Every little truth and every little lie {K'tar}

[Simile]

Chantrea swallowed. They were here now, outside the Weyr in the surrounding forests where it was just the two of them and their dragons. She knew he had questions. She had to tell him the truth. she had made him wait until they could get here... here where she felt safe enough to tell him... she sat down on the ground beside Valhauth and reached her hand up to him. "You can ask me anything and I will give you the honest answer... but first... let me tell you... everything that happened that day... and the following couple of days..." she said softly, looking at him plaintively.

She waited for him to sit, looking at him with piercing brown eyes.

Be still and listen, please. It is important. The Moonlight crooned at Hers-Special-Friend-K'tar-Viarth'sOwn. She wanted him to listen and undestand why hers had not told him before.

Once K'tar was settled... she started...

"When... my mom attacked that man, I was supposed to go with her as a lookout - as part of our my training... Usually this kind of thing is just done when something is being stolen. At least for the first time... not when... well... I didn't want it to happen, so as my mother went to attack this man, I grabbed her arm and forced it down. The man was injured and knocked unconcious, but he would live... My mother... my mother turned the blade on me. She cut here -"She pulled aside the neckline of her dress to show the long scar over her shoulder and chest - "I was badly injured... but I would live and it healed in time... the muscles were knit together nicely thanks to a healer... Mother was arrested, but... she, with the help of the clan, was able to turn the blame onto someone else... and that was where the investigation ended. The person they used as a scapegoat was found innocent, but there was too much question. So... they let them both go... It had been my scream that had called them there... When she was arrested, Lord Famoran was there... he asked to whom I belonged and my brother stepped forward and claimed me. I was immediately taken back to my father... and whipped severely... those were not treated so nicely... the scars on my back... the muscles there... they still hurt sometimes and knot and pull. But it doesn't hamper me too much... It was only one of several beatings that would follow... though none were as bad as that one... and as long as I did what I was told I would be okay..." She took a deep breath and then swallowed.

Tell the rest.

Chantrea nodded. "My sisters were sent after me... to keep me from telling anyone of the crimes the family had committed... by any means necessary... preferably by control... because the more riders or people they are able to get under their belt inside the Weyr, the better. The more power they wield." She swallowed. "If they think that I told Lord Famoran about what really happened... the only thing that can save me is the fact I am a rider in the Weyr... and the Weyr itself..." She looked at him plaintively, wanting an answer.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar had been dying for information, even a little annoyed that Chan hadn’t told him everything, since the prior day. After all, hadn’t he proven to her that he could be trusted? Finding out that Lord Famoran had met her once before, obviously some time ago, and that… What had Lord Famoran meant, when he’d asked if it had been brother or father that had picked up Chantrea when her mother was nearly arrested. Chantrea hadn’t even been participating, so she wouldn’t even have been noticed, right?

That thought, that chain of logic based on what Chan had earlier told him, the — had it been a lie? — that Chan had told him, chased itself around his head. The problem was, when what one knows is based on a false fact, no matter how logical the progression from that fact forward, the knowledge is certainly false as well.

It was with this endless loop playing itself out in his head that K’tar followed Chan out and away from the Weyr, out into the jungle where, ironically, both of them felt safer discussing this, even if the evening there was darker by far than in the well-lit Weyr. He sat down, leaning against Viarth’s leg, at about the same time that Chantrea did, though it took him a little longer to actually hold still. He wanted to know, but at the same time, wasn’t sure that he really did want to know. Then Chantrea started talking.

K’tar listened in a mix of fascination and something akin to horror as the story unfolded; what kind of twisted parents made their own child, their youngest daughter, go along to be the look-out for murder? He didn’t say anything though, for he got the feeling that once interrupted, Chan might not be able to start the story again. He wanted to tell her that there was no way that her sisters would be able to do anything to her, but the problem was, well, Lindalyn had been in her own bed, and someone had… No, surely not. But the thought, the notion, wouldn’t go away.

“Chan, they were sent here to kill you, weren’t they, if they couldn’t control you?” K’tar asked, remembering the dance, almost 11 months ago now, on Turnover’s Eve, and how Chan had essentially begged him to take her out of the room, over by Viarth. It wasn’t the question that he most wanted to ask, but, oddly, it was an easier one to think about, because admitting that they were that good was something he didn’t want to even think about. He didn’t bother pointing out that Chantrea hadn’t told Lord Famoran much of anything, other than three names. For one, he knew it wouldn’t matter to people like her family that she hadn’t been the one to tell everything, that Lord Famoran had worked it for himself, and for another, he knew what sort of things Lord Famoran could manage, based on no more than three names.

K’tarMine, you should ask, Viarth said, turning his head slightly to bring one vast, slowly whirling yellow-green eye level with K’tar’s head. It is better to know that danger-waits-stalks-hides than to blindly-soon-food continue.

K’tar sighed. He looked across and Chantrea, his own grey-blue eyes meeting her brown ones in a silent apology for his next question. “They killed the Headwoman, didn’t they?”

[Simile]

It's okay.... just say it... he'll listen. It'll be okay.

Chantrea swallowed and looked down, nodding slowly in confirmation. "They... took a contract to do it." She swallowed. "And... I know... so.... I'm a liability and they may try something else. Try again." She took a deep breath and looks up at him quietly.

She looked at him, hoping he wouldn't push her away. "I'm sorry.... I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away.... please.... don't hate me now..." she said softly, looking up. Valhauth hunkered down and gently nuzzled her rider. He won't hate you. Will he Viarth-K'tar-FriendofMineOwn.[/b]

She looked up as Zigfried and Amp who were both crooning and nuzzling her.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K'tar's breath caught in his throat. Certainly, Stormy Plains still had one of the highest crime levels anywhere on Pern, but that didn't mean that he was acquainted with casual murder. Without realizing he was doing so, he slipped forward, reaching out to wrap an around Chantrea's shoulders.

"Why would I hate you?" he asked. He might not know exactly what he felt at that moment, but it bore little resemblance to hate that he could tell.

Hate? No. Hate is for bad-evil-mean-people or cruel-arbitrary-powerful-people, not scared-weyrling-people. Viarth reached out and nosed Younger-dragon-Moonlight-Valhauth on the side of the neck. K'tarMine likes-loves ChanYours. Nothing can change that.

"Chan, I..." K'tar took a deep breath. "Who did they take the contract from? Do you know?"

[Simile]

The Moonlight crooned and lifted her head to nuzzle the purple. She did not need to say anything. She laready knew that. She lowed her head back to gently nuzzle against her rider. She hated these bad people who made her rider feel bad and upset and who was a danger to her rider. She shuffled her wings and relaxed a bit, nudging her rider towards K'tar. {Mine likes-loves Yours too. Very much. She does not want to lose him.} She was so annoying when she did that.

As Valhauth nudged her, Chantrea moved closer to K'tar and leaned into him,wrapping her arms around his waist. "They took the contract from... some syndicate... To get money and some sort of fame - that's all they care about." She closed her eyes and just sat there like that with him. Their dragons couldn't grow up quickly enough.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar tensed, then tightened his arm around Chantrea. It was against the rules. It was supposed to be bad for their dragons. However, K’tar was starting to wonder about that. Certainly Viarth had never evinced any sign of a problem since K’tar had met Chantrea, and he couldn’t quite convince himself that it had anything to do with his ability to avoid thinking about… K’tar stepped on the thought before it got any further.

He started to say something, but couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t just be pointless and empty. All very well to say that things would be all right, but what then happened when events didn’t cooperate. In the end, he just sat there, holding Chantrea and leaning against Viarth. Unbeknownst to him, his thoughts followed the same track as hers. It was going to be forever, at this rate, until their dragons were grown.