After nearly a sevenday here in Fort Weyr, I've gotten used to waking up in the girl's dormitory with Izabella and the other queen rider candidate girls from Ruatha. There's another dormitory filled with possible weyrwomen-to-be from Fort hold, Boll, and one from Telgar. I keep thinking that they're the ones who really stand a chance - the Ruathan contingent is just together to see how we react to each other, but then, I suppose you never know. They say that Ruathan girls are often great Weyrwomen.

But the routine is becoming fairly settled now - down to the lower caverns for a quick breakfast and a mug or two of klah each, then lectures from the Weyrling master, and sometimes a more intimate 'dragon tutorial' with a young rider from the last Fort hatching, who have all just cleared out of the Weyrling barracks themselves, so that there will be room for whoever ends up impressing this time around.

The noon meal at the Weyr is a hearty dinner in the lower caverns, after which the candidates are all expected to help the domestic staff with chores, or assist riders with grooming and feeding their dragons, or just about any other drudge work that they ask of it. At least I'm used to that more than Izabella or the apprentice boys are. Mechall doesn't seem to mind, either - I'm not quite sure what sort of work he's used to doing around Ruatha, but I'm pretty sure that it's not glamorous or impressive.

Then supper is served - usually something fairly simple fairly simple and light with a tasty sweets course, and the evenings are free time in which we can relax or socialize with each other, visit with the weyr children of our own age, and so on. Of course, nearly all the boys our own age are de facto candidates, and some of the girls intend to take their chances impressing dragons too, though I've heard that a queen dragon will almost never pick a rider who's grown up in a Weyr. Nobody seems to know why.

I felt more comfortable avoiding Izabella and Mari and everybody else I knew from Ruatha when I could, and after trying unsuccessfully to insinuate myself into a trio of Fort cotholder girls, I've started eating with Willa and Nelsi, who call themselves lower cavern brats. Nelsi is the daughter of the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader, and Willa's mother was second-in-charge of the lower caverns, until she died of a tragic fall off a dragon a few turns back. Her father is a brown rider, and a Wingsecond, that is, one of the two assistants who train with a Wingleader and are ready to take over in case the Wingleader is critically injured in threadfall. At least, that's the theory, and I guess he'll see how well he does when threadfalls actually start.

"Mom says it'll be tomorrow, Lizza, that the eggs hatch," Nelsi volunteered as I spread fruit jam over the warm bread. "Probably close to sundown. Between her and Rosweth, they always know."

"Well, it's good to know that I probably won't need to finish my chores tomorrow afternoon," I said. "How early do we have to be ready before the eggs hatch?"

"Well, in my experience, it's business as usual unti the dragons start to hum," Willa put in. She was a few months older than me, and had stood for the last Fort hatching, when Nelsi hadn't been old enough. "Then you run to get into your robe and gather in the spot where the bronze dragons are to collect you. There's less than half an hour's warning."

"I see," I said. "I can't wait until the big moment comes!" I hoped that the girls couldn't tell that this was at most a half-truth - I wanted the hatching to come soon, so that it would be over as quickly as possible. As pleasant as it was to spend time with them, I kept careful watch over everything I said - I was sure that the girls weren't among the ranks of Threadman-hunters themselves, but might they say something to someone who was?

"Oh, and Mom has invited us to sit with her at supper," Nelsi added, rolling her eyes. "Such a great honor."

"Your mother - Moreta - wants to have supper with me?" I asked, feeling something clamp at my heart.

"Certainly. She's been back to Ruatha now and then when she can, hasn't made the trip in years with all that's got to be done to get ready for Threadfall you know, but somebody reminded her that she knows your father."

"Really?" I was quite startled by this little bit of news. I knew that Father had had many distinguished visitors coming to sample his wares, including local riders, but I would certainly have remembered if one of the patrons had been Moreta. Had those years been before I'd been working much in the Klah lounge myself. "Everybody seems to go on and on about Dad's baking."

"Well, they will, for somebody that talented - not that I know from personal experience," Willa said. "Have you learned the craft yourself, Lizza?"

"Some of it, but I don't have the talent." I considered, then admitted something to the girls. "I'd love to be allowed to study at the Smithcraft Hall of Telgar, but the local smith at Ruatha doesn't think much of girl apprentices for many a reason. So I haven't gotten a recommendation yet."

"Oh, then we should find some way to introduce you to the WeyrSmiths," Nelsi said, waving one hand back and forth in her delight at the notion. "They have to keep the flamethrowers in good order for the queen riders, and be ready in case any hold smiths in the Fort Weyr area have problems reparing the ground crew flamethrowers, and they've been keeping the ancient heat and plumbing system working forever - and they're espoused to each other. Husband and wife, so I certainly wouldn't think that either of them sees a problem with a woman being a smith."

I smiled and took a big swallow of Klah. "Thanks very much - if you can arrange the meeting I think that I'd like to talk to these smiths very much."

The weyr girls smiled, and then I had to finish up my breakfast and rush back to get ready for lessons. I only just made the time to note this stuff down.

#

Mari sat next to me during the lectures on thread-fighting formations today. Neither of us were paying too much attention, considering that we don't expect that we're really going to be riders, and even if we do, there'll be plenty more time to learn this stuff while the hatchlings are growing. The weyrling-master scolded us twice for gossiping together, and I really did try to pretend like I was paying attention after the first time, but it was just impossible to get Mari's mind back on track.

Because she's finally found her forsaking Bronze rider father, after days of asking pointed questions all around the Weyr and getting several of the domestics in the lower caverns and a few young green riders angry at her. He's now known as D'Luc, Classeth's rider, and he's one of the Wingseconds for G wing. I'm not quite clear on all of the relationships between dragon color and Weyr responsibility, by the way, but here's what I've figured out so far. Queen riders are always in some position of authority, even when they're newly impressed, and the Weyrwoman is the rider of either the oldest or the most fertile queen dragon in the Weyr. The rider whose dragon most recently flew to mate the senior queen is the Weyrleader, the dragon-man in charge, and so he's always a bronze rider, or almost always. (I heard a few of the weyrbred boys arguing about if a brown dragon could actually fly a queen if he was really big and fast and strong, comparable to the available bronzes. As far as I could tell, it's never actually been tried.)

Wingleaders, also, are pretty much always bronze riders, and wingseconds could be riders of either browns or bronzes, as the Wingleader prefers. There aren't that many bronze riders in the weyr, so most of them are either wingleaders or wingseconds, and the ones that aren't are generally seen as lacking in ambition or a sense of responsibility. In contrast, there are more brown riders, so the ones that qualified as wingseconds are proportionally extraordinary.

One other little tidbit that I've picked up, and then I'll stop rambling about this stuff. The right-hand man of the Weyrleader is usually not one of the other wingleaders, but a wingsecond in the Weyrleader's wing. But he's still just called 'wingsecond.' Personally, I think it would make sense to call that guy the 'Weyrsecond,' but I guess that's not in keeping with tradition.

So, anyway, Mari is torn between excitement that she's actually found D'Luc, and anxiety about what to do with that information next. Mari's been upset at how she and her mother were abandoned every since she was ten and the two of us pieced the truth of the situation together - that her father was never going to come back, that he could have taken Mari and Amada to Fort Weyr to live there with him if he'd wanted to, but instead he'd totally flaked out on both of them.

As far as Mari's able to find out, there are a few people who remember that D'Luc had a 'Ruathan sweetie' before he was taken on search, and none of them seem to think that it was weird that that girl was left behind in his past, but none of them mentioned that the two of them were espoused, or that Amada was pregnant. Mari's first plan was to confront D'Luc at the dinner table and try to shame in front of his wingriders and anybody else who was around.

"I... I wouldn't rule out that approach, but maybe we should be more careful about how you proceed with D'Luc," I whispered back. "Shaming a bronze wingsecond in the eyes of those to whom he's an authority figure... that would be a serious blow to his position and honor. He might try to retaliate against you and your mother in some way - making a complaint to Lord Jerood about you, after we get back to Ruatha, for instance. Or demanding that the Weyrleader throw you out of the Weyr alone, to make your own way back home as best you can?"

"Would the Weyrleader go along with that?" Mari asked, her eyes full of horror. "After he knows what D'Luc is like?"

"Weyrfolk tend to stick together, as far as I can see," I pointed out. "And there's another thing - weyr morals when it comes to couples and families are a little different. The dragon riders might not see what D'Luc did as being so shameful."

"They'd have to," Mari insisted. "Nobody treats their women so badly as that up here."

I shrugged. "Not really - if a bronze rider was tired of his partner, he probably wouldn't stay with her out of a sense of duty to the woman and their child... but he'd make sure that they were provided for. If you do want to shame him, that's probably the point to stress, not the lack of faith in his affections, but that he abandoned both of you to the charity of your mother's relatives."

Mari nodded. "And if I don't want shame, then what? I... I don't need to start trouble that could come back to haunt me, I suppose, but I want to come to some sort of resolution with D'Luc, something that would close the book on everything that Mom and I have been through."

"Let me think about that," I said.

"Well, I suppose I could talk to him more privately, tell him who I am, and give him a talking to that's stern but respectful at the same time - make sure he understands that his choices had consequences for the two of us," Mari continued.

I shot Mari a look a second before the Weyrling master shouted out our names again.

"Sorry, sorry. We'll talk about it later," Mari whispered. And then, wonder of wonders, she actually did close her lips together and keep them that way for the rest of the lesson.

I caught up with Mari when we were dismissed. There was usually a fraction of an hour free at this point for various minor errands and necessities before dinner was served. "Let's talk about this, I have an idea. But we'll need to go somewhere private. How about the stairs up tp the higher Weyrs? Nobody else is likely to be using them at this time of the day."

"I need to go back to my dormitory," Mari told me. "I passed Aless a note at breakfast, to meet me there."

"Okay," I said, and followed her silently until we were into the weyrling dormitory section. Most of the candidates were being housed there until the Hatching, including the girls who had been tapped as 'green riders' like Mari. The queen candidates were over in another section, that I suspected could also serve as overflow for younger fosterlings, if their foster parents didn't have room for them in their own weyrs.

When we turned the last twist in the corridor, Aless was leaning against the rock wall outside Mari's door. "Your roommate wouldn't let a boy in," he said with a wry smile.

"Okay, then I guess it's the stairs," Mari said. "I've found my deadbeat dad, and Lizza wants to talk about it privately."

"Alright," Aless said after considering it for a moment. "Which stairs, though? The ones here are usually pretty busy, most of the way up."

"Are there any corridors nearby that don't lead anywhere important?" I asked, frustrated. "There isn't much time left before lunch."

"Okay, we can try this route," Aless said, leading the way off in his turn.

I tried to follow close enough to whisper at him. "Have you been spending any time with - with you-know-who?"

"Some, with Maxx and Izabella," Aless said, panting as he hurried. "I hope that's okay - I wasn't sure if the Riders would know that I was your friend, or suspect me because of it - but nobody else from Ruatha seemed to want to be seen much with either of them, and I figured that it might be conspicuous that they were loners, so I did what I could to include them in larger groups. Haven't talked at all about the forbidden subject, though."

"That's good," I told him, nodding. "Thanks."

"I tried to get Mechall to sit with me at supper the day before yesterday, but he just sort of growled at me so I went with the other harpers and just let him pick his own place," Aless continued. "There's four boys here from the Harper and Healer halls, you know."

"I'm not too surprised," I said. "That seems a reasonable search proportion for the number of apprentices of the right age range."

"Okay, I think that we're private enough here, and don't have to keep walking," Mari pointed out. "Lizza, what's your idea?"

"Well." I turned around and leaned close to her. "Are - would you be willing to try to use your connection to D'Luc to help - our friends, if you can?"

"Well, sure I guess. Why - do you think he's really a Threadman-hunter?"

"I think that he might be," I agreed. "I don't know who's in on the 'Watch' that D'Peerce mentioned. It can't have been something that all riders are familiar with, or they wouldn't have been able to keep the secret from the common holders so well. But as a bronze rider and a wingsecond, D'Luc seems a reasonable rider to recruit."

"And what do I do, if he is?" Mari continued. What should I say? I can't just ask him to tell me who the hunters are and how they'd recognize a thread-person."

"I haven't worked it all out yet," I said. "But you could start with part of the truth - that I was interviewed by a wingleader - wait a second. Do we know if D'Luc is in D'Peerce's wing?"

"D'Peerce leads E wing," Aless put in. "He was doing a presentation on extreme takeoffs for some of the boys - oh, the second day we were here, and mentioned that when he introduced himself."

"Okay, that's good, I guess," I said, sighing. "E wing and G wing aren't even in the same flight. Anyway, tell him about the story that D'Peerce told me, say how upset I was about it, how I don't want to talk to riders myself but you wished that you could say something to reassure me on the subject."

"Hmm." Mari considered. "Okay, I guess that could work. Should I try going up to his table at dinner?"

"Yeah, no time like the present," I said. "Unless you can think of a good reason why not, Aless."

"No, let's play it out," Aless agreed.

Mari and I took seats as close to the table where the G wing say as we could, which wasn't close enough to be conspicuous, and the rest of the table was taken up by field boys from Southern Boll who teased us the whole way through. I did my best to just ignore them, but the saucy comments seemed to gradually heat up my face no matter how much I tried to keep my cool, and I could tell that it wasn't helping Mari keep her composure either.

Finally, two minutes after the sweet porridge bowls had been handed out for dessert, Mari got up and went over to the G wing table. The timing was my idea, pretty much - since she'd want to talk privately with D'Luc, it wouldn't be a good start to be disturbing him too early in the meal, but we didn't want him to slip out beforehand either. So she walked over, both hands firmly on her bowl, which I knew was the kind of thing she focuses on to avoid fidgeting when she's nervous.

I couldn't hear any words clearly from where I was, but the patterns of voices could be made out fairly easily - Mari asking something, and a fairly blunt dismissal. Then Mari said something else, which immediately prompted a chorus of comments from several of the nearby riders. Then one bronze rider - I assumed it was D'Luc, got up, said something which quieted the wing down, and picked up his own bowl of pudding and a large mug. Then he led the way towards the back caverns, into the kitchen area, and I couldn't see them from there. Hopefully Mari would find out something useful.

After dinner was over, a wingleader stood up to call out chore groups for the Candidates and any weyr residents who didn't have better things to do for the afternoon. I cringed when I recognized D'Peerce taking this duty - it was the first time I'd actually seen him since he confronted us at Ruatha over my healing, and I hoped that he didn't see me where I was sitting. But he had to know I was here, hadn't he? If the threadman-hunters had really planned this ruse to get Ruathans to Fort Weyr to study them and try to figure out who might be a 'visitor', then D'Peerce would be fully informed about the plot. He might have even helped to hammer it out.

My work group was assigned to help bathe and clean some of the oldest dragons today, the ones with riders that are getting up there in decades themselves so that they can't always take care of things like that themselves. The work groups seem to have been assigned to mix people up in terms of gender, age, and origin, so that there's mostly boys, (because of all the male candidates for the expected quota of fighting dragons,) and some girls, from the Weyr and various Holds and crafthalls. Some of the younger boys are inclined to play dirty tricks and goof around, but there's nothing too serious in terms of mischief, because nobody wants to get singled out for discipline from the Weyrmen. So the afternoon passed slowly, without too much incident except for part of my tunic shirt getting splashed at the bathing lake.

Because of the splash, I had to hurry back to the dormitory to change into a different outfit - I didn't want to go to supper with Moreta looking like that. When I got there, Izabella was sitting on her bed, and unrolling a skin with some writing on it that I couldn't make out. "Oh, hello Lizza," she said. "How are things doing? We never seem to talk anymore."

"It - it isn't safe to talk, when there could anybody around listening," I muttered, opening up the little press at the foot of the bed. But this seemed like a decent opportunity to catch up with Izabella - if somebody else came into the dormitory room, I should be able to hear their footsteps in time. "I'm doing alright. Mari went to talk to her father this afternoon, she might have found something that we can use."

"Who's Mari's father, anyway?" Izabella asked as I pulled out a long, fancy dress that would probably do. Mom had foisted it off on me, though I had told her that I wouldn't be going to any dancing gathers while I was at the Weyr. Maybe I'd have to thank her for anticipating what I hadn't expected. "I've met her mother, and one of her uncles, but..."

"It's a long story, and I don't think that we have time for much beyond supper," I muttered, stripping off my shirt and trying to use the dry part of the fabric to soak up whatever dampness was still clinging to the skin on my chest, shoulder, and back. Izabella quickly looked away, flushing. I guess I'd be a bit embarrassed as well if she were the one changing in front of me, but right now I was in too much of a hurry to care, pulling off my leggings quickly. "I've been invited to have supper with the Weyrwoman, but hopefully it isn't anything more than her being a fan of my Dad's baking too. You can - well, no, probably a better idea not to ask Mari to tell you the whole story about her father, though she might volunteer whatever she feels comfortable if you ask her how things went with him today. Or Aless might be willing to fill you in - I know that he's been spending a lot of time with you and Maxx."

"Wait a second, back up," Izabella said. By this time I had slipped the dress over my head and was making sure that it was falling in the right ways. Izabella rolled her scroll up, put it away in her press, and stood up. "Moreta likes the baking at the Klah Lounge?"

"Apparently, or she knows my parents from something else," I said. "She's Ruathan, you know."

"Well, yes, everybody knows that. I remember her visiting the Hold a few years back, but still, it's weird to think about her knowing about somebody like you. What are you going to do if... if she's looking for information about us?"

"I... I don't know. I'll try to put the three of you out of my mind as much as I can, but that will be tricky, and I'm not sure what else I could do. We'd better go now."

"One more thing." Izabella pointed down towards the ground at my feet.

"What, have I stepped into some trap that I can't see?"

"In a way." Izabella rolled her eyes. "Those grungy work boots do not go with the dress. Change into some nice gather shoes."

I sighed. "I've got slightly nicer black leather boots."

Izabella shook her hair at me. "Well, you can try a pair of my shoes, and if those won't work, then I guess your slightly nicer boots will have to do."

#

Actually, Izabella's shoes were more comfortable than anything I've ever worn on my feet, which is a surprising thing since she's taller than I am and you'd think her feet would be somewhat bigger, but I wasn't about to complain as I took my place across the table from Nelsi, who was sitting next to her mother, and on the other side of her father. Somehow that unnerved me more than Moreta's presence - I should have realized that just because the Weyrwoman was inviting me to have supper with her, she wouldn't be far from the Weyrleader, but still, seeing D'Nan there had come as a shock. And yes, I know it's not the first time that I've sat at the same table with the man, if you count that conference at Ruatha that I was sitting in on, but since that meeting left little doubt in my mind that D'Nan is a key figure in the Threadman-hunter conspiracy, I wanted to have as little to do with him as I could contrive.

"Hello, you must be Lizza," Moreta said, smiling and nodding at me. She looked to be around my mother's age, a little skinner and more dynamic, with golden highlights in her hair. "I hope that you've been enjoying your visit to the Weyr."

"My duty to you, Weyrwoman," I said, with the appropriate little bow. "It's been a fascinating experience, but somewhat tiring, between chores and the lessons on dragons. I mean, I'm no stranger to hard work, but..."

"Yes, I do understand what you mean," Moreta said, filling up a glass with dark red liquid from a bottle, and the beverage sparkled and frothed as she poured. "A change in troubles can sometimes be much less good than a vacation. Here, try this cola juice, it's a favorite of Nelsi's."

"Umm, alright," I muttered as she passed the glass over to my hand, put it to my mouth and sipped tentatively. There was the familiar taste of grape juice in there, and other fruits, and a sharp sensation as the bubbles popped against my lips and tongues. "That's nice. When you poured it, I thought it was sparkling wine."

"I believe that the process is similar," Moreta said conversationally. "It's produced by a well-known Master Vintner over in Tillek, but the process doesn't produce enough alcohol to intoxicate. I'm glad that you like it."

I nodded pleasantly, thinking that though the drink was alright, its novelty compared to ordinary grape juice would wear off soon, and I'd rather have Klah in any event - and just at that moment Nelsi caught my eye and nodded slightly. I realized that she thought much the same of this 'cola juice', but had either not been able to persuade her mother that it wasn't a favorite, or had decided to play along.

"So, what do you think about the possibility of impressing a dragon queen, Lizza?" Moreta asked.

"Um, not that much, honestly," I blurted out before I could censor myself. "Err, that is, I don't think I'm likely to be the one that the queen picks. I understand that the green dragon thought differently-" except, of course, I had heard from the dragon directly that it wasn't so sure. "-and I'm pleased to take my chances on the Hatching ground, but still, I hardly expect that I'm still going to be here at the Weyr in three day's time. That is, assuming that the hatching happens tomorrow, as I've heard rumors."

"I think that guess of the timing is quite likely to be accurate," Moreta said, sparing one glance at her adolescent daughter. "Well, and then what, if you return to Ruatha?"

"Serving customers in my father's shop, as per usual."

"And nothing more? Is Master Parker training you in his specialties?"

"We've tried, and I can master the basics, but I'm not a great cook, or even a good baker." I sighed. Somehow I really didn't want to get into my Smith hall hopes with Weyrwoman Moreta, or mention my idea of wanting to be a Harper, though my singing voice was only passable. Father had actually taken me to an interview with Max's father, Journeyman Evans, months ago, before I knew Maxx's secret. Evans had said that he was very impressed with my quick mind and eager curiosity, but told me that the current MasterHarper believed strongly that no part of the the Harpercraft could or should be entirely divorced from music.

"You might be able to qualify for the Hall regardless, Lizza, if you were willing to work in vocal training for the chorus, and learn the harp and the pipes," he'd said at the end of the interview. "Your fingers are clever and Aless has been able to teach you the basics of the gitar quite quickly it seems. But I'm not sure that becoming a Harper apprentice would be a path that would offer you any true contentment, if you don't have a great passion for music in your heart. That is a question that you'll have to answer for yourself, Lizza."

I'd thought about that. "Thank you, journeyman. I'll have to think about that one. I love music, in general, but I'm not sure if it's the kind of love that would let me be happy with a life that's so much about music. Is - is there any way that I could train here with you, instead of going to the hall?"

"No, I'm sorry, Lizza." He'd shaken his head. "As a journeyman, I'm not entitled to take my own apprentices, and I'm not sure that either of the Masters here at Ruatha would want to take on another apprentice, especially a girl. At the Hall, on the other hand, girl apprentices are encouraged, particularly those with good voices - but I've heard some hints that they aren't exactly treated kindly once they arrive."

That had decided me. I did not want to be heading off to the Harper Hall...

"Lizza, can you come back to us now?" Nelsi asked, waving a hand in front of her head and rousing me from that vivid memory. "The burgs are here, you should grab yours before it's cold."

"The what's?" I looked around the table and saw them - hot meat sandwiches, it looked like, along with a variety of dressings that we could put on ourselves. "Oh, right." I grabbed one burger and started to pile it high with fresh greens.

"So - would you like me to see if Rosweth could see what you were thinking about, Lizza?" Moreta asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Mom!" Nelsi yelled. "You promised me that you wouldn't tell her to snoop on my friends."

"Well, for anybody else I wouldn't," Moreta told her sweetly. "But if Lizza is going to stand on the hatching ground and 'take her chances' to become our next weyrwoman, then she's going to have to get used to the idea of a dragon sharing her thoughts. Come on, I won't share it if it's truly inappropriate. What do you say, Lizza - may I proceed?"

I hated this, but all of the riders at the table were staring at me now, including D'Nan - and D'Peerce, who I hadn't even noticed until now, nearly at the other end of the head table. Had they put Moreta up to this? Was she in on the plan herself? In any event, it would be suspicious if I declined - and Moreta might tell her dragon to listen in anyway, cued that I had incriminating thoughts that I didn't want revealed. There seemed to be no better course than trying to go through with it.

"All right, but tell her to use a light touch - this is my first time." I tried to not think about Maxx or the others, which, of course, is one of those things that's impossible to do by trying about it.

After a few seconds, Moreta said, "You can relax now, Lizza. Nobody's trying to touch your mind now. I swear it, on my honor as Weyrwoman."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Did you and Rosweth find out anything interesting?"

"Well, I'm not sure," she admitted. "You - you have very strong and somewhat confused feelings for one of the young men from Roswell - a boy who's here at the Weyr now. Maxx, Journeyman Evans' son?"

I had to distract D'Nan's attention from that connection, I knew, say anything about Maxx that wouldn't lead him to think that I was sheltering a thread-man. "Really, confused how? Maxx and I - well, until P'sky came into the Klah lounge a sevenday ago, we were considering an espousal sometime this year. Not that he's spoken to my parents about it yet, you know, but..."

Moreta and D'nan exchanged a look. "Well, that might explain it," Moreta admitted. "Between your love for him, and your anxiety about what your father might say, if he'd be willing to approve the espousal before Maxx gets his journeyman's knots, which would probably be more than a year away, yes?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "He'd have to go to the Hall at Fort Hold to be evaluated by the Masterhealer, wouldn't he?"

"Yes," D'nan said. "Well, I wish you both the best - and you may need it if one of you becomes a rider tomorrow and the other is left standing on the Ground. But such gloomy thoughts are not for a night like tonight. Where is this young man of yours? Let's see the two of you together, and drink a toast to your future. Maxx? Is Maxx of Ruatha, son of Evans the Harper Journeyman, present within my hearing?" D'nan has raised his voice to a loud calling that rang throughout the entire lower caverns.

"My duty to you, Weyrleader!" Maxx shouted back without missing a beat, and all around me, riders laughed.

"Your duty to the Weyrleader is to come when he calls, Maxx," D'Peerce shouted back. "Get yourself up to the head table, now!"

So soon enough, Max arrived, and at D'nan's direction I stood up and the two of us held both hands and gazed into each other's eyes, while D'nan and Moreta lifted their glasses of wine and called for a toast to the two of us. Then somebody, I don't think it was D'peerce this time, started a chant of 'Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss...'

"We might as well not drag it out," I whispered to Maxx, and lifted my head to his. He seemed stunned, for which I could hardly blame him, and didn't bend his down towards mine, so I worked my hands free of his so that I could put my fingers behind his neck and on the back of his head, to pull his lips down towards me. Maxx got the idea, arranged one of his hands on my shoulder and wrapped the other around to the small of my back, and kissed me gently.

The effect, though, was really anything but gentle. I can't really explain all of this in a way that makes sense to me, but I heard a huge crack of thunder, and felt a shiver go over all of my skin as if I'd jumped into a mountain lake. And then - well, this is the crazy bit, but I could see all around me, even though my eyes were closed and Max's head was mostly in front of my face. For a few seconds, we weren't standing in the lower caverns, but at the middle of a much larger open space, with sloping walls around - like the Hatching ground, or the central Weyr bowl. Wherever it was, the walls were mostly dark, but up all around the edges above my head, I could see glowing eyes looking down at the two of us in pairs. Curious eyes, whirling in friendly blue or green colors, but they made me shrink away in fright. I broke away from Max, and there was another little ripple of laughter at that, but nobody seemed to think that it was too strange. Maybe they assumed that I was nervous about showing my affections with so many people watching, which was the furthest thing from the truth.

It was the sense of so many dragons paying attention to the two of us. They hadn't appeared to be hostile, but as the episode with Moreta had shown, if a dragon saw something and told their riders, it could mean trouble for Max, Izabella, and Mechall - even if the dragon didn't mean them any harm. There was no possible way to convince all of those dragons to keep a secret from their riders.

"Oh- okay, are we done now?" I managed to say after trying to get my voice back a couple times. I stepped away from Maxx again, our hands falling away from each other. "I still haven't finished my burger yet, and it's getting cold."

"Certainly we can go back to eating," Moreta said. "But could we shuffle the seating to allow Maxx to join us? The table's a bit crowded I know..." She turned to look in Nelsi's direction, and I wondered if she was about to suggest that her daughter switch places with Maxx or something.

"As much as I'd like to oblige the Weyrwoman, my tablemates and I were enjoying a spirited game of tiles as we ate, and I'd rather not leave my team to deal with a missing player or a substitution," Maxx offered. "Perhaps we could dine together tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow will be hatching day, Maxx," D'nan pointed out, a broad smile on his face. "We will all likely be very busy beforehand, and I'm afraid I can't promise you much of my attention for the Hatching face, though you'll have my congratulations if you impress a dragon hatchling."

There was an awkward pause. "Well, perhaps we can find another occasion before I leave - if I don't impress. My duty to you both." Maxx bowed again, slowly, as if waiting for any objection, and then returned back through the large cave towards the table that he had come from. I shrugged and took my seat again.

#

Moreta and D'nan kept me involved in conversation all through the elaborate dessert course, (a flaming cake that was nearly worthy of my father,) I told them all about my life back in Ruatha, embroidered with a few made-up stories involving Maxx and our blossoming romance, It was surprising how smoothly the fibs flowed out of me, as if I'd been making up fantasies like that for turns - which I hadn't, at least not consciously. Maybe this incident should tell me that I really did have more feelings for Maxx than I'd admitted.

On my way out of the lower caverns, I kept an eye out for Maxx, and then spotted him making a beeline for me as soon as I'd left the head table. Well, I really should have expected that much. "We need to talk," I said, as he got close.

Maxx swept me up into his arms, and bent down towards me, but the whispered voice in my ear was cool. "I was going to say that," he said. "Where?"

"Umm - the viewing stands for the Hatching grounds?" I asked. "There may be a few people keeping an eye on the eggs, but it's a big place, so we should be able to have a little privacy."

Max let go of me with one arm, so that we could walk side by side, with my shoulders still gathered in his half embrace. One of my hands made its way to the waist of his pants, as if it had a mind of its own. "Rosweth will be there in the grounds, keeping an eye on her eggs," Maxx mentioned.

"Oh, right." I considered that. "I really don't think that she'll pay much attention to us - not unless Moreta tells her to, and Moreta's had her fill of snooping for tonight. I hope so, at any rate."

"Alright," Maxx said, and took a deep breath. "Well, let's try it."

I walked with Maxx, recognizing that he was more afraid of Rosweth than I was, but he was willing to go along with this plan because I'd suggested it, and I thought that it would be safe. Soon enough we had climbed to some of the highest seats in the Grounds, on the side closest to the entrance passageway.

"Okay, I guess it started this morning, when I was having breakfast with Nelsi and Willa - they're weyrbred girls, and Nelsi is the daughter of Moreta and D'nan. She said that Moreta wanted to have me sit near them for supper, so that's why I dressed up. Izabella even loaned me her shoulders. And -" I took a deep breath, and reviewed everything about the conversation that I could remember, including my flashback to talking to Maxx's foster father about becoming a Harper girl, and Moreta's little 'game' about having Rosweth peek into my thoughts, to get me to feel more comfortable about the prospect of possibly becoming a queen rider, and how I'd felt trapped and unable to demur without attracting more attention.

"That sort of reaction seems to keep getting us into more and more trouble," Maxx pointed out. "What could they have done if you'd refused?"

"Gotten dragons to spy on my thoughts every moment, once they knew that I was really keeping secrets," I said. "If D'nan thought that the secret had to do with a thread-man."

"Right, okay, I see your point," Maxx said. "So, how does this relate to why I was called up to the head table to kiss you?"

"Well, I'm almost at that part," I said. "Moreta mentioned that she'd seen confusing feelings that I had for you, and so I said the only thing that I thought could explain it without making the riders think that you were the thread-man. I said that we wanted to get espoused, but you hadn't told my father yet."

Maxx shook his head for a long moment. "News of this is going to spread down to Ruatha pretty quickly."

"Yeah, I know," I admitted. "When dragons go down to pick up parents and other very important people, tomorrow. But I think that we should be able to figure out a way through. It's better than the alternative, isn't it?"

Maxx smiled. "Don't think that I'm not grateful, and yes, playing the role of your attentive gentleman friend, even a gentleman friend who might have a detail or two to settle with Master Parker, is certainly a much better deal than whatever the riders might have in mind for thread-men." He shook his head. "I'm still worried about this - if D'nan and D'peerce would put Moreta up to this, then who knows what else they might have planned? Do you think that Moreta's after thread-men too?"

"I can't be sure, but I don't think so, no," I muttered. "And it might be bad news for D'nan when Moreta realizes that he's been using her as a pawn. So - what next?"

"We should probably stay up here for a while, it'll help give the lie credibility," Max admitted, sliding closer to me. "And tomorrow is going to be Hatching day, it seems. I'm still not sure what that might mean. Do you think any of us will actually impress a dragon?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "Mari and I have been trying to figure out a strategy to make ourselves seem undesirable to a hatchling dragon - and we've talked about that with Aless a few times now. But it's the dragon that chooses." Something was nagging at me about that, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "Oh, shards - I'll have to leave soon enough to talk to Mari about her abandoning rider father before bed check."

"What about her father?" Maxx asked. "I mean, I know that he's here somewhere, but..."

"She went to talk to him after dinner," I said. "Was going to see if he knew anything about the visitor-hunters."

"Wasn't that dangerous?" Maxx asked. "What if he's one of them, and starts to get suspicious?"

"Well, it seemed to be worth a try." I folded my arms in front of my chest - probably a way of defending myself against his criticism. "We can't always be cautious."

"Okay, okay. If you want to go now, you can go - but probably we should kiss once more, just to keep up appearances."

"What appearances?" I looked around, and realized that Moreta and D'nan were standing on the hatching sands. Perhaps they had originally come to inspect the clutch and consult with Rosweth, but right now they were both looking up in our direction. I wish I could know what they were thinking about us.

"Okay, twist my arm." I leaned over and pressed my lips to Maxx again, and it was just as explosive as before, without any creepy dragon eye sensation. (I hadn't mentioned that to Maxx yet, and he should know - and about the light I saw going Between with him, and the rest - but there'd probably be other chances to talk privately now that we were play-acting lovers.) I did catch a glimpse of one unusual place, though - a sunlit jungle of some kind - maybe near Igen Hold somewhere?

"You know, at some point I'm wondering if our hopes to espouse each other aren't going to be so much of a facade for the benefit of the dragon riders," Maxx admitted, brushing a lock of hair away from my forehead once I'd drawn back a little, less abruptly than last time.

"Yeah, umm, I know what you mean," I said. "Can we meet up for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Why not," Maxx said, and waved as I rushed down to the grounds and hurried around the edge of the warm sands. I couldn't concentrate on where to find Mari, with all of this Maxx stuff swirling around in my head.