6/22/2002
11:22
PM
Logfile
from Sk'lar.
Weyrleader's
Office
Oddly
enough, there seems to be an almost stringent vein of orderliness to the
Weyrleader's office, which is quite unlike the life that is led. Every scrap of
hide or paper is neatly stacked and marked, set in sorted dividers. The floor
even gleams, small throw rugs adding a bit of color and style to the room. On
the wall is a crisp new map of Pern, detailed in the finest degree. Another,
more specific to the area that Telgar is responsible for, dominates the wall to
the central desk's left, marked with small pins with little flags on them.
Perched
somewhere up high, you see Pip.
From
here you can go:
Out
Annie
has arrived.
Annie
bursts -- yes, /bursts/ -- into Sk'lar's office, green eyes fairly livid.
"Sk'lar!" She skids right on up to his desk, slamming her flattened
palms onto the desk's top. "Shardit, Sk'lar, how could you let this happen
to us? Do you /know/ the kinds of things she is implying to me? Do you know
what this means for us? How /could/ you?"
Sk'lar
is rubbing his brow. Yes, rubbing his brow as he contemplates a report just
handed to him. After reading it, it is tossed onto the desk with about a good
million other reports that seem to have been given to him lately. Willowsalic
laces the klah steaming at the corner of his inherited desk. As Annie slams
into the room, he doesn't jump or startle. Nope, he slowly turns about to watch
her with weary eyes, a sigh, "Now what?"
"It's--
it's-- that /woman/. The Headwoman of Crom. Zhavia." Oh, how the
Weyrwoman's opinion of Zhavia has dropped in the past half hour. "She
blames /us/ for it! Even though one of ours died as well, and-- and-- this is
/all/ your fault! How could you let this happen at your /first/ party at
Telgar? With the new Lord, of all people, his own Lady poisoned?" She
pauses, inhales sharply. "You twit!"
Sk'lar
snorts as he watches her before turning away and moving towards the front of
the desk, "Blaming me?" He doesn't raise his voice, and rarely ever
does. He shakes his head from side to side, "Personally, I'd sure like to
have a couple of words with this new Lord Holder. He endangered our people...
food tester? One of /our/ people died because of this -whatever enemy was after
him, was brought to us." There is a definite undercurrent of menace in his
voice, just tickling at the normal tone of his voice. He seems to have
completely glossed any implications directed his way.
Annie
chooses this moment to collapse dramatically into a chair near the desk.
"But they're upset at /us/!" she nearly wails, cheeks turning pink in
her distress. Never one to handle stress well, our Annie. "You should have
/seen/ the way that woman talked to me! She wouldn't even take the restorative
tea I brought her, as if /I/ would poison her or do /anything/ to endanger her
life."
Sk'lar
shrugs his shoulders, "I can imagine that they are... we allowed someone
to come into our Weyr and poison their drinks. I'd be pissed off too." He
turns back about, somehow finding a clean place on the desk to sit his rear
down on. "We need to get them out of here, and now. If someone is trying
to kill them, I sure as Thread don't want it happening here. No... Adrick knew
something. A food taster. He never told us." Again, his voice darkens.
Annie's
never been one to figure things out rationally; she prefers to scream and yell
and punch and generally strong-arm her way out of situations. "But I don't
think that woman is cleared by the Healers yet." She continues to refer to
Zhavia as 'that woman'. "But, Sk'lar, how could this happen /here/?"
She just can't understand it.
Sk'lar
sighs once more, "I don't know... but they brought it here. We have issues
of our own, /obviously/." He shakes his head from side to side. "And
we will deal with them in time... but I don't want them here. J'ak died because
of this mess they brought on us." He finally looks back across to her.
Adrick
has arrived.
Annie
nods slowly, jaw clenching. Finally, something she and Sk'lar can agree on.
"That's right..." She refuses to say 'you're right', petty wench.
"It is all their fau-- oh!" She stands quickly as Adrick unexpectedly
enters, smoothing the tunic under her riding jacket with quick motions of her
hands. "Good morning, Lord Adrick." Her tone is bland, her smile
barely perceptible.
Adrick
nods, his appearance haggard. He has
gotten /very/ little sleep since Zhavia took sick. None at all, to be truthful.
"Weyrleader. Weyrwoman." He has the air about him as one who is all
too aware of what has happened.
Sk'lar
pushes off of his spot where he was sitting on the desk as Adrick enters. Weary
gaze fastens upon the Lord Holder, looking utterly benign as if nothing more
than your average Weyr resident just entered. "I haven't had a chance to
see Zhavia yet today..." By the chaos on the desk, it is easy to see where
he has been most of the day, "She is fairing better?"
"She
seemed pretty fiesty when I went to see her," Annie offers helpfully, an
odd tone -- something strained -- in her voice. "Thank Faranth it was
nothing serious." She settles back into her chair, and waves one hand at
another one nearby. "Have a seat, Lord Adrick," she offers, so graciously.
Adrick
has a 'other shoe is about to drop' feeling, but shakes it off as he sits
down. "She does seem better,
yes." He says, sighing
softly. "Have you learned
anything since last night?" He
asks, somewhat tentatively. He has
something he wants to say, but he's not entirely sure how to say it.
Sk'lar
glances side-long at Annie, pursing his lips slightly. With a nod, the bronzer
moves around the side of the desk to stand just off to the side of it, one hand
resting upon the surface, "Good. I'll try to see her later on, if allowed.
At least before she can be released to leave." Yeah, there is a little bit
of an emphasis on that last word. Free hand moves over to push at one of the
many pieces of hide on the desk, "Well, as of last report, I haven't heard
anything. They are widening the sweep circle... but, its been long enough that
I doubt anyone will be found. With B'ran's description, I've had a harper draw
up a picture of the boy and it will be circulated. I think I've got a sketch
here somewhere." Alas, the desk is quite a mess. A breath, and he looks
back to Adrick, as if expecting something.
"Oh,
I don't think she's in the mood for visitors, Sk'lar," Annie comments
off-handedly, eyeing her fingernails as if she is pondering her next manicure.
"I think she's a bit overwhelmed." Catty little Annie, don't mind her
-- she's just a little ol' Weyrwoman. All this diplomacy and investigation is
men's work, right?
Adrick
nods. "She'll probably take a
visitor if I'm right beside her. I
think she gets more upset when she's worried about my safety." He shakes his head with a sigh. "I doubt you'll find the boy. And even if you do, he'll either be dead, or
too....simple to be of much help."
Adrick admits with a heavy sigh.
"I think I know who's responsible."
And at
Adrick's last words, Sky's expression abruptly darkens. He takes a long couple
of breaths as if to steady himself, jaw seeming to tense for a moment there.
Bronzer watches Adrick for the longest of moments before speaking softly,
drawling, "You do?" And if you listen real hard, you might even hear
a trace of mocking to go with any possible accusations.
"Oh,
do tell!" Annie forces her eyes to widen in surprise, and she lets her
carefully inspected hands fall into her lap to rest against leather-clad
thighs. "It would be nice to know things like that, you know, so we can
kick them out of the Weyr and never let them back in because /they killed one
of our wingriders/." The tone that started out almost giddy, drops to
something rather stony with the last phrase.
Adrick
shakes his head with a sigh.
"That's the problem. I
don't know where she is." First
thing he did was send Lanlo to the hold with orders for his guards to detain
her. The response was that she was
missing. "Did either of you know
Lady Wenna?" He asks,
wearily. "She's a former Lady
Holder, and the mother of a...well, I guess you could call him a Lord Holder. And as I'm sure you're both aware, Crom
Hold has seen more than it's fair share of new Lords in the past few
Turns. When I took Hold, I suspected
that something was happening to some of the Lords. Especially since Ruilan and my uncle both became ill." He rubs at his temples for a moment. "I suspected it was Wenna, using some
kind of poison to weed out her rivals to retake the Hold for herself. But then, and now, I have no solid
proof." He sighs more heavily
then. "I never dreamed that she'd
be bold enough to try something like this...here."
It is
at times like these that Sky would just love the chance to stuff Annie into a
closet and leave her there indefinitely. It would make life so much easier
-namely for him. He listens quietly to Adrick as he speaks, frowning slightly.
"I remember that name -I spent quite a number of my younger turns in your Hold,"
he continues by way of explanation. For all he knows, he might even have met
her at one point in his extreme youth when his mother was a CraftHead stationed
at Crom. "But you still had a food tester here with you?"
"Your
younger turns? So you weren't at Crom that long ago, were you?" Annie
tilts her head to gaze up at Sk'lar with completely wide, completely innocent
eyes. "I personally was at Ista while Wenna was Lady, so I know little of
her, Ista and Crom being so far apart." She shrugs slightly, being rather
unhelpful. She examines her fingernails again.
Adrick
nods. "That's because Zhavia and
Mendelvahn put their collective feet down.
Believe me, I would have left Riko at the Hold if I could have. The boy gets on my nerves, but he has his
uses." He shakes his head. "I wanted to explain it under
different circumstances, and I know the Weyrwoman commented on it last night,
my having a food taster. They, perhaps,
aren't as naive as I am. Although I
think Wenna's plan failed."
Sk'lar
flickers a glance askance to Annie, and just manages to bite back a retort.
"Actually, a little over ten turns ago, it was." He continues to
watch Adrick though, "But they wouldn't have insisted if you knew there
was a danger... and you didn't inform us about it." Again, accusation.
"Nobody told us a single thing."
"Ten
turns? So you were just a wee bit of a thing!" Annie really tries, but she
simply cannot avoid those comments. Let Crom's Lord think she is the most
unprofessional Weyrwoman in Pern's history! But as Sk'lar speaks, she begins to
chew on her lower lip, pondering things. "I never heard a thing." She
states this simply, flatly, teasing tone of her previous comments gone for the
moment.
Adrick
sighs and nods, rubbing at his forehead.
"Because I felt there was no reason to worry." He says, in a tired voice. "I didn't think she'd have...the..gall
to attack me at a Weyr. The only people
who felt worried were Riko, Zhavia, and Mendelvahn. I felt perfectly safe.
I mean....how could she possibly reach me at Telgar Weyr?" He asks, before shaking his head. "I....was naive."
Hotaru
has arrived.
Hotaru
slips quietly in, having stopped by the weyrleader's office in hopes of finding
Annie. Slipping in quietly in hopes of
finding maybe Annie and Sk'lar.
"With
all due respect, Lord Adrick... it doesn't matter at all if /you/ felt safe,
your entourage seemed to think something might have been amiss. You knew of
the danger, and nothing was told to us.
Nothing. And there are two people dead... one... one, a rider of this weyr and
a clutchmate of mine." There simmers a definite anger there that is just
begging to be released. Sk'lar watches Adrick with dull eyes, the strained
restraint in his voice about the only clue.
Annie
remains in her chair, leaning back, arms now folded across her chest. Jesting
and ill-timed jabs at her Weyrleader have passed, and her expressive eyes watch
Adrick, flickering only to acknowledge the Junior Weyrwoman's entrance with a
nod. "Lord Adrick, I am /sure/ you will never know the pain my lifemate,
Serath, and I felt at a death so... young. And so horribly wrong. And
preventable." Her words linger there. Preventable. She looks away, then,
preferring the Lord not to see any pain that might show in her eyes. She does
not like to be perceived as having fallabilities -- like emotion.
Adrick
sighs. "Believe me, Weyrwoman,
Weyrleader. I understand your
pain." And he has to live with the
fact that he's lost his Steward, nearly lost his bride to be, and the death of
the rider and steward were all /supposed/ to have been him, if Wenna's plan had
gone off without a hitch. And that's
part of why he was up all night.
Guilt. "I....understand if
you hold Crom Hold, and myself, responsible for what happened." He, on hindsight, /should/ have told
them. But he really did feel safe in
the Weyr. Who would dare do sometihng
like that in a Weyr? His answer
grieves him deeply. Wenna.
Hotaru
slants a look at Adrick thinking to herself, 'bride to be?' Interesting. However attention moves to Annie and Sk'lar, though the mood is
dampened by the dark conversation that has been taking place in this room. Reasons why she came to seek Annie out flee
her mind as the young woman decides to remain standing at the door
eavesdropping. However, she can't help
but wiggle her eyebrows at Annie and Sk'lar.
Sk'lar
glances over as Hottie loiters near the entrance. He moves from his spot,
gesturing to the chair behind the desk for her to sit in if she so wishes.
"Please, join us..." He then glances back to Adrick, gaze still dark.
A long breath as he deliberately changes the subject, "Are you absolutely
sure that Lady Wenna is the one responsible for this? And nobody else? Would
you happen to have any proof that she is the one behind it?"
"She's
not a Lady anymore, just a Wenna," Annie idly reminds Sk'lar, never having
been keen on politics, but wanting to stay in the conversation just the same.
"And if she /is/ responsible, then we should send out riders /immediately/
to apprehend her. You don't kill a dragonrider -- even on 'accident' -- and get
away with it." Greenish eyes flash. Perhaps Annie is internally bemoaning
the fact capital punishment is not a Pernese tradition.
Adrick
would be bemoaning the same thing. He
wants Wenna. Now more than ever. Killing his Steward...he wasn't overly fond
of Mendelvahn. Man was a stick in the
mud. But killing a dragonrider and
poisoning Zhavia, all to try to get at him.
"I agree, Weyrwoman."
He sighs though, shaking his head in Sk'lar's direction. "Until I return to my hold to have a
look around, I...have no proof that it was her."
Hotaru
smiles brightly at Sk'lar while seating before her features school into those
of grief. "It's very hard to lose
a dragonrider.." Even she, as
immature as she is, remembers the horrible feeling of losing the rider. "Why do you think this Wenna is the one
behind this?" weyrgirl pipes up, having come into the conversation rather
late.
Sk'lar
nods his head slowly, "Then, we shall continue to follow up any leads from
here, and hope to find that boy... You can be assured that we will not hesitate
in trying to find who is responsible for this, and make sure that they are
punished. It was done in Telgar. One of our people were killed because of this.
We won't let it rest. Ever." At Hotties query, he nods towards Adrick,
leaving him to explain.
Annie
nods quietly in affirmation of the Weyrleader's promise of retribution, arms
still folded across her chest. Her eyes are downcast, and she seems to not be
paying as much attention, but to be thinking about something in her own mind.
"It could just as easily been the three of us," she comments under
her breath to her lap.
Adrick
smiles grimly. "Aye,
Weyrwoman. It could have." He says, before turning to Hotaru. "I suspect she is the reason why Crom
Hold has gone through so many Lords in the past decade or so." That's about all he can say on the topic.
Hotaru
lifts and eyebrow and nods, "Hopefully.. it won't happen again." Feeling a bit out of her depth in this
little conversation, she fall silent, just watching the others.
Sk'lar
frowns towards Annie, and then turns back to Adrick. He asks something that has
been bugging him, "Why didn't you get a glass of the poisoned wine? Your
steward died from it -and apparently J'ak drank from a glass that Zhavia was
drinking from. It wasn't fast acting. Your food taster could have had some,
didn't die immediately, give it on to you, and .... there you go. Why target
them, and not you?"
"I
think it was a mistake. I think Lord Adrick was supposed to die. It's the only
thing that makes sense," Annie announces, looking up from her lap, up from
her troubled thoughts. "I mean, what point would killing those two be? Or
killing an innocent, young bronzerider in the prime of his youth, causing his
healthy and brave young dragon to suicide between with grief?" She tends
toward the melodramatic, dwelling on J'ak's death. Her eyes drift back to her
lap, brooding. All this will not be easily forgotten.
Adrick
nods. "Exactly, Weyrwoman. I believe that I was supposed to have been
poisoned." He shakes his head,
turning to Sk'lar. "I think that
the glasses of wine simply didn't get to the right person. Like the tray got turned....or Zhavia and
Mendelvahn took the glasses that were meant for me."
Hotaru
slips off the chair and nods her head in Annie, Sk'lar's and Adrick's
direction. "I wish it didn't have
to be anyone." Tilting her head to
the side, the small young woman adds absently, "Isaramaath is demanding
something.. so I hate to be rude and leave, but.." Shrugging her shoulders, "Maybe the
next time we meet will be on better terms."
Sk'lar
quirks an eyebrow, "/Both/ glasses?" He still sounds a bit skeptical.
"You and someone else. Zhavia was targeted as well?" He sighs once
more before pushing around the jumble of accumulated hides and such upon the
desk over the last couple of days, locating a fairly clean hide to jot down
some notes from their conversation with his neat writing. He glances up as
Hottie begins to make her leave, giving her something of a wan smile,
"Thanks for coming in for a moment though."
Annie
lifts her head to smile a silent little farewell to Hotaru, then flickers her
gaze over to Sk'lar. "Maybe it was meant for one of Telgar's leaders,
Sk'lar, to make it seem like it wasn't just Crom's who were targetted."
Paranoia is slowly taking over Annie's voice, and her tone increases in pitch
slightly. One leg is bouncing up and down rapidly, a nervous motion. Her
fingers tap on the arms of the chair in agitation.
Adrick
shakes his head. "We can
speculate endlessly about who it was meant for. It's possible that it was meant for Mendelvahn and myself, as
Mendelvahn has been there far longer than I have. Zhavia's still new to the hold, so it could be that Wenna
thought that Zhavia could be turned into her ally."
Hotaru
slips quietly out with a wiggle of fingers, forgetting why she'd searched Annie
out in the first place.
Hotaru
hops energetically toward Forked Hallway.
Sk'lar
persists in the belief that he is immortal. Possibly a belief all teenagers
hold, or just himself. He has never considered his mortality, and with Annie
constantly bringing up these possibilities, it doesn't make him consider it
-just brings on a touch of annoyance. He nods at Adrick's words, "Finding
out who the intended victims were is half the battle. We just don't
know...." A long breath. "Sooo, we need to make sure to prevent this
from happening again." And neither is he wont to discuss any changes in
policy around the Holder. He looks back to Adrick, "Is there anything
else?"
Annie
remains in her chair, jostling about with a case of the nerves. "It was
probably one of us," she repeats under her breath, shooting a glare at
Sk'lar. He never listens to her. She'll /make/ him listen soon enough. Whether
it takes fists or yelling or something more drastic. She tilts her head toward
Adrick, brows lifting slightly, waiting to hear some other magnificent
revalation, like that he also knew Sk'lar was going to win her flight, but
failed to mention /that/ either.
Adrick
shakes his head. "I wish there was more I could tell
you. But until I get back to my Hold
and start to track Wenna down, there isn't a whole lot else I can do."
Sk'lar
would actually rather like to see Adrick and the rest of his entourage out of
the Weyr. Very much so. And he'd be more than happy to escort them out -just to
make sure. "Yes, I'm sure that can't be soon enough for you." *cough*
He pushes away from the desk to move to the door, opening it wide for the
Holder, "We'll be talking again, I'm sure. If I hear anything further,
I'll be sure to tell you."
Adrick
shakes his head. "I wish there was more I could tell
you. But until I get back to my Hold
and start to track Wenna down, there isn't a whole lot else I can do."
*re*
Sk'lar
would actually rather like to see Adrick and the rest of his entourage out of
the Weyr. Very much so. And he'd be more than happy to escort them out -just to
make sure. "Yes, I'm sure that can't be soon enough for you." *cough*
He pushes away from the desk to move to the door, opening it wide for the
Holder, "We'll be talking again, I'm sure. If I hear anything further,
I'll be sure to tell you." *re*
Annie
turns in her chair to follow Sk'lar's movements to the door, silent gaze
watching the Lord of Crom depart.
Adrick
walks toward Forked Hallway.