Date: Tue, 9 May 95 15:16:47 PDT From: "Angela 'Anna' Korra'ti (EDP)" To: crystal@duke.poly.edu Subject: LOG: Berni's Second Meeting with Orynn Sharr Message-ID: <9505092231.AA24002@netmail2.microsoft.com> Archive-Name: berni-n-orynn.log [Introduction]: Gone up to Shankill Station to visit her brother Andros again, Bernadette Marshall feels obligated to check in with Kevlan's father, Orynn Sharr. She finds the man patiently waiting on the station, as he has been for several days now. Eager to receive news of his son, Orynn quickly agrees to meet her.... ---------- Bernadette peeks her head into the catering foyer and locates Orynn Sharr visually. She steps into the room, her hand clasped tightly in front of her, and clears her throat lightly. She says quietly "Um, excuse me...Mr. Sharr?" and waits to be acknowledged. Kevlan's father, who has apparently chosen the catering foyer as the best meeting place for talking with you, looks up from his booth, then rises, and offers his hands. "Howdy, missy," he drawls solemnly to you. "How's mah boy doin'?" Bernadette ambles across the room to your booth and, with a slight blush, takes your offered hands. She looks up at you briefly, but doesn't hold your eyes for long..appearing almost...guilty. She admits in a small voice "He still won't sing, sir," and glances up at you again at the same moment a small shudder wracks her small frame. Orynn frowns, studying you thoughtfully. "How're _you_ doin'?" Bernadette blinks and blushes, wondering why everyone seems so concerned with her health lately when it's Kevlan who needs the concern. She offers a weak smile and replies "I'm fine, thank you. And yourself?" Flashing a lopsided smile that makes him look uncannily like his son, Orynn gestures you to one side of the booth he'd claimed, then settles in on the other. "Well as a man c'n be when his boy's sick. Studyin' up on this heah Guild o' your'n, bidin' mah time... " He shrugs lightly. "That Guildmastah fella's a busy man, ain't he?" Bernadette frowns, her brow wrinkling just a little, as she answers your question with a nod. "Yes, unfortunately he is. It's quite possible that this wouldn't have..." She bites her lip and breaks off, blushing in embarassment and mutters "Never mind..." looking at the tabletop as if it were the most interesting thing in the room. "Naw, missy, now you talk t' me." Orynn leans forward, regarding you levelly. "You pledged with mah boy - Ah figger it's only propah that you an' Ah git t' know one 'nothah." He considers, and then adds, "Are you an' Kevlan still gittin' hitched?" Bernadette looks up quickly, blinking in surprise at you, her face still flushed. The surprised expression quickly falls and she looks away again, utterly miserable as she admits mournfully "I don't know." "Well, why not?" She winces and clasps her hands together on top of the table, looking very uncomfortable. She refuses to look at you for a long while, and appears to think over her response carefully before responding. Still blushing, she says in a small voice "I...uh...I sort of..." she risks little peeks up at you as she speaks, but doesn't retain eye contact for more than a second or two before looking away guiltily, "...well, I sort of broke it off...a few months ago." She pulls her hands off the table and places them in her lap, dipping her head ashamedly, staring at her hands cradled in her lap. For a long moment, Kevlan's father stares at you thoughtfully. "So that's why Kev ain't writ me f'r a while," he says at last. "So. You wan' say how come you broke th' pledgin'?" There is no rancor in his gaze, nor in his voice; he simply asks the question, evidently expecting a reasonable response. Berni gives a slight shake of her head. "I don't think you'd understand..." She picks her head up and looks at you abashedly. "I was stupid...an idiot...and when I realized this, I came back to patch things up and he was gone." Her expression is a mixture of guilt, sorrow and worry as she gazes at you with sad brown eyes. "T' Hesperia?" Orynn leans back slightly in the booth, crossing his arms lightly across his chest. "And now he's done come back all tore up inside, so you ain't said nothin' else 'bout gittin' married. Am Ah right?" She continues looking at you, heartsick, and nods affirmatively to both questions. "Yessir, you're right." Berni leans forward and reaches across the table to put a hand on your arm. "But you have to believe me, sir, I love your son...and I do take our pledging very seriously although I don't know very much about your Star Lady...and I'd like nothing more than to marry him, sir," she blurts in a rush. Orynn considers this, smiling a bit at the emotional declaration, though he doesn't blush as you might expect his offspring to do. He does tell you, "Well, lassie, th' Lady's kind of a diff'rent thang... aside from pledgin', that is. Some folks'll call on her and some won't. Mah Kevlan, well... he's always been kinda Lady-touched." He pauses, then adds, "You tol' _him_ you still wanna marry him?" Bernadette blinkblinks looking at you silently for a moment then shakes her head slowly. "No, sir...I haven't found the...timing...to be appropriate." She frowns. "Well," says Kevlan's father pragmatically, "maybe you oughtta tell him. Ah know that if Ah was tore up that bad, it'd he'p me t' know a good woman thought Ah was worth gittin' hitched to." She smiles softly. "Well, I don't know how accurate it is to call me a 'good woman,' especially after some of the things I've done.." she frowns and shakes her had sadly, "But he is definitely worth getting married to." She smiles again. "I'll tell him as soon as the opportunity presents itself, sir." Orynn's grizzled eyebrows go up, but he simply studies you gravely, and says simply, "Well, Bern'dette, Ah cain't say whether or not you're a good woman, but Ah know mah boy thinks so." He then flashes a grin. "Don't let me keep you from tellin' him you still wan' git married, honey. Git on back down theah and tell 'im." Bernadette grins and actually chuckles, a light pleasant sound you notice (this being the first time she's lightened up in the few meetings you've had) and nods. "Yessir, I will." She stands up from the table, still smiling, and starts to offer her hand when the smile fades. Instead, she wraps her arm around her middle, and hunches over a bit, grimacing. The pain subsides and she straightens, blinking at you embarassedly, left shaken by the incident. "I...I'd better get going.." she says quietly. Orynn blinks at you, and looks you up and down, asking, "You need any he'p gittin' anywheah?" Offering you a weak smile, Berni shakes her head. "I can make it, thanks." With that, she turns and walks slowly, deliberately to the doorway, back straight, head high. She pauses by the door and looks back at you with a more genuine smile. "Thank you for everything, Mr. Sharr. We'll be in touch." And then she's gone. [End log.]