The Kindness of Strangers
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr (NPC)
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall
Writers: Len, Paula
Date Posted: 14th April 2015
Characters: Lafael, Uegot, Nerylyn, Uelyn
Description: Lafael seeks shelter from the hurricane.
Location: Seacraft Hall
Date: month 11, day 21 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Relik, Uetia
Lafael walked back down the stairs, away from the Hallmaster and his help. He tried hard not to feel deflated. The man had said to talk to him about it later...but he had also hadn't said if there were any openings for cabin boys. What if there wasn't any? Just the thought of having to go back to the Hold empty handed like this was crushing. He had_so_hoped the man was going to say there were loads of ships leaving that needed help and to just jump right on. But life never worked that way, did it?
He walked back through the empty main street of the Hall, not daring to look about. What did it matter anyways, it was not his home. So lost in his thoughts was Lafael, he didn't even realise he was beginning to head back to the Hold and into the woods.
Uegot had been carrying loose items (mostly tools and ropes) to the stores, preparing for the storm, so that they would get blown around. He was just locking the shed's doors when he saw the boy. What was he doing outside? Pretty much everyone was safely inside, he was one of the last ones outside. Uegot was sturdy enough to take some battering from the wind. He was not going to be easily blown over. But this boy looked like tender gust could fly him away.
"What are you doing out here? Get inside!", Uegot yelled, his strong voice easily carrying over the roar of the winds.
Lafael blinked out of his depressing thoughts. He looked around him, like he just realised where he was and, more importantly, what was bearing down on all of them. Already the wind had picked up enough that a gust nearly lifted him off his feet. A crack of lighting followed swiftly by thunder broke him out of his thoughts altogether. He ran, towards the forest. Another crack of thunder stopped him in his tracks. He was going the wrong way!
Turning around, Lafael raced to the man who had shouted at him. Maybe he knew where to go.
There was loud boom of thunder and the clouds seemed to tear open, pouring their content on them. It was like someone had released a water fall. They got soaked to skin in seconds. Muttering something about idiots, Uegot ran to meet the boy and just caught him, dragging him along. He took him to his home.
Nerylyn came to look when he firmly closed the door to keep the storm outside.
"Uegot, you're here! I was worried. And you brought in a stray too," she exclaimed with relief and then looked at Lafael. "Stay there, you are dripping water," she said sternly and disappeared again.
"Yes, dear," Uegot said obediently and grinned.
Few moments later Uelyn came and brought them two towels. "Mam said to dry yourself off here and leave the clothes in the hallway. She's had the klah coming," she said and eyed Lafael with open curiosity.
"Who's he?"
"No idea, found him wandering around outside. What's your name, lad?" Uegot took a towel. He used the towel to dry his face and hair.
Lafael cringed down at the man who towered over him. Would he be beaten yet again for not following orders? "I'm L-lafael. Sir." Better to add that last bit, as everyone was higher rank than the scrawny drudge. He made no effort to undress or to dry himself.
"Where you're supposed to be?" Uegot asked, more curious than anything. The boy wasn't regular hall-staff, he knew the faces of all them.
His tone didn't sound angry. So maybe it was okay. Lafael blinked up at him and said, "The Hold, sir. I just came down this morning before I had to do my shores to see if there were any cabin boy openings on any of the ships. I kind of, sorta forgot about the hurricane coming today." Now that he was no longer terrified, Lafael was aware that he was standing in a puddle of water. The door behind him was rattling from the wind. He picked up a towel and began to dry himself.
"Land-dwellers, no weather sense," Uegot grumbled and his daughter grinned.
"Hey, I do too have weather sense!" Lafael's pride was stung awake. "I've live without a Hold during Threadfall, I know how to gage what could be happening. And I knew it was okay to keep coming here, even after I saw the storm coming. I knew I'd have enough time to make it." Were Crafters just as mean as the Holders were?
"Really? You fooled me," Uegot said with raised eyebrows.
"Good," Lafael said before thinking he might be acting cheeky around a journeyman crafter.
Uegot grinned at the show of a spirit. "I'm Uegot, wife is Nerylyn and curious girl is Uelyn. There's more of those around here somewhere."
"Hi, Lafael," Uelyn greeted cheerfully.
"The klah's ready!" Nerylyn called from the kitchen.
Uegot tossed the towel back to his daughter who made a long suffering sigh. Then he gestured towards the kitchen. "Don't keep her waiting."
Lafael was as dry as he was going to be, without a fire to sit next to. He left his wet clothes where he had been told to and wrapped up snugly in one of the biggest towels, that was more like a robe than a towel on the slender boy.The sound of klah set his mouth to watering, as he had set out without neither drink nor breakfast this morning. Politely he folded the towel he had used to dry himself and placed it on an empty stool before following Uegot into the kitchen.
Uelyn took his towel too to be taken to laundry basket, muttering something about child-labour.
In the kitchen, Nerylyn handed them both steaming cups of klah and Uegot made introductions.
"What brings you to seacraft hall?" She asked.
Lafael took his cup with a cheerful "thanks!" He blew on the hot liquid before gulping half of it down. It was the best thing he had ever tasted, he was so cold and hungry. To answer her question, he said, "I had been talking to Master Relik a while back and he said to come see if there were any cabin boy postings, so I came over this morning to see. Except I had sorta forgotten about the hurricane." But it had worked well. He was here with nice people instead of being trapped inside the Hold with any number of people that might do harm to him. Yes, he had landed on his feet and it showed in the beaming smile he gave Nerylyn.
"Interested in seacraft then?" Uegot asked while Nerylyn brought them plates filled with bread, cheese and thick slices of cold meat. Chuck of butter was brought to the table too.
Uegot didn't waste anytime but built himself a sandwich.
"Uh..." What could he say? Lafael wasn't so much interested in seacraft, but being a cabin boy seemed a good way to escape the Hold. Maybe he could just tell the truth here. "Uh..I've never really considered the seacraft, or any craft, to be honest. I'm only a drudge, I just thought being a cabin boy would be like being a drudge." As he talked, he pulled things together for a sandwich after saying his thanks yous to the lady of the house.
"Being a cabin boy isn't that much fun. In a ship's internal social structure, a cabin boy is a bottom feeder. An apprentice has things much better, since he's expected to be taught, not to made to do all the most unpleasant jobs," Uegot warned him.
"Yeah but no one offered me a chance to be an apprentice, only the cabin boy. And--really--I wouldn't mind, I've been a--as you called it--bottom feeder my whole life, I wouldn't mind it." What more could he add? Lafael hadn't thought that being a cabin boy was going to be a lazy job! "And besides, it still would be terribly exciting to see more of Pern!" Already his smile was back, just thinking of how much fun being on a ship would be. "And besides, I thought you have to have at least a bit of rank to be allowed to be an apprentice. I've no family, so how could I be one?" Even as he spoke, the very thought of being accepted into a craft lit up his face.
"It does have that benefit," Uegot replied to the comment of seeing more Pern, "And decent Captain doesn't treat the cabin boy too badly. It's pretty much like being a drudge in the hold." Which the boy seemed to be familiar with. "As for apprenticship, yes, most of the time you need to have marks for it, or relatives in seacraft. But sometimes you can earn it by working diligently as a cabin boy or deck hand," Uegot said.
Lafael nodded, his head full of what Uegot was saying. It had never occurred to him about anything other than yet another form of drudgery. Was there life beyond being forced to do what others wanted?
"Seacrafting is craft that doesn't suit everyone. Almost like being a dragonrider, you have to born for it," Uegot cautioned the boy.
"Well, it's not like I've lost anything, should I fail," Lafael mused. "My mother's brother sold me to a trader who then abandoned me at the Hold when I broke my ankle during a storm, so I don't have any ties to this place."
"Ouch, you've had it tough. Ever thought about running off to Weyr?" Uegot said with compassion.
Lafael shook his head. "It's so far away, how would I get there even if I wanted to?"
"Ask a dragonrider to take you. They don't bite..well, maybe my sister might, but only because she's pregnant and lost her weyrmate recently," Uegot replied.
Lafael's eyes went perfectly round at that. "Is your sister a dragonrider? A real dragonrider?"
"Yes, as well as brother, uncle and few cousins," Uegot replied, amused by his reaction. He was used to having dragonriders in family.
The boy's eyes threatened to fall out of his head at those words. "Wow! So you've seen a real dragon? Have you ever petted one? Do they talk to you? Sometimes I think they talk to m--" He clamped his mouth shut when he realised what he was about to say. No one, particularly a journeyman with dragonriders as family, wanted to hear that some silly little drudge like him sometimes heard voices in his head.
Voices that had gotten a lot worse since he had been left at the Hold. Voices that always were around on threadfall days. Lafael's face paled as he began to put two and two together.
"Seen, petted, ridden...and no, they don't talk to me. Suppose they have nothing to say to me," Uegot replied. He was giving Lafael a sharp look.
Lafael was aware of that look. He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to Nerylyn. "Could I help you with anything?"
As he spoke, there was a powerful gust of wind outside, which shook the house. That was followed by a clap of thunder so loud that Lafael thought for a moment that it had hit the cot.
The sound of thunder startled Nerylyn. "Faranth!"
"It's just the storm, sweetheart," Uegot reassured her calmly.
"I better check the kids. And no, you're not allowed to help" she replied to Lafael with a smile, "You're guest, so enjoy the leisure time."
Lafael smiled at her. Certainly this family was the kindest he had ever been around.
Nerylyn hurried to check her children while Uegot offered him a refill of klah.
Last updated on the May 5th 2015