"Hey, fur-face! Get over here and help with the work." A few of the other kids laughed as Trici slowly walked over. A few turns ago, this would have made her amazingly angry, now it just annoyed her.
She spred her claws and held them over the boys neck. "What did you say?"
"Umm..." The boy swallowed hard, Trici's fanged smile unnerving him. "I said 'If you had the time Trici, we could use a hand.'"
She grinned and licked his cheek. "That's what I thought." She knew she didn't make very many friends this way, but she didn't care. At least now she didn't care. She picked up one of the heavy boxes and helped the other teens her age move them to the store rooms. After the work she stretched and meowed. The other kids gave her an odd look, disturbed by her presence. She bared her teeth at them and laughed. Let them think whatever they want. I've got Elayon, I don't need them.
As she walked back to the rooms she shared with the older Harper, Tars, Talka and Genomi joined her.
"How are you three today?" She purred to her felines, who responded in kind. "Good day? Me too." She stood up to open the door. "Elayon? You here?"
She received no answer, and assumed that he was still at work. She jumped onto a large cusion and pulled Genomi on top of her. "I don't know how he does that Genomi." She talked to her cats all the time. "I couldn't teach those brats. I'd kill them."
"They're not that bad Tri." Elayon yawned and ran his fingers through his short hair. "You can't be prejudiced against all us normal people just because of a few brats that bug you."
"Hey." Trici rolled onto her stomach and batted at him. "I didn't know you were here. And I still say most of you humans are idiots."
Elayon couldn't help smiling. "I can't believe how much you've changed Tri. When I first met you, you would have given anything to be human."
She smiled. "I got smarter. You helped." She stretched and purred. "Why were you sleeping?"
"I was tired." The Harper lifted Talka and began stroking her orange-y coloured fur.
Trici smiled. "I thought it was feline's that slept most of the day away."
"I had a late appointment. I didn't get back until after breakfast this morning." Elayon sighed as the cat left him to join the other two with Trici. "Your felines just don't like me."
"They like you." She rubbed their backs and purred at them. "They just like me better. I was meaning to ask you about last night."
"Nothing. Just talking with some people." Elayon was a horrible liar.
"About me." Trici looked up at him. "Why?"
"I didn't say about you!"
"But you meant it. Why?" Trici walked over to him and stood up.
Elayon ran his fingers along her head and through her hair. "What am I to do with you?"
She nudged his hand with her head as he pet her. "What do you mean? I'm fine here. The other kids still bug me sometimes, but I don't care. I'm happy."
"What are you going to do with the rest of your life? You can't just stay here forever." Elayon grinned. "Unless you want to marry one of the nice Holder boys."
Trici flattened her ears and crouched back down. "Why?"
"Your sixteen turns, Tri. Most girls your age are apprenticed, or married." Elayon moved to the cushion and sat down. "Take your pick."
"But I don't want to!" Trici rolled onto her back, crossed her arms and pouted. She knew she was acting amazingly child-like, but she didn't care.
"You could always get Searched." The cat-girl never even entered the Hold proper when a Seachdragon and his rider were about. She felt uncomfortable with new people staring at her. Elayon moved to the cushion and laid down.
Trici began to try to wriggle out of her short blue dress. "Yeah, like that'll happen."
"I've told you a hundred times Trici. You can act as feline as you want, but you have to obey the rules of the Hold. One of those rules state that you keep your clothes on!" Elayon sighed. Their one great argument was over her clothes, or lack thereof. Trici said she was covered in fur and therefore dressed. Elayon stated that she was too femine under that fur and need clothes to cover herself. Elayon always won.
"They're so uncomfortable! They rub my fur the wrong way!" Trici walked over and crawled onto the cushion beside Elayon. She put her head on his chest and purred as she dozed off.
Elayon put his arm around her shoulders. He didn't want her to leave any more than she did, but his long and violent discussion with the Lord Holder the previous night ended with the promise that Trici would become a productive member of Pernese society, or else. "Why not try to be apprenticed at a Harper Hall? You're pretty good at the harp and your voice isn't bad."
"My fingers are short and stubby. I could never play the gitar or flutes." She smirked. "And just because my voice isn't bad doesn't mean it's good."
"Why not weaving?" Elayon suggested. "Then you could make your own clothes. Things you'd actually wear."
"Once again the short stubby fingers make weaving an impossiblity. Not to mention my claws."
Their was a pause as they both tried to think of somewhere that Trici could fit in. "Why not jockeying?" Elayon finally suggested. "You take the Hold runners out often enough. You love riding. The runners seem to like you."
Trici sighed. "If that's my best option."
"I'll talk to someone later tonight." Elayon and Trici dozed off in the cushion, proving that people and cats both slept the day away sometimes.
* * * "You seem good with the animals Trici. Can you ride?" Journeyman Mirkan was being extremely nice to her, but Trici still didn't trust him.
"Of course. I wouldn't have bothered coming if I couldn't." She didn't like this Beast Hall. She didn't like the way everyone was staring at her. She especially didn't like the way the Journeyman was treating her like a child. She pulled herself up onto the runner and urged it into a gallop, guiding it easily around the track and back to Mirkan.
"Very good Trici. I'm impressed." The Journeyman smiled at her and actually patted her on the head.
Trici couldn't help growling low in her throat. If he tries to give me a treat for being a good little girl, I'm gonna remove his head. The Journeyman walked quickly back towards the main buildings and Trici had to hurry to keep up. She'd been trying to stay on two feet while she was at the Hall. She knew that Elayon was special in his acceptance of her. Most people freaked when they saw her running or walking on four feet. Her balance was way off and she ended up bumping into the Journeyman and they both went down. "Sorry" Trici murmured as she pulled herself off the man and into a crouch. "Lost my balance."
Mirkan gave her a sypathetic look which clearly stated that he expected nothing less from her. "It's okay."
Trici had to bite her lip to keep from growling again. Her tail swished back and forth angrily as she followed him into the building. They entered the room where Elayon was waiting for them. Trici quickly dropped to all fours and jumped at the Harper. To the Red Star with whatever this Mirkan thinks. She liked her foster-father's forehead. "Hey. Miss me?"
"Of course. How did it go?" Trici rolled her eyes as Mirkan began talking.
"She's really got a natural talent for animal handling. She can work well with the runners and rides like a pro." Mirkan stated the facts as if he were responsible for her acomplishments.
Elayon rubbed her head as he heard her growling. "So she's accepted as an apprentice."
"No." The sharpness of Mirkin's reply, startled both Harper and half-feline.
"What?" Trici stood up and faced the Journeyman. "Why not?"
Mirken looked at her from head to toe and shook his head. "I just don't feel that your personality would be compatible with this kind of learning."
Trici's tail puffed out and she bared her claws. "It's because I'm a cat isn't it?" She growled low in her throat, her words quiet.
"Think whatever you like. You're not accepted." Mirkan turned to leave and Trici tackled him.
"Trici!" Elayon quickly moved to pull his foster-daughter off the Journeyman. When he lifted the cat-girl up, Trici bit him, hard. He dropped her and she ran off. He chased after her for a second, but gave up quickly. When she was running on all fours there was no way he could catch her.
Mirkan swore as he picked himself up. "Ow! I'm bleeding! She attacked me!"
Elayon sighed and turned back to the Journeyman. "I'm terribly sorry, but she has a bad temper and you could have broke it to her a little softer..."
"Dratted freak." The Journeyman rubbed his bleeding neck. "You should have her put down like all the other disobediant animals."
The ever calm and peaceful Harper Elayon punched the obnoxious and annoying Journeyman Mirkan in the nose before running to catch up with Trici.
The Journeyman held his bleeding nose and swore after the two. "Your both insane! No Hall on Pern will apprentice that freak!"
* * * "Trici?" Elayon entered the storage room that a resident of the Hall said Trici had entered. "Are you here?"
"My mother wanted me to be a Journeywoman." Trici lay across one of the boxes, her whiskers coated in dust.
"Do you remember much about your mother?" Elayon walked over to her.
"Not an amazing amount." She ran her short fingers along the scars that covered her ears, tail, body...scars she'd given herself with one of Elayon's carving tools. She'd only wanted to be normal then. "I remember her promising me that I could be whatever I wanted. I remember her promising me that men would flock to marry me. I remember her promising to love me forever." Trici snorted. "Guess she blew that one. She couldn't even love me for what I was then."
"She loved you in her own way Trici. She wanted you to be happy." He rubbed her head.
"So much for my apprenticing." Trici pulled away from the embrace and walked a few paces. She crouched and began licking her hand. "Maybe I should just stay here anyways. Hunt mice or something."
"Don't say that. Just because one stupid Journeyman can't look past your outside doesn't mean you should give up." He leaned against the boxes.
Trici sighed and continued to lick her left hand. The self-inflicted scars seemed to ache whenever she was upset. They reminded her of the price she'd paid to accept herself for what she was. "Okay." She jumped off the box and began to walk towards the clearing where M'thew and Serenth were supposed to be waiting to take them back to their Hold. Seeing the blue dragon there, she leaped easily to it's back, her strong hind legs propelling her the distance upwards. She curled up on the saddle to wait for M'thew.
"Trici!" Elayon ran at her waving his arms. "Get off. Come here."
Trici looked up at her foster father and began cleaning her whiskers. "What are you babbling about Elayon? And where's M'thew?"
"That's not Serenth!!!" Elayon was torn between climbing the dragon and removing the feline, and letting the dragon remove the girl himself. "M'thew won't be here for another candlemark."
Sorry you'll have to wait. I'm Okserth and I'm sure D'run wouldn't mind dropping you two off, but we're sorta here on business. The dragon swung his head to look at her, his eyes whirling an amused green.
"Ah!" Trici hissed and dug her claws into the saddle. She arched her back and puffed her tail out, instincts taking over since she was startled.
Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. In fact I think I'll have a talk with D'run. The dragon ignored her as he bespoke his rider.
"Sorry," The human in Trici regained control. "I'll get off, just give me a minute, my claw is stuck." Sure enough, her left back foot was secured to the saddle by her claws. She bent her body to dislodge the foot.
"Who are you and what are you doing?" A man in riding leathers approached and looked with curiousity at the feline-girl on his dragon.
"I'm Trici sir." The cat girl freed herself and jumped to the ground. "Thought your Okserth was someone else." She crouched down and glared at him, daring him to challange her story.
Elayon grinned. "Sorry sir. Women and cats do whatever they please and men and dragons better learn to live with it." He rubbed Trici's head affectionately, obviously finding her embarrassment funny. Trici growled under her breath.
The rider laughed. "Too true, too true." The man mounted his dragon. "You certainly looked at home on dragonback Trici."
The cat-woman blushed and stood up. Why isn't he freaking over my appearence? "No offence to Okserth, but it's not that different from riding a runner, for me at least." She spread the claws on her hands. "Claws help my grip."
"She was planning on going into the Beastcraft." Elayon beamed proudly.
"Oh!" The rider seemed surprised. "Here?"
Trici growled. "No. They didn't accept me." And he's okay with the claws...
The rider laughed. "I didn't think so. They're rather a close-minded group of crafters. Never find any candidates here, until now."
Elayon was shocked silent as he caught the rider's drift. Trici however, continued. "Really? You found someone amoung those pig-headed, stuck up, wherry-brained tunnelsnakes?"
D'run grinned. "Yep."
Elayon smiled. "I'll get M'thew and Serenth to drop off some of your things Trici. I'll watch your cats, they may not like me as much as they like you, but I'll keep them alive at least."
Trici looked blankly from rider to harper. "What are you talking about? Who did you find?"
You, you pig-headed, stuck up, wherry-brained tunnelsnake. Do you really think that all humans are so close-minded as to judge you by your appearence? The dragon seemed to laugh.
"I'm Head Searchrider D'run and you've already met Okserth. Naera's Light Gold Zheyth's laid a fine clutch at Ryslen Weyr and you'll be there. Hop on." D'run smirked as Trici went whiter than she alreadly was.
"I'm searched." Trici was stunned. She laughed and hugged Elayon. "I'm searched! Thread take me I'm Searched!"
Elayon grinned at her. "Thought you said that'd never happen."
Trici grinned. "Guess I was wrong."
"Trici. Do me a favour?" Elayon called to her as she hopped back onto the dragon's back.
"Anything. What?"
"Don't be like people."
"What?"
"I know you. You expected the rider to judge you because of your appearence, you expected the dragon to judge you by your appearence, but they didn't. Trici, don't judge others by their appearences. Just because they're normal doesn't mean they aren't nice."
Trici grinned. "How'd you get so darn open-minded?"
Elayon smiled. "I got smarter. You helped."
* * *
Trici is a candidate at Ryslen Weyr.
Tars' picture from White River Weyr.
Talka's picture from Blue Star Weyr.
Genomi's picture from Gallimim Weyr.
Background from Myrror Images.
