| Pryane The rolling waves crashed against the rocky outcropping, sending salty spray up along the edges and into the round, curious face that poked over the edge. "Pryane! Get away from there!" someone shouted, and Pryane raised herself from her former posistion of laying on her stomach and looking down at the crashing waves. "Do you want to fall off and get yourself killed?" an elderly woman demanded, and Pryane sighed, allowing herself to be escored inside by her mother. "You should know better than that!" That was what every mother at the Fisher Hall had said to atleast one of her children atleast once. However, Pryane had it said to her almost every other day, because she didn't get caught on the other days. The sea had always been Pryane's dream, and she could sit and watch the waves throw themselves upon the rocky shoreline for candlemarks at a time. Her father had laughed it off and said it was because she wanted to be an Apprentice Fisher, but Pryane had resented that sharply. It wasn't fishing that intrigued her so, it was the sea. The wonderful, majestic, perfect ocean. Fishing was something that dirtied her perfect dream, something that everyone was urging her to do. No, Pryane didn't want an Apprentice's life. She'd often stared wistfuly at everything off of this miserable island, mainly Katadon Weyr. It was close by, a boatride to it would probably only take a Candlemark or two. And then, every day, Pryane would go with heavy feet to do her chores, lugging buckets of water from the well to the kitchens, helping to gut any fish that the fishermen had brought home in their nets, and cooking in the hot, smelly kitchen at the Hall. She hated it. But at night she had refuge, too. Pryane would lay on her stomach and look down at the crashing waves below, her eyes sometimes scanning the area for firelizards. She'd found three clutches so far, but hadn't been allowed to keep any of them. At 14 turns, most people said that she was too young to have one. She'd scoffed repeatedly at this. Too young! Hah! If she was old enough to find a firelizard nest, she was old enough to Impress a flit. Sighing, she headed back to her room in the Fisher Hall, flopping down on her bed and acutely aware of the smell of fish through the thin wall between her and her neighbor. He was the captain of one of the ships, and had been known to throw his weight around more than necessary. All of his wives had been killed "mysteriously," and Pryane wasn't about to go investigate. No, she'd leave that for some other unfortunate person to do. Someone who loved adventure. Pryane dreamed of a differant sort of adventure then riding on the bow of a ship and feeling the salt spray on her lips as a ship skimmed over the waves. No, she wanted to fly over those waves, not skim. And not in a boat, either. Pryane wanted to Impress so badly that she knew of nothing else. It was a burning desire deep down inside of her, and she couldn't get it to go away, no matter what she did. It was her dream, always there, always constant. She couldnt' give it up. Everyone had laughed at Pryane for her dreams. Although she's grown up not a few miles away from Katadon, she'd never been Searched. Few people at the Fisher Hall were. Most of the women were beautiful but stupid, the males with lots of brawn and no brains. One of the few girls who was neither pretty nor dumb, she'd been destined to a life of endless teasing from the Apprentices. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Pryane leaned up against the wooden rail that had been placed around the rockiest outcropping, looking out at Katadon. It was barely visible in the dawn light, but visible enough. Beautiful. "Oh, the poor girl who's not good enough to get Searched herself is instead going to stare and dream... Do I look happy?" Someone asked in a mocking voice, and Pryane whirled around to see Faiyr standing behind her. He had a fake dreaming look on his sneering face, and Pryane had a sudden urge to punch the snot out of him. She turned back to look out at Ocean Side, trying to ignore him. "Okay, so now you're afraid that you're not going to be able to beat me in a fight, right, little dreamer girl?" Faiyr asked sarcasticaly. A smile spread across his face as Pryane turned back to him, still saying nothing. "C'm on girl, let me have it. Punch me." Pryane remained silent, although she wished desperately to explain. Faiyr was a new Apprentice, but surely he'd heard about her freakish disability. "C'm on, girl, punch me. You shouldn't be afraid to punch me." Suddenly feeling angry beyone words, Pryane turned around and let her fist fly at Faiyr's face. It connected firmly, and he was sent staggering up against the side of a building, gasping sharply in pain. Pryane stared in horror at his bloody nose, and then back at her fist, which was red with not her blood, but Faiyr's. What had she done? She'd just punched an Apprentice... That was the last thought that Pryane had before Faiyr returned the punch. Although it wasn't as hard as Pryane's had been, she was up against the guardrail and it was more dangerous for her. She ducked under the fist before he could punch her, and quickly ran off to her room. She couldn't just believe what she had done. Suddenly, she could hear the new MasterFisher's shout. "PRYANE! GET BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF THIS INSTANT!" Turning away from her room, Pryane plodded to where the MasterFisher and Faiyr stood. The MasterFisher was rarely at the Fisher Hall, and knew little of anyone. In fact, the big talk about Pryane's disability had gone on before he'd returned from an outing, and he'd heard nothing about it. He gestured to Faiyr's bloody nosebloody nose. "Explain yourself, quickly and thoroughly." Pryane made no reply, but lowered her eyes to the floor. "Pryane! I want you to explain yourself at once, unless you want to be put on midden's duty for a month! And trust me, I will use force to get the information out of you." She said nothing, but saw the MasterFisher's hand raise. It came down sharply across her face, and Pryane felt the stinging pain, and closed her eyes quickly. It was a good thing that she did so, because the MasterFisher's hand whipped right across her eye. Had her eyes not been closed, there was little doubt that she would of been blinded in that eye. The MasterFisher brought his hand down on Pryane's cheek again and again, and the tears began to roll in an almost steady stream down the girl's cheeks. "HEY!" Both MasterFisher, Pryane, and Faiyr turned to look at the source of the voice, Pryane's vision blurred by tears as she sobbed. One of the workers in the kitchen strode up sharply, glaring at the MasterFisher. "She won't tell me why she hurt Faiyr," He said, obviously more than slightly scared of the woman. "Pryane, honestly!" The kitchen worker contiuned to glare. "Then you're a cold, heartless man who pays no attention to what goes on at his Fisher Hall. Slapping Pryane for not talking! Hah!" There was no hint of amusement in her voice. "Didn't you know?" She asked suddenly. The Master Fisher shook his head, the words "know what?" written in his eyes. "Pryane can't talk." *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* It took two days for the redness to fade from Pryane's face, and another three for the swelling around her left eye and on her cheek to go back down to normal. But she felt as though more than physical pain had been inflicted. For as long as she could remember, Pryane had been called a freak. It had taken a while, but eventually most had stopped after many of the kitchen workers became very agitated. So she'd been left pretty much alone. There had been people that had tried to be her friend, but it had never really worked very well, because Pryane couldn't say anything. She couldn't blame them whenever they stopped speaking to her. But now the MasterFisher didn't know that she was mute. She felt like she was being called a freak all over again. He had hurt her because of something that she couldn't even do, and |