Difference between revisions of "Logs:The Search Begins"

There weren't as many people as he'd hoped, and for that V'teri felt his heart sink into his belly. Perhaps, what he knew of the Reaches through the gossip mill weren't true: that they were a breed of people a little more mercenary and self-serving than the rest.

Granted, V'teri conceded in his head, a lot of those asperations had come from his departed father and his mad quest to discover his ancestors, but a part of him was starting to understand. Starting to comprehend. Starting to find himself, alarmingly, all the more invested in finding out what had happened to this lost group of people.

Perhaps there would be real treasure at the end, the leftover remnants of a civilization forgotten and left to die ignoble deaths. Rich furs and jewelry those families had packed with them, for whatever use it would do them far off on the western isles.

The dreamer in V'teri often wondered if there were other people on Pern. Other land masses to discover. Other cultures that lived at the very ends of the world, but between the threat of Thread during a Pass and Pern's most recent foray with an abnormal Falling -- it had been enough to set most of the commonfolk on edge: wary, waiting, hopeful for the best, but expecting the worst.

So it was with saddened gray eyes that V'teri looked out into the crowd that had gathered in the nighthearth. The lone girl who was here when he arrived to set up shop had given him the most coldest and irritated of looks when she realized there would be a meeting in *her* chosen spot of quiet and work and had escaped before he could get much out in explanation.

His, "Ahem," followed with a low whistle that slowly crescendoed into a more shrill sound that gathered everyone's attention.

"So," the once Monacoan began with an easy smile that belied the churn within the pit of his stomach, "All of you are here for a reason." His head tipped in a faux gallantly self-deprecating fashion. "Me." There weren't many laughs. "I've divided my map into search quadrants. My father's told me for years of treasures lost out in the western islands. And his uncle before him, a sea captain," a little lie wouldn't hurt, "Elaborated on sunken ships filled with both Hold and Weyr's lost treasures. This," he lifted his father's signet ring, the symbol of which he still had not been able to ascertain, "Is just a token of what might be out there."

A voice called out, "Let us see it! Hold it. Make sure you ain't lyin'."

His return was abrupt, even cold despite the lopsided grin on his face, "Can't do that." The ring disappeared into his pocket with its flash of diamonds and silver. "I'd probably never see it again with you lot. Healers say I can't join in the search since the Weyrwoman broke me to pieces. We should all lift a glass to such a /lovely/ woman." There was a low snicker, though not for him, as a mutter filled in the empty space with, "The Holds've gotten it right in not letting women Hold." "'Cept Tillek." "Aye. Shouldn't've backed that highbred bint."

He allowed the grumbling to go on, waiting patiently for the quiet to return.

"We'll pick leaders by picking straws and those leaders will pick their teams and then pick numbers to randomly decide which quadrants you all will be searching. Whichever team finds the treasures, we'll split it. I'll take thirty percent of ending findings for doing all the pre-legwork. You can split it amongst your teams as you see fit. If you pick out a straw, you're agreeing to these terms. If you don't like it, leave. I'll just find other people to help me out, or do it all myself when my back heals completely."

And so it went. Not everyone was pleased. Most everyone had something to say. There were six quadrants to search through and possibly just enough riders to spare 3 per quadrant. The teams divided accordingly with a few leaders he recognized and others he did not.

He just hoped it would turn out well and that no one would want his head later if it didn't.

Then again, catching sight of a particularly hardened looking rider, a faint criminal element gleaming in the person's eyes, V'teri realized in a moment of sober amusement and muttered to himself, "Guess I should go to bed with a knife."

It was easy to watch the straws being gathered in the fist, too easy to track which might be shorter than the rest. Lu squeezed her eyes shut as the rider went around and roles were drawn.

Treasure hunt. She'd heard, among other things. Lujayn was plenty excited, heartbeat picking up as she heard details of maps and old tales, quadrants and assigned teams. She'd felt so lackluster since coming 'home,' a feeling she had long since anticipated would fade within the month. But it had been several and she still missed the taste of camelid.

« Just a little peek. » Rielsath echoed her own thoughts with mirrored shimmers. « You know we'd be the best. »

Lujayn knew all too well. Reaching out her hand, she stared at the short straw for a moment before nodding in assent. The grin came without being asked. "We're all in."

Taikrin was pretty heavily invested in giving the impression that she was only here for V'teri's benefit-- just here to humor the bronzerider and his wacky ideas, really. As she waited her turn to draw a straw, feigning boredom all the while, her mind worked in a furious back-and-forth with Szadath.

« Real treasure, huh? Think it's real? »

Won't know 'till we look, eh Szad? 'Least it's something to do.

« Yeah. Hours of flying, hard as we can, wingmates on our flanks. » The brown was clearly enthused for the plan, his voice thunderous with anticipation.

What if we're not leading? What if we end up following Lujayn? She could take all the treasure, and I bet Iskiveth'd have a /fit/! Taikrin teased, allowing a corner of her lip to twitch as she reached out to draw a straw.

« No. We're going to win. We always win. We're the best. This treasure is going to be OURS. » The brown's confidence seemed to guide Taikrin's hand, because when she looked at what she'd drawn, it was clearly shorter than the rest. « We deserve it. »

"Huh."

A gleam of avarice sparked in Taikrin's dark gaze as she looked up to stare at V'teri, her expression hardening into determination once more.

"Yes. We do."

Through all the mutterings, the grumblings and cawings, she sat there quietly between the two men. It was good to have clutchmates as bookends again, tipsy-looking E'dre on one side, S'trun on the other, brownrider twice surprising bronzerider into a guffaw.

So, the Monaco bronzerider wouldn't look on his own. So, he wouldn't share his ring. She remembered it, though, from Vrianth's image, from Rius...

Static blocked out /that/ name before she could think it.

She thought instead, deliberately: River Bend. They'd flown over, casually, a couple days past. She thought maybe next time they'd land. Look around. Just to see.

In the meantime, she wondered about that... history. About what they'd find, if there really was something to be found. About what as-they-thought-fit would really mean in practice, though she suspected she knew.

She wondered what the others thought they'd get out of it. Like Lujayn. Z'yi.

The arguing grew tiresome. She leaned against S'trun's shoulder, shared a smile with E'dre, nearly slept. When all the dust had settled, the brownrider had become the so-convenient possessor of a short straw, the other two jumbling in with him.

As it happened, when the nondescript greenrider wandered off with the rest, she hadn't drawn a straw at all.