Character Witness

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 12th May 2019
Series: The Great Bandit Trial

Characters: Tasni, Galveden, L'hil
Description: Tasni searches for witnesses to support Terren at his trial
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 7, day 16 of Turn 9

"I really don't think this is such a good idea..."

Tasni had lost count of the number of times L'hil had made that
complaint since her note had brought him to the Harper Hall. She
pulled a face behind his back as Zainath swooped low over the wide green
fields, strewn with the white fluffy dots of grazing ovines. The thin,
muddy blue-brown line of a river snaked across the terrain, making a
dividing line between the two cotholds below them.

This was real, deep farming territory, miles from anywhere without a
Hall or a big Hold in sight. The young journeywoman wondered how her
client could possibly be so attached to such a dull landscape that she
would fight so hard to keep hold of it.

"It'll be fine," she told him, again. "They support the Weyr. The son
from the neighbouring cothold is a dragonrider."

"A brownrider. We don't know what they think of riders like me." He
gazed suspiciously down at the modest, peaceful-looking farms. "I expect
they aren't keen on female harpers, either, so you can stop sounding so
smug about it."

"They can't think too badly of us if the man's wife hired me for the
defence." She tightened her grip on the straps as at a silent
instruction, the green circled down and beat her wings rapidly, coming
to a graceful landing right in the centre of the yard. Daintily, Zainath
shook the dust from her claws and tail and settled down to allow them to
dismount.

Their arrival had caused a stir. It being the middle of the day, most of
the adults and older children would be out in the fields, but several
youngsters had spilled out of the hold, followed by a burly older man
with the weathered, sun-browned look of one who'd spent most of his life
outdoors.

"Welcome, greenrider, and our duty to the Weyr." He glanced from one to
the other. "And you, ah, young lady. I'm Galveden, the holder here."

"Well met, Holder Galveden." Tasni smiled and held out a hand. A hold
that welcomed dragonriders was a promising start. "I'm Tasni, a
journeywoman harper from the Hall, and this is Greenrider L'hil and
Zainath. We're investigating an alleged crime that took place near here,
a few sevendays ago?"

L'hil gave her a look as if to question the use of the word 'we', but
much to Tasni's relief, the holder only raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, yes. At Terren's cothold." His lip curled. "So he's not been
sentenced yet?"

That was not so good. "No, the trial is yet to take place. We're here to
gather evidence, and to find people who might speak to Holder Terren's
character."

"I can certainly do that. Why don't you both come in? My wife will get
us some klah, and we can talk." Galveden turned and led the way inside,
pausing on the threshold to shake a finger at the children. "And you
stay away from green Zainath, you little brats! Show some respect."

The children just giggled, suggesting to Tasni that Holder Galveden's
bark might be worse than his bite.

The interior of the cothold was dim after the bright sunlight outside,
and it took her eyes a moment to adjust. The main room was spacious and
orderly, centred on a long dining table flanked by benches and one
high-backed chair at the end nearest the hearth, likely the holder's. A
well-made but undistinguished tapestry showing workers in a landscape of
fields much like their surroundings hung on the opposite wall, while the
rest of the space was taken up with the various indoor activities of the
cothold. A spinning wheel whirred under the hands of an elderly auntie,
while another sat beside her darning socks.

"So, you want to know about Terren," the holder said once they'd settled
down with their drinks. His wife, a plump, grey-haired woman about his
age, rolled her eyes and retreated to the kitchen. From her look, Tasni
suspected she'd heard everything they were about to hear many times before.

"Yes, please." She took out pen and a hide from her bag to take notes.
"How long have you known him?"

Galveden thought back, calculating. "More than twenty Turns, now. On and
off. He's not from around here, he was a hired hand, travelled around
the cotholds looking for work. There used to be a lot like that before
the Pass began. Some were honest and hard-working, others not much
better than holdless."

"And Holder Terren was...?"

"The latter. He was a smooth talker, very charming and personable, but
he was lazy and you couldn't trust a word he said. It didn't take most
people too long to figure that out."

Tasni's heart sank. She definitely didn't want this man speaking his
piece in the court. Perhaps he had a grudge and one of the other
neighbours would be more promising, but she was beginning to think this
would be a wasted journey.

L'hil, on the other hand, was curious to hear more of the tale. "How did
he come to run the cothold, then?"

"He married old Holder Lirfal's daughter. There were three girls, and
she was the youngest. The older sisters made good marriages, to men with
their own farms - Lirfal was a careful man, he'd saved for their
dowries. I can't think what possessed him to give his assent to that match."

"It was that young Lirena. She wouldn't have anyone else," one of the
old aunties interjected. "She was always headstrong."

"She was in love," her companion agreed, with more sympathy. "He was a
handsome man, he'd travelled as far as Emerald Falls. Told the most
wonderful stories."

"All lies, no doubt," Galveden scoffed. "Goes to show, a girl ought to
accept the match her parents make for her, not insist on the first rogue
who sees his chance and pays her compliments."

"I'll say this for her, though," the first old lady said. "She made her
mistake, but I've never heard her complain about it. She's worked hard
and made a good home for those children."

This was all very interesting, Tasni thought, but it was Terren, not
Lirena who was on trial and in need of witnesses to his good character.
"So, Holder Terren has never been in trouble with the law before, that
you know of?"

"He never got caught," Galveden said. "He and that boy of his were out
in my east wood most dry nights, poaching wherries. Then there was my
prize ovine, that I was going to take to the market come tithing time,
that went missing. Wild felines, my foot. She was stolen."

"Now, dear, you know you didn't mind about the wherries." His wife had
returned with a fresh jug of klah. "You said if he wanted to go creeping
around in the woods in the dead of night, he was welcome to them. And
that ovine could easily have been taken by the bandits, not Terren himself."

"And," Galveden went on, scowling, "he still owes me for the tithe. I'll
never see those marks again."

Tasni sensed that was the holder's main grievance, and she made a note
of it, just in case he ended up being called by the prosecution.

"He may be found innocent, and return to repay you," she suggested.

"Ha! He was caught red-handed. The guards told us all about it, they
stopped here the night after they captured the bandits and took him
prisoner."

"The sad thing will be if the family loses the hold," the woman said.
"They've been there for generations. We remember old Lirfal's
grandfather, don't we, Galveden?"

"Aye, he died in the plagues. That was a hard time. Wasn't so bad out
here as in the big holds, but the sickness took too many." He looked at
Tasni. "Back then was the last time we had a lady harper out here."

"Times are changing," L'hil put in, diplomatically.

"Yes, and a good thing too, for those who've got the talent." He drained
his klah and reached for the pot again.

His words were unexpected, given his earlier pronouncement on arranged
marriages. Even the most seemingly traditional of Southerners could
still, Tasni thought, surprise her. What was more, she realised, this
man could remember a time before the plagues, although he must have been
a boy at the time. When the trial was over, she thought, it might be
worth talking to a few oldsters. Their memories should be recorded, and
shared so that people would realise that the craft bans hadn't always
been in place.

"It is, indeed," she said, with a warm smile for the cotholder, and went
on to question him about the night the bandits were caught, hoping to
find a flaw in the guards' story. Unfortunately, Galveden's account of
events matched up in all respects with the one she'd been given.

"Is there anyone else who around here who knows Terren well?" she asked
eventually. "Any friends of his?"

The man shrugged. "You could ask his other neighbour, Holder Lewin, but
if it was me defending this case, I wouldn't risk it."

"Why not?"

"Well, Lewin's a quiet, polite sort of man, not an old grouch like me,
but he was courting Lirena too, back in those days. They might have
joined the holdings together. He was bitterly disappointed when she
married Terren," Galveden said. "He might decide to take his revenge. As
for friends, there used to be a few disreputable visitors every now and
then, but I couldn't tell you where they are now. That pretty much
tailed off when Thread returned."

Tasni sighed and made a note. It was looking as though she would have to
fall back on Lirena's testimony, or do without character witnesses
altogether. "I see. Well, thank you for giving up your time to speak to me."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help, but I tell the truth
as I see it. For his family's sake, though, I hope the Lord Holder isn't
too hard on him."

Galveden showed them out of the cothold, where they found the children
still gazing with awe at Zainath. A shout from the old man scattered
them, giggling.

"Well," L'hil said, once they'd said their goodbyes. "Now what?"

"We could go and speak to the workers at Terren's cothold. Lirena said
she'd left a man in charge." Tasni sighed. "I suspect we're going to
hear much the same story there. But it's got to be done."

"All right, we can fly over there. You're putting an awful lot of effort
into helping this man, aren't you?" He climbed into the riding straps
and offered her a hand. "I mean, no offence, but he sounds guilty to me.
It's not going to make you popular with the holders."

"Everyone has a right to good counsel." She let him help her up to
Zainath's back. "It's more for his family, really, they don't deserve
this. And...I want to be the one who shows Emerald Falls that a woman
can stand up and argue a case, just as well as a man."

L'hil laughed. He seemed more relaxed, now that none of the holders had
troubled him about his dragon's colour. "You haven't changed. You always
were a show-off, back when we were weyrbrats."

"You weren't exactly shy and retiring yourself, greenrider. Better hope
you never find yourself on trial, and me as your character witness." She
winked at him as he turned to buckle the riding straps. "I could tell a
story or two about times back at the Weyrhold. Like that time with the
hot spices and the Headwoman's tea..."

"All right, Journeywoman. Let's go and make you famous," he teased.

Zainath crouched, then leapt into the air, gaining height with a few
wingbeats before beginning a gentle glide towards Terren and Lirena's
cot. Tasni looked down, doing her best to get an idea of the lie of the
land. She spotted what was likely the abandoned barn where the bandits
had been taken, at a short distance from the cothold and close to the
main road through the area. Behind them, now, was Galveden's wood, where
the man and his son had hunted wherries in the night.

She tried to imagine what it would have been like to grow up here,
isolated from all but a few families, the only contact with the outside
world coming from the occasional trader and travelling craftsman. She
still wouldn't have chosen that life over the Weyrhold, but after
talking to the holders, it didn't seem quite as stifling and
conventional as it had before. Though he was of limited use to her case,
she'd liked Galveden.

Even if she got nothing more out of the farmhands here than more
complaints about Terren's dishonesty, she thought, it hadn't been an
entirely wasted trip. She understood the situation at the cothold better
now, which was no bad thing.

With a smile, she wondered if she was finally getting to understand the
South, as well.

Last updated on the June 15th 2019

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Character Witness