A Riverboat Restday

Writers: Ainsley1, Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 6th June 2007

Characters: Lihona, Linli, Jezz
Description: The three new friends find something to do on a 'restday'.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 14 of Turn 4
Notes: Mentioned: Fog, Tahna, Neke

"Nothing's different on a rest day," Lihona commented to her new friends
as they gathered at the bow of the Sungazer after their morning chores
were one. "We're still sailing up the river, just the same."

"Why shouldn't it be?" Linli asked, shading her eyes and gazing out at
the riverbank as it glided by.

"I don't know. It was at home, unless there was Threadfall. No
lessons, Rahona was home with us all day. We used to do things
together, the three of us."

"What kinds of things?" Jezz wanted to know.

"We used to go to the beach, a lot. Have picnics. Sometimes we went
places with my uncles and their dragons."

"Ooh that does sound fun! What color dragons did your uncles have?"
Jezz asked in excitement. The more she heard about dragons the more
enchanted she was.

"Dragons, again?" Linli shook her head and rolled her eyes. "That's all
you seem to think about these days."

"They have brown dragons," Lihona said before eyeing Linli. "Don't you
_like_ dragons?"

"I dunno, it's just as soon as dragons are mentioned, _everyone_ gets
excited." Linli shook her head, "I s'pose they're alright." She kicked
at an imaginary speck of dirt on the deck.

"They're wonderful," Lihona said firmly. "And they keep Pern safe."
She looked back along the riverboat.
"So, what do _you_ do on restdays."

"Same as what we do on other days - play." Linli said quietly, feeling a
little guilty once reminded of the work the dragons actually did to
protect her.

"We _could_ do some 'sploring," Jezz suggested with a twinkle in her
eye, smiling at Linli. As her cousin well, knew, Jezz's explorations
generally meant doing something that Linli's older sister, Tahna, would
not approve.

A slow smile crossed Linli's face. "Yes! Let's!" she returned to her
former brightness. "What today, Jezz?"

Lihona screwed up her nose. "What's to explore? You have lived on the
riverboat all your life. You must know everything about everywhere on it."

"We have different things to explore each trip, Lihona." Linli
explained. "Different stuff we carry up and down the river."

"Oh." Lihona hadn't given the _things_ a riverboat carried much thought.
"How do you explore it?"

"Well," Jezz started, "first we have to sneak into the cargo area, but
that's easy. Then we're all small enough to get between the different
bales, and boxes, and stuff and look around. We can even climb up
pretty high, huh Linli?"

With a grin, Linli nodded. "We can climb really high on the bales and
no one can see us when we lay low."

"Well, let's do it," Lihona said, not at all phased by the thought of
heights because she had been raised in a place that had open ledges all
over the cliffs.

With a huge grin, Jezz lead the way to the cargo area keeping a sharp
lookout for any adults. When the coast was clear she was quick to
scramble in among the bales.

"See Lihona?" Linli said as they squeezed into a hollow area behind the
stacked bales. "We have our own little nest in here, and no one can see
us."

Though the day outside was bright the space between the bales and the
wooden floor of the crew deck above them was dimly lit; shadowy and
exciting. Lihona grinned. "This is great! We could hide in here all
day and nobody would ever find us," she said with the unconscious
assumption that her father's generation of riverboat crew had never done
anything similar in their time as youngsters.

"You ..father....needs...mam..." a broken voice could be heard between
the bales.

"...know...him." Tahna's lighter voice could be heard, and Linli's ears
pricked up as she waved the other two girls to silence. "Shhhh!"

"Who is it?" Lihona whispered to Jezz, edging across the bale.

"It's Tahna and, I think maybe, Neke," Jezz answered in a whisper of her
own, trying to get a better look at Tahna's conversation partner.

"Shhhhh! I'm trying to hear!" Linli's whispered harshly. Her ears
sensitive to her sisters voice. "It's Neke." she said quickly, trying
not to miss a word that was spoken.

"I don't think you should tell him alone." Neke cautioned. "And I don't
think your mam should have asked you to."

"He's my Dar, I couldn't just let it go on. Do you think he knows
she'll never come back? I didn't think a mam would leave a child, ever.
But she has, she's left us all." Tahna's voice broke at last, and became
muffled.

Lihona grinned. "I'd be in so much trouble if Rahona knew I was
listening to other people's conversations," she murmured to Jezz, her
tone making in plain that that she wasn't in the least worried.

Though a bit concerned for Linli, and how she would take the news they
were overhearing, Jezz offered Lihona a smile and whispered, "Isn't it
fun? Mum don't like it much when I listen in, either but..." the girl
just gave a shrug and giggled softly. Her eyes turned back to her other
cousin, and she softly put a hand on her shoulder to get Linli's
attention. Linli never really spoke of her mother and Jezz didn't know
if this was going to be upsetting or not.

"Me mam's leaving?" Linli sat and looked form one girl to the other.
"She came to see Tahna the day you arrived." she looked at Lihona.
"She didn't come looking for me." She didn't know what to say or do,
their voices were so clear, Tahna and Neke must be just on the other
side of the bale.

"We'll go and talk to your Dar, and then, we have to tell Linli. Or do
you want me to do it?" Neke asked.

Tahna's reply couldn't be heard, her voice was quiet and muffled; no
more than a murmur as the pair left the baled goods and walked further
down the deck.

"I thought your mother was already gone," Lihona commented.

"She is...well she isn't here on the boat." Linli said quietly. "But I
always thought she would come back."

"Oh." Lihona tried to think of something to say. "Why did you think
that?" she asked eventually, her curiosity getting the better of her
mother's injunctions about personal questions.

Jezz looked from one cousin to the other not quite sure what to say.
She was worried about Linli, but curious as well. Her young age limited
her understanding of such matters, but she was concerned for Linli and
took her hand, giving it a squeeze, so that the other girl would know
she was there no matter what the crazy adults in their world did.

Lihona saw Jezz's gesture and wondered if she _really_ shouldn't have
asked. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want," she added in a
belated attempt at good manners.

"Mam hasn't been 'round since I was a baby." Linli said quietly, "I
always thought, that...well that she'd come back."

"She never got over yer Dar being, well, ah...different did she?" Jezz
asked, having difficulty putting into words what she had heard others
say. To her Fog had always been Fog and she saw nothing wrong with him.

"Why is he different?" Lihona asked.

"Dar had an accident." Linli shrugged, "Just after I was born, and me
mam couldn't stay." She still didn't understand it fully herself, only
what she had been able to get out of Tahna, when her sister had felt
generous enough to talk about it.

"Huh. Sounds like funny grown-ups stuff to me," Lihona commented, not
really able to make sense of the short summary.

"The grown-ups say that Fog is different now than he was before," Jezz
tried to help explain, though she really didn't understand either. "I
don't know why that would make Linli's mam leave," she gave a shrug,
"Yer right grown-ups are funny."

"'S'not funny to me, but." Linli said quietly. "Me Dar hasn't changed
at all since I was a baby." She too was puzzled about why her mother had
left, her Dar was a nice enough man, and Tahna was a good girl, so it
always seemed to her as though she was the reason her mam had left.

"Not funny like ha-ha," Lihona said. "You know, funny-odd. They do
strange things and don't do other things. Like being up here." She
rolled onto her back and put her feet up to touch the underside of the
deck above them. "You were right. There is room to explore here, and
this place is neat."

Linli lay back too, and stared at the deck above, "Yeah it is neat." she
said quietly, though for once, it didn't seem _as_ fun as it usually did.

The former Weyr child listened to the sound of the paddlewheel, a
constant during the day. "We don't have anything like this in the Weyr."

"This is one of my favorite places," Jezz agreed. "A secret place good
for thinking and dreaming. I even come by myself sometimes. I like to
pretend I could find treasure or a nest of firelizard eggs!"

"I'd like a firelizard." Linli said dreamily.

Lihona opened her mouth to tell them her mother was going to get a
firelizard egg soon, then shut it. It would be nice for her to have
something to surprise her new friends with.

Last updated on the July 18th 2007

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A Riverboat Restday