Stealing Our Children

Writers: Suzee, Chelle, Devin, Ames
Date Posted: 14th March 2011

Characters: N'vanik, Tavia, Qorri, Alira, Trelos
Description: Trelos comes to the Weyr to find out where his holders were taken.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 9 of Turn 5

N'vanik

Tavia

"We must stop them! We must stop them!" Trelos roared as he marched towards
the Weyr, a small party accompanied him. "The children are vanishing. We
must stop this atrocity!" He turned his wild eyes back on those who were
with him. Trelos had gone about the Hold gathering support for his 'cause',
but had only found a few brave souls willing to march with him, more for his
protection than for their agreement of his cause.

Alira scurried along behind her father still terrified not only of
what he would do but what the dragon riders would do when he made his
demands. The people he had gathered were the ones that most closely
supported him and she had to admit they were all on the scary side.

A bluerider hurried across the Bowl, passing close to Trelos.

Trelos' eyes bulged as he caught sight of the rider hurrying across
the open space.

"Hey! Rider! Where did you take them? You stole our children! I demand
you return them!" Trelos bellowed as he picked up his bulk and tried
to move quickly across the bowl. His face was suffused with a reddish
hint, showing his anger and the strain of the long trek to the Weyr.

The bluerider blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"Father, please," she called. He was going to hurt himself she just knew it.

He whirled around and looked at his daughter, his eyes bulging. "They are
_stealing_ our children. They probably do terrible things to them and only
claim they ride the dragons. Maybe they even feed the boys to the dragons!"
Trelos was in rare form. His thoughts were a true jumbled mess and the
edge of his insanity which was always in the back of his mind seemed to
have taken over completely.

Qorri heard all the yelling and saw the knots and her eyes widened. Seeing
the bluerider and the approaching man, she made a beeline, getting between
him and the rider. The Headwoman stopped dead to end his progress. "Greetings,
holder. I'm the Headwoman here, how can I help you?"

Trelos whirled around, eyes wide and bulging as he took in the figure
before him. Finally, someone who could help.

"Headwoman, they _stole_ them! Him!" He pointed to the rider strolling
across the bowl. "Stole them! Snatched them right from under our
noses! I won't have it!" Trelos' voice was raising in agitation and
anger as he continued to speak.

"Calm down so I can hear you. Stole who?" She was trying her best to listen.
In the meantime, she was hoping that some smart person had gone to go get
the Weyrleader.

The bluerider took the opportunity to slink away. Qorri could handle
this man much better than he could.

"Our boys! Our girls! Stole them right out from under our noses!"
Trelos bellowed. "I demand they be returned at once! At once!" His
face was turning red in anger over the injustice of the matter and
what he felt was right and fair.

Alira felt like she needed to apologize to every one around them. "I'm
so sorry," she said. "Father, if they impress they'll be able to
protect us from Thread," she said for the hundredth time. Sometimes if
she repeated things often enough they finally got through.

Tavia heard the commotion from her weyr and looked down towards the
grounds below. She hopped on Sawauth's neck and they spiraled down.
"What is going on here?" she yelled in her best flight voice. Sawauth
stared around at the group, eyes whirling.

"I've got this, Tavia, but can you please get the Weyrleader for me?"
Qorri said quickly, afraid that the rider's presence might irritate the man
further. "Who stole your children, then?" she asked, waiting for an answer.

**My dear please ask Loseth's to come and tell him we have an angry
holder talking about stolen children** Sawauth dutifully relayed the
message she was given. The pair landed several dragonlengths away
from the commotion hopefully far enough not to cause an issue but
close enough to do something if things got out of hand.

"He rode a green beastie like that one!" Trelos roared, pointing
towards Tavia's dragon that had moved away. "I demand you return our
boys immediately!"

}: N'vanik is coming,:{ Loseth told Sawauth.

}:He comes:{ was her terse message. Tavia slid from Sawauth's back and
trotted toward the Headwoman, standing behind her shoulder. "N'vanik is
on his way," she said.

"Allright so you're saying a greenrider stole your children. Is that true?
When did this happen?" Qorri was beginning to get an idea, but she wanted
to wait until N'vanik arrived before she put her thoughts into words. **Keep
him talking** The minor holder didn't scare her, but she didn't want him
going further into the Weyr to cause more mischief.

"Candlemarks ago now. It took us far too long to get here," Trelos
replied. "I demand you return them. I know it _had_ to be you that
stole them." His eyes whirled around the space behind her, as though
looking for those that had been taken.

Alira grabbed at her father's arm. "Father, please it is our duty to
the Weyr that protects us." Her eyes pleaded with the woman who was
obviously in charge. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

N'vanik arrived. "What's going on here?" He looked between Qorri and the holder.

Trelos whirled to the sound of the new voice and seeing the
knots on his shoulder he pounced. "Are you the one in charge? I demand
you return our children at ONCE!" His voice was rising again even as his
complexion was turning redder by the minute. He'd be lucky if he didn't
burst something in his agitated state

"Holder Trelos says that a greenrider stole some of the children from the Hold.
It seems they were taken on Search, which would have required their parents'
permission. Was this permission not given then, Holder?" Qorri asked
him pointedly.

"No one asked _my_ permission!" he blustered.

"Are any of the kids yours?" N'vanik asked. He was _not_ in the mood for this.

"Mine? Mine! They are _all_ mine! I am the holder and it is my duty to
protect them!" Trelos was looking a bit more frazzled as he continued
on in his rant. He was finding it harder to breathe _and_ maintain his
demeanor in front of these, these, distasteful Weyr residents. For a
moment, he raised a hand over the rapid beat of his heart. "I speak
for all of them!" he added with a vehemence.

"They're not yours anymore. They're mine." N'vanik stared at the
red-faced holder. "Now get out of here before you make a bigger fool
of yourself."

"I...I..." Trelos fumed. "They are not. They...I..." For the first
time he found himself
at a loss for words.

Qorri knew that N'vanik was having a rough time of it. Hoping she could smooth
things over after his abrupt dismissal, she interjected. "We know that
you have been a good holder, Trelos. As a good Holder you pay your tithes so we
protect you, but we also require candidates from Search from the Holds, which is a
Holder's duty to provide. I'm sure you swore that oath, remember?" Her tone was
coaxing, as if she knew he had and he was just joking before. That way, he could save face.

Alira reached out and put her arm around him. "Come father, we should
go," she said. She could tell he wasn't feeling well and they had a
long ways to go to get home.

He blustered some more, but most of his anger and agitation had
dissipated between the rather angry glare the Weyrleader was throwing
his way and the more rational words the Headwoman had spoken.

"Duty as a holder. Yes. Yes. I took that oath," he mumbled. When Alira
tried to guide him he allowed it, turning to follow her lead. He _did_,
however, glance over his shoulder and call out, "Take care of our
children."

Last updated on the January 28th 2012

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Stealing Our Children