The Masterharper's Office (#3428)
   A neat, well-organized office is lined with a growing array of filing cabinets and bookshelves. A covered desk is open, its top spread flat into a felted writing surface to reveal rows of cubbyholes within. An inkwell is carefully capped, a couple of pens and other styluses stored safely in the holders surrounding the well, and a stack of hides for re-use is in easy reach of anyone seated in the high-backed wooden work chair.

Kaeryn (#7720)
   With a height of about 5 foot 4, this young woman is not exactly overbearing in stature, but the confident air about her makes her seem a little taller. The strands of her golden hair flow fluidly down her back, ending in gentle curls at her waist. Bringing attention to the features of her heart shaped face are her blue eyes, highlighted with golden flecks, that sparkle mischievously in the light. Her skin is lightly tanned and delicate, tiny freckles powdering her small nose. A mysterious look in her eyes, and the way her pale pink lips upturn in a smile make her seem even more attractive. On her right wrist, there is a strip of harper blue wherhide that was formed into a bracelet.
   Soft and comfortable to the eye, this well weaved leather vest is made for a tight, yet comfortable fit. A long, dark divided skirt drops down to hang almost to the ankles and thickly embroidered with gold at the hem. The vest itself covers a plain white long-sleeved blouse which is a low square cut. Plain and simple, this outfit was weaved for those warm and windy days, neither hot nor cold. Light brown slippers are there to protect the feet from the small dangers.
   A bright silver knot dangles from a fine silver chain, a mark of friendship.
   A knot of blue and white adorns Kae's shoulder. Two twisted chords formed into a loop and a long tail represent her ranks as a Journeyman of the Harper Hall. Within the knot are ribbons of black and orange signifying her posting at Ista Weyr.
   She is wearing a silver and gold braided chain bracelet with the Dolphinsinger charms.
   Kaeryn is 27 Turns, 2 months, and 2 days old.

Oriana (#1357)
   A small woman of medium build, Oriana seems to have gone unnoticed by her passing turns. Her complexion is pale from lack of sun and her eyes and mouth are defined now by small creases at the corners, but her full, golden hair and the blush in her cheeks signal health and a life of satisfying mental, if not physical, activity. Her blue eyes are bright and keenly perceptive, her shoulders slouch just slightly from too much deskwork, and she bears herself with an air of assurance that is independent of her surroundings.
   A stylish tunic of fellis green drapes lightly over a long-sleeved blouse of ivory, held by a sash of darker green at her waist. She wears loose trousers instead of the more proper skirt, the brown of the spring forests, tucked into walking boots of smooth wherhide. Her hair is braided partway down her neck, but from there it flows loose to her shoulder blades, tied by a ribbon of harper blue to match her eyes.
   At her right shoulder, a small pendant sapphire is strung in a complex interweaving of blue, white and yellow.
   Oriana is 48 Turns, 10 months, and 8 days old.

Oriana finishes a brief sketch on the sandtable, sliding the glass over to preserve the work for later. "So, Kaeryn," she begins, looking up and removing thin, wireframed reading glasses. "How's your progress?"

Kaeryn shifts nervously in her seat as she looks down at the book held open in her lap, taking a quick moment to nervously lick her lips. "I think my progress is good, I've found a good amount of information that I think will be of use to me, and quite a large amount that will need more hands on research, if you will." Pages are flipped past, as if looking for something, and she glances up, giving the Masterharper a nervous smile. "I've yet to determine *why* the Turnover Gathers have ceased to take place at the Istan Hall, but I'm sure I've just overlooked it as of yet."

"You may have to piece it together," Oriana replies evenly. "Much of the information we have is relatively scattered, even with our best efforts at organization." She swivels in her chair, retrieving a small pile of hides from atop a low shelf. "These might also be of use," she adds, pushing them across the covered sandtable toward the journeywoman. "Perhaps not in the whys, but there's some description of festivities I stumbled across in other research."

"Thank you, Masterharper," Kae replies softly, her use of Oriana's title showing her nervousness is still strong. "I've come across several different traditions of Gatherings from various holds and halls, and was thinking, or hoping I guess, that they might be interesting enough to bring them to Ista." In exchange for the hides, her book is placed on the sandtable, showing the revealed page covered with notes written in the journeywoman's careful, even script. "In Nerat, for instance, they would have a song contest each Turnover. Sea chanties mostly, allowing all the people to participate, judged by holders and crafters alike."

Oriana turns Kaeryn's book slightly to get a better view, retrieving her spectacles to read the neatly-written page. "That sounds like something the Istans might enjoy. Here, of course, we put on a concert instead. Because the Istan Hall is recent as a major crafthall," she considers, nodding at something that's written in the book, "perhaps a combination of the formal and informal would be appropriate."

"That's what I was thinking," Kae agrees with a small nod of her head, "I want to follow as many of the traditions as I can, but I don't want to keep it feeling, well, old, I guess. Bringing in everyone, making it the celebration that it should be." Shoulders lift into a slight shrug and she reaches over and points toward another passage written on the same page, "I noticed that the Turnover Gathering here is accented with the presentation of the turns newest pressing of wine. Perhaps we could expand that a little, bringing wine and cider from all of the local holds, instead."

Oriana raises her eyebrows in interest. "With the large vintner presence surrounding Ista, that should be accepted well." She reads the passage briefly. "And of course the celebrations nearly always include a gather. We usually include judged contests of wares and services, as well."

"I'm sure the vintners in the area would like a chance to share their newest creations amongst a large group," Kae smiles brightly, relaxing, finally, in the Masterharper's presence. "A ball, perhaps? A Gather, of course, but instead of the usual background music while business was being done, I was thinking a nice, formal ball would be a change. There hasn't been one in, well, about 7 turns now."

"Of course, with that lovely ballroom," Oriana smiles warmly, again removing her spectacles with an idle gesture, "it would be wonderful to have a ball in the evening. Or evenings," she adds. "Do you intend to go the full two days? I suppose that will depend on location and Thread."

Kae pauses, cocking her head to the side in the moment's silence, deep in thought as she is. "Two nights, of course, Turn's End and Turn's Beginning should both be celebrated, right? As for the ball, I'd say most probably just one night, on Turn's Beginning." Her fingers touch her book once again, flipping to the next page, the hide obviously well used, almost see-through now. "Here's the beginning of my list of events, including the song competition. I was thinking it might be a good idea to do each of these the first day and early the second, with the results announced at the ball." Her hand is lifted from the book, leaving the page available for reading.

Oriana again brings her reading glasses to bear, inspecting the list more carefully. "Yes, this seems a good list. Can you anticipate the interest you'll have in the song competition?" She raises her eyes to Kaeryn, looking over the fine wire rims. "There's a good lot of time assigned to it, I see."

"I think that with enough advanced notice, there will be a decent interest. I was considering, though," Kae pauses, fingers slipping through her hair, pushing it out of her eyes, "instead of having just a sea chanty category, opening it up to several different ones. Perhaps a category for songs about the weyr and dragons, one about Ista, or others. Leaving it open for creativity. If there isn't enough interest that way, we'll group them together and," she pauses, grinning, "if there's no interest at all, we'll have backup music planned."

Oriana smiles quietly, an amused expression. "And I hear Ista has an apprentice with a talent for parody these days," she notes. "Reminds me of my craftsecond. You may add a category for the two of them," she suggests idly, still scanning the list. "Do you intend to allow only original songs, or performances of older tunes as well?"

Kaeryn raises an eyebrow at the suggestion and grins, "I guess I'll need to look into that when I return to the Hall. I'm afraid my visits have been few and far between as of late, but since I'll be there semi-permanently now.." Quiet pause, accented by a small shrug and even smaller grin, leads into an answer, "I suppose that depends on whether we decide to offer prizes for originality and presentation both, wouldn't it?"

"Determine more than one winner for each category, then?" The masterharper nods approvingly. "The more inclusive, the better. It might encourage some of the holders to learn their ballads better, too." Oriana grins; any motivation to improve learning is a benefit.

Kaeryn nods, "I just need to find prizes for them, I suppose." After reclaiming her book, she flips through the pages and scribbles something down in her smooth, easy hand, "If I don't write it down, I won't remember," she points out quietly once she's done writing. "Sometimes I wonder how harpers before me juggled their lives so easily," the younger harper comments softly, straying from the subject at hand for a few moments, "but I guess the trick is to act as though it's easy, right?"

Oriana smiles, leaning back in her high-backed chair. "That's about the sum of it. Do you have local crafters willing to donate gifts as advertisements for their own wares? Perhaps certificates of exchange, if not actual goods."

Kaeryn's eyes brighten at the idea, and she shakes her head, "Not yet, but I'm sure I could arrange such easily enough. I know enough crafters in different areas to speak with. Hopefully they'll be willing to help." "I'm sure they will." Oriana considers the list again; "You've got the song contest, the ball... what was that in the middle of the list?" She nods to the book which the Journeywoman once again holds.

"Wine and Cider tasting, as well as a feast of sorts," Kae fills in the blank, grinning a little as she adds, "and perhaps some games for the youngsters to play, and things for them to do. I don't want it to be purely for adults, of course."

"Of course," Oriana echoes, joking lightly, "Establishing precendent for when your own is old enough, is that it?"

A light blushing pink touches Kae's cheeks at the teasing comment, but she can't really deny it, so just nods, "I suppose so. She's just over a turn old now, though, a little too young to be participating in games and fun, unless her parents are involved."

"Well, she'll be having fun on her own soon enough," Oriana assures Kaeryn, her tone colored, perhaps, with a slight wistfulness. "But until then, you'll have plenty of work to do. Not the least of which will be setting up games."

"Don't say that," Kae protests, waving her hands in the air as if to push of the inevitable growing up her daughter must do. "I'd really rather she not grow up for a while, because I'd like to be able to witness all of it."

"So outline for me," Oriana continues, sending the interruption (in the shape of an errant apprentice) once more on his way. "Outline for me what you see as the sequence of events." She leans an arm on the wooden armrest, crossing her legs comfortably.

Kaeryn gulps softly, flipping quickly through the pages of her book to cover her nervousness at the question, stopping at a page that seems to have a timeline scrawled across it. "Well, to be honest, that's still in the planning stage, but so far, this is what I figure." She pauses, taking a deep breath, and dives into the explanation. "On Turn's End, the Gather will begin, of course, with the early morning being used for setup and such. With the way the threadfall has been, well, unsteady, I am guessing it might be best to have two plans, one for indoors and one for outdoors. If it has to be indoors, I think we might could still manage booths, we'd just have to make classrooms into them." Rambling, oops. "That morning, setup, followed by a little time for shopping and games for the children. In the afternoon, I was thinking, or hoping, that I could convince the bakers to do some sort of judging forum, with bakers and non-bakers alike bringing things to be tried and judge." Items are scribbled in and clicked off as she goes down the list. "Regular performing by harpers through the day as entertainment. A feast in the evening, followed by a wine and cider tasting. Also, I have a student that is writing a play, and I was thinking it might be a good time for showing it...."

Oriana nods appreciatively. "I'm hoping this Threadfall will have sorted itself out by then," she adds with a slight shiver. "Is the play more appropriate for day or evening performance? A children's play would of course be better during the day."

"I'll have to check with Alesa on that matter," Kae admits with a small grin. "I'm afraid I've only heard the basic plot of it before I left to come here, so we can, of course, alter that depending. Also depending, of course, if she would be interested in doing it then or not." Her shoulders lift into a slight shrug and her grin deepens, "If not, then perhaps we'll organize a play that the youngsters could actually participate in."

"That could be an excellent idea regardless of whether -- Alesa, you say?" Oriana pauses to quickly confirm the name, " -- Alesa's play is performed."

"It was just one of those random thoughts, you know?" Kae laughs and nods her head, "I'll check into that. Of course, that'll put me writing a play as well, so I guess I should add that to my list, yes?" Which she does, writing quickly on her page. "For the second day, well, to be honest, I'm still working on that. A Ball in the evening, I was thinking fingerpainting for the children, maybe create a small children's gallery for the Ball. I'm hoping several of the crafts would be interested in having some sort of competition, but I haven't sorted out what just yet."

Oriana recounts briefly on her fingers. "So setup, some kind of opening speech, probably." She eyes Kaeryn. "Holders always want speeches. So a speech. Have the musicians play for a set or so while people shop," she advises. "A baking contest and children's games. Dancing, then a dinner and wine and cider tasting. Then a play for the evening." She considers; "Sounds full, though you might want something for the men to do while their mates are comparing recipies -- not to sound biased, but it seems that's the way such things usually go when it's opened to holders. Have you thought about athletic games?"

"Actually, I was thinking about that," Kae admits with a sheepish grin and a shrug of her shoulders, "but planning it for the second day. As for the first, perhaps something else for the men, though I'm not sure what." With a twinkle in her eyes as she closes her book, she adds, "I'll just have to consult with T'rell about what 'men' would want to do."

Oriana chuckles softly. "Always a good idea." Enough thinking about work for one day; it's nearly supper time as it is, and the masterharper flips her own journal closed as well. "He had plenty of ideas for what to do when he was here, for certain."

Kaeryn's eyes light up. Oooh, T'rell stories! "I forgot that you would have known T'rell pre-rider days, when I didn't. I'll have to ask about those times one day. But, later, of course." Gathering the rest of her things and getting to her feet, she nods her head politely, "Thank you for your assistance, Masterharper. I see I've a little more research and planning to do before I head home, I suppose, though I am ready to get home, for obvious reasons."

Oriana grins; obviously, she does have a few stories still kept up her sleeve for special occasions. "I'll see you in the dining hall, then, at least tonight. When do you plan to return home?"

"Definitely," Kae nods her head in agreement, her interest in these 'stories' showing through the sparkle in her eyes. "The harper in me says I need to stay for another sevenday or so, but the mother and," she pauses, searching for a word to describe what she is to T'rell, and shrugs it off, "...in me says I should be leaving tonight."

"Then perhaps you'll compromise and stay until tomorrow. I've heard that Ista had another rogue Fall today, in any case. Very light," Oriana quickly adds; "No casualties that I know of." She stands, glancing around the office. Most everything is at least somewhat in order, so she leaves it be. "Just let me know."

A wrinkle of her nose at the first bit of information is Kae's first reaction, followed by a more relaxed sigh at the second. Not much point in worrying about it, "I'll send word back to them tonight, just to be sure, and tell you after dinner then." With a nod of her head, she slips out the door.

[ exeunt omnes ]

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