Shayled picked her way across the store-room, having a hard time finding a place to put her feet that wasn’t boxed over or full of baskets or bulging sacks. Several weyrworkers were trying to sort through it all already, including the Headwoman, Shayled’s friend.
The older, wiser woman pointed to a crate. “Silk, from Yr River.” She moved her hand. “Wine from Brin. Glow starts from Blackmaw. Cotton flats from Gulleton, better for bandages than the scraps we have left.”
Shayled marveled at the diversity of the goods at hand, and the breadth of the territory they came from. “Yr River’s half underground, now...” she whispered.
“And still they sent this.”
“Gulleton’s not even ours, they’re across the canyon from Dunespike land...”
“And still they sent what they could.” She looked up at Shayled, a softness in her eye.
This room was but one of many, all filling to the brim with pre-emptive tithes and unrequested donations, despite each hold or people that sent them suffering just as much as the Weyr. Shayled sat heavily on a crate, overwhelmed by the generosity in front of her. She had walked past the lines of heardbeasts brought by the badland nomads, seen them lay out their spare clothes, their precious desert fruits to take as the riders needed.
And they choose to sing and beat their drums in joyous music rather than despair. What little they had, they gave... Shayled wept, wondering how the Weyr could ever repay them.
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The Virtues series is the last chance for your dragonet to reflect on themself as an unbonded individual, and the last chance to sort out what they would like in a bond. When Hatching and Impression come, what went before will fade into dream. What does the virtue on display mean to your dragonet? How important is it in their choice of rider? Is this lesson one that will stick with them, or does it seem of no consequence?