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:
	5/27/98

Log Cast:
	(People) Jorenan, Mehlani

	(Firelizards) Danae, Enri, Munki, Brodi

Log Intro:
	Establishing what may well turn into a family Tradition, Mehlani
has, like her father before her, Impressed a number of green firelizards
in such a conveniently timed fashion that all four of them are due to be
proddy at the same time. Certainly Mehlani has spent enough time trying to
help her father F'hlan through the effects of having an entire fair of
green firelizards all eager to mate to be intellectually aware of what is
likely to happen -- but knowing what's coming in her head isn't at all
the same thing as knowing it in her body and bones. And wouldn't you know
that she's a Candidate, too? Having a fair of proddy greens isn't exactly
the best thing to be undergoing while one is trying to prepare for Standing
at a Hatching, and so Mehlani has risked the wrath of the Headwoman by
fleeing to one of her traditional hiding places in the Weyr to wait out
the rising of her oldest green, Rianet -- and desperately hoping nobody
finds her.
	Well, almost nobody...

----------
Your location's current time: 21:15 on day 16, month 1, Turn 23, of the Tenth 
  Pass. It is a winter evening.

Jorenan strides in from the bowl.
Jorenan has arrived.
Jorenan peeks his head into the room to see who's here. He's wearing a 
  thoughtful frown and a scarf against the cold.
And all his other usual clothes!

The only person visible is Mehlani, or at least what looks like the back of 
  her. K'star certainly isn't that slender, but that's a battered brown hat, 
  so it _must_ be 'Lani. She's huddled on the floor, her arms curled tightly 
  around her knees, her head bowed forward so that her face is hidden. From 
  the set of her shoulders, the lass is extremely tense, and possibly shaking.

Jorenan comes all the way in. Somehow, he looks unsurprised. He makes sure to 
  scrape his boots along the floor enough that anyone who wasn't looking will 
  still have plenty of warning that he's arrived. He stops when he's within 
  easy reach, but not too close to be scary and squats down. "You," he says, 
  "Look bloody awful."

Mehlani's head jerks up with such force that her hat almost flies off. Her 
  face is quite pale, full of strain, giving the lie to the tiny croak in 
  which she manages to mumble, "I-I'm... alright... I'm alright..."

Jorenan sits all the way down. In the process, he ends up closer to Mehlani 
  than he was before, but angled differently so that he's sitting beside her 
  rather than in front of her. "Is that so?" he asks quietly. "Is there 
  anything I can do?" It's almost as if he's answered what she looks, rather 
  than what she said.

The girl starts to shake her head vigorously... then she pauses midway through 
  and uncertainly bobs it a time or two... and then shakes it again. Her eyes 
  are wild, distracted, and she babbles out, "I... I don't know... I'm 
  alright! Ria, she's rising, I can _see_ her, I... oh dear..." Her gaze flies 
  up to the young Baker's face, and she visibly cringes, squeaking out, "I'm 
  alright!"

Jorenan's face is a study, momentarily, in contrasting emotions. Surprise, 
  pained memory, confusion, sympathy. He says, firmly, "Focus, Mehlani. Here." 
  He pulls a shall, smooth-carved stone bowl out of his pocket. "Focus on 
  this. Concentrate on it. Maybe you can calm down and block out some of Ria's 
  projections."

"H-Holl is chasing," the girl blurts, "a-a-and Haggis and Vachon, poor Devlin, 
  oh... oh dear..." She swallows hard, then obediently rivets her gaze on the 
  bowl, staring at it as if her life depended on it.

Jorenan blinks. An image has brought itself before his eyes, and he has to 
  shake it away. "Just focus on the bowl," he says quietly. "It's cool, smooth 
  stone, and nothing's going to change that." Probably it's a mortar that he's 
  been carrying around for some reason.

Mehlani nods a tiny, shaky little nod, and stares round-eyed at the little 
  bowl. Stone. Looks smooth enough -- she hasn't touched the thing yet, 
  though, for both her hands are fidgeting at the pendant she's wearing around 
  her neck. Small stone bowl. Sitting there in Jorenan's hands. Jorenan's 
  hands... Jorenan... and she shakes her head abruptly, pressing her eyes 
  closed. Focus, girl, focus!

Jorenan continues holding the bowl. He's watching Mehlani's reactions closely, 
  and he speaks again, quietly reinforcing. "Just concentrate on the bowl. 
  Fall into it. Let it fill your sight." Of course, he's got no idea whether 
  concentration like this will help. He hopes so; he's heard maybe it might. 
  But then again, clearing the mind of random thoughts might allow someone 
  else's thoughts to come in clearer. He frowns, and then makes his face as 
  smooth as he can.

Mehlani's eyes open again, hesitantly, reluctantly. Bowl. Think about the 
  bowl. Try not to think about the jumble of sensations in your head, 
  green-glowing-hide-in-your-sight, 
  anger!-bronze-trying-to-dive-to-your-flank! She seems almost hypnotized, now.

Jorenan nods, his face relaxing into relief. Maybe he was right after all. 
  "That's right," he says quietly. "Just focus on it. Pay attention to every 
  detail. Let it fill your mind." He means the bowl.

'Lani keeps staring at the bowl, her eyes gone glazed. Her hands come to rest, 
  still clutching at her pendant, white-knuckled; then, gradually, her 
  expression begins to change. It is still strained, but there's a kind of 
  bemused dreaminess trying to shine its way into her eyes.

Jorenan continues his quiet monologue, saying, "Focus on the color, on the 
  turn of dark and light in the stone," that's right, he -is- talking about 
  the bowl, "focus on how the light casts a perfectly curved shadow." He is 
  still watching Mehlani's face, trying to gauge whether his voice is helping 
  or not.

It's very difficult to tell if Mehlani is actually paying attention, at this 
  point. A strange, lopsided smile begins curling one end of her mouth, and 
  although her gaze is still pointed at the bowl, she almost seems to be 
  staring _through_ it.

He quirks an eyebrow; Jorenan's got no idea what's headed through Mehlani's 
  mind at this point. His monologue falls quieter, but continues. "There, 
  that's good. Just keep looking. Let it relax you, let it fill your senses."

Mehlani doesn't say anything for several moments, and then, finally, she 
  dreamily breathes, "Holl got her..."

Jorenan licks his lips. He sets the bowl down quietly and studies Mehlani. 
  "You look... calmer now, anyway."

Slowly, absently, Mehlani nods her head. And just as slowly, she starts 
  slumping forward.

Jorenan reaches out and catches Mehlani by the shoulders. "Hey now," he says 
  quietly. "Easy there. Don't fall over."

Mehlani owlishly blinks at the hands that catch her, and then lifts her face 
  back up to regard the Journeyman before her. That odd lopsided smile still 
  curving her mouth -- a smile that'd probably be more at home on the face of 
  either K'star or E'rian; perhaps she's picked it up from one of them -- she 
  just stares at Jorenan raptly.

Jorenan blinks. He's a little too close to Mehlani, and a little too affected 
  by what's just happened and her look. Suddenly, he's a lot closer than he'd 
  intended to be, and a hand reaches up to stroke her cheek gently.

Mehlani just seems to... slump, then, right over against Jorenan, her hat 
  falling silently sideways off her head as she nestles it against his 
  shoulder, fitting there as if she'd been poured. Her only comment upon this 
  state of affairs is a faint baffled noise, and a murmur of, "Oh dear..."

Jorenan just breathes out in what can only be a quiet, gentle laugh. "You've 
  had a rough day." He folds his arms around her gently, snuggling her closer 
  against him.

Mehlani makes another strange noise: an oddly pleased little whimper of a 
  sound, and entirely unthinkingly, her arms slide around Jorenan's lower 
  torso, tugging him closer still. "They're all still staying away from Arki," 
  she muses dreamingly, "I think she still has to rise, but maybe Enri or 
  Brodi or Munki will catch her, mmmmrmrmmmmm... I think... I think I should 
  go lie down...." But in contradiction to her murmured words, she snuggles 
  even closer, apparently bent on molding herself into a perfect fit against 
  the Baker's frame.

He doesn't seem to mind one iota. Or at least that's the conclusion one might 
  draw from the fact that Jorenan helps with the molding wholeheartedly. His 
  voice is beyond quiet and into that strange place people's voices go when 
  their thoughts are having a hard time catching up with events. "Worry about 
  Arki later," he suggests. That one was coherent enough. A hand, the same one 
  that stroked Mehlani's cheek, starts stroking her hair.

Her close-cropped hair is a soft, spiky auburn crown along the top of her 
  head; as it's stroked, Mehlani lets out another tiny sound, somewhere 
  between a baby feline's mew and a whimper. Dazedly, she murmurs, "Should... 
  I _should_ go...."

He doesn't stop stroking her hair. In fact, Jorenan seems to like it. He says, 
  quietly, "All right." But he doesn't let go. His face, which is next to the 
  back of Mehlani's head, turns toward her so that the words are spoken into 
  the hair behind her ear.

It occurs to Mehlani that something is amiss here -- something that, at the 
  very least, would get the Headwoman very angry. The wish to avoid angering 
  the Headwoman makes her lift her head a little off Jorenan's shoulder, even 
  as his hand keeps up that motion on her hair. This winds up making the 
  lass's head tilt up and back towards his fingers, her eyes shivering shut.

Jorenan's fingers twine instinctively into Mehlani's hair, deeping the 
  sensation a little more. As she raises her head, he turns his own further 
  towards her. His other hand, around her waist, pulls her a little closer. 
  His voice is right next to her ear now. "Shh, now." Not that that makes any 
  sense, really.

The girl's started to tremble all over, and seems dizzy, though her eyes are 
  still closed. Turned seemingly entirely boneless, she follows in the 
  direction she's pulled; then, she wets her lips and whispers, 
  "Jo-Jorenan...?"

Jorenan pauses in his gentle stroking of Mehlani's hair. "Mehlani? Are you all 
  right?"

"I... I don't..." 'Lani's voice is still barely audible, and she slumps again 
  against Jorenan's shoulder, her arms still firmly in place around his waist, 
  as if fused there. She manages to finish, "I don't know...," before she 
  trails off, sounding only half-conscious.

Jorenan takes a deep breath. Then he tightens his grip into a firm hug and 
  says, "I think it's time to go to bed. For both of us." He lifts her head 
  away from his shoulder, trying to get her going. But at the same time, he 
  leans forward and brushes her cheek with his lips.

"B-bed?" the girl squeaks, the word coming out of her about half an octave 
  over her usual register. She allows her head to be lifted -- indeed, 
  Mehlani's limbs seem almost beyond her own control -- but remains 
  practically entwined around the Baker. Her breath stops as that kiss is 
  brushed along her cheek.

It's amazing how much depends on breath. You don't notice it as part of your 
  everyday experience of people and interacting with them. But yet, it means 
  everything. Jorenan's arms tighten again when Mehlani's breath stops, and 
  the light kiss becomes a nuzzle of face against face and then face against 
  neck.

Not a sound emerges from 'Lani. Solidly in the grip of whatever her fire 
  lizards are doing to spend their evening, she sways slightly, first this way 
  and then that, in response to Jorenan's attentions. Several long moments 
  pass before she seems to remember to breathe, and as she lets out a sharp 
  little gasp, she sags lightheadedly against the young man.

Jorenan pauses for a moment, his mind and body fighting with each other and 
  with themselves. Finally he takes a slow breath. The calm sort, not the 
  excited sort. And he changes his hold on Mehlani and says, "Yes, bed." It's 
  not his fault that he can't hold his voice -completely- steady. Besides, 
  it's close enough. "Your bed, in the barracks. By yourself. Come on, I'll 
  help you get there."

Oh... _right_... the Barracks. "I... I should lie down," she whispers foggily, 
  and seems at least immediately inclined to lie down by dropping her head 
  once more onto Jorenan's shoulder.

Jorenan nods. Just as well that he's lots bigger than she is. He pulls her 
  close again, but this time so that he can stand up and pull her up with him. 
  "Yes," he says quietly, "yes you should."

Indeed, Mehlani can easily be hauled to her feet, though she still seems bent 
  on pressing herself up against Jorenan's frame. "Alright," she warbles 
  dreamingly.

This is -not- an easy task for Jorenan. In fact, he gets entirely distracted 
  for a few seconds, there. Ahem. Right, you're male, nothing you can do about 
  that. Take another deep breath. There you go. After a moment's consideration 
  (and a pause for another gentle kiss), Mehlani gets swung up into Jorenan's 
  arms. "What say we not make you walk the whole way?" he says.

Mehlani issues a tiny startled squeak, but she's lifted up just as easily as 
  she'd been hauled to her feet. Instinctively, she moves her arms up to fling 
  them around Jorenan's neck for support, and then she promptly begins trying 
  to melt against him, as she murmurs, "Alright..."

Jorenan nods. "Glad you agree," he says. His voice is almost, but not quite, 
  back to its normal tones. Then he marches out of the records room and 
  towards the barracks like a man on a mission.
Jorenan slips out of the records cavern.
Jorenan has left.

You slip out of the records cavern.
Southern Bowl(#396RJL$)
Contents:
Jorenan
Obvious exits:
Living Cavern  Central Bowl  Weyrleaders' Complex  Outer Infirmary  Guest Weyr 
   Records Room  

You walk past the lintel and into the wide living cavern.
Telgar Weyr's Living Cavern(#750RJM$)
Contents:
Pierron
Obvious exits:
Lower Caverns  Kitchen  Bowl  

Pierron adjusts his apron and tugs on his moustache.

Jorenan walks in from the bowl.
Jorenan has arrived.

Pierron sniffs indifferently as the Baker apprentice enters.

Jorenan scowls at Pierron. "Don't bother me," he mutters as he marches through.
Marches through carrying Mehlani in his arms, no less.
Jorenan walks towards the inner cavern.
Jorenan has left.

You walk towards the inner cavern.
Inner Cavern(#1272RJL$)
Contents:
Jorenan
Obvious exits:
Steam Baths  INFirmary  Candidate Barracks  Corridor  Weyrfolk Quarters  
  Living Cavern  

Jorenan parts the curtain over the entrance to the Candidate Barracks and 
  steps inside.
Jorenan has left.

You part the curtain and step into the Candidate Barracks.
Candidate Barracks(#258RAHJ$)
Contents:
Jorenan
Tola
Danae
Flutterby
Harper
Candidate Supervisor Roster
Obvious exits:
Lower Caverns  

Danae peers at the pair who've entered her barracks.

Jorenan looks around for a moment, and then steps over towards what's got to 
  be Mehlani's cot. Or so it would appear from the lizards lounging on it. 
  "This the right one?" he asks the girl who's bent on clinging to him as 
  closely as is humanly possible.

Danae croons with some concern at her pet's friend. Her eyes whirling.

Indeed, an exhausted trio of male fire lizards -- Enri, Brodi, and Munki -- 
  are huddled there on the cot; there's no sign of any of 'Lani's greens, 
  probably thankfully, for this also means there's no sign of Arki. "Mrmmm?" 
  is Mehlani's intelligent reply. She doesn't lift her head off Jorenan's 
  shoulder.

Jorenan nods. Close enough for him. He stares down the one scrawny Candidate 
  between him and Mehlani's cot, and then sets her down on it gently. "Time 
  for some sleep, eh?" he says, and begins trying to unwind her arms from his 
  neck.

Enri and Brodi and Munki cheep in bemused startlement as their human is laid 
  down among them; Enri promptly tries to clamber onto her chest, and gives 
  Jorenan a pale ghost of his usual stern regard. No doubt these three little 
  fellows have been exhausted by Rianet's rising tonight. 'Lani herself only 
  murmurs in faint wordless protest, still trying to cling to Jorenan, but he 
  can easily untwine her and settle her down amongst this present fraction of 
  her fair.

Jorenan gives the 'lizards a stern, "Behave yourselves." Then he kisses 
  Mehlani on the forehead and covers her with a couple of warm blankets. 
  "Sleep well, Mehlani. And in the morning... in the morning, be at peace. You 
  don't need to hide from me." With that somewhat enigmatic (or perhaps not, 
  considering everything) comment, he stands up. The same Candidate as on the 
  way in gets a terse, "You let anyone come near her, and I'll wring your puny 
  neck," on the way out.

The girl makes one final vague noise of protest, then settles down under the 
  blankets being draped over her. Munki and Brodi cheep as if baffled -- 
  perhaps because their human is hatless for once, and perhaps they're not 
  used to seeing her bare hair. But that odd, dreaming look settles across 
  Mehlani's face again, and her head turns slightly in Jorenan's direction as 
  he steps back from her. Without much effort at all, her eyes slip shut.

Jorenan spares one last glance back at Mehlani's cot. He grins very slightly 
  when he sees that her eyes are already closed, and then slips out the door.
Jorenan heads through the entrance to the inner cavern.
Jorenan has left.

[End log.]