A Former Guard's Fate

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 9th July 2024
Series: The Hunt for Gil

Characters: N'vanik, Gilbek
Description: N'vanik decides what to do with Gil.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 26 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: Jayala, R'ayl, Alyena

N'vanik

Loseth landed on the ledge of the tiny seaside weyr and N'vanik slid down, carrying a bag with him. He wasn't exactly looking forward to this, but letting Gil stew up here endlessly wasn't going to make anything better.

"I brought you some books," the Weyrleader said as he stepped inside.

Gil was seated, studying a set of dragonpoker cards dealt out in a wing-shaped pattern on the table before him. His confinement didn't seem to have done him much harm - if anything, he looked less haggard than he had when he'd come to the Weyr, perhaps thanks to the regular meals - although he looked pale and there were still faint dark shadows under his eyes.

When the Weyrleader entered, he got to his feet immediately, his expression wary, though not hostile. His eyes did light up at the mention of the books, although he doubted that was the only purpose of the visit. "Thank you."

N'vanik set the bag down next to the table. Gil hadn't offered him or anyone aggression since he'd been taken to the Weyr, so N'vanik wasn't tense . . . but he was still watchful. "Hallsecond Jayala doesn't think you started the fire at the Harper Hall. Your ex-wife doesn't think so, either, and she still believes you're a good man."

Gil let out a breath, relief and regret mingled in his expression. "It means a lot to know that, but..." His gaze dropped. "I didn't burn down the Hall, but I've made a lot of bad choices since then."

"That you did. But I'm going to be honest with you. If I could be sure _really_ sure you weren't going to hurt my people, I'd give you a job." N'vanik studied him. "The trouble is I don't know how I can trust you."

He looked up, all the color draining from his face. "I understand." His fingers gripped the edge of the table, and he breathed out in an effort to regain his calm, but even his usual stoicism was slipping. "I've done my best to tell you everything I know. Please - I think I could face Thread, though I'd rather it was quick. I just don't want to go back to that quarry."

N'vanik felt an odd mix of sympathy and anger. The anger was for Gil's assumption that N'vanik would kill him -- but N'vanik had built that reputation for himself, hadn't he? The Weyrleader shook his head. "I'm not going to kill you."

"You don't have to do it yourself," Gil said, his voice low and urgent. "Just tell that dragon that watches the weyr to look away for a few minutes and I'll..." He tilted his head towards the ledge. "_Please_. In the quarry or the mines, it's a slow death, underground. It would be kinder."

N'vanik took a slow breath. "Are you going to hurt my people?"

"Well - no." He seemed taken aback by the question, distracted as he was by coming to terms with his own fate, and his reply sounded more unguarded than anything he'd said since coming to the Weyr. "I'm done with all that. But I can't prove it."

"You risked everything to help a woman and her child. There are women and children here, too. You met R'ayl. His dragon could've died from fellis poisoning, and he likely would have followed." N'vanik hoped there was a heart inside Gil and it wasn't just an act fit to fool a Harper. "You did bad things for a terrible man because you didn't want to be Holdless, then you ended up Holdless anyway."

"And now I'm here." Gil gestured to the weyr that had become his prison. He was all too aware of the ironies of his situation, having had plenty of time to contemplate it. He wondered if they would make him Holdless again. It was a measure of how far he'd fallen that the prospect gave him a sudden hope. It would be a hard life and likely short, but he'd be free. "I never wanted harm to come to that young lad or his dragon, but I was a part of it. I'm ready to face up to that."

N'vanik's gaze was steady. "Then let's see if you can change your loyalties. A few candlemarks a day outside this weyr to start. The bathing caverns, a little exercise, a little work. We'll find something you can do with that back, nothing too hard. You'll be watched, of course."

Gil took a moment, at first not quite believing what he was hearing. "You're letting me out?"

"Not for good. Not yet," N'vanik said. "I need to know you aren't gonna stab one of my weyrfolk in the back or run off to join the conspirators." The Weyrleader sighed. "Maybe I'll regret this. Maybe you'll end up killing someone. But I want to give you a chance, Gil."

The change from believing his end was near, to being offered his freedom - even for only a short time each day, and under observation - was almost too much for Gil. He dropped into the chair as if his legs wouldn't hold him up any more. "I... I don't know what to say. Thank you." He struggled for words. "I won't hurt anyone."

"You better not." N'vanik's tone and the dark look in his eyes made it clear Gil would have no mercy if he did. But the Weyrleader's expression eased almost immediately. "Dolphin Cove can be a place for a new life."

"I could live here?" He seemed overwhelmed by the idea. "Won't people think I'm the enemy?"

"Maybe some will. Maybe some won't if we tell them what you did for Alyena, and that the Harper Hall cleared you."

"Well, I don't want to embarrass Alyena." Gil sounded more than a little embarrassed himself, though he couldn't deny he'd like to have his name cleared of the fire at the Harper Hall. "I'm grateful for this chance, either way. I'll try to repay it. I can work - my back's not so bad."

"We'll see what the healers say about that," N'vanik said in the same tone he used for injured riders.

"It's pretty well healed up by now." Gil seemed alarmed by the mention of healers. "I'd rather not waste their time."

"I'm not going to let you push yourself beyond your limits. So you'll go, and the healers will decide what kinds of work you can do."

"All right," Gil said, hoping that if he didn't argue it would get forgotten about. He glanced down at the bag. "Did you say you brought books?"

"Yeah." N'vanik bent down and started pulling them from the bag. "There's a few different kinds, some novels, some non-fiction."

He looked over the books, still dazed by the news that he wasn't going to be killed. "I've never read a novel. The lady back at the hold had some, but no one else."

"We have a lot here. And my shelves are getting too full."

Gil tried to hide his amazement that someone would have a whole shelf of novels. There seemed to be an abundance of everything at the Weyr; even a prisoner like him was given more and better food than he'd had in Turns. Some back at the hold might have resented that, complaining that the tithes were too high, but he wondered if Holder Obriel's greed might have had more to do with the scarcity at White Hollow.

Each book had a colorful illustration on the front, which he guessed must have something to do with the story. There was a young, wide-eyed boy marveling as a hatchling broke out of its shell, and on another a blonde woman, dressed as a Lady, looking wistfully from a tower window. She reminded him a little of Calenta. He hastily picked up another, showing a bronze dragon spitting flame at a writhing tangle of what must be Thread, under a stormy sky. "Is this one good?"

"Oh yeah." The corner of N'vanik's mouth turned up. "It gets a little ridiculous at times, but it's fun."

Gil turned over the first page. "'When the Weyrleader is injured in an accident in drills, ambitious young bronzerider V'laric has to step up to take his place - but he finds leading the Weyr isn't as easy as he'd imagined. Can he win the trust of the riders and a skeptical Weyrwoman, or will his greatest rival become the next Weyrleader? And was there more to the accident than meets the eye?' Sounds interesting." He closed the book and eyed the cover, straight-faced. "Maybe I'll learn from it what it's like to live in the Weyr."

"Uhh . . ." N'vanik said. "It isn't really meant to be educational. I could get you notes from the Candidate classes."

Gil couldn't hold back a slight smile. "I'll bear that in mind. Alyena told me a bit about the life here." He'd asked her about it hoping it would help him find a way to escape, but had heard enough to know that Weyr life wasn't like the stories. "The notes sound helpful. Thank you."

"Some things will be a shock to your delicate holder sensibilities," N'vanik said. It reminded him that while Gil had been here a while, he hadn't actually seen the Weyr aside from one long look from the air the night he'd been brought in.

"I'm not that delicate," Gil said dryly. "I'll just be glad to get out of here alive."

N'vanik nodded. "I'll send someone up to take you to the bathing caverns and you can stretch your legs around the Bowl for a while." And besides the guard, he'd have several dragons keep an eye on him just in case.

"Thank you." Gil's words were heartfelt. After spending so long with his world shrunk to the size of the cliff weyr, which he could cross in a few paces, the simple thought of a walk and a proper bath was thrilling, as was the hope of more freedoms in the future, and perhaps a place to begin his life again.

Last updated on the July 10th 2024

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A Former Guard's Fate