The nerve of these dullards! How dare these sycophantic imbeciles dream of questioning you, my sweet darling girl! The blue's eyes whirled orange with irritation and her claws worried against the stone floor of the common area.
Nimara was sitting with her knees up to her chin. She hadn't liked being questioned. Even if she didn't know anything, somehow she felt guilty anyway.
Don't be preposterous, Nimara. Not a thing is your fault. You have nothing to feel guilty about! Do you think I would have chosen you if I thought you were some sort of miscreant?
"No," sniff, "I suppose not."
When the next weyrling entered the common area, Nimara turned her slightly red eyes up to look at them. "How ya holdin' up?" She asked, her voice still a little muffled from her emotional state.
Oh my dear Avhern, you did nothing wrong.
She didn't feel as if she had done nothing wrong. They had been brought into a room and questioned about the dead eggs and the tampered with pipes. Had she known anyone that would do it? Did she hear anyone talking about it? Would she be hiding them to protect them? The whole line of questioning had left her feeling queasy and dirty. There had been reassurance that they knew she wouldn't have done such a thing since she had worked so hard to save Leimoth, but perhaps she had heard something since she had been brought here so unwillingly.
Had Z'lini told them that she was kidnapped and didn't want to be here? Did they think that she would align herself with someone who would be so evil? Avhern had already worried that she would have a hard time with the weyrlingmasters as she had done something unspeakable by breaking open an egg. Even if Pyrith had allowed it, Avhern had never really cared if the golden mother gave her permission or not. It just meant she hadn't been turned into Avhern paste on the sands.
Leimoth was being carried by Avhern though she had reassured her rider that she was up to walking. Perhaps the girl just needed the closeness of the small green which was something she truly did not mind. The green angled her head to look up at Avhern feeling the sadness, uneasiness and frustration. If you would like I...I could...give a...firmly worded statement about who you are. Leimoth did not have it in her to give said firmly worded statement, but she would if that was what Avhern needed.
'No love, it's okay. They just need to talk to everyone I suppose.'
Avhern nearly jumped out of her skin at the words and realized that she had without truly thinking wandered into the common area for the weyrlings. She gave a weak smile to Nimara as she came to settle herself down on a chair and gently placed Leimoth on the ground. "I...I've been better." She looked at Nimara with understanding. "Are you all right? It was a rough line of questioning..."
Hello sister, I...I hope you are holding up. I mean you're so strong...I...I meant muscular...oh, I...I should stop talking.
Somehow, in the pit of D'then's stomach, he knew if he didn't have Meneth, he'd be in the holding cells now. The kidnapped candidates are all on the line, and he had been one of the vocal ones. So much that he can still remember that blonde wingleader telling that she could drop him between and leave him there.
But Meneth wouldn't have Impressed a dragon-killer, and D'then's protests had the dragonets in mind, anyway. Had a dragon chosen a candidate that really wouldn't have accepted them, the dragonet would die. Meneth had taken a great risk coming for him. And while D'then wouldn't give up Meneth for the world, Meneth hadn't been entirely sure.
The usually plucky blue doesn't seem to have the same confidence to his step as usual. D'then scoops him up a few paces into their walk. The others are nearby, and he can see Nimara crying. "Hey." Avhern also looks rough. All of them had been in the same boat, then?
They're probably going to watch the candidates, Meneth says softly, resting his head on D'then's shoulder.
"I know why I got asked," he says after a moment. "The protest before the hatching. I... If I hadn't Impressed..." His jaw tightens. "Like they couldn't see that the dragonets were being hurt by the anger of everyone that got kidnapped for this. Meneth thought it was his fault that I was angry. He thought I hated him and didn't want him. Meneth would be dead if he hadn't..."
He exhales sharply, hands tightening slightly on Meneth's back. "It's not right, whoever did this to the eggs, but I didn't have anything to do with it. I wasn't going to hurt the babies. They might have killed my dog, but I'm not going to kill some babies that didn't do anything for it-- fuck!"
"'M okay…" The tone of her voice didn't seem okay, though, and her smile was half-hearted at best. Nimara was never the best liar--not that she often tried. It was normally only done to try to keep people from worrying about her. "They're just upset… 'bout the eggs…" She tried to put herself in the clutchmom's shoes. Wouldn't she want to do everything to make sure no eggs ever passed again?
Kytoth was too distracted to comment on Nimara's, frankly, ridiculous rationalizing. She was too busy staring skeptically at her littlest green sister. However, Leimoth seemed to have come to compliment her, so Kytoth hummed with approval.
I am majestically resilient! I have to be strong for Nimara, you know. My girl would be lost without me. The blue looked between Leimoth and Avhern. And how are you doing, you sweet little turtledove? You look as if you might fall over at the slightest breeze!
Nimara turned her attention next to D'then and listened to him somberly. They killed his dog? How terrible! But she couldn't believe that D'then would every do anything so terrible. He was always so kind with Meneth.
"I… didn'a exactly c'mere voluntar'ly either," she admitted, her voice growing more level. "Was a whole group of us… in a shipwreck… nowhere else t'go…" Nim laid a hand on Kytoth, who would sitting on the ground beside her. The blue gave her strength. "They wanted t'know where we all came from… what we were doin'… We didn'a mean t'come to Tempest." She hoped Nemoral would be ok. And Harry, too.
"I just don' understand why anybody'd wanna do this. Poor babies…"
Whomever it may be, they owe both of us an apology! It was, after all, a far greater injustice that Nimara had suffered. And that Kytoth had suffered, too. Imagine! A Queen being interrogated! Like a common criminal!
The captain of the doomed Fearful North had been questioned like the rest of the candidates who had arrived at the Weyr in a less than voluntary manner. Shipwrecked, gone to rescue a member of his crew, and then made to stay until after the hatching because they needed more candidates. Now cross-examined like a common criminal even after he had put his mind to becoming a rider, devoting himself to his candidacy and everything else that came after.
Being rational, he could understand it, he probably would have done the same, but his temper had nearly gotten the better of him and he left the questioning indignant. Had it not been for the little crowd of fellow Weyrlings he likely would have stormed off to go and get some fresh air. Instead he stood there for a moment looking suprised to see them all.
Try not to worry about it W'ril. You told them the truth, they'll have to believe you right? Veleth had been waiting for his rider patiently, sitting as still as a statue, keeping an eye on the others until the man reappeared. When he did, he trotted right over to him.
Aye, I hope so. As it usually did, Veleth's gentle voice soothed him slightly. Still, he worried. If they couldn't find a culprit, would they make one up?
"How are you all holding up?" he addressed the little group generally, though gave Nimara a particularly scrutinizing look. They were hardly a crew anymore, as separated as they were now, but that didn't mean he felt any less responsible for her.
@D'then