What is Justice?

Writers: Yvonne, Heather
Date Posted: 29th December 2024

Characters: D'kere, J'nus
Description: J'nus and D'kere disagree about what should be done with Kapera's attacker, Zaverin.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 2, day 8 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Kapera, Talwynn

J'nus woke up in the chair next to Kapera's bed and immediately looked to her, terrified that she'd stopped breathing and afraid that she hadn't. Her chest still rose and fell, and she was still blissfully unaware of her loss. He closed his eyes in relief or grief, and in the silence he noticed how much his bones ached. His body reminded him that he existed, that time still ticked forward with a million small aches and sticky skin.

Eventually he couldn't stand it any longer. J'nus staggered from the Infirmary to go back to his weyr to change, taking the stairs one painful step at a time. He kept his gaze fixed on the stone steps and ignored anyone who tried to speak with him.

When he pushed the door open, J'nus' gaze snagged on the bare stone floor beneath his boots. Someone had cleaned, mopping Kapera's blood from the entranceway and removing the carpet she'd bled on. J'nus hoped they burned it.

He dragged himself across the room to the bathing chamber where he stripped his celebration finery and undid the bandages from around his knuckles. The hot water stung his skin as he stepped into the bath. It felt good to float, to close his eyes and sink beneath the water until the heat made him light headed.

But he couldn't stay untouchable beneath the water. J'nus dried off slowly and pulled on whatever clothing came to his fingers first. Looking at Kapera's side of the bed hurt. Everything hurt. Being in this weyr hurt. **I should have got here sooner,** he thought, closing his eyes. **If I had got here sooner...**

But he hadn't. J'nus touched the memory of that night like he was poking at an open wound. He remembered Kapera covered in blood, and the sound of his fists hitting that man's face. He remembered throwing them off the weyr ledge. D'kere was there. Rasme and Aydhan. He didn't remember much else.

**Can you ask Kenirath where D'kere is?** J'nus asked Kopth.

There was a moment's pause. }:In the Infirmary,:{ his dragon said finally. }:But you should not go to him.:{

J'nus ignored that. **Tell him to stay there.** The walk to the Infirmary seemed impossibly far, but if Kapera woke and he wasn't there...

Kopth tried to get him to stay, but J'nus ignored his dragon and dragged himself back down the stairs. When he got to the Infirmary he asked one of the Healers where D'kere was, and the rasp in his voice made him sound like someone else. He couldn't look her in the eyes, and instead stared over her shoulder until she led him to a door. D'kere sat outside it.

D'kere rose to his feet when he saw J'nus approach. There were many people who wanted to kill the man whose door he guarded, and he knew that J'nus had a better reason than anyone else.

"J'nus," he said, wariness apparent in his greeting.

"I..." J'nus trailed off. "Have the healers told you anything? About Kapera?" They stepped on eggshells around him, all low voices and averted eyes.

"They've lightened her doses of fellis. If she stays asleep at this point then it's on her to wake up." D'kere wasn't sure whether it would be a mercy for the fallen Weyrwoman to stay asleep or wake up. The Weyrwoman's Wingsecond studied J'nus. "How are you holding up?"

He shrugged. That was irrelevant. "I... what are you doing here? This isn't Kapera's room."

"No, it isn't," was all D'kere said, his normally joyful eyes dark and serious. He'd seen what the Skybroom Wingleader had done to Kapera's attacker. D'kere didn't relish the thought of any sort of physical altercation with J'nus, but he was determined to make sure Zaverin stood trial.

"Then why are you here?"

"Zaverin. He's alive. When you threw him, he didn't go all the way off the ledge. I brought him here so we could hold him for questioning." D'kere warily watched J'nus for his reaction to finding out that Kapera's attacker was still alive.

**He's not at the bottom of the cliff.** J'nus closed his eyes. He hadn't killed the man-- Zaverin. That man was _here_, in the Infirmary, not that far from where Kapera hovered between here and oblivion. His knees wobbled as his gorge rose and the bronzerider put a steadying hand on the wall. Thank Faranth that he didn't have blood on his hands, but he should have. He had failed in that, too. When he opened his eyes he saw the wary way that D'kere was watching him, like he was some sort of monster ready to pounce.

D'kere was probably right to look at him like that. Muscles jumped in J'nus' jaw as he struggled to think of something to say. He swallowed. "He... the Healers are fixing him?"

"That's right. They patched him up earlier and got him stabilized. He's still under fellis," D'kere confirmed. He couldn't say he knew exactly, but he imagined he knew how J'nus felt. If someone had done that to Talwynn.... It wasn't a thought D'kere could even entertain.

There was a long pause before J'nus spoke again. "They should have let him die."

"No," D'kere disagreed. "Death is too easy for someone like him."

"He's a waste of space." J'nus rubbed his eyes with a tired hand. Everything hurt. Faranth, if Kapera knew that the man who had killed Riyanth was alive and in a bed in her own Infirmary-- it was grossly disrespectful to her loss. To all their loss. "Sending him to a prison mine is a waste of air. Let him fester and die."

D'kere shook his head, knowing they wouldn't agree. "I'll keep watch over him, all the same." And if he got to have any input on Zaverin's punishment, it wouldn't be something as easy as the mines.

All J'nus could do was shake his head in disgust. D'kere should be a better man than that, but apparently the Weyr was going to let Kapera suffer in more ways than one. The bronzerider turned and slowly headed back to Kapera's bed with a sour taste in the back of his throat.

It wasn't until he reached her room that he paused. The room was dark and from where he stood she looked like a wisp beneath the bandages and bedclothes. There had been so much hatred directed toward the Weyrs in the past few Turns, and it wasn't that long ago that the Hatching at Dolphin Cove Weyr had been disrupted with poison and blood. Perhaps, like at Dolphin Cove, there was more than one conspirator. Perhaps the man who had nearly killed Kapera was just the head of the snake.

His hands tightened into fists as J'nus stepped into her room and reclaimed his chair by her side.

Last updated on the July 15th 2025

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What is Justice?