The Devious Designs of a Drudge (3)

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 18th February 2019

Characters: R'nar, Ranni, A'vel
Description: R'nar discovers a problem with A'vel's newest Candidate.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 12 of Turn 9

Ranni

Ranni didn't know where to look but wished she had more than two eyes
to take in the beauty and majesty of Dolphin Cove Weyr. The sunlight
on the water, the beautiful silhouette of the Weyr itself, and then
the vibrant speckles of color which were dragons lounging on ledges,
or flying up to the rim. It was the first time she'd ever seen a Weyr
before and she could not believe the sheer size of it.

There was no way anyone from Sunstone would be able to find her there
amongst so many people, would they?

"Thank you so much," Ranni said to A'vel, once again, once they were
on the ground.

"A'vel," another voice called, and a young man approached. A
dragonrider, Ranni thought, by the knots on his shoulder.

"Where have you been?" R'nar asked.

"It wasn't a problem," A'vel reassured her, blithely.

He turned around to see R'nar arriving. "Hey, R'nar, how are you
doing? ANd Iorath?"

R'nar, upon seeing the girl with A'vel, ducked his head, "Sorry, I
didn't mean to interrupt." He then shot his eyes at A'vel as if to say
'are you going to introduce us?'

Oh, right! A'vel was flustered and off his game still. "This is Ranni,
Tsogath just Searched her out. Ranni, this is R'nar, he rides bronze
Iorath, we were weyrlings together and are good friends."

A bronzerider! Ranni's scalp tingled and the hairs on her neck stood.
Would he know what she had done? Weren't they the leaders of the Weyr?

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ranni," R'nar said, before his brow
furrowed. "Wait, I thought you were out at Sunstone?"

"Right, Tsogath and I were delivering packages," A'vel said, pleased
R'nar knew.

He took a step closer and dropped his voice in hopes Ranni wouldn't
hear and get nervous. "I wasn't expecting to Search anybody. I didn't
actually know Tsogath could for sure, L'pin said we were inconclusive
during weyrlinghood testing..."

R'nar, still smiling a bit since Ranni was watching them closely,
murmured back to A'vel, "That's great Avvie but," he glanced back to
thew new Candidate, "I don't think you actually have the right to
Search someone at a Hold that belongs to Dragonsfall Weyr."

A'vel had been so focused on on what to do with Tsogath as a Search
dragon and what the protocols were that he hadn't even considered
that. "One moment," he said to R'nar.

Then he stepped over to Ranni. "Hey, uh, remember I told you I was new
to this Searching thing? R'nar is going to help me figure out what to
do next. I don't want you to get lost though, so...do you wanna go
over there to that rock and take a seat and sit with Tsogath? You can
scritch her head if you want?" he suggested.

Ranni wasn't stupid, just because she was playing the part of the
simple drudge didn't mean that she misunderstood the situation. She
knew good and well that the young greenrider had committed an error by
bringing her to the Weyr, especially since she hadn't had Yriadhra's
approval to leave, on top of the fact that it was the wrong Weyr. The
bronzerider knew. She knew he did.

The back of her throat felt dry and her heart was threatening to
thunder out of her chest, but what choice did she have but to do as
the little greenrider suggested? There was no where she could run
here.

"Okay. It was a pleasure meeting you," she smiled at the bronzerider
before going over to the rock with Tsogath.

Tsogath knew her rider was suddenly nervous about what he had done
wrong and that it had to do with the girl, but she still knew that the
girl was bright-minded and liked her. So the green laid down by the
rock and extended her head at Ranni.

A'vel waited until she stepped away and then looked at R'nar. "I
didn't think," he said, first, which was intensely obvious.

"Tsogath just said that she was bright minded and I should bring her
back. I told her I didn't know what to do as a Searcher and I was
going to come back here and then come back to talk to her. That was my
plan," he said.

And if he'd done that then he would have been warned...

"What made you decide to bring her back without checking first?" R'nar asked.

"She begged," A'vel said, which didn't sound very convincing. "She
said she was afraid of what would happen if she stayed. She seemed
frightened. And Tsogath was insisting."

"Well," R'nar chewed on his lower lip, casting a glance at Ranni
again, "I could ask my mom." He hated using the 'my mom's the
Weyrwoman' card, but she would know the proper course of action.

A'vel fidgeted. "I'm gonna get into so much trouble, aren't I? I didn't think."

"Let me go talk to my mother. Stay with the girl, get her something to
eat maybe, she looks skinny..." R'nar's words trailed off a little as
he watched Ranni scratch Tsogath's eyeridge.

"She's a drudge. A girl from a Hold. I know what that's like. She must
have felt like Search was her only way out," A'vel said
sympathetically.

"We could go to the Dining Cavern. Do you think I should try to get
more out of her?"

"I don't know," R'nar answered honestly. "We don't want to scare her
into trying to run off. She might open up on her on once she feels
safer."

"Okay, I'll stick to talking to her about food. And Iorath will tell
Tsogath what comes next?" he guessed.

R'nar nodded, "I'll go find my mother now."

"Thank you," A'vel said quietly.

He headed over to Ranni and managed his best friendly smile. "I'm
sorry I just left you there with Tsogath. R'nar's really smart, his
mother is the Weyrwoman, and she knows allll about Candidates and how
this works, and I don't know anything," he explained. "So R'nar said
he'd go talk to her about what I'm supposed to do next, and we should
go get food or something in the meantime. We have better food here
than the Harper Hall ever had."

Terror coiled in Ranni's stomach like an icy cold fist. The Weyrwoman's son! The Weyrwoman would know about her, and the Weyrwoman would know what she had done.... They would send her back. Hot, scalding tears prickled the backs of her eyes but she kept them at bay. She couldn't fall apart now. She'd lived several Turns as a drudge and bitter disappointment was not a stranger to her. She might as well enjoy a good meal before being sent back.

"Okay," she whispered, "thank you."

Last updated on the February 28th 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

The Devious Designs of a Drudge (3)