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.

01-06-02: in the deep, dark cave
Even after being at Ista for more than six turns, there are places Lydiere has never been.

Holding Lydiere's hand tightly for he doesn't wish her to slip, G'wain steps into the mossy nook. "I think we have some sort of knack for find these places, don't you? First the cove, when we were sailing, then the little cavern under there... and now this? Who knew that I'd fall right out of the spring and into that crack." Be thankful it's dark? Still holding her hand tightly, for all he wants to keep her safe he insists on dragging her to the 'right'.

"I think it's more that you're just clumsy, this time, dear," says Lydiere placidly, putting up with the protective hand-clinging to as she follows along. "Although I won't argue that I'm glad to have found this place. More than five and a half turns at Ista, and I never knew this was here. Remarkable." She glances up, and around, adding, "And beautiful, to say the least."

She'd better put up with the protective clinging, because he's not going to be anything but protective. If she wasn't carrying his child, he mightn't be so considerate, but she is, so he is. "Me? Clumsy? Never..." He knows it's true, alas, the smile in his voice clear. "Goes to show - I've been here... how long, now? I can't remember. Long enough. I think we still have a nack for unusual places." And situations, and things. They're just weird. "But who said that weird was interesting, oh so long ago on the sands?"

She should have kept it from him for another few months, just to get away from that-- but no. Lydiere laughs, her eyes rolling. "That's right, my mistake. You're as graceful as... a dragon walking. Sorry." She pauses to peer upwards, through the gloom: "It's amazing how different all these different little places are. I suppose it's four or four and a half turns, for you. At a guess. I guess we're not perceptive enough, all the time." She holds back more laughter, drawing her free hand towards her pocket. "I plead the fifth," she swears, having picked up the phrase from some old AIVAS file.

G'wain snickers softly, head shaking. "Four and a half turns..." Falling silent, he doesn't know that AIVAS phrase, but he chuckles nonetheless. He doesn't have all that much time to chuckle, though, as he feels his feet slipping out from under him. Not one to pull Lydiere after him, he releases her hand quickly, before falling flat on his backside, sliding down a hole. Ut-oh. "Aieeee!" He's from anime, really. Talk about clumsy... down the 'hole' he goes.

"Faranth's dirty arsehole, G'wain!" Lydiere doesn't slide down the tunnel; rather, she waits at the top, peering down curiously, half on her knees. "Are you all right? Is it safe for me to come down, or do I rather need to go back and get help?" There's concern in her voice-- but mostly, assuming that he's all right, she's mildly amused, and somewhat frustrated. "I should learn better than to take you anywhere, methinks."

He really only slid down, the worst that could be said to have happened would be bruised ego... and backside. "I'm fine!" He calls out, almost cheerily. In fact, he's rather glad he hasn't broken any limbs, and scraped/grazed anything else, for that matter. He /did/ fall out of the tub. "I don't know how I'm going to get back up, but come down here? If you're careful, that is... I'm right at the bottom." Let her work out the mechanics.

Lydiere rolls her eyes, impossible to see though that motion is. "All right, I'm coming. Catch me, if I fall, although I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm not particularly clumsy, from experience." Sure enough, although she, too, slides, hers is a far more controlled motion-- she came down on purpose, after all. "It's bloody dark down here. We really need some glows."

G'wain pats his hips, a snicker in the dark. "I don't have any pockets? But there's some light over there..." He does manage to find her in the dark, helping her to her feet easily, should she wish it. "I think I can see something through here... And it's warm, too..." He makes his way over after a moment, the floor a little less slippery over here. "It's the hatching sands?" Oh dear.

Lydiere reaches out to grasp G'wain's hand, using him as leverage to get herself up from the ground, dusting herself off-- everything sticks to wet bodies, and having been in the bathing pools just prior to this excursion... well, another trip is no doubt going to be in order. "The /what/?" Lydiere's quick to step over, after G'wain, peering through the crack. "Faranth's knotted nosehairs." Well, yes. That about sums it up.

G'wain starts to snicker, not really minding all that much in the least. "You know, this crack might have proved interesting viewing, some time ago." He's more amused than anything else. "What a wonderful view." Snicker, snicker. "Then again, no-one might have been down there at that time. You didn't get the feeling like you were being watched, did you?"

"The thought did cross my mind. At a guess, I'd say this was one area that the dragons did not provide cover for." Lydiere hesitates for a moment, and then begins to laugh, joining in on G'wain's snicker with her own sounds of utter amusement. "But it'd've come out before now, if it had been seen, right? I mean... it /was/ nearly two turns ago. And no, I did not. Then again, I wasn't really concentrating on that at the time, was I?"

A man stalks across the sands, followed by a scantily clad woman. The two pause in the centre of the sands, the woman glaring a moment before slapping the man across the cheek and stalking away, holding her clothes on her body with one hand. Passing the crack, mutters are heard, "Cheating bastard..."

G'wain can't help but snicker at the new development, watching the woman with interest. Not too much interest though, before he turns his attention back to Lydiere. "You never know. Someone could have kept it to themselves. You never know." Another pause, before he snickers again, his eyes gleaming. "I seem to recall that I wasn't much better, at that stage."

The man starts after the woman, his face blooming with a glaring red mark. "Women. Only want me for my body..."

"Do I know her? Or him?" wonders Lydiere, straining to see. "Well, isn't /that/ interesting." She lifts her head, to watch G'wain through the half dark, and laughs. "I suppose it's possible. Fuel for later blackmailing, or something. Not that I'd really care, I don't think. Everyone knows that we're hopeless." Snorting, she glances back out at the man, her eyes narrowing. "Aww, poor dear." Sarcasm, how sweet.

The man hears something from Lydiere and glares into the darkness around the crack the two sets of eyes peer from. "Huh..." He runs off after the woman. "Wait up, Fiora!"

The voice is heard once more, "I thought it'd be good to try what we saw a couple a turns back..." The voice fades away.

G'wain looks after the man. "Fiora. I'm sure we can find..." He trails off, and tries to hold back a belly laugh. "I think we have our... answer. They'd better not try anything. I think between us, we could make their lives not worth living." Another snicker, and he leans up against the crack. "I think we've seen today's show. I'm feeling rather... dirty, however. We should head back."

Lydiere's jaw drops, and then she laughs. "Bloody between. I guess we know who they are, and, more to the point, I can't imagine they'd be under any illusions as to who we were-- who else would be able to get on the sands, when Llysereth was brooding." She muses over this for several more moments, watching the empty sands thoughtfully, then nods. "We should, yes. If we can get back up that tunnel, of course."

G'wain nods his head, barely paying the couple any mind, past remembering the name. "I think I'll... have a talk to them, later." Hee. "Alright. Watch your step." As if she has to watch her step - she's not the klutz. "I'll help you." Feet sink into the slime, but he manages to keep his footing as he makes his way up.

"Now /that/ I would like to see," murmurs Lydiere with an amused grin, turning about to follow G'wain through the tunnel. "I'll be careful, I promise. I don't think I could face you if I wasn't; you'd probably never let me out of the weyr again, at least until the sproglet was born."

G'wain coughs, and holds his hand out for Lydiere to take if she can find it. "Coming, dear?" He makes his way up, pulling her along behind, if she takes his hand, keeping a careful eye on her if she doesn't. "I think I'm in dire need of a bath, and you too. I think there's another passage... We'll have to check it out later. Maybe that one looks onto out weyr?" A good humoured chuckle, and G'wain stands at the top of the ramp.

Lydiere ducks back into the hot springs with relief, wiping some dirt off of her face-- "Ugh, I /definitely/ need another bath, now. But that was..." she hesitates, grinning, "An interesting little excursion, to say the least."

G'wain slips into the hot springs with a splash, making his way over towards the sweetsand to clean himself thoroughly. "Mud, just like sand, gets /everywhere/. At least it's not all over my clothes, I suppose. That, and I think we're lucky we didn't run into some tunnelsnakes. Well... I could use a good soaking." Leaning back once his skin is near raw from the scrubbing, he floats over towards the lip of the spring, resting his head there. "After adventure, this is the perfect ending to a story. Well, apart from 'And they lived happily ever after'."

"But do they every live happily ever after?" wonders Lydiere-- she who has gone all philosophical. Must be pregnancy hormones, or something. She slinks into the water, sinking back with a sigh of relief, scrubbing the mud and dirt from her body. "Tunnelsnakes, nasty. Thank Faranth for that." But she sighs, going quiet, her eyes shutting as she reaches out to grasp G'wain's hand, squeezing it. Awww.

Squeezing her hand back reassuringly, G'wain moves to nestle up beside her, his own eyes closing. Too much adventure for this little black sheep. Baa-snore..........