Shearing Seat

Writers: Chelle, Heather, Paula
Date Posted: 10th April 2014

Characters: R'gelen, Chaysea, Keayd
Description: The boy is rescued sort of.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 6, day 2 of Turn 7
Notes: Follows April Fools

Once the others left, he found himself in a bad situation. They took
his towel. That meant he had no clothes and no covering. And his hands
were stuck to his body. Panicking, he almost slid under the water,
afraid to ever come out again. Maybe someone would come in though and
he could tell them to get...

**To get who? Who on Pern would help me?** He looked and he tried to
think. He didn't want many other apprentices to know if he could help
it. He'd be the laughingstock for sevendays at least. He didn't need
the Master of Apprentices grumping at him either. Sighing, he thought
if he could get one of the journeymen maybe... **Do vintners know much
about adhesives?** Shrugging, he waited a little longer, then when he
didn't hear anyone, he took off.

Chaysea had been on her way to her office when she came upon the most
peculiar sight. It was one of the apprentices that she had helped when
he first arrived and he was... Well, he was naked! "Apprentice!" She
hissed, "What are you doing?"

He'd been spotted! By a female too! Rohagelen turned and skidded,
before hitting the wall and letting out an "Oof!" **Oh Faranth, it's
the Headwoman!** "Ah well mam...see I was in the bathing pool
and...they took my things. And I think I'm stuck." He whispered,
looking miserable, as he tried to hold himself together, inching
toward a doorway to hide in.

"Oh dear," Chaysea motioned for Rohagelen, "come on then, to my office
before anyone else sees you. I've got a blanket in there and then I
can grab you some clothes."

He didn't have to be told twice. He hurried along and ducked inside
before hoping no one else saw any of that really.
But they were seen. Key had just gotten up from the cellars and his
route back took him past the Headwoman's office. His mouth took a
shape of the O when he saw them.

"Hey! What happened?" He followed them.

Chaysea shook her head as she hurriedly pulled the key to her office
from her waist and opened up her office door, "I would like to know
the same thing, Keayd. Come on, Rohagelen, in here."

**Just great, now the journeyman is going to know.** Rohagelen sighed
and tried to hide behind a chair, huddled. He was miserable. This was
not how things at the Hall were supposed to go. When the door was
shut, he shivered for a bit before finding that blanket and wrapping
in it. "I was bathing and...then I heard some laughing and then my
hand stuck to me. And my hair is sticky...and other places."

"Oh dear," Key sighed with compassion for the poor apprentice. Being a
cripple, he had been victim of his own share of wicked pranks and knew
how Rohagelen felt. "Glue?" he inspected the boy's hair. "Maybe the
stuff we use to remove wax seals from casks and bottles works on
removing glue too," he suggested. If not, they probably had to ask
some chemist for help.

Chaysea shook her head in disbelief. How could children be so cruel to
one another? "Keayd, will you go get that for us? I'll go grab some
clothing and Rohagelen you can wait here."

Trying not to look any more miserable and embarrassed than he already
was, Rohagelen sat down on the chair and huddled inside the blanket.
**Well this apprenticeship is really turning out to be great, Ro.
You'll have plenty of friends in no time.**

"Of course, I'll be soon back," Key replied and hurried to get the
stuff from the workshop.

Chaysea left the office just behind Keayd, making sure to shut the
door swiftly behind her so that no one would catch a glimpse of poor
Rohagelen. Her skirts swished rapidly with her long strides as she
went to the supply room for a set of clothes.

When Keayd returned, he was carrying several bottles of pungent
liquids. One couldn't mistake the smell of turpentine.

Ro looked up and smelled the stench. Stuff like that would probably
take all of his hair off. He cringed, but at least he wouldn't be
stuck like this forever. Huddled in the blanket, he waited to see what
he needed to do as they prepared.

Chaysea grimaced as she wrinkled her nose, "Is that stuff safe?" She
unknowingly voiced Rohagelen's concerns.

"It's very flammable and I wouldn't drink it, I would also avoid
getting in to the eyes. He needs new bath after this, and to avoid
open fires," Key replied and put the bottles to the table. "Do you
have any old rags, Chaysea? We can't pour this directly on him."

The Headwoman turned to the small closet in her office and pulled out
a spare tunic that she kept in there, in the event that she spilled
something on the one she was wearing, "We can use this." She said as
she began tearing it into strips for Keayd's use.

Hearing that, Rohagelen did not think this was going to go well.
**Faranth** Still it was the journeyman and the headwoman. Surely they
wouldn't hurt him? In his mind, he thought about ways to get even.

Key soaked the strips in turpentine and started to wipe the glue off.
It did work, but slowly.

Chaysea had her nose wrinkled and a hand held lightly over it. The
poor boy, there was no way another bath would get _that_ smell off.
The Headwoman had no doubt that you would be able to smell Rohagelen
coming before you ever saw him.

Keayd got his hands freed and stepped back to inspect the results. He
shook his head. "I'm afraid we have to cut his hair to get those glue clumps
out. At least we get the glue off from his skin." Somehow the stuff didn't
work with hair as well as it worked with skin.

Blanching at that announcement, he almost had a heart attack. **Mother
is going to kill me.** Then he remembered that his mother wouldn't know
unless she visited. Still, he was going to look even worse bald. "Cut or
shave?"
he asked in a timid voice as he tried not to breathe in the fumes,
miserable.

Key just shrugged and looked at the Headwoman. This was her call.

"Let's just start with cutting it, and then if need be... We'll shave
it." Chaysea was trying to save as much of the poor boy's dignity as
possible but, and here she eyed the glue stuck to him, she didn't know
if that was going to be possible.

"I'm sorry, Rohagelen," Key said with kind, understanding voice.

He let out a huge sigh. **Just my day** "It's okay. Just...please do it
quickly if
you can. That stuff smells so bad..." Indeed, he was already half choking.

Chaysea retrieved a pair of scissors from her top desk drawer. She
licked her lips as she approached the boy, "Okay, here goes...." The
poor boy, she didn't know the first thing about cutting hair, but at
least the glue would be gone and he would have his hands free again.

When it was all over, Rohagelen found himself free but he was also almost
hairless. His auburn curls had been reduced to very short strands. Sighing
to
himself, he supposed maybe it would look more manly anyway. "Thank you..
Headwoman. And Journeyman sir. I.." He was trying to think if it would be
safe
to sleep that night. Perhaps not. Maybe he could lock himself in a
closet somewhere.

"That's all right," Keayd said. "Do you have any idea who did this to
you?" he asked, giving Chaysea a furtive glance. They were going to
report this to the master of apprentices, whether the boy liked it or
not.

Chaysea crossed her arms over her chest, thinking that she would jerk
whoever did this up by their ear.

"It was just some boys." He shrugged. Rohagelen knew as much as anyone that
he didn't want to be branded a snitch. That would get him worse off than
this. Anyway,
he would wait for his moment. He might be a farm boy, but he wasn't dumb.

Key lifted his eyebrows. Not that he was really surprised he didn't want to
give
them names. He would keep his ears open, those boys probably won't be able
to
keep their mouths shut but would end up boasting about it.

Last updated on the April 23rd 2014

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