A Juvenile Mind

Writers: Estelle, Paula
Date Posted: 12th October 2018

Characters: L'keri, G'nir, Yanley
Description: L'keri tries to get his revenge on G'nir...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 18 of Turn 9

L'keri

G'nir

Yanley

Unusually for him, L'keri had decided to spend the rest of the day in
his weyr rather than in the dining cavern, drinking with his wingmates.
There was an early Threadfall tomorrow, and he wanted to check over his
riding straps and look over the territory they'd cover on a map. He
might have made a mess of his family life and accumulated a record of
bad behaviour that would raise any Wingleader's eyebrows, but at least
he had never failed to do his duty in Fall. So he'd only had a few beers
after lunch, which he should easily sleep off before the morning.

Even those few drinks must have had an effect, though, because as he
walked past the door of his so-called "distinguished" neighbour, G'nir,
and noticed that it was slightly ajar, with no sound coming from within,
he didn't just close it and walk on. He stopped, and thought.

Could this be an opportunity for revenge?

L'keri knew as well as anyone that it was very bad manners to go into
someone else's weyr while they weren't there. However, he told himself,
it was even worse manners to use one's rank to ruin a fellow rider's
welcome-back party. As far as he was concerned, the arrogant
Weyrlingmaster deserved everything he got.

He pushed open the door and peered inside. "Hello? Anybody there?"

There was no answer. Cautiously, L'keri stepped inside and looked around
him. The weyr was deserted and the dragon's couch was empty. Everything
was tidy and in good order. Unless the man naturally kept his weyr in
this condition - which the brownrider couldn't imagine any normal person
being capable of - the drudges must have been in to clean. Maybe one of
them had left the door open by mistake.

Just to be sure, he tiptoed around and peeked into the bedroom and
bathing room. No-one was there.

**He's probably off tormenting the weyrlings.** L'keri felt sorry for
them. At least he wasn't under G'nir's direct command. Still, if he got
caught here, that wouldn't save him from a whole lot of trouble. The
bronzerider could return at any moment, and he was beginning to feel
nervous. On the other hand, an idea was beginning to take shape in his
mind. It was silly and juvenile...

So silly, in fact, that it could have been thought up by a bunch of
weyrlings.

L'keri grinned, left the weyr and hurried in the direction of the
weyrling barracks, where he knew he would find the remains of the
dragonets' noon meal...

G'nir was planning to do just a quickly stop by at his weyr before
heading for equally quick and late noon meal.
Nirreth started to sniff air when he back winged to land on his ledge.
}: That makes me hungry :{, he remarked.
**What makes you hungry?**, G'nir asked.
}: Smell, :{ Nirreth replied.

What he meant dawned to G'nir few minutes later when he stepped in to
his weyr.
"Shards and Shells!" he exploded into a string of profanities when he
saw it. Someone had spread blood and those left-over guts from
butchering around his weyr. Curiously, Nirreth peered his head inside
to see it. He licked his lips. Too bad he couldn't fit all the way in
or he would have taken care of those intestines.

It didn't take him long to fetch the Headwoman to witness the scene.

"Oh dear," Yanley was shocked, when she saw the mess. While she had
been annoyed when G'nir had pulled her away from her work, that was
forgiven at this sight. "Who could possible do something like this?"
she asked.

"Perhaps some disgruntled weyrling," G'nir suggested with grim tone.
If he caught whoever did this, he would make them regret it.

"I've told you thousands of times, if you were bit more kind and less
demanding, there wouldn't be so many disgruntled weyrlings," Yanley
pointed out. The two of them had know each other from childhood. Not
well, just the way all Lord Holder's children knew each other. Her
firelizards found a piece of liver from the desk and started to eat
it. She sent them away with mental command. They took their morsel
with them. "I'll get drudges to clean this up right away."
"Meanwhile, you might want to check if your neighbour's are home and
ask if they saw or heard anything," she suggested.

While Yanley was finding the drudges, G'nir did as she had suggested.
One of the neighbours wasn't there, but the new brownrider's dragon
was on the ledge. So, he knocked L'keri's door.

"Just a moment!" someone called from inside. A short time passed
before the door opened, revealing the brownrider, who frowned as he
recognised his visitor. "Oh, it's you, Weyrlingmaster." L'keri knew
better than to pretend to be pleased to see G'nir; that would
definitely be suspicious. "What is it? I'm in the middle of checking
my straps for tomorrow."

"I apologize for disturbing you. Someone made a mess in my weyr. Did
you hear or see anything suspicious?" G'nir asked.

L'keri paused, as if thinking back. "No, not that I recall. What kind of
a mess?"

"Blood and intestines spread around. Just the kind of trick you would
expect from juvenile mind. So, no weyrbrats or weyrlings sneaking
around or giggling in hallways?"

The brownrider shook his head. He was already starting to appreciate
the disadvantage of his chosen method of revenge. There was no way to
let G'nir know who was responsible without getting himself into
serious trouble, and so the bronzerider would never know that he'd
brought it on himself by interfering with the party.

"Perhaps it was a firelizard," he suggested. "A friend of mine once
came back to his weyr and found half a dead fish in his bed. He
couldn't think who had a grudge against him until the little pest came
back for the rest of its meal."

G'nir actually considered that option. Then he shook his head. "No,
there's just too much of it. It would had taken whole fair and they
wouldn't have left the best parts behind." If Yanley's flits' behaviour
was example of typical firelizard behaviour.

"Hmm. Well, I suppose pranks go with the territory - being
Weyrlingmaster, I mean. Sorry I couldn't be more help." L'keri's
mischievous grin suggested that he wasn't that sorry, however. "Do you
want a hand cleaning it up?"

"No, thank you. Lady Yanley's staff is doing the cleaning. Thank you
for you time," G'nir replied politely. He was going to round up the
weyrlings and question them, but he didn't expect much, definitely not
a full confession. At best, someone could show signs of guilt. It
could also have been done by weyrbrats. There was just too many
potential suspects.

L'keri winced. He should have thought of that; of course, it would be
the drudges who had to clean up the mess. As he sobered up, he was
starting to realise just how stupid he'd been. Someone could easily have
seen him with the bucket of blood and remains. He'd taken a big risk and
created an unpleasant job for the cleaning staff, and all to cause his
annoying neighbour no more than a minor inconvenience.

He did not feel guilty enough to own up, however.

Last updated on the December 5th 2018

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A Juvenile Mind