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Erie gave an amused grimmace at Tsubari "If we don't people might start thinking Whers are useless, i mean, if we can't even protect the Weyrwoman" she murmured to him as Khac began his speech. As soon as the Goldhandler had finished Erie drew herself up and stared hard, her eyes passing over the other handlers in the room.

"Whoever did this had planned it, if it is indeed from Malvren, they have been in our Weyr long enough so that our Whers could not pick out a strange scent from those that belong. The murderer is smart, he...or she ... knew Benden well enough to have caught Kestril on her own and without a Wherhandler pair nearby which means they also knew our patrol times and routes. One of the first things we need to do is figure out ways to combat this and, as Zhac says, we need to protect the future of those Twin Golds, much as i don't like dragons, they're needed more than ever right now, it's OUR Job as handlers to protect the people and keep the Weyr safe, we have failed once and our only adult Queen Dragon suffered for our failings, we must NOT let this happen again"

Her speech over Erie trembled and leaned back, leaning towards Tsubari. Most handlers knew her as snappy and unsociable and honestly, Tsubari was pretty much her only friend, the only one that stuck around to actually get to know her and that made her (unconciously) feel the need to be comforted after her speech, she was angry, upset and tired, she hadn't allowed herself time to think about the things she had talked about until this moment, having thrown herself into patrolling so much.

Nyosh caressed the stubby wings of her wher. The purpose of the meeting was finally put into the air. Of course that would be the topic, and a serious one. She listened as Zhac made his opening speech, which was long for him. Then as other handlers began speaking up her eyes watched them intently. There was a certain blind sidedness in what the other handlers said. Nyosh rose slowly to her feet after the last one finished.

“I think it should be pointed that perhaps it was not Malvren. Simply because there happened to be a Malvren crested dagger does not mean it was someone from there. The killer obviously wanted us to focus solely on that fact and forget everything else; thus purposely leaving the dagger. It would not be hard to get a dagger like that shipped somewhere with an accomplice.” She looked around at the other handlers. They had to consider all options in this case, not just the obvious. “I have not heard of many dragonriders from the newer Weyrs being allowed near Benden. Have you? How can they commit a crime without being allowed around? There is also scent, someone from Benden would not trigger our whers.”

“As for the Ancientcrafter, did he leave willingly or unwillingly? Perhaps he was in league with the killer?” She didn’t mention him actually being the killer, though it was on her mind. Nyosh nodded to Erie, “if they as you say know our patrol times, that argues for someone here. At Benden. Clearly someone without a dragon. Perhaps they themselves have a wher?” With a wher it would be so easy to avoid the other pairs. Nyosh gave a smile to Lynd. “I do like your idea of changing patrol times. Even better I think we should make random patrols. Making the time between patrols unpredictable would make covert activities very hard indeed. They won’t know if we are coming in ten minutes or two hours. I would also gladly work with a young wher pair.”

It was not an easy thing to say for the greenhandler; accusing someone from Benden being a traitor. She sat down to see what affect her words would have on the others.

After he finished greeting the newcomers Lukah moved to stand beside Zhac with his arms crossed. He smiled sideways at his friend. Lukah knew better than anyone how quiet Zhac could be. In all the years they had known each other he rarely said more than a few sentences at a time and it was something special to see him make a speech with confidence and clarity. If Lukah didn't know better he might have thought Zhac had been giving speeches all his life. With the mission set, Lukah scanned the room for opinions.

He nodded in agreement with Erie. She brought up some excellent points. He also agreed with Lynd about changing the patrols. Nyosh brought up another excellent point about the dagger. "We should increase patrols in key areas, such as the weyrling barracks. There are some areas that can't be left unattended. Other patrols can be randomized at the end of each week by drawing straws and the schedules kept secret, except to those on patrol.

"I agree the dagger was clearly planted. That does not mean the killer is not Malvern, though he may not be loyal to them. He may also be a wherhandler but that does not make him one of us. If he is a wherhandler he must have been in Benden planning this for some time. We should search among our ranks for anyone who has disappeared recently. We should also look more thoroughly into the Ancientcrafter's disappearance. He almost certainly has a part to play, but I don't think he's responsible."

Lukah paused, taking a deep breath. "Now, if we want to uncover the identity of this assassin, we have to start at the beginning. What was the goal of Kestril's assassination? To cripple Benden's leadership and turn us against Malvern? Yes, but there's more. At this moment Benden is still the key exporter of Mystweed. Since the assassination, Benden no longer ships to Malvern and because of this the tension between our weyrs will only worsen. I'm about to say something very controversial, but it's a possibility I don't think we can ignore. Mystweed is the common factor between Kestril's death and the Ancientcrafter's disappearance. This can't be a coincidence."

"Now's not the time to talk about what could have been," Lukah cautioned gently. The whole weyr had been in a state of confusion after the attack. Murders were extremely rare, so it was not surprising that the riders had panicked. He did not blame Tsubari for feeling bitter - they all did, but if the handlers started pointing fingers at the riders or one another they would never get anywhere.

For a moment Zhac was concerned that they were all just going to continue staring at him and the anxiety would build until something – he wasn’t sure what – would make the situation unbearable. Before he could become anxious in the following pause of his delivered suggestions, the discussion opened – more than he was expecting it too. Still, he didn’t step into to try and keep the tension in check. He may have helped organize this meeting, but he wasn’t actually in charge of anyone; besides, it was better they were speaking in the open air than making new rumors in the shadows – even with the best of intentions.

He spoke up again once there was a gap on conversation. “If we’re too random in our sweeps, we’ll have gaps. Everyone, stick to your patrols, they were scheduled to maximize coverage with available manpower, but if you find or can make extra time, take your wher for a walk – or else organize in small groups And maybe look in the less populated tunnels too. It took them hours to find Kestril – there may still be evidence out there.” He paused to nod at Lynd. “As for the dagger, there’s no use bemoaning it, unless someone with a wher better trained for tracking than Zhask wants to ask the whermaster about having another go at the knife. The hatching wouldn’t have been any good for the whers anyway. Too bright, too many people, and with Yirath, just too many distractions.”

He shifted his weight, but tried not to pause overlong before moving to the next point. He glanced betweenErie and Nyosh. “At any rate, whoever killed the weyrwoman probably isn’t part of any general power. I think Lukah could be right about the reason for killing the weyrwoman – at least it was probably a shot at Benden more than just her individually. Malvren as a whole isn’t benefiting from our weyr keeping tight on its mystweed right now, but they might have done it for something else, or it might have been a smaller group there, or anywhere. What makes it hard is not knowing who’s benefitting from this mess – but whoever pulled this off did a good job and riding on distrust and finger-pointing isn’t going to help us clear the waters.”

Erie leaned into Tsubari's arm around her shoulder "It wasn't a wherhandler... it couldn't have been..." she murmured to him, glaring at Nyosh hard curling her lip, almost wherlike at the girl. "IF it was a handler ill be the first in line to show them what we do with those sort of people Nyosh" she snapped, resisting the urge to go over and rip a few chunks of hair from her head, how DARE she accuse Erie of being soft on someone like that, Wherhandler or not she wasn't about to let Kestril's murder go unpunished.

"Tsubari ..... i ...." she muttered, not sure what she wanted to say. She felt more comfortable with him there, less agitated when he flirted and teased her, in fact she was almost beginning to enjoy the banter....oh shards.. Erisk definitely WAS proddy ... she must be or Erie wouldn't be so edgy but wanting to be close to someone either. "Tsubari.... you might want to keep Tsubarisk away in a few days" she whispered, not wanting the young brown hurt.

Harmony was rather late to the 'party' and she knew it, offering an apologetic look to all present as she approached with Harmonsk. "Sorry," she muttered, "needed to patch up a cut on his leg." The young bronze had been perfectly happy to just ignore it - it wasn't a big injury - but she wasn't about to let him get infected or something. "I'll offer any help I can too of course," she added as she sat down beside Alianar having caught that last bit of conversation, "anything we can do to find whoever did this, we'll do." The situation made handlers look bad, and she wasn't going to tolerate the dragonriders looking down on them any more than the snobs already did.

Nyosh nodded at Lukah’s words. Privately she thought that if blowing one’s cover meant death, surely the individual would remain under cover. It just might mean leaving a bit later instead of immediately. She’d keep an eye out for people requesting transfers soon. Sadly she had to agree with Lukah’s assessment of their troubles continuing. The wherhandlers would have to be on their toes for the upcoming sevendays.

The greenhandler had to smile at Erie’s vehement threat should the murderer prove to be a handler. That eased her worry some what. Erie wouldn’t turn a blind-eye to another handler. Having said her two-mark, Nyosh settled back and watched. She didn’t think there’d be much more for her to say. It pleased her when another handler offered to join up for patrols.