Delivered at Last (2/2)

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

Characters: Jayala, Tasni, Gilbek
Description: Tasni finally delivers her letter to Gilbek
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 18 of Turn 11

Jayala

"So. You came to the Hall to visit your wife."

Tasni listened as the Hallsecond went over Gilbek's account with him in
detail, from beginning to end, and then again. She was impressed. For
someone who specialised as an instrumentalist, Jayala was good at
questioning people. She wondered if that all came from teaching, or if
she'd done other work - Tasni's kind - in her past.

Gilbek wasn't bad at answering, too. Other than that first outburst, he
was calm and collected, thinking over his answer to each question
carefully, not allowing her to provoke his temper. He was consistent,
admitted when he didn't remember, but kept a polite distance and didn't
fall into the trap of thinking Jayala was his friend. Tasni supposed
that made sense, if he'd been a guard, though he'd be more used to being
on the other side of an interrogation.

Just when she'd started to get bored of hearing about the fire, Jayala
took out a collection of hides and started to go through how he'd come
to work for Holder Obriel, his time at White Hollow and the conspiracy
against the Weyr. This was new and interesting, though she didn't have
to catch a glance from the Hallsecond to know the master would have her
hide if she breathed a word to anyone.

Eventually, Jayala rolled up the hides she'd brought and got to her
feet. "That'll do for now. I'm going to speak to the Weyrleader. You can
have a short time to talk with Journeywoman Tasni before we return."

Tasni glanced over at the weyr entrance, seeing with surprise that the
sun was beginning to sink towards the ocean. They'd been there a long
time. Gilbek stood, too, in instinctive courtesy, but he did look tired
now, while Jayala seemed as alert as ever.

"Hallsecond?" The brownrider straightened, with a wary glance at Gilbek.
"Are you sure..."

"The journeywoman can take care of herself," Jayala said briskly. "And
if he pushes her off the ledge, well, it's not as if he's got anywhere
to run to."

**Thanks,** Tasni thought, but she didn't dare roll her eyes. "I'll be
fine."

"As you say, ma'am." The rider looked doubtful, but apparently decided
it was up to her if she wanted to be left alone with a potential
conspirator and arsonist. "I'll have Tymarith speak to Loseth."

Tasni followed them out onto the ledge, standing back with Gilbek to
give the brown space. They watched, the reddening light over the water
turning the dragon's hide coppery, as he leapt out into the air and
began a long, slow glide around the cliffs towards the land side.

"Ma'am?"

It took her a moment to realise Gilbek was talking to her. He had that
look in his eyes again. The longing, and the hope.

"You know Calenta?"

"Yes. Well, we both trained at the Hall in the North. She was a few
Turns ahead of me, and a singer. I'm an archivist, and I've been
studying in the South this last Turn. But we do know each other. She's
doing really well. She's one of the top soloists, people compose music
for her voice. They say she'll be a Master in time."

"I knew it." For the first time, he smiled. It made him look younger,
and she could suddenly tell what the maids back at White Hollow had seen
in him, why the lady there had risked setting him free. "I knew she
would go far. I thought about her a lot, after - when I was at that
hold. Thinking about what she was doing. It helped."

The letter suddenly felt very heavy in Tasni's pocket. "Gilbek, when I
was posted to the South, Calenta asked me to look for you."

"She did?" Another sudden flare of hope. "That can't have been easy."

"It wasn't. You were well hidden." She managed a smile. "She...oh,
shells." She didn't have the courage to say it herself. "She wrote you a
letter."

She took out the folded paper that she'd kept, tucked away in her
travelling bag, since she'd come to the South, and handed it over to
Calenta's husband. Knowing what was in it, she really wished that Jayala
hadn't mentioned pushing people off ledges.

"Thank you." He tilted his head to the weyr. "Do you mind if I..."

"Of course. I'll be out here." She watched as he disappeared inside,
then wandered over to the edge and sat down.

From inside the weyr, there was no sound for a long time. After a
while, she heard footsteps, and Gilbek came to sit beside her. He had
the letter in his hand, the seal broken, but folded again. They watched
together as the light faded over the sea.

"Are you..."

He turned his head. "I'm all right. I suppose I always knew, since we
first met, that she was far too good for me."

"I'm sure that's not true." Tasni felt the inadequacy of that even as
she said it. Calenta was a harper now, esteemed in her craft, and he was
a prisoner, accused of a terrible crime against the hatchlings, awaiting
his fate in a cliff weyr. "I've been to White Hollow. The women there
talked about you, said you did them some good."

"You were at White Hollow?"

"I did say it wasn't easy tracking you down." She managed a half-smile.

"Shells, that could have been dangerous. A harper, going there." He let
out a breath, rolled his shoulders as if trying to shake off bad
memories. "Well, you clearly made it out."

"Yes. If it's any comfort, there's a lot of evidence against Holder
Obriel now. It's likely the Lord Holder will move to arrest him soon,
and the prisoners in the quarry will be freed or given fair trial."

"If I can do anything to help, I will. You can tell the Hallsecond
that." He didn't sound as vengeful as Tasni would have thought, given
what Obriel had done to him. Weary, maybe.

"I will. Look, I expect I'll be going back to the North soon - I've
already outstayed my time. If you want, I could take a message to
Calenta for you."

Gilbek thought about that for a long time, watching the waves rising and
falling, perhaps thinking of the Hall far to the North of them. "I
suppose, from the date on this letter, she's gone ahead with the divorce
anyway? No fault to you," he added hastily. "As you said, I was
difficult to find."

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything, so perhaps she's waited."

"Well, I hope she hasn't." He turned his head. There wasn't the same
hope in that smile, but there was still something there. Something that
everyone she'd spoken to who'd known him, the guards at Emerald Falls,
the maids at White Hollow, had all said - that Gilbek loved his wife.
"She shouldn't wait to be happy. If it makes any difference, you could
tell her that."

"All right." Tasni relaxed. "I think she'll be glad to hear that."

"Tell her I'm proud of her, too. To think of her being a master harper -
like the lady who was here just now."

"Well, not exactly like her." She had to smile at that. "Calenta's an
entirely different sort of Harper to Master Jayala. But no less honoured
for all that."

"Aye, that's true. Her questioning puts us guards to shame. I wouldn't
be in Holder Obriel's shoes if she gets her hands on him." Gilbek pushed
back from the ledge, got to his feet. "Look, there's the brown. We'd
better make room."

They retreated to the weyr entrance again as the dragon approached.

"Will you be all right?" Tasni asked.

He thought about that. "I don't know. But I do have a debt to pay to the
Weyr. I've been thinking about that a lot. If anything I can say about
what I've seen will stop another incident like what they say happened at
the Hatching, then it's my duty to be here. To be a witness."

She took that to mean he wasn't going to go walking off the ledge, which
was something. Hopefully Jayala had let the dragonriders know to keep an
eye on him.

"That's good. Hold on to that." Slowly, she raised a hand and touched
his shoulder. It was so strange to think that the Turn she'd spent
looking for him, her confidence slowly changing to uncertainty and then
to belief that he must be dead, was now over. "Take care of yourself,
Gilbek."

"Journeywoman." He bowed his head again, the same gesture he'd made to
Jayala, and watched as she walked out to meet the dragon and mounted up,
taking her seat behind the Hallsecond. The older woman looked down, her
expression unreadable. Tasni wondered what the Weyrleader had said. Then
she felt the dragon crouch beneath her, and braced herself for the leap
into the sky.

They rose above the cliff weyr on a warm current of air, and below, she
watched the small figure raise a hand in farewell. He stayed there on
the ledge, watching, until they'd risen so high that the weyr was only a
tiny dark shadow against the cliff, and then they vanished /between/.

Last updated on the April 22nd 2024

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