[Jaeyi] Not dead.
RL Date: 1/2/10
IC Date: 8/25/21
Council Room, Fort Weyr(#839RJs$)
The Weyr's meeting space is a long, oval space with a large stone table placed in the middle. There's seating enough for twelve around the table: plenty of room to welcome most of the Weyrleaders and a good portion of the Lords Holder from the north, though additional seating might be needed if a Pern-wide meeting were to be held here.
A sideboard stands ready to serve, regardless of the occasion and is kept well-stocked with carafes of wine, water and several fine liquors. Fresh flowers, appropriate to the season are changed out regularly in the vase atop the sideboard. Tapestries depicting Fort's illustrious history from founding, to Moreta's role in the Plague to Lessa's arrival to bring the Weyrs forward in time bedeck the walls, leavening the omnipresence of cool, gray stone. Well-lit, the chamber boasts glows in niches around the room, as well as oil lamps hanging from the ceiling.
"Right ... didn't think of it that way," T'rev answers, pushes the heel of his hand against his forehead. "All this political stuff sometimes gives me a headache," he tells the goldrider and blows out a breath, nods. "Thanks. That's ... why I asked," the Weyrleader says with a little wry look then flops down into a chair, taking up the envelope and turning it about in his hands while Hattie fetches the baker. Thus will they find him upon arriving, eyes downcast, fixed on the packet in his hands, lost in thought.
Finding Jaeyi is seldom difficult. If she's not in the kitchen, the commons, or her room-- well, there's no point looking, because the odds that she's somewhere doing something with someone she shouldn't are pretty high. Her cake may not appreciate being interrupted, and the frosting she's in the middle of stirring will have to wait, but there are certainly more, uhmn, pressing things she could be doing. Considering.
"Have a seat?" Hattie offers Jaeyi on her way past to retrieve her satchel from where she's thrown it and sit down herself in the vacated seat. The bag gets nudged to the floor and forgotten about for a little while, whilst the goldrider's eyes find the Weyrleader, then the envelope again. If she seems uncomfortable for a few moments, she's mostly back to normal (though hardly relaxed) by the time she speaks again. "We have something addressed to you," she begins to explain, eyes seeking out the baker again. "So we thought it best to ask you here."
T'rev looks up as the pair enter and his gaze finds Hattie for a moment, a nod of thanks given, then skip to Jaeyi, expression complex. "This was given to Kai at a Gather," he explains simply and holds up the envelope towards the baker, pushes out the chair beside him for her to take if she chooses. "Addressed to you. Don't know the handwriting and the seal has no markings. Hattie thinks that it was given to Kai just because he had a Fort knot on. A man gave it to him but he didn't get a good look at him. A whole lot of questions spring t'mind, some possible answers too, but I guess the only way to know is to open this up."
Frankly, Jaeyi looks suspicious, and a little like she's taking a mental inventory of all the things she's done wrong lately and for which she might be punished. Her eyes question T'rev rather than Hattie, since there's a far better chance to get a read on the situation from that one than the goldrider, and she answers with nervous levity, "Ah, so you're the new postmaster, Hattie? Strange work for a weyrwoman buuuuut." Shrug. The seriousness of the pair of them confuses her, clearly, and she sits down with the envelope and a bemused frown. "You seem awfully worried about it," all chattery while it's opened. "I get presents pretty often, you know."
"I assume most of your presents aren't randomly handed over to a greenrider at a Gather, however," Hattie attempts to reason in a voice that's devoid of more than one type of humour, being that she doesn't summon the will to laugh or smile and humour Jaeyi in her postmaster remark. "And that they don't wind up looking quite that battered about before they reach you." Whether she smirks or just grimaces isn't quite clear when she says, "Though if they are, I hope you don't accept them," finding /some/ sort of humour from somewhere, even if it doesn't register.
There's at least a measure of reassurance to be found on T'rev's face for Jaeyi and a little shake of his head. Nothing's /wrong/. "And yeah, what Hattie said. It's not like someone just sent this to the Weyr to the postmaster the usual way. It's a little you know, weird. And with things the way they are ..." he trails off and since it's just Hattie, he actually indulges in pulling his chair a little closer to the baker's while the envelope is opened and sets a hand to the back of her seat. T'rev looks up at Hattie and offers her a wry sort of smirk for that strange humor of hers. "I don't think this is a present, Jae."
"Battered?" Jaeyi blinks a couple of times through that, gears a-turning, then there's a quick, "Oh. You mean beaten up. Not--" Batter. Baker. Figure it out. "Well, I can't very well send presents back just because the delivery boy's seen better days. That would be-- what's the saying? Blaming the messenger?" She hands over a prim look to Hattie first, then T'rev and his closer-chair, and continues blithely, "You're both going to feel very silly if it's lacy panties, hmn?" But their gravity's infectious, and she bends to the task of opening with new diligence, a frown coming on when nothing silky-and-slutty spills out right away.
"You'd hope if someone thought to send you /those/, they'd bother to enquire after whether their gift was well-received," the weyrwoman considers, thinking to add, "It's been some time since it was handed over. Kai claims he couldn't find you, which in this instance I think has to be true, in-case you see him and it's mentioned." Hattie leans back in her chair and watches the ceiling for a few moments, perhaps a reaction to trying not to stare impolitely at what does or doesn't end up falling from the packet.
In spite of all that gravity, T'rev can't help the amused and wicked smile that curves up the corners of his mouth. "I don't know if silly's the right word," he can't help but tease Jaeyi a little and his hand slides along the back of her chair completing the quasi-curve of his arm around her. His gaze though skips to her hands and the items spilling out of that worn envelope: a sheet that's clearly a letter and several pieces of low-quality hide folded together and from within the letter, a small metal medallion falls into the baker's lap. Once opened, the letter will prove to be from Jaeyi's father telling the sordid tale, albeit in short sentences and clearly written in scrawly haste, of what happened to the Scudder and just how many people died. His own role in the whole mess is also described and what he's been dong since: signed on with the ruffians. To spy. The hide pieces are lists. Lists of names, locations, ships that have been targeted. Wow.
At mention of the greenrider, Jaeyi admits absently, "I avoid him." From there, she's quiet for a long spell, reading, the merriment draining out of her even faster than the color that blanches from her face. Finally, dazed; "My father's alive. I think these are meant for you." Either of them, since she puts the bits of hide vaguely on the table, only the letter refolded caaaarefully, the medallion as yet forgotten.
Hattie rolls her eyes at that admittance, but manages not to make any comments, her gaze slowly finding its way down from the ceiling with not a fantastic amount of interest in the sections of hide on the table until she leans and reaches out to retrieve one. A few moments of reading becomes staring and has her reaching for another, a hide in each hand and her focus flitting between the two. "Not that I mean any offence," and for once that might be genuine, "but from what you know of the man, would you think this to be genuine or an elaborate something else entirely?" she asks of Jaeyi.
Jaeyi's blanching and that must mean whatever she just read is serious, though T'rev has been polite enough not to try to read over his shoulder. He forgoes propriety and lets his arm slide around her shoulders in full as she speaks. "Shells ... that's good news," the Weyrleader breathes out and eyes the lists. "For us?" Though there's a look on his face of puzzle pieces shuffling around and maybe fitting together as Hattie takes the hides and the expression on /her/ face shifts. "Something dropped out of the letter," he points out, nodding towards Jaeyi's lap and his hand curves to her far shoulder, fingers squeezing lightly. "What does he say, Jae?" he adds on to Hattie's question, his own voice very gentle.
Jaeyi's very round eyes settle with utter confusion on Hattie after her question, finally managing to throw in a few rapid blinks to really settle the huh-what expression. "You're asking me," she begins slowly, brows furrowed, "if I think my father's setting you up?" Really? "Uhmn," is as much of an answer as she can muster while she picks up what fell out, turns it over on her fingers, answers T'rev with a little more clarity. It helps to have something grounding in a moment like this, yes. "They were captured, and he's had to, like, sign up? So they didn't kill him. --He's not a bad person," that last with abrupt certainty, likely throwing back to Hattie's question.
"Yes," is the simple enough answer from Hattie. "If only because I don't think people are prone to handing over valuable information without there being some sort of catch or something in it for them. I'd ask the same of anyone else, their father or not," she tries to explain, swapping the lists she's studying for two different ones. "And if you want the blunt truth, I just don't want anyone else hurt, and that includes him," she murmurs after listening to the rest of that information. She bends down to retrieve her satchel and extracts several blank hides along with a stylus and begins to copy out those lists whether she's assured they're real or not. Which must mean she has some sort of will to believe they are.
The medallion is perhaps meant as something of a vouchsafe. Jaeyi may recognize it as something her father has worn in the past, the circle's edges are blunted from long wear and the symbol on the front is a shipfish jumping the waves. "Shells," T'rev says again as she relates that bare minimum of facts. His hand tightens on her shoulder again, nodding. "I'm glad he's alive, sweetheart," the Weyrleader says with sincere relief in his voice, slipping up yet again. It's a good thing it's just Hattie across the way and not Cirse, though of course there'll be a full report to the Weyrwoman. "So he's with some of the raiders and he sent you stuff about them. Jae, your Da's not just not a bad person, he's a sharding hero," T'rev says feelingly. "This could be just what we've needed to finally /get/ somewhere," the Weyrleader continues with optimism and energy re-infusing his voice as he reaches forward to snag on of the lists Hattie's put down and scans it. "Shells," he exclaims again and turn to press an enthusiastic kiss to Jaeyi's cheek. "No wonder he just threw this at Kai and booked ... he must've been petrified. But Jae, d'you think he'll try to pass on more? Stay in touch?"
Jaeyi doesn't like Hattie's logic, and the darkening of her expression doesn't try to hide it. But she doesn't strictly argue with her, only says quietly, "I hope that the something that might be in it for him is that you might help him." T'rev's enthusiastic, Hattie's skeptical, Jaeyi's still dazed, and she teeters a little after the kiss to her cheek, looks frowningly down at her hands-- the letter, the medal. "I don't know. I don't know why not. I don't think he had time to really pen the entire master plan," with a weak laugh, with a slow exhale. "If you find them-- I mean, if you can catch them, you can save him, right? He won't be in trouble?" The hopeful part of the question is aimed at T'rev; the worried part to Hattie.
It might be lucky that it's Hattie across the way and not Cirse, yet there may well be something in her tense posture and the fact that she barely looks at Weyrleader and Apprentice that could let on that she hardly approves of the way at least one of them is behaving, given the subject at hand. When the word 'hero' gets thrown in there, she finally looks up and angles a long look over at T'rev before she looks back down and just carries on copying. Jaeyi's question makes her pause and she leans back in her chair again; stops herself just before she ends up chewing on the inky end of her stylus. "If we catch them, the safest thing for him to do would be to let himself get caught and not let on about who he is until we separate them. That way, we could always make out to them that he went missing, in-case any of them manage to contact the others. Assuming this turns out well, I imagine any trouble he might be in wouldn't be a vast amount."
Hattie earns herself a slight eyeroll for that look in turn. If Jae weren't so dazed, it might almost be comical the diametrically opposite attitudes they're both sporting. The cynic and the optimist sat at the same table. "Yeah, that's a good strategy Hattie, if it comes down to it. We'd certainly /try/ to help him, Jae," T'rev says sincerely and sets the hide down so he can give the baker another one-armed hug for reassurance before he leans away, pushes his chair back and rises. The hide is caught up again as well as a pencil and he moves to the maps that bedeck the walls like some crazy quilt that pieces together various ares under suspicion. It's the coastal maps he steers towards and looks down at the hide in his hand, starts to make Xs in various spots. "Huh, I thought we /looked/ here," he mumbles after a moment, but keeps on marking. "And they took ships here and here ..." he makes circles now out in the water. By the time he's done making marks and tracing lines between some of them, there might actually be a noticeable pattern for at least the movements of this particular crew through much of the summer. The ships are almost always out of Boll and headed across wide open water, though some are also the ones that just go up the coast. "Damn ..." T'rev says after a moment, stepping back and runs his hand through his hair.
"This is my father, Hattie," Jaeyi begins with sudden weight, with the sudden wish to impress the matter on the goldrider. "Who I thought was dead-- whose family thinks is dead. So let me rephrase." The medallion and the letter go both into the same hand, the other one lifted to land on top of the hides still on the table, trapping them under her palm. "He won't be in any trouble, right? Or else why would he want to help you if you can't help him?" T'rev's busy-ness earns him a few blinks as well, and she winds up with a renewed look of total bewilderment. "Damn indeed."
"Being that I can't speak for the entire Fort region, or even with absolute certainty about this Weyr, perhaps you'd see that I can't tell you whether or not he will be 'in trouble'," Hattie says slowly, patience obviously thinning as she levels a look over at Jaeyi, those trapped hides not spared even a glance, though the action has her looking quite unimpressed. "I'm not Senior and your question would be better directed at Cirse, unless you expect me to promise you something I can't and have you believing one course of action will be taken when it might not be." She takes in a breath and adds, "I can't promise him any more than I can promise anyone else, don't you see?" with distress badly masked as frustration. Nodding over towards T'rev and the maps she says, "The Weyrleader, on the other hand, might be able to promise what I can't."
Turning back towards the other two, T'rev clears his throat after Hattie's given that elaborate explanation. "You have my word Jae, that he won't be in trouble with us," the Weyrleader assures. "There's just ... there's so many things that could happen," he says with a crinkle denting the space between his brows. "And the Holds, Fort and Boll especially, might have some other thoughts on the matter. But we'll do our best to make sure everything turns out okay. This information is a big help and if there's more ... that out to go a long way with Lord Visrain at least." He crosses back to the baker then, eyes on her face. Given everything, it's probably not surprising he's having a lot of trouble staying on one side or the other of the personal/professional line today. "We'll keep an eye out. I know you and Kai don't like each other, but if Kai knows to look, he might be in a position to do that. And any other riders who're helpin' with the looking and all." The Weyrleader reaches for one of Jaeyi's hands then, aiming to provide reassurance yet again. "But Hattie's right that she's not in a position to make those kind of promises and to some extent, neither am I. We still have to bring this all up with Cirse, go through those lists and figure stuff out."
Jaeyi doesn't want her hand held. She wants to be told that the world's all sunshine and daisies and her daddy gets to walk off scott free. And when first one and then the other fails to do that? "Right. Well. I have a cake in the oven, and a lot of packing to do, and apparently I need to go and write my father's family that he's alive and-- if all goes well-- they can go and visit him in a Bollian jail soon." For as long as he gets to keep it, T'rev will have possession of a very cold hand that she reclaims to fold and fold and fold the letter until it's a small lump of paper in her fist, a fist that then helps push her to her feet. "Tell B'kaiv thank you and I'm sorry I avoided him and good luck."
It's probably best for all concerned that Hattie doesn't speak beyond, "I will," and keeps any comments or any other sort of response to herself, pen abandoned and hands folded in her lap. Again, she finds the far wall interesting rather than either of the people in the room with her and makes determined study of it, tension once more giving away the amount of self-control being exerted to stay silent.
There's a plea in T'rev's eyes and though Hattie might not see it, given her close inspection of the wall, Jaeyi might see just how torn he is. Of course he wants to promise her all that and a barrel of rubies. "That's not a given either, Jae," he says with a shake of his head. "That he'll wind up in jail. Give it a little time. I'll vouch for him." He can say that much at least, can't he? Though Hattie's liable to chew him out later. He nods a few times about Kai, echoing Hattie. "Sure thing." T'rev looks like there's about a million more things he'd like to say right now, but instead what comes out is the very lame: "Hope the cake turns out okay." Which is a stand-in for some of those million other things as he aims to walk her out.
Jaeyi, to the cake, "I think it will be quite good. I'll let you know." As to the rest-- there's not much really walking her out, since she pretty much intends to leave without further incident. It works well that Hattie's not looking at her, goes both ways, and all T'rev's meaningful looks are ducked entirely while she trots off, putting herself back together before she gets back to her cake. No point letting perfectly good desserts suffer!
The junior keeps right on staring at the wall for a good minute or so after Jaeyi has left, silent. Eventually, she breathes out a long sigh and glances over towards T'rev. "I think, perhaps, that I should go before I say half a dozen things you won't forgive me for and another dozen that you shouldn't," Hattie says in a tight voice, pushing herself to her feet and bending to snatch up her satchel from the floor. What she's copied gets shoved into the outer pocket, the stylus forgotten and left on the table. "And I know you don't need any of this right now, but I'm so /angry/ at this moment that I can't think straight. And /one/ of us should." Considering that Elaruth is nowhere near the Weyr, there's not far for her to go, but she can at least hide and work in the depths of the caverns. "I'm sorry." Her steps quickly remove her from the Council Room, her gaze fixed on the ground as she walks.
There Jaeyi goes and T'rev is left right back where he started, leaning against the wall in the entryway, all the jubilation of a few minutes ago knocked right out of his metaphoric sails. Hattie's words don't help any either, spoken first to his back and then he turns slowly to blink at her a few times. "I have to -- find Cirse," he says in a tone that's not quite steady. There's not really anyone thinking straight right now, but T'rev will just have to try. Swallowing hard, he nods as Hattie passes him. "No worries ..." he offers up in a tone that holds a strangely bitter flavor to it, before the Weyrleader turns back to the room, occupies himself with putting more of the information from the lists together, then when Mecaith alerts him to Cirse and Peirith's return, requests an audience, politely to bring the Weyrwoman up to speed.
IC Date: 8/25/21
Council Room, Fort Weyr(#839RJs$)
The Weyr's meeting space is a long, oval space with a large stone table placed in the middle. There's seating enough for twelve around the table: plenty of room to welcome most of the Weyrleaders and a good portion of the Lords Holder from the north, though additional seating might be needed if a Pern-wide meeting were to be held here.
A sideboard stands ready to serve, regardless of the occasion and is kept well-stocked with carafes of wine, water and several fine liquors. Fresh flowers, appropriate to the season are changed out regularly in the vase atop the sideboard. Tapestries depicting Fort's illustrious history from founding, to Moreta's role in the Plague to Lessa's arrival to bring the Weyrs forward in time bedeck the walls, leavening the omnipresence of cool, gray stone. Well-lit, the chamber boasts glows in niches around the room, as well as oil lamps hanging from the ceiling.
"Right ... didn't think of it that way," T'rev answers, pushes the heel of his hand against his forehead. "All this political stuff sometimes gives me a headache," he tells the goldrider and blows out a breath, nods. "Thanks. That's ... why I asked," the Weyrleader says with a little wry look then flops down into a chair, taking up the envelope and turning it about in his hands while Hattie fetches the baker. Thus will they find him upon arriving, eyes downcast, fixed on the packet in his hands, lost in thought.
Finding Jaeyi is seldom difficult. If she's not in the kitchen, the commons, or her room-- well, there's no point looking, because the odds that she's somewhere doing something with someone she shouldn't are pretty high. Her cake may not appreciate being interrupted, and the frosting she's in the middle of stirring will have to wait, but there are certainly more, uhmn, pressing things she could be doing. Considering.
"Have a seat?" Hattie offers Jaeyi on her way past to retrieve her satchel from where she's thrown it and sit down herself in the vacated seat. The bag gets nudged to the floor and forgotten about for a little while, whilst the goldrider's eyes find the Weyrleader, then the envelope again. If she seems uncomfortable for a few moments, she's mostly back to normal (though hardly relaxed) by the time she speaks again. "We have something addressed to you," she begins to explain, eyes seeking out the baker again. "So we thought it best to ask you here."
T'rev looks up as the pair enter and his gaze finds Hattie for a moment, a nod of thanks given, then skip to Jaeyi, expression complex. "This was given to Kai at a Gather," he explains simply and holds up the envelope towards the baker, pushes out the chair beside him for her to take if she chooses. "Addressed to you. Don't know the handwriting and the seal has no markings. Hattie thinks that it was given to Kai just because he had a Fort knot on. A man gave it to him but he didn't get a good look at him. A whole lot of questions spring t'mind, some possible answers too, but I guess the only way to know is to open this up."
Frankly, Jaeyi looks suspicious, and a little like she's taking a mental inventory of all the things she's done wrong lately and for which she might be punished. Her eyes question T'rev rather than Hattie, since there's a far better chance to get a read on the situation from that one than the goldrider, and she answers with nervous levity, "Ah, so you're the new postmaster, Hattie? Strange work for a weyrwoman buuuuut." Shrug. The seriousness of the pair of them confuses her, clearly, and she sits down with the envelope and a bemused frown. "You seem awfully worried about it," all chattery while it's opened. "I get presents pretty often, you know."
"I assume most of your presents aren't randomly handed over to a greenrider at a Gather, however," Hattie attempts to reason in a voice that's devoid of more than one type of humour, being that she doesn't summon the will to laugh or smile and humour Jaeyi in her postmaster remark. "And that they don't wind up looking quite that battered about before they reach you." Whether she smirks or just grimaces isn't quite clear when she says, "Though if they are, I hope you don't accept them," finding /some/ sort of humour from somewhere, even if it doesn't register.
There's at least a measure of reassurance to be found on T'rev's face for Jaeyi and a little shake of his head. Nothing's /wrong/. "And yeah, what Hattie said. It's not like someone just sent this to the Weyr to the postmaster the usual way. It's a little you know, weird. And with things the way they are ..." he trails off and since it's just Hattie, he actually indulges in pulling his chair a little closer to the baker's while the envelope is opened and sets a hand to the back of her seat. T'rev looks up at Hattie and offers her a wry sort of smirk for that strange humor of hers. "I don't think this is a present, Jae."
"Battered?" Jaeyi blinks a couple of times through that, gears a-turning, then there's a quick, "Oh. You mean beaten up. Not--" Batter. Baker. Figure it out. "Well, I can't very well send presents back just because the delivery boy's seen better days. That would be-- what's the saying? Blaming the messenger?" She hands over a prim look to Hattie first, then T'rev and his closer-chair, and continues blithely, "You're both going to feel very silly if it's lacy panties, hmn?" But their gravity's infectious, and she bends to the task of opening with new diligence, a frown coming on when nothing silky-and-slutty spills out right away.
"You'd hope if someone thought to send you /those/, they'd bother to enquire after whether their gift was well-received," the weyrwoman considers, thinking to add, "It's been some time since it was handed over. Kai claims he couldn't find you, which in this instance I think has to be true, in-case you see him and it's mentioned." Hattie leans back in her chair and watches the ceiling for a few moments, perhaps a reaction to trying not to stare impolitely at what does or doesn't end up falling from the packet.
In spite of all that gravity, T'rev can't help the amused and wicked smile that curves up the corners of his mouth. "I don't know if silly's the right word," he can't help but tease Jaeyi a little and his hand slides along the back of her chair completing the quasi-curve of his arm around her. His gaze though skips to her hands and the items spilling out of that worn envelope: a sheet that's clearly a letter and several pieces of low-quality hide folded together and from within the letter, a small metal medallion falls into the baker's lap. Once opened, the letter will prove to be from Jaeyi's father telling the sordid tale, albeit in short sentences and clearly written in scrawly haste, of what happened to the Scudder and just how many people died. His own role in the whole mess is also described and what he's been dong since: signed on with the ruffians. To spy. The hide pieces are lists. Lists of names, locations, ships that have been targeted. Wow.
At mention of the greenrider, Jaeyi admits absently, "I avoid him." From there, she's quiet for a long spell, reading, the merriment draining out of her even faster than the color that blanches from her face. Finally, dazed; "My father's alive. I think these are meant for you." Either of them, since she puts the bits of hide vaguely on the table, only the letter refolded caaaarefully, the medallion as yet forgotten.
Hattie rolls her eyes at that admittance, but manages not to make any comments, her gaze slowly finding its way down from the ceiling with not a fantastic amount of interest in the sections of hide on the table until she leans and reaches out to retrieve one. A few moments of reading becomes staring and has her reaching for another, a hide in each hand and her focus flitting between the two. "Not that I mean any offence," and for once that might be genuine, "but from what you know of the man, would you think this to be genuine or an elaborate something else entirely?" she asks of Jaeyi.
Jaeyi's blanching and that must mean whatever she just read is serious, though T'rev has been polite enough not to try to read over his shoulder. He forgoes propriety and lets his arm slide around her shoulders in full as she speaks. "Shells ... that's good news," the Weyrleader breathes out and eyes the lists. "For us?" Though there's a look on his face of puzzle pieces shuffling around and maybe fitting together as Hattie takes the hides and the expression on /her/ face shifts. "Something dropped out of the letter," he points out, nodding towards Jaeyi's lap and his hand curves to her far shoulder, fingers squeezing lightly. "What does he say, Jae?" he adds on to Hattie's question, his own voice very gentle.
Jaeyi's very round eyes settle with utter confusion on Hattie after her question, finally managing to throw in a few rapid blinks to really settle the huh-what expression. "You're asking me," she begins slowly, brows furrowed, "if I think my father's setting you up?" Really? "Uhmn," is as much of an answer as she can muster while she picks up what fell out, turns it over on her fingers, answers T'rev with a little more clarity. It helps to have something grounding in a moment like this, yes. "They were captured, and he's had to, like, sign up? So they didn't kill him. --He's not a bad person," that last with abrupt certainty, likely throwing back to Hattie's question.
"Yes," is the simple enough answer from Hattie. "If only because I don't think people are prone to handing over valuable information without there being some sort of catch or something in it for them. I'd ask the same of anyone else, their father or not," she tries to explain, swapping the lists she's studying for two different ones. "And if you want the blunt truth, I just don't want anyone else hurt, and that includes him," she murmurs after listening to the rest of that information. She bends down to retrieve her satchel and extracts several blank hides along with a stylus and begins to copy out those lists whether she's assured they're real or not. Which must mean she has some sort of will to believe they are.
The medallion is perhaps meant as something of a vouchsafe. Jaeyi may recognize it as something her father has worn in the past, the circle's edges are blunted from long wear and the symbol on the front is a shipfish jumping the waves. "Shells," T'rev says again as she relates that bare minimum of facts. His hand tightens on her shoulder again, nodding. "I'm glad he's alive, sweetheart," the Weyrleader says with sincere relief in his voice, slipping up yet again. It's a good thing it's just Hattie across the way and not Cirse, though of course there'll be a full report to the Weyrwoman. "So he's with some of the raiders and he sent you stuff about them. Jae, your Da's not just not a bad person, he's a sharding hero," T'rev says feelingly. "This could be just what we've needed to finally /get/ somewhere," the Weyrleader continues with optimism and energy re-infusing his voice as he reaches forward to snag on of the lists Hattie's put down and scans it. "Shells," he exclaims again and turn to press an enthusiastic kiss to Jaeyi's cheek. "No wonder he just threw this at Kai and booked ... he must've been petrified. But Jae, d'you think he'll try to pass on more? Stay in touch?"
Jaeyi doesn't like Hattie's logic, and the darkening of her expression doesn't try to hide it. But she doesn't strictly argue with her, only says quietly, "I hope that the something that might be in it for him is that you might help him." T'rev's enthusiastic, Hattie's skeptical, Jaeyi's still dazed, and she teeters a little after the kiss to her cheek, looks frowningly down at her hands-- the letter, the medal. "I don't know. I don't know why not. I don't think he had time to really pen the entire master plan," with a weak laugh, with a slow exhale. "If you find them-- I mean, if you can catch them, you can save him, right? He won't be in trouble?" The hopeful part of the question is aimed at T'rev; the worried part to Hattie.
It might be lucky that it's Hattie across the way and not Cirse, yet there may well be something in her tense posture and the fact that she barely looks at Weyrleader and Apprentice that could let on that she hardly approves of the way at least one of them is behaving, given the subject at hand. When the word 'hero' gets thrown in there, she finally looks up and angles a long look over at T'rev before she looks back down and just carries on copying. Jaeyi's question makes her pause and she leans back in her chair again; stops herself just before she ends up chewing on the inky end of her stylus. "If we catch them, the safest thing for him to do would be to let himself get caught and not let on about who he is until we separate them. That way, we could always make out to them that he went missing, in-case any of them manage to contact the others. Assuming this turns out well, I imagine any trouble he might be in wouldn't be a vast amount."
Hattie earns herself a slight eyeroll for that look in turn. If Jae weren't so dazed, it might almost be comical the diametrically opposite attitudes they're both sporting. The cynic and the optimist sat at the same table. "Yeah, that's a good strategy Hattie, if it comes down to it. We'd certainly /try/ to help him, Jae," T'rev says sincerely and sets the hide down so he can give the baker another one-armed hug for reassurance before he leans away, pushes his chair back and rises. The hide is caught up again as well as a pencil and he moves to the maps that bedeck the walls like some crazy quilt that pieces together various ares under suspicion. It's the coastal maps he steers towards and looks down at the hide in his hand, starts to make Xs in various spots. "Huh, I thought we /looked/ here," he mumbles after a moment, but keeps on marking. "And they took ships here and here ..." he makes circles now out in the water. By the time he's done making marks and tracing lines between some of them, there might actually be a noticeable pattern for at least the movements of this particular crew through much of the summer. The ships are almost always out of Boll and headed across wide open water, though some are also the ones that just go up the coast. "Damn ..." T'rev says after a moment, stepping back and runs his hand through his hair.
"This is my father, Hattie," Jaeyi begins with sudden weight, with the sudden wish to impress the matter on the goldrider. "Who I thought was dead-- whose family thinks is dead. So let me rephrase." The medallion and the letter go both into the same hand, the other one lifted to land on top of the hides still on the table, trapping them under her palm. "He won't be in any trouble, right? Or else why would he want to help you if you can't help him?" T'rev's busy-ness earns him a few blinks as well, and she winds up with a renewed look of total bewilderment. "Damn indeed."
"Being that I can't speak for the entire Fort region, or even with absolute certainty about this Weyr, perhaps you'd see that I can't tell you whether or not he will be 'in trouble'," Hattie says slowly, patience obviously thinning as she levels a look over at Jaeyi, those trapped hides not spared even a glance, though the action has her looking quite unimpressed. "I'm not Senior and your question would be better directed at Cirse, unless you expect me to promise you something I can't and have you believing one course of action will be taken when it might not be." She takes in a breath and adds, "I can't promise him any more than I can promise anyone else, don't you see?" with distress badly masked as frustration. Nodding over towards T'rev and the maps she says, "The Weyrleader, on the other hand, might be able to promise what I can't."
Turning back towards the other two, T'rev clears his throat after Hattie's given that elaborate explanation. "You have my word Jae, that he won't be in trouble with us," the Weyrleader assures. "There's just ... there's so many things that could happen," he says with a crinkle denting the space between his brows. "And the Holds, Fort and Boll especially, might have some other thoughts on the matter. But we'll do our best to make sure everything turns out okay. This information is a big help and if there's more ... that out to go a long way with Lord Visrain at least." He crosses back to the baker then, eyes on her face. Given everything, it's probably not surprising he's having a lot of trouble staying on one side or the other of the personal/professional line today. "We'll keep an eye out. I know you and Kai don't like each other, but if Kai knows to look, he might be in a position to do that. And any other riders who're helpin' with the looking and all." The Weyrleader reaches for one of Jaeyi's hands then, aiming to provide reassurance yet again. "But Hattie's right that she's not in a position to make those kind of promises and to some extent, neither am I. We still have to bring this all up with Cirse, go through those lists and figure stuff out."
Jaeyi doesn't want her hand held. She wants to be told that the world's all sunshine and daisies and her daddy gets to walk off scott free. And when first one and then the other fails to do that? "Right. Well. I have a cake in the oven, and a lot of packing to do, and apparently I need to go and write my father's family that he's alive and-- if all goes well-- they can go and visit him in a Bollian jail soon." For as long as he gets to keep it, T'rev will have possession of a very cold hand that she reclaims to fold and fold and fold the letter until it's a small lump of paper in her fist, a fist that then helps push her to her feet. "Tell B'kaiv thank you and I'm sorry I avoided him and good luck."
It's probably best for all concerned that Hattie doesn't speak beyond, "I will," and keeps any comments or any other sort of response to herself, pen abandoned and hands folded in her lap. Again, she finds the far wall interesting rather than either of the people in the room with her and makes determined study of it, tension once more giving away the amount of self-control being exerted to stay silent.
There's a plea in T'rev's eyes and though Hattie might not see it, given her close inspection of the wall, Jaeyi might see just how torn he is. Of course he wants to promise her all that and a barrel of rubies. "That's not a given either, Jae," he says with a shake of his head. "That he'll wind up in jail. Give it a little time. I'll vouch for him." He can say that much at least, can't he? Though Hattie's liable to chew him out later. He nods a few times about Kai, echoing Hattie. "Sure thing." T'rev looks like there's about a million more things he'd like to say right now, but instead what comes out is the very lame: "Hope the cake turns out okay." Which is a stand-in for some of those million other things as he aims to walk her out.
Jaeyi, to the cake, "I think it will be quite good. I'll let you know." As to the rest-- there's not much really walking her out, since she pretty much intends to leave without further incident. It works well that Hattie's not looking at her, goes both ways, and all T'rev's meaningful looks are ducked entirely while she trots off, putting herself back together before she gets back to her cake. No point letting perfectly good desserts suffer!
The junior keeps right on staring at the wall for a good minute or so after Jaeyi has left, silent. Eventually, she breathes out a long sigh and glances over towards T'rev. "I think, perhaps, that I should go before I say half a dozen things you won't forgive me for and another dozen that you shouldn't," Hattie says in a tight voice, pushing herself to her feet and bending to snatch up her satchel from the floor. What she's copied gets shoved into the outer pocket, the stylus forgotten and left on the table. "And I know you don't need any of this right now, but I'm so /angry/ at this moment that I can't think straight. And /one/ of us should." Considering that Elaruth is nowhere near the Weyr, there's not far for her to go, but she can at least hide and work in the depths of the caverns. "I'm sorry." Her steps quickly remove her from the Council Room, her gaze fixed on the ground as she walks.
There Jaeyi goes and T'rev is left right back where he started, leaning against the wall in the entryway, all the jubilation of a few minutes ago knocked right out of his metaphoric sails. Hattie's words don't help any either, spoken first to his back and then he turns slowly to blink at her a few times. "I have to -- find Cirse," he says in a tone that's not quite steady. There's not really anyone thinking straight right now, but T'rev will just have to try. Swallowing hard, he nods as Hattie passes him. "No worries ..." he offers up in a tone that holds a strangely bitter flavor to it, before the Weyrleader turns back to the room, occupies himself with putting more of the information from the lists together, then when Mecaith alerts him to Cirse and Peirith's return, requests an audience, politely to bring the Weyrwoman up to speed.