The World of Pern(tm) is copyright to Anne McCaffrey (c) 1967.
The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is a registered copyright.

This is a log of roleplay on PernMUSH, available online by permission of
Anne McCaffrey, author of the Pern novels, and recorded by A.S. Korra'ti
(piper@murkworks.net), player of Mehlani of Telgar Weyr on PernMUSH.
This log may be distributed freely as long as this header remains intact.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log Date:
	9/28/97

Log Cast:
	(People) Kassima, Mehlani, Kestar (NPC emitted by Kassima), Eyrian
(NPC emitted by Kassima), Jayna, Sanjeet, Alexi, Ofira, Symoria, Ceria,
R'val, Maylia, Makear, Zerra, Krystaline, Kethran, K'tyn, Dathon

Log Intro:
	With a clutch on the sands at Benden, the Weyr is filling with young
Candidates ready to stand for Impression; among them are Kestar and Eyrian,
the young cousins of the greenrider Kassima. Kes and Eyr have befriended 
Mehlani, daughter of F'hlan, and 'Lani has come to know that the two youths
are almost as colorful as their greenrider cousin. But now that she's gotten
a flight out of the way, Kassi has retreated to her much more normal--and
safer--eccentricity. And when Kassima's in a good mood, this means artistic
pursuits that can even coax shy young Mehlani into Actual Social
Interaction....

----------
You walk past the lintel and into the wide living cavern.
Benden Weyr's Living Cavern(#750RJM$)
This huge cavern is sufficently roomy to hold a large portion of the Weyr's 
  population without feeling cramped. There's always a bustle of activity 
  here. Fragrant dishes are constantly in prepartion for mealtimes: currently 
  for the evening meal. Drudges are always present, either cleaning under 
  Pierron's watchful eye, or helping fetch and carry. A myriad of glowbaskets 
  and many ever-lit hearths make the cavern warm and inviting despite its 
  size. The scents of cooking meats, baking breads and pastries, and the 
  pungent aroma of spices hang mouthwateringly in the air. It is little wonder 
  that those seeking to relax nearly always find their way here to do it. The 
  tables are decorated with a multitude of bright spring flowers.
A short tunnel jaunts eastward out to the bowl and the merry sounds of 
  cooking, chores, and laughter echo from the kitchen at the southwest end of 
  the cavern near the westerly passage to the rest of the lower caverns. To 
  the southeast is an entrance to the infirmary weyr to care for injured 
  dragons and riders.
Contents:
Kassima
Pierron
Ferret bed
Scrap of Hide
Obvious exits:
Lower Caverns  Kitchen  Bowl

Ferret bed
A wicker basket lies here, filled to the brim with warm blankets and such 
  material. The basket probably had served as a nest for Makear's ferret Styx, 
  but since she has disapeared, Ezra has claimed it. The green watches your 
  every moves and if you even get a little to close she hisses and might try 
  to get a swipe at you. If she were to move long enough for you to pull away 
  about 5 layers of blankets you would see a clutch of eggs, hardening, 
  waiting till its time to hatch. 'clutch help' to see the eggs.
Carrying:
Ezra

Kassima is standing in front of one of the smaller round tables, holding onto 
  a shallow box full of paint-pots and waiting patiently for Kes and Eyr to 
  finish setting down their dropcloths. "Evening, Mehlani," the three chorus 
  in almost perfect harmony that's broken only by the *thud* of said shallow 
  box hitting the covered table-surface. "Care to paint rocks with us?" That 
  would be the greenrider making the invitation, even as she unslings the 
  mysteriously clattering satchel from her shoulder.

For once without her loyal little bronze companion, Mehlani has entered the 
  caverns and headed straight for the kitchen. She starts as she's hailed, 
  glancing around with a skittish air before she realizes -- ah. Kassima. She 
  starts again, though, at the presence of her two young cousins, and a third 
  time at the green rider's words. "Paint... the rocks?" she echoes, baffled.

Kassima gestures for her two cousins to seat themselves at the table, rapidly 
  following suit. "Aye," Kassi affirms. "Paint the rocks. 'Tis a bit of a 
  tradition with me, y'see; for every Benden clutch, I finagle some sketches 
  from someone better than drawing at I--Cousin Syraemia this time--and use 
  'em as subjects for a bit of painting." She pulls a scattering of careworn 
  paintbrushes from her satchel, then scoops out a handful of smallish 
  egg-shaped rocks and shows them to Mehlani. "Cousin Kassi's collection's 
  really something else," Kestar pipes up. "Can't say how much they look like 
  the real thing, but you can tell that they're eggs."

Quiet though she might be, Mehlani has a streak of curiosity, and it compels 
  her forward to peer at the offered stones, her blue eyes widening.

The stones are the unremarkable, water-polished sort that might be found 
  beside any Lake or ocean. The only thing particularly noticeable about them 
  is that they are indeed egg-shaped, and each has a number marked on it with 
  charcoal. The reason for this becomes apparent when Eyrian digs a large hide 
  out of his own satchel and spreads it on the table: it's a portrayal of the 
  clutch, but all the eggs there are uncovered by sand and have numbers marked 
  above them as well. "You just paint each rock to resemble the egg whose 
  number matches," he explains, grinning. "Kassi explained it to us. There're 
  all kinds of sketches to work from, too--show her, Kes." The sheaf of hides 
  Kestar produces is indeed a marvel, portraying the twenty-eight eggs at 
  various angles in extrordinary detail.

Jayna walks in from the bowl.
Jayna has arrived.
Jayna looks at you for a moment.
Jayna walks towards the inner cavern.
Jayna has left.

Mehlani blinkblinks at the two boys, evidently fascinated enough that she 
  isn't about to retreat, at least not quite yet. She looks from Eyrian to 
  Kestar and back again, before her gaze settles on the painted rocks, and 
  then she asks earnestly, "What is done with the rocks when they're all 
  painted?"

Kassima reaches for one of the paintbrushes, pausing to wave it towards Jayna 
  in greeting before she procures herself a rock as well. "Benden's du--hrm, 
  that's odd. Wonder where she was off to in a hurry? What we'll do, Mehlani, 
  is set 'em in sand to make a sort of display--and commission someone to do 
  some wooden carvings of Parth and Kimbrith, hopefully. If'n there's an 
  interest, I could put the result in here as a display for a time mayhaps... 
  though I don't know what the Headwoman would think of that."

The young girl nods soberly to Kassima, standing there by the table now, 
  leaned forward a trifle to study the rocks that have already been painted. 
  Whether the concept appeals to her past its general newness, she doesn't say 
  -- but then, F'hlan's daughter doesn't normally say much, so this isn't 
  surprising.

Beyond the numbers, none of the rocks bear markings of color just yet--beyond, 
  of course, the white coating that Kassima is currently applying to her egg in 
  an attempt to cover up the number eleven marked on it. Kestar busies himself 
  with opening the various paint-pots, and Eyr gathers up the rock and sketches 
  for egg number twenty-three. "Have any egg in particular that you'd like to 
  work on, Mehlani?" Kes inquires with his characteristically crooked grin.

Sanjeet walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Sanjeet has arrived.

Mehlani quirks her head at Kestar, evidently considering his question. At last, 
  she bobs her head, still not uttering a word.

Blinking emerald orbs appear first from within the depths of the lower caverns. 
  Soon after followed by the rest of Sanjeet's long, lank, awkward form. 
  "G'eve," he calls, lifting a hand in the silent version of his greeting.

Sanjeet's arrival warrants another shy head-bob from Mehlani, as the girl looks 
  up at his voice.

"Which?" Kestar inquires, his hand poised over the satchel in preparation to 
  dig out whichever egg that Mehlani wants. Absently, he waves to the arriving 
  Candidate even as Eyrian does. Kassi follows suit, but unlike the two boys, 
  manages to get a spatter of white paint in her hair in the process. "Evening, 
  Candidate."

"Nine," says Mehlani succintly and softly. She slips herself into a chair at 
  Kassima and Kestar and Eyrian's table.

Sanjeet's slow process continues as it leads him towards the door and the still 
  to crisp evening spring air of Benden. Another waves is tossed in everyones 
  direction as the candidate slips into the inky night.
Sanjeet walks down the short tunnel and out into the bowl.
Sanjeet has left.

"Ah," Kestar nods. "The green one, right?" He fishes the appropriate stone from 
  the sack after a moment's rummaging, setting it by Mehlani on the table. 
  Never one to be outdone, Eyrian nudges the green and white paint-pots towards 
  the girl. "Hey!" Kassi protests. "I was using that white pot! Males," she 
  grumbles good-naturedly, reaching over to dip her brush in the small mug of 
  water reserved for the purpose.

"Thank you," Mehlani says politely to both boys, nodding to Kestar's 
  identifying of what is apparently her chosen egg. Then she glances at 
  Kassima, startled by her brief outburst; the green rider, however, doesn't 
  seem quite bent on needing that white pot right NOW, so Mehlani says nothing 
  more, and instead applies herself towards trying to follow along with the 
  others as she takes stone number 9 up into her small hands.

The tip of Kassi's brush dips into the pot of startling crimson, trailing 
  across rock eleven in a careful mimicry of the real egg's swirls. The 
  greenrider's intensity of purpose is actually rather comical--made all the 
  moreso by the white in her hair and the red that's already accumulating on 
  her fingers. One gets the idea that her choice to wear her old, psychadelic 
  riding jacket rather than the one that was a Turnday gift from K'ti may have 
  been wise after all. "So, how's Tsornin been?" Eyrian asks as he tries to 
  make the white paint on stone twenty-three look as glossy as its clutched 
  counterpart.

"He doesn't like it much when it's cold," observes Mehlani soberly, "so I got 
  him an extra blanket. And he doesn't like it when the greens rise either, 
  because of the noises the herdbeasts make, so when Lilith rose I went and 
  gave him an old redfruit. He likes those." Having delivered this rather long 
  speech, the girl sets herself to delicately coating her chosen stone with a 
  layer of white, after her brush is appropriately prepared.

"Does he like apples?" Kestar wonders, poking the brim of his fedora up out of 
  his eyes with the handle-end of the paintbrush he's using to paint rock 
  number six. Slathering on another splash of dark color, he adds, "Some of the 
  runners back home were crazy about those, and fingerroots too." Eyrian 
  glances at his older brother. "Or sweetner," he appends. "Falcon used to like 
  that as a treat from time to time, especially if it came in lumps." Kassi 
  lets the conversation pass her by. What she knows about runners could fit on 
  the brim of Kestar's fedora with room to spare.

"He likes all kinds of treats," replies the girl wisely. "Sometimes he will try 
  to steal them out of my pockets. He is very naughty." Her brush delivers 
  gentle strokings of white along her stone, a tiny and very localized snowfall 
  of widening color on its surface.

Kestar chuckles from deep in his throat, absently swirling black over the 
  surface of his 'egg.' "Sounds more like he's clever to me. He knows what he 
  wants and looks for it until he finds it." Stealing a glance at the fedora-ed 
  lad, Kassi quips, "Rather like a pair of boys I could name, eh?" Both of the 
  boys in question just grin at her, without the grace to look abashed.

Jayna walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Jayna has arrived.
Jayna walks off towards the kitchen.
Jayna has left.
From the kitchen, Jayna enters the kitchen from the living cavern.

'Lani peeks up at that little exchange, chewing briefly on her lower lip and 
  not knowing what to say to _that_. She decides it's safest to duck her gaze 
  again, and check out whether her stone is sufficiently white yet; as the 
  number is still visible, she resumes dabbing white across it.

Kassima swirls a pale jade green lightly over the surface of her 
  almost-completed stone, which is starting to be as mind-bogglingly perplexing 
  as the egg it's patterned after. A thin streak of cerise, and the rock is 
  completed. Holding it carefully between her thumb and forefinger, the 
  greenrider starts to blow very, very lightly on the surface--presumably in 
  order to get it to dry enough to be set down without the top coat streaking. 
  "What's the latest thing you've been seeking out, Kes?" Eyr inquires 
  conversationally, mimicking his elder cousin's actions with his gleaming 
  white ovoid. Kestar isn't quite finished with his, due to his later start, 
  and in fact is only now starting on the golden spot in the very center of egg 
  twenty-three. "Hmm? Oh--that secret passage I've heard some of the riders 
  talking about, right now. I hear that no one's found it yet--which just means 
  that I'll be the first."

Mehlani blinks and looks up at the older boy. "Secret passage?" she echoes, in 
  much the same say she'd said 'Paint the rocks?' Curiosity, again.
Her stone now sufficiently white, Mehlani considers, peeking at the green paint 
  pot, and thinking the shade within is awfully dark to make the proper color 
  for the egg she'd noticed on the Sands. She looks around the table, finds a 
  stiff scrap of wherhide, and very carefully pours out a dab of white paint on 
  it. This is followed by a dab of green paint, and then, she cleans out her 
  brush and begins stirring the two dabs together. In the midst of her quiet 
  industry, she peeks again at the boy in the hat, waiting for his 
  clarification. She thought she knew about all the hidden places in the Weyr!

From the kitchen, Jayna pushes her way past scurrying kitchen girls and into 
  the storeroom passageway.

"Mmm-hmmm," Eyrian offers, now waving the egg back and forth to try and get it 
  to dry faster. Since it isn't dripping with too much paint, there are 
  fortunately no colorful, splattering mishaps. "To a peephole. They say you 
  can get a closer peek at the eggs through it." Kestar is swift to note, "But 
  that's not the important thing--the *important* thing is that since no one's 
  been there, it's still a mystery. Something that you'd actually have to go 
  *looking* for. I've been meaning to explore those old corridors of the Weyr, 
  y'know, to see what's back there--but I haven't found the peephole yet. 
  *Yet.* Someday, I will!" Kassi seems rather unsurprised by her cousin's 
  vehemence, though remarkably she seems to take it seriously enough that she 
  doesn't laugh. She simply nods, and picks up the rock marked with the numeral 
  four to begin her second painting attempt.

Comprehension dawns on Mehlani's face. "Oh," she murmurs softly, "the 
  _peephole_." Evidently, she knows about that. But she does not elaborate, as 
  she peers down consideringly at her now paler green blob of paint. Pale 
  enough yet?

Kassima remarks, "Kestar's always had a thing for the devices and relics of the 
  Ancient Timers. I swear, I half think that he consented to Search just 
  because of the tales of Jaxom finding that farviewer here during the last 
  Pass. Faranth preserve us all from your curiousity, cousin!" She threatens 
  Kes with her orange-loaded brush, but he's not paying any attention to her. 
  Mehlani's just captured his attention once again with that comment. "You know 
  about it?" he asks, eyes widened with hope. "You could tell me--us," he 
  amends, at Eyrian's swift elbow-jab, "about it?"

Alexi walks in from the bowl.
Alexi has arrived.
Alexi says "Evening!"
Alexi grabs himself a mug of citron and settles well away from the fire...

Mehlani decides that her pale green blob of paint is insufficiently pale, and, 
  with careful and steady hands, she adds another tiny measure of white to the 
  mix before stirring it. She doesn't look up as she does this, so she misses 
  the look that crosses Kestar's face, and misses Eyrian's jab of his brother 
  as well. All she says, as she stirs her now slightly larger blob, is, "It's 
  in the Records Room. The story about Lord Jaxom, anyway."
Mehlani _does_ look up at Alexi's call, and she gravely bobs her head at him 
  before returning to attempting to create JUST the right shade of green.

Kassima is sitting at a round table which has been covered and surrounded 
  respectively by two dropclothes; also adorning it are several paint-pots, 
  brushes, what look to be sketches of eggs, and small egg-shaped stones. Not 
  far from the greenrider are Kestar and Eyrian, the two Candidates who are her 
  cousins. "Heya, Alexi," the three greet in that uncanny synchronity. "Care 
  t'paint eggs with us? There're still plenty left to choose from."

Alexi says "Paint eggs?"

Her small mouth pursed in thoughtful deliberation, Mehlani straightens up a bit 
  to peer at the sketch of the egg she's attempting to duplicate. Hmmm. She 
  looks at her table companions, and requests solemnly, "May I have the blue, 
  please?"

Ofira walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Ofira has arrived.

Alexi gets up to look at Kassima's collection.
Alexi says "Ofira! G'devening!"

Kestar worries his lower lip between his teeth as he sets his own completed egg 
  down, snaring the one marked with the number three. "I'll have to take a look 
  at that... does it tell where the peephole is?" Again, that hopeful tone is 
  in his voice. Eyrian rolls his eyes slightly as he turns in his seat to 
  inform Alexi, "We're painting these rocks to look like Kimbrith's clutch. You 
  choose which egg you want to draw from that big hide there--" He indicates 
  the large, colorful mural of the clutch, obviously done by an artist's hand. 
  A small number has been attached to each egg. "And you pick up the stone with 
  the same number, then set to work. Easy enough, no? Here you go, Mehlani." 
  The lad in the white shirt and black vest helpfully passes over the cerulean 
  paint.

Ofira comes in, looks around for the source of the voice and then waves to 
  Alexi. Seeing Kassima and the others, she smiles and heads that way.
Ofira looks over. "What are you all doing?"

Alexi immediately looks to see if egg 27 has been done yet...

Kassima waves her now-red brush towards Ofira in greeting. "Heya, Ofira! Pardon 
  the mess. We're just fulfilling the traditional Painting of the Rock Eggs... 
  care to join us?"

Ofira frowns slightly. "Tradtional Painting of the Rock Eggs...why don't I 
  remember that tradition?"

"Thank you," Mehlani says to Eyrian, her sober little expression not wavering. 
  To Kestar, she glances back and shakes her head, pausing a beat before she 
  adds consideringly, "It's not in the Records I've read, and I've read a lot 
  of the Records, but Benden Weyr has many, many Records."

Alexi sits and picks up rock 27...

Kassima admits cheerfully, "'Tis rather new! I've only started doing this since 
  Herath's clutch, y'see. We're painting these eggs to look like those that 
  Kimbrith's laid--Syraemia did some marvelous sketches to work from, and 
  Kestar found all sorts of paints in stores. I've marked the rocks with 
  numbers; you just take the numbered rock that corresponds to the number of 
  the egg you want to paint." She indicates the mural, which has numbers marked 
  above each of the eggs.

Ofira regards the rock eggs thoughtfully, "Interesting. Actually...it gives me 
  an idea..." she says, her step more brisk as she heads for the kitchen.
Ofira walks off towards the kitchen.
Ofira has left.
From the kitchen, Ofira enters the kitchen from the living cavern.

Mehlani, with that, carefully dabs out some blue into her paint blob, _just_ a 
  hint of it, and begins to swirl the result together. The result begins to 
  come closer to egg number 9 on the mural, and a hint, just a hint, of 
  Mehlani's sobriety begins to ease from her face. Perhaps she's getting into 
  this.

Alexi pulls some red and brown paints towards him and starts mixing.

From the kitchen, Ofira takes her apron off the hook, ties it on and washes her 
  hands, before taking down a large bowl from the shelf.

"So Cousin Kassi's told me," Kestar says. His charmingly lopsided grin has 
  returned in full-force at the mention of Records. "Think the Weyrwomen would 
  let any of us see 'em? If we stay on and have any spare time, that is." 
  Carefully, he dabs one of the colorful figures that can be found on the halo 
  egg onto the stone he holds.

Mehlani looks up just in time to see Kestar grinning widely, and she blinks a 
  time or two at him. "Jehrina lets me read the Records all the time as long as 
  I'm careful with them," she tells the behatted lad. Jehrina. Not 'Weyrwoman 
  Jehrina', or 'the Weyrwoman'.

From the kitchen, Ofira quickly gathers ingredients. Butter, sugar, eggs, 
  vanilla flavoring, flour, salt and rising soda, humming to herself, a little 
  tune about eggs.

Eyrian wonders idly, "An idea?" His attention is more preoccupied by coating 
  rock number seventeen in white paint than by Ofira's mysterious activity. 
  Kassi's own, "I wonder what she's up to?" seems to indicate more interest. 
  But then, her current egg is more haphazard than detailed, and doesn't 
  require *quite* so much concentration. "You've got that egg Parth likes so 
  much, aye, Alexi?"

Alexi stares intently at the stone for a while and then begins laying down a 
  coat of fire orange. He looks up at Kassima and nods, "Parth? Oh, yea! He 
  pays alot of attention to this one."

From the kitchen, Ofira dumps the block of butter in the bowl and sets to with 
  a fork. "There's an egg Parth favors?" she calls, listening in to the 
  conversation in the living cavern.

Alexi says "I don't know if Favors is the right word, but he does fuss over it 
  alot..."

Remarkably even white teeth flash against lightly tanned skin as Kestar's grin 
  broadens. "That'd be *great*. I've always wanted to get a look at a 
  collection of Records like Benden must have. There must be a lot of history 
  in 'em, eh?"

From the kitchen, Ofira nods thoughtfully to Alexi's answer, and continues her 
  work, rather missing his help in the kitchen, as she adds sugar to the mashed 
  butter and beats it together energetically.

"That oddly-shaped egg, Ofira!" Kassima calls towards the kitchen. "Y'know the 
  one, don't you? It looks rather like a heart? Parth's obsessed with it; he 
  pays it even more attention than Kimbrith does, I'd say. Is that one your 
  favorite too, Alexi?"

Alexi sputters for a moment and then just nods, "yep"

From the kitchen, Ofira calls back as she beats in one egg at a time, "Oh, yes 
  I've noticed that one, but to be honest, I havent' spent nearly the time I 
  would have liked looking at this clutch....Alexi, when you're done with that 
  rock, I'll have a few more pans for you to scrub."

Eyrian mutters under his breath, "You can't learn anything from Records that 
  you can't learn better by experiencing for yourself. What'd the fun be of 
  finding the passage if you discover where it is just by reading some hide?" 
  Kes shoots him the Evil Eye, but Eyr pretends not to notice.

Mehlani bobs her head gravely to Kestar, looking at him shyly as long as he's 
  talking to her. "I like to read about Torene," she offers, "and M'hall, but 
  the better copies are in the Archives at the Harper Hall." This is delivered 
  with the same tone of This is Something I'm Familiar With, and as soon as she 
  finishes speaking, Mehlani returns her attention to her blue-green blob of 
  paint, adding just another touch of white to it. It needs to be a _little_ 
  bit paler...

Alexi snickers and says quietly, "I thought for sure she'd have a fit when she 
  found out I was on dish duty, but NOOOOOO, she reveled it it..."

From the kitchen, Symoria walks out of the passageway that leads down to the 
  storerooms.

Kassima chuckles, and holds out her own chosen egg to look at it critically. 
  "This one's my second-favorite; I like the one of swirled colors best of all. 
  Which is nay t'say that the reflective one's nay nice too... oh, do they 
  still have Records that date back to Benden's Founding? Imagine that. I'll 
  have t'try and get a look at those, one of these evenings."

From the kitchen, Ofira looks at the mixture in her bowl and adds a few drops 
  of the vanilla flavoring, beating it again. A movement catches the corner of 
  her eye and she looks up, peering at the girl now standing in the kitchen. 
  "Symoria." she states, recalling the student.

Alexi blows on the rock, drying the orange, then proceeds to add a coat of 
  honey brown...

From the kitchen, Symoria looks around the unfamiliar kitchen uncertainly until 
  she spots Ofira. With a smile, she walks over to Ofira, holding out a package 
  to her. She says, "I've brought the herbs you needed."

"That, I know," Kestar states, drawing another figure on his egg with the tip 
  of his brush. "Da told me. He's a Journeyman Harper, and Grandsire's a 
  Master--but he can't play anymore, 'cause of his hands, so he retired." 
  Eyrian flashes Alexi a ruefully sympathetic grin. "Better dish duty than 
  latrines, I'd think... feh, Kes. With your obsession with history, *you* 
  should've been a Harper." The lad in the fedora has no reply to that. He 
  merely shrugs, and pays even more attention to his egg.

From the kitchen, Ofira nods and accepts the package, opening it to check the 
  contents, "Journeyman Theora sent you I take it. All by yourself?" she 
  smiles, setting the package on a shelf.

From the kitchen, Symoria nods solemnly as she peers around the kitchen.

Alexi shakes his head, "Latrine duty... glad I only have that once every eight 
  or nine days."

From the kitchen, Ofira smiles, "I'm sure you enjoyed the dragon ride here 
  then. Is the rider waiting for you? Or can you stay for a bit?"

Mehlani looks up once more and informs Kestar and Eyrian solemnly, "My mother 
  is a Master Harper, and Da would have been a Harper, except that he 
  Impressed. His mother was a Harper too, though."

Pan flits into the room from the Inner Cavern.
Pan has left.
Alexi hold up an arm and Pan lands not quite gracefully on it.
Alexi says "Welcome back..."

From the kitchen, Symoria says, her eyes widening as she thinks back, "I loved 
  the trip! It was my very first time on a dragon." She adds reflectively, 
  "Though, I was scared for a moment when we went between."
From the kitchen, Symoria looks at Ofira with a start as she remembers her 
  question, "Oh! I can stay for awhile. The rider isn't waiting."

Mehlani, evidently now content with the shade of her paint blob, begins to 
  carefully layer it onto her stone, tinging the already white rock with subtle 
  blue-green.

From the kitchen, Ofira nods, returning to her mixing bowl, "Most people are, 
  the first time, but you quickly grow used to it. Now, if you dont' have to 
  run back immediately for the rider who's waiting on you, wash your hands and 
  grab an apron. You can help me with an inspiration I just had."

Both sets of remarkable hazle eyes lift up to regard Mehlani with surprise. 
  "Master Melora," the lads' green-eyed greenrider cousin supplies. "Our 
  grandsire's Master Keyssin, and Uncle Keyssar's the sire of these two--along 
  with several others. I'll never understand why 'tis that m'kinsfolk seem 
  determined to repopulate the entire Hold. As if'n 'tweren't full enough on 
  its own!" Laughing, Kassi trails yellow over the orange-red egg, the image of 
  flickering fire beginning to form. "Oh," Kestar and Eyrian both chorus, 
  illuminated.

Alexi grins, half listening to the conversation, but very intent on the next 
  coat of honey gold over the brown.

Mehlani bobs her head to Kassima's explanation, not offering anything further 
  as the morning-reminiscent shade she's created slowly covers her egg, at the 
  direction of her brush and fingers.

Eyrian casts an envious look at Alexi. "Only every eight or nine? I seem to 
  draw it at least twice a sevenday, and runner-mucking thrice--though that's a 
  much more pleasant task, a'course. How'm I supposed to find anyone willing to 
  dice with me if I'm always back in the Caverns with the privies, I ask you?" 
  Never mind that whoever assigned him those tasks may have had the noble goal 
  of saving the marks of the Weyrfolk in the first place.

From the kitchen, Symoria says, "Yes, Master Ofira." She walks quickly over to 
  a wash basin and washes her hands, then grabs up an apron on her way back. 
  She stops just to the side of Ofira, and looks into the mixing bowl 
  curiously. "I'm ready. What's your inspiration?"

From the kitchen, Ofira leans over to murmur in the ear of the Baker student.
From the kitchen, Ofira mutters to Symoria, "... Candidates are... might 
  make... the... well."

Alexi says "Ugh... the stables... don't remind me. I love being a candidate, 
  but I'll be glad when those eggs hatch... one way or another."

From the kitchen, Ofira straightens up and takes the sifter, putting it into 
  Symoria's hands, "Now, hold that steady while I pour in the flour..."

From the kitchen, Symoria giggles as she grasps the sifter in her hands, barely 
  managing to keep it steady.

"I *like* the stables," Kestar remarks, putting down his newly-finished egg and 
  rising up out of his seat. "Being near the runners is a great thing. I've got 
  serving duty now; it's near dinner--anything I can get you lot?"

Alexi says "Wow, someone waiting on ME in the living cavern... that's a 
  switch... but it makes me feel guilty... I'll be okay."

From the kitchen, Ofira pours in the flour with one hand, her other hand 
  covering Symoria's to hold hers steady, "Now just gently shake it, so that 
  the flour sifts into the bowl...gently..."

Mehlani looks up to Kestar and asks him solemnly, "Yellowfruit juice?"

From the kitchen, Symoria shakes the sifter gently, only jarring it twice.

From the kitchen, Ofira nods, "Good...." She takes the sifter from the girl and 
  hands her a wooden spoon instead, "Now, mix...has Theora shown you how to 
  mix?"

Alexi holds his rock in his fingertips, and blows on it lightly...

From the kitchen, Symoria says, sounding puzzled, "I've mixed before, but no 
  one ever showed me any special way to do it. Is there one?"

Kestar flashes Alexi an understanding grin, then bobs his head once to Mehlani, 
  tipping his fedora. "It'd be my pleasure." Efficient as the lad is, it 
  doesn't take him too long to return with the requested juice for Mehlani, not 
  to mention Eyrian's request of a wherry sandwich and Kassi's of kiwi muffins. 
  "There y'go," he smiles before dashing off to wait on the others of the 
  Cavern.

From the kitchen, Ofira considers. "Well, you want to mix gently, but 
  thoroughly. From the bottom of the bowl and up. Like this." She demonstrates, 
  blending the flour into the wet ingredients and beginning to form a dough.

From the kitchen, Symoria watches Ofira intently, nodding in understanding.

From the kitchen, Ofira smiles and hands the spoon to Symoria. "You finish."

Kassima nods approvingly to Alexi. "That's the way... oh, nice shade of green, 
  Mehlani. Hmmm. I think this one's *almost* done, but it's missing 
  somethi--ah, I have it! Brown!"

Ceria walks in from the bowl.
Ceria has arrived.

Mehlani's juice gets Kestar a small smile from the girl, that 
  both-ends-of-her-mouth-curl-up-shyly kind of smile. She keeps it at Kassima's 
  compliment, before she settles down to finish dabbing her blue-green onto her 
  stone.

Ceria walks in with a smile for Alexi and a nod for anyone else she greets.

From the kitchen, Symoria takes the spoon from Ofira and begins to slowly mix 
  the ingrediants in the bowl into a dough.

From the kitchen, Ofira watches Symoria for a moment, then nods, satisfied and 
  begins to prepare the baking trays. "How are your lessons going at the 
  Training Center?"

Eyrian sets down his almost-finished woozy egg to turn his attention to his 
  sandwich. The boy is evidently hungry; though he has more table-manners than 
  some his age, he's certainly quick to devour his meal. "Breaking firestone 
  always makes me hungry. That was my task today," he explains offhandedly to 
  any who might be curious.

Alexi looks up from blowing on his rock and grins at Ceria.

Ceria goes to stand behind Alexi. "Whatcha doing?" she asks curiously. From her 
  shoulder, Emmy cheeps.

Kassima nods to Ceria, even as she energetically applies a brown-tipped brush 
  to her rock of flame. She's not the best of artists, so the likeness to egg 
  number four isn't the best of likenesses... but it's not all that bad for 
  someone who couldn't draw her way out of a paper bag. "G'deve, Candidate. 
  Anyone else care for a kiwi muffin? Kes brought me plenty."

From the kitchen, Ofira spreads butter over the trays and dusts them lightly 
  with flour and then goes to check the oven temperature.

Alexi says "We're painting rock eggs..."
Alexi looks over at the kiwi muffin, licks his lips and nods, "Yea, I'll take 
  one."

Ceria nods. "I see."

From the kitchen, Symoria says as she continues mixing, "They're going well 
  enough. I made a fish plate yesterday that was quite good, though when I 
  tried to remake the stew I made last week.." She trails off, looking 
  pensively down at the dough. She says, "I think it's fully mixed."

R'val walks in from the bowl.
R'val has arrived.

From the kitchen, Ofira comes back from the ovens and gives the bowl of dough 
  an inquiring prod. "Yes, that looks right," she agrees. "Now, let's see if we 
  can get the shape right." She dips her hands into the flour, rubbing them 
  together and then takes a small ball of the cookie dough and rolls it between 
  her palms into an oval. "Sort of like that," she says to Symoria. "I think 
  that looks right."

Mehlani looks at Eyrian since he's still next to her at the table, and nods to 
  him, to show that she'd heard his proclamation. Although she doesn't speak, 
  her expression reflects a brief flash of understanding, of 'Breaking 
  firestone is hard!', before she finishes off the blue-green layer of color on 
  her egg.

Maylia walks in from the bowl.
Maylia has arrived.

R'val walks into the cavern with Maylia, waving amiably to the occupants of the 
  cavern, "Evening, gang."

Kassima wipes some of the red paint from her fingers before snaring a muffin to 
  pass to Alexi. The attempt to de-color herself is a bad job, though. Already, 
  her hands bear streaks of color from her occupation--and her face hasn't 
  survived unscathed, either. It's amazing what a streak of orange can do to 
  highlight one's cheekbones. "You missed a spot, Eyr," she helpfully points 
  out, gesturing to the offending region of his rock with her brush. Eyr nods 
  his thanks, quickly adding another swirl of funky psychadelic yellow.

When that coat dries, Alexi grabs the yellow and red and mixes up another color 
  to match the lustre of the Egg...

Ceria turns away from Alexi to nod to R'val. She turns back and watches Alexi 
  painting.

R'val smiles fondly over at Ceria, and murmurs to Maylia, "Erk. whatever is 
  going on in here?"

From the kitchen, Symoria smiles as she looks at the oval shape. She reaches 
  into the dough, remembering only at the last second to flour her hands first. 
  With her hands floured, she reaches back into the dough and pulls off a small 
  piece quickly working it in to an egg-like shape.

Mehlani cradles her stone in her hands, and blows on it tinily, steadily, 
  waiting for it to dry. When it does at last, she looks up and requests 
  quietly, "May I have the yellow, please?"

From the kitchen, Ofira nods, watching Symoria. "Good..." She continues to take 
  balls of dough and roll them between her palms, quickly filling one tray 
  after the other and taking them one by one to the ovens.

Eyrian smiles crookedly at Mehlani, rather resembling his brother earlier. 
  "What chores 'round here do you have to do, Mehlani?" he wonders. Maybe, just 
  maybe, here is someone who has enough free time to play cards with him? That 
  he manages to keep the visions of marks from dancing in his eyes is a true 
  miracle. Picking up the yellow pot next to his elbow, he relocates it closer 
  to the Weyr lass. "Sure. I'm 'bout done with it anyway."

Makear walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Makear has arrived.

Maylia peers at the pant-streaked occupants of the cavern as she hangs her coat 
  on the pegs by the entry. She fetches a mug of klah before heading over to 
  the group. With a chuckle, she asks, "What are you doing?"

From the kitchen, Symoria places one last ovaled dough ball onto a tray, then 
  carries that try to the ovens, placing in an empty spot near the ones Ofira 
  had brought over.

From the kitchen, Ofira wipes her hands on her apron and smiles at Symoria. 
  "Those shouldn't take too long. While we're waiting, we can mix the paint."

Makear peers about the cavern, wondering if something exploded. But instead of 
  asking she snags herself a mug of klah and some meat and cheese.

"Painting rocks," Kassi explains, setting her small brush down and holding her 
  finished egg carefully. "Care t'join us? There're quite a few left unpainted 
  yet; just pick one from that mural, note its number, and start painting the 
  rock whose number matches...." The greenrider pauses in her conversation, 
  since it's impossible to blow on her drying rock and speak at the same time.

Ceria glances at Makear and smiles.

From the kitchen, Symoria grins at the mention of 'paint'. She asks, "What do 
  we make it from?"

"Thank you," says Mehlani to Eyrian, and she quirks her head at him as he 
  questions her. She then replies, "I help Father with washing and oiling 
  Tzornth and his and Momma's fire lizards. I help Father and Momma both with 
  copying things. And I help with Tsornin, and sometimes with looking after 
  Rylan and Lanryi and Fahlina."

From the kitchen, Ofira returns to gathering ingredients. "Beaten eggs, a 
  little milk and some vegetable dyes..." She sets the aforementioned on the 
  table, along with a few little bowls. The vegetable dye is in little vials.

Mehlani, having offered Eyrian the answer she deemed sufficient for his 
  question, begins dabbing gentle strokes of yellow onto her egg, trying for 
  that sun-touched look of its likeness in the mural spread out on the table.

"Siblings?" Eyrian inquires. It doesn't take a genius to detect the similarity 
  of names. "They've got nice names. Better'n what most of my family ended up 
  with. Fire-lizards, eh?" Starting to wave his funky, groovy egg about to dry 
  it, he quips, "Kassi's always trying to con us into agreeing to oil hers for 
  her, but we haven't got a Turn's worth of free time."

From the kitchen, Ofira looks at Symoria consideringly and then decides to 
  crack the eggs her self. "Here, you beat them," she instructs, "Gently," she 
  reminds.

Again, Mehlani bobbobs her head. "Father has seven children," she observes, 
  "and seven fire lizards, although he used to have more."

R'val walks off towards the kitchen.
R'val has left.
From the kitchen, R'val enters the kitchen from the living cavern.

Kassima snorts, shaking one red-streaked finger at her cousin. "As if'n 'twere 
  all three score 'twas asking you t'be oiling! Most of 'em are content to dip 
  in Lysseth's oil tub, as y'know full well; 'tis a mere handful who desire the 
  full treatment each day."

Maylia balances her klah mug in one hand, and scoops up a rock in the other. 
  Peering intently at the mural she Hmmmms, rubbing her fingers over the rock. 
  With a grin for R'val she edges into a seat.

Alexi walks towards the inner cavern.
Alexi has left.

From the kitchen, R'val ducks into the kitchen, spotting Ofira. He beams, 
  "Ofira!" He calls out to the kitchen.

From the kitchen, Symoria picks up first one vial then another, staring at the 
  colors within them. A smile lights her face up as she see's the deep green 
  hue in one of them. She takes up a mixer at Ofira's comment, and begins to 
  beat the eggs Ofira cracks open into the bowl.

Ceria watches Alexi leave with a sigh.

From the kitchen, Ofira looks up from the eggs and smiles when she sees the 
  bluerider. "R'val!" she says, greeting him with pleasure.

From the kitchen, Symoria's eyes flick over to the man entering the kitchen, 
  her hands brushing the bowl on the counter as she looks. The bowl wobbles a 
  bit, then steadies though it is balanced precariously near the edge of the 
  counter.

Eyrian whistles, impressed by that number--though whether of fire-lizards or 
  kids, it's hard to tell. He's quick enough to clarify. "Seven? That's as many 
  kids as Mum and Da have. Me, Kes, Katari, Kyssia, Tariken, Sariani, and 
  Kessatarina. Lots of the family seems t'be made up of sets of seven kids. 
  It's the weirdest thing."

Makear declines the task of painting and instead takes a seat by the basket on 
  the hearth. SHe quietly sits down and watches the activity.

From the kitchen, R'val hurries over and hugs Ofira warmly, smiling, "how're 
  you love?"

From the kitchen, Ofira grabs for the wobbling bowl without taking her eyes 
  from R'val, an automatic response. "Do you have that all beaten?" she asks 
  the girl, before slipping into R'val's embrace.

"Tzornth wins many flights," says Mehlani succintly, by way of explanation of 
  the size of her family. She pauses in her dabbing of yellow to study her 
  handiwork.

From the kitchen, R'val kisses Ofira gently and squeezes her to him.

From the kitchen, Symoria looks back down at the bowl, saying nothing as she 
  resumes her beating of the eggs. After a moment, she looks over to Ofira and 
  says, "It's done know." She smiles hesitantly at R'val, bobbing her head a 
  little.

From the kitchen, Ofira returns the kiss, hugging and getting some flour onto 
  the man, letting go of the bowl.

From the kitchen, R'val smiles at Symoria in greeting.

Maylia considers the rock, then looks again at the mural before reaching for a 
  small pot of blue paint. Blue swirls begin to take shape on her rock, teased 
  out gently by the brush.

"Well, Mum and Da just--" Eyrian begins, to be cut short by Kassi's clapping a 
  hand over his mouth before he can say anything incriminating. "Mrmph!" he 
  protests. When she reluctantly lets go, he wipes yellow fingerprints from his 
  face and continues, "Just wanted to have a lot of kids. Sheesh, Kassi, what 
  did I say?" The greenrider gives him a perfectly innocent look before 
  glancing towards Maylia. "Which one are you painting?" she wonders.

From the kitchen, Ofira finally separates herself from R'val and turns back to 
  the little bowls. "We're doing a painting project too," she grins at him.

Mehlani blinkblinks at Kassima and Eyrian, then blushes, ever so slightly, and 
  diverts her attention away from the black-and-white-garbed lad. To Kassima, 
  she announces softly, "I'm done."

From the kitchen, R'val watches Ofira at work, and smiles at her, "How's your 
  day been, hm?"

From the kitchen, Symoria fingers the small vials next to the bowl absently.

From the kitchen, Ofira nods, "Better than yesterday," she sighs, taking one of 
  the vials from Symoria and pouring a little of the egg wash into one of the 
  small bowls, adds a few drops, turning the mixture bright red.

Kassima rolls her eyes once at Eyr while his attention's diverted from his egg, 
  and nods approvingly to Mehlani. "It looks grand. Is it dry? If'n so, just 
  set it over there--" She places her own finished egg down by the others to 
  indicate the place. "And if'n you're so inclined, you're welcome t'pick 
  another."

From the kitchen, R'val squeezes Ofira's shoulder with an approving smile, "Now 
  that, I'm glad to hear."

From the kitchen, Symoria smiles down at the brilliant red color in the bowl. 
  She asks excitedly, "How much longer must the cookies bake?"

Maylia blows on the swirls of blue to partially dry them, then chooses black. 
  As she gently strokes the black, it melds with the blue creating barely-there 
  swirls of shades. With a shy smile for the question she considers the rock. 
  "Hopefully it'll turn out to be the one with the eyes," She raises her own 
  eyes to blink at the lad. "You know, the one that seems to be staring at you 
  all the time."

From the kitchen, Ofira continues mixing little bowls of color, blue, violet, 
  brown, yellow, orange, all different, brilliant colors. "Oh, they're probably 
  ready about now..." she says to Symoria, sending her to go check. "Yes, there 
  was a dreadful scene at the 'Hulk, last night," she tells R'val.

"Ah, aye," Kassi smiles, apparently recognizing the egg that Maylia refers to. 
  Out of the blue, she further remarks, "Green. Eyr, pass over the black, will 
  you? I want t'do that one that looks like it's been blotted with ink."

From the kitchen, R'val frowns, 'A dreadful scene? Do tell!"

From the kitchen, Symoria walks over to the ovens. She wraps a towel around her 
  hand, then pulls out one tray to check on the cookies. Satisfied that they're 
  ready, she quickly brings the tray over to the counter near Ofira, then goes 
  back to get the next tray, repeating the process until all the trays are out 
  of the oven.

Waving her rock in the air to dry it a bit, Maylia searches over the table. "Is 
  there any red?" With a grin for Ceria she nods, "That's what I thought too, a 
  green."

Kassima taps the crimson paint-pot with the handle of her brush, even as she 
  accepts the black from Eyrian. "There're paints of about all the colors," the 
  brown-haired young man observes. "Kes really went all-out to find 'em."

From the kitchen, Ofira pokes at the little round cookies and nod in 
  satisfaction. "Do you remember my telling you about Jacob? That SeaCrafter I 
  know, the one who'd blue firelizard wreaks havoc in here all the time? The 
  one who hates riders?"

Ceria goes to get a mug of klah and sits down to watch the painters.

Some of Ofira's words must carry in from the kitchen, since Kassi winces 
  slightly just as Jacob is mentioned. Sighing, she selects the appropriate egg 
  from the pile and begins dabbing the undercoat of white onto it.

From the kitchen, Symoria sneaks a cookie from the plate, biting into it 
  happily, as Ofira's attention is distracted by R'val.

From the kitchen, Ofira gathers up the tray of cooling cookies and the little 
  bowls, putting some into Symoria's hands and some into R'val's. "We need to 
  go to the lc now," she informs them.
From the kitchen, Ofira walks into the Living Cavern.
Ofira walks in from the kitchen.
Ofira has arrived.

From the kitchen, R'val walks into the Living Cavern.
R'val walks in from the kitchen.
R'val has arrived.
R'val hurries after Ofira.

From the kitchen, Symoria walks into the Living Cavern.
Symoria walks in from the kitchen.
Symoria has arrived.

Ofira sets down her tray and gestures to R'val and Symoria to do the same, 
  producing several little brushes from her apron pockets and setting them in 
  the little bowls of vegetable dye. She nods towards the painting of the 
  clutch. "Now we paint the cookies." she tells Symoria.

Symoria follows Ofira out of the kitchen, being careful to keep the trays in 
  her hand balanced.

R'val sets his tray down next to Ofira's, nodding with a smile at her.

Maylia gently cleans off her brush, and reaches for the crimson paint. Blending 
  the red into the black-blue swirls curls of red seep through. Blowing on the 
  rock-turning-egg to dry it, she glances at the others work. "Which one are 
  you doing?" she asks Eyrian between breaths.

Symoria places her trays down where Ofira indicated, a wide smile spreading 
  across her face as she looks happily at the dyes.

Kassima blinks, glancing at the mural of the clutch as Ofira looks towards it. 
  "Oh!" she exclaims as cluefulness kicks in. "Are y'making egg cookies then, 
  Ofira? What a magnificent idea!"

Ofira sits down comfortably and goes to work on the cookies, swirling dye over 
  then. "Well," she says to R'val, "When I got there, Kassima and Kindre were 
  having a drink and...oh, thank you!" xhe smiles to Kasimma.

R'val grins at Ofira. "And?" He prompts.

Symoria takes a sit next to Ofira, reaching down to pick up a cookie and a 
  little brush. She dips the brush into the yellow dye and then begins to paint 
  her egg.

Ofira shakes her head as she paints red swirls around a cookie, "Well, Jacob 
  seemed to be infuriated by their presence for some reason. Started yeling and 
  using some very insulting language, threatening to throw them out..."

Eyrian sets down his newly-finished woozy egg. "Well, I *was* doing that one. 
  But now, I think... eh, see number seven?" He taps the egg that resembles a 
  globe of snow on the mural. "That one looks simple enough. It's hard to mess 
  up an egg that's mostly white."

Ceria walks towards the inner cavern.
Ceria has left.

Symoria paints a swirl of yellow over one side of the oval cookie, glancing 
  around the cavern curiously as she hears people speaking.

Kassima grimaces, casting Ofira a rueful look. "Did throw us out, actually, or 
  as good as. Master Guillem at least kept those musclemen of his from laying a 
  hand on us. A good thing, too...." And for which party it was a good thing 
  isn't all that hard to guess. "I can't say that I've ever met a more 
  intractable man in all m'days."

R'val shakes his head, "How very unusual."

Ofira sighs, adding some blue to one of the cookies. "he's always been that 
  way. Are you going to have K'tyn contact Master Tiemar, or anything like 
  that?"

Kassima nods, her expression uncharacteristically grim. "We'll report this 
  incident to the Weyrleaders, a'course. What they choose t'do after that's out 
  of our hands... but I don't think that such ill manners as he displayed 
  should be taken without protest. Or a trip to the nearest Mindhealer, if'n 
  'twere up t'me."

Maylia nods approvingly at Eyrian's choice and gingerly tests the eggs surface. 
  Satisfied that it's dry enough that she won't mess up what she's done, a 
  black swirl is added to each end where she'd held it. Letting this dry she 
  stares at it, drumming her fingers as she figures out what to do with it next.

Symoria adds a splotch of light green to her egg-shaped cookie. She carefully 
  places the colored cookie down on the tray and then picks up another one to 
  paint.

Seeing Maylia's dilemma, Eyrian points towards where the dried and drying eggs 
  have been placed even as he reaches to dip his brush into the pot of white.

Ofira continues to color the cookies, each one a replica of one of the eggs in 
  the paining. "His wife is a Healer , you know," she notes.

Kassima's eyebrows both slant upwards in surprise--surprise significant enough 
  that her thoughts can be read on her face. 'Someone *married* that man?' She 
  doesn't say that aloud, though, instead settling for, "Nay, I knew it nay."

Ofira laughs, "Only very recently. He led her quite a chase. I understand she's 
  expecting a child."

Mehlani has fallen quite silent, and she slips her completed egg over towards 
  Kassima to do with as the green rider wills. Not quite sure what to do now, 
  the girl sits there a moment, her gaze swinging around the cavern; 
  shy-stricken as more grownups arrive on the scene and swing the conversation 
  elsewhere, the girl appears to have blended entirely into the background as 
  she considers sneaking away.

Zerra walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Zerra has arrived.

Maylia moves the rock to a safe location among the others, letting it dry 
  before a second coat, where she'll add the eyes. Peering again at the mural, 
  she points a blue-paint stained finger towards egg 18, after looking through 
  the finished eggs. "Anyone done 18 yet, the one that looks tohave a crack?"

R'val squints over Maylia's shoulder, and grins, "Looks good." he comments.

Zerra tilts her head to one side as she watches what Maylia's doing, she walks 
  over to her sister, 'Hey.' she smiles, 'What you up too?'

"I assume that he won her means that he doesn't treat all women with the 
  same... courtesy... he gave us," Kassi remarks dryly. "Words such as he used 
  are hardly the sort with which to woo a mate--or so I'd guess. Mayhaps I 
  should try that sometime?" With a snort, she turns her attention to Maylia 
  and shakes her head. "Nay, that one's nay yet been worked on... Mehlani, 
  d'you wish to do another stone? There're plenty, if'n you're so inclined."

Mehlani flicks a wide-eyed blue gaze over to Kassima, and says softly, "I don't 
  want to get in the way if anyone else wants to take a turn."

Maylia beams at R'val's praise, and waves a blue and red smeared hand at Zerra, 
  beckoning her closer. "Painting rocks to look like the eggs." She explains. 
  Selecting an appropriately sized rock, she begins coverining it in a first 
  coat of white.

Ofira leans over to dip her brush into more dye, carefully avoiding the paint. 
  "He was always kind to me, but he does have a rather rough exterior you have 
  to work your way through."

Symoria picks up another cookie, pondering it for a moment before she eats it. 
  She grabs up another and sets to painting again, her eyes glancing from the 
  egg to the mural to the group of people painting stone eggs.

Before Kassi can answer, Eyrian sets down his brush to tap one of the many 
  rocks still scattered over the table. "There'll be no lack of turns, with 
  twenty-eight of these to paint," he points out with a grin.

Zerra oohhs and sits with Maylia to watch her paint the egg.

Mehlani looks over to Eyrian, and gives him a bit of her usual small smile, 
  evidently encouraged by his open manner. "Alright," she murmurs.

Kassima sighs, looking up from her own egg to answer Ofira quite frankly. "I 
  can't say that I'm inclined t'care t'work through it. If'n I never again lay 
  eyes on him once this report is made to the Weyrleaders, 'twill suit me just 
  fine. I've nay mind t'ever hear anyone say what he called m'dragon again." 
  She doesn't seem angry--but then, she seldom does. Rather, she's perfectly 
  matter-of-fact about the issue.

Ofira nods in agreement. "It was unacceptable behavior. I just hate to see one 
  man cause so much trouble between Craft and Weyr."

Maylia carefully coats the egg-shaped rock in white, leaving two small 
  uncovered circles at the end where she's holding it between fingers and 
  thumb. Before the white can dry she takes a light blue and sketches roughly 
  where the 'crack' will be, then a light brown mixed with it. She frowns 
  disapprovingly at it, but shrugs and blows on it to dry.

Zerra watches her sister, then lets her gaze go over the other other people in 
  the cavern, smling to them if she catches their eye.

Kassima's ironic smile has a tinge of sadness to it. "Nay more do I like it, 
  Craftmaster... but 'tis the route he took. There was nay call for him to act 
  as he did. None. If'n I'd my way, I'd've loved to have seen Lyss chase him up 
  and down the beach until he apologized as she wished--but that would've been 
  much more trouble than 'twould have been worth."

Mehlani stares intently at the mural, at an egg near to the one she'd just 
  done, the ninth. In fact, egg number 10 holds her attention for some time, 
  and she looks up after a while, casting a glance at the remaining unpainted 
  stones to see if that number is free.

Symoria looks up from painting her egg and notices the girl in the brown dress 
  smiling at her. She smiles back, bobbing her head slightly in greeting.

Ofira nods thoughtfully, setting down one egg cookie to take up another to 
  paint. "I certainly understand how you feel, Kassima. I wasnt' trying to 
  justify his behavior. It's just a shame."

The crossed green egg has indeed been left unpainted so far, and neither Kassi 
  nor Eyrian--each at work on their own eggs--seem apt to object to Mehlani's 
  choice. "Aye, Ofira, 'tis truth that y'speak. I hope this incident is settled 
  a'fore too long... the sooner, the better, t'my mind."

Maylia gently tests the paint, and finds it's dry enough for her to coat the 
  ends. Setting that one aside, she reclaims the first one to add the eyes to 
  it. Picking up her brush and dipping it in reddish brown paint, she suggests 
  to her sister, "Zerra, why don't you do one? You're wonderful with colours."

It is perhaps no surprise that Mehlani chooses that crossed green egg. She 
  surreptitiously claims stone number 10 and begins the process of turning it 
  white, not uttering a word as she does so, focusing on it with careful 
  deliberation.

Zerra grins at Maylia's compliment, 'Hmm.' she thinks for a moment, 'Oh, okay.' 
  she chuckles and picks up one of the rocks.

Ofira sighs, finishing the last cookie on her tray and begins transferring them 
  to a serving plate. "I hope the Candidates will enjoy these...they can eat 
  the one that resembles the egg they like best," she remarks.

Maylia chews on her lower lip a little, as she concentrates. Choosing a reddish 
  swirl, she coaxes the shape of a human eye with the reddish brown paint 
  first, blending it into the swirl. Then with blue she strokes in the outline 
  of a dragon's eye carefully blending it to the blue-black swirls.

Symoria adds the cookies she painted to the serving plate, snagging out a blue 
  swirled one that Ofira painted which resembles the egg she likes best. She 
  munches on the cookie contentedly.

"Will you be making several sets, Ofira?" Kassi wonders, brushing her bangs 
  absently back out of her eyes--and leaving a streak of black across her 
  forehead in the process. Eyrian tries his level best not to snicker. He 
  succeeds admirably.

Zerra begins by following maylia and puts a white coat on her "egg" witha spare 
  brush.

Ofira looks at the already emptying trays and laughs. "I suppose I will!"

Maylia finds another swirl of red, and choosing a deeper brown nudges in the 
  outline of an animal's eye... an ovine perhaps?

From the kitchen, Krystaline walks out of the passageway that leads down to the 
  storerooms.
From the kitchen, Krystaline walks into the Living Cavern.
Krystaline walks in from the kitchen.
Krystaline has arrived.
Krystaline walks quietly into the cavern.

R'val spots Krystaline and casts a smile at her.

Brush poised to tease in a wherry eye with green and grey mixed together, Mayli 
  eyes Kassi's black streaked forehead. Refraining from commenting she returns 
  to her 'egg' with a furrow of concentration on her own brow.

Ofira looks up from placing cookies on a serving plate and smiles, "Krys! A 
  nice to surprise to see you here tonight. I wasnt' expecting to see you until 
  tomorrow at the training center. Is everything alright?"

Krystaline nods once, then bites her lip and shakes her head, her normally 
  serene mask frayed around the edges.

Ofira frowns and gets up, leaving the cookies to Symoria to handle. "What's 
  wrong?" she asks quietly.

Krystaline asks calmly,"Can we talk, Master Ofira?" the request oddly formal 
  sounding.

Mehlani's chosen stone slowly turns white beneath the attentions of her brush. 
  Let the grownups and the Candidates chatter around her; the girl, now, is 
  apparently thoroughly occupied with the task of Artistic Creation.

Kassima's forehead isn't the only thing that's streaked. There's orange on her 
  right cheekbone, white in her hair, yellow speckles on her chin, and a hint 
  of green on one eyebrow. Aesthetic is not the word for her. However, she 
  doesn't seem to notice as she diligently reproduces the ink blot of the egg 
  on the stone in front of her, often referring to one of the many sketches 
  littered about.

Symoria glances over at Krys and Ofira curiously, the cookie and brush in her 
  hand momentarily forgotten.

Zerra sets her egg down to look at the mural and let the coat dry.

Ofira nods to Krys, expression worried. "Alright. Shall we go to my office?" 
  More of an order than a request.

Krystaline nods and follows quietly.

Ofira walks towards the inner cavern.
Ofira has left.

Krystaline walks towards the inner cavern.
Krystaline has left.

Zerra bite her lip as she looks over the eggs,'Has this swirly colored egg been 
  done yet?' she asks how wver's keeping track of what's been done and what 
  hasen't.

"Aye," Kassi and Eyrian both say in chorus. "She did it," Eyr adds, pointing to 
  his cousin and then to the finished egg.

R'val glances after Ofira and Krystaline with a frown.

Symoria watches as the two bakers walk off, green vegetable dye dripping 
  unnoticed onto her apron. She looks around the room timidly now that she's 
  been left alone.

R'val leans into his seat, watching the work proceed.

Zerra chucklse as they answer in chorus and looks over the mural again.
Zerra hmms, 'What about the morning green one?' she turns to see if she can see 
  that one, finished anywhere.

The Morning Green Egg, number 9, has indeed been painted, and it rests quietly 
  among the rest of the finished stones.

Kassima points towards Mehlani's first work with a finger splattered liberally 
  with orange, yellow, and red. "Also done, I fear." She takes up her 
  now-complete inkblot egg, starting to blow on it to begin the drying process.

Zerra chuckles and leans against the table, looking over th mural, 'Which ones 
  aren't done?' she smiles.

Mehlani goes through the process of blow and dab, blow and dab, while little 
  criss-crosses of green come into being along her egg. Thoroughly absorbed in 
  what she's doing, the girl is perhaps unaware that her expression subtly 
  changes, bringing a light to her eyes and a small almost-smile to her mouth.

"All save...." Kassi pauses, tapping her chin reflectively. "Numbers two, 
  three, four, six, seven, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen, seventeen, eighteen, 
  twenty-three, and twenty-seven."

Maylia pauses in her painting to watch the two leave, then returns to adding 
  the details of the eyes. The human eye gets white, and bright green as an 
  iris, tiny strokes as the rock is not very large. The multi-faceted eyes are 
  swirled with colours some blue-green, others orange-yellow. The animal eye 
  does indeed turn out to be ovine, a veritcal slit of a pupil indicating this. 
  Each little stroke of colour gets a breath blown on it.
Maylia shakes her head, holding up the near complete eye-covered egg. 
  "Thirteen's nearly done," and the egg is waved in the direction of her 
  cracked-egg beginnings. "And I've started 18."

Kethran walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Kethran has arrived.
Kethran wanders in from the inner caverns, and waves cheerfully to those he 
  recognizes -- and tosses an equally cheerful grin to those he does not. 
  "Heyla, all!" he calls, sauntering over to the drinks table to refill his 
  juice mug with something a bit stronger. This done, he returns to join the 
  largest grouping in the Cavern, whereever that might place him. A bit of 
  chance is useful in these sort of interactions.

"Those are the ones that *are* done, or being worked on," Kassi explains, 
  grinning. "All except those aren't done. Evening, Kethran." Noticing the 
  change in Mehlani's expression, Kassi begins to open her mouth to say 
  something... then closes it, with a faint smile. She knows, perhaps, when 
  it's better not to interrupt.

Symoria smiles at the man as he walks in, then leans over to dip her brush in 
  the orange vegetable dye. She adds an orange swirl to the egg-shaped cookie 
  to complement to the deep red splotches.

Kethran smiles, pausing on his way to stop near Symoria. "Cookies?" he asks 
  curiously -- and a bit hopefully, and then glances around at the others. "The 
  cookie content in my body is getting a bit low. Heyla, Kassi," he says, as he 
  settles down into a seat.

Zerra looks over the eggs, nodding as Kassi speacks, she finally points to 
  number 20, 'That one?' as asks, 'May i paint that one?'

Symoria points to the plate filled with colored egg-shaped cookies. She says 
  with a smile, "Help yourself. Master Ofira and I made them for everyone."

Kassima asks, "The reflecting one?" Consulting the mural to confirm her memory, 
  she nods. "That one's nay been done yet--just find the egg with that number 
  on it, and you'll be set. Eyrian, pass her the grey paint, won't you?" The 
  young Candidate does as Kassi bids, with a nod towards the Assistant Steward 
  as well.

Kethran blinks at Symoria, and then grins. "Ah, now, I'm not so sure it'd be 
  right to eat these, as pretty as they are," he beams. Then, he looks back 
  toward Kassima. "Paint? It's edible, right?"

Maylia nods understanding, and grins at Zerra as she sets her now-complete 
  painted rock aside. Testing it first, she picks up her second rock, ready now 
  for a second coat. The assistant steward is given a quick paint-smeared wave 
  and a smile.

Kassima blinks at Keth, brow furrowing in confusion. "Why would we put edible 
  paint on rocks, Keth?" She gestures towards the water-polished stones 
  scattered over her table. She, Mehlani, and some of the Candidates seem to be 
  engaged in a different project from the cookie-decorating.

Zerra nods at Kassima, and thanks Eyrian as he passes the paint and picks up 
  egg 20, and sits next to Mayli again and begins painting

Kethran glances at the cookies, and then at the rocks, and then smiles, 
  suddenly comprehending. "Please forgive the rather dense Assistant Steward?" 
  he asks Kassima. He grins and waves back to Maylia, before taking a sip from 
  his mug. "Ah, well. Best I eat a sensible dinner instead of sweets."

Makear yawns from her seat by the hearth, as it would seem she fell asleep 
  again. SHe stands and walks over to the table where the egg painting is in 
  full swing. She smiles at all there and asks, "Has that really neat fire egg 
  been done yet?"

Subtle washes of color creep into life along Mehlani's egg, adding complexity 
  to the stone she's painting. The girl peers back and forth from the mural to 
  her task at hand, and after a moment, unobtrusively sets her egg aside and 
  reaches for the yellow paint when it is unclaimed. While it sits there 
  drying, 'Lani claims a little stone dish out of the paint supplies. Into this 
  is poured water, and dabbed into that goes the yellow paint.

Kassima laughs, wrinkling a yellow-specked nose at Kethran. "A'course, Keth... 
  aye, Makear, 'tis one of those as has been done."

Kethran grins, and then wanders over to the Serving Table to retrieve some 
  dinner for himself. He brings back a plate to rest beside his mug, as he 
  watches. "Despite the amount of fun that appears to be, I still don't think 
  I'm interested in Candidating."

Makear sighs and tries to think of anouther one, "How about that one that looks 
  like a ball of fur?" she asks hopefully.

Eyrian finally finishes his snow-globe of an egg, setting it down in the pile 
  of drying ovoids in triumph. "Not bad, if I do say so m'self," he remarks 
  blithely before turning to eye the mural. "Hmmm... number five looks 
  promising," he mutters, dipping his brush into the water to clean it.

Kethran's remark seizes Mehlani's attention -- evidently, the girl _is_ paying 
  attention after all. She looks up and tells him earnestly, "I'm not a 
  Candidate, and Kassima said I could paint."

Symoria finishes painting the last cookie. She places it on the serving plate, 
  then stands up and gathers the empty trays and the bowls with the dye. After 
  one last glance around to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything, Symi walks 
  over towards the kitchen.
Symoria walks off towards the kitchen.
Symoria has left.
From the kitchen, Symoria enters the kitchen from the living cavern.

Zerra smiles to Makear as she wakes, then returns to carefully coatting the 
  egg, holding it between thub and forefinger. She then sitts for a while, 
  moving her hand, to hopefully dry the coat so she can paint the tips.

"Free," Kassi reports with a grin. "Go ahead and do that one, if'n y'fancy. 
  Methinks 'twill next paint... ach, why nay? Egg twenty and four. That face is 
  intriguing. And Keth, do I look like a Candidate t'you? If'n 'tis so, Lysseth 
  will be most displeased." Taking a bite of her almost-forgotten kiwi muffin, 
  she extends her hand to pick up the stone marked with her chosen number.

From the kitchen, Symoria pushes her way past scurrying kitchen girls and into 
  the storeroom passageway.

K'tyn walks in from the bowl.
K'tyn has arrived.

Pierron waves his arms expansively, driving the cavern's girls before him like 
  a flock of avians, as he orders them to straighten up for the weyrleader.

Dathon walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Dathon has arrived.

Kethran laughs quietly, grinning. "Well, you're a rider, and Mehlani's the 
  daughter of a rider. Me, I'm on no way linked to rider-hood. I just keep the 
  books and push things around in the storerooms and moan about tithes being 
  late." Still, though, he edges a bit closer, clearly interested.

Ceria walks here from the Inner Cavern.
Ceria has arrived.
Ceria wanders in and pours herself a mug of klah.

K'tyn ducks around the cavern girls and heads for the hearth. Preoccupied, he 
  nods at everyone in the room, smiling in greeting.

Makear grins and drops into an empty seat. She picks-up a brush and locates the 
  paints she needs. Then with a deft swipe she grabs the egg with the number 
  she is doing and looks at it wondering where she sould begin.

Kassima rolls her eyes good-naturedly. "Doesn't matter," she retorts. "Since 
  when is art--or whatever may pass for it--limited to riders?" Dunking her 
  brush once in the pot of brown, she poises it above the egg... and then 
  halts, in order to salute the arriving Weyrleader. "Sir, g'deve," she greets 
  him.

"Alyssa is your sister, so you are linked to a rider," replies Mehlani 
  solemnly, as she resumes her work with Egg Number 10. But it would seem that 
  the lass is taking a touch of artistic license, for while the stone already 
  pretty much resembles the egg in the mural, Mehlani takes it up again anyway. 
  Her brush goes dipping into the diluted yellow paint, and with utmost care, 
  she strokes the faintest traces of gold along the egg, making it look exactly 
  as if it were caught in a shaft of sunlight.

Zerra carefully touches her "egg" with a finger and satifyed that it's touch 
  dry, she paints the tips, then looks around for a suitable colour.

R'val moves into a seat at Maylia's side, asking, "Can I help?"

Maylia's egg is slowly covered with a second wash of white, even over the light 
  blue and brown, which peek out through the white. Blowing on the egg to dry 
  it, she once again paints a line, this time with slightly darker brown 
  smudged a bit in a thinner line than before. Still holding the rock she 
  gently blows over it, again and again.

Ceria glances around. "Still painting eggs?" she inquires of no one in 
  particular.

"If you can paint, I'd presume so," Eyrian answers absently, without looking up 
  from his chosen egg number five.

Kethran chuckles softly, glancing back to Mehlani. "True, but I'd long-since 
  thought she'd disowned me," he says cheerfully, and scoots a bit closer to 
  the table. "Which ones've not been done? I have to admit that I've not 
  watched the goings-on in the Hatching Cavern much. We're a bit shorthanded in 
  the lower caverns at the moment."

Dathon finally wanders in, dusting his hands off. He peers around at the... 
  egg-painting? and pauses.

K'tyn pours himself a large mug of klah, and sips it for several moments before 
  unthawing enough to looks about the large cave. "Rock painting?" he queries. 
  "How many are there to do, hm?"

Ceria glances at the painted rocks on the table. "Has anyone done number three 
  yet?" she asks.

Kassima begins the base coat of brown on her egg as she reports, "Eleven, sir. 
  And aye, number three is taken. Those that remain are...." She glances 
  towards the mural, consulting it. "One, eight, twelve, fifteen, sixteen, 
  nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-five, twenty-six, and twenty-eight."

Makear finally dips her brush in the pot of white. With big strokes she soon 
  covers the whole thing in white and unfortunatly her fingers. SHe sets down 
  her brush and begins to blow on the 'egg' so that she can began to add the 
  detail.

Maylia waves her egg in the air in silent answer to Ceria, and grins up at 
  R'val. Testing the egg gently with a finger tip she nods to herself, and 
  applies yet a third coat of white, over the entire egg. The original blue and 
  brown are now just shadows, hints of colour, while the darker brown line 
  peeks through stronger.

Kethran watches, and then shakes his head. "Nah. I'd best leave them for the 
  Candidates to do. They've enough misery in their lives, thanks to chores, 
  that they need something pleasurable to do as well," he says, taking the 
  first bite from his plate.

Ceria sighs at the response and takes a sip of her klah. "I'm not very 
  artistically inclined," she admits. "I'd better not attempt that."

Dathon walks over, studying the rocks... "Wha - ?"

Makear looks closer at the mural and realizes it was a white-blue and not just 
  white. She frowns and tests the egg. Good its not dry yet, quickly mixing a 
  new color of white with a shadow of blue, she works it into the existing 1st 
  coat. Looking at it, she smiles to her self as you can't even tell the mix-up.

Zerra carefully paints a cream color at the narrow endof her egg, dabbling the 
  paint with a watery sponge the fade the color into the already white painted 
  wide end. She smoothes where the two colors fade with her finger now, the 
  clors now seem to just natrually converd from one tot he other, as the 
  original egg does. She holds it carfully and waits for it to dry.

K'tyn strides over to the paints and rocks and takes a look at the various 
  specimens. "I never fail to be interested in this when you do it, Kassi. Tis 
  interesting, to see the differences and the similarities to the original on 
  the copy." He smiles at Makear and Zerra, hooking a leg under a chair and 
  seating himself in one smooth motion, and takes another long sip of the warm 
  drink from the mug in his hands.

With that barest touch of yellow brushed onto her egg, Mehlani with infinitely 
  careful fingers sets it down with the others completed, to allow it to finish 
  drying. That accomplished, she creeps round the table to Kassima, to whom she 
  murmurs earnestly, "Thank you. I have to go make Father eat dinner now."

R'val watches Maylia at work.

Dathon glances up at the mural, looking down again at the rocks - eggs - 
  whatever. He quickly surmises what's up, sitting down to join the other 
  candidates. Looking around, he wonders aloud - "What's this for, anyway?"

"Chores are only miserable when you have to peel tubers," Kassi intones, 
  earning her a snort from Eyrian. Grinning, she bends her head to devote full 
  attention to her egg. With the thin first layer of brown coating it, she 
  begins to add swirls of red over the top half to emulate the rich red 
  wood-stain of the egg. "I find it rather intriguing for similar reasons 
  m'self, sir--that, and seeing how differently each person's egg or eggs turn 
  out." When Mehlani approaches, she smiles to the lass, and nods once. 
  "Thankee, Mehlani, for helping me. Clear skies t'you, and m'regards to your 
  father."

After waving to Mehlani, Eyrian pipes up with an answer for Dathon. "They're 
  for Cousin Kassi. She's got this thing about having painted eggs for every 
  clutch. I can't begin to fathom why, but then, I gave up trying to understand 
  her a long time ago."

"I still think it might be interesting if'n we could make a display of them in 
  here for a time," Kassi muses, while rolling her eyes at Eyrian. She asks of 
  Kiat, "Think Siani would object to that, sir?"

Kethran chuckles. "I think it /has/ to have something to do with wherry heads, 
  myself," he comments, with a twinkle in his eye. "Explanations of that one 
  available upon request, of course."

Makear tests the surface of the rock again and finds is dry. Picking up her 
  brush again, she cleans it in the water and then dips it in the brown and 
  then black. With a steady hand she paints on the smudge that many have 
  remarked looks like a nose on the real egg.

Impertinent scamp that he is, Eyr has a reply for that as well. "No need here, 
  sir. Cousin Kassi's already told me that she'll lop off my ears and make a 
  sandwich out of them for her fire-lizards if I ever so much as ask." When 
  Kassi blinks at him in bewilderment--this is evidently news to *her*--he 
  amends, "Though she *was* proddy at the time."

K'tyn blinks, looking at Mehlani a long moment, nearly not recognizing her. 
  "Great Star. You're near to being grown up," he says rather suddenly, a 
  wistful note to his voice. "Give your father my regards. And come and see me, 
  hm, when you can? I have missed you, little one."

Kethran chuckles, regarding Eyr in return. "Anyone else curious? Or should I 
  feel unwanted and unloved and crawl back into my office to work?" His grin 
  makes it clear that he's teasing.

Maylia tests her egg again for dryness, and begins adding the details of the 
  crack that appears to run through the length of it. Using a brush with a very 
  narrow tip, she coaxes the crack, teasing it open wider further towards the 
  wide end, shading it with greys. Finally satisfied, she gently blows on the 
  surface to dry it before setting it aside with the other completed eggs.

K'tyn offers a smile, and a murmurred, "Mehlani! I hope you'll come see me 
  soon," to the lass as she leaves. "Give your father my regards," he adds.

R'val smiles at Maylia over her shoulder, "Say, that one looks quite nice as 
  well.' He comments, peering at her latest egg.

Zerra smiels as her egg is dry and paints it with a clear paint to make it 
  shine as the origanal does, she sets the egg down to dry.

A drudge shoos the layabouts out of the Living Cavern, getting them out of her 
  way.

K'tyn looks at a painted rock-egg, admiring the details attained on it. "Tis 
  beyond my feeble skills, true."

Ceria tosses a wistful look at the painters and sits down to watch them.

Maylia scans over the remaining eggs, searching to see if number 28 had been 
  done yet.

Dathon peers - "25? Is that one taken yet?"

Kethran simply watches the Weyrleader with amusement. "Since when have your 
  skills ever been feeble, K'tyn? I think you're beiung modest again. Right, 
  Kassi?"

Kassima shakes her head at Kiat, arching a green-streaked eyebrow. "Y'did well 
  enough with Herath's clutch, sir! I recall that feline-like egg that you 
  painted; it certes looked nay worse than aught of mine. Ach, Keth, can't we 
  let that one fade into the mists of history?" Her tone is rather hopeful.
Kassima consults the mural. "Egg twenty and five is open," she finally replies.

Makear dips her brush in the black paint and begins to paint the criss-cross 
  pantern that is shown. She then trades her brush in for a much finer one. 
  Without a pause she mixes a white-yellow that she thinks will resemble the 
  'teeth'.

Dathon grins his thanks at Kassi, selecting an appropriately-sized rock and 
  beginning with a base coat of pale yellow-white.

Kethran grins at Kassima, and lifts a brow. "If we did, Kassi, the Candidates 
  would get the idea that you were perfect!" he points out.

'Lani bobs her head quietly to Kassima, blinks a bit as Eyrian waves to her, 
  and after a moment, bobs her head at him, too. She moves then towards the 
  Bowl, gives K'tyn a rather larger smile than is usual for her as she passes 
  him, and with that, is gone.

[End log.]