The Blame Game (Weyrleaders)

[Kila]

Summer, 6th Turn, 11th Pass

Describing the hatching as "eventful" or "exciting" would be an understatement, and D'lios was not one for mincing words. A frown sat on his face and his white firelizard Rah sat rigidly on his shoulder. He was seated at the head of the large table in the room that he had called the Weyrleadership and Alpha/Beta Handlers to meet in. He was early, as was his custom for important meetings, and was waiting for everyone to arrive. Much to his displeasure it was O'sho who entered first. "What are you doing here?" the new Weyrleader asked the old Weyrleader with curt courtesy. Their icy relationship had not thawed any since the Lord Holder's arrival at Dalibor. "The Weyrwoman requested that I attend," he said wearily, taking a seat. "And if I recall correctly, you are not the only leader in the Weyr. This is not Western where you have the final say." Fiera, who was curled lovingly about his neck, shot the antagonistic man a look that could melt stone and chirped in agreement. The Weyrwomen arrived at that moment, eliminating his chance to reply in earnest. Insolent old fool, he thought to himself instead, running a hand back over his hair as if to smooth away the irritation. Rah shot the Orange back an equally scathing look, beginning a staring match that would last the duration of the gathering.

D'lios wasted no time with pleasantries once everyone had arrived and was seated. "Yesterday's events at the Hatching were horrific," he stated plainly, looking around and daring anyone to disagree. Hatchlings were volatile and could be violent, especially wherets, but what had taken place was something more. It didn't take a person born and bred in a Weyr to see that. "My hypothesis," he continued importantly, "Is that the medicine that my people created affected the hatchlings during their development. There was of course no way of knowing this beforehand." He did not say it to defend himself, but presented it as a fact. He had warned them that there might be side-effects to the medication when he first brought it before them. He had told them to weigh the pros and cons and decide if they wanted to administer it, and knowing all of that they had done so. D'lios did not harbor the faintest trace of guilt.

"The real question, and the reason that I called you here this morning, is why the medication is still in use." D'lios stopped and looked at each person, searching for an answer in a way that was almost patronizing. "Why have those responsible for the poisonings not been apprehended? Once they are found the medicine becomes unneeded and obsolete. Had this already been taken care of then we would not have had what we did on the sands yesterday." It was lucky that Perbiath had not been eating any of the herdbeasts injected with the antidote and that both parents had not been tainted, but D'lios left that morsel unsaid. ”I’ve had many unpleasant letters about what happened to the Candidates,” he continued, picking up a few and then throwing the back down on to the table. ”The Lord Holder of Tillek was especially displeased. Apparently his nephew was among those mauled. And there are many more.”

He was not trying to shame the others, though he did get a certain amount of pleasure from pointing out their shortcomings. He accused and confronted them because their problems were now his problems. Anything that he headed would not be run so poorly, neither would he allow the people that were his responsibility to be hurt as a cause of it; it reflected incredibly poorly on them all. They would blame it all on him at the first chance and try to push him out on the grounds of such unfounded accusations, but he was not going to allow that to happen.

"I propose we put together a team of experts to send to root these people out." It had taken a lot of coaxing from C'lis to get him to propose and not declare his ideas. O'sho had been right of course: he could not exclude the others from rule and make all the decisions himself as he did in Western, as much as it vexed him. Weyrs were governed by several, not by one. And in this case very inefficiently. "It seems we have ruled out the holdless as a possibility since they are now walking about with our newly hatched dragons and whers. The process is irreversible and nothing terrible has happened since their arrival, so I suppose they can be tentatively removed from the list of suspects. The holdless from the one camp you visited, that is. I suspect that there are others. Thread has been falling regularly, so for them to survive they will have had to seek shelter that can protect them from that and the elements. It is unlikely that they are being sheltered at any of the minor villages on the continent, but that can be checked easily. What I propose is sending miners and Whers down into the caves. These and any other potential hiding areas will have to be scouted out of course, but we will gain nothing by doing nothing.”

[Reky]

In the end, the meeting hall was no place for a busy weyrling. C'lis spent almost entirely of his free time in his Lord's company, taking dictation of replies to frantic family members of the injured; formulating polite yet stern ways of explaining the situation and deflecting blame - multiple combinations, to keep each letter personal. He felt that helping D'lios was the best thing he could possibly be doing. The Weyrleader was getting flack from every direction, and to C'lis, it was entirely unwarranted.

"You are most always correct, my Lord, but the trick is to convince them of it by giving them a choice," he said. "Too much confidence, and they feel like you are imposing on them. At least, that's my theory. You have every right to be as confident, of course, but you must give the illusion that you're not. Let them realize it for themselves."

But while the nitty gritty things went down, which C'lis desperately would have liked to record verbatim, he was caring for his dragon Pileuth. She humored him in some aspects, but in other, she was his stern cyan mother - he had duties to her, as well as D'lios. Some days, she came first.

---

Audren had been wary of D'lios but had yet to be shown solid evidence as to why to hate him as passionately as some did. He was an arrogant bastard - she knew that, at least - but he was doing good work. He was funding medicine, research, and finally, he was pushing the investigation forward. Audren never thought it had been the holdless. Not, at least, the bumbling group that had tripped into Dalibor with baby wild whers. Lumping them all together was one of the things she hated overhearing the most. 'We shouldn't let them into candidacy, they poisoned the dragons,' but of course they didn't. They weren't from the caravan that gave them the beasts.

Ausk was asleep in the belly of the Weyr and so the Alphahandler was clear-headed. Some groggy cloud pervaded from the sleeping red beast, but for the most part, Audren was entirely present and entirely herself. She sat straight, her hair braided back tight; her hands around the edges of the chair's arms.

"The wher program has lost one of its most loyal handlers to something on this sharding continent," she said. "Even if we don't find the poisoners, we might find something related to Paget. We might even find Paget herself." She was surprisingly composed - it had taken her a while to come to terms with the loss of Paget. They had been close. Audren had threatened to step down from her Alphahandler position to look for her, even, in a fit of passion. Damali and Kalenna had talked her down. It was not her proudest moment. "I can have my best watchwhers put on any expeditions. Tussbuul of Tusk is a masterminer - I know I can trust his intellect."

[/blockquote]

[RavenSong]

P'ryt strode in right behind the Weyrwomen, looking relatively neutral. He kept his opinions to himself as he listened to D'lios. He shook his head, but waited for D'lios to finish before he started to speak. He kept his tone even and neutral.

"I think that Renegade genes passed along to the dragonets affected both clutches. Whers can be violent. Dragonets can be violent as well. Both clutches hatching at the same time was just asking for trouble, but what were we going to do? Ask one of the Golds not to clutch so their children wouldn't influence each other? No. I would like to note: We have never had a Hatching that was anywhere remotely as bloody until this class. We've had deaths, but no Hatchings where every single Candidate on the Sands was mauled. The Blizzardbaiters class Hatched after the antidote was put into usage. You'll note that they weren't as violent as this most recent class, so..." He smirked softly, looking around the room. "I would say that Perbiath himself was the reason behind the violence. His dam and sire intended to cause trouble around here, which is how you ended up with Perbiath in the first place.

"However," the Ironrider continued, "while I seek to assign blame to its precise holder, I do agree that our dragons should no longer continue to suffer your antidote. If Audren thinks your suggestion is viable and worthy, then I am for it. Seeing my Hemetath unwilling to move thanks to it and feeling that lethargy myself through our bond is quite untenable, thank you."

He turned to the Alphahandler, nodding to her.

"If you need any riders with training in the Minercraft, let me know, I know of several. I hope you find her. Or find what happened to her. Her loss is felt keenly, because all our true residents are loved here, and every Handler we have is important." He was about to ask something, but glanced toward D'lios and kept it to himself.

[Boo]

There had been a meeting called. In every way she could think about this, Rayna was not pleased about being summoned by D’lios. Sure, he was the Sr Weyrleader and therefore outranked her but that didn’t mean she had to like it. In some ways, it made her question the manner in which the leadership was decided at the Weyr. On the plus side, at least O’sho would be there to stop her tearing D’lios’s throat out. As far as she was concerned, he was to blame. Couineth’s hatching had been bad but not as bad as the most recent one. In a perverse way, it made her feel pleased but these feelings were repressed as quickly as they came to mind.

Arms folded, she walked into the room and took a seat beside P’ryt. She crossed her legs, one over the other, and then watched her ‘Weyrleader’ as he spoke. With his admission of guilt she felt triumph soon overshadowed by his accusations. If she had been able, she would have left the Weyr as soon as the poisonings had happened in search of the culprits, as it was, she had not been able to do the job herself.

As Audren spoke up about Paget, Rayna nodded in agreement a little loathe to even loan her assent to the conversation. However, the alphahandler was correct. Something foul was happening and the Weyrwoman fell back on one of her other grudges. Fort. In some ways, she couldn’t imagine that there would be those deliberately out to harm their Weyr but who had the history of dislike for Dalibor? Who had the most reason to see their Weyr fail?

P’ryt had her nodding again, his comments about Perbiath bringing a quirk of her lip quickly and carefully masked. Rayna composed herself and then turned back to D’lios with a curious expression.
“Perhaps then we should question the former renegades among us? Speculation has never been placed on them despite their presence throughout some of Dalibor’s most terrible hardships.”
As well as questioning the offspring of the renegade leaders, for Perbiath had been the only dragon of that clutch to father or produce any children. Her comment was carefully placed but no less true. There were those among them who could have been hiding behind their status at the Weyr but sought only to bring them down from within. Perhaps the renegades were alive and well.

[/blockquote]

[Kila]

The Lord Weyrleader's speech was initially well-received, much
to his surprise. He gave Audren his full attention when she spoke,
appreciative of her logic and willingness to cooperate, even if it did
seem like common sense to do so. "We will of course look for your
missing Handler as well," he promised her, having heard of Paget's
disappearance at Crescent. "I don't know if those responsible for the
poisonings are also responsible for her abduction, but whether there are
two sinister parties or one alone, such an expedition as the one I am
proposing will be a step towards making us all safer." The Alpha
Handler went even further, offering up what sounded like an ideal pair
for the job. "He sounds perfectly qualified to head it up, especially
with such strong reccomendation. Thank you. If you would, please inform
Tussbuul that I wish to speak to him and perhaps debrief him a bit on
what we discuss today." Self-righteous as he was, he allowed his
gratitude to be heard in his voice, though it was for Audren and Audren
alone.

The Jr. Weyrleader's subsequent reply was much more along the lines of
what D'lios had been expecting. The corner of his lips twitched ever so
slightly, but his face remained neutral. The small action was the only
indicator of the outrage he really felt about P'yrt's comment. "An
interesting theory," he said in a dry, chilly voice, dismissing it
as little more than that. Smirk now, he thought as the IronRider
flashed his ugly teeth and looked around at his fellows for approval.
But you will regret that comment. Pettiness and immaturity hurt
them more than it could ever hurt him. At some point someone would see
past the prejudice and realize they were acting like children.

O'sho of course did so immediately. He gave P'yrt a sharp look when he
made his jabs. "There was nothing wrong with the Renegade dragons'
genes; they were simply dragons paired with riders that ran away.
Alizadehth's hatching was not violent, nor were her hatchlings." The
old Weyrleader would certainly not tell any of the other leadership that
they had to like their upjumped Lord Holder, but he was not about to see
an official meeting become a squabble. If they would fight then they
would fight with facts, not with imaginary low blows. It was a
frustrating situation, but O'sho knew that it had to be handled calmly
and professionally, as befit their rank. Though they were younger, the
others knew it too. They were making here decisions that would affect
the whole Weyr, not just themselves. He only hoped they would be able to
act like it.

D'lios carried on, as if he not just been attacked and defended; he
would not grace P'yrt's interruption by allowing it to be a disruption.
"The renegades have never been questioned?" He had dealt with
them extensively and doubted that any of their surviving numbers would
have bothered or been capable of the mayhem that had been afoot, but he
was disturbed to hear that they had not already been considered and
assessed as a threat. What kind of Weyr are they running? It
seemed that without Fajra and O'sho leading they had fallen to pieces.
Torn between incredulous and contemptuous, he spared them either look
and simply agreed with Rayna. "Yes, I think that would be wise. The
Riders of their offspring too if you would really like. No group should
be ruled out without first being thoroughly considered and
investigated." His eyes shifted back to P'yrt. "Perhaps you
should head that investigation since you seem so... passionate about
that possibility."

[Reky]

Audren was frequently made weary by the bickering of riders. They griped more than her handlers did, she thought, and were more quick to take sides. She had always had one goal in the entire world, ever since she had bonded to Ausk: keep others safe, and keep them feeling safe. Stirring up tension never helped.

"I'm not sure if insulting the Lord Weyrleader's dragon gets anyone anywhere," she mulled, rubbing the arm of her chair in a soft, circular motion with her fingertips. It kept her calm. "Wher hatchings always come with the chance of injury. I don't count the blood bond. To be perfectly honest, it's about time it kicked up in dragons, too, and in any case, it's done now. They've got humans to keep them in check. It's no longer an issue. Bones heal."

She missed Fajra terribly now. She had fallen out with her old friend, leaving her to the tenderness of O'sho alone, but she had always admired her resolve. "If the renegades are to be questioned, leave the hatching and the out of it. Don't rub salt in that wound - it's the hatchlings' fault. We don't have to go pointing fingers at anyone but the maulers." She was dismissive of the topic; it was stupid in her eyes. "Ask them about the poisonings and Paget. Maybe, even if they're not involved, they'd know something that's happening on the continent. If I recall correctly, they roamed the open wasteland for some time. I'm not sure what they'd know, though. There are so few left and it was so long ago." Y'nis at Dalibor, and M'kiru at Ista. D'ror, Varya, Raelle, dead before her time; M'grr taken by Thread, F'lan and X'ni by plague. The E'rin boy might know about his parents, but Audren doubted how much.

[/blockquote]

[Nia]

The meeting's premise was irritating, particularly since D'lios had called it. Avalle was at first tempted to just completely skip out on it and call a meeting of her own, but that would be far too petty. She'd been almost shell-shocked by the violent Hatching and hadn't made any movements against D'lios' leadership, as she should have. The first meeting should have been her's to call, she lamented as D'lios began to speak. He was saying the exact things she'd been planning on pinning on him, and it infuriated her. So she remained quiet, listening to those around her. P'ryt's words were needlessly inflamatory, and blamed the Renegades from so long ago....

D'lios' seemingly shocked question irritated her, and she glanced at Rayna with slight annoyance. Revealing flaws to D'lios... she should know better. "They were questioned when they swore themselves to Dalibor." She corrected, "There is only one Renegade rider remaining at Dalibor, Y'nis of Purple Yusiryath. The other Renegade is a Blackrider at Ista. The Renegades are a broken group who shattered with the death of their leaders. They are barely even remembered for what they did, they have no reason to work against the Weyr that took them in after they fought against us."

Avalle unfortunately found herself agreeing with D'lios on the terms of dragon genetics. She glanced at Audren and nodded. "The Renegade dragons were all of normal breeding, there was nothing particularly different about them other than their choice in riders. It was not the dragon's fault, nor did they have faulty genetics. The dragonets were simply born as they were, with some more prone to violence than others."

"As for the new Burgundies, it is possible that the smokeweed antidote could have caused a more violent mutation, but the more likely explanation is the combination of genetics between Callistath and Perbiath that resulted in mutations. As I recall, Perbiath's dam was an Orange, and Callistath has already given birth to two sets of new mutations before. It is not out of the ordinary, just unfortunate timing." She disliked that D'lios had used the point she was going to use, so instead she just dismissed the idea altogether. He wasn't going to get the satisfaction of proving himself humble by pointing out his own flaws. "What I believe truly caused the influx of violence has to do with something Audren said. Wher Hatchings are known to be incredibly violent, everyone is fully aware of this and the damage they are capable of. In a clutch as big as Kalesk's was, it is common for there to be a few incredibly violent hatchlings. The dragons picked up on this and reacted violently as well. Audren is also correct about it not being a big deal. Violent hatchings happen, and it is no one's fault." She paused to look around again, thinking. "However, in the future we will also be including Candidate lessons on the correct types of armor to wear to Hatchings in order for the Candidates to protect themselves without harming the hatchlings. I will tell several of our Smiths to craft armor for our Candidates that do not have any. It will be mandatory for all Candidates."

Audren got another glance as the Senior Weyrwoman continued, "Now, Y'nis is the only Renegade rider remaining at Dalibor, though I doubt Ista will mind us borrowing M'kiru of Black Thauth. It is possible that the two remaining Renegade riders took Perbiath's new position as themselves gaining some sort of power, but as I said, they are both broken riders with no intent to rebel anymore. If they were to do anything, it would be to try and get an in with D'lios due to him owing them for his Impression to Perbiath." She turned her gaze towards the Lord Holder turned Weyrleader, her gaze narrowed, "And I do not believe they have, otherwise he would have told us so." She was not going to ask him if they had or not, and her gaze spoke volumes. If they'd spoken to him, he had better speak up now.

"However, I agree. I do think we should question them. They DID roam for a long while, and would know about the hidden areas of the continent more than we would. Perhaps some other group has taken up residence in their old hiding areas. We should also question some of the Holdless children that have Impressed, as they will know more about the continent than we do as well." She looked around the room again, "The Holdless themselves are also under mild suspicion, but those who have sworn themselves to the Weyr and Impressed Dalibor dragons should be trustworthy. We will question them to see what they know."

[/size]

[Boo]

The woman’s body tensed and a dark gaze was turned on the leadership of the Weyr, specifically D’lios. It needn’t be said again but Rayna did not like him and would never trust the man. Would he use his position to now prevent others questioning or challenging him? Her features became blank and words rushed over her. At least they would be questioning the renegades, asking them about places people might be able to hide. Her hands gripped the arms of the chair, nails practically digging into the wood. If only she could dig those nails into someone else.

The look from Avalle was not missed and thoughts crossed her mind immediately. Even if they were placing all these problems on a minimum, as it were, the birth of the burgundies would only place them under the close scrutiny of Fort. Oh she didn’t fear them, but she certainly remained suspicious of them. Roha never had much love for Dalibor and Rayna could not help but feel on edge whenever they had dealings with the other Weyr.

They were truly alone.

Abruptly, she stood, the chair scraping back from her. The only acknowledgement she gave was to Avalle, apology in her gaze as she quickly walked from the room.
Rayna.
I don’t trust myself to remain in his presence longer than necessary.
She walked out of the room, gaze fuzzy with anger and frustration. Where was her patience now? All she needed was some space… Some time to think and she couldn’t do that when every time she saw D’lios’s face she thought back to those times of utter fear and distrust. They would continue.

As soon as she was outside, she walked to a quieter part of the Weyrbowl and sank down to sit with her arms around her legs, eyes closed but how could she hide in a place where people marked her every movement. Appearances were everything and disunity could destroy their Weyr in a heartbeat.

How childish.

[/blockquote]

[RavenSong]

"My apologies," P'ryt said simply, holding up a hand placatingly. "My knowledge of the Renegades is limited, given I was still at Bay when the entire incident happened."

The Ironrider went silent at that point, listening to the various strategies presented. He thought they were sound, but really had no desire to do anything the upjumped brownrider asked of him. He belonged in a Hold, not in a Weyr, and the fact that he hadn't made a choice between the two annoyed him.

When Rayna left, his instinct was to follow her, rather than concede to D'lios' wishes, but he remained. Instead, he silently asked Hemetath to find her and send their swarm of pillies to her side, one at a time so as not to draw notice.

"I volunteer to question the Holdless who live here," he said, looking to Avalle. "I think a Dalibor leader with more knowledge of the entire Renegade debacle should question them. Perhaps you, O'sho? Or perhaps Weyrwoman Avalle?" he asked, looking toward the former Senior Weyrleader. He knew the man commanded respect, and respected him himself. Though whether or not the former Renegades would as well was unknown to the man. He glanced at Avalle, wondering if they'd respect her as well.

Daidoroth's? Wise, Hemetath opined privately. P'ryt silently agreed. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for responses.

[Kila]

D'lios suppressed a triumphant smile when Avalle was forced to
agree with him. He knew that she hated it, even if the words he spoke
were truth. The IronRider's ludicrous accusation had been effectively
crushed into the ground by his betters. The Weyrwoman even went on to
absolve him of blame for both the violence of the hatchlings and the
appearance of a new mutation. She assumed the role of authority to
compensate, as was fitting, making provisions for candidate lessons and
armor in the future and giving the final say on who would be questioned.
D'lios graciously did not interrupt since she was merely parroting his
original points.

Avalle could not let the verdict go by without somehow throwing his
trustworthiness and reliability into question however. D'lios did not
reward them with a reaction to her suggestion. "I would certainly
have let you all know," he replied, meeting her gaze unflinchingly.
He had loosely allied with the Renegades many turns ago to impress
Perbiath, but the weyrfolk would never know more of it than they already
did. It was ancient history and irrelevant to the problem at hand. The
more they tried to attack him personally the less it appeared they cared
about the current situation.

The former Weyrleader was aware of this and was perceptively distressed
with how the meeting was going. O'sho was glad that Audren and Avalle
had spoken up sensibly, but the entire meeting was fraught with tension
and the leadership was struggling to keep the focus where it needed to
be. D'lios reflected a small part of his frustration when P'yrt
suggested that the old man be the one to interrogate the Renegades. He
disliked giving O'sho anything, but it was a wise assignment. "A good
idea. If O'sho has the time to spare?" He looked at his defeated
rival pointedly. He had been relieved of his responsibilities and yet he
was still at the meeting. The Weyrleadership was discouraged from taking
on extra tasks since they had so much work of their own. O'sho was the
ideal go-to now since he was out, but the Lord Weyrleader wanted to make
sure he had truly given up his old position.  "If it will help then I
will be glad to," O'sho said humbly, ignoring D'lios's bait. He
would not relish the task, but he was committed to helping the small
group that he had once lead in any way that he could.

All eyes followed Rayna as she stood and left wordlessly. "Excuse
me," O'sho said, rising and following her out of the room. He knew
that the young GoldRider had been troubled by all that had come to pass
as of late. He thought he might be able to do more good there than he
could any farther here. Fiera glowered at Rah when they passed by, their
staring contest ended.  "Well it would seem that our business is
concluded," D'lios said, implying that Rayna and O'sho had decided
it. Having everyone's input had been productive, despite the drama that
came with it. He rose and bowed to Avalle. "My lady," he said in
farewell, catching her eye playfully. He left promptly, his agenda
accomplished. He had ruffled their feathers but they had actually gotten
somewhere today. His next action would be to contact Tussbuul...