Author's note: Hi everyone! Sorry to have been gone for so long. Work has been crazy busy, and I've been working massive amounts of overtime as a result. I've also been busy working on rewriting the story again - see I have a Beta now (thank you PrettyLilah) who has read through everything and given her suggestions on how to make the story better. I have no idea how I got along without her. Anywho, much of the story is still the same, but enough has changed here and there that I'd recommend rereading the story from the beginning.
~AS
(I own nothing in this story except my own characters. Pern and everything else belongs to Anne McCaffrey)
True to his word, M'rocav did send up a weyrling with the shipment manifests before the afternoon was over. Kayta went over them quickly, adding the numbers to her storage records before frowning to herself: the shipment helped, but they were still short on several items. If she rationed everything down to the minimum amount needed for survival, they had enough supplies for four months. If she raised the rations to a more reasonable amount, they had at least a month and a half to two months worth of food.
She frowned and stared at the figures on the wax plate. Maybe if they took the dragons down to Southern to feed, they could use the herdbeasts they had at the Weyr to feed the weyrfolk. Not to mention that they could add to their supplies by harvesting some of the fruits available on the Islands. The riders themselves were too lazy to pick anything, but maybe it could be turned into a game for the weyrlings and other children. That should help stretch things out a bit, they would still be dangerously low on grains, but it would help.
Feeling a bit better about the situation, she turned her attention to the maps they had of the Mainland holds, and quickly decided that, if they were going to try to continue to trade, it would be best to try the smaller holds that were located farther off the normal tracks and traces. Those usually did not get traders as often as the main holds did and may have some surplus as a result…
"Didn't Berjoui say that you should be resting?"
This time it was N'bel standing over her. She sighed; apparently being able to do her work in peace and quiet was out of the question. "Doesn't anyone know how to knock anymore?"
He raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't think it was necessary for one to knock in order to enter the records room, especially considering that it's open to all the riders to use."
Kayta didn't respond. She watched as he sat down in the chair across from her, wondering why he had come here; was it to scold her again? Had M'rocav complained about her turning him away? Had he let it slip that she had visited the Mainland?
"Berjoui says that you didn't send for lunch today, or for dinner."
"I wasn't hungry."
"Well, she asked me to bring you some fish rolls." He put the plate he had been carrying on the table, and pushed it towards her.
"I'm still not hungry."
"Girl…"
"Don't start." She turned back to the maps. "I'm busy and I don't have the time or the patience to be scolded by you right now like I'm some errant child."
He chuckled. "No, I wasn't about to scold you – I heard M'rocav already did that earlier."
"Lovely." So the rest of the Weyr had heard the argument.
"What are you working on?"
"Well, knowing how gossip travels, I'm sure you're aware that the holds we were trading with on the Mainland refuse to trade with us." He nodded. "So I am trying to find new holds for us to get supplies from, but it's proving to be harder than I expected."
"Eat and let me see those." The weyrlingmaster deftly tugged the maps out of her reach and spread them out in front of him, earning a glare from the Weyrwoman. "I see you've found six holds that might be suitable."
"We need more."
"Why? Six is more than enough."
"What if they don't want to trade with us?"
"They're all far enough off of the normal traces that they don't get to see some of the bigger traders. They'll be more than happy to trade with us."
Kayta poked at one of the fish rolls with her pen. "I wish I shared your optimism. I keep feeling like this is somehow going to blow up in our faces."
"It might if the wrong person is sent."
"There's the other problem – finding someone to go and talk to these holders." She reached out and grabbed N'bel's hand to get his attention. He would either love what she was about to say, or hate it. "A week ago you tried to make me promise you that I wouldn't go to the mainland…"
"And you, being your stubborn self, refused…"
She rolled her eyes skyward and continued, "…I said I wouldn't unless it was Weyr business, and you suggested I find someone else…"
"…Which you refused to do as well." He chuckled to himself again.
"You were right. I shouldn't go anywhere near the mainland. I should be sending someone else in my place." Knowing her luck, if she went back she'd probably run into that brownrider again. And as much as it would be nice to see him again, it was too dangerous.
The weyrlingmaster frowned suddenly. "What brought on this sudden realization? Did something happen the other day?"
"No! Nothing! Everything went perfectly fine."
"Then why are you blushing?"
Shards! He knew her too well. "It's not easy admitting that I was wrong."
"Mmmmm." Something in his tone told her that he didn't believe her.
"To continue with what I was saying though; I think you should be the one to go to the Mainland."
"No. I haven't been in turns, girl. Send someone else."
"There is no one else." Kayta leaned back in her chair and started counting off riders on her fingers. "Z'char won't. Besides, even if he was sober enough to go, he doesn't have the tact required for this sort of a thing. M'rocav isn't familiar enough with holder customs. M'taren's loyalties are questionable at best, and N'nyal would be distracted by the first pretty boy or shiny object."
"N'nyal has more brains then you'd think."
The Queenrider quirked an eyebrow at him, "You used to go to the Mainland a lot. In fact, that's one of the first places you taught me to go between to."
"Only because you wouldn't leave me alone until I did."
"Don't try to blame that on me. You used to go to long before I ever came around." In fact she even remembered seeing him at her Uncle's hold once or twice when she was younger. "The fact is that you're the only other one who knows how to handle holders, to make trade agreements. And even if things were better, if it was safe for me to go to the Mainland, it's still better that you go. These holds are all up in the hills – they're probably still fairly hide bound and would rather deal with another man than speak to a woman."
"You know as well as I do that there have been a lot of changes since Avias came around. They may be more open to dealing with a woman than you think."
"Just because there have been changes in Pern society like more female holders, crafthallers, and greenriders doesn't mean that everyone agrees with it and would be willing to talk to a female runner about trading with her 'hold'."
N'bel was silent as he bent over the maps again. Kayta studied his expression, hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to plan B and order him to go. While it was within her rights to do so as Weyrwoman, she respected the former Weyrleader too much to pull rank on him like that.
He tapped his fingers on the table top. "You're set on me doing this?"
"Yes."
"Alright. I'll go."
"Thank you," She stood and walked around the table until she was behind his chair, then bent over and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him.
"The things I do for you." He turned his head a bit so he could look her in the eye. "You owe me girl, big time."
