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 Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 7:57 am
"Please, everyone, calm down!" F'itz exclaimed, his usually calm voice betraying a hint of despair at the squabbling and snapping. "We are here to carry out an investigation," he went on in more normal tones as he recovered his aplomb, "fighting amongst ourselves does nobody any good." Kindra was a junior weyrwoman, might be senior one day fairly soon. She was an imperious, impetuous, entitled young fool. Benden did not need a mind like hers at the helm.
He just wanted the best for Benden. Shards he missed Kestril, for all her faults she had been a strong Weyrwoman who knew what she was about. He didn't have time to worry about the past or the future too much right now though, for as he had said to the crèche of scrapping children they were here for a purpose. Turning back to C'ren F'itz asked; "Why do you suppose the killer did it? There must have been a motive, a strong one to do such a thing." Power, power, power. Two young goldriders, each easy enough to manipulate in their own ways to a skilled player. The more he thought he more he suspected the bloody tool he had found had been left deliberately. Could W'lin truly have gone so far in the pursuit of power?
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:19 am
Dinah laughed harshly at Kindra's presumption, and would have berated her if it weren't for what came next. Though she obeyed, Dinahsk wailed objection to the Queen-Dragon's command, throwing back flashes of emotion: the anxiety, the anger at the one who'd touched her handler against her wishes, and the sheer love for Dinah at the root of it all. How could this dragon be so cruel, to keep her from aiding her bonded?
The handler rushed to her green, to hold her head and soothe her, and looked to Kindra now not with anger, but with hatred. "How dare you! She did nothing wrong, and less than what most whers would have! Yes, the Master will hear about this." She turned on Tsubari now. "About what a fool he is! You never, ever touch another handler like that, you sharding deadglow!"
Poor F'itz, voice of reason, might as well have whispered, for all that she heard him. Backing off was difficult for Dinah at the best of times, because she needed to have the last word, to win, and now that that stupid rider's stupid shiny dragon had freaked out her wher, it was close to impossible. Shaking with anger and the effort to contain it for Dinahsk's sake, she leaned her head against her green's and made low, soft noises. On edge would be putting it mildly; the handler was close to snapping for real.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:07 pm
"I don't care if it was an accident or not," he replied to Dinah, "I want it out."
His words were overridden by the sudden in-flow of support from the girls' own groupmates. Well, of course they would all shoot her down, and about time. It was obvious that this handler had never been taught control; it was a miracle her wher hadn't taken someone's hand off already. Whers needed control, crazy, dimwitted, aggressive beasts that they were. With a handler as out of control as this one, how could the Green be expected to be safe?
As Dinah's fellow wherhandler took her in hand, C'ren hoped the man could do something with the girl. Women were disgustingly impulsive, and this one seemed worse than most. He couldn't prove she'd asked her wher to do it on purpose, of course, but she looked like the type of vindictive female to do just that.
He didn't have much of a chance to speak with the ongoing conversation and Gold Suunath's presumed intervention with the wher, but he finally broke in after Dinah threatened to tell on her fellow wherhandler.
"Girl, if you think even your dimglow Master will side with you, you're worse off than he is. At least he knows how things work in a weyr. You should ask him; it's about time you learned your place." He looked to F'itz next. "And your group has been at this for how long now? If that doesn't show what a fool game W'lin's playing, I don't know what does. 'Why' you ask? Shard it all, man! Kill Kestril? With a giant gold egg on the sands?" C'ren stared at F'itz as if he wasn't particularly bright either. "What better way to manipulate the Weyr than through a puppet rider?"
"Do I think the investigation is a bad thing?" he asked Kindra. "Yes, I surely do. The fact that you really can call this an investigation, junior Goldrider, shows how inexperienced you are." His voice wasn't rude; what he was saying was cold, hard facts.
"You may be Weyrwoman someday," C'ren pointed out to Kindra, "but before then you had better learn how a weyr works. Your precious Lord Holder father should've seen fit to teach you something more of how to direct a group of people if this," he gestured at the loose group perusing his items and mostly staring at Dinah and the conversations her bad behavior had caused, "is the best you can do to 'investigate'. So far, the Brownrider here has been the only one who actually seems interested in learning the truth at all." Figured, really. "After all, why would W'lin put people like her," he gestured sharply at Dinah, "in these groups when it's so obvious they can't handle the job they've been given? If he's actually interested in learning the truth himself, of course."
His short series of explanations seemed to have calmed C'ren somewhat and he looked about at the gawkers. "Well? Aren't you going to get to it? The sooner you're out of here, the better!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:02 am
Stars above, and precious shells he had not wanted C'ren to imply exactly what he himself was thinking. Of course the whers hadn't found anything unusual, the killer had come from within. W'lin, or somebody in his pocket. He felt sick to believe that this was what riders were coming to, knifing in the dark for a snatch at power.... And this really was all dissolving into an argument. C'ren, Kindra, Dinah, what was he supposed to do with people who couldn't discuss things in a civilized manner?
"Please!" F'itz repeated more forcefully. "Trading insults will get us nowhere! C'ren, really you must not address a goldrider in that manner. I truly understand your frustration but a little respect is in order!... And that goes around to you Dinah, I am sure she meant no harm but C'ren submitted to this willingly and does not deserve to have his property damaged. If she - Dinahsk? - has trouble keeping her claws sheathed please ask her not to tread upon anything she could damage." As for Kindra....
Picking up the shape of his rider's thoughts Brumath hummed acknowledgement and addressed Sunnath.
As he felt his dragon address Kindra's F'itz gave a very faint sigh and pushed his fingers through his grey hair before turning away from the group to start carefully looking around the weyr.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:35 am
N'mol was was still tense, but he had to admire F'itz's ability to step up and direct not only the investigation, but those around him as well. Although he was just a wingrider, it seemed that F'itz had diplomacy and backbone enough to be a wingsecond. It was strange that he'd never had the opportunity to progress that far. However, wingsecond or not, N'mol decided that if he had to look to anyone in this situation, it would be F'itz from now on. Although the man was technically in the other group, it seemed that several of N'mol's groupmates tended to be missing or as good as missing (since they were so quiet) on any given occasion. It looked as if the groups had gotten jumbled about a bit.
C'ren's theories, though, certainly bothered him. N'mol didn't want to think about those implications, especially not since Kindra was involved. He could, however, agree that at this point it looked as if F'itz was the only one who seemed to be interested in actually doing the work they were assigned to do. He didn't think W'lin had purposely put together teams that would fail at finding evidence, but though he hated the thought of someone killing a Weyrwoman to manipulate the young riders, that part made sense to him. He looked at Kindra as he finished sorting some scrolls and replaced them and mentally smiled to himself.
Kindra and Suunath could not be manipulated in that manner. Suunath is young, but bright. She will make a fine Queen and we will be there to assist her. Tyeth spoke almost exactly what N'mol was thinking. Kindra's temper might be used to lead her to do silly things, but there was small chance of W'lin manipulating her like a puppet.
The young Bronzerider glanced at Dinah, but she had her face buried in the side of her wher. With her occupied, that left him free to question as well as search. Maybe now was the time to trot out the information he'd been given.
"One of the Harpers that passed through here a while back mentioned that Flynn, that infamous Holdless man, had gone missing. Couldn't he have been involved? Maybe even have been the killer?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:47 am
C'ren eyed F'itz, then nodded and it looked as if he was forcing some of his anger away. The redness of his face certainly wasn't going down by much, in any case. "Of course." He nodded slowly to Kindra. "Forgive me. Go ahead and ask what questions you have, Weyrwoman. I'm all ears."
Someone did ask a question right away, but it wasn't Kindra. Who was that? Oh, the young Bronzerider. C'ren relaxed slightly. He would have to try to teach this hopeful rider some things while he was here. Only right, them both being Bronzeriders after all.
"I didn't say a murderer couldn't be hired," C'ren responded, "but do you really think a Holdless could have gotten into the weyrs all on his own? Think. How would he have known how to get out? You must have heard of Candidates getting lost in the lower levels; first few days in the Weyr, they're always getting turned around. How did that Holdless get out so quickly?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:14 am
Kindra bristled but gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. It would do no good yelling at Dinah now, she was obviously beyond listening but Kindra tried once more "Suunath was preventing your Wher from attacking one of your own. You expect her to know if the threat was genuine or not?" she said strangely calmly "Spilling blood in someone's bedroom is NOT the way we are going to get anything done Dinah" she added.
Turning to C'ren once more, with hard eyes she was about to berate him for presuming to know anything about her father but her ears caught the words the Bronzerider said to F'itz and she blanched.... W'lin ... no he couldn't have orchestrated the death of the Goldrider and her dragon ....no .. she shook her head a little .. NO.. it was just not true... it couldn't be ... but the idea.. the thoughts niggling in the back of her mind since Impressing, since the other Weyrs were hit as easily as Benden had been... couldn't be denied and it made her shudder, though, to her credit, she hid it well.
Suunath turned her head as she hovered still at the window, releasing her 'hold' on the Wher and looking towards the Brown "You are right Brumath.... however i will not allow there to be bloodshed, even it is not that of Kindramine" she told him, relaying his words to Kindra since she needed to hear this too, her eyes lost their red hue but she remained where she was, clearly torn between landing in the Bronze dragon's empty Weyr or just hovering at the window, a visible reminder.
Kindra blinked slowly and gave F'itz a releived smile, she truly was trying hard not to lose her temper and lash out but it was hard to ignore as it was as much a part of her as Suunath now was. "Thank you F'itz, ever the voice of reason" she said to him then glanced at N'mol well THAT was a welcome distraction from the worrying thought that W'lin had left the twin Golds orphaned and without a proper guide in the way of things for a Gold and her rider.
She tried to get past her thoughts to ask something she had been planning on asking the Bronzerider, she'd forgotten it with the drama with the Wher. Ah there... oh but he make her skin crawl... "You said before that you saved for a long while for your finery, surely you're not THAT old Bronzerider?" she gave a small smile and offered a slight chuckle "How long did it take to save for all of this?" she asked, trying to keep the tone light, basically ignoring the Wherhandlers now that Suunath was 'on guard' .. as the Gold had conveyed the Brown's words... she saw the truth in them and knew she should behave better... shards.. she WAS better than them.
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:31 pm
C'ren brought up a good point. N'mol himself had rescued several Candidates in the past and he expected that in time he would rescue more. However, just because the man managed to escape didn't mean it couldn't be the Holdless he'd heard mentioned. It had taken hours to find Kestril's body; with or without help, that was plenty of time for him to have escaped.
"I wish someone had seen something of him on the night of the murder," N'mol admitted. "Though I suppose now that he's dead it wouldn't matter very much."
N'mol had suddenly remembered something. When Dinah had been talking to that first wherhandler, the one in the mess hall... She had suggested doubts about W'lin as well. N'mol felt his stomach tighten unpleasantly. That would make several people well familiar with the Weyr doubting W'lin's innocence. It wasn't surefire evidence, and N'mol wouldn't say anything damning W'lin aloud himself, but he couldn't just forget it simply because they were reporting to the Weyrleader.
"You mentioned the Weyrleader. What kind of proof do you have against him?" N'mol asked.
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:36 pm
C'ren smiled at Kindra's attempt at flattery. Well, at least she looked as if she'd be promising once she put a few years of experience on her.
"Well I didn't buy it all at once. The pelt I caught myself during the--" He glanced at F'itz and cleared his throat. "Well, my Tonth and I caught it at Southern, I'll say that. As for the bed, desk, bookcases, and other furniture, I amassed those over the last ten Turns or so. It's amazing how marks add up when you don't spend them on just any frivolities come Gather time."
N'mol's questions brought them back to the point, which C'ren could appreciate. He liked showing off his skills and intelligence to the possible future Senior Weyrwoman just fine, but they did have business to be about. He squinted at the boy for a moment. His tone was harmless, but you never could tell sometimes, with these new riders.
"Proof?" C'ren seemed to have a habit of repeating what other people said back at them. "You think W'lin would leave proof out if he was going to betray the Weyr? No, there's no solid evidence yet, boy. That's why you're investigating, isn't it? All we have is W'lin's history with the Weyr and the obvious factors." He paused and looked between those still paying him heed. "Who stands to gain from Kestril dying? Well, the new Goldriders, sure, when they come of age, but they couldn't have known who they were at the time of her murder, could they? Can't be them. Who next then? Maybe the man who gets left fully in charge of the Weyr and Kestril's replacements?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:58 pm
Kindra's attention was fully on C'ren now "During the ...what Bronzerider" she asked, her voice low and dangerous. She'd caught the glance and the clearing of his throat, wondering just what he had to hide. "When were you at Southern to catch it?" she added, eyebrow raised now. "And if you think this is all for W'lin's gain then what did he gain from attacking Trine and Malvren... it's brought US nothing but trouble" she said, the distaste clear. She didn't want to think W'lin had murdered Kestril but her stomach was churning with the possibility.
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