Difference between revisions of "Logs:Operation Rescue"

It didn't take Jo long to comply with Farideh's request since time was of the essence. Pulling in favors like a gambler doling out marks, the one that gets sent out to Tillek is bluerider Sybile. With Miroth too far to have been seen, she enters the Hold on foot and dressed as one of the laundresses wandering around and taking a break for the day's chores. She casually listens in on the Hold gossip, inserts a few made up of her own to gain some of their trust, and it eventually paid off in telling her where she could find Aisari. Once she learns, she head outside of the hold proper towards her lands carrying a large sack of linens and a bucket of water. Once she gets there, it's only a matter of finding the girl discreetly.

Aisari does, at least, exist; that's a good start! She and her father live a little outside the hold, in a cothold with just enough land to produce a living, and according to rumour there is a wedding planned for turnover. It's damp, today, but not actually raining-- and with weather at Tillek such as it is, evidently that's good enough for it to be wash day, with clothes and linens strung up about the outside of the little cothold, and a blonde-haired girl dutifully smacking dust out of an old, well-worn rug. She's silent as she works, head lowered to her task; if there's anyone else about, they're not presently visible.

Sybile reaches the cothold by the middle of the day, all travelworn-looking and fitting in perfectly in the tired department. She trudges on in, only straightening up once she's lurking around with people about. It doesn't take her long - with a few questions - to find Aisari with the rug, and when she appears before her, she trips over a rock and goes sprawling with her loose sack of linens. It spills everywhere. "Oh! Please excuse me!" she cries, scuffing up her arms in the fall as she pitches forward.

Aisari lets out a little shriek of dismay, having plainly failed to notice Sybile's approach whatsoever; it sends the broom she's been using flying, hitting some clean sheets smack in the middle and leaving a dusty imprint. Both hands go to her hips as she turns to stare at the newcomer, an impassioned pink stain crossing her plain, work-hardened features. "Look what you've made me do!"

When Sybile sees the small bleeding scuff marks on her arms, she moans. When she sees the spilled laundry, she moans even louder. Stepping closer to the girl as she wrings her hands, "Ohhhh, I didn't even see that rock there and now I'm really in for it," she's moaning and hamming it up - perhaps a little too overdramatic, but perhaps no one really notices that. Once she's close enough to the girl, though, her voice suddenly drops low and the moaning suddenly stops long enough for her to hiss out, "We got your letter. Aisari, right?" Looking around swiftly, "Come help me pick up this linen so we could talk."

From irritation and dismay, Aisari's expression turns, abruptly, to hope. It's enough to turn plain features prettier; enough, too, that she forgets her own laundry disaster and hurries towards Sybile, dropping to her knees to start picking up the dropped linens. "Aisari," she agrees. "That's me. Are you going to help? Oh, please. I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but I can't, I just can't and I just knew the goldrider would understand. She's so... romantic." Her voice is probably not deliberately pitched to carry, but it does-- her attempt at a low hiss fails altogether.

When she sees Aisari's face change, "Shhhh..." Sybile waves her voice down with a look around. "Not so loud!" Even her own voice is hovering just above a whisper. Joining her to the ground and taking her time with refolding the linen, "Yes, your letter was received," she says with a nod, continuing. "I was sent to check everything out and to let you know that we'll get you out, if you do exactly what we say, got it?" She cuts her eyes about them. "If we get caught, this could go bad for us....and for you. So, do I have your word that you'll do what we say, when we say it?"

The pink in Aisari's cheeks turns scarlet; she's plainly not a girl who easily hides her emotions. Indeed, are those tears? But perhaps they're tears of joy because her next words are a fervent, "Oh, I promise. I'll do everything you say." She even clasps her hands to her chest.

Sybile's frowning at her now, but she rolls her eyes and gathers up some of the linen before she speaks again. "Alright," she begins, looking Aisari in the face. "I can get you out and back to the Weyr, but we're going to have to be discreet and quiet, okay? Tomorrow night, you're going to have all of what you want to take packed and ready. It's going to be late when everyone's sleeping, so be prepared! I'll be waiting for you here," and she gestures about them. "We'll walk out together until it's safe enough to take a dragon the rest of that way. Make sure you take as little as possible because we'll be moving fast!"

Aisari's jaw sets, a certain forceful determination visible there; she's ready and willing, eager to do anything it takes. "And it'll be safe? I'll be safe? No one will demand my return, or... or anything?" Hope is visible in her eyes, dishwater blue and still full of tears. "How will I ever repay any of you?" Even now, she half looks as though she'd like to drop to the ground properly and kiss Sybile's feet. Which... would be weird, right?

"Once you're in the Weyr, you'll have protection," Sybile swiftly tells her with another look around. "Don't worry about that. That won't be the hard part. The hard part's getting you out of here in the first place." As for repaying, "Don't worry about that, either," she reassures, now slowly getting to her feet with hands full of linen. "Just don't forget what I told you. When the hold grows dark, you'll see me. If you're caught, act like you're meant to be out. Rat on us and your chance to get out will be gone." She stares Aisari down to make sure she gets the point, and then her whiny voice is back. "Ohhhhh, thank you for helping me with this!" It's louder now and more pronounced, as if the whispered conversation hadn't happened. "I'm already in trouble for leaving these out in the rain the other day. I hope I didn't scare you, did I?"

Wide-eyed and determined, Aisari's nod is fervent: she'll be there. It takes her a few moments more to properly grasp the shift in conversation, and she stares blankly at the other woman for a few long seconds. Then: "Oh! No, no, you're fine. But I still hate you, because... did you see what you did to my sheet? You're in trouble with me too!" An actor, she clearly is not. Indeed, as she stands up, now, her arms wrap around her waist and she looks... hopeful, still.

"Please don't tell my mother! That's all I ask!" and Sybile's stuffing all the picked up linens unkindly into the loose sack. "Thanks for your help, miss!" she calls, backing away, waving and bowing and almost knocking something else over before she abruptly turns - but not without a wink being sent the girl's way - and runs off back towards the road she came from.

And Aisari? She can't stop smiling, though plainly she manages to hide it well enough that she'll be there, tomorrow night, her bags packed and her fortunes ready. That, at least, can be smoothly actioned.