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.

9/28/02 Telgar Weyr Lake Shore

The vegetation thickens near the lake, becoming a meadow that runs along the edge of a narrow, sandy beach. The sands spill down into a crystal lake to the north, lapping against the crater walls to the north and east. A fence runs northwest-southeast, blocking off the lake from the feeding grounds. The grass is thick with autumn, and the long strands are beginning to seed. The few trees that stand on the banks of the lake are in their full splendor with leaves of red, gold, and brown. There are dark green water lilies on the lake, but they are no longer blossoming. In one corner of the meadow, Telgar's herb garden makes the air thick with the smell of mint and thyme, and the chives are in full bloom. Around it, a few fall flowers are blossoming. The herdbeasts in the fields nearby are lowing during their afternoon feeding.

You could probably catch a 'fish' or two if you tried.

Yashira is seated on one of the rocks by the lake, a napkin with a few meatrolls in front of her. She's chomping on one, watching Decarath swim about in the lake. Some dragons splash, some dragons frolic, but Decarath just swims about in a dignified manner.

Marten wanders down from the bowl, just finishing a biscuit of some sort and looking rather distracted.

Saeliena heads over from the central bowl.

Yashira chews on another bite of meatroll, glancing over at Marten. She grunts at him. "Afternoon, Candidate."

"Afternoon, ma'am," Marten says with a nod before glancing out at the lake. He watches Decareth for a moment before asking, "Is he actually enjoying himself?"

"Uh huh," Yashira says, swallowing a mushy lump of meat and pastry and quirking an eyebrow at Marten. "Odd question, that. He wouldn't do it if he didn't enjoy it, unless it was duty."

Marten shrugs, chewing the last bit of his biscuit as he watches the dragon. "Well, gotta get clean," he says after swallowing. "It's just... the others all make it /look/ like fun."

"Decarath's not one for looking silly," Yashira says with a shrug. "Even when he was a weyrling dragon - the others would play in the snow and stuff, and he'd just eye them and say they were making fools out of themselves. He has his own interests." Her lips quirk slightly. "Just like my interests were different from those of the other candidates."

Marten gives Yashira a curious look as he wipes the crumbs from his hands, sitting down near the woman. "Yeah? What sort of interests were those?"

L'han heads over from the central bowl.

Yashira picks up another meatroll, shrugging a little and chewing. "Might say it was what I wasn't interested in - didn't care about boys, didn't care about clothes or gathers or dancing or flirting. Liked hunting. Knives. Archery."

L'han keeps looking over his shoulder as he arrives, trying to watch where he's walking at the same time. His wave is distracted, but it's a greeting.

Yashira waves one crumb and grease laden hand at L'han.

Cheni walks across the field, her usual oversized jacket on and her hands buried deep into her pockets. As she spies the little grouping, she wanders over to the rest. L'han's careful progress does raise her curiosity and she grins. "'Afternoon."

Marten chuckles, grinning broadly and apparently finding Yashira's explanation rather amusing. He glances briefly to the other newcomers, waving before looking back at the brownrider without saying anything.

"Afternoon, Cheni," Yashira says. She eyes Marten for a moment longer, shrugs, and has another bite of meatroll.

L'han takes up residency on the boulder, looking about carefully. As if confirming he can see the entire area from this vantage. Satisfied, he sets to perusing the gathering. "Heyla."

Cheni wanders up near the quirky brownrider. "Excuse me, L'han, is there something on the meadows grasses you were avoiding?" She gazes down at her boot clad feet and shrugs. "Everything looks as normally frozen as usual to me."

"Oh, no," Yashira mutters under her breath, eyeing Cheni and L'han.

L'han startles as one of them speaks, "Avoiding? Is there something to be avoiding? Did you send someone after me? What do you know?" He eyes the young woman critically. From way up on his perch.

Marten looks over at L'han, blinking several times. "You alright?" he asks a little cautiously.

"You started him on it," Yashira says with a sigh, taking another bite off her meatroll and chewing. "Ehwell. You'll learn."

Cheni blinks, then looks L'han's way, wide-eyed and guileless. "Me? I'm just me, Only person I send is Stunning and technically speaking, she's not a person." After a reassuring smile to the brownrider on the boulder, she sends a quick glance to Yashira. "Started who on what?"

"Started him on his... whatever he does," Yashira says, gesturing toward L'han.

L'han moves his paranoia on to Marten, then, eyes narrowing, "What about you? You look like you know something about it. Awfully interested, y'are."

Marten eyes L'han for a moment or two longer before asking Yashira, "He does this to everyone?"

"Yup," Yashira says, deadpan.

Cheni steps back, toward Yashira and crosses her arms, studying L'han with clinical objectivity. She murmurs. "Does he do this often?" Then, once again, she flashes a reassuring look L'han's way. "We are all your friends, honestly, I'm sure of that." The look she shoots Yashira is a tad doubtful on that one point.

Well if he wasn't paranoid before, all these EYES boring into him would certainly do it. "Stop staring at me!" L'han barks, then leans over to mutter something to the boulder.

Saeliena skips down towards the lake. Yes, skips. Her movement grinds to a halt as she spots a few fellow candidates, Yashira, and L'han. "'Lo," she hails merrily, walking closer to them. She's in far better spirits now that she's a candidate.

Marten just shrugs, giving L'han only the briefest of glances before turning to Cheni. "He's probably the sort that'd do the talking egg."

Yashira nods to Saeliena. "Afternoon," she greets. A glance at Marten. "Funny you should mention that."

L'han sits up straight to squint at the brunette. "Don't be silly. Eggs don't talk."

Cheni averts her eyes but does shoot the occasional glance L'han's way when she thinks he's not looking. She lifts a mitted hand in Saeliena's direction. "Afternoon." She frowns. "I did hear something in that egg and Elauren and Ryklin backed me up, so there Marten!"

"Unless they were in on it," Marten tells Cheni with a broad grin. Yashira gets a curious glance. "What do you mean?"

L'han stretches out his endlessly-long legs off the edge of the boulder, mighty boots clanking as his feet cross. "Speaking of eggs. Y'all are Candidates. And Candidates need robes."

"He likes to talk to things that don't answer," Yashira says.

L'han thinks Yashira has this wrong. He just likes it when SHE doesn't answer. That's why it's best to just talk around her. If he doesn't make eye contact, she doesn't exist.

Saeliena's eyebrows furrow as she approches the group, sliding up to Cheni. "What's going on?" She whispers, confusion evident. "What'd I stumble on here?"

Cheni ohs. "Like shiny things like this." She shows off a small quartz-like rock she found on her walk after chores, and on her red mitt, it does seem to sparkle. "I don't talk to them but I like to look at them." She quirks a brow at Saeliena. "Umm, L'han doesn't like the grass, so it seems but thinks I have something to do with it and then there are the robes." She smiles helpfully.

Marten barks out a short laugh, flashing that broad grin of his again. He starts to say something before chuckling softly and shaking his head.

Saeliena blinks. "Oh, right," she says with sarcasm. "Why couldn't I figured that one out on my own?" Oy.

Cheni giggles mischievously, fully admitting she deserves the sarcasm. "Anything else I can do to help, feel free to ask, any old time."

"Sometimes it's best just... not to ask," Yashira says solemnly, finishing off her last meatroll.

Saeliena glances towards Yashira, and nods her head. Hard. "I'll remember that next time," she says, not even bothering to smother her laughter. "Or perhaps next time I'll have the good sense to stay away..."

L'han is pleased to have this audience gathered about his feet, and he nods as if everyone is in agreement with his wisdom. "Candidates. Robes."

Cheni pretends not to hear L'han emit the dreaded words. She knows what comes next. "So, Saeliena, how were chores for you today?"

"He's right, you know. Robes have to be made. No robe, no Standing. And that means all your chores and being cooped up here was for nothing," Yashira says mildly.

Marten frowns just slightly as he looks over to Cheni, also ignoring the robe remarks. "Were we supposed to do chores today?"

Saeliena snorts, and shakes her head. "Don't ask," she replies. "When are chores /ever/ good." She redirects her attention to Yashira as an idea occurs to her. "Do I have to make a robe? I think I still have mine from the last hatching..."

Cheni grouses. "I got mine back from the seamstresses who cut it out, and I'm trying to sew in my spare time. But I take out twice as much as I sew in. I don't seem to be a straight line sort of person. I like curves." Smirking, she tsks Marten playfully. "Not a good thing to say around candidate coordinators."

"I'd be surprised if you did," Yashira tells Saeliena. "It might need alterations. That's mostly what's done - alterations on robes we've had before, isn't it?" She glares at Marten. "You have chores /every/ day, Candidate."

Marten shrugs, pursing his lips before answering the rider, "Well, yeah, technically. I mean, I /have/ them. So they just give us some old robes and we fix them up?"

Yashira stands slowly, one eyebrow arched. "You have them and you're to /do/ them. Do I have to check in on you to make sure you're doing them, or would you like to hang around the weyr and not give anything back for your upkeep?"

Saeliena gestures to her slender body, and shakes her head. "I haven't grown a /bit/," she responds. "No alterations needed." She holds back a snort of laughter as Marten finds himself in trouble. "Don't hurt him, Yashira! We still need 'im to stand"

Cheni nods to Marten. "The robe I had, had to be taken in and the seamstresses cut and showed me where to resew it up." She steps a bit closer to Saeliena and away from Marten as he is chided by Yashira. Speaking in a quieter tone, she admits to the girl. "If you get up early enough and get them done, unless you are serving in the hall, you got the day to do other things too."

Marten grins. "Well, if I can..." He pauses, grin slipping as he tilts his head to the side. "That wasn't a real offer, was it?" he asks Yashira. "Um, no, I'd love to do everything I can for Telgar. And don't worry, all my chores are getting done."

Yashira crosses her arms, looking dubious. "I see," she says slowly, moving to take a seat again.

Cheni mouths from behind Yashira's back. "Suck up." She shakes her head with exasperated amusement at Marten's gall.

Saeliena snickers, and leans over to listen to Cheni. "What do you think I do?" She replies, winking at her fellow candidate. As Marten escapes punishment, she heaves a sigh. And she was hoping for some excitement.

"Huh?" Confused, Cheni asks. "What should you do about what? Isn't Yashira the one who tells us what to do and when to do it and how high we should jump as we do it?"

Marten smiles at Yashira, working hard at it. "No, no, I love chores. It's, um, always great to see the weyr running smoothly. And stuff."

"Shove it," Yashira informs Marten. "Don't push it, or I'll put your 'eager' little arse on latrine duty for a sevenday so you can see how smoothly the weyr runs."

"Yes, ma'am," Marten replies quickly, clearing his throat and looking down at the ground.

Saeliena can't help but laugh at this. She gasps for breath as she answers Cheni, "I said 'what do you think I do'. You know, I get up early and finish my chores." She watches her fellow candidate to a sign that she's being understood.

Yashira stands up; Decarath lumbers toward the lake shore. She launches a glare at Saeliena as the girl laughs, then says in clipped tones, "I'll see you all later," before striding away from the lake.

Saeliena abruptly stops laughing, eyes wide. "Whoops," she mumbles to Cheni. "Got her mad at /me/ now..."

Cheni is startled into laughing out loud and she grins at Yashira with quiet approval. "Well, depends on what chores you got, some of them take up almost the whole day, and others' don't?" Vaguely frustrated by the question, she shrugs. "I don't know, if you can't figure out how to fill your day, then how would I know." She quiets as Yashira takes off. "I think that we sort of annoy her."

Marten stays quiet as Yashira leaves, very carefully not looking at her or the dragon.

L'han is vindicated. If you ignore Yashira, she disappears. He chirps cheerfully, all non-sequitor, "In my youth, I had a tryst with the Weaver Craftmaster."

Cheni bursts out into a hearty laugh as the silent L'han speaks. "What does that have to do with robes? And the Craftmaster? I've never had a tryst in my life."

"I'll let you see how smoothly the weyr runs," Marten says softly in a mockery of Yashira's voice, still looking at the ground.

L'han is brimming with confidence. "And then my Weyrmate had the MasterTailor for a Weyrmate. The same one that fostered my daughter. From the Craftmaster. Whose grandmother was a Weaver. Before being a Lady. My daughter, that is." On and on he goes. Certainly this all makes sense in his mind. "So. We'll make robes."

Cheni gets that too much information about people who she doesn't know glazed expression in her eyes. After a moment, her face brightens. "Oh I remember now, I met your daughter the other day." She looks at L'han supiciously. "You are too young to have a girl that age, Rain?"

Saeliena simply blinks, staring at L'han in confusion. "What're you talking about?" She questions, frowning. "This doesn't make any sense!"

L'han is surprised by this news, the shock registering on his face. "I am? I think you must be wrong. I must be old enough. She is my daughter." A brief flash of panic passes through his eyes. But no. She looks too much like him. "Of course she is my daughter. I must have been terribly young." He gasps, "Varina was a cradle-robber!"

Cheni shrugs. "That's what she said, she was your daughter but you certainly don't look it." She doesn't say this as a compliment, more of an accusation if anything. "You must have been and Varina? She is her mother?"

"Umm," Marten says slowly, giving L'han an odd look. "I think I should be going. I've sort of got to check on the kitchens."

L'han nods to Saeliena, "Makes perfect sense. Keep up. Candidates need robes." He sighs. Even Cheni isn't paying attention. "Yes, yes, Varina! The Craftmaster."

Saeliena continues to blink repeatedly. "So because you have a daughter we have to make candidate robes?" She asks, trying to follow his jumps in logic. "And you were very very young when your daughter was born?"

L'han smiles jubilantly, "I was! And you do. Because you are Candidates. I am only going to help you because I have a daughter. See?" Yep. His work here is done.

Cheni tries to follow the logic and as the logic goes off to a strange land, so does she. It takes her awhile to regroup and she comes up with a brilliant retort."Huh? Oh, I see. But where does the weavercraft come into it? Did Varina show you some fancy stitches?"

Marten waves vaguely, apparently wanting to get away from L'han before it's too late.

Marten heads in the direction of the central bowl, leaving the shimmering lake.

L'han replies with utter vagueness, "Varina showed me a great many things." He nods again, agreeing with himself.

Saeliena actually has to cover her mouth with a hand to smother laughter this time. "Right," she manages. "Now I completely understand what everything has to do with everything. But I already have a robe, anyway."

Cheni blushes but says with a semi-innocent tone. "I am sure she did and you'll be of a great help to the candidates. As long as it's just seams you are helping us with?"

L'han hops off the boulder, giving it a fond pat before striding away. "Good. I have to be going. Will see you all later for some sewing." Looking pleased, he trots back across the field.

L'han heads in the direction of the central bowl, leaving the shimmering lake.

Cheni shrugs. "You know, between Yashira firing arrows left right and centre and then L'han, well, being L'han, I wonder if they really expect all of us to make it to the sands?"

Saeliena chuckles, and shakes her head. "Yashira isn't that bad, really. I knew her /before/ I was a candidate...well, actually, when she was a candidate...and it makes a difference." She shrugs. "But with L'han, it's a little different. He's just a bit odd."

Cheni chuckles as she pockets her rock again. "I don't know, at least he makes me laugh. Yashira is always so glum or serious or something. I don't think I've ever seen her smile. Sort of unnerves me. Reminds me of the Headwoman back at the Hold." Suddenly aware of the chill in the air, she wraps her coat around her. "I think I'm going to go in for klah and get back to work on my robe. What about you?"

Shawnah heads over from the central bowl.

Shawnah wanders onto the lake shore, squinting at the ground, a frown on her face. "Weed pulling." she's muttering, "/Weed. Pulling./ What weeds..?"

Saeliena pokes idly at the ground, nodding her agreement. "I've seen her happy. I believe that was in a time called 'pre-candidate invasion'." She winks, and shivers slightly in her own, thin clothes. "Don't have a robe to work on," she admits, "But I would like some klah." Another figure is spotted further down the shore, and Saelie squints to recognize the person. "Shawnah? Is that you?"

Cheni sighs as she watches yet another ground scourer approach. But as Shawnah draws closer, she is relieved. Normal person. "Well, there are no weeds that I can see, lucky you, though I saw three weed pullers get hauled into the kitchens to help store tubers, if that's any consolation?"

Normal person? Woot! Shawnah glances up at hearing her name, and spotting the other candidates, heads toward them. "Heya guys.. and yeah, already did that. I think that Junior assistant is taking the fact that she's now above me too much to heart. Told me to come out and find weeds to pull." she sends a glare back toward the bowl, and then shrugs. "Ah well. I guess that means idle time then. What's up?"

Cheni rubs her mittened hands together. "What's up? The sun, supposedly, but that's hard to tell in this cloudy weather. Does it stay cloudy all winter?" Scowling, she says sympathetically. "I know the type, when one of head cooks at Braddle sprained her wrist, my aunt was in charge of the breads at the hold. You would have thought she had become the lost heir to the Lord Holder by the airs she gave. And the bread had hard bits in it."

Shawnah snickers, "It's still autumn.." she says, giving Cheni a sympathetic look, "And.. just wait until I'm back on the staff again. She'll wish she was just a /little/ nicer.." her nose wrinkles up a moment, and then she grins and crosses her arms. "Okay.. lemme re-word that. What's going on?"

Saeliena scrambles to her feet, now visibly shivering. "I'm gettin' pretty cold," the candidate admits, glancing between her fellows. "I'm gonna go ahead inside to grab some klah." And then she scampers off towards the Weyr, arms wrapped tightly around herself.

Cheni is genuinely dismayed at that news and her jaw drops as her spirits plummet. "Only autumn? We have another six months of this?" She waves at Saeliena. "See you later." Then back to Shawnah. "Well, who knows, maybe you'll have a nice dragon to take care of, then you can ignore her with her airs as you scrub, muck and all that other wonders that Weyrlinghood brings?"

Shawnah snorts, "I'd rather be doing inventory.." and before she can say anything else, that giant bucket of sleet is poured down from the sky. With an annoyed glare for that sky, she pulls the hood of her cloak up, "So... what was Saelina saying about klah?" she calls above the rain.

Cheni blinks as the weather hits and she gasps from shock of the cold rain on her face. "Let's get into anywhere warm!"





*** Disconnected from PernMUSH ***

Return to Logs Index Tired of pop-up ads? Download a FREE pop up stopper here