Snow
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 2nd September 2007
Characters: Mariss
Description: Snow
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 5, day 11 of Turn 4
The sky was an iron grey and Pern held its breath, waiting. Mariss slung her coat around her shoulders and shoved her hands deep into her pockets. Her breath puffed slightly if she looked at it cross-eyed, and the fallen vegetation beneath her feet rustled dryly.
She was supposed to be in the kitchens, helping to turn berries into preserves. It was the first time in... she couldn't remember ever skipping out on work before. But Mariss just couldn't stand to be inside any longer, or the sticky-sweet smell of jam and the homey sense of community in the kitchens, and had fled the Hold to hide under an iron grey sky. Faking sick was easy when you never took time off.
It was autumn; what leaves that were left on the trees were yellow and red, and the grains and stubble in the field were golden. She took a path that wandered away from the river and into the farmlands and forests, relishing the quiet and the scent of the freshly harvested fields. Most of the hay had already been baled - thank goodness. Winter was testing its grip on the land with harsh frosts and the occasional snowfall that would melt come morning. The hay was piled safely inside barns to keep the damp out. Crisp yellow bales of straw still dotted some fields, though, and Mariss debated climbing up on them the way she had as a child, but reluctantly discarded it.
She wasn't a child anymore - shells, if things hadn't gone awry, she'd be a married woman. What was Valand doing now? Did he ever think of her?
Mariss gave into temptation and clambered up onto a stone fence, hiking her skirts up around her knees to do so. She grinned into the wind and walked along the southern perimeter of the shorn field of straw. Nobody was in sight, so who cared if she wasn't acting proper?
Things had changed so much. Only seven months had passed since Amethyst Cliff Hold had come crumbling down, taking with it her place and the half-realized dreams she'd had. She missed Vivvi, the old Headwoman, with an ache that wouldn't go away - Vivvi had practically been an aunt. She missed being able to do as she pleased without facing frowns, and she missed knowing everyone in the Hold. Her father was trying, but Amber Hills wasn't a home. To either of them.
**I just don't know what else we ought to do...**
She sighed, then sat down on the top of the fence and let her legs swing. Her heels beat against the grey stone and probably marked up the backs of her boots. Nothing a little polish wouldn't fix. Before her, the land undulated in rolling hills covered in shorn spikes and waving crops, intersected here and there by stone lines and red leaved trees planted as windbreaks. Amber Hills was a beautiful place, and to seeing it in the fall gave truth to its name.
The wind calmed and held its icy breath. The skies relented, and the first snowflake of the month idly danced down from the sky. Mariss tipped her head back and closed her eyes as it began to snow.
Last updated on the September 8th 2007