Let's Be About It

Writers: Suzee, Yvonne
Date Posted: 22nd April 2016

Characters: Pierka, Alina
Description: More searching for the missing Lord
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 3 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Zathris

Pierka

Alina

News that the Lord Holder of Amber Hills Hold had gone missing in a
shipwreck went through the Weyr like wildfire. It was like something
out of a Harper tale. It certainly helped that Lord Zathris was
supposed to be rather good looking. The fact that he had a beautiful
wife with her own tragic tale wringing her hands at home, waiting for
his return, added to the romance of it. Alina couldn't help but sign
up to help with the search. With any luck she'd be the one to find
him.

Today was her day for an extra sweep. She'd been partnered with
another greenrider named Pierka who was with the Weyrleader's Wing.
Alina waited by the Starstones for Pierka to join her slightly
nervously, hoping that she'd be able to recognize the woman when she
arrived.

}:Don't worry so much. I will tell you when Liddith arrives,:{ Imarith
said soothingly as her rider paced. }:I like Liddith.:{

**I didn't even know you knew Liddith.**

}:I know all the dragons,:{ Imarith said smugly. She didn't notice her
rider rolling her eyes.

"Hi there," Pierka smiled as she exited the weyr near the stones.
Liddith arched up over the top of them and landed lightly near by. She
was already in her straps and Pierka greeted her lifemate by reaching
under her chin for a good scratch in just the right place.

She turned back to Alina and held out her hand. "Sorry I'm late. My
son didn't want to stay with his foster mother today."

"Son!?" Alina blinked, then ducked her head to hide her embarrassment.
"Sorry... I didn't mean--"

Pierka shrugged with a grin. "He was a surprise to me too." She
couldn't help her sense of humor sometimes. "But I wouldn't give him
up for anything."

"Of course not." Alina finally realized that Pierka had her hand out,
and gave it a belated shake. The other greenrider couldn't have been
any older than she was. And she had a child... greenriders were
constantly being discouraged from having children, but Pierka had
obviously ignored that. **Maybe she's from a Hold too?** "What's his
name?"

"Kazom," she smiled and turned back to Liddith. "He's almost walking.
Any day now." She mounted quickly and buckled herself in. "Z'ku gave
me an idea of where they searched yesterday so we're going to try the
next latitude of the windswept islands. Do you know where that is?"

Alina followed suit and quickly buckled herself into her riding
straps. "I'll take a visual from you, if that's all right." While
she'd been to the area as a weyrling learning the territory, she
wasn't confident enough to get there herself. "I heard that they found
absolutely nothing on the last Sweep. Hopefully you and I will be more
successful."

"I certainly hope so," Pierka nodded and gave Liddith the command to
get airborne. Soon they were in the sky and she carefully formed the
picture of where they were going. **Pass that along to Imarith**

Imarith passed the image along to Alina and then they were /between/.
They came out from the dark into brilliant sunshine and clear skies.
The sea below was a beautiful, shifting blue capped with white waves.
To their right was an island, verdant green with lush trees that
swayed in the wind. The air was redolent with salt and flowers.

If Alina had her way she'd have put the search for the missing Lord
Zathris on hold so that she could explore. There was something about
the waves and water that made her long to see something new. But
Liddith's wings were already turning to the west and they were to
follow, and she shaded her eyes with her hand as she began to scan the
water for debris and shoreline for signs of survivors.

They glided along a path different from the one Z'ku had shown her
from the prior day and as they did, she watched both the water and the
land for any evidence of wreckage. "There," she shouted and relayed to
Liddith at the same time. She spiraled down toward a beach where she
saw a part of what appeared to be the prow of a ship buried in the sand.

She plunged off her green and ran toward the wreck but there was no
evidence of any footprints in the sands nearby.

Alina followed more slowly. She frowned at the wreck, her hands on her
hips as she stared at it. "Think this is it? It looks... old." It was
covered in barnacles and the wood of the prow was bleached and
weatherworn.

The pounding in Pierka's chest eased and her shoulders slumped.
"You're right," she said and pulled out the piece of cloth they needed
to tie on it to show it had already been checked.

She looked at Alina with a wry smile. "That would have been too simple right?"

"Too bad though. Wouldn't it have been neat if we had found Lord
Zathris?" Alina's expression grew dreamy. "We'd be the saviors of
Amber Hills Hold!"

"Yeah," Pierka's eyebrows went up and her eyes widened. "Oh wouldn't
that be nice?" But after a moment of daydreaming she shook herself and
mounted back up. "We still have a bit more to search today," she
sighed. "So we should get moving."

"I suppose." Alina was a little slower returning to Imarith. The beach
was so nice, and there was something sort of romantic about the
shipwreck... but also scary and a bit sad. "Pierka... do you think
they're even still alive? A shipwreck in a hurricane..."

She couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine. The question hit
much to close to home for her comfort. "It's how my parents died," she
said softly. "But I survived." She paused looking frozen past Alina
into what she remembered of her own her past. Then she shook herself.
"Maybe the dolphineers will find them or at least where their ship
went down. We have to keep looking until someone much more senior
makes the call to stop. Right?"

"Yeah." If there was any way to take her question back and erase the
haunted look on Pierka's face, she would. Alina tried to look
confident for the other greenrider's sake. "I'm sure that they'll be
fine. And that someone will find them."

Pierka's shaky smile took on a bit of resolution and she turned her
head to hide the hint of shine in her eyes. "Let's be about it then,"
she said adjusting her seat and preparing for launch.

The search for the missing Lord had taken on a new seriousness. "We'll
follow you and Liddith," Alina said. With any luck, Lord Zathris was
still alive to be found.

Last updated on the April 29th 2016

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