Lyranel Strikes Again!

Writers: Anaria, Len
Date Posted: 3rd June 2011

Characters: Lyranel, Dalina
Description: Lyranel has an accident.... and Dalina is the victim.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 2, day 6 of Turn 6

Dalina ruffled through the linen, making sure everything was folded
just right and in its place. After 10 years' service to her Lord, she
knew just how everything should be, and in what place. And now with
Lady Benani with child, everything had to be just right.

Lyranel had at least 12 other things on her mind as she walked through
the corridors in search of new linens. Ailnim had been ill for the
past few days, and had thrown up right on the Lord and Lady's bed.
Fortunately, Benani had been out when it happened, and Lyranel hoped
that she could get everything cleaned up before either returned to
their chambers.

She carried the dirty linens along with her, held at arm's length to
avoid getting the mess on her. Her face was a mask of disgust as she
forced her own stomach to behave itself. Turning around the final
corner to the area where the family linens were held, she walked into
Dalina with force, knocking the other girl onto the ground in a mess
of limbs.... and dirty linens.

"Ugh! You clumbsy ouf!" Dalina exclaimed before she looked down at her
own person...to see she was now covered in child sick. Her scream
could have woken the watch wher.

Lyranel jumped back quickly, clamping her hands over her ears at the
other woman's shriek. "I... I'm so sorry, how terribly clumsy of me,"
she said, before her words were drowned out by Ailnim's wailing in the
other room. Lyranel waved her hands about, unsure whether to
prioritize checking on Ailnim, fixing the Lord and Lady's bed, or
helping the drudge clean herself off.

The girl saw her indecision and glared. "If you dare go and leave me
like this..." She felt like taking her dress off and rubbing the
silly girl's face in it.

"Well, I can't leave the child by himself for very long!" Lyranel
hissed back. "What would you have me do?"

"You leave that child alone! He's safer in there by himself than with
you hovering over him!" The woman looked at her clothes and tried not
to throw up. "Get me clean. Now."

Lyranel felt the urge to slap the fickle woman for insinuating that
she wasn't able to guard him, and instead quickly grabbed a rag,
trying to blot up the worst of the vomit that had gotten on Dalina.
Scowling at her lack of success, she sighed. "Here, let me go run and
get you something clean to wear."

"Don't be all day about it!" The woman's voice was taking on a shrill
edge as she realized she was stuck with the girl for a bit.

Lyranel quickly headed to the main laundry area for the Hold, and
grabbed a dress and underthings from one of the clean piles. She held
it up to herself, gauging that the drudge was about her size, and
decided that it would probably fit well. She hurried back to the
family area of the Hold, and gestured to one of the bathing rooms.
"Here, take this, duck in there a second and get yourself changed,"
she instructed.

The girl grabbed the dress and ran in the room. She had chores to do
and was painfully aware that she was late. Feeling sick and annoyed,
she cleaned herself off as best she could and got into the dress. She
only hoped that idiot girl would be in the same place when she came
out of the room.

Lyranel added the dirty clothes to the bedding, and rushed both back
down to the laundry area. She gave instructions to the drudge there to
bring it all up to the family area as soon as it was cleaned, and then
hurried back to check on the drudge. She hoped that Ailnim would still
be alright in her absense.

Dalina looked up and motioned for the girl to be quiet. After Lyranel
had rushed off, she she had gone in and comforted the baby, rocking
him back to sleep. "He's just gone," she whispered to the other girl
and moved the blanket so she could see his sleeping face.

Lyranel exhaled slowly. "Thank Faranth. He's been ill for days now,
the herbs hat the healer gave him don't seem to help any. I told the
drudges in the laundry to bring your clothes back up here once they
have been properly cleaned."

"He'll be fine. Look at his nose...see the snot is running clear.
That means he's on the mend." She looked from the baby to the girl
and smiled. "If you want, I'll stay and look after him awhile. I
don't mind."

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I've kept your from your day enough
already, I couldn't impose on you any further," Lyranel said.
"Besides, he'll likely be asleep for the next candlemark."

"True...give one of us a chance to catch our breath, looking after
him." She smiled at the other girl, feeling relaxed now that the
danger of baby sick being spilled over her was gone.

Lyranel nodded, "Aye, life at the cothold was nowhere near as busy as
life taking care of him, and I had 6 men to mind back then!"

"You're from a cot? I've been here my whole life...I would have loved
to see the rest of Pern, or at least more than this small bit." The
girl's face took on a dreamy look as she thought about having
adventures beyond what any drudge should.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be. They marry you off to despicable
men, expect you to perform his every whim, and let's not even get
started on the disgusting "marital duties" that they want from you!"
In truth, Lyranel had never had sex with his husband due to his age
and poor health. But still, that hadn't stopped him from touching her
in all manner of horrible ways.

"No, at least being a drudge means that no one's really interested in
what happens to you, just so long as you can work." The girl shrugged
her shoulders and gave Lyranel a sad smile. "Being a woman's not so
great, is it? I would have loved to have worked with runner beasts!
They're so beautiful..."

"I cared for some at the cothold... mostly mucking stalls and the
like. I wasn't permitted to ride them. That's not ladylike, or so my
husband said," Lyranel said. "It doesn't really bother me much
anymore, things are much better here. I don't even care much that I
can't do what I want."

"Give it a turn or two..." Dalina muttered, still thinking of runner
beasts. "I always wanted to be able to ride."

"Have you considered going to the Weyr? You must be around my age,
certainly they'd allow you to stay if you were to agree to work,
right?" Lyranel said.

"I'd love too, but..." Did she really think a mere drudge could just
go off to the Weyr? It would be wonderful though...

"It's hard to leave a life that you know and to go off into the
unknown. I don't think that I would be here if it wasn't for a lovely
greenrider who agreed to take me away. I suppose not everyone gets
that lucky..." Lyranel trailed off, suddenly feeling bad for
suggesting it. She was incredibly lucky not to be rotting away at the
cothold, or still a talentless drudge at the Hold.

"You've been on dragonback?" Dalina looked completely awed by that.
"What was it like?"

Lyranel's eyes unfocused as she thought about it. "It was terribly
frightening at first. I've never been so high in my life, not even
when we'd visit the cliffs near the ocean as a child. But it was
amazing as well, everything was so tiny, our 6 room cothold was barely
the size of my fingernail! And then there was /between/ - I thought
we'd die. I couldn't breathe, it was freezing, and I couldn't see
anything at all. I couldn't feel anything either, not myself, not even
the dragon beneath me! But then when I saw the Hold.... that was
amazing. Moreso than anything I've ever seen before in my life!"

"Ah, you're_so_lucky!"

Last updated on the June 10th 2011

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Lyranel Strikes Again!