Obstacles Tarilan stormed angrily to her loom where Candis sat, as though nothing had happened.  "What do you think that you're playing at?" She demanded angrily, sitting down in the chair with a THUNK. "What do you mean?" Candis asked smugly, for she knew exactly what the young girl meant.  Her brown flit had flown Barnuil's green in its recent flight, and Tarilan had been after blood ever since.  "Why on Pern do you come storming in here like this, Tarilan?  We should all be kind, proper, and like a lady is supposed to be..." She smiled again at the senior apprentice's fight to keep from yelling out something inappropriate. "You know why, Candis, and I must say, I don't have to stay here at the weavercraft hall, I can leave any time I feel like it," Tarilan fumed.  "Apprentices don't have to stay." "Other than the fact that Caaylin happens to live here, too," Candis replied, even more smug.  As if she could leave here without her foster mother!  "And Zephiria, too." Tarilan had to hand it to Candis, she did have a good way of manipulating her around to how she wanted her.  She could leave Caaylin, or she could leave Zephiria, but to leave them both would of been to deprive herself of every living thing that cared about her.  Except, she reflected, Baernil, but she'd be leaving him, too, if she left the weavercraft hall. Of course, with Tarilan's luck, Barnuil walked in at that exact moment, his face split with a broad grin as he spotted Candis.  "'Scuse us, Tarilan, but Candis and I need to speak about something," He said quite forcefully, and shoved her out of the room. "Well, Candis, see how the MasterWeaver reacts whenever he finds out that you've been shirking your duties," Tarilan said happily, knowing that if she waited until the MasterWeaver was already in a bad mood, he'd blow his top and Candis.  However, the door was shut and there was some furitive whispering behind them.  Sighing, Tarilan decided that she might as well go in for lunch, when she bumped into something hard, and looked up to see a journeyman smith, probably one of the cutest guys that she'd seen yet, looking around. "Excuse me, ma'am," Tarilan did a double-take at this point.  Ma'am?  "But, for the life of me, I cannot find where the food is, and I'm starving."  Tarilan found herself staring for a few seconds at the journeyman with his emerald-green eyes and black hair.  "Uh, yeah, food, sorry," She muttered quickly, and led him away towards the kitchens, not noticing Candis sticking her head out of the doors and staring at the journeyman with even more amazement than Tarilan had. # # # "Well, it looks like someone got out on the wrong side of the bed," Tarilan said to Barnuil, who simply grunted as they stood in line for breakfast.  "I mean both you and Candis, although you seem to be the one that's suffering more."  The young weaver couldn't help but smiling broadly at Barnuil's situation. Apparently Candis had been going around with the journeyman smith, and Baernil had found them kissing in the linen room.  Rather childish, Tarilan reflected, that would of been the first place that she would of looked for Zephiria if she had her eye on a guy in the crafthall. "Tell me about it," Barnuil groaned.  "Candis won't even talk to me."  He sullenly took the sticky-rimmed klah pitcher from the serving table and headed back to where he was eating.  "It's too bad for you, though, I mean, of all of those 'lizards to fly your green, it had to be her's."  Tarilan didn't really feel sorry for Barnuil; she just wanted to see how far she could go with all of this. "Yeah," He muttered listlessly.  Suddenly, looking at the seat that Candis usually occupied, Barnuil turned to Tarilan.  "Would you like to sit with me?" Glancing from the empty seat to Candis, and then back to where Baernil was sitting, Tarilan shook her head no.  Heading over towards where Baernil sat alone, she cleared her throat loudly behind him.  "Is this seat taken?" She inquired, and was pleased to see the look of disgust on Barnuil's face, and the smile of acceptance on Baernil's. Next Chapter Previous Chapter Table of Contents Tarilan's Index