Difference between revisions of "Logs:Repercussions of 'Reaches Roots"

Go in, get what you need, get out without being caught, noticed, or recognized. What was so hard about that?

Rasavyth's patience never waned as he patiently explained the complexities and pitfalls of covert operations to his rider. That took a full two sevens.

First, there was the matter of learning to be inconspicuous (add three seven). K'zin was surprised how well some of the commissioned outfits he'd received lent themselves to this task. How had Ras known to plan ahead? Surely he'd had Haelith's rider put in the orders for him months ago. That bothered K'zin a little, sitting in the part of his mind that accepted, but recognized that funny edge of 'wrongness' to his lifemate's mindtouch. It didn't do to dwell on it, though. Not with so much to do.

He started watching people when he practiced his betweening. He'd land and give the appropriate mannered greetings and give a pretense for his visit and then just find a quiet spot to watch from. It was enough to make his face familiar in some places, but not so often as to be known by name or on sight alone. Some people watch as a hobby, for K'zin it was a learning experience. But then, for most who make it a hobby, it's a silent introspection, not one narrated by a silken, oozy purr highlighting that which must be watched closely, taken in, mimicked well. It took all of a day of this for K'zin to realize he'd committed himself to something he wasn't entirely comfortable with.

But he'd tried the direct approach. Simply asking the questions. And instead of answers, he was rewarded with anger and mistrust from his hero. So what recourse was there left to him? He didn't like deceiving people, didn't like going behind peoples' backs, or risking the wrath of Quinlys among others, but if K'del found out he was poking around anyway, surely the older bronzerider would find a way to stop him. Not to mention any of the others that might be sensitive about a weyrling weyrbrat looking for answers to something "above his station" or that "doesn't concern him". As far as K'zin was concerned, that was a big piece of the problem; what concerned High Reaches Weyr concerned him. He was a rider bound to that Weyr. More than that, it is his home.

Next, there was the matter of learning to ask just the right amount of questions, learning to gage expressions to tell when he was about to cross a line from casual to pointed curiosity. Ras had made him practice this one. It was a tough one to practice, and it ended up with him getting slapped in bars. Sometimes worse. He didn't much fancy it when it went wrong, but slowly he learned, and it gave him opportunities to put into practice all the sparring he'd been learning. His dodge really needed work. He did get pretty good at keeping his face out of the line of fire.

Then there was the matter of learning about the records themselves, about investigations, about the how and the why and the way all of these things were conducted, recorded, filed. That took more effort. That took the most out of his heart. It meant using people, for their knowledge. He told himself that he would be friends with them anyway. But that one annoying Harper Senior Apprentice that was swayed so easily by compliments and a pretended interest proved he was just lying to himself.

Finally, he was ready to begin in earnest. K'zin began poking around. Most of what he found was beyond useless. Some nights, he came home to his weyr exhausted and feeling like there was nothing but useless information in his head. Some nights he wondered what they were even doing. Then, every once in a great while, they would gain a piece of information, a tiny part of the puzzle, it it would fuel them for a while with the high of the success.

The best was when Madilla gave him the investigating harper's name. K'zin hadn't been sure she'd be able to find it. Moreover, he'd seen the worry in her, and hadn't been sure that she would give it to him, even if she could find it. He knew she must not like what he was doing, even if she didn't like that justice hadn't been done. The fact that she did, that she was willing to let him make his own decisions, let him form his own opinions, that she wasn't keeping information from him... it meant a lot. It was enough that he wondered if he should stop right there. Was that enough for him? When he thought about just Madilla, and just that she was trusting him, it felt like it. But then he'd think about K'del.

Ugh, K'del. The aggravation would ripple through him and any chance of stopping was lost. Sure, he had his reasons, the real kind. But underneath, so much was fueled by how his father thought of him. Ugh.

Rasavyth tried to pull his mind away from all the emotion of it. Emotion, he said, made people stupid. There might have been more he would have said, but as was so often with him, the statement stopped there K'zin was left with a nagging at the back of his mind that there might be more if he pushed the boundary of sentence's period. As ever, he shoved that niggling to where it wouldn't bother him. He loved Rasavyth, and trusted him. It was as simple as that.

Until he found out he couldn't. Everything changed. Everything derailed for a time. Everything was put on hold. But it was a mystery that was almost six turns old. It would hold until... when? Whenever.