Vig: Sins of the Past
Who: Milani
When: A day or two after the conversation with V'teri, M6 T25
Where: Records Room, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani makes good on her promise to V'teri and does some poking around in records and muses on certain sins of the past. Also: slice of life in the records.
*Flip*
Milani turned over another page in the record she was reading through and scanned the neat handwriting alongside the columns of figures. The way this particular type of record was kept hadn't changed much in the last near-century and she found it easy to follow along. The problem was that she wasn't exactly sure what V'teri was looking for, or more importantly, why he was looking for it. 'Something a little off' he'd said and that made her very curious about what kind of 'off' he was looking for.
She paused in her reading and looked up, chin pillowed in her hand and idly scanned the records room. Over in the corner was a regular to the poetry-and-romance section, no matter how small it might be. It always made Milani smile to see Ardwick over there: he was in his late seventies now, white-haired and quite near-sighted. He used to work with the Weyr's herds, the kind of big, brawny outdoor-type that most would never peg as having a 'soft' romantic side. He was quite wrapped up in the small volume in his large hands, the backs seamed with wrinkles now and spotted with age. At the desk, one of the younger records-keepers sat kicking his leg back and forth and doodling on a piece of scrap, clearly bored. Several riders were also scattered through the room, two of them engrossed in a set of maps. Business as usual, really for mid-morning in the records room.
Milani looked back down at the page before her and smoothed it with her fingers. The paper was getting a little dry, not brittle with age yet, but on its way. She made a mental note to let the head records-keeper and Giorda know that some of these older volumes probably needed re-copying if they intended to keep them. Her eye caught on a slight oddity in the set of figures on the page and she bent her head to take a closer look.
It reminded her of what she'd done to certain ledgers herself several turns ago now, when she was Hayda's assistant and the Weyr was going hungry and she and Amerie had hidden away things that N'thei and other riders had brought in on the sly. A thread of tension slid across her shoulders and Milani lifted her hands to her face, rubbing at her eyes. When V'teri had first mentioned looking for something 'off' she'd felt her stomach drop. Never mind that the time period didn't match up, it still made her jumpy. What if this was just the beginning of someone taking a look at /all/ of the Reaches' tithe records? Would certain sins of the past come back to haunt her and others?
Her hands dropped back down to the table's surface and she re-read the offending columns, resolutely slid a marker into the page and moved on. She wasn't sure if that slight detail there was what V'teri was looking for, but it was worth calling to his attention. It was also worthwhile to be helpful and friendly, stay close to this project of his, to make sure that he didn't wind up stumbling across things that had the potential to make life very messy for some denizens of the Reaches. That and it never hurt when a guy had a charming smile with a cute little dimple that he clearly knew how to use.
*Flip*
When: A day or two after the conversation with V'teri, M6 T25
Where: Records Room, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani makes good on her promise to V'teri and does some poking around in records and muses on certain sins of the past. Also: slice of life in the records.
*Flip*
Milani turned over another page in the record she was reading through and scanned the neat handwriting alongside the columns of figures. The way this particular type of record was kept hadn't changed much in the last near-century and she found it easy to follow along. The problem was that she wasn't exactly sure what V'teri was looking for, or more importantly, why he was looking for it. 'Something a little off' he'd said and that made her very curious about what kind of 'off' he was looking for.
She paused in her reading and looked up, chin pillowed in her hand and idly scanned the records room. Over in the corner was a regular to the poetry-and-romance section, no matter how small it might be. It always made Milani smile to see Ardwick over there: he was in his late seventies now, white-haired and quite near-sighted. He used to work with the Weyr's herds, the kind of big, brawny outdoor-type that most would never peg as having a 'soft' romantic side. He was quite wrapped up in the small volume in his large hands, the backs seamed with wrinkles now and spotted with age. At the desk, one of the younger records-keepers sat kicking his leg back and forth and doodling on a piece of scrap, clearly bored. Several riders were also scattered through the room, two of them engrossed in a set of maps. Business as usual, really for mid-morning in the records room.
Milani looked back down at the page before her and smoothed it with her fingers. The paper was getting a little dry, not brittle with age yet, but on its way. She made a mental note to let the head records-keeper and Giorda know that some of these older volumes probably needed re-copying if they intended to keep them. Her eye caught on a slight oddity in the set of figures on the page and she bent her head to take a closer look.
It reminded her of what she'd done to certain ledgers herself several turns ago now, when she was Hayda's assistant and the Weyr was going hungry and she and Amerie had hidden away things that N'thei and other riders had brought in on the sly. A thread of tension slid across her shoulders and Milani lifted her hands to her face, rubbing at her eyes. When V'teri had first mentioned looking for something 'off' she'd felt her stomach drop. Never mind that the time period didn't match up, it still made her jumpy. What if this was just the beginning of someone taking a look at /all/ of the Reaches' tithe records? Would certain sins of the past come back to haunt her and others?
Her hands dropped back down to the table's surface and she re-read the offending columns, resolutely slid a marker into the page and moved on. She wasn't sure if that slight detail there was what V'teri was looking for, but it was worth calling to his attention. It was also worthwhile to be helpful and friendly, stay close to this project of his, to make sure that he didn't wind up stumbling across things that had the potential to make life very messy for some denizens of the Reaches. That and it never hurt when a guy had a charming smile with a cute little dimple that he clearly knew how to use.
*Flip*