Fasulkad Recognises a Face
Fourth day of Autumn, Forty-first Turn, Tenth Pass.
Harper Office
The office is cheerful, the light reflecting off of whitewashed walls and ceiling. A pattern mimicking musical notation in colors runs along the tops of the walls, shelf upon shelf rising from the floor to meet it. Desks, cabinets and filing drawers are arranged about the room, workplaces for those whose job it is to keep the harpers and hall in order.The air is fresh, tangy with sea and hides and well-seasoned woods.
Watching from a high shelf are three firelizards.
Ylisa is standing by the tackboard, rearranging things. She seems to have taken
several items down and is now trying to find room for a new addition to the crammed
space. She picks a square of hide from a pile of similar ones, matches it against a
too-small gap, and sets it down again. Doors -- tiresome little things that make sliping through the Hall quietly just that
extra bit harder. Still, Fas' enterance manages to be at least mostly discreet, the
loudest noise being the closing of the door as Fas looks around, quietly, eyes catching
about the room in an almost absent gesture to gauge the setting of the room. Seeing
only Ylisa, door is left behind, only a moment after it was closed, and Fas hails,
"Journeywoman Ylisa," in a much calmer voice than his entrance might have indicated.
Ylisa turns and smiles, seeming quite relieved to leave the fiddly task. "Hello,
Fasulkad. What can I do for you?" She moves the pile of hides aside and perches on
the edge of the desc, but perhaps her mind is still on them as she picks up the top
sheet and runs her fingers along its edges whilst looking enquiringly at the apprentice.
"Hmm. Actually -- I'm not sure just yet," the Apprentice admits, wry grin making it's
way to his face, before he chuckles lightly. "There's just been such a flurry of
activity about both Hold and Hall of late -- it's been rather hard to keep track of it
all, especially, considering..." Voice trails off for a moment, before Fas shakes his
head, grin only deepening slightly as he brushes the actual words away, and lets the
brief silence suffice instead. "I was wondering -- have you heard anything involving a
rather... /Strange/... Influx of people to the Hold, by any chance...?"
Ylisa is immediately interested and attentive. Her face takes on a concerned frown as
she waves Fasulkad to a chair. "It's... not impossible. Sit down and tell me about
it. Have you seen something? In what way are they strange?" She glances down to the
document in her hands.
Slow nod passes from Fas for a moment, glance slipping up towards Ylisa, before he
heads over to the chair, keeping silent for the duration. Apparently, Fas had come
seeking information rather than to release it, but while he doesn't seem unwilling, a
Harper mind is obviously being applied to what he speaks after settling himself back in
the chair. A light shrug passes from him, at which, he begins to speak. "Perhaps
you'll remember hearing of a rather unusual bar fight a short time ago in the Flying
Mug. It was unusual due to the fact that it was not simply one or two disorderlies --
but rather affected a good number of those present at the time. The thing is... Upon
checking with a few Healers, none of them seemed to /recognize/ any of the participants
as being long-time residents of the Hold... They were /all/," Fas concludes, turning
eyes back up towards Ylisa, "Transients."
Ylisa nods slowly, her eyes fixed on Fasulkad. "I did hear something about a big
fight, though I didn't get the details as it happened while I was away. All transients, you say? That is interesting. We're quite interested in suspicious
characters at the moment. Not that it's unusual to have transients coming through.
This is a seahold, after all. And the Mug has had its share of fights, I suppose."
She rests one hand in the other, still holding the document by a corner, the slight
curve thus imparted keeping it stiff.
"I see, then..." Blue eyes remained fastened upon Ylisa for a moment -- but in a
blink, they've shifted back down again, leaving the Apprentice in thoughtful repose.
"Most fights, however, break out between two people who disagree. I found it a bit
strange that so many would find their anger at the same time. However, you're right.
We have all kinds of transients passing through Ista..." Voice fades away again,
pausing as Fas takes a slow breath, and switches topics. "Whyfor is the Harper Hall
interested in suspicious characters -- at /this/ moment, in particular, might I ask...?"
Ylisa nods again. "You're right about that - a full-scale brawl is unusual. Do you
know how many people were involved?" She ponders for a moment. "Though, I suspect the
person or people we're interested in would be likely to want to keep a low profile -
getting yourself so badly injured in a tavern fight that you become the concern of the
healers would rather blow his cover." Realising that she hasn't answered his question,
she glances again at the square of hide, then holds it out to him. "That's the man
we're interested in, though it's taken from a description, not from life. I've just
had copies made, to pass them around a bit - discreetly, of course."
The drawing shows a man who might be in his late twenties, with dark hair that is
roughly cut and reaches to his collar, dark eyes under curving brows, and a tanned
complexion. The nose is straight, the lips well shaped, though held with a hint of a
sneer. The head-and-shoulders view suggests a fairly muscular build. It is labelled
with the name "Dennell."
"We're looking for seperate things, I think. You're looking for a singular, I'm
looking for a plural..." Nevertheless, hand reaches up to take the hide from
Ylisa, and eyes flicker across it. Gaze holds for several moments, before Fas nods lightly,
deciding, "It looks pretty accurate. I like how the artist caught his sneer. It was
one the features that made him stand out a bit." But admittance of having seen him is
almost casually brushed aside, as Fas turns the hide with an absent shift of his
fingers, and looks back up at Ylisa again. "His name is Dennell, then, but why are we
looking for him...?" Apprentice didn't get the information he was looking for -- that
doesn't mean he's not going to try to leave with /some/ information...
"Yes, several of the people I spoke to mentioned his expression." Ylisa blinks,
digesting what Fasulkad just said. "Made him stand out? Fas, have you seen this man?"
She's looking at him intently now. "This could be important. The man is a known
renegade, one of an active band of them. A thief." She purses her lips, waiting his
response.
Instead of a response one might expect from an Apprentice being questioned, Fas actually raises one eyebrow, and allows a light chuckle to pass by. "Yes, I saw him --
so did you, I should think, although I suppose your attention was probably being
diverted by the commotion our dear recently returned Master was making at the time..."
Hints dropped, Fas moves on to venture slight comfort at the suddenly intent Journey
before him: "He hasn't done anything yet, so he's probably waiting for some kind of cue
-- knowing what that is might be helpful, if you're attempting to stop a whole band of
renegades. But knowing what the Hall wants to do about him might help me respond
accordingly if I see him again..."
Ylisa stares at Fasulkad, aghast. "I did? It must have been before I had this drawing, then. Recently... Master Tony? Was this when Master Tony was taking the Mug
to pieces?" She swallows hastily and 'corrects' herself. "I mean, when he found the
manuscript? Dennell was in the Mug when we all were? You and me, and Tony, and... who
else was there?" She turns to the desk that she's sitting on and picks up a folded
writing tablet and a stylus. Flipping the tablet open, she asks, "Tell me exactly what
you saw. When he came in, what he did, who he spoke to."
"In all the commotion, and all the noise, he was a little easy to pick out. For the
Harpers, there was you, Tony, and I, as you said... Majori was there, as was Realilina
-- one of junior Apprentices -- did you want to know people from other Crafts, or just
the Harpers? Either way, he was a little easy to pick out -- after the manuscript was
pulled out of the wall and everyone was gaping at it to see what it was, he came in,
went to the bar, got a glass, and sat down. Didn't for all of Pern look like he cared
/what/ was going on. He sat down for a while, kept a good eye around, especially when
it came to the door, but eventually up and left..." Apprentice pauses to think again,
for a few moments, before he suddenly nods. "I believe it was red wine. Although I was
more interested in the person than his drink..." Eyes close again, as head tilts back,
and Harper nods again, "He seemed annoyed when he left -- with the eye he was keeping
on the door, I guess he was waiting for someone to show -- or maybe just for something
to happen..."
Ylisa nods, her expression rueful. "I was totally focused on Master Tony and that
hide. And Majori had her eyes on -" Ylisa chuckles, and doesn't say whom she thought
Majori had her eyes on. "I thought she left, though. So did Realilina. I wonder if
either of them saw him. Still. You're absolutely sure it was him? Even if you're not, I don't want you to say a word to anyone at all about it unless one of the Masters or
I ask you." She pauses, thinking through what she should ask. "But keep your eyes
open, and tell us if you see him again. I'm going to tell Master Jueann about this,
and she'll certainly inform the guard. Let them handle him. She'll probably want to
talk to you - about this other matter you observed as well."
Smile turns slightly amused as Ylisa breaks off her thought on Majori, but Fas confirms, "Yes, they both left -- I wasn't sure if you just wanted a listing of who was
there at all. Majori left before he came in, but she might've seen him on the way in,
if she stopped in the Great Hall for a while. Realilina was there, but seemed absorbed
in conversation -- not sure I'd bother asking her, if I were you. And, if your drawing's accurate, then I'm fairly certain I am, too. I saw him at a distance,
but..." He shrugs lightly again, before he looks back up at Ylisa again. "I'm known
for being careful when I look. I'll keep my silence on it -- I'm trained in that, too,
you know," he admits, this time chuckling, before tilting his head. "I'll answer
whoever's questions I have to under those guidelines, and I'll tell you or Master
Jueann if I see him again, but if there's anything you /don't/ know about him, it might
not do any harm to let me know what you know and what you don't. I might be able to
scrounge up a few things there, too..."
Ylisa nods, decisive now. "Right. First, it makes perfect sense that this man is in
Ista. It's possible he's behind the thefts we've been having, though that's speculation." She picks up a second copy of the drawing, of which there seem to be
several in her pile. "More important - and this is absolutely confidential - he may be
behind the disappearance of Lady Alebra of Nabol, the missing lady." She waves the
drawing. "I got this there. We've had probable sightings of her in the Gar region, but
that was a while ago. She could be nearby. So if you saw him with a woman, or if you
see her, we need to know. Her portrait's still on the board up there." She indicates
the tackboard. "I just hope she doesn't turn out to have been under our noses, too."
Apprentice remains silent during the quick briefing, nodding to show understanding at
certain points, but otherwise not interrupting. The most motion he shows is at the
very end of Ylisa's information, at which point, Fas turns to look towards the portrait, and nods again, but this time with a light, "Ah," as he sees it, before
looking back at Ylisa again. "You know her hair very well might have been cut, right?
Taken or left of her own accord, she'll not be parading about looking exactly as she
does right there." Fas pauses again, before he lets out another light, "Hmm," and
shakes his head again. "I've been busy with a few other events that've been unfolding. I meant to see if you had more information on the missing Lady for quite some time,
but I haven't had much time. My apologies for that... I'll start seeing what I can
piece together. Is there anything else you think I should know about?"
Ylisa gives Fasulkad a considering look, then a tight little smile, but whatever
conclusion she's come to stays there, for now. "I don't think so, Fasulkad, but expect
Master Jueann to send for you. And I'm going right up to see her now." She holds out
her hand for the drawing. "I'd better have that back, I suppose, as long as you'd
recognise him again."
Logfile from Ylisa
