T'rell
(evening, day 2)

>>"Mari," he said as he reached out to her to apologize.

>>She pulled away and stated, "I think you should leave."

>>T'rell tried to protest, but the look in her eyes told him he would be
better off if he left and gave her some time to cool down.  He couldn't
leave her there alone.  Not after what they had promised Heron.

>>He contacted Starfire and Fluffy.  *Please ask your riders, if one of
them could please come and stay with Mari tonight.  Something has come up
and I won't be able to be there with her.*

     T'rell took another look back toward the doorway, considering whether he 
should make one more try to calm her down, but then decided against it.  The 
last thing he needed was to get her more agitated, after all, considering 
what she'd been through.  Perhaps, too, he should have been a little less 
vocal about his opinion of Tair'n's guilt.  But damn it, sooner or later they 
all - including Marialla - would have to face facts, and the fact was that 
Tair'n had to be the guilty party.  He'd admitted it himself, just before 
dashing away from the med center - stark naked, mind you - and disappearing 
on his dragon.

     Well, she'd realize it on her own, of that he was sure.  Maybe Jason or 
Allora could bring her around to the truth of things a bit more tactfully 
than he could.

     He hadn't gone a dozen steps, though, when he all but ran into another 
of his trainees.  Not Jason or Allora, as he'd half-expected, but Martyn.  

     "What are you doing here?" he queried, more brusquely than he really 
meant to.  Despite his efforts, he'd never been able to bring himself to like 
the new rider.  There was just something about him that didn't set well with 
the Gamma Wingleader.  He just didn't seem to fit in at the warren, and worse 
yet didn't appear to be really trying to.

     Martyn nodded.  "Looking for you, actually," he replied.

     T'rell sighed.  "And to what do I owe this honor?" he asked. 

     Martyn smoothly took T'rell by the arm, and began to guide him back to 
Mari's quarters.  "Actually, I was looking for both you and the junior 
queenrider," he said.  "You see, I just left the Warrenlady.  She's asked me 
to look into this matter of the assault on poor Cal'an, and I feel 
that...well, that you might be under a misconception about how matters stand 
here.  I don't know how Queenrider Marialla feels about the matter, for the 
good of the warren right now I think that there are some things you both need 
to be aware of."

     The next thing he knew, Martyn had propelled him back inside.  Mari 
stood there, her gaze icy.  "What are you doing back here?" she demanded, 
gazing icily at him.  "I thought I told..."  Then she saw Martyn, and a look 
of confusion appeared on her face.  "What's going on?" she demanded.  
"Martyn, what...?"

     "In good time, M'lady," Martyn replied.  Quickly he repeated what he'd 
just said to T'rell, and when he was sure he had their attention, he 
continued.

     "It appears to me," he said, "that it is a bad enough thing when a 
dragonrider is accused of a violent crime such as this against one of the 
warrenfolk.  The fact that it is his own son makes it all the worse, and the 
fact that the accused is a wingleader could be disastrous for the warren as a 
whole, you agree?"

     "He should have thought of that before he did it, then," T'rell 
grumbled, drawing a cold look from Marialla.

     "But what if he didn't do it?" Martyn asked.

     "You think he's innocent, then?" Mari asked, hopefully.

     "I'm not prepared to say that," Martyn said.  "But I *am* prepared to 
say that the evidence against him is not as convincing as it might appear at 
first glance.  I've already spoken to the Warrenlady about this, and to 
R'ven.  Other than Wingleader Ja'ks - who doubtlessly will be told of this by 
his sister - you two are the other key leaders of this warren.  If you are 
willing to keep your minds open, then perhaps others will as well.  And that, 
if you see my point, would be all to the good...the morale of the warren and 
all that sort of thing, y'know."

    "All right, then," said T'rell.  "If he didn't do it, why did he admit 
that he did?"

     "He didn't," said Martyn.  "He said 'what have I done,'  according to 
three witnesses, yourself included.  Had he done the deed, and remembered 
doing it, why didn't he flee from P'nur earlier, rather than waiting until he 
was back at the warren?"

     "Then who else could have done it?" T'rell challenged.

     "Perhaps the other person who was there, by the stream, at the same time 
Tair'n and his son were," Martyn said calmly.

     "Other person?" Mari asked.  "What other person?"

     "I don't know," Martyn admitted.  "But the physical evidence proves it.  
And, rest assured, I *will* find out who it was."

     "If there was someone else there, then it might not have been Tair'n," 
said Mari, looking back and forth from Martyn to T'rell.

     "So, the question is, are you both willing to keep open minds on this 
matter until I come up with some answers?" Martyn repeated.

     Marialla nodded, and both of them looked at T'rell.  The wingleader 
sighed loudly.  The truth was, he'd rather have *not* believed Tair'n was 
capable of such an act, but the evidence against him had looked overwhelming. 
 But if Martyn was right...

     "You mentioned evidence," he said.  "What kind of evidence?"

     "I'm still analyzing it," Martyn replied.  "I plan to give my 
conclusions to the Warrenlady tomorrow.  I think it would be good if you were 
both there."

     T'rell made a face.  "All right," he said.  "I'll *try* to keep an open 
mind until then."

     Martyn accepted this, and quickly departed, leaving the two of them 
alone.

(Tag Dianne - so will T'rell stay in the doghouse after this?)


* * * * * * * *
Martyn
(afternoon, day 3)

>>Sharees looked from one to the other, and with determination in her eyes,
she answered, "I'll do whatever is needed to get to the bottom of this --
and those horses while I'm at it!"

>>"Horses?"  Now it was Martyn's turn to wonder, so Sharees filled him in on
what had transpired... including the death threats made against Lord Naiad.

>>Martyn listened as if filing it all away.  When she'd finished he noted, "It
seems as if a lot more is going on here..."

     "What do you mean?" Sharees asked.

     Martyn picked up the plaster cast of M'naten's foot and compared it to 
another cast that he took out of his bag.  "Well, I mean in part that we can 
definitely eliminate good M'naten here as the person who made that footprint 
I found by the stream," he said.  "Jadain also, since this is clearly too 
large for him to have made."

     "Footprint?" M'naten asked.

     Martyn nodded, and told them about what he'd found during his 
exploration of the crime scene.  "My friends, the person who made this 
footprint was neither Tair'n nor M'naten.  Unless it belongs to that other 
rider, P'nur, then I think the person who made it might have some interesting 
things to tell us about what really happened to young Cal'an yesterday."

     Sharees and M'naten looked at one another, then back at Martyn.  "But 
how can we find out who made it?" she asked.

     "The first thing to do is eliminate P'nur," Martyn said.  "Easy enough 
to do, just find out somehow if his foot matches that plaster cast." He 
handed it over to Sharees.  "If it wasn't him...well, have you heard the old 
saying that 'If the shoe fits, wear it'?  I leave the rest to your ingenuity."

(Tag Arlene or Kate)

* * * * * * * *
(shortly afterwards, Jayleigh's office)

     Martyn looked seriously at the group assembled before him - Warrenlady 
Jayleigh, Marialla, R'ven, and the Wingleaders Ja'ks and T'rell.  "I've been 
quite busy today, as you can well imagine," he said.  "And I have found out 
some things that are, to say the least...interesting."

     "What have you found?" Jayleigh asked without preamble.

     "First, that certain facts were not told to me last night," he said.  
"Such as death threats against Lord Naiad, or the killing of some horses."

     "They had nothing to do with the attack on Cal'an," Ja'ks pointed out.

     "Nor, really, does the fact that Tair'n was responsible for the death of 
his mother," Martyn returned.  "And yet, that seems to be on everyone's lips 
today, throughout the warren."

     "So you're saying there's a connection?" Jayleigh asked.

     "No, only that there could be," he replied.  "I do ask, though, that 
each of you make note of any other odd occurrences that take place here."

     "You said last night that you had evidence that might clear Tair'n," 
R'ven snapped.  "Do you, or don't you?"

     "I have *evidence,*" Martyn said.  "As to whether it clears Wingleader 
Tair'n...well, you can judge for yourself once you've heard it.  Let's look 
first at what we know.  Tair'n left the Warrenlady's office yesterday in an 
agitated state, and went to the cellarkeeper to pick up a bottle of wine.  He 
left the warren shortly afterward.  His whereabouts are unknown from that 
point until later, when rider M'naten found him asleep next to the stream."

     "We know that!" R'ven said impatiently.  Jayleigh put a hand on his arm 
to silence him, then motioned for Martyn to continue.

     "Second, we know that your son Jadain lost sight of Cal'an in that same 
area, at about the same time that Wingleader Tair'n would have been present.  
He went to look for him about two hours later, first encountering M'naten.  
They searched for him together, and found him - unconscious after having been 
brutally assaulted - lying next to the stream, very close to where Wingleader 
Tair'n was."

     T'rell sighed.  "Tell us something we don't know," he said.

     "Very well," said Martyn.  "First - I found a footprint next to the 
stream, very close to where Tair'n was lying.  I made a plaster cast of the 
print, and checked it against one of Tair'n's boots, which R'ven was kind 
enough to provide.  From that, I can state categorically that Tair'n did not 
make that print.  Nor did M'naten.  I have made arrangements to compare check 
whether it could have been P'nur who made it, but that's doubtful.  His 
whereabouts at the time Cal'an must have been attacked have been established, 
and we have no reason to think that he removed his boots to go wading in the 
stream before he got around to rousing Tair'n.  From this, I conclude that at 
least one other person or persons unknown was at the stream before either he 
or M'naten arrived."

     "But couldn't it have been made earlier?" Ja'ks asked.  "Someone could 
have been there that morning, or even the day before."

     "In that soft ground, the print would not have kept its definition 
overnight," said Martyn.  "I believe that it could have been no more than 
several hours old at the time I made the cast.  Besides, there is evidence 
that someone else was there between the time that Tair'n finished drinking 
the wine and the time that M'naten found him and Ca'lan."

     "Go on," said Jayleigh.

     "The bottle," said Martyn.  "Are you aware that whenever a person 
touches an object, their fingers leave a mark behind?"

     "I've heard of that," said R'ven.  "It's said that no two people have 
exactly the same fingermark."

      "What you heard is true," Martyn said.  "I used some special powder to 
dust the surface of the bottle - difficult because of the dried blood on it, 
but still I was able to identify the fingermarks of three different people."

     "Who?" the others asked all at once.

     "Obviously, Wingleader Tair'n's were one," Martyn said.  "I obtained 
some prints from his quarters, on some personal belongings of his.  The 
second set belonged to the cellarkeeper, whom I visited this morning.   The 
third...ah, now *that* is the real question, isn't it?"

     "The attacker?" Mari asked.

     "Let's put it this way," said Martyn.  "It's possible, in a case where 
more than one person has handled an object, to tell who touched it last."

     "Because their fingermarks will overlay the ones of the person who 
touched it earlier!" Jayleigh said, her eyes widening as she realized the 
import of what he was saying."

     "Just so," Martyn agreed.  "The cellarkeeper's prints were the earliest 
ones, then those of Tair'n.  The third set of marks were the freshest - they 
had clearly smudged some of those made by Tair'n and the cellarkeeper - but 
none of that third set were likewise smudged.  Also, I might add this - there 
was at least one clear fingermark belonging to this unknown person that was 
imprinted *into* the blood on the bottle."

     "Which means," Jayleigh said slowly, "that..."

     "Martyn nodded.  "That someone else touched the bottle after the blood 
was on it.  And that someone was not Tair'n."

     "Can we use the fingermarks to find out who did it?" R'ven asked.

     "I've taken the liberty of drawing out the fingermarks of the unknown 
person," said Martyn, holding up the piece of paper containing the drawing.  
"Find a person who has that particular fingermark, and you'll have found our 
prime suspect."

     "You make it sound like you won't be the one doing it," Jayleigh said 
thoughtfully.

     "Well...yes," Martyn said uncomfortably.  "There is still my mission to 
Marrid Warren to consider."

     "Clearing Tair'n is more important than anything going on at Marrid," 
R'ven said testily.

     "I would beg to differ," Martyn said, and then turned to Jayleigh.  
"Warrenlady, here at Daere the fate of our Alpha Wingleader hangs in the 
balance...but at Marrid, the life of an entire warren may hang in the 
balance.  I am needed there as well, and their need is urgent."

     Jayleigh gazed down at the top of her desk.  "When Daere needed help, 
Waylene of Marrid came here despite her own problems.  Now that she's in 
need, I'd be hard pressed to say no."

     "M'naten and Sharees agreed to help match the plaster cast of the 
missing person's foot," he told her.  "I can show all of you how to read 
fingermarks.  That way, the investigation may be carried on while I'm away.  
And, of course, if I am urgently needed, I can always come back."

     "Very well," said Jayleigh.  "You may return to Marrid.  "But if we need 
you back here..."

     "You may always send someone to find me," Martyn finished.  "And I will, 
of course, check back in at short intervals."

     With that, the meeting broke up.  As Martyn hurried out to find Havelok 
for the return trip to Marrid, the others filed out of the office one by one. 
 "T'rell, I need to talk to you for a moment," said Jayleigh.

     T'rell stayed behind after the others left.  "What is it, Jayleigh?" he 
asked.

     Jayleigh looked uncomfortable.  She stood up and paced over to the 
window, staring outside.  "T'rell, I hope that Martyn finds enough evidence 
to clear Tair'n.  But if he doesn't..."

     "He may not come back, either," said T'rell.  "In his place, I probably 
wouldn't.  And, of course, if Cal'an is at some point able to tell us what 
happened to him..."

     "But we have to be prepared for the worst," she told him.  "And we have 
to face the possibility that we may have to put Tair'n on trial for 
the...assault...on Cal'an.  You do see, don't you, the problem that leaves me 
with?"

     T'rell shook his head.

     "If I were to preside over Tair'n's trial, and I ended up clearing him 
of the charges, what would people here at the Warren think?"

     T'rell nodded slowly.  "I see your point," he told her.  "They'd think 
you did it because...well, because you and Tair'n..."

     "That's exactly it," she agreed glumly.  "And I don't see how I could 
ask Marialla to preside, either."

     "No," T'rell agreed.  After what she herself had been through, he 
couldn't imagine putting her into a situation where she'd have to render a 
verdict in a similar crime.  "Ja'ks, then..."

     "My brother?" Jayleigh chuckled mirthlessly.  "And have everyone say 
that he cleared Tair'n because of me?  Then we'd have two wingleaders 
discredited, not just one!"

     "And the same would be said if R'ven officiated," T'rell agreed.  "Who, 
then?"  

     "Well, what about you?" she asked.

     "Me???" he asked, dumbfounded.  "Jayleigh, that's not up my alley...."

     "Of the senior riders here, you're the only one who could preside over a 
trial whose word would be accepted - *if* you found Tair'n not guilty."

     T'rell knew he couldn't argue with such logic.  "All right," he said 
quietly.  "But Jayleigh...*if* he comes backhand *if* the evidence still 
points to him as the one who did this...I'll find him guilty as quickly as 
you can snap your fingers!"

     "That's why I want you to do it," she said.  "Will you, if there's a 
need?"

     T'rell looked down at the floor.  "All right," not liking this one bit 
but at the same time not seeing any other way.

(Barb, feel free to add in! :)

NPR: Martyn will return to Marrid shortly after leaving Jayleigh's office.  
However, as he said, he will doubtless return at short intervals.

Submitted by:

John

T'rell & Flerrion     Martyn & Havelok
Daere Warren       Marrid Warren

Trevor & Trissana, Cleft Warren
Warrenlady Tara & Varaenna, Jasra Warren