. "In a fighting wing, the wingleader gives the orders, and his wingsecond is ready to step in and give those orders if something happens to the wingleader. Your group of weyrlings is considered a wing for training purposes. The bronze riders will be considered the wingleaders-in-training, of course, but you will have your own role to play. As First Green, it will be your job to oversee the other greens and their riders. If one of them needs to get back in formation, or is getting tired and needs to land for a while, you'll be responsible to see that it happens. If the greens run low on firestone, calling for more will be your job. If a green or her rider gets Threadscored, filling their place in the formation will fall on you first."
"That sounds like a lot of responsibility," P'llomar noted.
"It's not as big a job as becoming a wingleader," K'lune replied. "Of course, you'll never be a wingleader because you're a green rider. But I think you can handle this responsibility. I've noticed a change in the way you behave, even if the others haven't noticed, and I think a little responsibility will be good for you. It will also teach you some self-control."
"How so?" the green rider asked.
"We can't have you giving orders to bronzes anymore, no matter how many points you score in the games as a result. As First Green, you'll be guiding about a dozen green dragons in the training wing, and no one else! You can exert your authority over greens, and you can get out of the habit of trying to influence any of the bigger dragons. That would only cause confusion, which can be fatal in the middle of fighting Thread. You have an unusual amount of power to influence other dragons, P'llomar, but with great power, there must also come great responsibility. You will learn that responsibility, or you will crash and burn. No one wants to see you crash and burn. Serving as the First Green in the training wing will help you learn responsibility."
"B'irto would like to see me crash and burn," P'llomar said bitterly. "Not that I entirely blame him."
"B'irto is a bronze rider. He will get his turn at being the leader, and he'll see that it's not so easy. He may become a bit more compassionate after that. For now, I'll take care of B'irto. You take care of the greens, starting tomorrow morning."
"Okay, I guess," P'llomar shrugged. The interview was over. The young man rejoined the other weyrlings in the barracks as they went to sleep. K'lune reported the day's dealings to Lessa, as he did every night.
"First Green?" she queried him. "I can just guess what the Oldtimers will think of this brand-new idea!"
"Actually, I spoke to K'nebel at Fort about the problem, and he had no solutions for me," K'lune told her. "The Oldtimers can think what they will of my idea, but until they think of something better, they have no right to complain. I had to make something up, or the problem would have spiraled out of control."
"Usually, the Weyrs handle their own problems," she reminded him. "Asking for advice from another Weyrlingmaster… I'll bet that the Oldtimers will take a dim view of that as well. Let's try not to stir up too much trouble for ourselves, shall we?"
"If I was a veteran Weyrlingmaster, then you'd be correct, Weyrwoman. But I got thrown into this job with little warning and no training, right after C'gan died during that first Threadfall. I've been making it up as I go along ever since. K'nebel is a good man, and he doesn't get as perturbed by change as the other Oldtimers do. I didn't know who else I could turn to for guidance."
Lessa considered that. "If K'nebel doesn't object, then I suppose it's all right. We shouldn't make a habit of this kind of thing, though. My other concern is that, if you make P'llomar a leader of the greens, you're going to paint a target on his back. All the other riders are going to be watching him with a certain amount of resentment, because he got elevated over them."
"That's what I'm hoping for, in a twisted sort of a way," K'lune nodded. "P'llomar is trying to shed his old image as a common bully, but the other riders haven't noticed the change in him. By putting him up front where everyone will be watching him, they'll be able to see him for who he is, as opposed to who he used to be."
"And what happens when he makes a mistake in front of everyone?" Lessa challenged him.
"Every leader makes occasional mistakes," the Weyrlingmaster replied. "I don't think P'llomar will make many errors because he knows that all eyes are on him. Besides, this isn't a lifetime appointment. After he's been in the role for a week or two, I'll rotate someone else into the First Green position. All the green riders will get a chance to lead the other greens. They'll see that it's not so easy, and they won't be so judgmental of P'llomar after that. If he makes a really big error, that will be my cue to rotate him out of leadership without making it look like I'm stripping him of his position as punishment."
"What happens if he influences another dragon when he's not the leader?" Lessa asked.
"I'm hoping that his time in leadership will teach him some discipline, so he won't be so inclined to influence others when it's not appropriate."
The Weyrwoman shrugged. "It sounds like you've already thought it all through. Let me know if anything really bad happens, or if anything good happens." He nodded and finished his report, which was mostly routine.
The next morning, when the weyrlings gathered after breakfast, K'lune formed them into a circle instead of their usual line formation. "We're going to try something new," he began. "There is going to be one green rider who will be responsible for all the other greens. We'll call that rider the First Green. You'll all get a chance at the role, which will give you the leadership opportunity that most green riders never get. Our first First Green will be P'llomar. P'llomar, you are now in charge of the greens and their riders. If anything goes wrong with any of them, I'll be asking you the reason why."
"What about blue riders?" someone asked.
"Good point," K'lune nodded after a moment. "We'll have a First Blue as well. M'ton, you'll be the First Blue for now."
"What about browns?" K'vort asked.
"Browns are eligible to become Wingseconds, so they already have a way to become leaders. Besides, there are only four browns in this weyrling class, and you don't need a special leader for a group that small. Right, then, let's get started! Put a little space between yourselves. That's good. Now, I want twenty neck-vaults from each of you! The last one to finish has to do five more! Go!"
The neck-vault was a common exercise for weyrlings. Each of them had to run toward their dragon from the side, place their hands on the dragon's neck, and vault over without kicking the dragon or tripping. It helped the dragons develop their neck muscles, and it encouraged the riders to trust their dragons not to pull away and let them fall. As the dragons grew bigger, the exercise became more difficult; it would soon be impossible for them.
P'llomar and Ladrarth had few difficulties with neck-vaults. He had fallen a few times when Ladrarth was small, but she was big enough now to take his weight for a moment without even flinching. After he'd gotten into his rhythm, he tried to watch the other green riders. He noticed that V'ger kept having near-misses with his big feet and his dragon's wings. As he hopped over Ladrarth for the seventh time, he murmured, "Tell V'ger's dragon to pull her wings back a little further." The other green complied after a moment, and the near-misses ceased. No one else seemed to have any problems. But by repeatedly looking around at the others, P'llomar slowed down his own exercises, and he was the last to finish.
"Right, five more, P'llomar," K'lune ordered. "I warned you. Go faster next time." The other riders smirked and muttered unkind comments as he grunted and vaulted over Ladrarth's neck five more times.
Numath says that K'lune is pleased at how you handled V'ger, but he is unwilling to say it for the others to hear.
"I kind of expected something like that," he thought back. "The two of us make a great team, even if no one else knows about it."
Numath knows.
"That and five marks will buy me a new set of boots," he grunted as he finished his last vault. He was puffing and his arms were sore. This "leadership" stuff was not a ticket to a life of ease!
And so it went for the rest of the week. P'llomar did his best to help the other green riders. If the same problem kept recurring, he would take that rider aside and explain the problem, and offer a good solution. Most of the green riders appreciated his guidance (which was offered a lot more politely than if they'd been corrected by the Weyrlingmaster). A few resented him taking any kind of authority over them. V'ger complained to K'lune about it.
"Do you expect to grow up and join a fighting wing someday?" K'lune demanded.
"Yes, of course!" the green rider burst out.
"Do you think your wingleader is going to give you orders, and you'll have to obey him?" the Weyrlingmaster went on.
"Yes."
"Good. You're a weyrling; you're in training. Get used to other dragons and riders giving you orders. It's good practice for the future."
"But he's just a green rider! He's no better than me!"
"It's not about him being better," K'lune informed him coldly. "It's about the fact that I put him in charge for now. As long as it pleases me to keep him in charge, then you will obey him! The day isn't far off when I'll give someone else a chance to be First Green, and then you'll obey that rider instead. Or maybe I'll make you the First Green, and you can see what it's like on the other side of all that authority and responsibility."
"I wish," V'ger muttered.
"All right, you've got your wish!" K'lune cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Everyone, listen to me! Starting right now, V'ger is the First Green! P'llomar is just another green rider now."
V'ger's friends ran over to congratulate him. P'llomar couldn't help recalling that no one had congratulated him when he became First Green.
"Of course, that's probably because I don't have any friends," he admitted to Ladrarth.
I will always be your friend.
He hugged his dragon's neck and enjoyed the security of knowing that, no matter what happened, he had one friend who would always be true to him.
K'lune took him aside later and explained to him that this change in green leadership wasn't a demotion or a punishment, but a teaching moment. "V'ger has no idea what real leadership is all about. Like all weyrlings, he needs to learn. You've shown that you have already begun to learn that lesson. Now you have to show that you can follow as well as lead."
"I'll do my best," P'llomar promised.
As K'lune had predicted, V'ger was not an effective First Green. His mind was on himself and his own dragon; he seldom noticed problems among the other greens, and did little to help fix them. Things came to a head when they all played another round of Windstorm, and one green rider after another was blown off his feet by their fast-growing dragons.
"First Green!" the Weyrlingmaster bellowed. "Are you going to let your riders get knocked around like that, or are you going to do something about it?"
"What am I supposed to do about that?" V'ger shot back. "If they don't know how to stand up to their own dragons, is that my fault?"
"That does it!" K'lune shouted. "Effective immediately, V'ger is no longer First Green! T'mac, it's your turn. Take charge of the greens and get them to stand up to their dragons."
T'mac looked stunned and lost. A moment later, Ladrarth got her rider's attention.
T'mac wants to know how the riders can stand up to their dragons.
P'llomar almost wanted to laugh out loud. Was T'mac really acknowledging him as the true leader, even if it wasn't official? "Tell T'mac's dragon that the riders need to put one foot in front of the other, so their bodies aren't facing the dragons' wind squarely. That will reduce their wind resistance and give them better purchase for their feet at the same time."
T'mac gave those instructions to the green riders, who immediately did a better job of resisting the dragons' windstorm than they'd done before. The riders of the bigger dragons copied them, with similar results. K'lune nodded, satisfied; his Numath told him everything that the other dragons were discussing, so he knew about P'llomar's involvement. He would have an encouraging talk with T'mac later, and a not-quite-so-encouraging talk with V'ger about the meaning of leadership. In addition, there was one other matter that he had to keep under control.
"Numath, please let me know if Ladrarth passes any commands to the green riders that aren't in response to a request for help."
I will let you know.
The next day, P'llomar did just that. The Weyrlingmaster called for a "ground formation," which was the signal for all the dragons to form up in a broad "V" as though they were going to fly Thread together, with the bronzes in the middle and the greens on the outside. Two greens were both charging for the preferred place next to the blues, and P'llomar saw a collision about to happen.
"Ladrarth, tell Koloth to back off or she'll get run over!"
The green in question slowed down, and no one collided. K'lune walked from one edge of the ground formation to the other, examining each dragon's position, making sure they all had room to flap without hitting each other's wingtips. When he got to P'llomar's dragon, he quietly told Numath, "Inform Ladrarth that her rider needs to go sit on the bench. I'll deal with him later."
P'llomar slouched over to the bench where the Weyrlingmaster usually dispensed justice and private warnings. He sat and watched as the other weyrlings played ballkick for over an hour. At last, as they gathered to head for the lunch tables, K'lune sat down on the bench.
"Do you know why you're here?" he began.
"Is it because I told Koloth what to do?"
"It's because you told Koloth what to do when it wasn't your place," K'lune corrected him. "If you were still First Green, then giving that order would have been a good thing to do. I'm sure you've noticed that the other First Greens don't give many orders, and neither do the First Blues. Not everyone can do what you and your dragon can do. But I have yet to meet the dragon rider who likes it when someone else takes authority over his dragon! I can give you that authority when I make you First Green… and when I take the authority away again, it is no longer your job to tell other dragons what to do."
"But they would have run right into each other!" P'llomar protested. "I had to do something!"
"Your instinct for leadership is good," K'lune nodded. "Don't think for a moment that I don't appreciate that, because I do. But you need to learn more than leadership! You have to learn discipline. You have to learn that there's a time to let other people's dragons run into each other, because that's how they'll learn to watch where they're going." P'llomar was about to interrupt, but the Weyrlingmaster held up his hand for silence. "If we were in the air, and someone was about to flame someone else by accident, then yes, by all means do something to prevent a tragedy. But if it's just a question of a few bruises, then your job is not to make yourself the leader. No one in the Weyr makes himself the leader! I was appointed to this job by the Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman. The Weyrwoman got her job because Ramoth chose her when she hatched. The Weyrleader got his job because his dragon caught Ramoth in the air. None of us makes ourselves into anything more than what the Weyr's command structure makes of us.
"You mean well, and I appreciate that. You'll get another turn as First Green soon; I promise you that. But it's not too late for you to ruin things for yourself by taking charge when it's not your job. If anything, T'mac should have noticed that impending collision, seeing how one of them was his own dragon, and warned one of them off. Because you responded so quickly, he didn't get the chance to do his job. You kept him from becoming a better leader, by taking away his chance to practice at it. The whole Weyr may be slightly worse off as a result."
"I never thought of it that way," the boy admitted.
"You still have a lot to learn, P'llomar. You have great potential, but you're still young and inexperienced. Today, you became a slightly better dragon rider because you got some more experience."
"That's doing it the hard way," the young man sulked.
"Those are the lessons that stick with us for life," K'lune said. He clapped the boy on the shoulder. "Go get some lunch, and think about what I've said. I hope we won't have to have this conversation again."
"Me, too," said P'llomar as he rose and hustled for the dining area. He could smell roast wherry – his favorite! Hopefully, the other weyrlings hadn't already eaten it all.
