Circling Vulture [Ghost/K'tar]

[Shoki]

77.06.01


Kiyosh hissed.

“I don’t feel any better about this.”

[smear:993300]Someone has to know something.[/smear:A0522D"] Cr’wean was silent. It had been a long time. No news from Dalonia, which didn’t bod well. Of course everyone was busy now, but still. Cr’wean might have been okay with making inquiries for some things (he now had the name of a guard who he had his eyes on), but this was something else.

“There hasn’t been any incident since then, as far as I know. Although…” The man sighed. He didn’t hang around Chantrea. Or her weyrmate. Still, at this point, he had to be sure. “I can ask.”

[smear:993300]Be civil.[/smear:A0522D"]

Cr’wean laughed dryly. “It’s the kid. I’ll be as civil as the situation requires.”

Finding the K’tar was not actually that much of a problem. He was in the same wing as Cyan, so it was easy to find out when wing practice was. He loitered in the weyrbowl until wing practice was over. He has the brats with him, Trynol trying to do something amusing and entirely failing at getting the man’s attention while Flourish found another firelizard to flirt with. Kiyosh merely waited, watching the humans run around. They were all so cute. She did love the fledglings, so tiny and round. Adorable. The lifewing rider himself wasn’t paying much attention. Just watching dragons practice in the sky.

Soon enough, they landed, and Cr’wean waited for a moment to confirm that it was done. He found Cyanee, who gave him a wave. Well, that was good enough for him. He returned the wave, but started moving to K’tar instead.

“Got a minute?” No preamble, but he didn’t call him ‘kid’ either, so there was that. He sounded neutral, but hhis gaze might have betrayed a little stress. Not surprising. What would be surprising would be Cr’wean reaching forty without going gray.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar was a little surprised to see Kiyosh sitting there waiting for them to land, along with her rider. No one in the Wing had been injured during practice, and he couldn’t think of why the pair would just randomly be hanging out waiting for them to finish. The man waited a beat longer, then began to approach. He exchanged waves with Cyan, but he was coming…

K’tar swallowed. Why did the man want to talk to him? He hadn’t done anything at all recently. He would dearly have loved to tell the man ‘no’, but if this was about his son…

“Yes,” he answered, returning simplicity for simplicity. Let this be quick, whatever it was, although he was willing to admit that he already wasn’t in much of a mood to have fun, all things considered. “This… it’s not about my son, is it?”

[Shoki]

Cr’wean jolted. Was that how this looked? The man frowned and said roughly, “No, I am not here about healer business.” Yeah, his questions were probably going to be much more relaxing. Yeah right.

“I just wanted to know if Chantrea, or you I guess, had any other incidents recently.” He doubted he had to explain more to K’tar. He knew exactly what he was talking about. “That’s all.” The Lifewing rider had gone back to his neutral expression. Cr’wean wasn’t really aware of how intensely Kiyosh was watching them, but it wouldn’t have surprised him if he knew.

After all, it was Kiyosh.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar swallowed, though his face was, briefly, a study in relief. Not about his son. He could relax, on that score and for now. Then came the rest of it, the purpose of the man’s visit. Had he or Chantrea had any other incidents? He could pretend he didn’t know what the man was talking about, except that all three individuals involved in the conversation — he didn’t doubt for a minute that the Lifewing was listening and paying as much if not more attention than her rider — would know that was a lie.

“Not unless you count the perfectly ordinary kind,” K’tar answered. Not unless you count messages received and replied to in the dead of night, not unless you count a wooden knife placed in our son’s bed, and another left under the pillow of his bed in the crèche. He couldn’t speak the thoughts aloud. What good would that do? Alas that he already knew what harm it could bring.

((I'm thinking maybe one or both of them realize that he's lying))

[Shoki]

There was something about how the kid talked that put suspicion in Cr’wean’s mind. Unlike his sister, being suspicious was well within his nature. He frowned slightly, unable to hide the reaction. Then he sighed and spoke bluntly.

“That’s not helpful.” He rubbed the back of his neck considering what to do here. If the kid was lying, which was something he could see being the case here, why was that the case? Simple dislike of him personally? Possible but what was there to lose if it helped? Lack of faith in the Lifewing rider’s ability to do anything productive. Fair, he supposed. He mused to himself, but was aware of claws against the hard bowl. Ah.

Kiyosh.

[smear:993300]What favors do we have to do to get more people on this? Who do I need to talk to?[/smear:A0522D"] A low hiss escaped her. Cr’wean made a motion that was equivalent to ‘quiet’, which Kiyosh didn’t appreciate at all. But Cr’wean turned his attention back to K’tar.

“Then tell me the perfectly ordinary sort.” He crossed his arms. “If only to pacify Kiyosh.” Fat chance. She had a vendetta and was not going to stop now. She wasn’t going to stop until she knew. No one hurt ‘her’ humans.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Tell him the perfectly ordinary sort? Great, what sort of event would he be guaranteed to consider perfectly ordinary and non-suspicious? He started to refuse, looked at Kiyosh, looked down at those talons, and sighed. Angry Lifewing… not on his day list.

“I tripped over the entrance a few days ago, because I’d had too much to drink. Chantrea and I both got sick from bad shellfish a couple months before the Hatching, then there was the time when Chan stubbed her toe…” K’tar’s voice trailed off. There’d been a few other things, he was sure, but how many times did one keep track of things like banged elbows when one was receiving wooden knives, being forced to hand over secret information to prevent those wooden knives from becoming real ones.

“You know, perfectly ordinary stuff,” he concluded.

[Shoki]

Cr’wean could be mistaken for someone that was keenly interested in what was being said. This was not strictly true. Not because he didn’t believe that the incidents that K’tar brought up actually happened. No, he was perfectly willing to believe these sorts of things happened. Instead, he was watching for signs that the conversation was being edited.

The problem was, as far as Cr’wean was concerned, K’tar was a practiced liar. Which meant that he doubted he would actually catch him in a contradiction. Instead, it was more relying on his own sense that something was off. K’tar’s words did absolutely nothing to convince Cr’wean that his initial hunch was wrong. So he turned to Kiyosh.

Well?

[smear:993300]Unhelpful information.[/smear:A0522D"]

He’s hiding something. And I don’t think it is about his most recent prank idea.

[smear:993300]What?[/smear:A0522D"] Kiyosh had evidently missed her rider’s musings, but then again she had been preoccupied. [smear:993300]What does this mean?[/smear:A0522D"]

My guess? He doesn’t believe we can help. And don’t you- He was already too late. Kiyosh hissed. Cr’wean frowned. Look, you wanna confront him and get nowhere? Fine, but don’t blame me if the work around gets harder.

[smear:993300]Hmph.[/smear:A0522D"] Kiyosh grunted and moved so that she could directly talk to K’tar. [smear:993300]If anything does happen, feel free to talk to me.[/smear:A0522D"] The ordinarily friendly voice of Kiyosh was quite serious indeed. That done she fluffed her feathers.

“Well then. We’ll be off then. More people to talk to, more leads to follow.” He gave a little half wave and turned around. If he was here, he was going to talk to Dalonia, probably get no information, then work out how to figure out the truth without dealing with K’tar.

[smear:993300]I’ll hover around. I’m good at that.[/smear:A0522D"] Cr’wean looked up at his life partner and gave her a pat. They might fight sometimes, but at others, well, it was never a question why their songs had fit.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar tensed for that hiss, but he stuck to his plan, said nothing. He’d been the one to find Headwoman Lindalyn, he had no desire for that to be his son instead. The Weyr demonstrably couldn’t keep anyone safe, else Chan never would have been tripped down those stairs, Lindalyn never would have ended up dead, no one ever would have been kidnapped, and no egg would have been stolen.

“I certainly will,” K’tar assured Kiyosh, though he knew he would do no such thing. The syndicate had other spies at the Weyr, he knew, and the war was probably only making their job easier. People desperate to protect absent loved ones were more likely to cave. Oh yes, he knew all about how that worked, though he’d never have thought it such a sharded effective tactic.

K’tar started to open his mouth as Cr’wean walked off, then slid it closed again. He knew what the man was referring to, was hoping to find at the end of those ‘leads’, though he hoped for Cr’wean’s sake that the leads would go nowhere.