I Won't Tell Them Your Name

Writers: Devin, Halyonix
Date Posted: 15th July 2025

Characters: Hesbia, Hellond
Description: Hesbia tells her uncle what she's discovered
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 7 of Turn 12

Hesbia

Notes:
~*~

"Where have you been?" Hesbia demanded to know of her uncle when he
stumbled back into their little assigned quarters late that night.
"You can't just come in here, slamming doors like that! Some of us
have breakfast shift!"

"Sorry," Hellond muttered. Shift. Work. He had work tomorrow too,
didn't he? What time was that supposed to be again? Distantly he
wondered how many mistakes he could make at the Weyr before they threw
him out just like the Hold had.

"You're always sorry," Hesbia muttered darkly. "Shells, I can smell
you from here. I never understood why Dad kept trying to keep you
sober. You're just going to get us kicked out again. Can you at least
wait on that until I figure out a way to throw that rider off a
ledge?"

"You shouldn't put yourself in danger." He didn't want to lose Hesbia
too. Shards, he was running out of family.

"When did you start caring?" Hesbia retorted. "You only care about
your drinking!"

"I _do_ care!" Angry guilt filled his chest. "I care about you and
Heseba. I loved my brother!"

"Not enough to be there to stop that dragonrider! Which, by the way, I
know his name now and where he lives. Figured that out while you were
out drinking these last few sevendays away. Thanks for being a help
there too."

Hellond clenched his jaw. He was angry at her, angry at himself. Angry
at the rider who'd stolen his brother's life. "Who is it?"

"His name is A'len. I don't know his dragon's name. But I think he has
a bronzerider knots. At least, that's what I think I saw. He lives on
one of the upper weyrs. You'd be surprised what people will tell you
when you ask nicely and offer to help."

"A _bronzerider_? Well ain't that scorched." All dragonriders were
practically untouchable, but bronzeriders were second only to the ones
who rode their precious queens.

"Why? He's just a bronzerider."

Hellond stared. "_Just_ a bronzerider? Might as well say _just_ a Lord Holder!"

"He's still a person," Hesbia muttered darkly. "No one is above the law, right?"

"Where did you get all this idealism?" he muttered. "I'm sure they'd
punish him if he hurt one of his own, or someone important. But we're
Holdless."

"We still deserve justice!" Hesbia shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Yeah, well. . . we don't always get what we deserve." If life was
fair, his brother would still be here. His sister in law would still
be alive. The girls would be living a happy, normal life.

Hesbia glowered at him. "Don't I know that," she growled. She crossed
her arms over her chest. "Well, this time, I'm getting what I deserve.
_And_ justice for Dad." She didn't know what justice looked like just
yet but she was going to get it.

Hellond just shook his head. "Good luck with that." Justice was for
other people.

"That's it? That's all you're going to say? 'Good luck'?!" Hesbia
screamed. "Dad _died_ and you're just going to let them get away with
it?!" She made another growling sound as she threw up her hands.
"You're useless! You're...you're supposed to be the adult here! You're
supposed to be the one handling things. And instead, you're...you're
just drinking your life away!"

"What am I supposed to do against a bronzerider?!" He shouted back.
"Whine to the Weyrwoman and hope she does something? It's your word
against his. They'll probably blame your dad for it." Sick anger
rolled in his stomach at the thought of Hessand being blamed for his
own murder.

"Dad didn't do anything wrong," Hesbia growled in a low, dangerous
tone, infuriated at the possibility of her father being blamed for
what the dragonrider did. "And if you aren't going to do something
about it, _I_ will." Still no idea what she would exactly do but she
would figure it out!

His anger was dampened by an icy chill of fear. "Just be careful. That
bronzerider had no problem pushing your dad off a ledge. We have no
idea what they'd do to protect their own."

"I'm not going to do something stupid," Hesbia muttered. That much she
was certain about. She wouldn't do something stupid and she wouldn't
get caught. "I'm going back to bed. I have shift in the morning. Think
you can at least be quiet for a few hours?"

Hellond wanted to be mad but she wouldn't even be here if it wasn't
for him. "I wasn goin' to bed anyway," he muttered.

"Figured. Just don't make a ruckus, okay?"

He frowned at that, but slunk off toward his bed. Sleep evaded him and
he laid awake for a long time, tossing and turning. He was still
struggling to sleep when Hesbia got up for her shift. Hellond couldn't
stop thinking of his brother, of what that rider had done. A'len, a
bronzerider. A man who had not even apologized to them, who had faced
no discipline for killing a man.

Hessand deserved better.

Hesbia deserved better.

The door opened and closed. Hellond rolled over again.

Last updated on the July 29th 2025

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I Won't Tell Them Your Name