When Nobody Knew (Chapter Seven)
Title: When Nobody Knew
Fandom: RPS/Pern Fusion
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Summary: J’sen nodded but Jared saw the determination in his eyes. “Alright. We’ll talk later, but Jared, know that it was never about hating you or not being able to accept you as Aloqueth’s rider.”
J’sen left and Jared just sat up and stared at the space he’d departed.
The meeting lasted through the night as they spoke about Southern and the information they had about the other continent. Jared told them what he recalled and he grabbed the scrolls that he remembered had mentions of the abandoned continent.
Danneel was still too upset to be of any help, and Samantha eventually reported that both Queen and rider had fallen into exhausted sleep. Samantha was staying where she was and Jared could feel Aloqueth still with them as well.
“The question is,” Jared said softly as breakfast food was passed among them all. “with the other weyrs coming soon, how much can we say?”
“What?” asked M’sha.
“We all agree that the people in Southern have to be coming from a weyr. S’ven, you said Ista riders would have seen boat traffic but there was none. Could they have realized you were interested in Southern and hidden from you?”
“I have a very discreet wing looking into Southern. They won’t have been seen. I’ll have the Wingleader report to you when he can. He’ll be able to verify what he’s seen and we can make more plans,” S’ven answered.
“So, what do we tell the other Weyrs, was the question Jared posed. What is your thought, S’ven?” J’frey asked.
“If you trust me, I think we need to keep this between us. If you trust anyone else, we can bring them in quietly. There are too many people who could be acting on their own interest, especially as it was brought up in that last meeting that we are all looking at tight belts this winter. Anyone else could have been looking at Southern and hatched this plan.”
“I think we can bring T’mothy and Genevieve from Fort,” J’frey said. “Any objections?” No one objected and J’frey looked at Jared. “Jared?”
“T’mothy has never been anything but supportive,” Jared said. “I was a candidate at his weyr for two years before I came here. I can’t believe he would do anything like this. He’s trustworthy.”
“Alright then, Jared, I want you to talk to him when the meeting is over. Find a reason to get him alone and bring him up to speed so that we can make plans when the other weyrs have left.”
“That will cause some friction with the other weyrs when this is all done,” S’ven said.
“It will, but until I know who was behind this, I won’t bring anyone else in unless I can be entirely sure. Besides, we are assuming this is about how Jared was accepted. It could be something else entirely. I would still trust T’mothy and Genevieve.”
They come, Aloqueth warned Jared.
“Aloqueth just informed me the other weyrs are arriving.” Jared took a deep breath. “I’ll see to the welcome,” he said to J’frey.
“Thank you, Jared. I know Samantha and Dani are both grateful that you’re here to represent the Queenriders in this,” J’frey said.
Jared just smiled as he moved out of the room and towards the inner workings of the weyr where he would be able to meet with the other Weyrleaders as they came.
***
Jared had their current map of Southern stretched out in front of him but it didn’t help a bit. No one had an updated map of Southern, except for S’ven’s wing that had been mapping it. The old map gave Jared an idea of the land but they didn’t know anything about how time had changed it. Were there earthquakes? Fires? Was there even anything left to search in a land without weyrs?
S’ven’s scouts said there was. In fact, S’ven said there was more than just a broken land. It was a land of plenty. And there were enough people there to cause notice when S’ven’s scouts flew at a distance.
“They won’t get any more complete if you keep staring at them,” J’frey said as he entered the inner chamber where the Weyrleaders conducted most of the weyr’s business.
A full day had passed and they weren’t any closer to finding the 7 missing eggs. The other weyrleaders had helped plan a search of each hold. In a moment of lull, Jared had pulled T’mothy aside and given him a quick run down of the situation and asked him to stay after the others had left.
The Weyrleader of Fort had agreed to help search Southern as well, seeing the need, and he’d remembered old writing about Southern in the Fort Weyr’s archives. He promised to return once he’d found them and T’moh had offered to help him search, allowing the Weyrleader to go about weyr business without anyone noticing an interest in the other continent.
“How is she?” Jared asked, thinking of his friend.
“Inconsolable,” J’frey said. “Samantha and Santeth will stay with them but Fantith still won’t let anyone in the hatching cavern. I’m sure you know that, since Aloqueth hasn’t left the cavern either.”
“I know, but I haven’t seen them since we started the meetings.”
“You can take a break and visit.”
“I will,” Jared said with a sigh. “S’ven’s scout should be here soon with the map. I wanted to be ready.”
“And when he leaves, I expect you to make a visit, then get some sleep. We can’t search Southern in the dark.”
Jared smile. “Yeah, I got it. You getting some sleep?”
“Heading to my weyr now. I figure I’ll let you get a crack at the map and by the time I get a few hours of shut eye, you’ll be ready for a fresh set of eyes. T’moh will be back after he gets the rest of the charts that T’mothy mentioned from Fort. I sent M’sha back to his weyr so at least two of us would have some sleep before we start tomorrow.”
Jared nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“I’ll send some klah up. You’ll need it before long.”
J’frey left and Jared sat down and rested his head in his hands for a moment. He was tired but he needed to be able to think clearly. The klah from the kitchens came up a moment later along with a tray of food. He wasn’t hungry but they’d all been going on little food and not enough sleep. He’d have to thank J’frey in the morning for his thoughtfulness.
He set the tray on the table edge to keep the space clear for the map. He refilled his mug and took a long drink to try to get his wits about him. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.
“Queenrider?”
His eyes opened suddenly and he turned to the entryway to see the Wingleader from Igen. “J’sen?”
He bowed his head slightly, “Queenrider, I was told to report with the records of our journeys to the Southern Continent.”
“S’ven said he was sending his main scout.”
“Yes. When the Weyrleader mentioned scouting the South, I started the work. When I realized something was happening there, my wing and I began to not just map the continent but to try to keep an eye on movement and possible settlements.” He handed a long scroll to Jared. “This is the most accurate map we have of the South right now.”
“Thank you,” Jared said as he began to spread it out. As awkward as it was to be with J’sen, Jared pushed past it. They needed answers. They needed to know if the South was really their destination. “S’ven said you know the South better than anyone.”
“He’s right,” J’sen answered. “I’ve spent more time there.”
J’sen helped him place weights on the edges of the map to keep it in place and Jared looked down at it.
“There’s a large river,” J’sen pointed to a point at the tip of the continent, “here, where they seem to meet. However they get there, someone is taking them from that point, traveling up river, and then taking them elsewhere. We haven’t scouted out a direct line because it’s hard to follow them from the skies and not be seen.”
“Is that really a possibility?”
“It’s dense forest, Jared. To be able to see their movements, we’d have to be on top of them.”
“But how can that be, with threadfall?”
“We haven’t been able to figure that out yet. I’ve been trying to create a threadfall chart for the area to see if I can be there to catch it happening. Maybe there are riders protecting them, but that doesn’t make sense. Until I see it, I can’t even begin to guess.”
“But there’s no sign of a Holding?”
“None.”
“So somehow we have to get into Southern to search it through the treeline, but staying far enough away to avoid detection.”
“That sums it up well.”
Jared reached for his mug of klah but J’sen pushed it back.
“Jared, you’d be better served with food.”
He stared at J’sen for a moment and he wanted to laugh. “Really, J’sen? This? After all this time, this is what you’re worried about? This is the care you give?”
“Queenrider … Jared.”
“I’m taking a break. I’m going to go check on my friend, since I’m one of only three people who can see her. When I’m done, maybe the great Wingleader will have divined a way to take care of all this. Have some food if you need it. I’ll be back.”
Rider?
I’m fine, Aloqueth.
You’re not.
Jared let out a bitter laugh. No, I’m probably not. But I’m coming to the cavern now so please make sure that Fantith doesn’t eat me before she sees who I am.
Does it bother you so much, that Strith’s rider cares for you?
It would bother me less if he had cared when it mattered.
He has always cared. Too much, Strith says.
Strith is not an unbiased observer. I’m here.
He walked into the cavern and Fantith let him in, thought she watched him carefully until he was in the sands and away from her eggs. As Jared reached the stands where the others watched, Danneel threw herself into his arms and Jared held her tight.
He didn’t have long before he needed to return to J’sen, but already he felt the warmth of Danneel’s presence soothing him. She had become his rock, his consistency since he’d come to the weyr. He could be that for her now, even if his own heart felt shredded by Strith’s rider.
***
When he was ready, he returned to the chamber. J’sen had spread a set of threadfall charts over the table and he was working diligently on something. When Jared approached, the bronzerider stepped back.
“These are the charts you’re working on for the Southern Continent?” he asked.
J’sen nodded. “I think with the information we got in the last pass through Southern that we’ve finally established the effects of the air currents around the areas we’ve scouted. It wouldn’t be good to head to Southern in search of the eggs to find ourselves in threadfall.”
“Good thinking, Wingleader,” Jared said as he looked at the charts. “The settlements have to be somewhere in this area,” he said, pointing to the area that had been marked as being travelled. “But I have a hard time imagining that this many people would know about a plot to steal Fantith’s eggs. So, it’s not likely that the eggs would be taken to that area.”
“Even if they aren’t involved, they are there illegally. We need to do something about that,” J’sen said.
“We could send people over? We could speak with the Masterharper. I think Masters Rob or Richard would work well to gather intelligence. They might be able to find out who these people are and how they got there.”
“And the Weyrleaders are trusted so they wouldn’t ask questions about why their Masters had been reassigned. And Master Rob has a firelizard to send word back and forth.”
“That would at least give us a heads up on what is happening with the people who are entering Southern. But how do we find the eggs and are they even on Southern?” Jared felt defeated with the task in front of them. There was so much space to search.
What if they didn’t find them in time? What if the eggs hatched and their candidates weren’t there? What if the people who had them didn’t know how to care for them? What if they did? What if this was really the work of a Weyrleader who truly despised Jared enough to do something like this?
“Jared?” J’sen’s hand was on his shoulder and Jared took a deep breath.
“Jared, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to find who did this. We’re going to get to the eggs in time. Listen, the weyrs are going to search the Northern Continent. If there is anything to turn up, they will. And we’re going to handle this search on Southern. My instinct tells me Southern is where we’ll find them. We will get them back and Dani and Fantith will be fine.”
Jared let out a breath and closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he said softly. He hated that J’sen still knew him well enough to calm him, but he needed to keep a level head. “Maybe I should have taken J’frey’s advice and gotten some sleep.”
J’sen smiled kindly. “You’re holding it together really well, Jared, especially considering the Weyrwoman and her Junior are both unable to help right now. Strith says Aloqueth is handling the situation very well too. You can be proud of that, if nothing else, until we get the eggs back.”
“Alright,” Jared said as he looked back at the table. “If they aren’t moving the eggs towards their camps, where would be a good place to take them?”
“So, assuming that the people who took the eggs know what they’re doing, what do they need?”
“Access to water and food. Shelter. Heat for the eggs.”
“Heat,” J’sen said as he leaned over the map.
“What is it?”
J’sen pointed to the northern most tips of the Southern Continent. “There’s a volcano here. The other people are being deposited to this river to the east, but it would be easy enough for a rider to go straight to this volcano. They’d have the heat and shelter they needed. It would be hard to get to without a dragon, so not much chance of anyone snooping around.”
“You looked that closely at the area?” Jared asked.
“You mentioned the South as a place that we might be able to get resources. S’ven asked me to look into it when I could. It would make a good weyr location. There’s no weyr caves like we have, but Ista makes do with its forest weyrs. I imagine the South could find another way to shelter their dragons if we were needed there.”
J’sen looked back at the map then, as if he was embarrassed. Jared couldn’t help but smile. “Dragons always seem to make do.”
“I think we should start our search there, then move down the coasts and inland,” J’sen said.
Jared nodded. “Alright, hold on, let me get something to start plotting this out.”
***
By the time J’frey and M’sha joined them, Jared and J’sen had a search grid figured out.
T’moh joined them with a sour expression on his usually unshakable demeanor. “They found the men who were on duty with the watch wher the night the eggs disappeared. They were hidden in a supply room near the wher kennels. Someone killed them and dragged them down there.”
“So there is no doubt someone betrayed us,” J’sen said.
Jared wanted to call him out on the ‘us’ part of that statement, but he didn’t have the heart to. J’sen might not be a part of Ista Weyr now, but that wasn’t his choice and he was obviously still close to Dani.
“Yes,” J’frey said as he sat heavily in one of the chairs. “Jared, I think it’s time we put a watch on the people we’ve talked about.”
“I’ve already taken care of it,” M’sha said. “As soon as this happened. I asked a trusted Wingleader to look after this matter.”
“What people?” J’sen asked.
“Anyone that’s made comments, or ignored disparaging comments, about Jared’s impression of Aloqueth.” J’frey said. “We’ve kept a list in case anything happened.”
“Was it really so bad that you thought someone would dare to disrespect a Queenrider?” J’sen asked.
Jared let out a bitter huff and closed his eyes at that, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He could feel J’sen’s eyes on him but he was saved from answering as someone came into the room.
“M’rk, it’s good to see you,” J’sen crossed the room to where Wingleader M’rk had just entered. “I hear you and Proth are doing well in our absence.”
M’rk smiled. “We have our moments.” He looked over at M’sha then. “Proth said you needed me here?”
“Your wing has been making discrete talk over the people we mentioned, correct?” M’sha asked.
“All but one name on that list,” M’rk agreed.
“One?” J’sen asked.
“He’s no longer in our weyr and beyond our jurisdiction to watch.”
Jared could see the way it hit J’sen, the whitening of his knuckles as he clenched them against the table, the tightness of his shoulders as he leaned forward.
“There is only one who was unaccounted for at the time of the incident,” M’rk continued before J’sen could say anything. “The worst bastard of the bunch.”
“M’tch,” Jared guessed.
M’rk nodded. “Everyone else was accounted for that night.”
“Where is he right now?” J’frey asked.
“We don’t know. When we started to ask around, he was missing. We’ve continued to look, but we did our best to be discrete just in case.”
J’frey’s eyes went distance and a second later he shook his head. “Fith isn’t in the weyr.”
Aloqueth, when is the last time we saw Fith in the weyr? Don’t ask around, but when do you last remember seeing the brown?
He could feel the Gold searching her memory. I don’t like Fith. I usually ignore him. He is as mean spirited as his rider.
Why do you say that?
He says I picked the wrong rider. I told him I only had one choice, because you have always been mine. He should know better. We are dragon. We do not choose the wrong riders.
Thank you, Aloqueth. How are Fantith and Santeth?
They hold strong together. Find her eggs soon, Rider.
We’re working on it.
“We need to find M’tch,” Jared said to the group as he finished his conversation with Aloqueth.
“What happened?” T’moh asked.
“Aloqueth said Fith told her she’d picked the wrong rider. What is going on in M’tch’s head that he could convince his dragon that such a thing was even possible?”
“Jared,” J’frey moved to stand in front of him. “Go get a little sleep. I’ll wake you before the others get here to start the search.”
“J’frey-“
“That’s an order, Queenrider.” Jared thought about fighting him, but J’frey must have seen something on his face. “Don’t make me get Santeth involved.”
Jared let out a small laugh and moved away from the others. He didn’t bother to say good night. He was too tired to be worried about the niceties and his head was reeling with the latest news.
He made it to his weyr, thankful that it wasn’t far from the Weyrleader’s chambers. He stripped out of his clothes and left them in a trail across the floor of his weyr. He wanted to curl up around Aloqueth but she was needed in the hatching caverns. He could feel her sleepy presence in the back of his head and he decided that if she could take a nap, he wouldn’t feel guilty about getting a couple hours.
He was almost asleep when he heard noise in his weyr. He opened bleary eyes to see J’sen as he picked up Jared’s clothes and left them in a pile by his closet.
“J’sen? What are you doing here?”
“Is that what you really thought?” he asked.
Jared closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “Think. Not thought.”
“What?”
“Until tonight you haven’t been able to stomach the sight of me for more than a few minutes. You made an excuse to leave every meeting that I was present at. You left the damn weyr because of me. In the two turns since I impressed Aloqueth, you have had one conversation with me, besides tonight. You never once defended me from anyone’s words. You came to every milestone Aloqueth had and spied on us, without ever saying a word to me. I don’t know why my impression caused this, but after two turns I got the message.”
He looked up then and watched J’sen sit in a chair across from his bed. He elbows were on his knees and he stared down at his hands.
“Jared, I didn’t leave because I hated you. I could never hate you.”
“I’m too tired for this J’sen.”
“Jared-“
There was so much anguish in his voice but Jared couldn’t do it. Not tonight. “Jensen. Please. I just … I need to sleep. I can’t deal with this tonight. You were my best friend, my everything, and you were just gone, twice, and I can’t tonight.”
J’sen nodded but Jared saw the determination in his eyes. “Alright. We’ll talk later, but Jared, know that it was never about hating you or not being able to accept you as Aloqueth’s rider.”
J’sen left and Jared just sat up and stared at the space he’d departed.
Told you.
Shut up, Aloqueth. The youngest Gold gave a sleepy snort in response and Jared smiled a little at the warmth of her in the back of his head. He fell asleep, exhausted, and with the knowledge that he would probably wake feeling even worse.
Fandom: RPS/Pern Fusion
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Summary: J’sen nodded but Jared saw the determination in his eyes. “Alright. We’ll talk later, but Jared, know that it was never about hating you or not being able to accept you as Aloqueth’s rider.”
J’sen left and Jared just sat up and stared at the space he’d departed.
The meeting lasted through the night as they spoke about Southern and the information they had about the other continent. Jared told them what he recalled and he grabbed the scrolls that he remembered had mentions of the abandoned continent.
Danneel was still too upset to be of any help, and Samantha eventually reported that both Queen and rider had fallen into exhausted sleep. Samantha was staying where she was and Jared could feel Aloqueth still with them as well.
“The question is,” Jared said softly as breakfast food was passed among them all. “with the other weyrs coming soon, how much can we say?”
“What?” asked M’sha.
“We all agree that the people in Southern have to be coming from a weyr. S’ven, you said Ista riders would have seen boat traffic but there was none. Could they have realized you were interested in Southern and hidden from you?”
“I have a very discreet wing looking into Southern. They won’t have been seen. I’ll have the Wingleader report to you when he can. He’ll be able to verify what he’s seen and we can make more plans,” S’ven answered.
“So, what do we tell the other Weyrs, was the question Jared posed. What is your thought, S’ven?” J’frey asked.
“If you trust me, I think we need to keep this between us. If you trust anyone else, we can bring them in quietly. There are too many people who could be acting on their own interest, especially as it was brought up in that last meeting that we are all looking at tight belts this winter. Anyone else could have been looking at Southern and hatched this plan.”
“I think we can bring T’mothy and Genevieve from Fort,” J’frey said. “Any objections?” No one objected and J’frey looked at Jared. “Jared?”
“T’mothy has never been anything but supportive,” Jared said. “I was a candidate at his weyr for two years before I came here. I can’t believe he would do anything like this. He’s trustworthy.”
“Alright then, Jared, I want you to talk to him when the meeting is over. Find a reason to get him alone and bring him up to speed so that we can make plans when the other weyrs have left.”
“That will cause some friction with the other weyrs when this is all done,” S’ven said.
“It will, but until I know who was behind this, I won’t bring anyone else in unless I can be entirely sure. Besides, we are assuming this is about how Jared was accepted. It could be something else entirely. I would still trust T’mothy and Genevieve.”
They come, Aloqueth warned Jared.
“Aloqueth just informed me the other weyrs are arriving.” Jared took a deep breath. “I’ll see to the welcome,” he said to J’frey.
“Thank you, Jared. I know Samantha and Dani are both grateful that you’re here to represent the Queenriders in this,” J’frey said.
Jared just smiled as he moved out of the room and towards the inner workings of the weyr where he would be able to meet with the other Weyrleaders as they came.
***
Jared had their current map of Southern stretched out in front of him but it didn’t help a bit. No one had an updated map of Southern, except for S’ven’s wing that had been mapping it. The old map gave Jared an idea of the land but they didn’t know anything about how time had changed it. Were there earthquakes? Fires? Was there even anything left to search in a land without weyrs?
S’ven’s scouts said there was. In fact, S’ven said there was more than just a broken land. It was a land of plenty. And there were enough people there to cause notice when S’ven’s scouts flew at a distance.
“They won’t get any more complete if you keep staring at them,” J’frey said as he entered the inner chamber where the Weyrleaders conducted most of the weyr’s business.
A full day had passed and they weren’t any closer to finding the 7 missing eggs. The other weyrleaders had helped plan a search of each hold. In a moment of lull, Jared had pulled T’mothy aside and given him a quick run down of the situation and asked him to stay after the others had left.
The Weyrleader of Fort had agreed to help search Southern as well, seeing the need, and he’d remembered old writing about Southern in the Fort Weyr’s archives. He promised to return once he’d found them and T’moh had offered to help him search, allowing the Weyrleader to go about weyr business without anyone noticing an interest in the other continent.
“How is she?” Jared asked, thinking of his friend.
“Inconsolable,” J’frey said. “Samantha and Santeth will stay with them but Fantith still won’t let anyone in the hatching cavern. I’m sure you know that, since Aloqueth hasn’t left the cavern either.”
“I know, but I haven’t seen them since we started the meetings.”
“You can take a break and visit.”
“I will,” Jared said with a sigh. “S’ven’s scout should be here soon with the map. I wanted to be ready.”
“And when he leaves, I expect you to make a visit, then get some sleep. We can’t search Southern in the dark.”
Jared smile. “Yeah, I got it. You getting some sleep?”
“Heading to my weyr now. I figure I’ll let you get a crack at the map and by the time I get a few hours of shut eye, you’ll be ready for a fresh set of eyes. T’moh will be back after he gets the rest of the charts that T’mothy mentioned from Fort. I sent M’sha back to his weyr so at least two of us would have some sleep before we start tomorrow.”
Jared nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“I’ll send some klah up. You’ll need it before long.”
J’frey left and Jared sat down and rested his head in his hands for a moment. He was tired but he needed to be able to think clearly. The klah from the kitchens came up a moment later along with a tray of food. He wasn’t hungry but they’d all been going on little food and not enough sleep. He’d have to thank J’frey in the morning for his thoughtfulness.
He set the tray on the table edge to keep the space clear for the map. He refilled his mug and took a long drink to try to get his wits about him. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.
“Queenrider?”
His eyes opened suddenly and he turned to the entryway to see the Wingleader from Igen. “J’sen?”
He bowed his head slightly, “Queenrider, I was told to report with the records of our journeys to the Southern Continent.”
“S’ven said he was sending his main scout.”
“Yes. When the Weyrleader mentioned scouting the South, I started the work. When I realized something was happening there, my wing and I began to not just map the continent but to try to keep an eye on movement and possible settlements.” He handed a long scroll to Jared. “This is the most accurate map we have of the South right now.”
“Thank you,” Jared said as he began to spread it out. As awkward as it was to be with J’sen, Jared pushed past it. They needed answers. They needed to know if the South was really their destination. “S’ven said you know the South better than anyone.”
“He’s right,” J’sen answered. “I’ve spent more time there.”
J’sen helped him place weights on the edges of the map to keep it in place and Jared looked down at it.
“There’s a large river,” J’sen pointed to a point at the tip of the continent, “here, where they seem to meet. However they get there, someone is taking them from that point, traveling up river, and then taking them elsewhere. We haven’t scouted out a direct line because it’s hard to follow them from the skies and not be seen.”
“Is that really a possibility?”
“It’s dense forest, Jared. To be able to see their movements, we’d have to be on top of them.”
“But how can that be, with threadfall?”
“We haven’t been able to figure that out yet. I’ve been trying to create a threadfall chart for the area to see if I can be there to catch it happening. Maybe there are riders protecting them, but that doesn’t make sense. Until I see it, I can’t even begin to guess.”
“But there’s no sign of a Holding?”
“None.”
“So somehow we have to get into Southern to search it through the treeline, but staying far enough away to avoid detection.”
“That sums it up well.”
Jared reached for his mug of klah but J’sen pushed it back.
“Jared, you’d be better served with food.”
He stared at J’sen for a moment and he wanted to laugh. “Really, J’sen? This? After all this time, this is what you’re worried about? This is the care you give?”
“Queenrider … Jared.”
“I’m taking a break. I’m going to go check on my friend, since I’m one of only three people who can see her. When I’m done, maybe the great Wingleader will have divined a way to take care of all this. Have some food if you need it. I’ll be back.”
Rider?
I’m fine, Aloqueth.
You’re not.
Jared let out a bitter laugh. No, I’m probably not. But I’m coming to the cavern now so please make sure that Fantith doesn’t eat me before she sees who I am.
Does it bother you so much, that Strith’s rider cares for you?
It would bother me less if he had cared when it mattered.
He has always cared. Too much, Strith says.
Strith is not an unbiased observer. I’m here.
He walked into the cavern and Fantith let him in, thought she watched him carefully until he was in the sands and away from her eggs. As Jared reached the stands where the others watched, Danneel threw herself into his arms and Jared held her tight.
He didn’t have long before he needed to return to J’sen, but already he felt the warmth of Danneel’s presence soothing him. She had become his rock, his consistency since he’d come to the weyr. He could be that for her now, even if his own heart felt shredded by Strith’s rider.
***
When he was ready, he returned to the chamber. J’sen had spread a set of threadfall charts over the table and he was working diligently on something. When Jared approached, the bronzerider stepped back.
“These are the charts you’re working on for the Southern Continent?” he asked.
J’sen nodded. “I think with the information we got in the last pass through Southern that we’ve finally established the effects of the air currents around the areas we’ve scouted. It wouldn’t be good to head to Southern in search of the eggs to find ourselves in threadfall.”
“Good thinking, Wingleader,” Jared said as he looked at the charts. “The settlements have to be somewhere in this area,” he said, pointing to the area that had been marked as being travelled. “But I have a hard time imagining that this many people would know about a plot to steal Fantith’s eggs. So, it’s not likely that the eggs would be taken to that area.”
“Even if they aren’t involved, they are there illegally. We need to do something about that,” J’sen said.
“We could send people over? We could speak with the Masterharper. I think Masters Rob or Richard would work well to gather intelligence. They might be able to find out who these people are and how they got there.”
“And the Weyrleaders are trusted so they wouldn’t ask questions about why their Masters had been reassigned. And Master Rob has a firelizard to send word back and forth.”
“That would at least give us a heads up on what is happening with the people who are entering Southern. But how do we find the eggs and are they even on Southern?” Jared felt defeated with the task in front of them. There was so much space to search.
What if they didn’t find them in time? What if the eggs hatched and their candidates weren’t there? What if the people who had them didn’t know how to care for them? What if they did? What if this was really the work of a Weyrleader who truly despised Jared enough to do something like this?
“Jared?” J’sen’s hand was on his shoulder and Jared took a deep breath.
“Jared, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to find who did this. We’re going to get to the eggs in time. Listen, the weyrs are going to search the Northern Continent. If there is anything to turn up, they will. And we’re going to handle this search on Southern. My instinct tells me Southern is where we’ll find them. We will get them back and Dani and Fantith will be fine.”
Jared let out a breath and closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he said softly. He hated that J’sen still knew him well enough to calm him, but he needed to keep a level head. “Maybe I should have taken J’frey’s advice and gotten some sleep.”
J’sen smiled kindly. “You’re holding it together really well, Jared, especially considering the Weyrwoman and her Junior are both unable to help right now. Strith says Aloqueth is handling the situation very well too. You can be proud of that, if nothing else, until we get the eggs back.”
“Alright,” Jared said as he looked back at the table. “If they aren’t moving the eggs towards their camps, where would be a good place to take them?”
“So, assuming that the people who took the eggs know what they’re doing, what do they need?”
“Access to water and food. Shelter. Heat for the eggs.”
“Heat,” J’sen said as he leaned over the map.
“What is it?”
J’sen pointed to the northern most tips of the Southern Continent. “There’s a volcano here. The other people are being deposited to this river to the east, but it would be easy enough for a rider to go straight to this volcano. They’d have the heat and shelter they needed. It would be hard to get to without a dragon, so not much chance of anyone snooping around.”
“You looked that closely at the area?” Jared asked.
“You mentioned the South as a place that we might be able to get resources. S’ven asked me to look into it when I could. It would make a good weyr location. There’s no weyr caves like we have, but Ista makes do with its forest weyrs. I imagine the South could find another way to shelter their dragons if we were needed there.”
J’sen looked back at the map then, as if he was embarrassed. Jared couldn’t help but smile. “Dragons always seem to make do.”
“I think we should start our search there, then move down the coasts and inland,” J’sen said.
Jared nodded. “Alright, hold on, let me get something to start plotting this out.”
***
By the time J’frey and M’sha joined them, Jared and J’sen had a search grid figured out.
T’moh joined them with a sour expression on his usually unshakable demeanor. “They found the men who were on duty with the watch wher the night the eggs disappeared. They were hidden in a supply room near the wher kennels. Someone killed them and dragged them down there.”
“So there is no doubt someone betrayed us,” J’sen said.
Jared wanted to call him out on the ‘us’ part of that statement, but he didn’t have the heart to. J’sen might not be a part of Ista Weyr now, but that wasn’t his choice and he was obviously still close to Dani.
“Yes,” J’frey said as he sat heavily in one of the chairs. “Jared, I think it’s time we put a watch on the people we’ve talked about.”
“I’ve already taken care of it,” M’sha said. “As soon as this happened. I asked a trusted Wingleader to look after this matter.”
“What people?” J’sen asked.
“Anyone that’s made comments, or ignored disparaging comments, about Jared’s impression of Aloqueth.” J’frey said. “We’ve kept a list in case anything happened.”
“Was it really so bad that you thought someone would dare to disrespect a Queenrider?” J’sen asked.
Jared let out a bitter huff and closed his eyes at that, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He could feel J’sen’s eyes on him but he was saved from answering as someone came into the room.
“M’rk, it’s good to see you,” J’sen crossed the room to where Wingleader M’rk had just entered. “I hear you and Proth are doing well in our absence.”
M’rk smiled. “We have our moments.” He looked over at M’sha then. “Proth said you needed me here?”
“Your wing has been making discrete talk over the people we mentioned, correct?” M’sha asked.
“All but one name on that list,” M’rk agreed.
“One?” J’sen asked.
“He’s no longer in our weyr and beyond our jurisdiction to watch.”
Jared could see the way it hit J’sen, the whitening of his knuckles as he clenched them against the table, the tightness of his shoulders as he leaned forward.
“There is only one who was unaccounted for at the time of the incident,” M’rk continued before J’sen could say anything. “The worst bastard of the bunch.”
“M’tch,” Jared guessed.
M’rk nodded. “Everyone else was accounted for that night.”
“Where is he right now?” J’frey asked.
“We don’t know. When we started to ask around, he was missing. We’ve continued to look, but we did our best to be discrete just in case.”
J’frey’s eyes went distance and a second later he shook his head. “Fith isn’t in the weyr.”
Aloqueth, when is the last time we saw Fith in the weyr? Don’t ask around, but when do you last remember seeing the brown?
He could feel the Gold searching her memory. I don’t like Fith. I usually ignore him. He is as mean spirited as his rider.
Why do you say that?
He says I picked the wrong rider. I told him I only had one choice, because you have always been mine. He should know better. We are dragon. We do not choose the wrong riders.
Thank you, Aloqueth. How are Fantith and Santeth?
They hold strong together. Find her eggs soon, Rider.
We’re working on it.
“We need to find M’tch,” Jared said to the group as he finished his conversation with Aloqueth.
“What happened?” T’moh asked.
“Aloqueth said Fith told her she’d picked the wrong rider. What is going on in M’tch’s head that he could convince his dragon that such a thing was even possible?”
“Jared,” J’frey moved to stand in front of him. “Go get a little sleep. I’ll wake you before the others get here to start the search.”
“J’frey-“
“That’s an order, Queenrider.” Jared thought about fighting him, but J’frey must have seen something on his face. “Don’t make me get Santeth involved.”
Jared let out a small laugh and moved away from the others. He didn’t bother to say good night. He was too tired to be worried about the niceties and his head was reeling with the latest news.
He made it to his weyr, thankful that it wasn’t far from the Weyrleader’s chambers. He stripped out of his clothes and left them in a trail across the floor of his weyr. He wanted to curl up around Aloqueth but she was needed in the hatching caverns. He could feel her sleepy presence in the back of his head and he decided that if she could take a nap, he wouldn’t feel guilty about getting a couple hours.
He was almost asleep when he heard noise in his weyr. He opened bleary eyes to see J’sen as he picked up Jared’s clothes and left them in a pile by his closet.
“J’sen? What are you doing here?”
“Is that what you really thought?” he asked.
Jared closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “Think. Not thought.”
“What?”
“Until tonight you haven’t been able to stomach the sight of me for more than a few minutes. You made an excuse to leave every meeting that I was present at. You left the damn weyr because of me. In the two turns since I impressed Aloqueth, you have had one conversation with me, besides tonight. You never once defended me from anyone’s words. You came to every milestone Aloqueth had and spied on us, without ever saying a word to me. I don’t know why my impression caused this, but after two turns I got the message.”
He looked up then and watched J’sen sit in a chair across from his bed. He elbows were on his knees and he stared down at his hands.
“Jared, I didn’t leave because I hated you. I could never hate you.”
“I’m too tired for this J’sen.”
“Jared-“
There was so much anguish in his voice but Jared couldn’t do it. Not tonight. “Jensen. Please. I just … I need to sleep. I can’t deal with this tonight. You were my best friend, my everything, and you were just gone, twice, and I can’t tonight.”
J’sen nodded but Jared saw the determination in his eyes. “Alright. We’ll talk later, but Jared, know that it was never about hating you or not being able to accept you as Aloqueth’s rider.”
J’sen left and Jared just sat up and stared at the space he’d departed.
Told you.
Shut up, Aloqueth. The youngest Gold gave a sleepy snort in response and Jared smiled a little at the warmth of her in the back of his head. He fell asleep, exhausted, and with the knowledge that he would probably wake feeling even worse.