The World of Pern(tm) is copyright to Anne McCaffrey (c) l967.
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:
	6/3/98

Log Cast:
	(People) Aurian, Mehlani

	(Firelizards) Mehlani's fair

Log Intro:
	The appointed day is drawing ever nearer -- and the various Candidates
of Telgar Weyr are endeavoring to deal with the impending Hatching in the
ways best suited to them all. In the case of Mehlani, ever since her 
childhood, dealing with stress has meant one of a few things: communing
with Records, communing with beasts, or making music... and sometimes more
than one of these at once. Fortunately for Mehlani, she is not unknown to
Leilanth, and so she can get away with quietly lurking in the galleries
overlooking the Hatching Grounds while she plays her pipes to no other
audience but the distant sleeping dragon and her firelizards.
	The Galleries, though, are not her exclusive retreat, and a small
handful of her fellow Candidates know to find her there. Like her friend
Aurian...

----------
Your location's current time: 1:47 on day 16, month 2, Turn 23, of the Tenth 
  Pass. It is a winter night.

Aurian walks in from outside the room.
Aurian has arrived.
Aurian hops up a few steps into the galleries. She sighs at the warmth, 
  "Faranth, it can feel good in here."

There's.... music, in the deserted galleries, tonight. Mehlani is sitting 
  there with a set of pipes in her hand, playing them softly, though at the 
  sound of Aurian's voice she abruptly cuts off, glancing up and over her 
  shoulder. Five of her fire lizards are on hand, eyes whirling dimly in the 
  darkness.

There is a soft smile on Aurian's face at the girl, "Continue 'Lani, you need 
  not worry about my attempts at music," she runs her fingers over a tiny 
  brown firelizard, "Just play."

"I... I'm sorry, I... haven't played for anyone in a while," Mehlani murmurs, 
  smiling a little. The fire lizards ranged around her let out a few soft 
  croonings, perhaps in greeting to Aurian.

Aurian continues to smile, "You are quite good 'Lani, please?" She looks at 
  her friend whistfully.

Mehlani is probably blushing, though in the darkened gallery, it's a bit hard 
  to tell. She bobs her behatted head once, and lifts up the pipes to her 
  mouth again; they're a rare metal, gleaming faintly like Holl's hide, the 
  tone clear and sweet. And as she begins to play again, her fire lizards, or 
  at least some of them, let out soft low pipings. Some of them are even in 
  tune. The melody is a simple one, sweet, soft, and plaintive.

Contentment seems to overtake Aurian's face. She leans her head against the 
  back of her seat, just letting the sounds wash over her.

And Mehlani plays for long minutes, the sound of the pipes and the occasional 
  peeps out of her fair the only sound, save perhaps for Leilanth's distant 
  shiftings down on the Sands. Only when 'Lani draws the little song to a 
  close and lowers the pipes does she break her own mood by murmuring, "I 
  don't think Leilanth seems to mind...."

A low chuckle comes from Aurian's direction, "Well you know what they say 
  about music," she tilts her head as she speaks, "that it sooths the brooding 
  queen."

Mehlani giggles a little, very softly.

Aurian grins in the shadowy gallery, "How long have you played?"

"Off and on... since I was small... Father taught me," Mehlani murmurs in 
  reply, stroking the pipes. Holl croons at her.
Mehlani adds, glancing over at Aurian, "Father gave me the pipes... when I 
  came to Telgar."

"I haven't seen many metal pipes, only a few of the masters at Harper would 
  have them," Aurian smiles, "Your father was a good teacher."

Mehlani smiles a little, nibbling her lip. She bobs her head at the rarity of 
  metal pipes, in sage agreement. "Thank you," she murmurs. A beat, and then, 
  "I miss him...!"

Aurian sighs, "I haven't seen my family for ages, I saw one of my half-sisters 
  at the Boll gather." She gives a deeper sigh, "Is your father coming for the 
  hatching?"
Aurian gives a pointed look at the eggs, to see if any have suddenly started 
  to rock while she was sitting here. Still nothing.

Mehlani smiles, still mostly looking down at her pipes, or perhaps the fire 
  lizards around her. "He has said he would... and the dragons here that came 
  from Benden know Tzornth..."

"I'm sure he must miss you as well," Aurian rakes her hands through her hair.

Mehlani runs her fingers along the pipes. "They can bespeak him quickly..." 
  And she smils again, looking nervous.

Aurian nods, "It won't take him longer than a hop between to get here." She 
  glances at her friend, "You alright 'Lani?"

Mehlani doesn't answer, not immediately. Finally, she confesses huskily, 
  "I'm... nervous!" This prompts trills out of both Holl and Rianet, and green 
  Rianet flutters on her perch on 'Lani's shoulder.

"You want to know something," Aurian clears her throat, "I'm a wee bit, well 
  maybe not a wee bit, I am nervous too. Terribly nervous."

Mehlani bobs her head, several times. "I'm... I'm about Father's age, when he 
  Impressed Tzornth... and he _so_ wanted Fahloran to Impress, he, he didn't 
  say so, but I could tell...!"

Aurian nods slowly, "No one in my family is a rider, though I think one of my 
  half-sisters had a mother who was," She shrugs, "It would be something 
  different, well hmm it was different for me to be a healer and not a miner."

Mehlani nods gravely. "Yes...."

"Things will work out, they always do.." Aurian grins at the other Candidate 
  with a little shrug.

"I just want to know... one way or the other, you know?" Mehlani says softly. 
  She restlessly shifts in her seat, making Rianet flutter again on her 
  shoulder. "I really miss... how things were before I got Searched."

The former healer leans over and places her hand on the girl's back, "Me too. 
  But I miss how things were before the first time I was Searched." Aurian 
  sighs, "But that was a long while. But your right within a sevenday we 
  should know, one way or the other."

Rianet coos softly and flutters her silver-touched wings again, and Mehlani 
  smiles earnestly. "Yes..." She trails off, and makes a tiny, embarrassed 
  little noise that might be a giggle.

Another chuckle can be heard from Aurian and she leans back against her seat, 
  slouching into her jacket

Mehlani looks left, then right, and then murmurs sheepishly, "I think Duskfire 
  Wing still wants me to Impress a green."

Aurian laughs delightedly, she does however manage to soften it as she hears a 
  faint rumble from the gold on the sands, "I'm sure they do."

'Lani nibbles at her lower lip again, making an expression somewhere between 
  smile and grin; evidently pleased by this, Rianet and Holl both croon.

There is a contented smile on Aurian's face. She is comfortable, warm for 
  once, and enjoying herself.

"Aurian," begins Mehlani into the silence, then, "have you ever... had a 
  boy... like you?"

"A couple times 'Lani," Aurian pauses for a moment," Why?"

"I... have you... ever had... more than one boy like you at once?" Mehlani 
  blurts out.

Aurian leans her head back and hmmms, "Once."

This seems to catch Mehlani's interest. She lifts her head a little, bringing 
  her eyes into better view under her hat brim. "What did you do?" she asks 
  softly.

"I couldn't do anything," Aurian gives a soft annoyed snort, "Healers aren't 
  allowed any sort of relationship untill they are Journeymen."

Mehlani crinkles her nose, and murmurs, "I've never been in a Craft... but 
  Weyrlings aren't supposed to have... relationships, either. Father says it's 
  not good to confuse your dragon until he or she is grown up..."

Aurian tilts her head, "That's what I've heard." She grins a touch, "Well it 
  wouldn't be that hard for me to adapt too."

Mehlani considers, for a time, before she murmurs, "But it doesn't make much 
  sense to me, still...." And she looks off across the gallery, her expression 
  distant, dreamy. "I mean... Tradition or no, sometimes... people have 
  feelings...."

Aurian smiles softly, "True they do." She gives an idle tug to one of her 
  curls.

"And... well..." Where did Mehlani get this rare burst of talkativeness? "Even 
  if you are a Weyrling, or an Apprentice, and... boys... like you... 
  sometimes you might like them back, and then what do you do...?"

"Well there's always flirting," Aurian gets a rather wicked grin on her face.

Mehlani turns rather pink, pink enough that it's obvious even in the darkness. 
  "I don't think," she murmurs, "that I'd be very good at _that_!"

The other candidate speaks with startled amazement, "Why do you say that 
  'Lani, there are different styles of flirting, and you do blush in a rather 
  fetching manner," Aurian grins through her curls.

Mehlani blinks. Three or four times. "That's because I get embarrassed a lot," 
  she murmurs tinily, sounding rather baffled. Multiple kinds of flirting?

Aurian claps her hands together lightly, "Alright listen," She pauses a moment 
  and rests her chin on the tips of her fingers, "There are some girls that 
  giggle and flutter their eyelashes." She mimics this behavior doing a rather 
  adequate imitation of some of the lower cavern girls.

"Girls do that to Father all the time," Mehlani agrees gravely. "And E'rian."

"Just so," Aurian nods,"Then there are some girls that speak softly," Her 
  voice drops as she speaks, "And gaze downward in a shy fashion, they smile 
  just a little, and maybe play with their hair." Aurian continues in the 
  impression, "And they blush and say things in an almost too modest fashion."

Aurian chuckles, "When you know they have never been shy a moment in their 
  lives."

Mehlani peers at Aurian, and if she recognizes some of her own mannerisms in 
  that description, there's no immediate sign of it, as she's still wearing 
  that deeply thoughtful expression she's had on since this conversation 
  started. "Oh," she murmurs.

Clearing her throught a bit, Aurian continues,"And then there is the kind that 
  ambush, they set traps is the best way to describe it," She rakes her 
  fingers through her hair, "They drop something or accidently stumble, so 
  they can catch attention of the person they want."

'Lani's head tilts. "And sometimes people say really nice things," she offers.

Aurian nods in agreement, "That to, but sometimes there is more in the way 
  they say them than in what they say."
Aurian says "Or even what they do as they say them"

Mehlani's delicate little face crinkles up in thought. She continues to fidget 
  with the pipes held in her hands, as she murmurs, "I told... Kes he was very 
  handsome, but Rianet was proddy at the time, so I don't think that counted 
  as flirting...!"

Aurian chuckles softly, "Probably not, but have you ever complimented him on 
  something he was wearing, and then..." She thinks for a moment, "Brush your 
  hand against the complimented item?"

'Lani moves a hand off the pipes to scritch Rianet as the little green bumps 
  her head against her human's cheek. She seems to muse, and then she shakes 
  her head, ducking it a little.

"Well that is another way of flirting, any number of them innocent an' such." 
  Aurian smiles as she says this.

"You mean, just... if I liked his shirt, just..." Mehlani can't finish the 
  sentence. She trails off, her last syllable drowned out by Ria's coo, and is 
  probably now blushing furiously, though it's hard to tell.

Aurian chuckles, "Well he could interpret it that way."

Mehlani blows out a breath, and then scrubs her hand across her eyes. "I have 
  to _stop_ this," she mumbles plaintively. "There's going to be a _Hatching_ 
  soon, and I... I..."

Aurian tilts her head with a great deal of concern, "Stop what?"

"Thinking a-about... Kes so much," 'Lani mumbles. Holl puts in a firm CROON, 
  apparently recognizing the nickname, and approving of it. "I-I mean... it's 
  as you and Ro said... I..." And she rises slowly, continuing on, "I 
  shouldn't be worrying about the boys, right? With the Hatching coming..."

"I'm afraid that you need to talk to Kes, before the hatching," Aurian takes a 
  breath, "Because you will always worry about them, just like I or any of the 
  others would."

"I can't!" Mehlani immediately squeaks, making Rianet squeak, too.

Aurian clears her throat, "Then you have to wait till after the hatching, or 
  until after you graduate from weyrling class, best to do it now."

"But... do... do what?" Mehlani blurts, unconsciously lifting a hand to the 
  green on her shoulder. Holl flutters around nearby, putting in another 
  warble or two.

"Talk to him of course," Aurian looks at her friend, the worry evident.

Mehlani wrings her hands, not exactly easy, with the pipes still clutched in 
  her fingers. "I can't tell hi--" Then she abruptly cuts herself off, and 
  she's silent for several moments. In a much smaller voice, then, she 
  murmurs, "K'star knows I... like him... if that's... what you think I should 
  say...?"

Aurian shakes her head, her curls tumbling, "I just think that you need to 
  talk to each other. Plain and simple."

It's rather apparent that talking to the idea of the brown rider in question 
  is much longed for by the girl in the hat; Mehlani's face softens, despite 
  her torn expression. "If... if I can," she murmurs at last, trying to sound 
  a little braver.

"You can do it, you can talk," Aurian sounding like a vaguely annoyed, yet 
  still amused older sister, "Just send one of your lovelies with a note," She 
  gestures at the various member's of 'Lani's fair, "And I will bet that he 
  will come running."

"If I'm not in the middle of chores," Mehlani points out... but there's a 
  suspicious little note of hope lurking somewhere in there.

Aurian waggles a finger at her friend, "You are always one of the first ones 
  done, becuase you waste no time dillydallying around." She grins.

Mehlani giggles a little, studies her boots, then promises, "I'll... see... if 
  I can..." Then she looks up again and adds, "We'd better get back... it's 
  late!"

Aurian gasps as she relizes that too, "Oh Shards!"

Mehlani bobs her head, rapidly, making Rianet wing up into the air as she 
  grabs at her hat. "Come on... let's go... shoo, shoo, all of you..." This, 
  as she waves her pipes at the 'lizards. They start hopping *between*. And 
  Mehlani murmurs anxiously, "I won't talk to _anybody_ if they catch us out 
  past curfew... come on...!"

As Aurian stands suddenly, four of her firelizards release a rather loud 
  creel. She snatches her hand over the maw of her little brown and tilts her 
  head towards the door.

[End log.]