Xanadu Weyr - Weyrleaders' Office
Office and retreat, this is the domain of Xanadu's Weyrleaders. The door is in the eastern wall, quite close to the southern end while the northern wall is dominated by big, expansive windows, framed by sumptuous deep blue drapes edged with a brilliant gold braid and tied back with a thick rope of braided gold and blue cord. In between, the eastern wall is covered floor to ceiling with shelves that house all sorts of records, manuals and supplies that are used on a day-to-day basis. The southern wall has the Weyrleader's desk — plain fellis wood, well polished and masculine. From behind his desk, the Weyrleader can look straight through the windows and out onto the main airspace of Xanadu. The western wall is where the Weyrwoman's desk resides: a lovely piece of furniture made of warm cherry wood. From her seat, a glance sideways gives her an equally good prospect out the window. There are a few other seats, some comfortably arranged around a low round table for small, informal meetings while there also some that can be drawn up to one of the desks.
On the south side of the door, the space is occupied by a low oblong table where refreshments can be set without someone needing to intrude. There is also an 'incoming' tray where incoming correspondence or similar items can be left.
Fresh off of Yet Another Meeting in the late afternoon, D'son comes in rubbing at his eyes, notebook under arm. Poor guy looks like he's burning the candle at both ends, but there's still spring enough in his step as he comes into the office and reaches to set his notebook down on the desk, takes up the appointment diary Vivian keeps instead and flips through it murmuring names aloud.
Niva is still settled at her desk from her earlier run-in with her eldest daughter, the Weyrwoman's head resting on her arms, which rest on the top of the desk. As footsteps enter the office, she slowly lifts her head to look around her, nodding at D'son, before she drops her head back to her arms. A loud sigh, and she's finally sitting back up, glancing at him again. "She put them all in the computer."
Up comes D'son's head and he blinks. Niva's not been around the office much and he hasn't gotten used to expecting her to be here. "Hi — uh, good afternoon," he says and puts the diary down. "Did she? Good. Easier to look it up there," the Weyrleader says and takes a breath, approaches the Weyrwoman's desk looking a little unsure. "Are you … all right, Niva?"
Niva leans back in her chair then, swivling around to look up at D'son as he approaches, folding her arms infront of her, and eying him. Narrowing her gaze a little, she nods. "Just contemplating that perhaps I should find you a new secretary." Fingers tap on the arm of her chair as she unfolds her arms, leaning back with a sigh. "As I told my daughter, I do *not* want to be grandmother."
"What?" D'son looks flummoxed, blinking at Niva and lifts a hand to run through his hair. "Shells," he mutters under his breath and his head shakes back and forth. "I — shoot, she's got the wrong idea," Dels blurts out, looking mortified. "I haven't — I mean, we didn't —" and he sighs, pushes both hands up and down over his face. "I have a weyrmate. At Ista. Just because I miss her doesn't mean —" that's a lot of broken down sentences.
Niva arches an eyebrow as the teen starts stuttering, nervously mutter, running his hand through his hair. "Does she? You seem offly… worried about it for someone who hasn't done anything." Niva comments, surprisingly calm, though she's had time to prepare for this. "Lots of people have Weyrmates. Doesn't stop most of them." And then a bit of a smirk, and Niva shakes her head, turning back to the desk, and reaching instead for the file with Vivian's notes of the exploration, changing the subject without another comment. "So."
Coloring a little D'son clears his throat. "She's been coming onto me," he says with a little shift of his shoulders, looking uncomfortable. "No one's … ever done that before. And uh — well I admit, she's pretty. But I have a weyrmate. And we don't do things like that. Ais and me. I mean okay, we've each got … someone. But it's not like … " he waves his hands and gives up, pulls a chair over, drops into it. "I don't think you need to worry about me knocking up Vivian," he says more bluntly. "Someone else maybe, but not me." Deep breath. "So. Yeah. The cave, the camp and the tracks. I've already sent notice out to D'had to have Galaxy ready to go," he says. Business. So much easier to deal with.
Niva turns to give D'son another look, an eyebrow arching, as if silently asking him if he's calling her daughter a slut. Letting it linger for a while longer, even as he's changing the subject and moving onto business. Its only when he comments on Galaxy that Niva's gaze drops and she leans back in her chair with a nod. "So I'd heard. They'll not find anything. They seem to disappear into nothing, as soon as the ground goes firm."
That silent implication goes right over D'son's head, his brows crinkling a little in confusion for that look. He blows a breath out as the Weyrwoman says that and he leans back in his chair. "Went over and looked?" he asks next. "We had to kind of get back the other day. Thea wasn't feeling well. Passed out in the cave and everything," he explains.
Niva shakes her head currently as he leans back as well. "Kefai, Kate, all of them. They always just.. vanish." She murmurs with a flick of her fingers at the file. "Even before Kate was with them, it was as if they just took off into the sky." The mention of an ill Thea does have Niva sitting up a bit more, tilting her head. "There.. was nothing there to make her sick, was there?"
"Huh," D'son says thoughtfully, thinking that one through, hand rubbing over his chin. "So you think that the tracks will just vanish somewhere too?" He thinks some more looks up across at Niva. "If um … you don't mind, is there a file or anything, a bunch of stuff I can look through to get up to speed on this stuff? I've been working my way back through R'sul's notes, but I'm thinkin ginstead of by date, maybe I should go by subject and priority," the Weyrleader says. His brows lift though and he shakes his head slowly. "No one else felt ill, that's why Seryth called though. Thea was passed out when I got there. It's hot in that cave … but otherwise, she seemed all right. Shaky for a long time after though. I was down in there though and didn't smell anything funny," the Weyrleader says, "no gas leaks, the kind of thing you'd expect in that kind of cave situation."
"I don't know what they'll do." She murmurs, with a sigh, shaking her head. "If I knew, we'd have him, instead of him being… Who only knows where." She says with a wave of her hand, and then at the request for notes, she grimaces, turning to look at her desk, fingers rapping against the surface thoughtfully. "I.." And starting to talk, she pauses, flipping through a pile of papers in her inbox, before she's pulling out a drawer. "Somewhere, maybe." She continues to search as she listens to his explanation, nodding slowly.
"Still worth following the trail," D'son says, leaning forward a little and scanning Niva's face closely. "I mean, everything's a lead, right? And getting this guy is important. We ought to have that dragon back at any rate," he says slowly. "And well … she'll rise again that gold …" he takes a breath, lets it out slowly. The fact that she doesn't have this stuff readily available, seems to surprise Dels for a moment or two and he sits back to let her rummage. "There's a lot of stuff left at that camp."
"You're more than welcome to follow it. We've been following it for three turns, with nothing but dead bodies to show for it." Niva murmurs, continuing to rummage, sighing and pushing that drawer closed to pull out another file, shaking her head. "It might be in.. In Ysa's old things." Niva murmurs softly, glancing around the office, attempting to determine where else it could be. "If anyone else had caught, I was hoping that when she *did* rise, they'd have had the sense to make sure she didn't leave. Though, there's nothing stopping her from running off again."
"I meant the actual physical trail at the site," D'son says and takes a breath. "Dead bodies?" His brows lift head shaking. "What happened with that?" he asks, arms folding across his chest. "Mmm. And Kilaueth can't compel her queen?"
"You're more than welcome to." Niva repeats again, with a distracted nod as she moves to meander the office, pulling out various drawers, thumbing through the files there, a confused look on her face. A sigh, and she leans against the open file drawer, shaking her head and looking back at D'son. "All his.. loyal followers. In a cave." She waves a hand, and goes back to searching the files. "You can read about it. If I can find it." She mutters a bit, shaking her head. "She won't respond to Kilaueth."
Listening, D'son gets a very thoughtful look on his face. "/Won't/? Shells, have any other queens tried? I mean … the Senior you know … should be able to —" he breaks off and gets a little pink in the cheeks. "Sorry, I uh — that was uncalled for," he swallows hard and looks down at his boot-tips. "That's a lot of dead people. Sounds like the guy's really dangerous …" Dels says slowly. "Where'd he come from anyway? How'd this all start?" Because she's still looking for that file.
Niva slams another drawer shut, befoer she's settling back in her chair and flipping through her stacks of papers again, still looking. "I do think Ysa had it." She murmurs again, before she waves off her search, and settles back to just look at D'son instead. "She won't answer anyone. Won't listen. Won't do anything. She's *there* though." Niva's hand tries to stress the difference between these things, before he's blushing and she's shaking her head. "Don't know. He just… showed up. Messages, kids.." A flick of her fingers, and Niva shakes her head again with a sigh.
D'son takes all this in, watching Niva, brows wrinkling all the more as she keeps on shaking her head repeatedly. "You — sound pretty worn down about this," he says slowly after a moment, hazel eyes fixed on her face. "And /there/ is better than not I guess. Just … kind of surprised. I mean, dragons need other dragons, right?"
"Ysa… Ysa insists that it all happened cause of me. That Kate disappeared because of me. That I could have stopped all of it, if I'd listened to her, but she sounded as crazy as he is, carrying on about being kidnapped. How was *I* suppose to know it would happen?" Niva asks, eyes lingering on D'son, looking for some bit of reassurance that there's nothing she could have done. "I.. I don't know. Kilaueth's never been alone."
D'son's brows lift. "How could it be all your fault?" He asks reasonably. "Did you drive her away? Say something directly? And uhh … what happened with Ysa?" Poor Dels. Not enough information. He nods though about Kilaueth. "Yeah. INimeth would go nuts if he didn't have anyone to talk to. But he's really — sociable."
Niva flicks her fingers, rolling her eyes. "I'm suppose to read minds?" Its a snort of amusement then, and a sigh. "Kate took off in the fog. It was days before we realized she was gone. Everything had seemed alright. She was making friends. Working well…" And a shrug, and Niva pushes her stray bangs out of her face. "I told her she was no longer needed here. She was attempting to set the others against me." A pause, and a very quiet 'I think' is murmured afterwards.
"Uh … no?" D'son says about reading minds and shakes his head. "Sounds like no, nothing in particular. I mean … I don't know the whole story, but if she just took off like that, maybe she'd planned to all along," the bronzerider says with a little shrug. And clears his throat. "I uh — didn't mean with you and Ysa. I mean, about the whole kidnapping thing."
"Ysa certainly seemed to think so." Niva says, a bit of bitterness lingering in her voice, snorting again, and shaking her head. "They took her and one of the stablehands. Asked them to join them. Or.. something. Thread returning, dragons needed, I don't really know." Niva shakes her head hurriedly. "I don't have all the details. Its written up… wherever it is." And a hand is waved exasperatedly at the drawers and files that apparently have no organization what so ever.
"Mm. Didn't really get to know her," D'son says with a little lift of his shoulders. "But if no one really did anything to drive this Kate away …" he blows out a breath and then widens his eyes at the Weyrwoman. "Seriously?" He's quiet again for a moment or two, then he leans forward, both hands offered to Niva, palms up. "We'll find the files. I'll sic Vivian and one of those recordskeepers on it and get some order put together, okay?"
"I don't know if anyone did anything. I don't know. Some of the weyrlings they.. they were pretty awful to the others in her group, but she never complained. It could have been that.. She.. Maybe she believed her father. Maybe…" Niva just shakes her head with a shrug, hands going up in the air. "We have all the maybes in the world, and not a single answer." She sighs, and at his offer, she nods slowly, the slightest smile crossing her face. "The Juniors have some. They're here. They're.. in boxes. The old ones." She shakes her head, not really knowing where everything is.
"Yeah, sounds like a lot of unanswered questions and a whole lot of information but not a lot of stuff put together," D'son says and since she's not taking his hands, he reaches for one of hers to stop the hand-waving. "Niva — look, I don't want to say anything bad about R'sul, because he seems like a decent guy. But maybe it's time to … I dunno, start pulling all those maybes together better to try to get those answers and really /do/ something about this? At least get the records together."
Niva has her hand stopped mid-wave, blinking at D'son a few times, taking a moment to register *why* her hand stopped. But then, she swallows, nodding. "You.. Maybe you'll have a better idea. Maybe.. Maybe you'll see something we didn't. Maybe it'll work out." She murmurs, and then she tugs her hand free, dropping her hands to her lap, giving D'son a lingering look. "Hopefully we'll even manage the records."
"We /will/ manage the records," D'son says decisively, maybe looking faintly perplexed for a moment at Niva's uncertainties. "And we'll do /something/ about Kefai, you have my word." His eyes meet hers then, determination in his very very young face. Ah youthful optimism.
Niva lifts her gaze to his once more, nodding at his certainty, before she's glancing at her desk, and the files sitting there, before she's smiling. "I.. At least you're confident." She comments, slowly getting to her feet, a bit distracted as she lingers at the door. "I'm.. going to go look for those things." And after a pause, she shakes her head again, and turns to head out of the office, though its not into the Junior's that she goes. Where could the records be?
"I … guess you could say that once I make up my mind to do something, I do it," D'son says slowly. "Or at least put the best effort into it that I can." She rises and he gets up too, polite. "Okay … I'll just … deal with some of this other stuff," he points to his desk with a lopsided grin. "And make another appointment to get those records people working on organizing."
Pausing in the hallway, Niva turns to meander back to the door. "Thank you.." She offers as she sticks her head back in the door, before with a nod, and she turns disappearing for good this time.
And floating outward after her: "You're welcome, Weyrwoman." And then the click of keys as Dels does something on the computer.