"I've already told you, Gill. I'm not going to Captain that ship." Majourn glared levely over the top of her glasses at her friend. The two of them ducked under a tree as one, and when they stood back up Majourn was glaring straight ahead instead.

Gillamey shifted the basket in his arms uncomfortably. They'd gathered enough sapwood to fix the hole on the Red Star Rising, but it weighed rather heavy in the reed basket. The young man had offered to carry it, seeing as how Majourn was in one of her touchier moods. Then again, when wasn't she...

"You can't get around is, Maj. Now that Jevi is gone, you're the second oldest of the women. You don't *really* think that your mother will let Marron be Captain. She'd throw a fit!" He stared at her with his calm green eyes. "Besides, Jounae is too young, and your mother is getting too old." This was a common arguement that Majourn had with her mother, Lady Captain Journe, and Gill had been among enough of them to know how to retaliate to Majourn's temper.

"I still can't believe that Jevinae left." Majourn's thick eyebrows narrow over her light blue eyes. Her glasses, thin panes that were attatched to copper wiring at the sides, slid down her nose in a characteristic gesture. "How could she just *leave* me with this?" She spread her arms apart, though Gillamey knew that she meant the ship rather than the woods around them.

"She got Searched, Maj. It's not like she just disappeared in the middle of the night. After all, she didn't want this. Now look at her, a greenrider! You should be proud rather than mad at her." Gillamey chided Majourn, something he did often. Something that always got on her nerves.

"Did she ever stop to think that I didn't want this either?!" Majourn glared at him out of the corner of her eye, her bare arms crossed in front of her as she walked. Her thin lips were parted in a pout.

"Really, though, Maj. It's not going to be that bad! Roaming the oceans of Pern. You get to see all kind of places, maybe even get yourself known up in Tillek Port! You'll have your family around you all the time, and they'll be there to help you out with the ship. So what if you're claustrophobic, or whatever the term is. We can always make the cabin bigger, or you can sleep out on the deck. You'll be out beneath the stars, the winds rocking you to sleep in your hammock..."

Gillamey stopped, picturing the beautiful scene he'd concocted in his head. He could just picture it... him sleeping in a woven hammock... being moved back and forth by the waves and winds... the comforting sea air in each breath...

He snapped his head up at a sound behind and off to the side, then Majourn's loud yell. He whirled around, nearly dropping the basket. His walking companion was gone, and he couldn't see his friend anywhere. "Maj?" He turned in a full circle, looking in each direction. "Come on, Majourn... This isn't funny!" His voice was shaking despite himself.

"You think I think it's sharding funny! Shaffit, that hurt!" Her voice was right in front of him... but she wasn't. He took a few steps forward, only to almost fall into a large gaping hole. "Gill, you wherry! Don't you dare fall in, too!" She was sitting at the bottom of the hole, glaring up at him.

"Good Faranth, Maj! How in the Red Star's name did you get down there?" He set the basket down, crouching near the edge of the hole. It had to be a good two dragonlengths deep, and the sunlight didn't illuminate much of the cavern Maj had fallen into.

"GILL! I refuse to answer that stupid question! Now get me someone to get me out of here!" Her exasperated sigh was clearly audible to Gill, and he summoned his two firelizards. The bronze and the brown appeared from /between/, landing on the foliage next to him.

He thought as quickly as he could. "Go get R'nyx, boys!" He made a picture of the bluerider in his head, then watched them disappear again. He turned back to the hole. "Maj? Why did I just send them to get my cousin? Can't you just climb out or somethin'?"

Even from such a distance, he could see Majourn glare at him over the rims of her glasses. "Not if I can't move my leg. Crackdust, Gill! I think I'd feel better if you just stayed quiet until whoever it was comes." She muttered a few more oaths, but they were inaudible to Gill.

Shaking his head, he leaned back against a nearby tree and stared at the hole. Considering Majourn's normally testy mood, she was actually acting surprisingly well for herself. Usually, he'd think that in such a situation she'd never shut up, not to mention use all of the maledicta she could think of. For once.... Majourn had nothing to say.

"Did you here what the Master said, Maj?" Gillamey came racing into the Infirmary, jumping over and taking a seat next to Majourn's bedside. Her leg was elevated on a pillow, wrapped in thick bandages and immobile.

Majourn looked over at him, a frown on her face. "What are you talking about?" She blinked her tired eyes, and it was obvious that she had been ready to nod off before her friend made his jumpy appearance.

Gillamey grinned, shaking his head. "You just don't pay attention!" He was obviously excited over something, his dark eyes were sparkling. "They're going to make a mine out of that cavern you found. Turns out that one of the Journeyman that came to help investigate stepped on something, and you'll never guess what it was."

Majourn laid her head back down on the pillow, closing her light blue eyes and taking off her glasses from where they sat on her narrow nose. "Do I want to know would be the better question..."

Gillamey clicked his tongue at her, shaking his head. "They found a diamond..." He grinned as she opened one eye. "They say that it's rare, and they probably won't find a lot more in there, but they're going to excavate it anyway. Who knows?" His smile broadened.

Majourn closed her eye and let out her breath slowly. "So in other words, what you're saying is... I found a coal mine? A bunch of smelly, black, dusty rock.."

"Yep!" Gillamey smiled at her.

Moments later, a crutch swung by his head, just barely missing. He yelped, glaring back at her as she rolled over slightly. "I can't believe you woke me up for this..." She trailed off, falling back into sleep. Gillamey shook his head and walked out of the Infirmary, wondering why he put up with it all...

Majourn's weyr

Destination: Majourn's Search

Traveler: Majourn's Stats

Jerdan Weyr
Where Majourn Impressed Damiath

Roses credited to D~mentia!