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.