Biarni     "Biarni! Get up here and take the twins!" Biarni sighed and put her sketchpad down. It was bad enough that she was stuck taking stock on such a nice day while all the rest of the trader's children were outside. Now she had to help her mother with the twins. "Biarni! Now!"

"Hold on mother!" Biarni called back as she walked. The slow plod of the work beasts that pulled the caravan made it feel like she was going much faster when she was only walking.

Of course, it wasn't fast enough for her mother, who was sitting in the part of Biarni's family's caravan that had been turned into an impromptu nursery for the twins when they had been born a turn ago. "What did you need?" Biarni asked, pleading silently that whatever it was wouldn't take long.

"I need you to watch the twins for a while," her mother replied, slapping Raliana's hand away from the quill behind her hair with one hand and trying to capture the adventurous Sarnid with the other. "Your aunt needs help with that daughter of hers, she's gone and skinned her knees again and Kakell is busy stitching up Torlisan again."

As she spoke, Ranili was trying to get the twins to stay put for more than a moment, but they were at that age where they refused to sit still. "But I've got to get the stock done," Biarni complained as she was forcefully handed a squirming Raliana.

"That can wait," her mother replied. "What I've got to do can't. Sarnid will be hungry soon and his meal is right over there. I'd mash up the wherry some more if I were you, he spits it back at you if it's not mashed up enough."

"But-" Biarni began to protest, but Ranili was already striding down the stairs. Biarni looked down as she felt an insistent tug on her shoulder length hair and looked down to see Raliana staring back at her with big baby eyes. "Stop that," Biarni chided her gently, prying Raliana's pudgy hand away.

Time, Biarni learned as she sat there with the twins, passed very slowly when you're watching one turn olds. It became a welcome distraction from the usual monotony when one, or both, as was often the case, of the twins caused some sort of problem. The rest of the time, Biarni found herself fighting to keep awake.

She couldn't tell how long it had been from when she'd first sat down when someone knocked on the door of the nursery. At the moment, Biarni was in no position to move, seated with both twins asleep in her lap, something she wasn't keen to change. "Come in and be careful not to step on anything," Biarni called from where she sat, hoping whoever it was would be smart enough to keep quiet.

Her mood changed considerably when her cousin Larinion stepped in, closing the door behind him softly. "On twin duty, I see," he said in a hushed voice, grinning as he looked down at Biarni. "I think you look wonderful as a mother."

"Don't let that friend of yours get any ideas," Biarni cautioned, waving a rag at him threateningly. "It's so boring I've been wishing I were back taking stock again."

"What's wrong with Kazarin?" Larinion asked, kneeling down next to Biarni and stroking Raliana's head tenderly. "I think you two make a great couple."

"There's nothing wrong with Kazarin," Biarni replied. "I'm just not ready to resign my hind end to a nursery yet. I can do without crying, hungry babes for a few more turns thank you very much. How are you and Yaveine getting on, by the way?"

"We're not," Larinion sighed. "I don't know what happened. This morning she woke up, slapped me, and left. I haven't seen her all day and I'm not sure I want to. Supposedly, it was because of her father."

"Yaveine's just high-strung like that," Biarni told her cousin. "She'll come around. Probably has something on her mind. I'll talk to her later, see what's really bothering her."

"I sure hope so," Larinion replied, taking Raliana and bouncing her on his knee. She giggled happily and put her thumb in her mouth, gazing up at Larinion. "I wish she'd settle down long enough for us to have some of our own some day," he mused, gazing back at Raliana.

"Now that's something that'll scare of Yaveine," Biarni cautioned. "Wouldn't say that in front of her if you want her to stick around."

"Don't think I haven't," Larinion replied with a grin. "She seemed all for it at the time..."

"No wonder she stormed out on you!" Biarni exclaimed. "You're hopeless!"

"I'm scarred for life," Larinion retorted in mock dismay, putting a hand over his "wounded" heart. "I've lost my cousin's approval, whatever shall I do?"

"You could shut your mouth for a start," Biarni advised, absently slapping Sarnid's hand away from her hair.

Larionion opened his mouth to say something but just as quickly slammed it shut as the caravan gave a sudden lurch to the side. Raliana squealed and clung to Larinion, who gently pried her hands from his tunic. "Wonder what spooked ol' Toad," Larinion wondered, glancing anxiously out the window.

Biarni shrugged. "Probably just a snake. He's skittish. I don't know why they decided to have him lead, especially with that windstorm expected soon. He'll bolt at the first whisper of a breeze."

"I hope we get to Tradij before that," Larinion sighed. "I don't want to be caught out in another windstorm."

By the time they were almost to Falas Weyr, a landmark many traders in the region used, the winds were beginning to pick up. When they stopped for the night, the men were busy tying everything loose down and the women running about securing the food. Biarni looked for her friends among the chaos and managed to find Serti while she was busy packing dishes into padded compartments.

"Have you been out there recently?" Serti asked as she walked in, shivering despite her warm over tunic. "The wind gets worse every time I go out."

"No, but I've heard it," Biarni replied. "I can't believe we're stopping here. No shelter whatsoever. Five marks says at least one of the work beasts bolts."

"If it weren't safe," Serti said with a dismissive shrug, "we wouldn't be stopping. Odlirin knows better than that."

The evening meal, instead of being eaten outdoors around the friendly bonfire as usual, was eaten in the somewhat cramped kitchen of the caravan. Sardinas looked especially glum as he ate, staring off into space. The twins were quiet, for once, and Sarlan was eating his wherry instead of torturing it.

As soon as he finished, Sardinas got up and silently left, leaving the rest of the family still eating. Biarni looked questioningly across the table to her mother, but Ranili just kept eating and didn't look up. Looking down at her own plate, Biarni half heartedly downed a few more bites and then left. She hated it when everyone was so depressed like this. Afterall, it was just a windstorm.

Biarni climbed the short staircase that led up to the second floor of the caravan and flopped down onto her cot, pulling the dividing curtain around her small part of the room. She lay there for a few minutes, listening to the winds roar outside. From the open window she could hear voices over the wind, the men must be outside. Before long, Biarni had drifted off to sleep.

The next thing Biarni knew...