Snake...Fight?

Writers: Chelle, Cymiri
Date Posted: 4th July 2012

Characters: Qorri, Rashieda
Description: A drudge comes to tell the headwoman about a bad thing and fighting ensues.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 15 of Turn 6

Rashieda swallowed.

Why couldn't she have just gone to supervise laundry like a sensible
little caverns-rat? No, she'd had to volunteer for the kitchens instead,
hadn't she?

And now who was it who had to impart bad news- silly, ridiculous bad
news- to a certain someone? A deep, heartfelt sigh followed on the heels
of the gulp.

"Qorri? Do you have a moment? There's been a...well..."

Accident was the wrong word but what was the right one? The girl's
voice trailed.

The headwoman turned, locating the source of the voice. "Spit it out,
girl." She didn't have time for dithering.

"Well... an accident. Sort of. In the kitchens." She sighed. "Nothing major.
But see, it started when one of the drudges tried to open one of the new
barrels..." Did she really have to be the one to spell this Harper's farce
out?

"Who, what, where, when?" was Qorri's rapid fire progression as she
gestured for Rashieda to tell her as she led her to the scene of the
problem. This didn't sound good. Today had been a good day so far.

"Ground meal, in the littlest store room. About..." The girl grabbed a handful
of skirts and abandoned the answer, scuttling to keep up with the older woman's
brisk pace. Just before they reached the door to the storeroom in question,
the scuttle increased to almost a flat out sprint for a few steps as
she slid ahead,
bracing an arm across the door jamb to stop Qorri opening the door.

"But-Wait-You-See-That-Wasn't-All-Of-It...." She garbled out breathlessly.
"There are tunnelsnakes. In there. See." The girl's shoulders drooped.

Although she hadn't actually caused most of this, she couldn't help but be
disheartened at having drawn the short straw to have to try and
explain it. "You see,
after that it was a...and then... and she said to him...and then the snake..."

Animated hand gestures accompanied it all, but it probably wasn't very
illuminating. It certainly wasn't a good day for Rashieda.

"Sharding-shelling-fecking snakes!" Qorri let out a string of expletives.
"Go fetch me a big club and I'll kill the things myself." It probably wasn't a
good idea. "Better yet, get Fronaled." The beastcrafter would be more effective
than she.

"No, no, no, you see....someone's gone for him. But..." Oh, shells.
"But I don't think there will be more than a couple more. See... Borai
took a swing at one and got it. But his backswing caught Kaylin on the
cheek, and so *she* hit him with the flour...or tried, which caused
Lyle..." Another deep sigh. "I think one of the snakes ended in the
stock pot by error. I don't know where the others went." Rather sheepishly,
she added, "Maybe there was something in the klah this morning?"

Hearing the rest of it, Qorri was quietly fuming. It was so hard to get
good help. Flour wasted and the stock... Her lips went into a thin line. "Hold
the glows for me, Rashieda." Opening the door, she looked into the gloom as
the glows illuminated a few areas. "Move them a bit to where they were."

The thin, forlorn little drudge girl grasped the glows thrust her way, fumbling
them further open. Then she stopped dead.

"Er.."
Cough.
"Me?"

She really didn't want to meet a snake in the dark. Of course, she had
the glows,
but.... All the same, Qorri was scarier. She did as she was told. Traces of
flour over the surfaces and floor were a giveaway. Naturally, the
others in question had scarpered, leaving only her with the headwoman.

"Here. Somewhere." Was that a slither in the dark? She shuddered.

Her eyes quickly scanned the area as the glows went over parts of it. Qorri
was beyond angry now. She was going to get her own personal revenge. And
so, when a tunnelsnake's head came up out of the dark, she shouted at
Rashieda to illuminate it and then went after the thing, swinging her
club in the
process.

The fact Qorri got her light was accidental. The roar from the
Headwoman startled her so much that she swung up her hands
instinctively to cover her head. She was just lucky it had the right
effect. Cautiously, she peeped between her fingers. "Is it...gone?"
she squeaked softly.

Indeed, after a few solid whacks it was. And Qorri's chest was heaving in
triumph. She gave a loud bellow to scare the rest of them off, if they were
still around. "I need..some water..."

Rashieda stared. Way longer than she should have. Then she blinked
quickly and passed over a bucket. "Er...well done?" It wasn't very certainly
said.

Taking a few handfuls of water to drink with her hands, she then rubbed some
into her face. Qorri was so hot. That was one of the pitfalls at
living at Dolphin
Cove, though the Lower Caverns were usually a bit cooler than up top. "Indeed.
Now you're going to clean up this mess while I go find the others and punish
them. You may see them soon if I find them quickly."

"B..B..But..." The one word escaped her, and then she sighed. Why on Faranth's
sweet hatching sands did _she_ have to? She hadn't even been working here
when the furor started. But she didn't argue, simply picking up a mop with a
baleful look. See if _she_ ever did the right thing again.

Last updated on the August 3rd 2012

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Snake...Fight?