Mouldy Old Maps

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 15th April 2007

Characters: J'nus, Kapera
Description: J'nus needs a little help finding an obscure map in the Archives. Luckily for him, there happens to be an expert lurking in the next aisle over...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 5 of Turn 4

Kapera

It was a little obscure, but it shouldn't have been _impossible_ to find. J'nus was usually quite comfortable in the Records Room but either the hide he wanted was stolen or had never existed at all.
Maybe he was on a fool's errand... it was an irritating thought, which provoked his temper enough to make him keep looking. As if a bronzerider would be defeated by a pile of moldy old records!

One of the duties she'd accepted from Corvera was taking care of Records. Kapera had found that, while it wasn't fun, she was reasonably efficient at it. As such, she found herself in the Records Room at least one candlemark out of every day. Sometimes she even took her work in there, because it was quiet. Usually people didn't bother her and she didn't bother them, unless she wanted a distraction, but she did take note of when people were there. She didn't want to bother J'nus, but he did look like he was having some issues. Clearing her throat, she stood up and hesitantly approached.
"Do you need any help?" she asked.

J'nus jumped. "Shells, woman! Somebody ought to put a bell on you!"

Kapera snorted. "A bell would ruin my ability to sneak up on unwary bronzeriders." she replied.

"That, my dear, would be the _point_," he said dryly.

"It's not my fault if you're the only bronzerider who doesn't appreciate it."

He found himself slightly at a loss for words. Was she _flirting_
with him?! It took him a moment to think up a reply. "Ah. Well. If I'm the only one whose sensible enough to watch him back, then the Weyr's in trouble."

"Perhaps." she said lightly. "So, you're having trouble finding something?"

"How'd you guess?" Between the wandering and cursing, it had been pretty obvious. "I'm looking for map. About a hundred turns ago there was a pass through the eastern half of the Western Barrier Range that led to Cairn Hold. It was small to begin with, but the Plague wiped out the rest of its inhabitants and its been abandoned since then."

"And it's not in the normal map section?" Kapera pursed her lips. "I have to admit, I haven't gotten to there yet, but that's because I thought it was one of the better taken care of areas here. But then, since the person responsible for the Records Room keeps changing..."
she shrugged. "Why's that Hold important?" she asked.

"It's not, really. Well, sort of. To me." He shrugged. "There's supposed to be a lot of good woodcarvings there, if they haven't already been scavenged."

"So you want to go take a look?" She stepped past the map section, considering what he'd said. Western Barrier Range. If it wasn't in the maps in general, maybe it would be in the more detailed files...
"What major Hold was it beholden to?" she queried. "Perhaps it's in the smaller local maps of that area."

"It should be beholden to Amethyst Cliff Hold. Or, it was." Both Holds were falling into ruin, now. Amethyst Cliff _was_ a ruin, and if Cairn Hold had truly been abandoned then it ought to be as well.

"Well, there are more local maps of Amethyst Cliff... uhm..." Kapera moved to the area where she thought it would be, then frowned.
"They're not with the other Hold maps. Maybe because they're ruined, not currently inhabited, so..." She moved over to another shelf, then inspected the bundles there.

She would have looked strange to anyone else who knew her only from what they saw of her around the Weyr- which is to say, almost everyone. Her eyes were narrowed, the tip of her tongue poking slightly out the left side of her mouth, not in any attempt at seduction, but because she was concentrating. A lock of hair had fallen free to hang beside her face, but she didn't even notice it.
She looked younger than her age and more vulnerable like this.

She pulled back the hides and turned, beaming at him for a minute before settling into her composed work-face. "Here you go." she said, handing him the hides. "The local maps. Those really need to get organized."

"Brilliant!" J'nus shook his head in amazement as he accepted the maps. "I've looked through there twice already, and I didn't find them. It was a good thing I ran into you, belled or not."

She grinned, honestly pleased that her work was good and someone recognized that, instead of seeing her as just another pretty face who rode a shiny hide. "I guess it was." she said. For some reason, she was reluctant to just leave immediately. "Need anything else? I can take a break from these records, I'm almost done anyway."

The bronzerider was studying the map with pleasure, and had half-forgotten Kapera was there. "No, but thanks."

"Call me if you need anything, then." the goldrider said politely. "I'll be working over in the other side." And she went back to her work feeling a bit merrier now that she'd done something useful.

Last updated on the April 17th 2007

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Mouldy Old Maps