Disclaimer: This piece is written in compliance with Anne McCaffrey's published rules on fan fiction. It is posted here as a transformative work for personal use only, and will be removed if properly requested from the copyright holder. I do not and will not make any profit from this piece, though I hope you all enjoy reading it as I enjoy writing it. I also do not make any claims to rights on this series. Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey are the owners of the Dragonriders of Pern® series, and I'm grateful for the chance to play on their literary land.
Chapter 10: Turning Point
Balani was a strong-willed trader's daughter, young for a queen candidate, when Grailse first met her. Impetuous, pretty, stubborn, big-hearted – none of that had been enough to commit her to Grailse's memory until Balani stood on the Hatching Sands one cold day Turns ago, and Impressed the infant Myrlyth, gold Xaeth's last queen daughter.
In the time that followed, Grailse hadn't had much more contact with the junior weyrwoman. Even a bronze rider's daughter like Grailse was still just a weyrbrat, and Balani was a busy weyrling and weyrwoman-in-training, Lena driving her hard in the shadow of an approaching Pass. Really, it wasn't until Grailse's father died of the wasting fevers, neither his relative youth nor his healthy bronze dragon enough to save him from his own mortality, that things changed. Zella took over Grailse's fostering and began training her full-time, and Grailse found herself in the same circles as the Telgar leadership.
The witty, laughing Balani she'd interacted with then was a far cry from the red-eyed, wasted creature staring back at her across the table now.
Grailse hooked one ankle behind the other and leaned back in her chair, trying to hold Balani's unnerving gaze. "You were saying? About the holder of Rock Ridge?"
Another long moment of silence passed, just like all the previous ones. Grailse was starting to have sincere doubts about both the value and wisdom of this project. She'd seen dragonless riders recover somewhat over time before, but others never did. Balani, on the other hand, was in a whole different category. It was as if every time Morika had to work with her, the weyrwoman came back to herself with another piece of humanity stripped away, dwindling away. Or maybe changing into something else entirely.
Balani slowly tilted her head. "His eldest child is a bastard, the product of his wife's indiscretions, but the lady holder and the steward have hidden it from him, because his own natural children are irredeemable dimglows and incompetent to hold. We used this information in leverage when the hold refused to tithe three Turns ago."
Grailse rolled her wrist and dutifully wrote the information down, resisting the urge to add edifying commentary. On a side notebook, though, she added a note to look into some gambling rumors that she'd heard before and previously discounted. Rock Ridge was a perpetually difficult hold to work with, and knowledge was leverage for the Weyr. Her mind was already running five conversations ahead to how this might help them.
"Your father was a wingsecond," Balani suddenly said, and Grailse froze, staring down at her notes. "He was demoted from wingleader. G'lanet. Bronze Azith. Did you want to follow in his footsteps?"
Grailse's eyes flicked upwards, and she set the writing stylus down. "Milady Balani?"
"He was reckless. Strutting, arrogant… but then, so many bronze riders are. They think they deserve everything. Deserve the Weyr, deserve the queens, deserve the holds. But they don't! Oh no, they don't. We need… we need… we need the right candidates…"
Grailse swallowed hard and didn't respond. Balani clutched at her forehead and shook her head.
"I don't – I don't! Myrlyth would have known. Where is Myrlyth?"
"She's gone," Grailse said.
"We were supposed to be together forever," Balani groaned. "They took her from me!"
Grailse knew that she shouldn't feed into whatever delusion was gripping the weyrwoman now, but she couldn't help asking. "Who?"
"The clutch! The eggs! She'd be here if she hadn't clutched!"
That was surprisingly lucid, if misguided. "No, Balani, it's not the clutch's fault."
"Her eggs! They must know where she is." She went abruptly silent. "They won't speak to me!"
Grailse stared at her in alarm at that, remembering how Balani had harassed Kesseth and the other dragons. Could she touch the hatchlings in the egg?
"No, Balani, they're babies. They can't speak to you. They don't know where she is, either. Why don't you wait here for a minute?"
The weyrwoman's glare burned into her back while Grailse made a fast retreat to find Mebb.
She found the Master Healer in the main room, speaking in a low voice to N'tag, of all people. Grailse slowed.
"Master Healer?" she said, clearing her throat, and they both turned to look at her, Mebb breaking off. "Master Healer. Wingleader. I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is urgent."
N'tag looked her up and down, frowning, then seemed to place her. "Grailse. Are you working with Balani?"
"Yes, I was. I'm sorry to interrupt," she repeated, and N'tag gestured for her to get on with it. "Balani said something that made me think she's trying to speak to the hatchlings. In the egg. Morika's not here, and I don't have a dragon; I don't know how to check. Or how to stop her."
Mebb touched N'tag's shoulder. "Call Taraline down here, please." He strode down the hallway past Grailse without waiting to see if the former Weyrleader obeyed him.
N'tag looked irritated, and if he bespoke Vranth before he followed Mebb, Grailse couldn't tell. She followed.
Balani was standing behind the desk, keeping it between her and Mebb when Grailse got back down to her room. N'tag stopped in the doorway, watching the scene and blinking.
"Balani, please sit down. What is this about the eggs?"
"They can hear me," she said, moving to keep the table between herself and the healer. "They can hear me, I know they can hear me, they're just ignoring me! I know they can find her. She's not GONE, do you hear me? She's not gone! There's a queen in the clutch, I know if I can speak to her, I know that I just need the right candidate -"
"A little help, N'tag?" Mebb said, and the former Weyrleader moved to join him, Balani watching them both warily. Grailse backed up out of the way, and had just seen the two men move to corner Balani before she turned and ran.
She ran straight out of the healing caverns and into the bowl, where a light rain was falling. She ran across the bowl, dodging the few people out and about in the dreary weather, and ignoring the ones who turned to stare at her. She ran for the Hatching Cavern and pelted down the entrance tunnel to the sands.
"Kesseth!" she shouted.
"Grailse?" Taraline demanded, rising from her seat on the bottom of the stands, but Grailse was staring at Kesseth, who had roused from her sleep and was looking at Grailse. Grailse could see the moment the queen recognized what was going on, her eyes suddenly picking up speed and whirling red, and it confirmed Grailse's fear.
"Push her out, Kesseth! You're a queen, you don't need an empath to help you! Push her OUT!"
"Grailse, what is the meaning of this?"
"Balani is trying to interfere with the eggs," Grailse snapped, still trying to catch her breath.
"Faranth," Taraline swore.
Kesseth bugled, and Taraline grabbed Grailse's arm. "Come on!"
And Grailse was running again, this time following Taraline back to the healer's caverns.
By the time they reached Balani's room, Mebb had the former weyrwoman sitting on the bed and was trying to convince her to drink a glass of fellis. N'tag was standing off to the side, his face inscrutable.
Balani looked up at their entrance. "You! Both of you!" Her eyes trained on Taraline, and she sneered. "You don't belong in my Weyr. Trying to steal my seniorship while Myrlyth isn't here, trying to steal her bronzes! Faithless bitch!"
Taraline moved three steps, took the fellis from Mebb, and shoved it at Balani. Her voice was shaking with rage when she spoke. "I don't want your sharding Weyr, and I'd like nothing more than to go home, but you won't harm those eggs while Kesseth and I are here. Drink."
Balani moved to knock the glass out of Taraline's hand, but Taraline jerked it back. Balani turned her attention to Grailse. "And you! Your father was a thorn in my side, and I'm sure you're no better. Down here all the time, trying to ingratiate yourself. You can't have her, do you understand? You can't have Myrlyth's daughter, you can't have this Weyr, you're useless to me, just like he was."
Grailse shot a look at Taraline, mixed bafflement and anger, which she found returned.
N'tag's sudden bark of, "Drink the shaffing fellis, Balani, you've lost all your sense!" was probably meant to be helpful, but it just made Balani angrier.
"I hate you," she spat out, and Mebb moved between the three of them and Balani, taking a deep breath as he took the fellis back from Taraline and giving each of them a quelling look.
"All right, that's enough. N'tag, Taraline, please wait outside. Grailse, please take up the notes. Balani, this is just concentrated enough to make you calm and drowsy, I promise. I know you're hurting right now. Please, let me help you?"
Everyone held their breath, but Balani stared at Mebb for a moment, then snatched the glass and drank it even as tears began to flow down her face. Grailse grabbed the notes from the table and followed Taraline and N'tag out of the room.
N'tag didn't say a word to any of them, just strode out as if he couldn't get away fast enough.
Taraline glanced at Grailse and inclined her head down the hall, leading her to a small examination room.
"You did well to come rouse Kesseth," she said, and Grailse nodded. "Did you even get anything useful today?"
Grailse, rattled, stared down at the hides she'd been writing on, trying to figure out how to answer the question. "I… yes. I have the information you need to deal with Rock Ridge, at least. There's a treaty with Tillek that we didn't know about, too. And I got the last of the filing system key from her. I'll get this all put away with the rest."
Mebb cleared his throat from the doorway, and they looked over. "She's resting now. Grailse, what happened?"
"She just started ranting about my father. I guess she knew him? And then going on about Myrlyth, and how the hatchlings would help her find them. That was when I thought she was probably trying to reach them. But there was something else she said, something about candidates."
"What did she say?" Taraline asked.
"I'm not sure I remember. Just something that… didn't sound right."
"We should talk to one of the empaths about it," Taraline said. "Kesseth is keeping closer watch on the eggs. She says they're very restless. All the excitement… I'm afraid she might have triggered the hatching. I'm going to have V'tend call the candidates back." Grailse felt a thrill of anticipation and fear at that.
"This is unsustainable, Weyrwoman," Mebb said, and Taraline folded her arms.
"I'm well aware of that, Master Healer. What do you suggest we do?"
None of them would meet each other's eyes, though all were surely thinking the same thing.
"We could send her back to her family," Mebb finally said.
"Unleash an unstable telepath on a caravan of traders?" Taraline asked, sighing in frustration. She seemed to recall herself and flicked a glance at Grailse, her mouth quirking before she straight out rolled her eyes. "Oh, you've seen enough damning things as all of us at this point. You know it as well as we do."
"Weyrwoman," Mebb murmured.
Taraline rubbed at her neck. "Yes, yes. I'm sorry. She has this effect on me. Let me think on it and consult some of the other weyrwomen. We've never had this particular problem with a bereaved rider."
"And the eggs?" Grailse asked.
"Kesseth is on the alert now. Let's get the other empaths on a rotation down here, too, to keep an eye on her."
Mebb nodded, and after a few more awkward moments, they split up. It was the oddest meeting that Grailse had ever been part of, and all of Taraline's haughty dignity was gone, evidently shaken away by the accusations that Balani had thrown at her.
Grailse, at loose ends now, and with the rest of the candidate class still at Vinesprings, dropped off the notes down in the records room, then walked up to the bowl. It was still drizzling outside, but she sat down next to the waterfall and sat and waited. She was keeping an ear out for the Hatching Cavern, but she had far more on her mind than just the imminent Hatching. What had Balani been on about? She needed Morika here, with her uncanny abilities to get into the former weyrwoman's mind.
Grailse tried again to parse what Balani had said about candidates, but her mind kept skipping to the accusations about her father, G'lanet, as well as the interactions with Taraline and N'tag. There was so much more going on here than she had thought. Maybe Zella knew, but she hesitated to take this to even her aunt. She was moving into unknown waters and wasn't sure what course she should take.
Time passed and Grailse relocated to the living cavern, finding food and ignoring the strange looks she got for her damp appearance. She continued to keep an eye out for… everything. The Hatching Cavern, the returning candidates, any restless dragons that might indicate Balani causing problems. She slowly began to unwind, even as she grew more confused.
Light was failing when the wings burst into the air above the bowl, many of the dragons circling down covered in rock dust from their day's labors. Grailse hurried out and looked for the browns until she identified Serith descending near the hunting grounds. She hurried out to meet him and, to her relief, found that Morika was indeed on his back with H'ralen.
"Oh good, Morika, you're back," Grailse said, snagging Morika by the arm as soon as she slid off of Serith. Morika smiled at her tiredly, but didn't even get a word in before Grailse began to walk her quickly away across the bowl.
"Hello to you, too, Grailse!" H'ralen called after them. Grailse ignored him.
Morika pried Grailse's hand off of her arm while she removed her flying jacket. "Shells, Grailse, what's wrong?"
"I don't…" Grailse shook her head, her headache intensifying. "I was working on the records while you were gone, and working with Balani…" She stopped, her thoughts still tumbling around in her head without coming out in words.
"You're not normally so tongue-tied, Grailse. Are you all right?"
She huffed in annoyance. "Balani was trying to contact the hatchlings, in the egg. The Weyrleader was there, and Balani said something about the candidates that just really didn't seem right, and Taraline… Morika, I really think you and I need to go see Mebb. And Balani. Definitely Balani. Pessa should be down there, but there's something not right here. More than we thought."
Morika folded and unfolded her arms. "Right now? We were at Vinesprings all day long, and I'm exhausted. I was working with patients, and the healer warned me about overextending… I'm tired. If you think it needs to be right now, it can be right now, but -" She cut off, lifting her head and staring up at the sheer walls of the bowl, obviously feeling what it took Grailse several seconds longer to hear.
The hum started almost subterranean, shivering in the rocks and building to a thrumming croon. Dragons all over the Weyr emerged onto ledges and began to dart across the bowl. The dragons who had just returned from Vinesprings interrupted themselves on the way to the lake or the feeding grounds to head towards the Hatching Cavern, avoiding midair collisions with almost supernatural aerial grace. The humming grew.
"Oh!" Morika said, her eyes unfocused, face almost rapturous as she listened.
"Already?" Grailse breathed.
In the next second, a brown broke away from the rest, and Nith and B'lor swooped down to land as close as was safe with more speed than grace. "Come on, both of you! The Hatching is starting!"
Author's Note: Hello again, my friends! For my American readers, happy 4th of July! So, what do you think? This chapter took on a life all its own, and things happened that even I wasn't expecting. This chapter and the next two are going to be very closely tied together, so I'll do my best to make sure the updates are regular.
Many thanks to my reviewers from last chapter: renaid and SnakeCharmer01, as well as BindyKit, who messaged me, and those who followed or favorited the story. I hope that everyone continues to read and enjoy, and please, please consider leaving a review for me as a birthday gift! :) Reviews make my day and help me write faster!