New Assignments

Ever since his private meeting with Sorcha, Yeoun had been a little more quiet than usual, spending a lot of time thinking about everything she's said. Of course, was it that noticable? The young man was usaully pretty quiet, even amoungst his peers.

Nevertheless, the Blood Moon Squad members had packed their travel bags and were on the road again, this time, their journey taking them to the furthest southern reaches of Telgar , to a distant Guard Post. Very distant, apparently. They had already been traveling for several days at a decent pace and only now were barely able to see the top of the fire heights at the pinnacle of the Guard post in the distance, as proof of their eminent arrival.

That brought a smile to Yeoun's face, "Look. The Guard post." Seeming to gaze past it then, he added wistfully, "That means the border is just beyond it."

Yeoun had never been to the border of their territory, and likely neither had any of the other Blood Moon boys; at least not that he knew of. This would be exciting. They would get to check all of the traffic crossing the border by way of this road, and get to light the fire heights to send messages. Maybe they would get lucky and there would be a raid. Yeoun had heard of a couple of holdless raid parties taking from the goods that were on their way to the rebuilt Igen Weyr. Even those though, seemed to have been very sparse and at complete random -just like the holdless.

Pondering that, Yeoun wondered why maybe they themselves hadn't come across any trouble on their way here. It was likely they'd traveled through the 'territory' of at least a couple of holdless bands, or maybe even the Chorong Rebels -though he couldn't say for sure- yet, even though the five of them were few in number, appeared young and perhaps inexperienced and not well guarded, they had not once seen sign of anyone else on the road. Perhaps, Yeoun began to wonder, it had to do with what Sorcha had said; the Chorong Rebels wanted him alive, so now that they knew where he was, news would travel fast, and they would take steps to safeguard him -at least from their own. But that was all still just assumption.




Much later in the day, the five young men had finally reached the Guard post, though Yeoun didn't see anyone outside waiting for them. As they all started dismounting their runners, Yeoun glanced about and ambled over toward one of the four tents set up near the large stone structure of the man-made fire heights.

It startled him a bit when a scruffy looking man who seemed to be middle-aged, came hurrying out from one of the make-shift shelters. "Well if you weren't so slow in getting here we might have had time to do some hunting for dinner, but it looks like tonight, there's just field greens."

Rocking back on his heels a little, Yeoun thought, We? What about you?. But that might be rude of him. So instead of arguing, the young man bowed his head and tried to be a little apologetic, "Sorry we took longer than expected."

Well wasn't bearded man just a peach to be around? The way he dressed was certainly as eccentric as he himself seemed to be, and when Yeoun glanced back at the other boys and then decided to join the man at the table set out in the open for them, he found out it was a bad choice sitting next to him. Eccentric and he smelled as though he hadn't bathed in months. Yeoun was trying not to make faces as he sat down to accept the bowl of salad offered.

Travelling certainly knew how to take the buoyancy out of a group of young men. They had started with everyone but Yeoun chatting away like they had a million and one stories to tell. After about two candlemarks they had all seemed to run out of words to say to one another and continued on in silence. When Yeoun finally spoke to point out the Guard post, they all seemed more than a little relieved.

Kevarre was actually enjoying the quiet. Travelling wasn’t all bad. It shut his brother up and allowed him to admire the world without the bustle of humans getting in the way. When they arrived, Kevarre didn’t know what to think. He followed Yeoun’s lead, dismounting his runner and tying it to the nearby posts.

The young man looked the middle aged man up and down trying to decide if he was actually really wise or if he was as he looked to be. Kevarre was guessing there was more to the man that what he appeared to be. “Field greens will suit us just fine.”They’d lived on less before.

“Where do you allow your runner to graze?” He didn’t see a fenced area. If they let them go the runners might not return. Kevarre had grown used to his and didn’t want to lose it. So he actively searched with his eyes for a place to keep the runners. If there were no fences they would have to gather food for the animals to feed on instead of allowing them the freedom to graze.

“Looks like we’re going to be building fences.” He sighed under his breath, not sure whether the older man could hear him or not. Kevarre was already growing irritated by this assignment. They were here to do work for an eccentric man who they didn’t post anywhere else because he was too odd. The work they would be doing would be monotonous and have nothing to do with being a Guard. He could see everything coming crashing down slowly in his own mind. The others might not see what they had been sent here for just yet but Kevarre had learned never to be the fool again. He wouldn’t be played for one now.

"Runners?" The middle-aged man scoffed, settling himself down to eat. "There are no runners. I walked here!" By the expression he gave then, he must have been thinking to himself, feeling rather astonished by the notion of runners. He was taking a bite of his greens when he addressed them again shortly after, not minding the manners of civilized folk who should simply keeps their mouths closed when they were chewing.

"With that kind of attitude, you'll be making your own fences if you want to give them someplace to graze. You're the ones who brought them. You do it."


Over the runner talk, Yeoun's eyes were focused on the old man, burying his own amusement behind much more polite eating habits. Though, he couldn't help but crack a smile. When the man was done speaking, Yeoun glanced sidelong at Kevarre, his grin growing.

Personally, he didn't believe that the man had walked here from anywhere, so he might make it his own personal quest later on to see if there was some corral set up somewhere apart from the immediate camp they'd be staying in. It was a possibility that one existed anyway. If they ended up building a makeshift corral on their own, it would be a hassle because most of Pern's woods were incredibly dense, making them difficult to work with. It would almost be easier to build one with rocks..and there were certainly lots of stones handy to use. Either way would be unnecessary toil if they could happen to find a previously built area or perhaps a naturally partially enclosed-like area nearby. That might be likely as well.

Idly eating on his salad, Yeoun knew they'd all feel famished in the morning, so they could look for a proper place for their runners while they hunted and gathered food for their mounts. "We can find a place for them tomorrow. Where do we sleep? I'll start taking my things there and take the saddles off the runners to give them rest."


The officer was motioning the direction behind him, "This tent here. You three will have to share the space, but there's cots in there enough for you, even if it is a little cramped."

Kevarre’s face changed to a glower at the mention of losing the runners. Not only were the beasts worth some marks bit Kev had grown rather fond of his runner over the last few sevendays. He preferred not to comment on that in the present company though. If the man had anything further to add regarding the situation, he doubted it would be helpful. Catching the look on Yeoun’s face, he figured the other young man had been thinking what he had been. There was no way that old man walked here.

Paying little attention to the man’s poor eating habits he found he had lost his appetite well before that. He didn’t particularly like where this assignment was going. Not much he could d about it now even if he wanted to. If he could survive here then he could survive anywhere right?

For once keeping his mouth shut, Kevarre nodded, untacking his runner and taking his pack. He took the bridle off and made sure the runner’s lead was tied up for now. If his runner coliced he was going to blame the old man. He didn’t argue though as he brought his things into the tent he was supposed to share with Yeoun and his brother.

“I’ll hunt tomorrow.” He said to Yeoun under his breath. If anyone was going to have luck catching their dinner it was Kevarre. “Maybe the others can work on gathering rocks for the fencing. If the old man doesn’t need us to do other things. "

The others of the Blood Moon Squad followed Kevarre's lead when he began carrying his things into the tent set aside for their slumber. It would be a bit of a cramped sleep, but that was something they were fairly accustomed to due to their time at the mountainside camp they were raised in. Structures built for them there were not so spacious there either. Yeoun watched, nibbling on the greens offered, moreso to be polite to the officer present than for the purpose of filling his stomach. As soon as the others had finished carrying their packs into the tent, Yeoun too, carried his own pack within its flimsy walls to claim whatever sleeping area was left unoccupied.


After they'd all had time to settle in, Yeoun could overhear the old man muttering unintelligibly -something about taking the first night watch that'd be split between them. Seeing as the old man would be taking the first then, Yeoun found himself settling down onto the spread of blankets; but only briefly. As he could see through the moonlit opening of the tent, the old man had in only a few moments of sitting outside on his own, seemed to drift off to sleep. Watching the man's head lower to the table top where he sat, it lolled to one side, eyes closing as his breathing took on a more restful tempo.

Quietly sighing to himself, Yeoun wondered again about the old man. Glancing over to Kevarre, he made no comment of it though, as he stood up from his bedroll. "I guess I'll take the first watch. Be back in a bit." So Yeoun walked through the door to the tent and took over first watch for the sleeping officer.

A watch would give him some more time alone to think about his meeting with the strange young woman he'd met before leaving Telgar River Hold.





Kevarre had already called dibs on hunting for the group that morning, so it was up to Yeoun and the others to collect stones and wood enough to build a corral for their runners. After they'd eaten greens for breakfast, when Kevarre and his brother were preparing in the tent to leave, Yeoun entered to remind them, "Make sure to look for other nearby sources of stone and wood or previous structures we could use for corralling the Runners while you're out. If you run into any trouble and need help, just give the signal."

The Blood Moon Squad had a number of signals they put into use to communicate, whether it be bird calls or whistles, clicks of the tongue etc. The pair would most likely be able to handle anything they ran into on their own, but just in case...they probably wouldn't have to be so far off the rest of the group couldn't hear them.



Once Kevarre and his brother had taken off to hunt, Yeoun gathered the others, with permission of the officer present, to begin construction on a make shift corral. At some point, one of the boys had gone off to collect feed and water for the runners and come back to leave it with them. For the rest of the group however, by about three that afternoon, they'd been under the sun, moving stone and sweating bullets for hours. Yeoun was certain if Kevarre didn't come back with something good for dinner, there'd be a mutiny. They'd all been working long hours on little to no food that day thus far.

Kevarre found he wasn't all that hungry after traveling anyway. Whenever they went on a journey he found himself reminded of his personal failure to take care of his brother and sister. Although he had been a child at the time, his decision to leave the mountains and look for help at the main hold had likely been the reason for his sister's illness. He had pushed them too hard. So now traveling took its toll mentally on him as much as physically.

As he was being introspective he didn't say anything to Yeoun about the other man being a bit more quiet than was usual. Something was on his friend's mind but Kevarre knew him well enough to let him be while he worked it out. The real issue with the Blood Moon boys was all the emotional baggage they had. One didn't become an orphan or abandoned by chance. Bad things had happened to young children and now they were men who had been trained to use weapons.

The emotional turmoil was going to make their progress through the ranks more difficult. As usual, he had taken the spot closest to his brother to sleep. When Kevarre had nightmares he calmed down once he realized his brother was still there.

They were sitting next to each, not saying anything when Yeoun mentioned taking the first watch. The other young man had something on his mind. Kevarre nodded. "Alright."

Kevarre laid down but didn't sleep right away. He too had much on his mind. Arms crossed behind his head, he awaited sleep or dreams to take him away.

---

He shoved his brother to wake him up, then put a finger to his lips. If they were going to get up they needed to be quiet about it. He hoped everyone would be quiet. The louder they were, the farther he would have to go to find game.

Yeoun was in the tent just as Kevarre strapped his bow to his back and his brother had tightened the belt which held the scabbard for his sword. They nodded their understanding. "We'll see you soon." Kevarre said. His feet were quiet as he walked, having practiced not making a sound when hunting. His brother behind him made little to no noise as well. They were well-trained killers after all, human or animal mattered not.

**closed**