The Dragonriders of PernŽ is a trademark, Registered U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, of Anne McCaffrey. This is a recorded session, generated by Harper's Tale MOO on Sunday, January 3rd, 1999, for the benefit of members unable to attend. Logged by Pyrene.
Rescuing a Brat
[Pyrene never actually killed a brat, but on three separate occasions in her nannying career, she nearly had one die on her. Here's the story of the first near-casualty]
Neola nods quietly, smiling slightly as she thinks about that, "Swimming? Ooh.. Haven't done that in a long time.. Sounds like fun!"
Pyrene beams, oh she's getting good at this nanny thing. "Ok, follow me!" she chirps, somewhat cheered by the prospect of carrying out her duties in a more relaxing way.
Beach
Ancient dunes have been flattened by the endless parade of people and dragons that tramp northwest across the bowl, leaving a mere skiff of sand here along lake's beaten edge. Footprints litter the curve of beach, some left turns ago and caught frozen in the heavy clay earth near the water's edge. As the sun sets, shadows invade, creeping like fingers across the gently sloping ground and darkening the distant ledges on the far side of the lake.
To the north, dust rises from the redolent pens while the flattened disc of the main bowl is just a step to the northwest.
It is a spring late night.
On the perch are Zhaneel and Baby.
Bronze Rennth and brown Zenzorath are here.
You see Question Deck here.
Obvious exits:
Stables Feeding Pens Central Bowl Lake
Neola scampers in from the Central Bowl.
Pyrene strips off outer garments, shivering. Her firelizards are less wary, hurtling towards the water in delight.
You release Gunwalloe, who launches into the air.
You brush off Poldhu, who reluctantly abandons your knot for the air.
Poldhu darts to the Lake.
Neola chuckles lightly and undresses without much fuss, after all its a swim right? Nothing to worry about.. Just look forward too..
Pyrene takes a deep breath and splashes out into the lake, shuddering.
You go to the Lake.
Lake
An irregularly shaped lake - like a great murky teardrop - curves along the southeast corner of the bowl; the clay bank falls off sharply at the shoreline to form a natural bench just ideal for sitting and dabbling one's feet into the calcium-rich waters. The lake is not terribly deep, but it rarely warms up to a comfortable temperature, even in the height of summer. The southern shore is far more swampy: a muskeg estuary that is home to a multitude of avians and insects. The boggy, mossy ground there makes for treacherous footing, but provides a variety of marsh plants invaluable to the healing profession.
Above the lake, a series of ledges climb the volcanic wall to overlook the chill waters, and far above those, the star stones themselves perch on the rim of the volcano.
It is a spring late night.
On the perch is Poldhu.
Green Siulth is here.
Obvious exits:
Lakeside Lakesky
Neola scampers in from the Beach.
Poldhu swims up to Neola burbling joyfully at being able to swim, Wal rolls about in the shallows contented.
Pyrene shivers as she swims, trying to get warm by exertion if nothing else, "Keep moving else you'll freeze..." she calls to Neola.
Neola quickly swims around, the cold not really seeming to bother her in the least as she slips under the surface to reappear silently elsewhere in the lake.. Hmm.. Uh oh.. She just discovered a new talent, the ability to swim almost silently under the water and then with the inky darkness all around, heh heh heh.. This could be fun! At least in her view..
Pyrene gets a little more comfortable and rolls onto her back to stare at the sky, trying to persuade Pol that he /doesn't/ want to climb onto her stomach and use her as a boat. Dissatisfied, the little blue goes in search of the little one who the nanny has already forgotten.
Neola silently slips down under the water again to practice her new found talent and not even noticing the little blue as she practices.. Yes, this is fun! Heh heh heh.. And all the things she could do with this.. Scare swimmers and everything..
Pyrene stretches lazily, looking idly around her... wait a second! Wasn't she meant to be looking after somebody? She starts treading water and peering into the darkness, "Neola?" Drowning new weyrbrats is /not/ a good idea. Pol chirps, picking up on Pyrene's thoughts and dives under the water to search for the missing Neola.
Neola suddenly dives down, trying to see just how far down before needing to go up for air.. She does this a couple times, each time going further and further down until she almost reaches bottom, or what she thinks is bottom as she can only feel a bit of the under water plants with her feet.. But being the daredevil she is she goes down once more, farther then all of the times before and upon turning around under the water manages to get a foot tangled in the leafy vegetation!
Gunwalloe arrows in from the Beach.
Poldhu finds Neola and in his true dependable style panicks. Fortunately both Pyrene and Wal guess what those panicked images mean and dive under the water in turn, Wal reaching Neola in moments and Pyrene having to resurface presently having gone down in the wrong spot.
Gunwalloe swims slightly inefectually around Neola, unable to understand the problem, fortunately with the thoughts of two lizards guiding her, Pyrene makes it to the girl's side on her second dive although considerably hampered by her inability to see.
Neola just reaches out blindly, reaching for anything solid she can get her hands on, the first being Pyrene luckily as she grabs on for dear life, franticly kicking the one leg that seems to be intangled but only manages to loosen it slightly not give totally..
Gunwalloe tugs at Neola's hair getting Pol to help him, this being the only way lizard minds can think of to help. Pyrene having swum with kids in difficulties before (sometimes it does help to come from a seahold) gently pries Neola's fingers from her, kicking an ankle into the girls hands instead, while she investigates finding the strand of weed and tugging it free.
Rowann walks in from the Beach.
Rowann waves to Pyrene and the mudslinger "Hi"
Rowann look around to make sure no mud is being thrown this time.
Neola suddenly kicks the bit of vegetation off and heads for the surface as quickly as possible, gasping as fresh air suddenly blasts into oxygen starved lungs.. Whew! Close one.. Hmm.. Another one coming? Hmm.. Fun!
Rowann tests the waters a bit, a little cold, but not bad really.
Pyrene comes back to the surface and gasps for breath, scowling at Neola who should have learned a valuable lesson from this. "Don't you dare try getting to the bottom again! It's far too deep!" And she dreads tp think what will happen to her if she does manage to drown a brat. Rowann is noticed and waved to weakly.
