An Historical Adventure

Writers: Devin, AL
Date Posted: 8th March 2011

Characters: Meledei, Z'ku
Description: Z'ku and Meledei sneak the records out of the hold to find out a bit of history.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 21 of Turn 5

Z'ku

In retrospect, Meledei probably could have just requested permission
to look at the records. It wasn't like it was that great a secret,
was it? But there was something about the sneakiness of what they
were doing. A certain thrill behind it, even if it was only a
concoction of her imagination.

And now she waited for Z'ku. She had hobnobbed and shmoozed with the
holder, a large, fat man with foul temper and all too eager to please
a goldrider from the weyr, even a Junior goldrider. She had smiled
and nodded, complimented and held her distaste back to keep it from
showing on her features. Why was he a holder? There must be some
merit or he surely would have lost the hold. Wouldn't he? Surely
family heritage wasn't the only thing that allowed for the keeping of
a place.

Z'ku came from the far side of the Hold, one arm held protectively
against the satchel he carried. His heart was racing and he was
terrified someone would catch him. He felt some relief when he spotted
Meledei, but he wouldn't be able to relax until they got back to the
Weyr. He jogged over to her. "I got them. At least, I'm pretty sure
these are the right ones. It has the rider's son's name on them." He
hadn't dared to stay in the Records room any longer.

"I guess we'll have to find some way to send them back. Or bring them
back." Meledei's face lit up with a grin at the sight of the
bronzerider and his precious possessions. "Do you want to read it
here or take it to the Weyr first?" She held her hand out, wanting to
at least glance at the records before they left.

"Let's take them back. I don't want someone to find us." He pulled the
satchel strap over his head and handed it to her.

Meledei didn't pull them out, though a peek inside the bag didn't
reveal anything. She closed it once more and handed it back to Z'ku.
"All right, mount up. I'm curious enough to look now, but I can't
blame you." She grinned and then turned to pull herself onto Elleth,
then patted the position behind her. "Let's go."

He climbed up and got himself strapped in. Z'ku glanced around once
more before they took off.

It didn't take them long. Elleth was in the air quickly and soon
enough they were /between/, assaulted by the chill that ran straight
through to the bones. Then a breathless moment later, they were back
out into the sunshine and away from that terrible darkness, circling
over the Weyr. Meledei urged her lifemate toward her ledge and then
swung down from the gold almost before Elleth had a chance to truly
settle. "Let's see what we can find."

Z'ku smiled a little at her eagerness. He felt much better now that
they were safe at the Weyr. He followed her inside and set his satchel
down near the table. "I took everything that had a mention of the
son." He started pulling records out and setting them on the table.

"Sneaking them back ought to be interesting." Meledei grinned and
settled down in a seat, one leg crossing over the other. "Maybe I'll
just have someone deliver them and make sure they don't tell who
they're from." She shrugged and then leaned forward to pluck the
satchel from the table and slide some of the parchments from within.
"I start here, you start with the other half?" She asked, holding out
the satchel with the remains of the records.

"Sure." He took the remaining records and shifted to the other side of
the table. First he spread them all out, then he sorted them by date.

Meledei did much the same thing, shifting through the pages until she
had them in the order she wanted them. Then she laid them on the
table and picked up the topmost. Her eyes drifted over the page,
searching. Then she put it in a second pile, face down and picked up
the next.

This the goldrider did over and over again. the new stack became
larger, the old one smaller. About halfway through, she made a soft
sound, one of regret. "How sad." She half whispered.

Z'ku looked up. "What is it?"

"He and his wife had a total of twelve children." Meledei explained,
bright gaze glancing up then back down to the parchment. "But only
two of them survived past the age of five."

"That is sad. What happened to them?"

"A lot of them got sick. One fell into a fire, another fell out of a
tree. Several were born too early and lived only a few days." The
more she read, the sadder it got. Meledei quickly turned the page.
"I'll keep going."

"Yeah." Z'ku turned back to the records as well. "Hmm ... he did end
up getting a small hold of his own, but didn't inherit his
Grandfather's Hold."

"Does it say why?" Meledei stopped reading again and set up to lean
forward and try to peer at the sheet of parchment Z'ku was looking
through. "And who inherited it instead?"

"After the rider's father died, the Hold went to a relation from a
neighboring Hold. It doesn't say what relation, but the were of the
same Blood." Z'ku skimmed through another hide.

"I find that...interesting. Why wouldn't they record the relation?
It seems like if they were of the same Blood then the relation to one
another would be a matter that is written down." Curiouser and
curious. One mystery led to another. This was probably something
minor, though. Someone forgot or didn't think it important. "Just
seems like that would be something to have written down."

"I'm sure they did, but all this was a long time ago. The records
could have been lost, or they were somewhere else in the Records Room.
I was too nervous to spend more time looking." He still couldn't
believe he'd done something like that.

"I suppose we should have taken the easy way out." Meledei still couldn't
help but have something nag at her. Strange that the records would have
been lost like that. It was a long time ago, but the Harpers were usually
so meticulous and older records than those had survived intact. She'd leave
it be for now. "Asked permission. But...I don't know. This seemed more
exciting. Our little secret."

"It was a bit of adventure." Z'ku smiled.

Meledei pushed herself up to her feet in one quick motion and crossed over
to a little cabinet. The wood was old and scratched, but she thought it
merely gave the piece character. From its bowels, she pulled a wine bottle
previously opened and two glasses. She poured the dark red liquid into
each, then crossed back over to Z'ku, holding one out to him, then lifting
her own. "To adventure. May we have many more together."

He couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. "To many more
adventures together." That was what he hoped for.

Last updated on the January 28th 2012

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An Historical Adventure