Chapter 7
The logicators soon had another problem to occupy their minds.
"Anyone know what's wrong with Journeyman Nesson?" asked Alaran "He's all short-tempered and jumpy. And I didn't quite like to leap in with both feet to ask what was up."
"Alaran learns tact? Wonders will never cease!" said Elissa cheerfully. "I'll ask him; he might take it better from another Journeyman."
"What if the poor man thinks you're trying to vamp him?" asked Sadvia "He's pretty shy!"
"Shy? It's not that, he's gay" said Elissa, matter of factly. "Haven't you seen him admiring Ch'sseri?"
"Oh that explains an awful lot" said Alaran. "Why he keeps a distance I mean – in case anyone thinks he's trying to seduce him. But he's jumpier than usual" Alaran was a lot more relaxed about homosexuals since the logicators' friendship with D'vind and Ch'sseri!
Elissa approached Nesson.
"What's the matter?" she asked bluntly "Did you mistake someone's preferences and got a nasty rebuffal?"
He stared, reddening.
"You KNOW?"
"Of course I do, Nessan, everyone does!" said Elissa with an airy disregard for strict accuracy. Everyone important to her old enough to understand knew; she'd just told them, in blithe assumption that they had already realised!
Nessan put his head in his hands and sobbed.
"Master Bendarek will send me away! They'll think I'm touching up the boys!"
"Why on earth should anyone think that?" asked Elissa, totally mystified. "You might as well say that people will think the other Journeymen are touching up the girls – or that I'M touching up the boys! Why should anyone think you fancy little boys? You fancy grown up men, don't you? And anyone who thinks you'd make a pass at another man unless you thought he fancied you has got to be idiotic!"
"You really don't realise, do you?" he asked.
Elissa shrugged.
"I know I'm not yet fully used to the peculiar notions of craftbred and holdbred people; just humour me and enlighten my ignorance my friend."
"People assume that homosexual means pervert" Nesson said bitterly. "But – do you mean Master Bendarek already knows?"
"I haven't a clue" said Elissa "Why? It's none of his business unless you take it into your head to throw someone like Master Challer roughly to the ground and take him without his consent in a flurry of sawdust!"
This raised a thin smile; Nesson was a slight young man, and the idea of wrestling huge Master Challer to the ground was funny in itself. He sighed.
"Someone wrote me a letter….said they knew what I was, that I was a dirty boy spoiler and that it was time the Master knew. They didn't have the decency to sign it."
Elissa's eyes narrowed.
"Ah. Poison pen" she said. "A well known phenomenon in the world of logicating. It IS time the Master knew – about the sick individual who wrote that. Such people rarely confine their written bullying to one person; it's better to stop it quickly."
"But – but he might send me away!"
"Then go to High Reaches. H'llon won't care providing that you do your job. And you might find a nice lover there too who wants entertaining when his dragon rises – and between that too!"
"You have all the answers, Elissa"
"To simple matters, yes! You'd be happy in the Weyr, I reckon; you gamble as hard as any dragonman. Think about it anyway as a matter of choice of your own – for when Ben DOESN'T throw you out! Come on!"
Bendarek listened to Elissa's concise summation, including her serene expectation that he had too much common sense to expel a man for his sexual preferences.
He nodded.
"Nesson, you're discreet enough, I've had no complaints about your personal behaviour" said Bendarek. "If this - poison pen, you call him – is going to spread things about, it may be embarrassing for you, lad; but I stand by my journeymen if they have not behaved improperly. I will make an announcement of this occurrence in broad terms; and let us hope that as Nessan had the sense to be frank with me this appalling prank will end."
"Excuse me, Master, but it's no prank" said Elissa "It's a crime. The people who do this sort of thing are sick in the head; it's a kind of attention seeking I think, someone who is a small person and feels powerless can make themselves feel big by making others squirm by having power by words to hurt and cause fear. And they hide behind anonymity partly because they don't have the guts to say such things to anyone's face and partly because it gives them yet another power, because people start suspecting each other."
Bendarek listened gravely; and nodded.
"I should then emphasise the childishness and small mindedness of this and pour scorn on the perpetrator."
"Others might – probably have had – letters; you should tell them, Master to come forward" said Elissa. "I'll tabulate when they got them – to the minute if I can – and do as we did about finding Rayenn by eliminating the possibilities. I'm sure I would have known if it had been going on long, and I'm certain it hasn't. Which means the most likely suspects are the new apprentices, one of the paying students or one of their cot guardians. And I don't like suspecting the old couple but I have to count them."
Bendarek nodded.
"I leave the investigation entirely in the able hands of the logicators" he said.
Elissa found her own poison pen letter waiting at the cot.
It said she was a weyrbred harlot who was sleeping with all the senior apprentices and journeymen. It was explicit and obscene.
It was some confirmation that the culprit was a recent addition to the Hall; there was none of Kislan's suggestion – that Elissa had heard about – that she had earned her promotion to Journeyman through sleeping the Masters.
As Kislan was still around speaking loosely and foolishly after the new apprentices had arrived, Elissa was inclined to narrow her suspicion to the paying students; who had, besides, the leisure time for such foolishness. Moreover, most of the new intake were too young to have such knowledge; only a few were older than twelve turns old. It did however leave such older youths as Margand, Birgel and Velit in the frame. Elissa was inclined to discount Velit as being too serious minded and Margand as being too hard at work. Margand might have written to Nesson, because of his own experiences; but personally she thought him more likely to confront the journeyman face to face. And he would not have had the urge to write so to her. Birgel was another matter; he had shown himself to have a weakness for practical jokes and very little self discipline or self control. It might be that this was intended as a joke of some kind. She could not, in any case, discount him out of hand. As a bit of an outsider he might have missed hearing Kislan's comments; Master Bendarek had stamped on them pretty quickly!
Elissa took her own note to Bendarek, apologising that she could only place a three-hour window of opportunity over when it was left.
"And as it's not sealed, I'm glad none of the children picked it up first" she said grimly "It's filthy."
Bendarek, glancing through, blanched and agreed.
"Someone with a grudge against journeymen?"
"Perhaps…if so I have a possible suspect. But when you call for others to come forward we'll see what we see" said Elissa.
At supper, Bendarek called for silence; and addressed the Hall.
"Some stupid and pathetic person is writing what I am told are called poison pen letters" he said. "They promulgate lies based on a shred of fact – or in some cases wild conjecture. They are slanderous and malicious and very, very childish. If the person responsible would like to come to me I will arrange help for him or her. I will also expect anyone who has received such a letter to come to me, or to Journeyman Elissa or Master Gerney; since that couple are running the investigation. If the culprit does NOT come to me it will go harder when we catch him or her. This is actually a crime, not a prank; and I will not tolerate it!"
There was a clamour of horrified indignation!
Kisra's voice rang out as clear as a bell.
"Well it's not Prelaia 'cos Master Bendarek already packed her off to the back of the North Wind and pack ice for her spite!"
So much, reflected Bendarek, for shifting Kislan and his wife out with tact and no explanation to the Hall.
The first thing that Elissa did was to ask for D'vind or Ch'sseri to come – she got both as a matched pair – and sent them to the seahold from which Willin and Relina had lately come to ask if any poison pen letters had been received there, or obscene messages chalked on cave walls or such. It would either point the finger or eliminate both oldsters as suspects; these things did not appear overnight and if either had been responsible, it was likely there had been some manifestation of the phenomenon at their last post. It was the sort of spite, Elissa realised, that tended to emanate either from a bitter old woman or a young girl, though it did not prevent there being other suspects. Sh'elle, once Ishelle, had spread spite without fully understanding the connotations of what she had been saying; it was an expression of her misery and insecurity. That young girl had learned well the lesson of pretending more knowledge than she really had; but even at her worst had at least always spoken to the face of the one she wanted to hurt! This underhanded method of scandal mongering was more insidious and somehow even more obscene for its anonymity and cowardice!
D'vind and Ch'sseri reported back that the seaholders had never heard of such a thing and said that nobody in a fish-hold had time to let their brains addle like that.
They also brought a gift of fish; the packtails had been running well. The logicators therefore had a fry-up and discussed over it a third letter, one Gerney had found in the latheshop. It informed him that Beka was not really his daughter and that his wife had played him false, for the child looked nothing like him. It was not couched in such friendly terms.
There was considerable hilarity over THAT mistake!
"It p-proves it's an outsider" said Tirlo "B-because anyone KNOWS B-Beka's your fosterling. It's b-because she calls you daddy I suppose! And Elissa c-couldn't hardly have b-birthed her at what, four turns anyhow!"
"That's worrying actually" said Elissa "Because it suggests the culprit is young enough not to be able to judge my age; young enough even to see grown ups as much the same age. And it's usually around puberty that people start judging people more accurately in terms of age."
"But weyrwomen often look very young for their age; it might be that because you're weyrbred – as our culprit knows – they assume you haven't aged" said Gerney. "Anyone who's been here any time realises how you've gone from girl to woman; but a new comer might make such a connection."
Elissa nodded.
"I guess so" she said. "Well, four of you here are technical suspects; Velit, Liemi, Raveny and Murade. Margand is in the time scale but you chatter enough with Tahnee, you know the REAL background of a lot of people – including Beka."
Margand nodded.
"Tahnee told me about all of the four" he said.
Tahnee confirmed with a nod.
"Velit knows too" she said "I had said something about us three being fosterlings and he was there."
Elissa smiled.
"Nice to eliminate you both" she said. "I'm disinclined to think any of the other three are so silly – and as logicators I reckon you'd know more than the vague nonsense that is written anyhow – but if you are or know who is, speak now and we'll help sort out why and help you over it."
"Scorch it, why would we want to?" said Liemi, mystified "It's such foolishness – and gross ingratitude too, to one's hosts!"
"Not me" said Raveny "I like to insult people accurately, intentionally and to their face."
"He does too" said Alaran "And he's no coward."
"And I think it's sickening and nasty and – and I suppose you HAVE to laught – but suppose some creep sent something similar to little Beka and she really was your daughter, raising doubts in her mind?" demanded Murade.
Elissa stared.
"I hadn't thought about anyone doing it to a babe….but you're right. Fortunately Beka will come to us; and so she will if any of the little ones gets upset. But I'll lose all compassion at all for this sick mind if they do."
"I wasn't that full of compassion to start off with" said Gerney grimly. "You three paying kids – stick together. If you're never alone – and I count standing outside the necessary and bathing room to watch – you can eliminate each other."
"Boys to each other; Murade, move in with us in Isrona's and I'LL watch you" said Sadvia. "TOO much Weyr influence, Gerney!"
"Too much logicator influence you mean!" he growled.
Sadvia's letter had been pushed under the door of Isrona's cot; it was on the same size and colour of paper as the others.
"While I was out, dear, or I'd have been after the little tyke that did it!" said Isrona. Sadvia hid a smile; the idea of the well padded Isrona being after anyone was an amusing mental image!
"Did you read it?" Sadvia asked.
"I did break etiquette to do so" admitted Isrona. "Not wanting you to see anything nasty without someone to protect you. But it's downright silly – if you can call the language it is couched in silly. It's bad language I warn you" and she passed it over.
Sadvia appreciated that Isrona had a good enough opinion of her own level head to let her see the filthy piece. The note inferred, between obscenities, that Sadvia was not really her father's daughter but was the foundling brat of a loving wench. Sadvia roared with laughter.
"And my own father delivering the both of us and having to put me down in a hurry because Kyal was in such a hurry to be born daddy was afraid of dropping him!" she said. "Silly little clunch! Well, it clears Murade; for she met me on the way to logicators', and you'd not gone out then, Isrona, and she's been in my sight ever since. I'm glad."
"So am I" said Murade earnestly "I say, Sadvia, you know that note to Elissa mentioned her being Weyrbred?"
"Yes…. I wondered where any of your lot bar the three of you might have picked that up."
"I told Claria and Jerra was there; I don't know if any of the boys was in earshot. I did it to shut her up whining about the birth of people I was associating with. It's when I mentioned too that you're Ranking" said Murade.
"Ah, that'll be it" said Sadvia "Lianka my pet, be a good kid and run over to Elissa with this note and tell her too about the other paying types knowing."
Lianka nodded eagerly and ran off.
The child held the note in her hand; and it was in no way concealed, for Lianka saw no need to hide it. She was crossing the space to Gerney's cot when a journeyman grabbed her.
Lianka gasped in surprise; and not a little pain, for the snatch to her wrist was vicious.
"It's you, is it, you little wretch?" he cried angrily, shaking her.
"I beg your pardon journeyman? What's me?" asked Lianka indignantly.
"You little muck spreader!" he shook her again, holding her with both hands. "I recognise the paper of that letter in your hand! It's the same batch filched for all the poison letters! Don't deny it!"
"Of course it is!" said Lianka "I'm taking it to Elissa!"
"So you admit it? I'm taking you to the Master!"
"But it's Elissa in charge of…."
The journeyman hit her across the face, a cruel blow, seized her arm and dragged.
Lianka was furious and her face was as red as her hair with anger; but Master Bendarek would sort it out.
The journeyman almost threw Lianka on the floor before Bendarek; the child stumbled and fell, crying out as she hit her knee sharply.
"This is the filthy little wretch who's writing the letter; and she even admitted it!" he declared.
"I did not!" Lianka flared "I said, yes, it was a poison letter I was holding!"
"It's the same thing!" the journeyman spat.
"You've had one to recognise, then, Billan?" said Bendarek, mildly, lifting Lianka and putting an arm around her "But you did not come forward like I told my people to?"
"I burned such filth!" said Billan "Make her PAY!"
Bendarek held up a hand.
"I see no convincing evidence that Apprentice Lianka is the culprit" he said "I can think of several reasons other than that why she should have a note in her hand; not least being another victim herself and running with it to some adult she trusts. Lianka my child, why did you have a poison pen letter in your hand?"
"'Cos it had come to Sadvia and she asked me to take it to Elissa – Journeyman Elissa – to logicate on and I also had a verbal message to carry from her" said Lianka.
"May I see it?"
"HE took it off me" said Lianka, glowering "The journeyman I mean" she added hastily as Bendarek looked at her steadily.
Bendarek held out a hand.
Billan passed over the document which he had crushed angrily into a ball. Bendarek read it and laughed.
"It is indeed to Sadvia and quite as ridiculous as all the letters to date" he said "Now Billan, why should the child be coming FROM Isrona's cot with a letter TO someone who lives there? Have sense, man! Besides, this child knows the real secrets of half the Woodcrafter Hall; she'd not have to make up the stupid conjectures the letters all seem to include!"
"She might for a prank. The girls are always playing pranks!" said Billan, sullenly.
Lianka gasped.
"Journeyman TWO of the new ones do, but not the rest of us! And THEY're too young to know most of the words in these dirty letters! I don't even know all of them, and Sandrina's vocabulary was pretty ripe I can tell you!"
Bendarek observed the journeyman with contempt.
"You have manhandled an apprentice cruelly – her lip is bleeding, and her knee I wager has a massive bruise – without any proof of wrongdoing, Billan" he said "For which I fine you four marks compensation to go to the child; now try not to make a complete ass of yourself in front of an apprentice. Lianka, run along to Elissa for numbweed and take your errands too; and try to forgive Billon for being overwrought at some poison."
Lianka flashed a smile at the Masterwoodcrafter.
"Of course, Master! I guess the writer has to strike close to home by accident sometimes; that's when people really get upset!" she said; and ran off.
Bendarek received but unsatisfactory explanation from Billan about what his letter had said; it appeared to be the accusation of some unspecified sexual misconduct, for the man was cagey.
Bendarek resolved to keep an eye on someone so affected by what should have been risible innuendo!
