"You did WHAT?" Lessa almost screeched.
"Stay calm, dear one," said T'lana. "I can't see anything else to be done: Telgar is a disgrace, it doesn't cover properly, it doesn't take proper care of its Dragonless, its Weyrleaders do their best to laugh at High Reaches because they can't cope with the fact that we can take their rejects and help them perform better than their vaunted Riders. Because we also have a nearly full Weyr and they have just two Queens and a complement of less than three hundred dragons. Because they bring Dragonkind into disrespect by a haughty attitude AND one that sneers at High Reaches in front of non Riders. It will take time at worst, where's the problem?"
"You stated it rather baldly, T'lana," said Lessa, calming down, "that you had put someone into Telgar to shake it up."
T'lana grinned.
"I suppose it COULD sound rather bad, at that," she said. "We had a failed candidate – failed, because it took the experience of having failed to step up to the mark to make her grow up before you pull faces at me."
"I do NOT pull faces," said Lessa, crossly. "I know your excellent record for giving people second chances, so the idea of a failure at High Reaches was rather a horrifying thought."
"Oh there was nothing WRONG with her," said T'lana, "she just never managed to step up and make the effort. Silly mother – you know! But she never lacked compassion for the orphans, nor had any problem with those people with disabilities, she is a clever girl who just failed to use the brains nature gave her. Until recently. Being away from dragons, and finding herself putting on weight after going home, she did a lot of hard thinking, and she's pulled herself up in a way we failed to make her do in the Weyr. In a way, we failed HER; so helping her have a chance to be round dragons is our responsibility now she's pulled herself together. She's clever, she's shrewd, she's actually fairly able and she loves dragons. So I asked her, if there was a Queen egg at Telgar, if she'd be averse to, well, standing. And I'd not mind betting she'd be in with a better chance than the average calibre of candidates in the bad old days even if L'exa had not assured me that she ought to be in Telgar. She has these odd sudden realisations about people she knows."
"With L'exa's wild talent though, it might equally be that she sets them by the ears by Impressing a Green," said Lessa, cynically. "L'exa wouldn't distinguish."
"Well, no, I grant you that," said T'lana, "but even so, with Mirrim at Benden, and Igen opening Greens to girls as well as our own successful experiments, they can hardly turn her away. Well, I suppose they could if it was ONLY High Reaches, bearing in mind what R'mart thinks of us, but it isn't."
"I'd like to see F'lar's reaction if they throw someone out for Impressing a perfectly normal Green," said Lessa. "There was…some… excuse for sending Denth and wassisface to High Reaches, though the way it was done was disgraceful, but there has been a custom of not breaking the shell of small eggs."
"I personally disagree with that custom," said T'lana, sidetracked. "Dragons must Impress or die incomplete."
"That's hatched dragons," objected Lessa.
"Sophistry!" said T'lana. "The small eggs have thick shells because the Queen still makes a shell as thick as for a full-grown egg, Denth is the same size as the original dragons, we have proof from old pictures which I believe has been confirmed by stuff they found at Landing. They don't hatch because of the modern shells, not because they aren't viable, well if Denth is anything to go by, and you HAVE told me that any Queen can lay a small egg from time to time. I suppose that could be why Prisca has to be there, well, she'll take a beating with philosophy and look on it as her duty to save a dragon life. She has a sense of duty in there now she's shed the sulks and laziness."
Lessa nodded.
"Well in that case, you lose your hidden asset in Telgar," she said.
T'lana shrugged.
"She'll still bring us information to try again," she said, "and it will put things back, but we have some time in hand. It's R'mart's lack of belief in H'llon's calculations about a long Pass that troubles me. They should be cranking up their numbers."
Lessa nodded, soberly.
"F'lar was hoping to suggest to Bedella and R'mart that they might like to retire to Southern," she said. "But I don't know what the second Queenrider is like, or her Weyrmate."
"I can help you there," said T'lana. "I've had a report from my asset. She believes that Bedella has the same strangeness to her that H'llon's family has, and that affects her outlook, and R'mart is busy trying to cover it all up. Palla, the other Queenrider, is her daughter and may have the same problem. Well, it isn't a problem if treated with care, but can be if left to become one."
Lessa nodded.
"So what's the solution that you've come up with?" she asked.
"Suggest a Benden-Bred Queen as second Queenrider as their numbers are low, and swap with Palla," said T'lana, "offering the change of weyrmate as well, of course."
"I couldn't cope with her," said Lessa, in lively horror.
"No, dear one, I'm quite prepared that you would want to drop her onto High Reaches where we understand such little problems," said T'lana. "I just have to talk my suggestion of replacement into it."
"Who were you thinking of?" asked Lessa.
"L'rilly," said T'lana, promptly. "She has some experience of 3 Weyrs, to take the best and discard the worst. She's adaptable, her Weyrmate is flexible too, and when R'mart and Bedella do decide to retire, with a bit of gentle prodding, they'll make good Weyrleaders. The alternative is to wait until both Queenriders currently there to retire, which is also a possibility, if you think I'm being precipitate, and wait for my choice to come up as senior. She could handle it."
"You know, T'lana, what always amazes me is your ability to do the best for Pern," said Lessa. "I would not blame you in the least if you were suggesting yourself and R'gar to move in as Weyrleaders in waiting; but you put two others above yourself, including one who has been a weyrling under you. She would outrank you as senior Weyrwoman, you know!"
T'lana shrugged.
"That's immaterial if she can do the job," she said. "If you wanted R'gar and me to go, we'd bow to your wishes, of course, but L'rilly is senior to me, and she and D're are good. I'm ready to take charge if needed, and equally ready to follow if needed. And Mirrith IS a sport, and it might be better if she were NOT a senior Queen."
Lessa smiled.
"That was what I meant about you amazing me," she said. "Your modesty, and your deep consideration of the needs of Pern over personal ambition. If Mirrith were NOT a sport, I'd be picking you and R'gar right away! But I fear I agree with you about that."
T'lana shrugged.
"R'gar and I are uninterested in ambition, you know," she said, "just in doing our jobs to protect and serve."
"So, what else do we have?" asked Lessa, "regarding Telgar, that is?"
"Their Weyrlingmaster is T'mon's and Jilamon's father and is a nasty piece of work; but their headwoman and her descendants are decent," said T'lana, "and that is encouraging."
"It is," said Lessa. "It is, indeed. Well, I shall expect you to keep me up to date; precisely what is done will depend a lot on what happens with regards to your asset. See you at the hatching?"
"If you can finagle me an invite," said T'lana.
Lessa laughed.
"Oh, I'll let you know so you can just turn up," said Lessa.
T'lana hugged her. Telgar was in hand.