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Post by neopanther on Sept 25, 2008 10:58:03 GMT -8
As they entered the room, the first thing P’nset laid his eyes upon was the familiar face that hung above the mantle, not the glasses and decanter of brandy. He gave a short bemused huff. The craggy face was a perfect likeness. well at least that man never changed.
But at J’fel’s warm welcome (about which P’nset was rather surprised), P’nset could not help but feel that this was his home. “It is good to be home Weyrleader.” He nodded, “Your charge shall be able to return as your wingsecond now sir, for which I am sure you will be thankful. I hope frost did not cause you much bother in my absence.” P’nset dipped his head, apologising for what they may or may not have done whilst he was gone, “I trust B’nek is still absent?”
As J’fel took him aside, and Rosie curtseyed, he couldn’t help but give her ran amused come approving glance of his own. She really could behave herself.
Gently he laid his hand over Rosie’s raised his brows, gave a reassuring wink to the girl, before gently releasing himself from her hold. As he strolled past the table, following J’fel, he took the tumbler of brandy, marvelled at the colour for but a second, before letting the liquid down the hatch, burning as it descended, he winced at the kick it gave. He had no stomach for drink. Nor a taste for it.
“How did it fair?” P’nset queried the question, “It went well Weyrleader. Mission successful,” Formal to boot, “some of the decisions were a little rash, I think they may have impacted upon the current day a little more than necessary,” He shrugged, “Efficiency is something I approve of, but rashness is not. It was not handled with as much caution as I would have liked.” He stated, mentioning no names, nor any specifics. He was sure J’fel was intelligent enough to have figured out what he was referring to. He gave no strict account, simply his opinions upon the trip. He would likely have heard it all from G’tet and Aleda anyway. Though obviously it would have missed P’nset’s distaste for the actions of G’tet – likely.
“What of you Weyrleader, what has happened here in our absence.” His curiosity began to best his manners.
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Post by Alsivor on Sept 25, 2008 11:15:21 GMT -8
"No, no, sir," G'tet said with a grin. "She's no weyrwoman. I think this'll suit her fine. I just need to get used to it." The idea wasn't so odd now that he'd had a few minutes to digest it. Really, a green suited his twin. After all one had suited him just fine. The idea was pleasing to G'tet. At the mention of the missing children G'tet couldn't help a near grin. "Well, I think we found one anyway." His shoulders shrugged and then he rose from his chair and held his hand out for Aleda. "I cannot speak for anyone else, sir, but I was doing my duty to my Weyr. I require nothing for doing that." Fame in his own mind was pretty nice. That and getting to know Aleda better. All in all G'tet considered himself well paid. He would wait for Aleda and then escort her out so J'fel might get on with it. Aleda's mouth opened and then closed. So this was to be the name of what they had gone to do, in spite of what the truth was. She felt very disjointed, completely out of touch and a moment of dizziness swept through her trying to think through all of the changes, all of the things that /could be/. When she stepped outside, what would she actually find. A little numbly she took the Weyrleader's hand and shook it, though she had to force somewhat, the smile that she graced him with. "I require no payment, sir. I have only done my duty. But perhaps the Weyr will remember that a Caminar served it well," she tacked on, mostly without thinking as she rose and slipped her hand comfortably into G'tet's. He was unchanged and still her friend and that felt important right now as they walked out together to face a world that was so much the same and yet new at the same time. |
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Post by Omnia Munda on Sept 26, 2008 12:03:20 GMT -8
J'fel waited for P'nset's story to come out before going back to business at hand - wings, wingseconds, wingleaders. It gave him time to mull these issues. He hadn't yet pounded out the exact plan for what he'd do next - he'd have to work on that Rosie girl first, and he didn't dare do that before the brownrider. He needed to hear the brownrider's tale first, too, so waited, and frowned when it was very little like a tale at all.
But he answered what was asked of him, pushing the decanter toward P'nset in case he might want a refill (not knowing the other man would not). "The Holds press for the Caminar's release. The Caminar press for the same thing, but differently. My own men press for it too, and all three of these groups think the word means a totally different thing. In other words we are much as you left us."
Or so J'fel thought, anyway, and had no reason to say otherwise.
"B'nek did not return with you, and I've had no word from any of the others. I assume he's with Th'ane and the rest." J'fel sniffed disapproval, then sank into a chair, gesturing that the brownrider might do the same if he liked. "My 'second's going to have to take Storm. You'll be acting wingleader for Frost until B'nek returns - not that I doubt you guessed that would be the case." The weyrleader's mouth twisted a wry grin. If there had ever been bad feelings between himself and P'nset, he seemed utterly unaware of it.
"If you need a couple of days to recover first, you're at liberty to give the wing a couple of rest days. They'll be glad enough to have leadership in time to train for the turn's end games." J'fel grinned; evidently the weyrleader still loved his competitions, but then, so many riders did. But then he became serious again, and leaned forward so his quieted voice would be better heard.
"P'nset, I am still trying to gain the clearest possible picture of what you and the others actually achieved while you were away. I am grateful for Rosie, and for all that you must have done to even know where to find them. But will you tell me, in your words," and there was special emphasis on your words, to cue the other man that he was specifically hoping for his take on things. "Where you went, and in short, what transpired there, and why."
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Post by neopanther on Sept 27, 2008 2:22:04 GMT -8
Lips formed a thin line as J’fel spoke of the Caminar, the position of the holds, the weyrfolk and they themselves. He felt like he tied in to two of those three, he could see the view points, but could accept neither.
Heaving a sigh, the effort this would take would be marginal; it was like the memories wished to escape him. But, a man of few words, would have to adapt, and he could abide the Weyrleaders’ rulings.
“When we arrived, all of us, Th’ane, S’gur, G’tet, Aleda and myself, we were introduced tour climate rashly, the... time change you lead us on was confusing, thread was falling, and we would have appreciated prior notice Weyrleader.” He sounded a little disgruntled, but he would have appreciated being aware. “We then met with a few from the time, their dragons were pale, larger, but pale, sickly looking. M’sella took us. He lead us to his Wingleader, whose name evades me, but we too were introduced to Telgars’ Weyrleader, M’tani,” P’nset dipped his head indicating towards the portrait that hung large in the room. He crossed his arms over his chest as he recollected, “that one. We discussed things, told him that we weren’t from his time, he told us the turn, and we discovered finally how out of our own depths we were.” He nodded, trying to ascertain to himself that he was correct with a momentary pause.
“The discussion with M’tani was heavy, all of us confounded but what we had only heard in legend, we had to get him to permit us space within his wings, if only in name, he told us not to wear our knots. And assigned the few of us who were in wings that did not exist then, to new wings.” His speech slowed for a moment. His left hand slipped to the pocket of his leathers, slipping within it and slowly fingering the knot that he wore when here.
“I am a little hazy here, but we ventured out of M’tani’s company, and again in the company of M’sella, we began to look through Igen sea hold for one of our missing comrades. G’tet had slipped away when we didn’t notice between our landing and meeting with your predecessor. We found him in the only bar that sat upon the dock’s strip. He was talking to shipmen. And, to Rosie.” P’nset head inclined towards his ward. “Here we learned that G’tet had found the ship that we needed to intercept, and he was getting Seann, the captain to whom he was speaking, to show us her. The Windtoss. She was a fine ship from what I seen, a might mark was paid for her, but I am no shipman, and my eyes would not truly appreciate her.” He paused, “Having found her, G’tet made rash actions, he had Kalpeth sink the boat. I tried to propose otherwise, deigning the impact of this upon our time might be greater. But what is done cannot be undone now Weyrleader, unless you would have us alter our time again?” And with the virtually rhetorical question P’nset concluded his tale. “Rosie – who came with us to the ship – sent us the image of our home, this home, to us and our dragons, I do not understand how she came of it, but with it, we transcended time, and came back to this.” He shrugged, "I hope this answers the best of what you wanted from me weyrleader," then a question sparked in his own mind, off subject but still one that needed answering in his mind.
“I do not wish to pry sir, but, girls are riding greens now? How is that so?” Confusion marked his brow, heavy deep set lines that were not quite so before he left.
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Post by Omnia Munda on Sept 27, 2008 20:21:02 GMT -8
The sigh was J'fel's signal that he was going to get the story at last, and he leaned back in his chair to hear it.
Confusing, J'fel heard. Prior notice. M'tani. Out of our own depths. Wings. G'tet. Rosie. Windtoss. Had Kalpeth sink the boat.
For the most part it matched up. J'fel's expression grew graver by the moment. His riders weren't insane, nor the striking sabedoria - and for these facts he was grateful. But the alternative might have been less troubling. Worse, he couldn't remember things being different. He couldn't remember a plague. A boat. Anything else that should have been historically significant. He remembered the Southern Expedition and M'tani's 'hard decision' - well, he remembered them as harper lessons, anyway. All he had that wasn't in time with that was the vague sensation that once, he had remembered something else.
It wasn't enough. He had to go with what was real.
"Thank you," he murmured. He hoped his quietness would convey adequately to P'nset the gravity and importance of his explanation. The same quiet solemnity proved he was taking the questions now asked of him in return with all due seriousness.
Even if the bit about girls riding greens made one brow slowly raise.
"It's been happening now and again for a few turns," he replied, levelly. "First at Fort. Our own Eideen impressed here, a little out of turn she was." He cracked a smile, then suppressed it. Memories bloomed in his mind: the girl among his classmates, the one who'd been there just to provide bowls of meat and walked off the sands a dragonrider like all the rest of them. He remembered Jordeth and Daikalveth flirting as little hatchlings... and the fact that none of these memories had not been his to remember yesterday was lost on the weyrleader. He knew them as though they'd always been there.
"Anyway, we've two more now," he told P'nset, smile abating. "Weyrlings both."
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Post by neopanther on Sept 28, 2008 13:37:23 GMT -8
He inclined his head, slowly. He thought over the tale that J'fel recollected for him. And yet, that would mean that Eideen had been within frost wing for many turns now, as long - perhaps - as J'fel had been riding. What a peculiar prospect.
"Eideen is in Frost." statement as though he knew that perfectly well. "two more?" He questioned, "The recent hatching?" P'nset couldn't help but wonder if they had impressed normally, if upon their departure, and the arrival of the younglings, whether the two greens had hatched for these girls. Had his Pern not changed as much as he thought it had? P'nset found himself pondering deeply once more.
Mind eloping with the ideas of female green riders as a standard affair.
"So they are a rarity? And Pelegaoth's clutch held two for the girls. Are any other colours hatching for our females?" Doubtful, but then he would have said the same about the green riders the day previous.
"Pern has changed." He stated in an off the cuff manner. But it was out of exasperation as opposed to anything else. He wanted to query the weyrleader about the changes, find out how exactly different this world was from his own. This paradox that was a flawed version of reality.
How could the sinking of one boat impact so greatly upon a planets' future, or history?
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Post by Omnia Munda on Oct 3, 2008 8:53:55 GMT -8
"Yeah," replied J'fel, expression a little crooked. Of course at the recent hatching, he thought, where else would we get weyrlings from? But he kept his tongue. The weyrleader was all too conscious that these riders had brought the girl who waited outside to him, the girl who would - it now seemed - clear the Caminar for good and resolve his Weyr's great strain beneath their collective weight. P'nset was, if not quite so gracious about it as G'tet had been, a hero.
So J'fel kept his answers respectful, if warm. He grinned a little: "Golds," of course, as to what else girls might impress besides green. "We've a new weyrwoman. You remember her, I hope?"
He was daring, a little bit. He did not remember P'nset much appreciating friendliness, nor playfulness - but he just had to get the man past frustration and confusion into the here and now, preferably before he allowed him to leave this room.
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Post by neopanther on Oct 5, 2008 12:54:32 GMT -8
His lips turned to a vague semblance of a grimmace as he thought it over, did he remember the young weyrwoman? No. He certainly did not. Did J'fel forget that he ostracized them upon the evening of the hatching? It was as though planned, they left the evening as their dragons hummed for the hatching. It was a relief though, that girls weren't suddenly riding all colours of the draconic spectrum. That would be a topsy turvy world.
He recollected over the faces of the candidates, "I presume it was the one... you took a fancying to, the blond, Sa... Salle..." He blathered before coming to a halt, realising the disrespect that came from his lips. He looked up at M'tan's prolific portrait, and suddenly felt awash with this incredible guilt. M'tani had much more presence than this young boy before him.
Things just weren't adding up for him. Whatever it was, this wasn't how it should be.
Hero was not a word for him, he was just a dutiful man, doing as he thought should be done. He played very little part in the changing of their time, in the creation of this 'Parallel Pern'.
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Post by Omnia Munda on Oct 5, 2008 15:34:03 GMT -8
J'fel's mouth quirked wryly. "Salina," he provided. He had to remember that these men hadn't been at the weyr since the hatching - and reflected that he should have made sure G'tet was up to date before releasing him, too. Well, any lapses could be chalked up to Kalpeth, if necessary.
The brownrider's shifting gaze caught the weyrleader's attention. Ah: M'tani. J'fel's brows arched, and his expression grew serious, expectant. The ancient weyrleader's shadow was much broader than S'lyn's. For that, in ways, J'fel was grateful.
In any case, he was willing to wait only so long for the other shoe to drop. "I appreciate the service you've done for Pern, and the duty you've done for your Weyr," he said, sounding only slightly rehearsed. More off-the-cuff, he added, "And for taking the time to give me your personal account. It helps."
J'fel moved back from the table a little, building space for a possible farewell. "Thank you, P'nset. Is there anything else, for now?"
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Post by neopanther on Oct 7, 2008 9:54:10 GMT -8
Accepting the name from the weyrleader, he gave a sharp nod, then J'fel moved onto speaking of a service for Pern, duty for the Weyr. "Your words are kind but most untrue. I just done what was asked of me, no more. This Parallel Pern is a strange one, and I am ashamed to think our actions have changed our time so drastically, for that you have my apologies." He bowed, feeling far to regretful, "No sir, all by me is settled, unless there is other news I must be made aware of?" He asked, as he to mirrored the Weyrleader's actions, stepping away, creating a space. Asking for his leave to be granted.
He felt like nothing more than a hot bath.
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Post by Omnia Munda on Oct 8, 2008 14:00:51 GMT -8
"Not that I'm aware of, P'nset, though I suspect there are surprises still in store for us all."
Like handling the fallout of whatever you and the others might say before I can get them to still their tongues, he thought. But outwardly, he only lifted a hand and shot off a firm salute. The brownrider, respectfully, was dismissed.
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