Delivered at Last (1/2)

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 20th April 2024
Series: The Hunt for Gil

Characters: Jayala, Tasni, Gilbek
Description: Jayala and Tasni visit the Weyr to speak with Gil
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 18 of Turn 11

Jayala

Dolphin Cove had sent a brown to collect the Hallsecond and her
journeywoman. When they appeared from /between/, Tasni looked down on
the encircling curve of the Weyr cliffs and breathed in the sea salt and
the warm tropical air. Though she hadn't been back in many Turns - she'd
spent far longer at the Northern Hall than she ever had here - she was
surprised by how familiar it felt.

"He's in a cliff weyr." The dragonrider turned back to them, raising his
voice over the wind. "On the sea side. We'll go straight there."

"Thank you," Jayala called back. The dragon adjusted his course, gliding
out in a wide, sweeping arc over the sea as they descended. As they got
closer, the harpers could see the darker shapes of openings in the rock
face. Above them, on the heights, dragons sunned themselves, green and
blue hides in all shades standing out brightly against the bare stone.

The narrow ledge that the brown approached was high up and had no
draconic occupant. Instead, there was a lone figure, sitting with his
back leaning against the arch of the weyr entrance and a book in his
hand. Tasni couldn't help thinking that there were worse places to be
imprisoned, with the warm sun on the ledge, and the view.

The man scrambled to his feet as the brown approached, backing up to
give him space to land, and Tasni got her first good look at Gil. He was
much as he'd been described at White Hollow. A thin, fair man, quite
tall, slightly stiff in his movements - favouring his back - but
nevertheless with the poise she recognised from the guards at Emerald
Falls, the sense that any ease in their stance could vanish in an
instant, bringing them to attention or to fight. He pushed back a loose
strand of hair behind his ear - it had grown long enough to almost brush
his shirt collar, and he didn't seem used to it. There were fine lines
around his eyes, the weathering of an outdoor life, and his gaze moved
swiftly from the dragonrider to his passengers. Tasni thought she
glimpsed a moment's uncertainty before his expression turned as blank as
any well-trained guard's - or harper's.

"You have some visitors, Gil. Master Jayala, Hallsecond of the Harper
Hall, and Journeywoman Tasni." The brownrider had descended first and
offered a hand to help the older woman. He didn't say aloud that the man
had better not try anything, but it was implied.

"Ma'am." Gil said, with a slight bow of his head. "Journeywoman. Ah...
Would you like to come in?" He gestured towards the weyr.

Jayala raised an eyebrow a fraction, but nodded. "Thank you.

The weyr was sparsely furnished - an empty dragon couch, a table with
two chairs, some folded clothes on a shelf and a narrow bed in the
corner. Tasni stood back with the dragonrider while Jayala took one of
the chairs, gesturing to Gil to sit in the other. He glanced at Tasni as
if to offer the seat to her first, then did as he was directed when she
didn't move.

**Polite,** Tasni thought. Or at least, smart enough to act that way.

The Hallsecond cleared her throat. "The Weyrleader has given us
permission to speak with you, Gil - or do you prefer Gilbek?"

His eyes widened a fraction. He might not have been called by that name
for a long time, but it was clearly known to him, and Tasni knew, for
sure, that he was the one that the letter in her pocket was addressed
to. After so long, she'd finally get to deliver it - if Master Jayala
allowed her.

"I don't mind, ma'am. Either will do." He was more quietly spoken that
she'd expected, the accent the same as she'd got used to at Emerald
Falls, with a hint of the soft burr common to the outer holds that she
sometimes heard at market days.

"Gilbek, then." Jayala nodded in satisfaction, clearly having confirmed
the same thought to herself. "We know you were hired by Obriel, the
holder of White Hollow, as a guard, and that you carried messages
between him and other holders who were planning to act against Lord
Corowal and the Weyr. You supported the family of Grevan after he
attacked a bronzerider - and then, when his mother gave a warning to the
Weyr, you were ordered to burn down her cothold and kill her and her
children, but you refused to do so. For that, the conspirators turned on
you and imprisoned you in the White Hollow quarry."

"Yes, ma'am. That's all true." He was trying to stay expressionless, but
harper-trained, Tasni detected the strain in his voice. She wondered if
he thought Jayala was about to pass sentence on him.

"That's a matter for the Weyr, though. I'm here to ask you about
something else." Jayala leaned forward, resting her arms on the table.
"What can you tell me about the fire that destroyed the Harper Hall,
eight Turns ago?"

_That_ got a reaction. Gilbek flinched, his jaw tightened and for a
moment, Tasni thought he might lash out. Clearly the brownrider did too,
for he took a step forward from where he'd been guarding the weyr
entrance, only stopping when Tasni quickly held up a hand. The only
person who didn't move was Jayala, her steady gaze locked with his.

"It _wasn't me_," he said, each word vehement. "My wife was in the Hall.
I would _never_ have done anything to put her in danger."

"But you did argue with her that night," Jayala said. That would have
been in the reports, from witnesses. "You wanted her to give up her
apprenticeship and return with you to the Hold."

"No - not the apprenticeship. I knew it meant a lot to her. I just
didn't want us to live apart..." Gilbek looked at her helplessly, the
stoical facade he'd kept up since their arrival, perhaps since he'd come
to the Weyr, crumbling away. "She said she needed to be there, in the
Hall. She couldn't train in whatever moments she was able to get away
from the Hold."

"You weren't angry?"

"I didn't know what to do. I couldn't live the Hall, what use would they
have had for a guard?" He shook his head, frustrated. "I said that her
singing clearly meant more to her that our marriage and then I just - I
walked away. She called to me and I ignored her. I didn't set fire to
the Hall, but I've never regretted anything so much as what I said that
night."

"So you went back to the Hold? But you were found at the Hall, when the
fire was blazing."

"I walked back. Thinking over all that I'd said, resenting her, the
harpers, our situation. By the time I was almost back to the Hold, I was
more angry at myself than anyone else. I knew I shouldn't have left it
at that, but it was getting dark and I thought I'd better go back the
next day. When I think back, I did smell smoke in the air, but I didn't
think much of it. It could have been a farmer a ways off, lighting a
bonfire. But then, as I was coming up to to the Hold, there was this
booming sound, deep, repeating." He drummed his hand on the table, three
fast knocks, then three slow.

"A message drum, calling for help."

"I looked back, and I saw the glow on the horizon, and heard shouts. I
turned and ran back. It was chaos, huge black clouds of smoke billowing
around the Hall, roaring flames, people running about, coughing and
choking, carrying armfuls of papers, instruments, children in their
night clothes. I had to find her. I pushed my way through the crowd,
looking for a way in, and then - I saw her, being led out of the main
building with some other girls. I tried to go to her, but a man stopped
me, a big journeyman. He'd seen my Hold knots, I suppose..."

"And he would have known that Hold and Hall were at odds, at that time,
over that very female apprentice." Jayala considered his words, her face
giving little away. "So if you didn't start the fire, who did?"

"I wish I knew." He rested his face in his hands. Tasni thought for a
moment he was broken-down, exhausted, but then he looked up, and she
caught her breath. All the mildness in his eyes was gone - they were
flint-hard. "If I did, that person would have regretted it. They
endangered my wife."

That, the journeywoman thought, was the man who'd been in the fight
they'd told her about, at White Hollow.

Still, it look more than a chilling glance to faze the Hallsecond. "All
right. Let's go back to before the fire broke out, when you arrived at
the Hall to see your wife. What hour was that?

"Wait." Just as suddenly, that look in his eyes was gone, and was
replaced by desperation, a longing he couldn't hold back any longer. "Do
you know... Have you seen Calenta? I know she's not at the Hall. Is she
well?"

Jayala regarded him for a long moment with the same kind of severity she
often turned on an errant apprentice. It was an expression Tasni was
familiar with, and she felt a sharp release of tension. Even if Gilbek
didn't realise it, she thought the Hallsecond believed him.

"Journeywoman Calenta is at the Harper Hall in the North. As far as I
know, she's very well and progressing in her Craft." Jayala tilted her
head towards Tasni. "The journeywoman there is from the North and knows
her. I'm sure she'll tell you more...once you've answered my questions."

Gilbek exhaled, closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he looked
over to Tasni with such hope that she felt a moment's guilt, knowing
what the letter she carried contained. But she also knew that Jayala
would murder her if she opened her mouth, and by the time she'd thought
of that, the moment was gone.

Last updated on the April 22nd 2024

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