All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright © Anne McCaffrey 1967,2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited. For more information, visit the Worlds of Anne McCaffrey.

30-12-00: Lies
As you make your way up to the landing, and through the cliff's doors, the latter's weather-worn embossings draw into...

As you make your way up to the landing, and through the cliff's doors, the latter's weather-worn embossings draw into focus if not clarity; as you enter, lighting and ambiance alter from stark stone to very human habitation.

Hanneke near bounces her way up through the great doors, tawny-hued curls bobbing about her shoulders as she swings arms by her sides, one hand clasping tightly to a heartily new scroll of hide. The girl pauses, by the doorway, glancing about, then bounces further in, face lit by a rather large, almost empty-headed, smile.

Shendti tiptoes out of the kitchen, bearing a large platter of cold wherry. The pre-dawn light serves to hide her somewhat, and she sticks close to the wall with the manner of Someone Who Is Being Naughty.

Hanneke's manner would be more of the 'I have something -important- to do, and I'm thrilled about it', but then, she's rarely less than bubbly anyway. The girl strides forward, across the room, then comes to a confused stop. Where to go, where to go? She glances about, nose wrinkling at those about the room, although her face doesn't loose it's insatable grin.

Shendti freezes and attempts to melt into the wall, eyes widened at Hanneke. Maybe if she's lucky the girl will assume she's a drudge. Yeah, that's right. Unfastening her knot and dropping it into one dye stained pocket, she shuffles forward, head bowed in a good imitation of drudgery. "Can I help you?" She wheedles, Boll accent dragging on the words a little.

Hanneke, in her surprise (evidently, she didn't expect anyone to notice her -- innocuous, see, although she'd never used that word for it), nearly drops her hide, the idea of which seems to give her some fright of it's own, for her digits hold on tighter than ever. Bubbling over, however, the girl giggles, "I'm looking for where your records are kept! Master Kajine said to bring this--" She indicates the hide in her hand "--and hand it over." A pause, as the wherry is snifffed at: "That looks good. Who're you? I'm Hanneke, and I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"I'm Shen--ta. Shenta. I'm a drudge." She offers the platter, straightening from her stoop to do so, and grins at Hanneke. "Master Kajine...? One of those Masters who sends apprentices on errands no matter what the time?" She jerks her head at the dawn light just filtering through the door, and grins again, trying to look as 'drudgelike' as possible.

Hanneke is well known, and fairly obviously placed, as an idiot. She blinks once at Shen--ta, then frowns. "I thought drudges were mostly stupid, and didn't know much." Accepting the words about Master Kajine, she bobs her head in a nod, hesitating, then reaching forward to pick herself a piece of the wherry. She eyes the other woman: "Your clothes are really, really nice, too." She looks vaguely jealous, licking her fingers as she bites hungrily until the wherry. Swallowing, she adds, "At home, Mother said it was for good reason that the drudges didn't wear nice things. She said that they'd spoil them. Lady--er, the Fort Lord and Lady must be very generous."

Shendti is quick to assume an expression of incongrous clumsiness, and twitches the dye spattered dungarees to further cover her clothes. "I'm...ahhh...special." She slouches a little harder, attempting to drape her hair over her face a little more.

Shendti adds hopefully, "I can't read."

Hanneke's face falls. "Special," says she, sullenly, with a roll of her eyes, licking her fingers clean, while still grasping tightly to the hide. "Everyone seems to be special, 'cept for me. Mother said I was a normal child in every way, and that I would learn to think properly. And--Davad is special because everyone talks to him. Everyone else is gifted and--" She pauses, flushes, and then begins to giggle uncontrollably. "You look awful funny, slouching like that. Mother says that it's bad to slouch." Nose wrinkles again: "Can't read? That's--awful! There's lots of really good romances that people've written down."

"I'm a drudge!" Shendti defends, though straightening from her slouch to glare at Hanneke. "...And I'm not really special...I'm a drudge." She takes refuge in that, casting a helpless glance towards the beginnings of the dawn-drudges. "And I can't read. Not Harper trained. Lots of people /can't/."

Hanneke nods her head stupidly, bobbing it up and down, while a bright smile habitates itself upon her face once more. "I didn't say you weren't! I've never con-conv-conv--talked with a drudge before." She grins in a giddy kind of way, bouncing about on the balls of her feet. "I didn't know that a lot of people couldn't read. Mother said that it was everbody's right to be able to read. I'd try and teach you, except--" brow furrows, "I'm an Apprentice. I'm supposed to be taught, not teacht." The word isn't right, and she seems to have realised it, but it makes no impression upon her: "Can I have some more wherry?"

In the distance, the drums announce the departure of Ista Weyrsecond S'era.

Shendti offers the platter distractedly, bobbing her head in dutiful agreement. "Oh...an Apprentice." Relief replaces the idiotic smile on her face, "That's okay then. Harper, right?" A lot seems to hinge on that question, to jdge from the weaver's continual swipe of her foot against the floor, and her slight frown.

The fingers of Hanneke's right hand reach out, and she secures herself another piece of the cold meat, which she breakfasts on, while chattering nonstop. "A Harper, yes. I'm actually just a probationary apprentice, but still a Harper!" The bouncing apprentice notices the foot-swiping, although seems to make little of it, only knawing into her meal the more. "I would help, though, if I could! It's horrible, not to be able to read."

"Oh." Shendti muses on this whilst gnawing on her own piece of wherry, then bobs her head happily in agreement, sinking further into her chosen position. "Is it horrible?" She's never noticed, not really. Snagging another piece, this time for the shoulderful of freshly woken gold, she puzzles out loud, "Isn't it horrible /to/ read?"--"Then people ask you to do things?"

Only now does Hanneke notice the firelizard -- and only now because her own two greet the awakening gold with short croons -- eyebrows raising slowly. "I didn't know drudges had -gold- firelizards, either! Wow--I wish I was a drudge!" Bubbling merrily, the girl adds, "Well--no. I mean, you can learn things, and get an education. Mother says that an education is the best thing one can get." She stands where she is, bobbing up and down to her own inner bounce.

Shendti's about to defend her weaving education, but thinks better of it and carries on chewing. "She was a present..." She tries hopefully, stooping a little more and jerking Sarra more into the shield of her hair. "Like what kinda things can you get an eddication for?"

"I need to get myself better friends, who give better presents," decides Hanneke admiringly, gazing at the firelizard until her view is obscured. "Ed-u-cation," she corrects, mildly disapproving, although her face never looses its beam. "Lots of things, I bet! I mean, I'm getting an education to be a Harper, and care for hides with mother." She waves about the hide in her hand, while wiping her other hand upon her breeches. "And--one can learn how to dye cloth, or make people better, or just read for their own sake! Educations can be about -anything-!"

"Try Calandra," Shendti suggests then, without thinking, and digs her own grave further with: "I can dye cloth too..." She stops, backtracks, and swallows: "What I /mean/ is: Momma taught me how to." She nods firmly.

Hanneke eyes narrow slightly: "You're giving away your friend? I didn't think people did that, when their friends were nifty spiffy! Who is she, anyway?" There's another pause: "Who is your mother, then, that she could do that? Nif-ty! I'd love to be able to dye myself pretty clothes." A long sigh: harperdom is obviously not her place in the world, no matter what she'll protest.

"Not /giving/ her away," Shendti protests, obviously relieved that Calandra hasn't been linked to Masterweaver in Hanneke's mind yet. "My mother?" She fidgets, handing her tray to one of the drudges passing with a mop so as to fidget better. "Oh...She was nobody."

Hanneke gazes after the tray almost mournfully -- young people are often ruled by their stomachs rather than their minds, and Hanneke is more than most -- before diverting her attention back to Shendti. "Well, no, but telling people about her! That's surely worth something." Almost giddily, the girl adds, "I'm sure I've heard her name before--is she from here? I'm sure she must be, since drudges don't travel." Blissfully oblivous, the girl adds, "Nobody? You already said you had a mother -- and everyone does -- so she can't be nobody. She has to be somebody!" Her logic, as always, is impeccable.

Shendti tries again, "Calandra's nobody too. Momma's just...a drudge as well. A drudge. Yep. She's a drudge as well." Notice the guilty flush which spreads across her cheeks, causing her to fidget and stoop further.

Hanneke's smile is almost pitying: "Have you got a fever? You seem to be going all read, and Father told me that one gets red, sometimes, when they have a fever. You should go to the Healer Hall, and get some herbs to make yourself feel better." It's doubtful that she'll ever get a clue. "Drudges. All drudges. You all seem to have a wonderful life -- maybe I should be one, too."

If there's one thing Shendti can't stand, it's pity. She scowls. "I don't think they - we do, in actual fact." She lifts her chin self-righteously, indignance making Sarra fan her wings in protest. "Besides, they're stinking our Hold out enough as it is."

"They?" Confusion reigns upon this apprentice's visage, her brow furrowing. "Is it 'they' or 'we'?" she requests, indignant at the very idea that this might have all been a ruse, and she far too gullible to figure it out.

"They! I mean we! They, we, does it matter?" Shendti pleads desperately Boll's intonation evident in her voice as she fixes a hopeful look on Hanneke.

Hanneke's bouncing comes to a complete halt. Plaintative response comes audibly: "It matters a lot. Either you're a drudge, or you're something else," eyes flash, then calm. "Is there something wrong with the truth?"

Shendti swallows; is there? She shuffles, ashamed a little. "No..." It's a tiny, tiny admission, made with flushing cheeks and downcast eyes. It's practically ridiculous.

Hanneke, with a brilliant smile, and a sweet, high pitched giggle, shrugs, "Then tell me the truth! Why were you hiding who you were? Are you playing a really fun game? Are you hiding from someone? Tell!" Evidently, the physical responses to Shendti's admission aren't even noticed, or scarcely. Go figure.

Shendti brightens at this, confessing, "I'm not allowed in the kitchen. I'm Shendti." The rank gets left out though and the flush recedes. "Drudging /isn't/ fun." She imparts delicately, straightening from that stoop with an almost audible crack of her back.

Hanneke, with no small hint of triumph, beams, "Well met, Shendti! It's nice to meet you." A shrug of her shoulders follows the words, as she adds, "I'm not allowed in the kitchens, either. I don't think I'd want to be, either. Too much work! There's plenty of food outside." She adds, curiously, "But -why-? Why did you pretend, if it's not fun?"

Shendti blinks, at loss momentarily, then: "Because," She decides after a moment, "I could've got in trouble if you was someone important." It sounds like a better reason than the fact she just didn't think, or that she's stupid.

Hanneke wrinkles her nose, but nods. "You're lucky, I suppose, that I wasn't someone important. Do I look like someone important?" The idea seems to interest the young girl, who begins to bounce about again, still holding tightly to the hide within her hand.

"When you don't bounce, you might just manage to look like someone importanter." Shendti accords her, one hand absently rubbing her back. "D'ya like harpering?" The idea of reading, now that she's dropped the drudge rank, is interesting and she begins to unconsciously mimic the other girl's bouncing motions.

Hanneke pauses in her bouncing, as if considering this line of thought with a great deal of concentration -- something that does not come easily to her. "Really? Ooh! I will have to try that!" There she goes again, unconsciously beginning the bouncing motion. "Like it? I--Mother says I am to learn how to think, become a Journeyrank, and came back and help her. I like the boys. And--we've done some dancing lessons, that I like. Some of the hides are interesting."

"It's dull other than that?" Shendti guesses with a helpful air, indeed, she seems to almost radiate the stuff. "I can dance...Haven't been taught it though."

Hanneke nods her head sagely, although her smile never diminishes: "I don't understand most of it. It's okay when I know the information--Mother taught me well. But when they ask you -about- it, I don't get it." She shrugs her shoulders; evidently, she's not much concerned. "I do like to dance. I wish we did more. How did you learn without being taught?"

Shendti shrugs one shoulder, "I watched other people, I think, and made up my own moves." Fishing her knot out of her pocket, she rubs a thumb over it, clasping it in her hands. "I'm a weaver, anyway."

"A weaver!" This seems to delight Hanneke, who asks, "Is it fun? I mean--It'd be messy, the dying part, and I wouldn't like that, but the actual clothes." A contented sigh is enunciated: "They made me put a lot of my clothes in storage, when I came to the hall. All those pretty things that I shall grow out of before I might wear them again."

Shendti pats Hanneke's shoulder sympathetically, "Poor thing. When I came to the Hall, I was just wearing one outfit, and that was all I had." Now she has more, a lot more. She nods amenable agreement, "Dyeing is smelly as well, and I pricked my fingers loads during embroidery, but wearing the clothes is fun."

Hanneke seems to find the sympathy acceptable, because she returns to bounciness, rather than glum memories of pretty clothes. "All you had? Even now, I have several different outfits, and they mix rather well." The smelly part is given a wrinkle of her nose, as she transfers the hide from one hand to the other, and then tucks it into her belt. "Pricked your fingers? They -bled-?"

Shendti gestures towards the stairs, "I'm boiling indigo dye, so I need to go and check it. Ta-ta for now!" She bounds towards the stairs.