A Request (1)

Writers: AL, Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 16th May 2008

Characters: Lineal, Vaheri, Menore, Mehan
Description: Lineal and Vaheri on the Sungazer are visited by Menore and Mehan from the Moonflower with a request ...
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 9, day 17 of Turn 4

Lineal was doing his duty as Captain, socialising and saying farewell to the passengers as they disembarked at the seaport. Yes, it was his duty ... yes, he liked people enough to enjoy it ... but -

He far preferred the evenings when the Sungazer pulled up alongside any piece of bank and he could pitch in and help settle the riverboat for the night. It was, he knew, the piece of riverboat life he had missed by leaving for a seacrafter apprenticeship. He had been a child aboard, and returned as the captain-elect. The time where he would have been a working crewmember had been lost - through his own choices, he admitted that - and the evenings he enjoyed the most were those when he could experience what his life would have been had he stayed.

"Always a pleasure to have you aboard, Master Peere," Lineal said as the last of the passengers paused at the top of the gangway.

"Always a pleasure to travel on the Sungazer," the master harper said with apparent sincerity, though he hurried ashore in his habitual rush.
The slow-paced journey down the Nettleweed River was not much to the busy man's taste but Lineal suspected it did the elderly harper the world of good to have a rest. Perhaps that's why it was always Peere that seemed to be sent on assignments to the seaport.

With a pleased sigh Lineal looked after the dispersing passengers.
Tonight the Sungazer would belong to the crew alone, something that only occurred at each end of their journey, and only for a day or two at a time. While nobody went crazy at the prospect, there was a certain relaxation of the strict rules of conduct that had to be observed with passengers around. Everybody was more casual. Titles were abandoned and the crew of the Sungazer was just a family on a riverboat for little space of time.

"There's stew and fresh bread waiting in the galley and all of the passengers are properly in place," Vaheri said as she approached him.
"You've worked long enough for now, so sit down and rest for a bit."

"Properly in place?" Lineal laughed. "You mean they're _ashore_, and it's just crew tonight -" He hesitated as he was turning away, his thoughts taken up with sitting down to the meal Vaheri was promising, but his eyes catching sight of two figures heading down the wharf. The Sungazer was the last riverboat tied up and the only destination for the pair. "Are we expecting passengers onboard tonight?"

She shook her head. "That young couple, the ones returning from visiting her parents and so eager to have time alone, were speaking of staying onboard, but I convinced them they would find more privacy ashore." She peered intently toward the two. "They haven't changed their minds, have they?"

Menore gazed up at the Sungazer and heaved a silent sigh. She would have to live without sailing over the river for the entire time that the Moonflower was docked and undergoing its overhaul. The thought wasn't a pleasant one.

The young woman let her gaze run over the boat that was docked at the wharf. Of course, essentially, the riverboats were the same, a broad in beam, square in make with low freeboard and high topsides, but Menore would argue that every riverboat was different. Each boat had it's own way of handling the river, it's own quirks, it's own personality. She would miss riding the Moonflower and already looked forward to when she could return with her to the river.

Lineal nudged the headwoman, indicating with a nod that she should look along the wharf.

"No, that's not them." Vaheri frowned. "But they're definitely headed in this direction."

Mehan eyed the Sungazer in the limited light. With her schedule being only a day behind the Moonflower's they only ever saw her at either end of the journey; at the seaport or at Emerald Falls. Still, the river folk were gossips always and he knew enough the Sungazer to be reassured that the two groups of crew could work together. He caught sight of two people on the deck near the gangway and raised a hand in greeting.
Surely the tall, slim man was the new captain? Jesten's seacrafter son?

"They look familiar. . ." The Sungazer's Headwoman's voice trailed off as she tried to place the two, still too far for her to see clearly in the dimming light.

"Moonflower Captain," Lineal said suddenly as he recognised the other man's walk. "Mehan." He turned back to the gangway and walked halfway down it to welcome the other riverboat man. "Come aboard!" he called.

"Well, at least they aren't sending their firelizards flaming at us and running us off." Menore quipped as she let her hand drop to her side.
"That's a good sign."

"That's right, they have that little gold, don't they?" Mehan hung back at the foot of the gangway and indicated that Menore should precede him.

Vaheri started forward but halted at the top of the gangway, her heart racing. Her great-granddaughter lived aboard the Moonflower with her mother. Surely nothing had happened to the child?

Last updated on the May 18th 2008

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A Request (1)