The Captain's Trial (11)

Writers: Anaria
Date Posted: 8th June 2011

Characters: Tiernan, Paraner, Hawthen
Description: Recovering after the storm
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 2, day 9 of Turn 6
Notes: Kudos go to Chelle, for her suggestions of how to survive adrift at Sea.

Over the course of the next few candlemarks, Tiernan had made efforts
to care for his ship the best he could. He pulled the two emergency
barrels of potable water, and discussed with his Quartermaster how to
ration it out for the next few days. His goal was to survive on them
for 5 days, so in case he couldn't intercept the other ship, he could
at least get in range of the Dolphin pods for assistance. They had
setup waterproof linen tarps to help collect any rainwater or dew that
they could, and add that liquid to their existing stores. And they had
dropped lines, and were catching some of the fish that were underneath
the ship. It wasn't a great existence, but it would allow them to
survive if the Dockmaster couldn't get a dragonrider to come assist
them.

Some of the spark was gone from Tiernan's eye, and his clothes were
speckled in blood. He wanted to change into something less macabre,
but the remainder of his clothing was either torn to shreds, or
completely soaked.

"He's.... been taken care of?" Paraner asked when Tiernan came back
from his visit to Galliet.

Tiernan nodded, "We had to amputate the arm. Just to the elbow for
now, we'll go in again later if that doesn't stop the infection." It
hadn't been a pleasant process, and they were running low on fellis.
He feared what would happen if more didn't come. "I just sent Squirt
back to the Dockmaster. They're sending a Weyrling with some bags of
supplies, Squirt will give him the coordinates."

"What all did you request?" Paraner asked.

"Water supplies for 20 men for 5 days, Dry rations in the same amount,
and medicinals. Specifically fellis, numbweed, and herbs to keep
infections at bay," Tiernan explained. "The Dockmaster wants us to
meet with the Dragon's Talon tomorrow, and they will get us back to
Topaz Sea Hold."

"And what of our ship? Are we to just leave her behind?" Paraner asked.

Tiernan shook his head. "They're sending a crew of ships to get her
tugged back to the shore. Fortunately, we've been drifting that way,
although not with any real speed. They hope to have her back in around
5 days. The I assume we'll meet with the Hallmasters, and they'll
decide whether or not to reassign us while the ship is in drydock."

A green dragon emerged from /between/ about the Seawing, with a small
firelizard trailing her. Squirt flew happy circles around the dragon.

Tiernan waved a greeting to the green's rider. He saw that the green
had been heavily laden with supplies for the ship. "Clear the main
deck!" Tiernan shouted, causing his crew to quickly get below. Tiernan
himself stood off to the side of the deck.

The green dragon came as close as she could get, and the Seawing shook
as her wingbeats caused waves in the water. Her rider detached the
first bag of supplies from the green's harness, and began to lower it
to the deck with a rope. The movement of dragon and ship caused the
supplies to swing wildly, and Tiernan ducked quickly to avoid being
hit. After it had settled to the ship's deck with a solid **THUD**,
Tiernan removed his knife, and cut the rope quickly, and the green's
rider pulled it back up.

This process was repeated with three more bags, which Tiernan quickly
set aside in a safe, cry corner of the ship. He then waved his thanks
to the green rider, who flew up before disappearing /between/ once
more.

"Captain," Hawthen said, once the dragonrider had left. "Are the herbs
I requested in there?"

Tiernan began sorting through the bags, and handed the medicinals to
Hawthen. "How is he?"

"Galliet's awake, he's in a lot of pain. I need to get him some more
fellis," Hawthen said. "He's... not happy about our decision to
amputate. I tried to stress that it was either the arm or his life,
but he doesn't want to understand..."

"I think what you fail to understand," Tiernan interrupted, "Is that
carpentry and ship building is his livelihood. It's the only thing he
knows, it's the only thing he wants to know. Even at best, it will
take him a while to get even somewhat functional with one arm, and
there are a lot of things he'll never be able to do again."

"Yes, but to state that one's livelihood is the only reason for
living..." Hawthen started.

"Galliet's old, Healer. He doesn't have the luxury of the young to be
able to learn other things well. His wife passed turns ago, and he's
estranged from his greenrider son. His craft is all he has," Tiernan
explained. "That said, I'll likely recommend that he be given a
position at the Hall, teaching Carpentry. It's something that he's
always wanted to do, but the Hall considered him too important out on
the water. I admit, it will be hard for me to find another Carpenter
that matches his skill. You should probably get him his fellis if he's
suffering though."

"You're right," Hawthen said, collecting the herbs from the wherhide
sacks and heading back to his patient.

Tiernan sorted through the remainder, and found that in addition to
bread and water that the Weyr had provided them with fresh fruit. He
picked up a citrine, peeled it with his belt knife and took a bite. It
looked like they were finally past the worst parts of their adventure,
and now Tiernan was free to sit back, and worry about what was to come
when he got back on land.

Last updated on the June 13th 2011

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The Captain's Trial (11)