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The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship


Date:  December 7, 1995
Place:  Bitra Hold's Orchard
Game:  PernMUSH
Copyright Info:  The World of Pern is copyright(c) to Anne McCaffrey 
l967. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is a registered copyright.

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Kassi's Note:  They don't get much shorter and sweeter than this.
(Especially since I cut off some of the first poses, which involved me
abusing the fishing code toy a lot and proclaiming to the world that I
had caught another shoe.)  This is a fairly tiny little log which I've
decided to put up because it's the scene that brought Kassi to Ruatha
in the first place, and also which introduced her to the woman who'd be
her best friend for many years.  It takes place during a Gather at
Bitra; Kassi and Shastar have just been trying their luck at the gaming
tent, and now come down to the riverside for a break, where they run 
into Assistant Headwoman Aphrael of Ruatha.  The log picks up when
Kassi's just about finished her fishing.

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The Log:

Kassima feels a tug at the end of her line. She flips up the fishing pole
in one smooth gesture, a small yellowtail dangling on the end of the line.

Kassima grins. "Three fish for me!"

Shastar says "I've had enough, I think I'll just talk now."

Kassima returns her pole to the rack, done fishing for now.

Shastar chuckles at Kass, but still watches Aph, a bit intently.

Kassima takes her three fish up to the main clearing, leaving the shoes
where they are, but not forgetting her wine glass.

Aphrael gestures at the fish, "What are you going to do with them?"

Kassima smiles cheerfully, and says, "Shall we cook our fish and have a
fine dinner?"

Kassima shrugs. "Eat them, I guess." She smiles.

Kassima gets out several coconuts and some redfruit she filched from the
snack tray in the BakerCraft booth.

Aphrael blinks, and looks at Shas a little coldly, "How would I know?" She
picks up the wine skin and refills her glass, her hands shaking a little.

Shastar looks calm,"Oh, is that it?"

Shastar looks concerned at Aph.

Shastar talks quietly to Aph, still drinking his wine, slowly but surely.

Aphrael sips her wine, looking out over the river, "I'd really rather not
talk about it Shas." She sighs and attempts a smile, "Fish for dinner huh?
I havent had that in a long while."

Shastar smiles awkardly and nods a t Aph, "Okay, Aphrael...Fish would be
nice.."

Kassima grins. "Sure, why not? I can prepare them--d'you think anyone would
care if we built a fire out here?"

Aphrael looks around, "I think so. We'd best be careful though, because the
orchard is right near."

Shastar nodsto Aph and Kass.

Shastar arghs oocly * "I gotta go sing for the sh school soon, gotta get
dressed, and go bye-bye....sorry."

Shastar didn't know where the time went.

Shastar will be back later tonight,.

Aphrael laughs, "Bye Shas."

Kassima says, "Oh, too bad! See you later, Shas--and are you going to take
the wine and fish with you?" She grins impishly.

Shastar nods and waves, "Be back soon, you never know when the J'men
Weavers will will give your clothes to someone else...

Aphrael grabs up one of the wineskins, "At least leave one?" She pleads.

Shastar says "No ...I'll give you two the other skin."

Shastar grins at Aph.

Kassima smiles. "Thank you!"

Aphrael cheers!

Shastar leaves all the ci fish he caught too. "Be back soon though.

Shastar chuckles and sort of hugs Aph, and waves to Kass

Shastar leaves

Kassima waves back cheerfully.

Shastar walks down the path out of the Orchard.

Aphrael settles down to some serious drinking!

Kassima says, "Do you still want fish, or should we wait until he gets
back--hopefully with more wine?" She grins, and lifts her full goblet in a
toast.

Aphrael hmms, "Well, I am kind of hungry. We have enough for now, /and/ for
later, dont we?" She grins and drinks her wine, stopping only to re fill.

Kassima grins. "Certainly!" she says, and starts cutting a clearing for the
fire. She places the chunks of earth carefully aside to be replaced later,
and gathers dry wood and tinder.

Aphrael levers herself off the ground and helps, looking over the orchards
to pick up stray bits of timber.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Rodrith emerges from Between with a blast of
cold air!

Kassima gets out some flint and tries to spark a fire, not terribly
successful, but eventually getting the job done and a nice, steady fire going.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Savith emerges from Between with a blast of
cold air!

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Rodrith BUGLES -- a sharp brassy roar that
echoes in the Bitran Velleys below.

Kassima smiles. "Many dragons fly the skies today," she comments.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, On Savith, Siriah blinks tears back from the
cold.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Savith wheels sharply and wings up to
Rodrith's right flank, drafting him.

Aphrael chuckles and nods, "It's a gather, I suppose." She watches Kassima
spark the fire and moves closer.

Kassima cleans off her knife in the river starts preparing the fish.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Atop Rodrith, J'rus chuckles, "Fine ROddy.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, On Savith, Scorsha shivers as she curls up.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Rodrith flies down to the Central Bitran
Valley.

In the Sky Over Central Bitra, Savith flies down to the Central Bitran Valley.

Aphrael takes charge of the wine skin, topping her glass and Kassima's up.
She blinks suddenly, "I dont think we've even met! I'm Aphrael, Aph rather
of Ruatha."

Kassima puts the fish heads and innards aside--she's heard they make
excellent bait--and starts whittling some long, slender twigs she found
when gathering wood. When she has three with the bark off, she skewers the
fish with them.

Kassima smiles. "I'm Kassima, currently of out and about." She thanks Aph
for the wine and sips it.

Aphrael chuckles, "Well met Kassima. You seem to know youre way around,
fishing wise."

Kassima hmmms. "I don't see a spit and I don't have a pan, so I guess we'll
have to do this the old-fashioned way." She chuckles, and grabs a skewer,
sticking the yellowtail close to the fire so that it can roast.

Kassima grins. "Well, fishing's not my forte, but my father rather likes
it, so my mother taught me to prepare it."

Aphrael chuckles, "You're lucky. My brother tried to teach me to fish, but
I never had the patience for it." She shrugs and sips her wine, staring
into the now-blazing fire.

Kassima grins. "Patience isn't a particular virtue of mine--as you may have
witnessed by all my empty hooks, shoes, and trees from the river."

Aphrael bursts out laughing, "Oh, but at least it was fun for /me/ to watch!"

Kassima laughs. "Fun to watch, maybe, but that tree--I swear, it has it in
for me!"

Aphrael laughs, holding her stomach, "Oh, I can just imagine, an evil tree!"

Kassima considers "There's something I've always wanted to try," she says,
"but I've never had the proper fruits. Does the idea of roast fish basted
with coconut milk or maybe redfruit juice sound good, or totally appalling?"

Kassima glares at the tree over the river. "If there is an evil tree, I'd
wager the marks I won at the booth that it's that tree that kept eating my
line!" She suddenly laughs, since that sounds ridiculous even to herself.

Aphrael blinks. "Hmm, that could be something.. but you never really know
until you try!" She winks and then laughs at Kassima's statement.

Kassima grins. "Well, mine's fairly crisped now, so...." She takes out one
of the six spoons she won with a mock grimace, and slathers some redfruit,
after mashing it into a thick pulp, onto the yellowtail. She cuts the
result it two pieces and hands one to Aphrael.

Aphrael takes the fish rather hesitantly. She refills her glass first,
"Just incase it's not that great!" She takes a bite..

Kassima grins and refills her own glass, just in case. She looks at her
concoction dubiously and decides to wait and see how Aph likes hers, being
rather chicken.

Aphrael blinks. She tries to decide what she thinks about, "Hmm.." She sips
at her wine then, "Try it."

Kassima nods and doubtfully nibbles at her cooling fish-thing.

Aphrael shrugs and hmms, "It's.. different." She tries.

Kassima looks faintly surprised. "It's interesting," she says. "Kind of
tart and sweet from the fruit, but with a definite overtone of fish." She
shrugs and takes a heartier bite.

Aphrael smiles and continues to nibble, not willing to take that big a bite.

Kassima hmmms. "Now, if you took only the juice from the redfruit and
bathed the fish in that before cooking, then added certain herbs, I'm sure
it'd be much better. I'll have to try that someday."

Kassima has a liking for odd flavors, so eats hers with satisfaction.

Aphrael chuckles and nods, "Come to Ruatha one day and we'll do it. We have
a lake down there that has plenty of fish, and I'm roommates with the
Hold's baker. I'm sure she'd be willing to let us use the kitchen's stores."

Kassima smiles. "You know," she says, "I just may take you up on that!" She
sips her wine.

Aphrael laughs and continutes to take small bites of her fish, sipping now
and again at her wine. "You'll love Ruatha. Have you ever been there?"

You say "No, I can't say that I have."

Kassima starts cooking the other two fish.

Kassima brightens. "Did you go to the Hatching at Ista awhile ago? I wasn't
able to get there, and I haven't heard a very good account of it yet."

Kassima has a thought and daintily spoons some wine from her glass and
bastes one fish with that while it roasts.

Aphrael sloshes the wine skin briefly, "Hmm, not much left." before pouring
some more into the glasses. "Oh I did! It was.. well, great. A friend of
mine impressed a bronze!" She pauses, "But another was left on the sands.."

Kassima sighs. "I'd love to see a Hatching, but I'd hate to see the
Candidates left standing. It must be hard to be one of them."

Aphrael nods sadly. "She was there crying.. and I didnt know what to do. I
was feeling really down by the time I got back to Ruatha." She sighs.

Kassima looks wistful. "Still," she says, "it must be wonderful to have a
chance to try. But if the disappointment is that harsh if you don't make
it... I wonder if it's worth the risk? The Candidates who make it would of
course say yes, and those who didn't would probably say no. I guess it's a
matter of perspective."

Kassima removes the nicely crisped fish from the fire, and cuts both the
plain fish and the wine-basted fish in half, offering half of each to Aphrael.

Aphrael sighs and nods, wrapping her arms around herself. "It is, its a
rather sad thing." She shakes her head no to the offer of fish.

Kassima steps down to the river and quickly gives her belt knife a good
washing, then returns.

Kassima shrugs, wraps three portions of the fish up for later, and bites
into one portion of the wine-basted fish herself.

You say "Will your friend have other chances at Impression?"

Aphrael sips her wine thoughtfully, "I'm not sure. She's staying at the
Weyr, so maybe next time they have a Hatching at Ista she'll be asked to
stand by the Weyrleaders."

Kassima nods. "There will be a Clutch on the Benden sands soon," she says
thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure she'd have a chance of being transferred
there--they say once you're a Candidate, you're always a Candidate."

Kassima doesn't really know about dragons, but she's been over at Benden
Weyr and heard some riders talking.

Aphrael nods thoughtfully, "Hmm, yes K'nan mentioned that Dyinath rose a
few sevenday back." She shrugs, "I hope for her. She certainly deserves it."

Kassima nods. "I was at the Weyr for the flight," she says. "It was
fascinating! Unfortunately, there was a badly wounded dragon, a dragon with
lesser wounds, and a rider with a fever when it was all said and done."


Aphrael:
Aphrael's blue eyes meet yours, and a bright smile lights up her face as
you gaze at her. A gust of wind sends brown hair flying around the
teenager, who is garbed in a dusky plum colored dress - exactly the color
of a romantic spring evening. The sleeves of the dress fall softly about
her arms. The gathered skirt gracefully billows about her knees. Soft plum
colored slippers cover her feet. About her shoulders is a veil of her soft
brown hair. Hung around her neck on a fine gold chain is a stone.
Prominently displayed no matter what else she wears, the stone at first
appears to be black, but is soon revealed to be a dark purple colour.
Aphrael's shoulders are padded to accompany two or more firelizards.
Perhaps you might notice that her eyes look rather dark, indicating that
she hasn't been sleeping all that much lately. You notice she wears the
bright red and dark brown knot of Ruatha Hold on her shoulder.
Aphrael looks to be 18 Turns, 11 months, and 16 days old.
Carrying:
Zur
Kryliar


Aphrael blinks in suprise, "That many injuries? I'd heard that Vtanth was
hurt, but that's about all." She peers curiously, "How did you handle the
emotions? It's bad enough when my green firelizard is proddy, like now, but
a dragon flight?"

Kassima shrugs. "I was too busy being in awe of the dragons to really feel
the effects," she admits ruefully. "It was the first time I'd seen dragons
up close. Vtanth crashed into a mountain, and Dyinath whalloped a
brown--Chaeth, I think his name was--across the nose."

Kassima smiles. "Where'd you get your darling fire-lizards?" she asks. "I
noted there were the remains of a clutch at the Center Valley today, but I
was too late to get a chance to Impress one."

Aphrael ohs softly, her eyes wide, "I cant imagine that. I wonder how thier
riders felt.."

Aphrael smiles, "Oh, everywhere. Eyrie at Fort Weyr, Zur at Healer Hall,
Kryliar and Oromar at High Reacher Weyr."

You say "T'quinn was worried about getting his sweep done--I was helping
out with R'lain in the Infirmary while they were stitching up Vtanth, so I
know. He was very concerned for his dragon, of course. Chaeth's injury
wasn't too serious, I don't think."

Kassima smiles. "Someday I'm going to try and find a clutch," she says with
a chuckle. "They seem to be perfect darlings, and they really do look much
like dragons."

Aphrael grunts, "Perfect darlings?" She scratches her green in a loving
manner however, "Dont impress a green or gold. It's the worst when they are
proddy.."

Kassima grins. "I'd heard about that," she admits. "Personally, I like
blues. Actually, to be truthful, I like them all."

Aphrael smiles, "I impressed a blue a couple of days ago. I shouldnt
really, but how can I resist.."

Kassima grins. "How could you, indeed? I'm glad for you."

You say "Did you have friends who told you there were clutches at those
various places, or were you just in the right place at the right time?"

Aphrael chuckles, "I just wandered in during the middle of a hatching. I
was visiting my friend, who's a werling up at High Reaches Weyr." she
sighs, "I dont see her too often."

Aphrael nods, "Mostly pure chance actually."

Kassima considers this. "If I had better luck," she says with a rueful
chuckle, "I'd be glad to hear that. Actually, I still am. Maybe someday
I'll be walking along a deserted beach somewhere and find a hatching...
unlikely as that actually sounds."

Kassima brightens. "And meanwhile, I'll try to attend Gathers and other
important events first thing if I can. Maybe that'll increase my chances.
Since so many people have at least one and some have three or four, there
must be enough to go around somewhere!"

Aphrael smiles, "Well, my green is rising soon." she shrugs, "Maybe I'll be
lucky and find the clutch. I dont think so though, as Kryliar tends to
spend her time far away from Ruatha. She's only with my now becuse of her
proddiness."

Kassima smiles. "I wish you best of luck in finding it, then."

Kassima tries to refill her goblet. "Oh, bother," she groans, "we're out of
wine. I hope Shas comes back soon! If he doesn't, I may have to go try and
win some m'self."

Aphrael levers herself up and stretches. "Perhaps we should go back? I
wouldnt mind having a proper look around this time."

Tiera walks into the orchard from the Central Valley.

Kassima waves a cheerful greeting.

Tiera walks down the path out of the Orchard.

Kassima ponders. "Couldn't hurt. I wouldn't mind playing more of those
games myself," she admits with a grin.

Kassima puts out the fire and replaces the hunks of sod, packing up her
loot and fish.

Aphrael chuckles, "OK then." She packs up the wine glasses and stows them
away, "We'll come back later for them."

Kassima nods, and stows her various coconuts and things--taking only the
Dragon Poker cards and the belt with her, along with her marks.

Aphrael checks over to make sure everything is good, then walks out of the
orchard.

Aphrael walks down the path out of the Orchard.

Kassima follows after checking her own things.