A Bit of Risk

Writers: Eimi
Date Posted: 3rd May 2019

Characters: Kiomo, Xelfin
Description: Kiomo delivers Lord Bryvin's request and gets down to business...
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 2, day 10 of Turn 9
Notes: Follows "SSH: Dire Need"

Mentions: Bryvin, Xeladrie, Ranni

Kiomo ran his fingers through his hair as he walked down the all to familiar corridor to Lord Xelfin's office.

"Kiomo of Sunstone to see Lord Xelfin, please. I bear a message from my Lord," he announced to the man standing outside the office door.

While he waited, he took a few deep breaths. He had left the grieving Bryvin. The story had been believed with very little convincing on his part. It seemed that for now, at least, the crisis was averted.

"You may go in," the assistant said, holding the door with a bow as Kiomo strode through it. He quietly closed it behind his Sunstone counterpart, leaving them alone to talk.

"Well?" Xelfin asked, already standing next to his desk and eager to hear news of how things stood for himself and his Hold now that Bryvin knew his child was dead.

"My Lord Bryvin is grieved at the sudden and _natural_ passing of his daughter," Kiomo said. Xelfin reached out a hand to steady himself, relief washing over his face. He continued, "Lord Bryvin requests that there be flowers at his daughter's funeral."

"Funeral?" Xelfin asked, his eyes snapping up to Kiomo's, darkened with sudden concern. "But you said you dropped the baby /between/ on your way to Sunstone. Is that not the case? Is the body still here?"

"No, there is no body to be buried. That does not mean, of course, that ceremonies should not be held. We have to go through the motions of having a quiet funeral at the side of an empty grave. And there must be lots of flowers. A harper's sketch of the scene might not be a bad idea," Kiomo added as an after thought. "And I would instruct your stone masons to make a small, tasteful memorial to stand at the head of the grave."

"Yes, I suppose I will have to do that." Xelfin crossed his arms over his chest. "And Bryvin bought it? No suspicions?"

"None that I could tell," Kiomo said with a shrug. "If he does question it, he need only see the Healer's report, right?"

"Yes, I have it here," the Lord Holder said, looking at a file sitting on his desk. "And I have contacted the mindhealer's hall to ask them to accept my daughter, at the healer's recommendation, of course."

Kiomo nodded. "Lord Bryvin has agreed to her being sent to the mindhealers but asks that he be named her guardian. At least until the divorce."

"Divorce?" Xelfin asked, the idea not having occurred to him before.

"Yes, my Lord cannot be tied to an insane murderess indefinitely," Kiomo said matter of factly.

It seemed to be following rather fast on the heels of the child's death. "Lord Bryvin is already calling for a divorce?"

"Of course not, my Lord. _I_ am." Kiomo crossed his arms behind his back, very relaxed in all appearances. "Lady Xeladrie can _never_ return to Lord Bryvin, even if the mindhealers are able to cure her of her current madness. The truth of what she did cannot be known. She must divorce Lord Bryvin and allow him to marry again. After an appropriate amount of time has passed, of course."

Xelfin let that idea sink in for a moment. "I suppose... you are right..." The shame of the divorce would be nothing compared to the retribution should the truth be known.

"Good. Then I don't see any reason to delay our negotiations." Kiomo walked over to one of the soft backed chairs the Lord had for entertaining guests and settled into one unceremoniously. He pointed to chair across from him. "Have a seat, Lord Xelfin, and pour us both a drink if you will. I have a feeling you will need one."

~~**~~

Kiomo walked out of the Lord Holder's office, rolled unofficial agreement in hand. Xelfin had been left feeling that he had lost a little more than a daughter that day, but at least was mollified with the knowledge that Kiomo would be a staunch supporter of his grandson's inheritance to Sunstone's Lordship one day. In the end Kiomo was given everything he asked for, and a bit of personal compensation, besides.

Entering the rooms that had been offered him for the night, Kiomo flopped back with a satisfied sigh, rolled parchment still clutched in his hand over his chest. Shards, he wished he had a woman to celebrate with right then. He had been carrying so much tension over the past few sevendays, he could do with a bit of release. Perhaps he could find a woman after the funeral.

But Faranth's name, weren't women more trouble than they were worth at times?

Wasn't it a woman, Xeladrie, who had caused this whole mess with her insane need to spirit her daughter away to a Weyr. Kiomo wasn't sure that she really didn't belong in a mindhealer hall. Then again, who's to say that he didn't as well, as he had agreed to aid her in her insane plans. And now here he was, stuck between two Lord Holders who, if they knew of his involvement, would _both_ be calling for his head. Or worse, sending him deep into the darkest mine. He couldn't help the involuntary shudder.

It was those eyes that got him. He never could resist a pair of desperate eyes. Yes, he would miss seeing Xeladrie at Suntone. He had unwillingly agreed to help her in her little plot to spirit her child away to the Weyr only because things had already been set in motion, and he had hoped to have a Lady Holder in his debt. Well, now it seemed he had one Lord Holder under his thumb, and another that would one day, hopefully, see his worth when he showed him what he had managed to gain for his Hold. It was worth a bit of porcine blood smeared on the walls and sheets while Ranni took the child to the waiting bronzerider. Sure, he would have been a dead man if their plans had failed, but it was, after all, _his_ plan. How could they not succeed? Besides, the rewards were far greater when there was a bit of risk involved.

But it was too bad Xeladrie would be sent to the Mindhealer's hall in the morning. Kiomo would miss those eyes...

Last updated on the May 10th 2019

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A Bit of Risk