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.

28-01-01: Unpacking
Julen was just on his way to hand in his homework -- see the neatly printed sheets in his hand?...

Julen was just on his way to hand in his homework -- see the neatly printed sheets in his hand? "Uh, help with what, journeyman?" He hesitates, as per standard operating procedure.

Just what Scinhia wanted! "Wonderful!" she says, sighting the other two apprentices. "I need help, and lo! It appears. We just got a wagonload from the south, and I need apprentices to help unload. It's all slated for the instrument workshop. C'mon."

Hanneke evidently has bad timing. In fact, that's without a doubt. Slinking is not her best skill, and, although she tries, tripping over a workbench does not quite make it work. "Ow!" Enter Hanneke, floor left.

Julen helps Hanneke up -- does that count? "Uh, okay. But are the things real heavy?" The mention of instruments has him worried, it's plain to see. "'Cause I'm not real strong." He's not trying to get out of it; he's just being honest.

Siri enters from the harper hall, tapestries swirling closed behind her.

Fenella comes out the door to be swept away by Scinhia duties. She doesn't hesitate, and nods to the journeywoman, "i'll help, I have nothing to do..." She smiles then waits for Scinhia to lead them away. She looks towards Hanneke then asks, "You okay?"

Scinhia is honest. "Some of it's heavy, but some isn't. C'mon, it's a beautiful, dry afternoon. We can get this stuff unloaded, sorted, and into the workshop by the end of the day without having to worry about its getting damaged." She's about to head down the stairs when Siri comes into view. "We're just going to unload that wagon of goods for the workshop, Headwoman. I know they put some of your stuff into the shipment, too. Do you want to come look for it, or should we just set it aside as we come to it?"

Hanneke gives Julen a grateful smile, shifting her weight so that once again, she stands. "Fine, fine," chirps she, head bobbing, and curls flopping. "Heavy? Oh--it's a -beautiful- day, isn't it? Just -perfect-."

Scinhia turns and leads the way to the road. She's sure that everyone who needs to follow her will do so.

Julen glances down at his homework. "I'll just turn this in, then meet you all in the courtyard?" he begs permission of the journeyman, always conscientious. "I don't wanna muss it while we're moving stuff."

Scinhia pushes aside the southeast tapestries and enters the harper hall.

Fenella nods to Hanneke as the girl says she's alright, then no more is said, nothing to talk about I guess..or maybe she just doesn't feel like it. She heads down behind everyone else.

[Scene resumes on the Fort Road]

Scinhia finishes a swift conversation with the wagon driver. "Wine sounds good," he says, and heads towards the dining hall.

Fenella walks behind them, then stops and looks at the wagon, "Is this it?" She tumbs towards the wagon.

Scinhia puts her hands on her hips, examining the wagon. "Yep, that's it. Let's get cracking."

Hanneke trails behind, as yet still rubbing the knee that she must have jarred in her earier tripping movement. The wagon is given a long glance, then Scinhia another. "Cracking? How do we crack-- is that like falling over and cracking ones bones?"

Fenella nods, and heads towards the back of the wagon, looks like this is nothing new for her. "Which crates would you like us to start with?"

Scinhia grins. "Not quite," she says to Hanneke. Then she peers at the crates. "It doesn't look like any of them are even labeled," she says. "We'd better unload 'em and open them here. That way, we'll know for sure where they're supposed to end up."

Julen scuttles in a little behind the others, but homework-free. He hangs a little behind the others, waiting for instructions. "And which ones are breakable too, yeah?" he adds, tiptoeing to peer into the packed wagon.

Scinhia nods to Julen. "Yep. Be careful when you set stuff down, and try not to drop anything."

Siri looks at the wagon and nods, "This should be just about everything I had ordered, anything else I don't know." She looks over at Scinhia. "Really? Perfect, more work for us to do." She looks over at the wagon driver as he shrugs. The headwoman shakes her head. "Let's find out what's here and what's not." She pulls out a list, just making sure that it's there.

Scinhia clambers into the wagon, trying out that leading-by-example stuff that is reputed to work so well.

Hanneke shifts on her feet, hesitant, before rushing towards the crates, heedless of Scinhia's answer, or of her request for care. The apprentice, scarcely one with trustworthy fingers, attempts to lug one crate forward, and fails, stepping back again. "Heavy," states she, with a chirp.

Julen hangs below, waiting to see where he's needed -- next to Hanneke, for instance. "Let's try it together?" he suggests, reaching for the other end of the crate. "Wonder what could be this heavy. I though instruments were always light."

Fenella gazes at the load of crates, shrugs and goes for one, tugging at it to get it free from the wagon. When she has it in her arms, her back bends forward..heavy..she hurries over to the side out of the way and quickly places the crate on the ground. She dusts her hands off, then goes for the lid. Cracking open the lid she finds some imported wine bottles..looks like Brenden wine. "Wine?" She questions to no one..

Scinhia glances over, from within the dusky shadows of the wagon. "A lot of instruments are light, but not all of them... and sometimes, we have to cut things down to make the instruments-- like a woodwind. You have to start with a tree." She restrains herself from commenting on the wine. Maybe it's part of Siri's shipment.

"Together!" Hanneke echoes Julen brightly, head bobbing. "Probably something silly like hide for finished compositions--that's probably heavy when there's lots of it." She doesn't sound in the least bit sure, and only shrugs, lunging down to grasp at the crate again.

Julen pulls on the other end of the crate, and between them, they manage to get it moving. He snakes his arms under the crate just as it's about to tumble to the ground. Does Hanneke hold uo her end?

Siri peers into the crate that Fenella opens and nods, taking one out and grins. "And Red as well. There should be some white, both Tillek and Benden." She hears about instruments, "Instruments can be, but not the materials to make them, especially in large amounts."

Hanneke does, amazingly. Yelping, thanks to the real lack of strength within her arms, she holds it up, although her arms shake a little-- "Materials, then. Whatever. Still heavy."

Scinhia, carrying what must be a comparatively light box, jumps down from the wagon. She sets it down and looks around. "Where's that crowbar?"

Julen taps the lid of the crate, now that they've safely landed it. "Pretty solid. We'll probably need to use a crowbar too," he tells Hanneke. How did Fenella get such an easy crate to unload and open? "Should we leave it to her, and go get another one?" There are still plenty stacked on the wagon.

Fenella looks up at Siri, "So do you want me to get another crate, or would you like me to deal with this one?" She says it flatly, for some reason...

Hanneke relinquishes her grasp upon the crate without reluctance, and decides, bubbling: "Get another. Probably only dumb old wood and stuff inside-- so it'd be boring to look in."

Scinhia, casting about, finally spots the crowbar lying in a dry patch of dirt. "Gotcha now," she says, levering open the crate, revealing a mass of straw packing material.

Julen scrambles up onto the wagon, then, pushing one crate forward. "This one's moving all right. Can you get it from the bottom?" He glances at Fenella, having caught her tone, but not asking. Not when he's the youngest and smallest apprentice in the group.

Scinhia, on her knees beside the crate, pushes aside the straw. "--Oh," she says.

Fenella turns her head in Scinhia's direction, wondering whats in the crate, she watches.

Hanneke? She'll try--and does, grasping her arms about the crate in question, and lugging it forward as she can. "--Oh?" asks she, wiggling backwards a little, of Scinhia, curious. "What's in it? Do tell!"

Scinhia reaches into the crate, carefully lifting out a glass cylinder hanging from a twist of hide. It dangles downwards, clear glass swirling into deep rose at the bottom. She tings it with a fingernail. A clear tone fills the air, fluid and resonant.

Scinhia waits for the tone to die down, a smile spreading across her face. "He's not going to sleep for a solid sevenday, once he knows that they came."

Scinhia carefully replaces the cylinder into the packing materials, answering Julen, "Harmon's experiment. He's a journeyman, but his hold's all glassmakers. He's been working on variations with sound and glass, ever since he was promoted."

Hanneke wrinkles her nose curiously, stating, "It's weird. Sounds pretty boring -- all that experimenting."

Julen eyes the cylinder, what little he can still see of it. "Wow," he exhales. He's barely grasped the rudiments of basic instrument-making; tinkering with glass is beyond his comprehension, for now. "Do you make instruments too, journeyman? Is that why you're in charge of this wagon of stuff?"

Fenella looks back at Siri, then heads back towards the wagon, but all the while listing to the conversation, she reaches for a crate that is near the end of the wagon. This one is a little harder to get out, then her hands reach the back of the crate, she takes a deep breath and drags it towards the edge. promotion..something that's not going to happen for her..Her face shows no signs of emotions.

Scinhia shakes her head at Julen. "Nope. I'm a folklorist. My partner and I are usually on circuit, gathering and sharing songs from different holds. There's lots of different ways to be a harper. You're all apprentices," she says. "What brought you to the craft? What kind of harper do you want to be?" It's a general question. Answer it how you will. She stands, heading back towards the wagon.

Hanneke states grandly, as she moves back towards the wagon, resting a hand upon one of the crates, "Mother says that I will be an archivist, and return to Lemos to help her there." Proudly, she wiggles past a crate, to move behind it.

Do they have to answer it? While Hanneke fields it, Julen slides off the wagon and takes up the crowbar. Maybe if he looks busy -- not that he really knows how to use the implement -- he won't have to answer it.

Fenella finally slides the crate off the edge of the wagon, and finds that this one is very light, "hum.." Thats it, thats all she says, as she heads to place this one by the other she took out. As for Scinhia's question, she knows the answer but doesn't care to answer it if it was directed at her.

"I don't think I could stand being an archivist," Scinhia admits, "too confined, just putting old record in order, recopying crumbling ones. It needs to be done, but... well, it's not for me. It's good that you know what you want to do, though."

Hanneke looks, by her face, less than sure of the accuracy of her own statement, but she nods rapidly, beaming once more, "Oh, Mother says that it is very necessary, and that I will have the skills for it." Which is probably true-- she'll never make a musician.

Julen tries to open the heavy crate with the crowbar, but he's got it propped the wrong way round. He's trying to remember how his older brothers did it, but can't quite get the picture in his head to match what he's doing.

Scinhia takes the big step up into the wagon, evaluating the choices at hand. "So what about you two?" she calls to the others from within the depths of the wagon. "What brought you to the hall?" After all, there's no reason why they can't all talk while they're working.

Fenella looks towards Julen, "Need some help?" She smiles, then wanders over to his side.

Julen surrenders the crowbar to Fenella, since he has to answer the journeyman's question anyway. "Uh -- I'm here to sing. My folks thought my voice would be a waste if I didn't." It's as simple as that.

Scinhia wrestles with a long, narrow bundle of wooden slats. "Oof-- nothing wrong with having talent." She maneuvers the unwieldy package towards the edge of the wagon, then jumps down to get it the rest of the way out.

Fenella hears the question, this time it was directed at her, she nods to her self, then taking the offered crowbar in hand, she places it in the proper position, then says, "Watch..like this." She places the bar under the lid crack, then leans down on it, and it opens. She smiles then nods to Julen, handing him back the crowbar. Then looking up to Scinhia she says, "I've been here for about 3 turns, tryin to specalize in the law of pern, with the conclaves and everything..." Then she heads back to her unopend crate.

In the distance, the drums announce the departure of Weyrlingmaster Jules.

Hanneke states, grave for a very short moment, "Some of the masters say that I've got no talent--I bet it's a cool thing." The idea seems less than disturbing to her-- or perhaps she simply doesn't believe it, and instead returns to working the crate in her grip on to the ground.

Julen thanks Fenella for her assistance and pushes the cover off. The crate is indeed filled with wood, as Hanneke surmised earlier, though it's been shaved down to more manageable sizes for instrument-making. "Should I unpack this, journeyman?" he asks, staying out of the discussion of talent. It's something he doesn't quite understand, even if people seem to like his untrained voice.

Scinhia offers the comforting truth, "Sometimes talent can be learned. And harper hall isn't just about music-- archivists are important to keeping in touch with our history. And the legal scholars are essential to maintaining peace on Pern. Believe me, I've seen enough conflicts out on circuit. ...Yeah, definitely unpack it. We need to see what we've got."

Julen attempts to heave the first chunk of wood out then, though he bangs the side of it against the crate's corner. When he's got it on the ground, he tries to rejoin the conversation. "I guess we need harpers for just 'bout everything. Do you do law too, I mean, besides collecting folk songs?"

Scinhia levers the bundle down to the ground and drags it off to the side. "Should probably put that on a tarp," she muses, then looks around. Hm, no tarp available. "Law? I'm probably not as well-schooled as she is," she says, indicating Fenella, "for all that she's an apprentice. But Feran and I handle legal problems, yeah. There's some holds who only get visited by harpers and traders. They save up all their ceremonies and a lot of their problems, waiting for us to show. I'm sure she could tell you some stories, though--you probably spend a lot of time looking at law records, huh?" This last question is directed at Fenella.

Hanneke shifts her crate onto the ground in full--bravely beaming in triumph, as she climbs on top of it for a rest. "Law is very important. I am to do that, too, Mother says." Talk of talent only earns a nod, and a muffled comment, as she turns her back, "Talent's just talent. Mother says that it's in the eye of the beholder."

Julen continues to unpack the wood, albeit slowly. Some of these logs are wider than both his arms put together. "What's that mean?" he asks Hanneke. "My mother always says that too, but I don't understand it."

Fenella reaches for her own crowbar that is beside the other box, then with a forceful push downwards it slides open, the lid falling to the side of the box. Her face shows a grin, but just for a second, then she pulls out a pair of brand new boots, which are of course in the harper colour. "new boots, finally. The halls in need of some of these." As she talks apparently to herself, she quickly turns to Scinhia and the others as they talk about her...then ask the question is asked she nods, boots still in her hands held up a little, "Well i have spent most of my time with the records and books, but I have gone to watch dealings with legal business in south bowl and ista..with that convict.."

"Dunno," says Hanneke, intelligently. "But Mother always said it, anyway."

Scinhia, back in the wagon again, this time carrying a box that emits a muffled jangle, like metal bits when it shifts, is pretty much willing to follow any conversational path that present themselves. "Which convict is that?" she asks.

Fenella simply answers, "Cadia...I think thats what her name was." Then she turns back to the box with the boots in them.

Julen forgets about mothers' adages in the wake of new and infinitely more exciting conversation topics. "Only convict I know of is the one that beat up Creer of my Clan that time," he chimes, before pushing himself back up to the wagon for the last few crates.

Scinhia freezes for an almost-imperceptible minute as Cadia's name is mentioned. "Oh, her," she says. "Strange where life takes you." Now there's a comment that's open for interpretation.

Hanneke, tone filled with awe, states: "I've never seen a convict. Or heard properly about one. Wow." She stands from her crate, turning to give it a long glance, before trudging towards wagon once more.

Fenella looks back at Scinhia, "You know her?" Is asked without reservation. Interested her attention is now on the j-woman.

Julen hands a smaller crate to Hanneke, one that even his feeble arms can handle. "Have you met her?" he adds on the heels of Fenella's query.

Scinhia sets down the box, hops down, the retrieves it to move it away from the wagon. "She spent a few turns in the hall when she was young," she answers. "Her sister was an apprentice, I think, over at Healer. She and I spent a couple of years battling it out-- she always knew exactly what to say to get to you. Didn't hurt that her sister talked about patients a little more than she should have. You should've seen her the day her sister impressed. She lorded it over everyone that she was going to go live at the weyr, have the perfect life."

Fenella nods, "I see..." She then goes back to the wagon for more crates.

Hanneke accepts the crate, although without her cup overflowing with joy, turning about to return towards the others. "Another to be opened," she chimes, her attention flowing readily from subject to subject with, "Oh! You know her. How--romantic." How indeed that is romantic is hard to tell, but Hanneke, face showing clear awe, watches Scinhia.

"She sounded scary, from the stories I've heard." Julen takes the next crate himself, hopping down besides Hanneke. "I can't imagine her as a kid."

Scinhia locates the crowbar. She shakes her head. "Not romantic... strange, maybe. She and I got hauled before the masters more times than I can count, but I always thought that she'd be the one who, I don't know. Turned out to be better than everyone. Dragonrider, handfasted to a lord, something. You don't expect the kid you fight with when you're seven to turn out to be a murderer. Those people are always supposed to be people that other people knew growing up."

Sober thoughts for a hot evening, as Julen wrestles with the lid of the small crate he's just unloaded. Or perhaps it's the journeyman's observations that are more troubling.

Scinhia inserts one end of the crowbar beneath the crate's lid, then jerks the other end down sharply. "Mind you, I don't think anyone really thought either of us'd turn out perfect. But if they'd been taking bets back then, I think they'd've expected me to turn out to be the criminal, not her." She grins, shaking off the train of thought. "Anyhow, you become an apprentice, your future changes." she looks at the instrument keys in the box, drops the crowbar, and heads back into the wagon. Next box?

Fenella sighs, "its sad when people's anger overwhelm them enough to make them do such horrible things, maybe thats one reason why I decide to go for legal scholars, to prevent or help the situations.." She's said to much..

Hanneke's silence is peculiar, but perhaps likely due to her occupation: attempting to wrestle a rather large, heavy box down to the ground.

Julen finishes unloading his last box and considers the almost-empty wagon. Still a couple more? "I don't see how we can prevent it much," he offers in response to Fenella's remarks. "I mean, it sounds as if this Cadia criminal was really mean." He's heard far too many stories, most of them far too embellished by old uncles.

Fenella says back towards Julen, "Well I would hope I could...at least i would try.."

Scinhia, bringing out yet another box, hears the two talking. "I don't know. I mean, I never understood what she had to be so angry about. She was a smart kid-- learned everything so fast, it was obnoxious. Adults liked her. And, oh, man. She was so sure that she'd impress after her sister did, and I don't think any of us kids thought that she wouldn't. She wasn't perfect-- just about every fight we had, we had because she wouldn't shut up, but still...." She shakes her head. "She had so much going for her. What more could she have needed?"

Hanneke rests up against a crate, glancing about with vague interest--and a rather obvious lack of understanding. "Uh," is her intelligent addition to the conversation.

Julen doesn't fully comprehend things himself, so he parrots his mother: "Maybe she fell into bad company. I was always warned about that, even when I came to this Hall."

Scinhia finishes investigating the contents of the last crate. "Nothing against your mother," she says, "but I don't think it's that easy. I mean, yes, bad company has something to do with it, but the people you hang out with don't just happen. They're not random, like a case of the measles. You choose the people you spend time with." She surveys the ground around the wagon. Neatly stacked crates, all opened, categorized and classified in groups.

Fenella coughs, then goes back to the wagon jumping up in it, she reaches for the corner where one of the last crates are, but suddenly jumps back, "Tunnel SNAKE!" Is yelled out, she spins around. Her eyes are wide.

Julen backs off immediately, huddling behind some of the empty crates. "Where? Where?" His gaze darts about quickly, looking for a hint of movement that isn't human.

Hanneke lets out a yelp that verges on a scream, and backs away rather rapidly. "Ew!"

"Let's get this stuff to where it be--" she breaks off, as Fenella shouts. She crosses the ground and jumps up into the wagon to investigate.

She being Scinhia, of course.

Fenella points to the spot then hurries and bounds off the wagon, no way she's going near that thing.

Julen lurks by his crate of choice -- it may not provide him with any real protection, but it's the illusion of safety that matters. "Anyone see it?" he calls out. "Tunnelsnakes don't like the light, huh?" Not that there's much daylight left.

"Sharding things," Scinhia curses, reaching down for the proverbial boot knife. Sure, it's a cliche, but it comes in handy at times like this. "Feran and I once spent a whole night trying to kill one of 'em. Hold put us in their worst room." She approaches the crate Fenella shot away from, a loose box with an open lid.

Scinhia, with a swift, violent movement, strikes downwards. A thumping rattle from within the box, however, indicates that she missed the tunnelsnake. Unfortunately, a shattering sound indicates that she /did/ hit something else. "Well, Harmon's going to have a fit."

Julen winces at the sound, imagining all too easily the fate of that beautiful cylinder. "There! There's something!" he points, entirely unhelpful. The journeyman ought to be close enough to the crate to see the movement herself.

Fenella shivers, then watches Scinhia, and winces when she misses, "Do get that sharded thing...Wouldn't want it to invest in the hall.."

Hanneke uncomfortably, stays well back. "Ew, ew, ew," is her monotonous murmur, as she digs her hands closer into her clothing.

Scinhia strikes again, "Ha, gotcha, you little... ow!" She jerks her hand back. The knife has blood on it, but some of it's her own, dripping from a deep bite on her wrist. "Shells and shards!" She hits once more into the box, then stops to investigate the bite. Judging from her actions and the silence from within the box, the tunnelsnake is dead.

Fenella jumps back onto the wagon, "Are you alright?" A worried expression is clearly written on her face.

Julen takes the long way round, even though the sight of the journeyman's bleeding hand impels him forward. "Do you need a bandage? Is it dead?" He hesitates, wavering between running for a healer and protecting himself.

Scinhia, disgusted attention now on her arm, says, "Yes, shard it. I'll have to wrap it, probably won't be able to play properly for a sevenday." She looks at her audience. "None of you is to get a healer," she says. "I can't stand them, and," she winces as she presses on the bite, "I don't need one for this sort of thing anyway."

Hanneke, as if horrified by the blood, simply runs. Scaredy cat.