[Log] Hearsay
Who: Aida, E'sere, Fenley (NPC), Kazimir (NPC), Ysidro (NPC)
When: Day 6, Month 9, Turn 2, 7th Pass
Where: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
What: Ysidro questions Aida at E'sere's trial.
Fade out and fade in again. Now it is Aida seated on the stand with Fenley lowering himself down after sharing her statement and questioning her. Her statement went thusly:
E'sere
On the afternoon of the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month, I decided to go for a walk instead of eating lunch in the caverns, as I often tended to do. I was stopped on my path by two men: Donavon and Luskian. After a brief bit of chat, they attempted to grab me. There was a struggle, Donavon produced a knife and threatened me with it, and eventually Luskian hit me in the head. During the threatening, Donavon said 'the orders were 'unhurt', which I interpret as anything short of dead', clearly indicating that he was working for someone else. I was tied up and took up to a cave in the area, deposited with a group of three, and then Donavon and Luskian left. One of those I was left with was a former healer by the name of Katric. During my captivity, Katric and I spoke a great deal.
Katric indicated to me that their intentions were to 'fix' the situation with the leadership, to the point of resorting to murder if they had to. He indicated that my being taken was for the purposes of getting Br'ce to step down from being a Wingleader, due to the support it meant he was lending the Weyrleder and Weyrwoman. He also indicated to me that Leyron was going to get his, and Peria, as well. He said that Peria's necklace brought him a 'nice mark' when he sold it, and that this was deserved because she was always going on about how much the Weyrwoman would love her knitting. He said that once it was all done, the weyrwoman Diya would come home, and everything would be fine.
Eventually, Donavon came to release me. He and Katric walked me back to the road. Donavon indicated that not only had they spoken to Br'ce, but that they spoke with the Headmaster, as well. In that discussion, he indicated that he had bigger friends than the Headmaster, and it was done in a threatening fashion. Once I returned to the Weyr, I was looked over by the healers in the infirmary here afterwards. I had a mild concussion and a broken wrist, in addition to bruising and other minor injuries. I was kept for a total of six days. After Katric attacked the eggs and was caught, he asked to see me. I went and spoke with him. He said that if he had had to kill me, he would've used fellis like on Leyron, and again indicated that his friends were going to continue to attack the weyr in general until things were 'put to rights'.
When Donavon was finally caught in the infirmary, he requested to make a deal with Captain Jensen. Exile, and he would tell the Captain who it was that was behind the attacks on himself and T'zen, several others. Once he was taken away and Captain Jensen had come back, the Captain and I spoke, and he told me that Donavon had named Peria as the one responsible, after Katric had named her as one of the ones they had been harassing. I made the Captain aware of this at that time.
E'sere, in a show of 'good faith' and to help T'zen out, told T'zen that he would find out about who had attacked him. He brought back the tunic that matched the one that had been torn in terms of wounding and the like, told T'zen that he had taken care of it, and told T'zen that it was Peria that was the one behind it all.
Aivey
On the third day of the sixth month, I spoke with a girl who introduced herself to me as Aivey. She told me that she had overheard a conversation between two individuals, that she was concerned for my safety, that she did not want something bad to happen to me again. I told her that I was careful, and she told me that 'it was going to happen'. The conversation she supposedly overheard was that something bad was going to happen to me, that the man involved was going to take care of 'him' and in return that an unnamed 'she' could take care of me. When I pressed her for details, she said that she did not want any trouble and fled. At the time, the situation seemed off, but I had previously assumed that the girl was only afraid for my safety and for her own, if anyone found out that she had spoken to me. I also saw the tunic and the piece that it came from, and they did indeed match, and they did look as if they could have easily fit the girl that passed along the threat to me.
Again, Ysidro stands forward, leaving E'sere to watch with his journeymen while he turns to the witness. "Did Donavon or Katric ever mention E'sere's name to you?" he asks Aida.
All calm, at least for the moment. She's had time to steel herself. Aida is silent as her statement is shared, watching Fenley until he sits again. Then the young woman shifts her attention over towards Ysidro. There is a look for E'sere, a moment spent in study, but it doesn't last long. When the question does come, she shakes her head. "No," she replies, quite promptly.
Ysidro nods and continues on to the next question at that simple question. "Do you think Donavon was telling the truth--as he knew it--when he gave you the name of Peria as the person behind recent bad happenings at the Weyr?"
In and out, in and out. The bluerider can't sit still this long for anything, short of life-threatening injury. But T'zen's back, in his seat, arms folded, watching Aida carefully, with frequent glances to E'sere.
"Objection," calls Fenley, "speculation."
"Overruled," replies Kazimir promptly, "The witness may state her opinion on the circumstances." More directly to Aida the Masterharper notes, "Please answer the question, miss."
She starts to open her mouth to answer, but Aida pauses as Fenley objects, glancing that way. Her eyes go next to Kazmimir, waiting for his words before her eyes go back to Ysidro. "Donavon did not name Peria to me," she explains quietly. "He did so to Captain Jensen, and it is my opinion that he could not have felt he was telling the truth, as that fingering happened after her harassment at his group's hands had already been confessed to me by a member of said group."
"Is it possible," Ysidro persists, "that Donavon had initially believed Peria an innocent, and only later learned she was not?" He pauses, cocks his head slightly promptingly. "Certainly, many have been misled by the co-defendent." A gesture points out Aivey. Then, to Aida: "E'sere knew Donavon; do you think E'sere could have been truly misled, intentionally or otherwise, as to the nature of Peria's involvement?"
When Ysidro tilts his head, Aida tilts hers and raises him an eyebrow, listening. "Anything is possible, sir," she replies quietly. "I am not in a position to be able to form an opinion on whether or not Donavon was misled; I have no way of knowing in either way. The same goes for E'sere. I have no way of knowing for certain one way or another, but it is within the realm of possibility."
Ysidro nods once. "Other than the coincidence of their giving the same name--it seems, does it not, a very foolish move on the part of my client to do so on purpose?--do you have any reason to believe E'sere is the person giving orders whom Donavon mentioned to you?" he queries next.
Aida gives a light shake of her head. "No, sir, I do not have any further personal experience that would lead me to believe such, only having heard the accusations and statements others have made that have been discussed in others' testimony."
"Then your entire testimony here today," Ysidro says, "consists only of what others--your kidnappers and your friends--have told you?" He doesn't wait for an answer, turning about to his chair. "Nothing further.
Fenley is writing and he just lifts his hand and flicks it as if shooing an errant vtol. In this way, he declines to cross-cross examine.
Kazimir nods and informs Aida, "Thank you, miss. You may step down."
Aida does open her mouth to speak, but closes it again when the 'nothing further' is spoken. Rather than speaking up, she looks over towards the Masterharper. His dismissal spoken, she nods, moving to slip from the chair with no further words to go back to her seat.