The following is a log of roleplay from PernMUSH . The World of Pern(tm)' and 'The Dragonriders of Pern(r)' are copyright to Anne McCaffrey (c) l967. This is a recorded online session, by permission of the author but generated on pernMUSH for the benefit of people unable to attend.

11/14/02



You walk past the lintel and into the wide living cavern.

Telgar Weyr's Living Cavern(#750RDJM$)

This huge cavern is sufficiently roomy to hold a large portion of the Weyr's population without feeling cramped. There's always a bustle of activity here. Fragrant dishes are constantly in prepartion for mealtimes: currently for the late meal. Drudges are always present, either cleaning under Pierron's watchful eye, or helping fetch and carry. A myriad of glowbaskets and many ever-lit hearths make the cavern warm and inviting despite its size. The scents of cooking meats, baking breads and pastries, and the pungent aroma of spices hang mouthwateringly in the air. It is little wonder that those seeking to relax nearly always find their way here to do it. Dark summer blooms of vivid hue decorate the tables.

A short tunnel jaunts northward out to the bowl and the merry sounds of cooking, chores, and laughter echo from the kitchen at the southeast end of the cavern near the easterly passage to the rest of the lower caverns. Within the lower caverns is an entrance to the infirmary weyr to care for injured dragons and riders.

Kichevio is standing even as K'ran asks the question. "Everyone's been great," she assures him, distractedly setting her mug down, "and Saulith is whining for me, so please excuse me, talk to you tomorrow, g'night!" Saulith's plaintive noises are audible inside the cavern as she runs out.

Kichevio walks down the short tunnel and out into the bowl.

Cheni walks through the entrance, saluting left right and center as a herd of riders passes in the other direction. She barely has time to get her bearings before there are other riders and the saluting starts afresh, skirting past Kichevio and then into the true cavern proper with a salute to K'ran. "Good evening, sir." She shakes her head, muttering to herself as she pours a mug of klah. "Get's more complicated around here."

K'ran's answering salute to Cheni is a trifle more casual, as it encompasses a farewell wave to Kichevio, too. "Complicated, how?" he wonders, as he invites the weyrling to sit.

Cheni takes her klah mug over as well as a couple of meatrolls. "Thank you, Weyrsecond." Taking a seat offered, she shrugs. "The saluting and walking thing, trying to get into the cavern can be a challenge, especially if there is a wing heading out for sweeps or duties."

"One salute will probably do," K'ran laughs, "if you hold it 'til everyone's passed by. Unless Ursa actually wants you to salute each and every person at Telgar separately, every time you see 'em? It'd be enough to make me never want to turn up in here, except in the dead of night when maybe there's only a drudge or two around."

Cheni chuckles dryly. "I'm not taking any chances, if they are in a group, it's one salute, if they are a foot behind the next, they get a individual salute." She lifts a meatroll to her forehead, in absentminded parody. "That's why I don't come in here unless I gotta eat, it gets to confusing, I figure salute anything that crawls and I've got at least that covered."

K'ran nods a little bit there, and allows, "Probably so," with an amused shrug of both shoulders. "It'll be over, though, sooner than you think. And then you'll be having to remind yourself *not* to salute everything that crawls, and especially Ursa. How are things with you, otherwise? I hear you narrowly escaped a swim, earlier this evening."

Cheni smirks. "I got a swim alright, a fellow weyrling threw me in. Just cause I could figure out the charts better than him." She looks a bit sheepish as she realizes where her meatroll is and chuckles, then takes a bite of it. "It's not like he can't out stitch me every time when it comes to straps." She pauses as she takes another bite then a gulp of klah, still in the shove food down fast mode of weyrlinghood. "So, just when I get used to saluting I'll be disciplined if I do salute? Weyrs!" She says dramatically. "Are confusing!"

"I'd not expect you to be *disciplined*, exactly," says K'ran, musingly, though he can't quite keep the smile from his lips. "Snickered at, maybe? I don't know. If you were in my wing, and kept on saluting when it wasn't necessary, *I'd* probably throw you in the lake. Did you get revenge on him, or are you biding your time?"

Cheni puts a hand to her chest in innocent protest. "Me? Get back at anyone? Why, I'd be insulted if it wasn't true." She chuckles."Once Kichevio showed up and then a rider from Igen, and Pwert, and then the harper, well, it got complicated." She shakes her head. "There we go again, complicated. Do you have any idea why Pwert is going around warning weyrlings not to runner ride each other?"

K'ran's brows both begin to climb, and he shakes his head helplessly. "I wouldn't dare try crawling inside Pwert's head, to figure out what he's thinking," he says. "Maybe he's got sand in there, from too much time in the desert?"

Cheni finishes off one meatroll and starts the second, chuckling at K'ran's reaction. "I suppose, it does seem odd. Something to do with babies and weyrlinghood. I was too busy being tossed into the lake to make much sense of his thoughts. And sand? I've got plenty of that in me too, maybe not as much as Pwert but I grew up where there were beaches too." She looks out to the bowl, thoughtful. "Perhaps this isn't the right thing to ask, but is everything alright with the other Weyrsecond, Kichevio?"

K'ran dares a look toward the entryway, the direction in which Kichevio departed, and, after another moment, shrugs eloquently. "I think maybe she's feeling a little overwhelmed? Being promoted straight out of a wing, and all. If there's more than that, I don't know -- what makes you ask?"

Cheni shrugs. "She seemed a little distracted is all at the lakeshore tonight. You are probably right, the new position would cause anyone to be overwhelmed. How long have you been Weyrsecond?" Her gaze out towards the bowl is thoughtful however.

That's, perhaps, a bit of an unexpected question, and K'ran hesitates: "Um," he begins. "Let me think. It'd be... jays. Almost two Turns ago? It was the night Riane's Yrinth went up, for the first time. I was taking the edge off in here, afterwards, and Nimiriel and J'lyn dropped the knot into my lap."

Cheni nods slowly and taps the side of her mug. "You got used to it, though, right? All the responsibilities, all the hidework? I am not sure anyone would get used to having so many dragons and riders' under them though." She shrugs and lifts her mug up for a sip. "I can imagine it was a little startling.." Pausing, she blinks. "Why didn't N'var knot you? I thought as Weyrleader he did that sort of thing?"

"I'd been M'teh's Wingsecond, in Dawnslight, before then," K'ran explains, still a bit uneasy at the questioning. "So it wasn't completely foreign to me, though, there's *more* of it, you know? And, erm. That was before Palineth had caught Daelyth, but after Mh'al stepped aside. We were kind of between Weyrleaders at the time."

Cheni chuckles dryly "No, I don't know. Just been reading and having lessons on Weyrleadership and the structures of the wings and well, being in leadership..." She shakes her head. "Not sure why anyone would want to do that. No offence, sir." She pinkens. "I should have realized that but I do get confused as to who was where when who rose and what they were doing and where they were. Especially Weyrleaders. I think a lot of that happened right before I was searched, a few months perhaps."

"None taken," laughs K'ran, as he gets up. "But the good news, Cheni, is that unless you've got a real interest in it? It's all more historical interest, than anything you *truly* need to worry about. Unless you enjoy studying dusty old hides...?" He leaves that amused question hanging, though, and says, "I need to get some sleep. Don't stay up too late, eh?"

Cheni shakes her head. "I won't stay up much longer." She admits ruefully with a chagrined smirk. " But to be honest? I like history, sometimes you find interesting things in the oddest places" As the rider stands, she smiles. "Good night sir."











*** Disconnected from PernMUSH ***

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