Special Assignment

Writers: Cali, Jane
Date Posted: 8th December 2008

Characters: Mosler, Leisenn
Description: Mosler runs off after receiving a vague letter.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 13, day 9 of Turn 4

With everybody confined to the Hall during Threadfall, and then great swathes of them disappearing as soon as it was over to fulfill their groundcrew duties it had been easy enough to spot the former Hallmaster. Usually the man ranged far and wide during the day, apparently enjoying the respite from the pressures of the position Leisenn now held.

But this midday he was easy to find in the dining hall.

"Mosler," Leisenn said as she passed the table he was occupying as she prepared to leave the room, "I have a message for you in my office if you'd like to come up and collect it."

He looked up, curious as he didn't often get personal letters. "Are you sure it isn't for you? Maybe some hold that hadn't heard of your appointment?"

"I opened it because it was addressed to the Hallmaster, but it seems to be something you were asking about." It certainly hadn't rung any bells in the mind of the new Hallmaster and she felt she had familiarized herself with everything that was pertinent to the job in the sevendays since her arrival.

"Hmmm, well okay, I'll go get it later I guess." He hadn't a clue as to what it could be about, but he'd asked about a lot of things while he was Hallmaster so it didn't concern him much.

Leisenn nodded. "It was something from somebody at Smooth Cove Hold. You can look it over and tell me if it's something I need to deal with."

Mosler became very still at the mention of the hold. After a few moments he stood up from the table, "Well I might as well go and check it out now, I'm not doing anything at the moment."

"All right. It was a bit vague, but it was addressed to you personally, so you may be able to make sense of it." As they walked out of the dining hall she asked: "How are you, these days, Mosler? Your health?"

He eyed her suspiciously. "I'm doing just fine. No more episodes and I can swim several hours now without tiring. You don't need to be worried, the healers are still all hovering about to take the job for you."

"You know what I'm worried about - a Hall with no Hallsecond and a beach-combing master dolphineer who's administratively capable."

"Ah, but it could be the stress of all those administrative duties that did me in." He wasn't against using the healer's worrying to his advantage.

"I'll talk to those healers myself one day," Leisenn threatened teasingly as she glanced at the man keeping time with her up the stairs. He certainly looked well enough, though some of that could be put down to the outdoor life he was leading on the Cove's beaches. At the top of the stairs she led the way across the landing to the office doors and waved a hand toward the extended workbench she had had set up across one wall. "I've added workspace and spread all the hidework out," she explained. "More piles, but each of them is smaller," she went on, her tone dry. "It made me feel better about it, anyway."

Mosler chuckled as he looked around. "Whatever you need to do to make it more manageable." He definitely didn't miss all the hidework. "So where's this letter?"

"Over here. On the 'I wish I knew who to give this to' pile." She picked up the less-than-clean piece of paper. "It arrived in that state. I'm not that rough on hides and papers."

He gave it a look over and then opened it. His eyes widened as he read quickly through the letter and then he folded it closed. He looked at nothing for a moment as his mind turned over the contents and then he hurried over to the window and looked out at the dock where he watched a visiting ship getting the last of its cargo loaded on. "Is that the ship headed for Topaz?"

"If she's at the easternmost berth, then yes, it is." Leisenn moved toward the window. "That message - it wasn't bad news, I hope?"

Mosler was distracted as he made his way to the door, his mind was racing as he tried to figure time, packing needs, and just what he was going to do. Finally he decided that he needed to get on that ship before it left, even if he only had a few changes of clothes and a bag of marks on him. "No, not bad news. Interesting news. Leisenn, I don't really have time to get into it right now, I've got to catch that ship."

"What? What will the healers say?" she called after him, turning from the window in time to see him disappear out the door.

He paused, grabbing the corner of the corridor to keep him in sight of the Hallmaster. "I don't know, tell them you sent me on assignment. I'll send my firelizard when I know something." And then he was gone.

"That had better not have been something I ought to have known about," Leisenn grumbled after a moment of stunned silence. She smiled at a passing apprentice and hoped the boy wouldn't be telling the Hall that its master was talking to herself.

She would have been talking to Mosler, if he hadn't just disappeared.

Last updated on the December 8th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Special Assignment