Watch the western shores

[Kisha-Ra]

Early evening drifted in quietly bringing with it a cool breeze and a cargo ship. Standing at the prow of said ship as if she belonged there was a tall, tanned woman who watched the land closely, as if trying to see something strange about it.

Behind her a younger, sharper woman with the same chestnut hair and golden brown hair padded across the deck barefoot, and behind the young woman came an elderly gold wher.

‘Jeri, what are you looking for?’ Jahzara asked her older sister with a hint of yawn and a hint of exasperation. She leaned against the rail herself and flipped her braided her over her shoulder with a toss of her head. Jahzask sat neatly next to her bonded, curling her tail around her feet like a lady arranging her skirts. she too gazed over the rail with interest, it was about time they struck land in the wher’s opinion, she was tired of being stuck below decks with the runners and herdbeasts.

‘Nothing, anything, I don’t know.’ Beastmaster Jerria replied turning away from her scrutiny of the land. ‘I just thought it would look... different, somehow.’ She ran a hand through her cropped hair and looked sheepish.

‘You mean you thought all the trees would be growing upside down and the water would turn pink?’ Jahzara teased, her sister was not normally deficient in common sense so opportunities to poke fun at her were rare indeed. However the wherhandler would admit, if pressed to a slight disappointment that the western continent was not that different from the rest of Pern after all.

Jerria laughed at the image Jahzara’s teasing called up. ‘I don’t know what I was expecting but it really wasn’t that!’ She turned her gaze to the observant wher. ‘Isn’t the sun hurting her?’ she asked.

Jahzara shook her head. ‘No, the evening sun doesn’t hurt her eyes. I guess it’s too far away or maybe her eyes aren’t as sensitive as they were.’ Jahzara knew most whers weren’t active as early as Jahzask so perhaps her second theory was the right one. ‘Whatever, I’m not going to send her back to the hold, I doubt she’d listen if I tried.’ Jahzask made her sound of agreement

‘Company.’ Jeri remarked as one of the crew came towards them. Everyone listened obligingly and agreed in all the right places as he asked them to keep out of the way while the ship docked. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll stand right here until you tell us otherwise.’ Jerria promised with one of her smiles that flashed like light glinting off a knife blade. Content with that the seaman left them.

The two women watched the seamen dock, a process that seemed to take forever and involve much shouting and messing around with ropes, without much interest. They had been patient for the entire voyage, mostly because caring for the breeding stock of runners and herdbeasts that Jerria had converted her savings into kept them busy, now, within sight of land even Jeri of the infinite patience was restless.
‘What first?’ Jahzara asked with her eyes fixed on the seemingly deserted harbour side.

‘I suppose we should announce ourselves to the Weyr if this Hold really is empty.’ Jerria mused. ‘First we’d better find out if it is unoccupied and get the beasts down there somewhere. Our captain wants to sail with the morning tide tomorrow and he’ll probably charge us extra if he misses it. We’ll get out there for a look around. Jahzask can come too, she’ll see better than us anyway.’

‘Right.’ Jahzara agreed. ‘now lets jump ship for a while.’ With that Jahzara ran off, leaving her wher and her sister to follow in her wake.

[Franny]

Kelyna waited on top of her Malaracyth. Malaracyth had gotten more and more protective of her as she had gotten farther along in her pregnancy. She had insisted that she wanted to meet the shipp traveling in, so Malaracyth had flown her here. Kelyna wondered who was arriving and what they would bring to the weyr. She smiled out at the boat on the water below her. It was nice to see new people arriving for the sake of coming here. She still wanted a lord and lady holder, but she was thinking of allowing people to move in there anyway. They would be governed by the weyr on till the new holders came. Smiling she waited, watching sighlently from the heights; Malaracyth's hide shining its bright gold underneath her, letting everyone know who was up there. Malacarth said to hers, Mine, do not worry, all will be fine.

******************************************************

Zaren had gone to dolphin harbor for a while as a break. He was tiring of living at the weyr, though he would still go back since he was a harper. What saddened him the most was that his sister had impressed and he hadn't. Every time he saw the hold, it only reminded him of this. Sadly he tuned his gitar up and began to play a hauntingly sad melody that wafted over the waters. He played even as the boat neared the dock that he was sitting on, never stopping. He didn't even notice the boat he was so absorbed in the simple sound of the instrument. Things happened how they were meant to, and he knew that he might never impress, and this music showed this. The haunting melody went from grief, to sad remembrance, to a fading way sound that vibrated its haunting e minor chord across the waters. It was a tale about the greif of the people when a famous harper of legend had died at the same time as the machine know as AIVAS. That machine was still there, but it had never woken again, so it was deemed as dead. He did not have the heart to put the words to the tale, for he felt that the instrument showed it better. At that moment, Shiyk decided to appear, with a flapping fish that he had obviously caught. Zaren gave a small laugh. So what if he hadn't impressed, he had other things like music and Shiylk.Looking up, he saw the boat approach.

[Kisha-Ra]

Jahzara paused in her walk along the harbour side., looking up at a flash of reflected light. ‘Looks like we get to meet Weyr representatives sooner than you thought.’ She commented as the light resolved into a gold dragon.

Jerria raised an eyebrow and ran a hand through her short hair, a nervous gesture that made the red brown strands stick up worse than before. She had been expecting that she and ‘Zara would go to the Weyr, not that any rider, much less the Weyrwoman would be around to see them arrive. Jerria wordlessly took her sister’s arm and pulled the younger woman toward the obvious path toward the gold dragon and her rider.

Jahzara yanked her arm back from Jeri’s grasp with an evil glare, she knew better than to keep a dragonrider waiting, even if the haunting music she heard called for investigation, maybe this place wasn’t as empty as it seemed. Jahzask, sensing the interest of her bonded, turned aside, she didn’t have to be polite to dragonriders, as for the dragon…well everyone whers and dragons were indifferent to each other most of the time.

The old wher followed the music until its conclusion, then walked toward the new sound of laughter. Jahzask paused as she entered what she thought to be the visual range of the music playing human and chirped a greeting.

Jahzara noticed her wher wandering off and smiled slightly, Jahzask would investigate and Jahzara would be polite, well stand slightly behind Jeri while she was polite anyway she corrected her thought as Jerria stopped before the goldpair and waited for permission to speak. Jahzara drew up behind her sibling and slightly to the right.

[Franny]

Kelyna smiled slightly to the tow women and asked, "What may I ask, are your professions?" Kelyna looked the young women over and decided that they were fairly trustworthy. She asked Malaracyth , What do you think of them?

Not bad mine. I am willing to carry these two to the weyr if you wish. They seem the friendly type, though I thought I had seen a wher with them, I wonder where it went.

"Where is the wher that had been with you? Mine says there was a weyr. Oh, and I forgot to introduce myself, I am Kelyna and this is Malaracyth." Kelyna smiled politely at the two women

Hello there Malaracyth said to the two young Women, her mindvoice mellow and kind.

********************************************

Zaren stared at the wher. He had seen it get off the ship, and then it had come toward him. "Well hello there. Where is your handler?" He asked the Wher, unsure of them since there wen't many whers left on Pern, and this one was obviously gold. "Did you like the music?" He asked the weyr, and then he started to play again, a song about the legend of the dragon and how it ended. It started happy, with people arriving on Pern, and then its sound turned to an almost panicky sound, to represent the panic of Pern when thread first fell, then it went to a triumphant march, when dragons were born. After that it went to a calm and peaceful mode. It rode up and down, like waves to represent passes and intervals. Then it came to the ninth pass, witch sounded like a triumphant end to the song, but it kept going, in a peaceful bland way, until it suddenly came to an end with a question chord at the end, an unfinished end. It was a song that his master had written when he was an apprentice and that he had helped with. Unlike most songs, it had no words. His master believed words would ruin the feeling of this song. His master had died soon after the song was finished, leaving it to him to add onto the song if anything happened on Pern. This song was about the feeling of Pern throughout the centuries. He smiled politely at the end of the song. Giving his audience time to clap. He decided to finish up and go back to the weyr soon. Maybe the wher that had been nearby could lead him to its handler, and maybe its handler would have a way of getting to the weyr, it was time he traveled back there anyway. With Shiyk, who had satten quietly through the preformance on his shoulder, he stood up and bowed, preparing to take his leave.

[Kisha-Ra]

Jerria flashed one of her blindingly white grins at the Weyrwoman and replied. ‘I’m beastcraft master Jerria, newly instated and all that, call me Jeri if want, most people do. This is my sister Jahzara, she’s a wherhandler.’

Jahzara smiled and nodded as the Weyrwoman’s face took on an odd expression that ‘Zara assumed meant she was speaking with her dragon. ‘Oh Jahzask is around somewhere. We heard someone playing a gitar a moment ago, Jahask likes music so she probably went to find the mystery gitar player.’


Jahzask crooned and bobbed her head in an imitation of a human nod, she had enjoyed his playing. She listened attentively to the second song, was this boy harper aware that he told the story with his mind as well as his instrument? Probably not but his running mental/emotional commentary added a depth of feeling to an already intense, if Jahzask was any judge, instrumental piece. A question, yes that was good, one day the threads might fall again. When the last chord faded Jahzask crooned her appreciation and wondered how she could lead this one to her Jahzara. She chirped a question and walked slowly away, he would follow if he chose. Humans were like that.

[Franny]

Does the Beastcaft Master bring animals for the herd, mine?
I don't know, I will ask Kelyna told hers.
"Do you bring animals with you beastcraft master Jerria? Mine wishes to know." Kelyna smiled, the woman was probably good since she had made master so young. Then Kelyna turned to Jahzara and asked, "If you have a wher, will you need a ride or will your wher carry you? Do either of you need a ride somwhere, Malaracyth is willing to carry you. Oh, and the Harper is probably Zaren. He came here with the first couple of people, before the wave from the big ship. He didn't impress and has been moping around playing his instrument."

********************************************************************

Zaren smiled at the wher, glad that it had like d his playing. It was always nice to know that you were appreciated. Zaren saw that the Wher wanted him to follow, and so he followed. He certainly wasn't doing anything and could afford to follow the wher.

[Kisha-Ra]

Jerria looked slightly amused, she’d always thought that meeting a weyrwoman would be much more serious and quite so filled with disconnected questions. Still she found this young goldrider likeable, and her questions were well thought of, just not as clearly asked as they might have been, it was probably the effect of trying to converse with two people at once. ‘Yes, there are runnerbeasts and herdbeasts still on board ship, however they are breeding stock and I’d prefer it if no one ate them.’ The last bit was directed at Malaracyth, with a smile to show she was teasing the great beast, she knew dragons understood the importance of having food for next year, well J’ra’s blue did anyway and queens were supposed to be smarter than other dragons.

‘We were hoping to move into the hold somewhere.’ Jerria continued, seizing the conversation, since ‘Zara didn’t seem to be paying much attention. ‘At least for the moment. I’m sure if there’s a ready supply of stone we could get some simple outbuildings together for the beasts.’

‘What Jeri is trying to say Weyrwoman, is that we don’t need to go anywhere yet. We are grateful for the offer though.’ Jahzara smoothly broke into the conversation. ‘If that’s Zaren with Jahzask I’d say you were right about him being our mystery player.’ Jahzara waved a hand indicating the approaching wher and harper with a smile.

[Franny]

Malaracyth glared at the woman when she suggested that she might eat the stock. She replied straight to the woman, Listen here, I am quite smart and I know what is portioned out for the weyr and what is hold breeding stock. I am not one of those huge southern felines.

Kelyna almost laughed at that, but she managed to rein herself in. Malaracyth didn't like it when people suggested that she was less intelligent than she actually was. Kelyna smiled and said, "Well, you can inhabit it, but right now it is just a hold without holders. That is where we store our other beasts though. We, the dragonriders of the weyr, take people out there to work the fields with us and prepare the hold for residents." She then turned to Zaren and said, "decided that you have been here long enough yet and would like to come back to the weyr to play music for us? Or would you like to go the hold this time?"

***********************************************************************

Zaren smiled at the two girls and then said, "Weyrwoman, I will go wherever these two beautiful young women and their charming wher go. The wher is the greatest of audiences ever." He bowed to the women and said, "I am harper Zaren, who your music appreciative wher brought over to you."

[Kisha-Ra]

Jerria smiled at Malaracyth in a manner that was neither mocking nor placating, just an expression that flashed briefly across her face before she spoke. ‘Can’t you tell when you’re being teased? I do know dragons.’

‘Jeri isn’t serious about teasing you Malaracyth.’ Jahzara explained while scratching her very smug wher. ‘She’s like that quite a lot.’

Jerria had turned her attention to the rider again, more concerned with the safety of her beasts than the mood of a dragon. ‘I take it that means the fields are safe around here? I was going to leave the herds on board ship overnight but if the grazing is safe they’d be better off outside.’ It was clear that Jeri had her mind firmly set on the hold, holders or no.

Jahzara turned a sceptical eye to Zaren. ‘Now I wonder if we’re being teased, only the blind call me beautiful. Jahzask is charming though, and she loves music, it’s not often anyone will lower themselves to play for an audience of one wher.’ Jahzask agreed, mostly, it wasn’t lowering yourself to play for her though.