[Video; UN: lessaofpern] | Rallying the wings

[queenofsalt]

[Lessa has set her jaw as she looks into the projection of the network, grey eyes sparkling with unaffected warmth as she considers this strangely intuitive communication system. How like speaking to dragons it feels, and how strange.]

Good morning. I hope all of that merry-making last night didn't leave any of you completely indisposed, as I believe that we have a lot of work to tackle in the coming days.

I am Lessa of Pern. I am the senior Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, Ruathan by blood, and rider to Golden Ramoth. Though it means little to those not from Pern, I can assure you that I have earned every last of those titles, and though I acknowledge that this team is a company of equals, I think we can all admit that if we want to find ourselves home sooner, we could stand to delegate and specialize to our strengths... not all of us want to retire to sandy beaches we know will decay into abandon!

I'd like to speak with those of you who are versed in ALASTAIR's values and practices, and those of you who have spoken with the Nalawi at length and have learned anything more than what we have been given prior to our arrival. Locations, traditions, values, any records that can be used to track the progress of this island's troubles... it could all be valuable.

[She affects to toss a lock of fine black hair from her face, thinking herself particularly clever for re-enacting the kind of proud-chested talk that her weyrmate has employed in the past.]

Please join me for a mug and a plate in the lower room of the inn. I'm looking forward to meeting you in person so that we can consider our options going forward together.

[Before she shuts her communication down, the proud, slight smile brightens suddenly with a kind of abandoned amusement, like she's come out of a spotlight on a stage... and that's because she has. Lessa has never been in a position where she could stand up and take singular charge before, and the thought that she might be able to now is a heady feeling. Watch her sit rigidly in the tavern of the Inn from the time the broadcast is over until the moment someone approaches; she's going to be on the edge of her seat expecting the outpouring of earnest team-members coming forward to hand her clues to go gallivanting off on.]

Comments

[anteil]

| And here she is smirking again, though this time it's a stand-in for a real smile. She doesn't seem to be capable of the latter after so many years in a cold-blooded business, so let's all take what we can get. |

I'm afraid a fair few of our fellow crew members have hardly done anything more worthwhile even before ALASTAIR picked them up.

| While she doesn't agree with Lessa's vision of impending doom, she does think that a point is made with the rest of what she's said: they are unorganised, and while that does just fine in the face of small threats, if they encountered something bigger and less easily subdued than a group of over-sized crabs, they're in trouble. She more or less nods along, which... probably illustrates her agreement. |

I have only recently been recruited myself, so I won't be able to help you much when it comes to ALASTAIR's policies, and most of my recruitment so far has been spent aiding the villagers during and immediately after the storm.

| There's some amount of dissatisfaction in her voice. Either the tasks were outside her usual area, or she is annoyed at her own lack of knowledge; spoilers, it's a bit of both. |

I do, however, have experience in, uh, herding stubborn fools | to borrow Lessa's phrase | on a grand scale, and in situations that frequently required improvisation as new information was unearthed.

|... That's a nice way to put it. |

While my brand of diplomacy is certainly going to fail with anyone who isn't scum, I could be of use to your cause in other ways.

| Look, Lessa's got balls - metaphorically, probably - and Helga's with her on her overall stance. She seems to be a significantly more lawful type, but that doesn't matter much, as Helga's goal here is to do as well as possible, since any other option will either see her dying in a strange place, or else sent home - which means dying in a different, strange place. She likes taking charge, but she isn't surrounded by mercenaries or military folk anymore. Hazardous guessing lets her suspect that Lessa would be luckier than her in that aspect. Doesn't mean she can't keep playing to her strengths. |

[queenofsalt]

[So much salt! Lessa listens to Helga's disgusted tone and her somewhat sarcastic proposition with the same diplomatic smile as ever. Inside, she's thinking of all the ways this woman must be planning on playing her, though they are teammates, working for the same organization. Lessa won't allow that to be divided. It's similar to the Weyr: when she bonded Ramoth she joined a company of dragonmen, for better or worse, and she withstood the worst of the hidebound traditionalists with a seething frustration that they could not detect.

...Then she threatened to have the worst exiled to an abandoned Weyr, and eventually put him in charge of hardening up impressionable young Weyrlings--recruits--to keep him out of the way and give them all a rite of passage.

Helga is not the same as R'gul, but Lessa knows how to play things by ear.]

ALASTAIR seems unwilling to give us firm guidelines or even disciplinary actions to keep our group in order. We are, in fact, not even certain why this timeline is beginning to fall to disarray, save that Nalanni, as a national figure, and as a giver of gifts, is missing and presumably needs to be restored. Whether she is real, or whether she represents some quality in the land is something that we need to find out. We can't presume one or the other, but we can split into smaller teams to find out.

...If you were a wingleader I would give an order, [correction, F'lar would give an order, but he isn't here right now and Lessa has been watching and learning for three long years. She grins to show that she's not necessarily interested in the strict, military kind of discipline that she's been touting about.] but we're not a Weyr and you're obviously a free agent. How do you feel about gathering some of these fools and putting up a front to determine if Nalanni is a real woman, where she's been dragged off to? I'm incredibly certain that if she is a living, breathing creature there are a great number of our team who would throw a bucket over their heads to yell Charge. They'll need someone who displays temperance and better judgment not to send them over the edge of a cliff, or worse. As a benefit, I could see about sending a few sweet-talkers to you to save you time?

[anteil]

| Lessa is smart to keep that thought in mind – much as Helga has suffered from Rourke's betrayal, she certainly had no issues double-crossing plenty of people both with and without him to aid her. She doesn't do it for fun, though, so there is little risk unless profit increases considerably.

Profit, coincidentally (or not, given who and what she is), happens to be on her mind right now. |

I'll see what I can do.

| She gives a non-committal shrug first, but then seems to reconsider and offers Lessa her gloved hand to shake. |

May I give you a piece of advice?

| Now, she's visibly enjoying this. Still, not just for the hell of it: it's part temper test, and part sincerity. Helga is someone who has a point to all she does, her time is money and there's none to waste, but she won't always bother to enlighten others.

... Perhaps, perhaps because she's used to her commanding officer being able to read her. |

[queenofsalt]

[Lessa doesn't like that tone of voice. Sitting back in her seat, folding her arms over her breast, she raises her dark brows.]

We're on the same team, without order of conduct. I see no reason why not.

[anteil]

Do what ALASTAIR doesn't – background checks.

| Now, she already half turns away. She isn't one for long, sincere talks.

I don't know how many people like me you are roping in, but this could get messier than expected very quickly.

[queenofsalt]

[Lessa pushes herself to stand, too piqued to hold her seething back, and finally free of the regime that had kept her hands bound for so many years of her life.]

My dear Helga, have you ever seen what happens to an ALASTAIR team member who has 'transferred'?

Surely things will go smoothly, here, whether or not we are forced to work with one another.