After Lery left them alone in their barracks, Erhom exploded.  "Chores?!  That's what servants are for!"

"Erhom, that is quite enough!" the older man finally gave vent to his feelings of frustration over the older boy's recalcitrance in the relative privacy of their suite.  "If you can't keep a civil tongue in your head and do as you're told, I will have the Headwoman assign to whatever the dirtiest, nastiest, most humiliating task is available!  You will treat her with the same respect as your mother and myself.  I know that you are young and don't fully understand what is going on, but you've experienced enough tragedy in your life so far to be able to recognize it in others.  Or have you forgotten all the diplomatic lessons your mother taught you?"

Erhom folded his arms defiantly and glared at his keeper.  "I don't even want to be here!  I don't understand why I couldn't have stayed with Mother!"

Ah, and there's the root of it, Aren sighed.  Before he could start answering, there was a knock on the doorpost.  Erhom continued to glare while Aren turned, smoothing his face to put forth a calm façade to whoever had stumbled into their argument.  "Yes?  Can I help you?"

It was the porter who had carried the cot down earlier, with another young man, both laden with furniture.  "Uh, hmm.  Lery sent us down with some stools and a small table.  She said to tell you that you'll get something better later, but that you'd need something to write your list down on."

Aren gestured for the pair to bring their burdens in.  "Just set them there, thank you.  And please thank Lery for her thoughtfulness."  The young men hesitated briefly at the door, and Aren started to wonder if they were expecting something, but then they dashed off.  He turned back to Erhom, who was grinding one of his heels on the floor, arms still crossed.  "Erhom, there are big changes coming to Pern.  Bigger than anything you've ever seen, bigger even than Lord Turgtan or Lord Mordyn trying to take over Ruatha."  The heir-apparent of that doughty edifice snorted, as though he couldn't believe there was anything that would have a greater effect on his life than that; well, he probably didn't, Thread was so far beyond any of their experience that even Aren had trouble wrapping his head around the way it would affect them.  Aren wondered if there were any records, especially photographs or paintings, of the damage Thread could do.  "In fact, before very long, those two are going to have so many problems on their hands that they aren't going to have time to continue trying."  And if we're lucky, the bastards will get caught out in Fall themselves and solve two problems with one solution! he thought, but he wouldn't voice that in front of the boys.  "Many people are going to be making do without servants, without supplies, and even without their own homes, when Thread destroys them.  Many people will be killed."  Those statements, at least, caught both boys' attention, and Lorler looked frightened.  "Your mother will be quite safe from at least that last.  The core of Ruatha Hold is solidly built of stone, with slate and steel roofs, and she isn't foolish enough to be caught outside.  In fact, it's unlikely that your mother will even go outside at all for the foreseeable future.  Your Hold has a long, proud history of supporting the dragonriders, and there are many historical documents hidden away there; she will be looking for those, and continuing the ruse of protecting you two and herself from Lord Turgtan's and Lord Mordyn's attacks.  Which brings me to why you are both here.  Erhom, you aren't that much older than Lorler.  However, being the elder makes you the more valuable of the two, for the kind of kidnapping attempt that was made yesterday.  They most likely intended to force you to marry one of their daughters, so that when your mother died -- and they had intended to kill her yesterday! -- and you inherited the Hold, your marriage would allow them to rule over Ruatha through you.  This trip was more to protect you than Lorler, but if only you were sent away, they would undoubtedly take your brother, trusting that they could assassinate you later and Ruatha would go to him.  Sending you both was the only way to maintain the image that she sent you away for your protection.  I know you would like to be with her, or for her to be here, but to protect the Hold, this was the choice that had to be made."  Aren was reminded of how glad he was that he wasn't part of any important (at least, to the Holds) blood lineage; they were expected to navigate the extremely treacherous waters of complicated intrigue, at such a tender age, too!  He had spent enough time around Loraine to understand the upper levels of the game and to be able to explain the basics to the boys, but he certainly didn't understand the intricate details that she had to weave and scheme around.

Erhom didn't look entirely convinced, but it seemed that he accept the reason for why both boys had been sent.  He continued to glare at the floor for a bit longer, but he wasn't muttering unflattering things.  After a few moments, Aren turned to Lorler.  "Lorler, why don't we pick out a room for you?"  He led the boy toward the hallway at the rear of the suite.  He was rather impressed with the facilities, especially considering they had apparently been built in the last two days.  There were three suites within the barracks suite, each with three rooms, currently all bare of furnishings.  "I'm going to take this first one.  You two are more important than I am, so if someone is going to come in here looking for you, they'll need to go through me, first."  He hadn't intended to frighten the lad, but from the corner of his eye, he saw Lorler wrap his arms around himself and shiver.

Erhom overheard the comment.  "I'll take the second one.  Mother told me to protect you, little brother."  That eased a bit of the fear in the younger boy's countenance, and Aren shook his head internally.  The boy could be such a thorn in his side, then five minutes later, be deftly handling a delicate situation.

"Erhom, let's get the cot then.  Then we'll go get some blankets.  I wonder if they've got one we could hang across the outer door for a little privacy..."  They wrestled the cot into one of the rear rooms in Lorler's suite, then the three of them followed Lery's directions.  They found the chamber she had described, but they almost missed it for all of the people crammed into the place and the work that was being done.  There were three Smiths in the process of laying pipe out from the near-center of the open chamber, while a couple of Masons slathered mortar on bricks that were being laid around the pipes.  There was another trio of Masons stuccoing a large basin, from which the pipes radiated.  From somewhere, there were echoes of knocking; the three newcomers didn't know it, but it was coming from the level below as Smiths shored up the rock below and prepared to run pipes from the artesian hot spring up to the basin, which would in turn feed the bathing rooms and the laundries.

They were nearly run over by an Apprentice wheeling a barrow full of fresh mortar.  Cursing at them until he got his burden settled near the Masons, the young woman asked what they needed.  Aren explained that Lery had sent them to get blankets.  "Oh, those are over there," she waved vaguely toward the wall opposite where they had entered.  There were some boxes stacked there.  Upon inspection, they determined that most of the boxes held half a dozen blankets, but a few contained battered pallets.  They selected a box that was partly emptied and put three pallets and four blankets in it.  Aren spotted a clipboard sitting on one of the boxes and discovered that each box was numbered and inventoried.  He scrawled a note next to the box number they had filled that he had taken it as well as the contents, and he and Erhom lugged it between them back to their suite, with Lorler dragging along behind them.  The younger boy was looking more haggard and Aren was concerned that he didn't seem to be getting better.  Of course, it had been less than 24 hours since their kidnapping attempt, so maybe that wasn't unexpected, but he couldn't be sure.  He made a mental note to take Lorler to the Infirmary when he took their list to Lery.

First, however, they put the pallet on the cot, covered it with one of the blankets, and then got Lorler situated on it and covered him with the second blanket.  "Try to get a little sleep while Erhom and I get everything else set up," the man said gently.  The fact that the normally-loquacious lad didn't argue with him spoke volumes and made Aren worry more.  Meanwhile, he helped Erhom pick a room to lay out his pad in, and tossed his into the outer room.  He'd set his up later.

Then the pair set the stools up around the tiny folding table they'd been brought, and Aren got the now-crumpled piece of paper out of his shirt, and the graphite stick, and they started writing a list of the things they needed.  Erhom wanted to bring all of his toys, but Aren firmly told him to limit it to a dozen, reminding him that they were going to be shipped to them, and that took space and weight.  The warder focused on necessities, mostly clothing.  He had to explain to Erhom that they were on the other side of the planet now, and it was going to be winter, which made the teenager groan dramatically.  Aren just smiled, since he didn't entirely disagree -- they were just leaving winter "back home," and now they were going back into it here!  Aren encouraged them to pick items that let them do useful things, like Lorler's small set of wood carving knives and Erhom's books.

For his part, he was requesting his books, especially the ones on the ethics of psionic gifts that were in his office. He didn't have a Craft, unless you counted psionics; he was primarily a truth-reader, but he could also channel, so had a bit more knowledge of the other Gifts than many had. He had worked with powerful Psis of nearly every flavor to define the ethical uses of their abilities and published that information as part of the Collegia he had helped establish in Ruatha. He planned to volunteer to help with training Psis in the Weyr, as well as offering his services as a truth-reader to the Weyr. That made him wonder if Silvara was somewhere in the Weyr, or if she was sequestered somewhere else. He also requested his paint brushes and paints, and a package of his canvases.

After an hour, he went to check on Lorler and have him list the toys he would like and any other small items. Lorler did ask for his favorite blanket, which made Aren wonder if they should request more blankets. Where Ruatha was heading into spring and summer, they could, perhaps, spare a few of the winter blankets for the Weyr. He'd ask Lery when they took the list to her. Which was now. But Lorler was looking pretty chilled, so he decided they'd go there first.