All Eyes Are On Us

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 10th November 2007

Characters: J'nus, Kapera
Description: J'nus takes Kapera to the Gather
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 6, day 7 of Turn 4

Kapera

J'nus sighed and glanced up out of the tent's fringe at the sun.
Around him the Gather had warmed up its voice and was now shouting in a cacophany of merchants' patter, barking canines, laughter and shouts. A juggler had set up nearby and was balancing a plate on one fingertip while three redfruit circled the air above his other hand.
Brightly painted canvas tents had sprung up like funguses overnight to display canned fruits and late vegitables, pottery, gleaming fish, scarves from up the coast and carved bone and brass from down it. The klah in his earthenware mug had cooled and chilled his hands, and still Kapera was speaking with the Lord of Opal Cove.

**Stop being silly. It's only been a candlemark and she's Weyrwoman,** he told himself, then supressed another sigh. It was irritating how often he was left waiting for women. **Ah well. I'll give her another few minutes and if she doesn't show up, she can have Riyanth bespeak Kopth to find me.**

The woman in question was winding her way through the stalls, looking for where she knew J'nus was. She'd gotten turned around twice before she found him. "Hello! I'm sorry I'm late." she apologized.

J'nus jumped in surprise, then smiled. "I thought you'd given up on me!"

"I thought you would have given up on me!" she said with a laugh.
"He's a nice man. Meetings do take so long. I'm glad to be done."

There was a shuffle of feet and a young girl cleared her throat and held out an earthenware mug filled to the brim with steaming klah.
"For the Weyrwoman? Complements of my father?"

"Thank you." Kapera said, accepting it. She wondered at the treatment. She could easily get used to that.

"Mind if she takes the mug with her, young lady?" J'nus asked.
"She'll bring it back."

"'Course not!" The girl smiled, revealing a gap between her two front teeth. "Just make sure you say where you got that if anybody asks.
Da's got the best klah and bubblies!"

"Duely noted," the bronzerider said gravely. He stretched, handed the girl his nearly empty mug, then held out an arm for the goldrider. "I hope you don't mind. I've sat here for far too long today, and it's chilly."

"I don't mind at all." Kapera said, taking his arm. "I want to move about myself."

J'nus smiled and led them out into the Gather. Around them skirts and scarves in jewel tones swirled, sunlight glanced off shiny buttons and belt buckles and the hilts of elaborate belt knives. They passed a young woman with five shaggy ovines leashed by twine, a man selling dice out of a tray around his neck, a woman who'd filled a cart with flowers and who pressed a bunch into the Weyrwoman's hands as a gift.
J'nus paused to flip a coin to a young man who was dancing on his hands and recieved a toothless smile in return. "Is there anything that you particularly want to see or buy?" he asked Kapera.

The goldrider liked the hustle and bustle. It was crowded and busy, but so was the Weyr's caverns on a Threadfall day, and this was more spontaneous and enjoyable, as opposed to the structured movements of people getting to their places. She couldn't help but enjoy the attention, smelling the flowers appreciatively. "It's just going to get colder," she mused aloud, "and Dragonsfall is colder than my old Weyr. Maybe we could look at blankets?"

"You've made me a very happy man. I'm very much an admirer of weavings." He'd spotted a likely-looking vendor near where they'd walked in out of the hills and guided the Weyrwoman back that way.
"Although I do prefer rugs."

"Rugs are quite lovely." she agreed. "Do you just admire them, or do you own any?"

J'nus made a quick mental calculation. "I own nine."

She'd never seen his weyr, so hadn't known that. It was quite impressive to a luxury-minded woman. "Do you intend to pick up any others?" she inquired as they walked. "We could look at them after the blankets."

"I never _intend_ to buy things. They just... happen," J'nus said with a sigh. "Which is why I so rarely have marks. But I do want to look at books, and carvings."

She laughed. "Those all sound nice. There's so much to do here!" she exclaimed, feeling almost like a child in her giddiness. People were giving her things as the Weyrwoman, but the enjoyment of that paled in comparison to being able to see everything. She'd so rarely gone to Gathers- her sister had been allowed to go, but not she.

J'nus snuck a sideways glance at her; Kapera's cheeks were flushed in excitement and she was smiling in spite of herself. Weyrwoman or not, she drew the eye. "I miss Gathers. Being able to go to _all_ of them is one thing that I miss from my childhood."

"That must have been so exciting." she said wistfully. They were at the stall now, and she admired them. There was a variety of blankets a few soft light throws that she could see on the small couch she had for visitors that she couldn't resist touching, a few warmer ones for the bed, including one in a rich crimson, and a gorgeous quilt.
"There are so many lovely things."

"Is the Weyrwoman looking for a blanket?" The merchant appeared then, a short man with a large belly and an even larger hat. His eyes were a pale, watery blue that almost disappeared in a network of wrinkled, although he couldn't have been more than fifty turns old. "Myself and my sons do all the weaving - they're just as fine as anything the Weaverhall can produce, if not moreso! My name is Kendol, m'lady -
has anything caught your eye?"

She looked at J'nus briefly before looking back to the merchant. "I like the crimson blanket." she answered after a moment. It would be warm and look lovely on her bed, and it felt soft... She couldn't resist another touch of the fabric. It would be a good cushion for anything.

"It's a lovely colour," J'nus said. The vivid red looked good against her skin.

"Ahh... you have a good eye, Weyrwoman!" Kendol winked. "That is one I wove myself, out of the finest wool from the best sheep in all of Garnet Valley's territory. It'll look great thrown over a bed or even hanging on your wall. A bright splash of colour to liven your day!"

"And how much do you want for it?" J'nus asked.

Kendol paused and eyed the pair speculatively. "Well... that particular blanket took me almost a week to complete, and crimson dye is hard to come by for a lowly weaver such as myself. For anyone else I'd charge thirty-five marks, but for you, m'lady, I'll sell it to you for thirty."

"Thirty seems quite high, even if the fabric is well-woven and the dye beautiful. Even a Weyrwoman doesn't have thirty marks to spare easily." she protested. "Perhaps fifteen?"

"The Weyrwoman jests." Kendol cast a nervous eye at J'nus, who was sorting through the blankets while they bargained. "You'll break my heart, asking for so little for what is truly a work of art. I suppose I could charge you twenty-eight marks for it, if I must..."

"Twenty-eight? How about eighteen?"

"I could not part with it for so little," the weaver said sadly.
Eventually they settled on twenty three marks and Kapera walked off with the red blanket tucked snugly in her arms, and J'nus carrying her empty klah mug. "You could probably have gotten it for about twenty," J'nus said afterward, "but you did all right for not frequenting Gathers. The important thing is that neither of you felt cheated."

"I certainly don't." the goldrider said, caressing the lovely blanket. "I admit, I hadn't thought bargaining would be fun, but it was nice."

"And that's the second most important thing to know about barganing -
both of you should have a good time doing it." The bronzerider held out his arm to help her navagate a large mud puddle. "And you got your blanket and he's got bragging rights since he just sold to the Weyrwoman."

"Weyrwoman!" A young boy with a pimpled face ran up and made as if to tug at the hem of her tunic, but J'nus' scowl convinced him it would be better to keep his hands to himself. He held out a barret made of twisted wire and wooden beads. "It's from my Ma. She says congratulations for being Weyrwoman now and hopes that you'll wear it at the Hatching and tell everybody that Etse from Opal Cove made it for you special. Are you on Search?"

"Goldriders don't Search." she said quickly, addressing the last point first. "Nor do bronzeriders." Then she thought and realized she might hurt his feelings. "But that doesn't mean that a Search won't happen here some time." she equivocated. She eyed the barrette- it looked handmade, like it had taken quite some time to do. That alone made it interesting. "Thank you," she said, taking it. Shards, how many people would recognize her? She wasn't used to such attention. Although she was starting to enjoy it.

"Run along, then," J'nus told the boy.

The child saluted clumsilly then scampered off, shouting, "Ma! The Weyrwoman's gonna wear your barret!"

J'nus made a sound that was half sigh and half laugh. "Well. I don't usually get this much attention at Gathers. I ought to go with a Weyrwoman on my arm more often."

"Are you sure you don't mind it?" she asked curiously. "I mean, if you're used to the obscureity."

"Obscurity? I left obscurity behind when Kopth pushed his way into my life." The bronzerider laughed a little. "If I'd wanted obscurity I'd have left my knots in my weyr and asked you to do the same, and I could hardly do that and deprive you of your first taste of a Weyrwoman's respect outside a Weyr."

"It certainly is interesting." she admitted. "But I do enjoy being here."

"Good. Because there's this wooden box that caught my eye..." And by the glint in his, it looked as if it would be a long day at the Gather.

Last updated on the November 17th 2007

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All Eyes Are On Us