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.

06-05-01: Chop!
You head into the Kitchen. Karei peers towards the tubers, indigo eyes narrowing. "/Tubers/? .. humph. Well. At least I...

You head into the Kitchen.

Karei peers towards the tubers, indigo eyes narrowing. "/Tubers/? .. humph. Well. At least I get a knife." A rather odd thing to be cheerful about, but it soothes Karei. "And I never /ruin/ anything." Another huff, and the tubers are inched towards, a knife snagged as Karei settles herself on a stool to peel-and-chop. Whee.

Hanneke ducks her head into the kitchen with wary caution, eyes moving back and forth about those working, before she manages to slide, somewhat gracefully, her entire figure into the large cavern. "Hihi!" she calls, the call resonating about the room, which causes her to flinch, although her facial expression -- that of a brilliant, beaming smile -- does not waver in the slightest.

Dalaena nods approvingly as the girl goes to her task, and then turns back to griamce at the yell. "Candidate!" she snaps. "There will be no yelling in here!" SHe frowns intensely, in a bad mood. "Have you been asigned to kitchen duty, or are you simply looking for smoe food? If the later I suggest you go back into the living caverns and try there. I am not handing out hot bubbly pies to people just because they like them hot rather than cooled."

Karei rolls her eyes discreetly at Dalaena, waggling her free hand towards Hanneke in greeting for fellow-Candidate. "Hullo, Hanneke." Scary beaming girl. Hack.

Hanneke's vacuous expression crumples slightly, before the former harper bubbles closer to Dalaena, reporting glibely, and with a lilting laugh, "I'm here on duties!" A nervous glance is given towards Dalaena; and she takes a step back, foot wobbling so that she near trips. "And I didn't yell! I didn't!" Beaming smile, just to be correct, is made towards Karei. "Hihi, Karei!"

Dalaena hms. "So you're Hanneke, are you?" the cook only half queries. "I see. Well, hanneke, you just got yourself the job of chopping carrots," she informs the Candidate. "And I need those in about five minutes, or at least a pound of them for the stew I am making. I can make smaller batches if I must, but I'd rather make them faster if I can, but I do understand you may not have worked in a kitchen before. Have you worked in a kitchen before, Hanneke?" she questions, eyes narrowing with curious suspition.

Karei whines. "I have to chop all of these by myself?" Poor, poor Karei. Instead of being the happy little huntress she envisioned herself as, she's .. a glorified drudge. Who's expected to bond with the scary beaming-smiling girl and the girl who was a boy but turned into a girl again. She's so deprived. Riight. She's polite, though. And that's always good. "Humph." Chop-chop.

Hanneke steps on her toes with her other foot, grinning dubiously, with the charm of one quite a bit younger than herself. "Hanneke, yes! That's me! Chopping carrots, oh, goodie! I helped in the kitchen at home, except that I dropped the plates, and they don't let me in there any more." Without hesitation, she babbles on, finishing with, "But I can do carrots!" That's a real vote of confidence.

Dalaena smiles, but does hold back the chuckle. "Very well then, Hanneke, please begin your task and let me know when you are done. If you have any trouble I'll be over there," she gestures to the flour covered counter. "Or you can speak with Marsilla there," she points to the dough-kneading woman. "Otherwise, have fun, but try not to cut yourself." That is the last thing she needs, being accused of maring the Candidates. "I'll leave one of my fair with each of you to watch you, so just remember, I have an eye on you, even if indirectly." She chuckles this time, allowing ehr amusement to surface before turning back to her task, of chopping and coating meat. To Karei goes a brown, young but evil looking, and Dalaena names him casually. "That is Angeles." A green floats over to the Harper girl, acting quite prim and proper. "And that is Jeyel. Enjoy girls." Snicker. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"I'm very good with knives," Karei states, looking sage and smart and other things Karei doesn't really have a right to look. "Humph. I have a blue." One blue. A mean blue. Who chews on Karei's hair. "His name's Tienlei. But... he's not here." Too bad for Kares.

Hanneke chucks a salute -- and it's a rather hopeless one -- towards Dalaena, grasping knife with intense delight. They trust her, they really trust her! "Hi, Jeyel! I'm just going to chop, and cut, really fast, and make carrot pieces!" At least, that was the idea: she grasps up knife, and aims it towards a piece of carrot selected from the pile, but her chop on goes half through. She stares at it, bewildered, and attempts to work her knife out. "Oh." Distracted easily, she notes towards Karei, "I've two blues, a brown, and a bronze." But they're asleep. Wise firelizards.

Dalaena nods absently, leaving the tasks to teh girls unless her aid is called for. She has a stew to make, well, pot pie anyway. Everyone seems to like it. She chuckles, and chop chops the meat, taking the piles and flouring them to be fried. Her brown shifts, laying down to eye Karei with a fire-lizardish smirk, whilst Jeyel looks annoyed at the bouncy antics.

Karei sticks her tongue out at the brown, chopping at her tubers carefully after peering towards Hanneke for a moment. "It might, ah, work better if you slice -- easier to avoid getting your fingers cut, too." Or so Karei would like to believe; she may as well try to be helpful, though. "They could've at least boiled the things so they'd be softer, or something." Less work in the tuber-scented kitchens, then.

Hanneke's expression, blank though it might be, allows an even wider smile upon it: "Oh! Oh, yes!" Oh! Overuse of exclamation marks! She frees her knife, carefully attempting to slice, although her fine motor skills, or lack there of, ensure that her slices are hardly even, straight, or at all beautiful. "Oh, quite," she agrees, glancing across with beaming smile.

Most likely, digestive systems aren't going to be that picky about the looks of carrots -- or tubers, hopefully, as Karei's slices are more haphazard and hurried than anything else. "Humph. Do our duties get rotated, do you know? Or will I be stuck with kitchen duty forever? I really don't see how peeling tubers is going to do me any good if I Impress."

Hanneke chops more quickly--some glee evident upon her pretty face. "Ooh, this is fun!" She pauses, biting upon her lip, knife waved about for emphasis. "I don't know. I expect--well, they're going to be slightly nice to us, aren't they? So maybe." Her knife wavers slightly, and earns a rightful place in carrot--trying to slice, once more. "Oops."

"I've done better things with knives," Karei sniffles, carefully placing her tuber-bites in a nearby bowl. "...er, well -- besides chopping tubers." Yes. Karei preformed dastardly deeds with sharp objects. "I don't know if they're going to be nice to us, though. I hope so -- it'd be awful if we /did/ Impress and we didn't like anyone, anymore." Or disliked them more than we did in the first place. "..and 'oops' what?" Blinkblink.

Eirene comes in from the Living Caverns.

Hanneke's eyes widen with romantic interest, true envy showing upon her visage which turns towards Karei with delight. "Oh! Like what?" She surrupticiously hides her knife behind her; kitchen fear is hard to get rid of. "Not like anyone? Oh, I think I'll live everyone! They're all--good." She beams brilliantly, adding, "Er, nothing." Her knife is yanked on, and she yelps again. "Won't come out."

Eirene pokes her head into the kitchens. Head is quickly followed by the rest of her body, and the former Fort-brat emits a cheerful "Ooh!" Green eyes on Karei, she beams at the girl. "I remember you! From the other kitchens." Now turning her gaze to take in the others, she offers them both a finger-waggle. "Hi. I'm Eirene. I'm a Candidate." Supposedly.

Dalaena turns around, and frowns. "What won't come out of what, Hanneke?" she questions, ignoring Eirene for the moment in some concern for the girl, or at least her untensils.

"I whittled, a bit, and I used to hunt." Karei nods, refraining from saying anything more. Eirene is blinked towards as she entered, and then the Candi quirks an eyebrow, nodding in greeting. "Nice to see you again -- you've been Searched?" Duh, Karei. Hack.

"The carrot?" Hanneke positively beams at this phenomenen, although her attention wavers towards Eirene, delight showing visibly upon her features. "Ooh, hullo! I'm Hanneke, and I'm a candidate, too, and my knife is stuck in a carrot!" We all have so much to celebrate in life. "Ooh," she adds, at Karei's statement. "Ooh!"

Dalaena would laugh at Hanneke's predicament if she wasn't in such a hurry. she walks over to the girl smoothly, not wasting a single step in her purpose as she takes both from the girl, yanking the knife cleanly out, and then setting the fingerroot down on the counter, and starts to chop it demonstratingly, the slices about a 1/4 inch thick and slightly slanted. "Think you can do that, Hanneke?" she asks, tossnig a look back at the newly arrived Fortian.

If Eirene were a little less dense, she might get the feeling that Karei doesn't like her much. But she is dense. So she doesn't notice. "Searched. Yep. And you did too!" She turns to offer Hanneke a bright grin. "And you got Searched." What do you know. Candidates in the kitchens. Dalaena gets a curious look. "Are you a cook? Some rider told me to find a cook for chores." She doesn't seem too upset about the prospect of chores. As long as it's not mending.

Again, Hanneke's eyes go wide, this time at Dalaena's ability to yank the knife--something that Hanneke's abilities seem not to be up to. "I can, I can!" she agrees, energy all but oozing out of her as she bounces, even while standing still. Her attention, it's span being in the limited range, returns to Eirene, who earns another of Hanneke's beaming smiles. "Ooh, congratulations! I got searched, too, yes."

Dalas comes into the kitchen munching on a sweetroll and takes a sniff,"Hey is there bubblies cooking tonight?" He asks sniffing towards one of the big ovens."I could sure use something super sweet and not just one of the sweetrolls."

Madden walks into the kitchens, obviously distressed. "What's this?" he asks, his outrage showing in his voice. "There's no meatrolls left in the Living Caverns!" he protests, glaring at Dalas and obviously here for reasons other than bubblies. He wants to complain! "What's going on?"

Julietta comes in from the Living Caverns.

Madden walks into the kitchens, obviously distressed. "What's this?" he asks, his outrage showing in his voice. "There's no meatrolls left in the Living Caverns!" he protests, glaring at Dalas and obviously here for reasons other than bubblies. He wants to complain! "What's going on?" *repose for Juli*

Eirene stands in the middle of the kitchens, waiting for instructions. Turning to face Madden as he enters, she makes a little face. "Eat something else?" Dalas gets a finger-waggle, and Julietta little grin. "Or you could help us with this," she waves a hand at the kitchens. "The cooks could probably use more help." And then he wouldn't have to worry about meatrolls in the living caverns.

Dalaena turns to Eirene with a frown. "Hello, Eirene. I believe you would be good to help me by chopping those whiteroots." AKA onions. She smiles. "I need them finely chopped so that they will fry well. I need them as quickly as you can manage as well. Think you can handle that?" she asks, her other green, Brisan landing by the bowl of said roots with a smug croon, wings flipping into place across her back. To Dalas she next turns. "I have some "bubblies" cooking, yes, but you'll not be getting any until the rest of the Weyr does. I'm not having you eating them all before they get even half cooled." Indeed.

Julietta comes in behind the two men trying to hide a grin.

Everyone back up: Hanneke is armed with a knife. She turns, concentration upon her task lost, as the new entrants into the kitchen emerge through the corner of her vision. "Hihi! She," her knife is used to point out Dalaena, "said that--" she pauses, nose wrinkles. "I forgot. Something about there being colder bubblies in the caverns, and that there's more important stuff to do in here." Nose still wrinkled, she waves her knife around again. "What she said."

Dalas frowns mischievously,"Ah come on Dalaena, one, only one, I swear I won't eat more than that, just let have a taste of one, you know I can't resist those, specially when you make em,"Frown giving over to one of his smiles,"Come on you know you make em better than anyone else."

Eirene turns to Dalaena with a bob of her head. "Right. Chopping whiteroots." She drifts over toward the whiteroots, looking at them with vague confusion. "Whiteroots. Right," is muttered half to herself. Picking up the knife, she starts in on the chopping. Suprisingly, Eirene's far better with a knife than with a needle, and everything seems to be going well.

Karei peers at Madden, waving her knife at him and depositing more chopped tubers in the bowl. "Go eat something else, then. Like creampuffs." Thbbt goes the Candidate, who huffs and pauses long enough to shuffle towards a sink. Tuber-scented hands are icky, you see. Right. "..bah. Where's something I can clean my hands with? They're stinky. It's getting annoying." And thus, Karei needs to wash her hands. Right.

Madden is obviously annoyed. "Well, are you going to do anything about it?" he asks, his grumbling stomach making him irritable and rude. He glares around the kitchen.

Dalas says,"Cold bubblies aren't the same."He tells them,"And if my nose is right there is a batch in that oven there thats ready to come out." He says making his way behind Karei going over towards the oven,if she doesn't turn around too suddenly he should be able to just make it to the oven without tripping anyone or getting into anyones way.

Dalaena shakes her head firmly. "No sir, unless you want to exchange that for your dinner, but then again, I do believe I won taht bet, did I not?" her voice coos, sly, almost seductive. To the Candidates she chuckles mentally, but then turns away without waiting for a reply to finish her chopping task. "Well?" she asks, knife seeming to fly.

Julietta stands to the side attempting not to giggle and covering her face with ther hand.

Eirene looks up from her whiteroots chooping to point her own knife Madden&Co-wards. "We're busy." And the way Eirene sees it, he might want to be nicer. There are three Candidates, all armed with knifes, and -- as far as Eirene can tell -- all slightly odd. Or maybe it's just Eirene. But either way, might wanna be careful. "With whiterooms and stuff." Madden gets a little beam as she returns to chopping.

Karei should turn around suddenly, just to see if she can knock Dalas over -- but she's not that mean. Almost. A huff as she's ignored, and then she trundles in no particular direction, snagging something that looks decently like cleaning-stuff from a drudge in passing. "I still think you should just eat something else." That would be Karei to Madden, who she sticks her tongue out at as she passes. This over-spreading of braincells thus leads to her missing the drudge that ducks in front of her, and the Candidate trips -- successfully sending the cleaning-stuff bowl flying towards Madden's head. Oopsies.

Dalas says,"How many did you say there would be again,"Getting that much closer to the bubblie oven, and trying to avoid bumping into anything hot, or anyone with a knife, those things are flying around like v'tols in here. Speaking of vtol's,"Hey Madden watch your self......"But it looks like it may be too late,"Duck!"

Hanneke, for a wonder, goes back to chopping, pieces of carrot flying everwhere in her gleeful attack. Her head raises to review the scene, and blinks. "Oops?" At least, this time, it isn't her.

Madden watches with horror as the bowl comes flying towards him. He has no time todo anything, and the world goes in slo-mo. Oh no! He cries out as the bowl land on his head, the horrible cleaning product working its horrible way into his hair, drenching his head and almost going through into his eyes. He Just stands there, looking like a fool with the bowl sitting on his head.... "Great," he says flatly.

Dalaena tries not to laugh as the turns around but ends up loosing it. "M-m-madden!" she exclaims with a giggle. "What happened?" To Dalas she tries to speak, but it only comes out as a giggle. OH, she needed this laugh!

Dalas says,"Don't open your eyes till we can wash it off!" He tells him making his way over to the man going into healer mode,"We don't want it to burn your eyes and its probably a good idea not to speak so you don't accidently swallow any of it and get poisoned, we don't know exactly what that was." He tells the man grabbing hold of him and leading him over to a sink,"I'm sure you will be ok just wait till I tell you to open your eyes ok."

Karei blushes brightly, rising from the floor and stumbling backwards. "Oh, shards -- /shards/, Madden, I'm really.. I'm /really/ sorry about this." Squawk goes the Candidate, who attempts to inch forward again. "Yeah, uh -- don't.. open your eyes 'til we can wash it out." Sniff. "It was.. cleaning stuff. I don't know what kind." Sniff.

Eirene misses the entire event, looking up only at Dalaena's laughing. Blinking once or twice at the scene, she pauses her cutting. "What happened?" Karei, Madden and Dalas all get curious looks. "Don't worry," she offers the now cleansed Madden. "At least you'll smell good now." Not to imply that he smelled bad before.

Hanneke lets out a giggle, no doubt inapropriately, noting, "Oh, you look *funny* Ma--er, Madden, isn't it?" Her memory skills are entirely lacking. Still giggling, loudly, her knife is again waved about with emphasis. "Ooh!"

Madden looks sourly at Dala, who's giggling at his misfortune. His face twists off into a lopsided smile. He closes his eyes quickly at Dalas' advice, making his way to the healer, allowing himself to be lead to a sink. He proceeds to wash his face, shedding the bowl and doing a lot of grumbling in the process.

Dalaena suddenly stops laughing, all seriousness as she yanks a drying cloth from a rack and moves for him, removing the bowl and starting to clean his face. "Now hold still and dont' open your eyes." She sniffs. "Hmmm, citrus. At least it wasn't lye."

Dalas takes a large pot of cold water, undoubtably for the tubers that were being cut and pours it over the mans head,"Karei wash the stuff out as I pour the rest of this on his head and make sure you wash it off from around his eyes,"He takes a sniff of the solution as he is pouring,"This stuff smells like lye."Wondering if that was what it was, if so the man is probably not going to like his new hair color, providing that his hair doesn't all fall out.

Madden opens his eyes at Dalas' urgings, and looks at his reflection in the water.... his face takes on an expression of pure horror. His hair!! It's white, as if all colour has been leached from it. Bleached, he realises. "That's just great, isn't it Karei," he says flatly. "Thanks, I nedded a change..." He seems fairly sour about the whole thing, but manages a smile to reassure Karei. "Don't worry Karei. Not your fault."

Julietta smiles over at Madden. "It looks good on you." She winks at him.

Karei nods, striding towards the sink and washing out Madden's hair as carefully as she can. "I'm /really/ sorry, Madden -- eh. What's wrong with lye?" Sniff. "I feel bad, though. I'm /really/ sorry -- I /swear/ I didn't mean to do it." Really; she hadn't planned on dumping things on peoples' heads until next week.

And Hanneke? The Apprentice turned candidate still giggles, knife still wavering about in front of her, her eyes near watering with the force of her mirth. "Madden, you look all *old*," she decides, managing to control herself.

Eirene watches the procedings from her chopping table. She's gotten the hang of the whole idea, and isn't about to get out of her groove for a little accident like that. "I think it's nice looking," she comments from her corner. "Not old." She beams at Madden. "Makes you look cute." So now he's cute and NotSmelly. What was he before?

Dalas says,"Ok Hanneke, yes its funny but slooowwwly put the knife down and step away from it before anyone else gets hurt."Watching as the giggling woman waves the knife like a sushi cook cutting calamari,"Nice and easy is the ticket, we don't want any bloodshed."

Dalaena realizes belatedly that it was lye, just with a heavy lemon dossage, and her nose wrinkles as she sees his hair for the first time. "Oh Faranth!" she exclaims, blue eyes widening. "I just know I'll get the blame for this somehow!"

Hanneke positively peers at Dalas, blinking towards him, her vacuous expression even more blank than usual. Her eyes move, very slowly, towards her hand, and in it's contents, and a loud exclamation follows, "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry!" Knife, rather hastily, is put down. No kitchen accidents from her, as yet.

Madden waves away their comments, seeming almost amused. "Oh well, nothing can be done now." He looks over at Dalaena. "No blame Dalaena. Let's just put it down as a prank..." He looks suspiciously at Karei.

Dalas shakes his head and comforts Dalaena,"How could you, it was an accident and no one should be blamed for an accident,"Comforting her,"Don't get all distraught over it Madden isn't and look even his eyebrows are changed so only someone who is quite intimate with the man will know he isn't a true blonde."He wants to say, his actions should attest to that but he refrains from doing so."I think you'll be ok Madden but you will probably have to get some new clothes as well, large doses of lye can break down certain fabrics, although your wherhide should be nice and white....Now about those bubblie pies."Standing once again in close proximity to the ovens.

Julietta grins over at Madden. "Well it's sure a change from the black you were so fond of when I met you."

Karei nods vehemently at Dalaena, shrinking back again. "A prank, yes -- I'm /really/ sorry, ma'am.. I mean, I really didn't mean to." Sniff, and such, and Madden is accorded with a nervous glance. "You're not going.. to dye /my/ hair to get back at me, or anything, are you? I /really/ didn't mean to do it." Sob, and such. "..and it really /does/ look okay? Distinguished." Or something. Right.

Dalaena withdraws from Madden and frowns slightly at Dalas. "Well, I promised you a nice dinner if I lost, but since I have yet to get an egg count, I have no clue whether I lost or not, and after all, a bet isn't final until all the information has been recieved..." Yeah, right. She smiles sweetly. "So no, no bubbly for you."

Madden looks steadily at Karei for a secons, but bursts out laughing. "No Karei, no dye for you. I know you didn't mean to do it..." he looks around, his eyes going hard. "But if /one/ more person calls me distinguishrd, things are /going/ to get violent," he warns. He turns to Dalaena. "Oh, I think /I/ deserve a bubbly,"

Hanneke's poor carrots, fingerroots even, lay dejected upon their board, their cutter far too occupied with the goings on in front of her -- "It's like a little play!" -- to be at all fussed about them. "What's wrong with distinguished? I think it's *cute*!"

Dalas says,"Oh come on there were 18 eggs clutched to the best of my knowledge, anyone else here know the count??"He asks almost begging and pleading that someone would have heard the tally,"I'm almost certain it was...yeah thats right give the distinguished looking /blonde/ a bubblie and not the healer who saved the day."He didn't really but he was quick and responsive.

"I deserve a bubbly, too," Karei sniffs, peering pitifully towards Dalaena. "For comfort." A sage nod, and then a huff towards Madden. "So we should all say you look sexy, instead?" For Karei, it's an appropriate substitute. "Or cute. Same thing."

Julietta looks over at Karei and laughs. "I'd say they're different. Afterall kids are cute, but not sexy."

Dalaena frowns thoughtfully, but relents. "Alright, everyone may have /one/ and I repeat /one/ bubbly, but if any of you says that I gave it to you I'll dye everyone's hair with fingerroots!" she warns firmly with a nod.

Madden flashes a warning look at Dalas. "Don't start Dalas!" He throws a couple of sour looks at Hanneke and Karei, then a pleading look at Dalaena, his eyes all innocence. "Please?" he asks, desperately looking toward the bubblies. He ignores Juli's comment completely, concentrating his powers of persuasion on Dalaena.

Hanneke whimpers at the very notion of dying hair, and her hand moves automatically towards her head -- a very good thing that the knife is no longer centered within her grasp -- whilst her expression is entirely, and authentically, innocent as she gives Madden a bright smile. "Ooh, bubblies!"

Karei sticks her tongue out at Madden, then shrugs at Julietta. "I suppose we should call Madden cute, then." Cue another thbbt for Madden, and then a more polite beam towards Dalaena. "Thank you, ma'am." Sugarstuff. Mmm.

Dalas smiles at Dalaena as she relents,"She said we could have one blondie so....."He stops short at what she tells him,"Come on Dalaena."He says with almost a whine in his voice,"Ok, I can wait till supper time, but I want one that is still bubbling when it comes time."He says looking a bit dejected but otherwise ok.He mumbles,'isn't right blondie gets a bubbly and I get nothing...........

Eirene, still tucked away into her whiteroot chopping corner, suddenly appears at the mention of bubblies. "Do I get one? I finished the whiteroots," she waves toward them. Madden gets a quick look, then a nod. "Definately cute." Sexy's not quite part of Eirene's vocabulary.

Dalaena chuckles softly. "Tell you what, Dalas, if you buy me that dress I'll let you have the bubbly now, plus a hot one for dinner. Fair?" Little bargining chit.

Madden is being bombarded with criticesm from all sides. He glares at everyone around him, but finally gives up, sighing. "Alright," he says. "You win." He looks rather sour about the whole thing, and drops down, hard, into a chair.

Julietta smiles over at Madden and moves closer. "At least it's better than the blue I've heard that my sister's hair was for awhile."

Dalas smiles a broad grin on his face,"With or without lace?" He asks her, then stops,"Oh wait, I'll have to get one of the enlanders to bring it over being as how I can't leave the weyr right now." He thinks and thinks hard, a bubbly is at stake here after all,"Never mind I will find someway to get that dress to you and it was going to be a blue one right?" He asks trying to make sure as he is nanded one of the piping hot bubblies.

Madden looks thoughtful, and nods at Juli's comment. "I suppose so." he agrees.

Dalaena chuckles softly. "We'll see when we pick it out, probably without," she says thoughtfully, thinking about hw lace could easily tear, but she goes to get his hot bubbly from the oven. "Don't burn your mouth, now," she instructs him.

Karei sniffles quietly at Madden, stamping a foot. "Maybe we could go find a Weaver? Maybe they'll have something that'll turn your hair black, again." Sniffle, and such.

Hanneke smoothes down her clothes with a careful, if slightly fingerroot-stained hand, her hair becoming the next object of her ministrations, nose wrinkling. "The heat is doing nasty stuff to my hair!" Pouting, if for only the briefest of moments, she gives Dalaena a glance, her fingerroots a glance, and then makes a dash for the doorway--hair is much more important, surely?

You head into the Living Caverns.