Letters from Sahna

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 25th June 2014

Characters: R'haran, Arwey, Tellen, Iselen, Tibby
Description: R'haran and the children receive letters from Sahna.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 14 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Sahna (onpc)
Notes: Mentor approved.

The restday brought a letter. Letters, as R'haran discovered as he slit open the
envelope and smaller envelopes fell out, addressed in different styles and one
for each child.

"Iselen," he handed over the envelope with the twelve-Turn-old's name on it.
Nine-Turn-old Tellen was there before R'haran got the rest of the envelopes
sorted. "Yes, one for Tellen. Arwey? Are you interested in this letter from your
sister?"

"Of course. But I'm busy."

The eight-Turn-old was braiding her hair close to her head and doing her hair
always came before anything else. Except perhaps trying on clothes. A lot of
that went on, too. R'haran found it all rather baffling but she was a happy,
sociable child and he had learned to appreciate that she just lived in a world
that had a different set of priorities from the ones he had. Than most of Pern
had, probably.

He set the letter aside.

"And me," Tibby said with glee, taking the envelope with the large printed
lettering on it out of his hand. "Sahna never forgets me."

Sahna, it had transpired, had a nice eye for drawing and would send Tibby
sketches, little stories in a series of sketches with very few words. Tibby
loved them and R'haran had to admit he was keeping all of Tibby's letters
because there was a lot of humour in the little pictures.

At thirteen and an apprentice printer he hadn't expected his serious and
responsible adopted daughter to have such amused view of her world but was
enjoying seeing it develop. He hoped it meant she was having some fun among
youngsters her own age away at the Hall.

Away at the Hall. He could feel the mental wince each time he thought it. When
Sahna had apprenticed to the printercraft the Harper Hall was located at Dolphin
Cove Weyr so she was close by. They saw her most days and even when they didn't
they knew where she was and had a fairly good idea of what she was doing.

Then the Hall left, going back to Emerald Falls Hold and the new Hall nearly
completed there. A new Hall because the last one had been burned down, some
thought as a protest over it accepting women into the craft. And now Sahna was
out there, in that environment, a girl apprentice in a craft in the Southern
Continent that wasn't very accepting of such things.

Or wasn't accepting at all.

He had wanted her to stay at the Weyr, but while she could have apprenticed here
in any number of crafts, the printercraft wasn't one of them. He wasn't sure she
had been particularly drawn to the craft when she suggested she might try an
apprenticeship with the printers but within days of starting with them he had
seen signs of real interest in the craft. A genuine passion for it, if a
twelve-Turn-old was capable of that.

And when the decision had to be made whether she would move with the Harper Hall
back to Emerald Falls there had been no decision to make in her mind. Her craft
was going and so was she.

He felt a pang of pride that never quite overcame the worry when he thought of
the conversations he'd had with her in the months leading up to the Hall's move.
It hadn't only been about her printercraft studies for her, but about being a
girl - a young woman - in a craft in the Southern Continent. This from girl who
spent her early Turns in a seahold where conservative beliefs were entrenched.

She had asked a lot of questions; about what life at the Harper Hall had been
like before the Plague and what life was like in the North for women. About what
part the Weyr and the three Halls aligned to the North played in the attitudes
in the Southern Continent.

She was taking an interest in the political and social environment and he
couldn't help but be proud of her idealism. And, because he had been a father to
her for three Turns, he worried about what her idealism might cost her.

"Have you read yours, yet? I've finished mine." Tibby climbed up on R'haran's
knee and snuggled into his chest. "Do you want to keep it?"

"Yes please."

Tibby handed over the sheet of heavy paper noticing that R'haran hadn't finished
unfolding his own letter. "Aren't you going to read yours?"

"Yes. Yes I am." R'haran unfolded the letter and smiled at the pretty cursive
script. Whether typeface or handwritten, the shape and style of letters was
something Sahna revelled in.

**Dear R'haran,

**I am happy and well and _perfectly_ safe -**

He sighed. Sahna knew exactly what her father wanted to hear and he could only
hope it was true.

Last updated on the June 28th 2014

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Letters from Sahna