Although she didn't understand everything that had happened, if the man wanted to offer assistance to the Weyr, she wasn't in a position to refuse. She turned a questioning look on Cesrik, who sucked on her lower lip and studied the herdbeasts behind them.
"What about the vegetables? And the wheat?"
"We have reserves in the back," he said. "You're welcome to take those as well."
"Do you have the herbs for numbweed and fellis juice?"
"Yes, my lady. Oh, and congratulations on Impressing golden Zareth," he said with a kind smile. "She's a beauty."
Cesrik blinked in surprise. "Did I visit you in the past, as well?"
"Yes, on occasion. It was Elienya who approached me with the idea, but you helped check in every few Turns or so to make sure all was well." The girls shared a look, but it warmed Elienya's heart to hear. It meant their friendship had lasted for who knew how many Turns, and they remained united in their cause.
"Splendid! We have a bronzerider here with us now," said Cesrik and grinned with purpose. "We'll have him contact other riders to transport the herdbeasts and the rest."
"Good," said Terren.
"Why the Southern Continent?" Elienya couldn't help but ask.
"The grubs," said Terren. "The grubs in the Southern Continent can eat Thread. You wanted us to be protected in case Thread fell earlier than you'd expected."
"And you just…went along with this," said Elienya with a wave of her hand to the herdbeasts and the rocky dwelling of their home.
"Well, I couldn't refuse," said Terren with a laugh. "You gave me everything I've ever wanted."
"What's that?"
He lifted a hand, and the gold firelizard appeared from between to settle on his outstretched forearm. Love warmed his soft blue eyes, and he stroked her eyeridge until she hummed with pleasure. "It was always my dream to Impress a dragon," he murmured. "When I wasn't chosen on Search, I decided to become a Master Herdsman instead. It allowed me to stay at the Weyr with the dragons, and I was able to work closely with other animals. But you…you brought me these firelizard eggs, and it hatched Bell. My wife has a bronze and a blue."
Elienya studied the little firelizard curiously. "How did I find the firelizard eggs?"
Terren winked but didn't comment. "It's good to see you again, Elienya. Farewell, Cesrik."
"It was nice to meet you," said Cesrik.
"Goodbye," said Elienya. Elienya and Cesrik left to find C'net and tell him of their discovery. Once they did, he immediately left to gather more riders to transport the herdbeasts, vegetables, and herbs back to the Weyr. While he did, Elienya, Cesrik, and Deilen decided to explore the cove the map had indicated. It took them a little distance on foot, but Elienya and Cesrik kicked off their shoes and walked through the surf to cool themselves. Deilen waved a hand across his face.
"When I write about this ballad," he said, "it's not going to be pleasant."
"You're going to write a song about our trip to the Southern Continent?" asked Elienya. "Why?"
"My dear lady, you found a mysterious Master Herdsman and his wife who just happened to have the supplies the Weyr so desperately requires, and you don't think that's worthy of a song?"
Elienya blushed, and Cesrik looked sharply between them. "Well, if you insist."
"Eli," said Cesrik and took her arm. "Can I talk to you?" Before Elienya could protest, Cesrik dragged her forward through the sand, nearly making her trip.
"What?" asked Elienya.
Cesrik glanced over her shoulder and whispered, "Deilen likes you."
Elienya's blush deepened. "No, he doesn't."
Cesrik scoffed. "Come now, I didn't expect a Weyrbrat to be so chaste."
"You know I've never been with a man before, Cesrik."
"Well, there's no time like the present!"
"I don't know." Elienya didn't deny that Deilen was handsome, but she hardly knew him, and she certainly didn't know how she felt about him. "How do you know he likes me?"
Cesrik started to count on her fingers. "He won't stop looking at you, he smiles around you all the time, and the last, but most important thing, he's immune to my charm!"
Elienya laughed. "Are you sure he hasn't simply wounded your pride and you're looking for an excuse?"
Sniffing, Cesrik tossed her black hair over one shoulder. "I may be petty, but I'm not that petty."
"True—Oh!" Elienya and Cesrik stopped, awed by the spectacle before them. There were firelizards wheeling on the cove, splashing through the waves and warbling to each other. A small golden firelizard curled on the sands around a clutch of eggs, her wings splayed to protect them from the full strength of the suns. At their approach, the little queen lifted her head, her eyes whirling orange, and vanished between. Releasing cries of distress, the other firelizards followed until the cove had emptied.
"Firelizard eggs!" shrieked Cesrik. Deilen ran forward to join them as the Junior Weyrwoman descended on the clutch, kneeling in the sand. "There are eighteen of them. Eighteen!" She placed a gentle hand against the shell. "It looks like they're close to hatching. We need to get them back to the Weyr quickly."
"Are you sure we should take them?" asked Elienya.
"Of course! How else will we…" She trailed off with a glance at Deilen. "How else will be speak with Terren?" she said pointedly.
Elienya's eyes widened. Did her friend honestly believe the the Master Herdsmen without any sort of proof? Well, she supposed the presence of the herdbeasts in the middle of the Southern Continent was proof enough…but it was still a lot for her mind to process. Confusion passed across Deilen's face, but he held his peace. While Deilen stayed behind to guard the eggs, Elienya and Cesrik walked back to the shore where C'net waited for them.
"Let me guess," the bronzerider said with a smirk at the looks on their faces. "You've made another discovery."
"We found firelizard eggs!" Cesrik burst out, and C'net's eyes widened.
"Firelizards? Those are extinct."
"Not extinct," said Cesrik and waggled her eyebrows, "just hidden. We'll show you." Bith followed in the air as the girls showed him to the cove of the firelizard eggs. Although he looked shocked, he couldn't deny what was plain before his eyes, and he helped transport the eighteen firelizard eggs back to the Weyr. Since they couldn't fly between, it took longer for them to fly straight to Benden Weyr.
In the Weyrbowl, the other riders had returned with their wares, but the Weyrleader was in an uproar. He stalked amongst the laden creatures, shouting orders at the riders and waving his hands through the air. Overhead, bronze Kyoth trumpeted his rider's anger and flared his wings, gazing imperiously upon the other dragons.
Stupid Kyoth's displeased, said Zareth in obvious annoyance. His rider wants to speak with you immediately. It showed how little she cared for the Weyrleader that Zareth didn't call him by name.
At the sight of them, V'neren stalked over and roared, "What's the meaning of this?"
On her ledge, Zareth bugled a warning and flared her wings, displeased with how the Weyrleader addressed her rider. Other curious croons and warbles answered her from the other dragons in the Weyr.
Elienya finished unbuckling the straps of her riding harness and slid from Bith's neck. The bronze rumbled with unease, his tail twitching. Cesrik, Deilen, and C'net followed. The bronzerider immediately snapped to attention and saluted his Weyrelader, his expression stoic.
Cesrik glided forward with a serene expression on her face. "What do you mean, Weyrleader V'neren?"
"Why did you steal these herdbeasts from the Southern Weyr?" he demanded.
"We didn't steal them from the Southern Weyr," said Cesrik. "They were ours."
"It's true," said C'net after a slight hesitation. "We spoke to the Masters Herdsman, and he said he'd been breeding them for Benden Weyr."
"Are you sure you're not just saying that to defend your lover, bronzerider?" asked the Weyrleader angrily.
Color rose to C'net's face. "Yes, Weyrleader. It's the truth."
"Well, I've sent a messenger to H'rezen at Southern Weyr. We'll know the truth soon enough. Until then, both of you are to stay in your Weyrs until I decide your punishment." He jabbed a finger at Elienya and Cesrik. "As for you, I want you to take me to this Master Herdsman so I might speak with him myself." He shook his head and walked off, mumbling under his breath, "Of all the idiotic, wherry-brained…"
C'net started to walk after him and said, "Sir, there's more. We found—"
"Thank you, Weyrleader V'neren," said Cesrik. She grabbed C'net and yanked him to a halt, an irritable expression on our face. "None of that, C'net."
"But the firelizard eggs—"
"Did you not see the mood he's in? If he sees them, he'll confiscate them. No, we're going to tend to them ourselves. Come along, Eli." With all the pride and dignity of a queenrider, Cesrik took her sack of firelizard eggs from Bith's riding straps and marched back towards the Weyr. Smiling at her best friend's back, Elienya grabbed her satchel and left, with Deilen and C'net behind her.
Elienya reached out with her mind to Polith and Certh. Will you please ask Eryn and Pennoly to meet us in the queen's Weyr?
Zareth let us know, said Certh kindly. They're on their way.
In the queen's Weyr, Cesrik set down the sack of firelizard eggs on the bed and went to soothe Zareth, who's eyes whirled yellow with anger.
The nerve! seethed the queen. He had no right to speak to you like that!
"Don't worry, my love," crooned Cesrik and patted her growing queen's forepaw. "I promise Kyoth will never fly you." C'net blurted out a nervous laugh, but Deilen and Elienya grinned.
Never, agreed Zareth vehemently. I'm going to have a word with him about his rider's conduct. Grunting and grumbling, Zareth curled herself into a ball on her stone cot and rested her angular head on her forepaws. As if only just noticing the sack of firelizard eggs, she extended her maw and sniffed at the bag. What are those?
"Those are firelizard eggs," said Cesrik. She winked at the others. "Zareth's curious."
"What should we do?" ashed Deilen.
"We'll need sand," said Elienya. "And we'll need to keep them warm."
"C'net, go and fetch some sand from the Hatching Grounds," said Cesrik. "We'll start the fire." Thus dismissed, C'net deposited his sack of firelizard eggs on the ground and rushed out to get sand. Elienya and Deilen crouched in the hearth and began to set logs on the fire, working together. After he left, Eryn and Pennoly appeared, their expressions weary from chores and training. The girls bowed to Zareth, who snorted her approval.
"Good, you made it!" Cesrik took their hands and steered them towards the sacks on the bed. "You won't believe what we found!"
"More food," groaned Pennoly.
"Well, actually," said Cesrik with a sly smile. "We did." She explained everything they'd discovered in the Southern Continent, to the shock of Pennoly and Eryn – although she left out the part about jumping between times on a dragon – and finished with a grand gesture at the sacks. "We have firelizard eggs!"
"Firelizard eggs?" squealed Eryn and pressed her hands to her cheeks in excitement.
"Firelizards are extinct," said Pennoly.
"Not extinct," said Elienya and Cesrik in unison. "Just hidden."
"Oh," said Cesrik, "we'll need meat for the hatchlings! Deilen, will you go and get some from the kitchens?" Bowing to the queenrider, Deilen turned and vanished, leaving the girls to discuss their exciting adventure to the Southern Continent. Elienya filled in the details Cesrik missed, and by the end of their lengthy discussion, Pennoly's face had gone blank, but Eryn bounced in her chair in excitement. While they spoke, C'net returned with satchels of sand, which he dumped near the hearth. Then, the girls took out the sturdy firelizard eggs and laid them out on the sand.
Deilen returned a few minutes afterwards with wherry meat, and they all settled down to wait. When it became clear the hatching would take longer than expected, Cesrik pulled out a deck of cards and they sat to play. After an hour had passed, one of the eggs stirred and twitched on its bed of sand, the fine mottled shell shuddering all over. Cesrik slapped her cards onto the table and rushed to the hearth, followed closely by Elienya. The egg gave an enormous twitch, fell still, then cracked down the center and spilled a blue hatchling onto the sand.
It creeled and stumbled forward, falling face first into the sand. Before anyone could move, another egg gave another shudder and cracked, revealing a wet bronze. The bronze hissed and descended upon his younger sibling with teeth and claws, tearing into his thick hide until blood soaked the sand. The blue hatchling screamed and struggled, but he couldn't fight the bronze.
Cesrik and Elienya shared a horrified look. They'd expected the firelizard hatching to be similar to a dragon hatching, but this was barbaric! When the next egg hatched and a green emerged, everyone sprang into action. C'net grabbed a slice of wherry meat and held it out, coaxing the little green slightly away from the others. Another brown hatched, and Deilen tried to entice it with a slab of wherry meat, but it chose the little green instead, launching at her with a hiss. Crying out, C'net grabbed the green hatchling as it cried and pulled it away, but it vanished between.
"The queen egg!" said Elienya. "Someone get the queen egg!" Eyes wide and hands trembling, Eryn grabbed the queen egg and carried it slightly away from the others. Pennoly waved the wherry meat like she planned to hit the firelizards over the head with it, a scowl on her face. Deilen sang a soft song to the firelizards, and managed to catch the attention of a bronze and a blue. The bronze hissed at the little blue until it cowered and strutted forward, eying Deilen uncertainly. He set the slab of meat on the ground, and the bronze gobbled it up. Deilen laid a trail of meat to his hand, which the bronze followed, and took the last morsel from his hand.
Studying him closely, Elienya set a slab of meat on the ground. The majority of the eggs had hatched at that point, and a small green, smaller than the rest, slunk around her violent siblings with her belly low to the ground. She had a pale jade body but a darker, forest green head and tail. She noticed the meat and scurried towards it, devouring it in one gulp. An abnormally large blue, the color of the sky with darker sapphire streaks, followed the green, and for a second Elienya worried he would attack, but it merely seemed he wanted to stay close to his sister. Elienya set out a slip of meat for him and ate it with surprising restraint. She continued to set meat on the ground, coaxing the firelizards forward, until the green and blue ate directly from her hands.
The closer the firelizards came, the more she could feel their hunger, and their fear. She consoled them with waves of love and safety, hoping they would be able to feel her. Apparently, they did, because their fear began to ebb, replaced by contentment and happiness. Purring gently, the green waddled into Elienya's lap and curled herself into a ball, her stomach distended from her meal. The blue nudged her hand, licking her fingers with his soft tongue until she scratched his eyeridge. An incredulous laugh burst out of her. It wasn't the same as Impressing a dragon, she was sure, but she felt their love, their adoration, and it brought tears to her eyes.