Picture Ista in your mind
weyrs and ledges, bowl and sea.
Can you place each dragon's ledge?
And every blooming forest tree?
Picture Ista in your mind
A pared-down Weyr beside the sea.
You know the hour of the sun
But clouds may keep it shadow-free.
Picture Ista in your mind
weyrs and ledges, bowl and sea.
See the star-stones on the rim
and hold the skyline's geography.
Picture Ista in your mind
And think of home beside the sea
Ignore the dragons on the rim,
the details of each ledge and tree.
Dwell not on triviality
Safe passage draws on geography.
Mid morning, 17.12.34
Ista Island
Vallenka eased back on her straps, testing the play of the leather in a vain attempt to conceal her impatience. M'ton was surely more than ready to signal the Weyr to leave.
Soon, Carth supplied. Narnoth bespeaks the weyrlings.
Well, that was all very nice for them, but Thread wouldn't wait on the weyrlings' leisure, nor on M'ton's. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't looked particularly rested when he'd got back to their weyr, the report she'd requested in hand. The fellis he'd taken for his headache didn't seem to have helped him much either. She'd told him otherwise on both counts, naturally. It was amazing, really, how much effort one man could put into trivialities, but far better that he spent his energy there than on any more of his insane schemes for reorganising her Weyr. Ista certainly hadn't attained its current status by subordinating itself to other Weyrs, tithing fighting dragons like so much livestock! She'd thought she'd put a stop to it already, but M'ton would insist on interfering again and again. The fool man didn't have the slightest idea of what was genuinely important when it came to running a Weyr, but she was rapidly growing less inclined to correct him: he'd only do more damage if she did. M'ton had started to take N'essen's advice in some areas – finally! – but he hadn't yet figured out that his predecessor's pride was still badly bruised, and much of what N'essen had to say wasn't worth listening to. Although, that was hardly a recent development, Vallenka thought with a smile.
But perhaps she was being unfair. N'essen could fight Thread well enough – which was what M'ton was supposed to be doing, right now. She was just about to suggest a cutting remark for Carth to relay to Narnoth, when her queen alerted her to their imminent departure.
Several hours later, when the Fall was two-thirds over, she found herself comparing M'ton with N'essen a little more favourably. He, too, could lead a Weyr against Thread far better than most bronzeriders of her experience. It was actually rather impressive, given his appalling present condition. For however long M'ton lasted as Weyrleader, at least he'd honour Ista's duty to Pern in his leadership of the fighting wings. Changes in the Weyrleadership could be awkward times, especially as Carth would inevitably be grounded herself soon enough. With barely another month to go before the queen was too egg-heavy to lead the queens' wing on the lowest level, it was somewhat of a relief to know that Thread would be well-seared in her absence. Another time, she might even have considered encouraging Carth to let Narnoth catch her again, but that flight was a long way off. Perhaps, if M'ton-
Carth suddenly shrieked a warning, and backwinged in the air. Daragoth calls! Narnoth is missing!
How? Where? You'd have sensed it if he'd been injured, or died.
Of course I would. He went between some minutes back, and has not returned. But no-one can find him. His Wing is in disarray. Rolpoth takes charge of the Flight, and Ulbrinth leads Narnoth's Wing. Minith has mop-up. It is strange. He is not lost, not yet. I can feel him too strongly, but I can't place where.
That was all the information Vallenka needed to hear. Keeping her thoughts tightly under control, Vallenka urged her queen forwards into a dive. Quickly now, Carth-my-heart, before that thread escapes us. Timing's the only explanation. But by Faranth, if you can't find Narnoth easily, I fear they're living more than twice right now.
Carth's mind reeled with shock. Has the Red Star taken their wits?
What wits? I told M'ton he shouldn't be timing it today! Of course he ignored me, but only a complete fool would double-up during threadfall, instead of the hours beforehand. Vallenka calmly leaned over Carth's neck and flamed the stray Thread they'd been chasing. Can you find them? she asked, as the last of it dissipated into ash.
The dragon's mental voice was thick with reproach. I can, now I know what they've done. He's in Boll, and Ista, AND Keroon.
But which when is where?
Carth ascended again, concentrating hard as she traced a wide arc beneath the fighting Wings. Vallenka had flamed her next target to char before the queen spoke again. Narnoth is at Boll last, with Alaireth. He was in the other nows beforehand. They sleep!
And will he come back here? Did he go there from here, or come here from there?
I DO NOT KNOW! We will see. When he has left all the other nows, we will know then if they are no more in this one. Not before.
Fool man. Inform the other Wingleaders that he is there, in Boll, but not the other places. We will deal with him. Timing remains restricted knowledge. He might be under a lot of pressure, but Threadfall is not the time to be derelict of one's duty. Tell them that, that he's left us to visit with his weyrmate. The rest of us need to keep on fighting this Threadfall, and hoping for the best.
I have touched Narnoth's mind. He wakes, and knows he must return. M'ton is awake too.
Do not bespeak them. Knowledge of their peril would surely doom them outright.
Carth didn't answer. Vallenka could feel her stretching her mind lightly towards Narnoth even as she continued to concentrate on the demands of fighting Thread. They'd have their answer soon enough, and neither Weyrwoman nor Queen could afford to let the outcome take them unawares. High above, in spite of the relatively quick and smooth transfer of leadership to Rolpoth and L'daff, there was still some level of chaos in the ranks. Vallenka kept Carth listening hard, keen to ensure that Ista didn't make Sh'vek's mistakes. She would not crumble merely because one axis of power had left the field of battle, and nor would anyone else in her Weyr if she had anything to say about it. Two other fighting queens able to back Carth up also made a difference, she had to admit. They supported the smaller dragons, bolstering their will and spirit, and could call back some of the stronger first-shift dragons if any extra help was needed. The minutes passed swiftly as the Weyr continued its fight. Vallenka's first awareness that something else had occurred was when Carth suddenly broke off her attack and called on Minith to take out the tangle that she and Vallenka had previously been heading for.
Narnoth is leaving? Vallenka asked. Coming here, now?
There was a note of pain in the dragon's mental voice as she replied. No...they go back to our then, I am certain of it.
Oh, Carth. They may yet return. They might have skipped ahead. Vallenka honestly doubted it, but until their deaths became fact, she'd do everything she could to shelter her dragon from the blow. Damn the man for causing Carth this hurt! M'ton could so easily have settled with doing what he was told and being content with what he had – he'd made a habit of doing just that for most of his life anyway. Instead, he'd flown blindly into misfortune after misfortune, and now he and Narnoth would both pay the ultimate price for the bronzerider's poor judgement. As if being alive in the same time more than once could ever be a good thing to do, in spite what some short-sighted record-makers might have stated. Short-lived, too – there was a fardling good reason no-one remembered Weyrleader K'sin. How long would they remember M'ton and Narnoth?
An instant later, a jolt of pain ripped through her, an echo of Carth's heartfelt grief that resonated wildly through their shared bond. Vallenka let it wash through her, filling her heart and mind with love and strength for the only being that really mattered to her: her Carth, her golden, wondrous Carth, who was hurting almost too much to bear.
The queen's pain reached its peak as she opened wide her jaws to keen. They ARE lost. They are no more!
I know. Oh love, I know. Grieve them now, but know you deserve better. If his affections had truly been yours...
Carth sent back a heavy silence. Vallenka waited, patient and certain that the truth and Carth's natural pragmatism would soon begin to ease the queen's distress. It wasn't long before her dragon proved her correct, the pain of grief metamorphosing into resentment and rage, that her chosen bronze had dared to stray from her side.
I know. Carth said. They did not deserve us. And we have thread to fight! We fight!
That's my girl.
The long habit of Threadfighting soon eased Carth and the other dragons of the Weyr back into an effective fighting force, and before too long the last ashes of the trailing edge were wind-blown embers beneath them. Give L'daff, K'mallo and the other Wingleaders word, Vallenka asked Carth. We return to Ista, Wing-wise. Minith can oversee the sweeps with a Wing of her choice. What says Helleath on the injuries?
Only two serious, and one fatality other than Narnoth.
That green in the first shift?
Parroluth, yes. And Helleath tells me that Alaireth awaits us at Ista. Her rider is quite distressed.
Vallenka was unsurprised. I suspected she might show up. Send word to Ormaith, please. My brother should be present for this. She pictured the long sweep of Ista Weyr tumbling down to the bay, the water dark and greyed beneath the overcast sky. Carth re-emerged from between in an elegant glide, allowing Vallenka to easily survey the minor injuries being tended in the Weyrbowl. Relatively few of them, thankfully. The ranks of the Weyr's fighting dragons followed her in. Long turns of practise had them landing in orderly fashion behind her, even in the absence of a Weyrleader to guide them. The Weyrwoman unbuckled her flamethrower and tossed the apparatus to the usual ground staff who attended her, then dismounted smoothly. Gloves and wherhide jacket followed, freeing her fingers to manage Carth's fighting straps with more dexterity than covered hands allowed. By the time she was done, she knew she had an audience – Rahnis' ragged breathing would have given her away even if Carth hadn't already told her rider of the other weyrwoman's approach.
"Rahnis! What in Faranth's name are-"
The woman had the temerity to slap her, right there in front of Carth! Carth lunged around, bellowing, and knocked the girl off her feet almost before Vallenka's face had even started to smart. No dragon would stand for such an insult to their rider, least of all a queen.
Vallenka! How dare she! How dare she!
Vallenka lifted a hand to touch her sore cheek, and winced. It could have been worse, she supposed. "Get up, girl." Let her up, my heart, she instructed Carth.
Several dragonlengths away, Alaireth had started surging forward to protect her own rider. Carth rose onto her hind legs, hissing furiously, her wings outstretched, asserting her rage and dominance over her daughter. Vallenka could hear the gasps and cries of shock from the weyrfolk all around her, but there was no doubt in her own mind that Alaireth would back down. The girl was probably more bruised in ego than in body, after all. Sure enough, the other queen had scarcely halved the distance between them when she suddenly hunched back on herself, her eyes darting back and forth between Carth and her rider, teeth bared in impotent fury. Well done, Carth. She knows her place, doesn't she? Vallenka turned her attention back to the girl. Another one who ought to know her place better than she did. As she watched, Rahnis slowly pushed herself up from the ground onto her knees.
"You...you did this to them!" the girl gasped, choking back tears as she struggled to find her wind.
"Oh, compose yourself, girl. He's hardly the first rider to come to grief between."
"Compose myself? Faranth, Vallenka, M'ton is dead!"
"And what do you intend to do about that?" She walked over and pulled Rahnis fully to her feet, grasped her firmly by one arm, and spoke low enough that only the pair of them would hear what she said. "He told you about timing, didn't he?"
Rahnis didn't answer, but the knowledge was right there in her eyes.
Vallenka sighed. "So. And you think it's my fault that he died from it, do you? M'ton had every right to see those records, and it was my duty to give him access to them."
"You meant this to happen!"
"Of course I didn't!" Vallenka said with conviction. She'd meant to exhaust him, no more than that: burdening him with the fatigue of excessive timing and however much make-work it took to keep him from interfering with her management of Ista. She'd meant to see him resigning his knots in defeat before Turnover, with any prospect for holding rank again in the future ruined beyond repair. She let the honesty of her words flood through to Carth in a controlled burst, reassuring her queen that, as tragic as it was, M'ton's death was something that the man had brought upon himself. True, a fatal error on M'ton's part had always been a possibility – timing was dangerous even when you didn't overstretch yourself – but he'd chosen to take that risk each and every time he'd sent Narnoth between times. His visual, his choice...and if he'd been too blind to the warning signs to realise that he wasn't fit to visualise the inside of his own eyelids, that was no responsibility of hers. "I warned him that timing was dangerous, and I strongly advised him not to do it." A sure-fire way of getting results, that.
You mustn't blame yourself, dear Vallenka. You did warn him of the dangers.
Even angered, her queen was a most perspicacious dragon. Vallenka relaxed a little, permitting Carth to smother the small knot of guilt the queen had sensed inside her rider's mind with layer after layer of love and trust and concern. Turning aside from Rahnis, Vallenka raised a hand in appeal towards her queen. "Oh, but Carth! It was my fault! If he'd taken the time to study the records properly he'd have understood the risks for what they were. I knew what a cavalier, irresponsible attitude he had; I should have realised he wouldn't do more than scratch the surface; he's done little better with his other duties, after all."
When Vallenka looked round, Rahnis was visibly shaking with emotion.
"How dare you! How dare you, Vallenka? Insulting him like that!" She was starting to raise her voice again.
Carth, would you mind? It's been a hard day, and this is starting to grow tiresome.
"And you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it? I-" Rahnis broke off with a gasp, echoed by an angry cry from Alaireth.
Harder, Carth. "I don't care what you believe," Vallenka said slowly. "You're none of my concern."
The grief in Rahnis' eyes was hardening into stubborn rage. Behind her, Alaireth was clawing the ground furiously. "If he can do it, so can I. I can warn him, can't I? Go back..."
The girl might have changed tack...but she was still heading right for the reefs. "But you didn't," Vallenka said slowly, encouraging Carth to share the veracity of her words with the other queen. "You know you didn't. I'll tell you what I know, what M'ton was too much of a love-sick fool to think through. It's restricted knowledge for a fardling good reason. It's a dangerous business, timing, and you can never, ever change what's happened. He's dead and keened for. Will you take Alaireth back to a when that you both know never was?" She barked out a laugh. "Do you want to join your lover that badly?"
Rahnis broke down, all the fighting spirit in her eyes vanishing in an instant. Alaireth took two steps forward, then stopped, desperately wanting to reach her rider but not quite willing – yet – to dare Carth's displeasure. If Rahnis had been holding her queen back before...yes, it was best to keep the upper hand there.
Let Alaireth through to her, Carth. Leaving the girl to sort herself out, Vallenka returned to Carth's side. Her queen's eyes were still whirling red and purple with rage and distress. Easy now. I'm well, Carth-my-love. See? Vallenka reached up to stroke one of the queen's eye ridges, and steadily the whirling of Carth's eyes slowed, the darker colours steadily shading back into their usual blue. By then, a number of other riders were beginning to gather around. N'essen and K'mallo were there of course, as was M'ton's wingsecond and several of the Weyr's usual gossipy busybodies.
Ormaith has arrived, too, Carth told her.
Where? Oh, I see him. Good. Sh'vek should hear this too. Leaving Carth settled watchfully on the ground, Vallenka walked over to join the waiting bronzeriders. "What an awful event that was."
"Aye, Weyrwoman," N'essen said. "But what happened? Do you think the man cracked? We all knew he wasn't finding the Weyrleadership easy, but-"
Vallenka gestured him to silence, and let her voice carry. "Ask her what caused him to lose his wits." She glanced round to check on Rahnis. The girl was clinging to her dragon's head, her body wracked with quiet sobs. Not her problem, though she hoped that Sh'vek would have the sense to remove her from Ista sooner rather than later. "Some acts are inexcusable. Abandoning an entire Weyr – during Threadfall, of all things! – is surely one of the worst of them. Especially as it was the single part of the job he wasn't failing abysmally at."
"No!" N'essen tutted his lips. "And he was in Boll, was he, with Rahnis?"
Trioth asks if Narnoth was timing, Carth said. N'essen will support you as you require.
Oh, he will, will he? With an injured dragon who won't be flying again for at least another month? No, L'daff seems to be doing fine right now, and K'mallo will step up quickly enough if L'daff lets him see his chance. N'essen will have to try much harder than that if he wants to lead Ista again. Vallenka smiled grimly, and nodded at her brother as he joined the group. He'd heard all she'd said, she could see it in his face. Dragon gossip would surely have supplied the rest. "Why, yes," she said, "M'ton preferred Boll to fighting Thread over Nerat." Give Trioth the truth, Carth, and Ormaith too. M'ton read about timing in the records and ignored all the warnings.
"Why didn't he get back here?" K'mallo asked. "What killed them? I've asked, but no-one saw them return, so I don't think Thread got them."
Sh'vek cleared his throat. "Weyrling mistake, I imagine. Like my sister says, he didn't want to be there. Whatever visual he gave Narnoth, he must've contradicted it badly on some other level."
"Most like," Vallenka said, and sighed loudly. "Ista will survive. But please, Sh'vek, will you remove that nuisance of a girl from my presence? The rest of you, inside. We'll continue things there."
The Istan bronzeriders hurried off, but Sh'vek held her gaze.
"A moment of your time, Vallenka, if you can spare it," Sh'vek said.
Carth was silent in her mind; whatever questions her brother had, he wasn't content to ask them privately via their dragons. She raised an eyebrow in query. "So?"
He stepped closer, watching his Weyr's new weyrwoman all the while, and lowered his voice to a monotone mutter. "I want the truth. What really happened, not what Carth thinks, and certainly not what you'll be telling your Weyr later."
"I don't see that it's any of your business, really."
"Aside from the fact that you were supposed to send me a functional weyrwoman? The timing was your idea, wasn't it?" Sh'vek waited, finally accepting her silence as the assent that she'd never admit to aloud. "So. And this wasn't the first time, was it?"
Vallenka shook her head. "Apparently not."
"Even so, I find it hard to believe that they lost themselves like that, nor that they intentionally left the Weyr during Fall." He gazed at her thoughtfully. "I know that look. What am I missing? Tell me, sister."
"Interval before last, Weyrleader K'sin. He managed three Turns as Weyrleader by Ista's count, and a whole month longer than that by his own."
Sh'vek pushed the idea aside in the air with an arm. "We've all doubled up like that, all of us who know it's possible. Perhaps not for so long. So, he was lousy at it."
She shook her head again. "Try 'tripled', Sh'vek. And even that misses the mark."
"Didn't he...?" Sh'vek looked away, back towards Rahnis. "You didn't warn him about the dangers of doubling up on yourself, did you?"
"I told him it was dangerous."
"The specifics?"
"He never asked. His choice, his loss."
"His death." Her brother slowly shook his head. "Your choice. You might have told me what you were about. Faranth knows, you've set my Weyr back badly enough by what you've done. And to add timing to the mess she's in?"
"She's none of my responsibility now."
"She was already in a pretty fragile state. I've been pushing her, you know that. Rumour even has it that she...no, like you said, that's none of your responsibility. She'll fly back with me and Ormaith, and we'll deal with it today."
Oh ho! Vallenka could figure that riddle out easily enough. Rumour could be wrong, but Sh'vek certainly wouldn't want the girl grounded, would he? "Her loss, your choice."
Her brother lifted his chin and shouted across the bowl. "Rahnis! Get yourself over to Ormaith. You're in no fit state to fly right now." With a sigh, he pulled his gloves out of his belt and wriggled his fingers into them. "Fardling things. I had better things to do with my time today than deal with a mess like this, you know."
Vallenka shrugged. "The timing? I wouldn't worry about it, brother. Whatever M'ton told her, it wouldn't have been of much use anyway, and she'll never try it on her own now. Maybe you should thank me. At least you won't have her pining for home any more."
"That's not the point." He shot a quick glare at her over his shoulder as he walked away to deal with Rahnis. She hadn't moved an inch.
Vallenka turned her back on them both, and began the walk back to her weyr, and her own responsibilities. Tell me when they've gone, Carth, then off you go to bathe. I'll join you when I'm done with the wingleaders. They wouldn't detain her for long, and then she could join Carth for a good long dunk in the sea. That was what she needed, to wash away the trials of the day and the stench of Fall. She'd feel properly clean again soon enough.
End of Part 1
AN: So. It looks like the first POV character has bitten the dust... Pat yourself on the back if you saw this coming before it was completely obvious. ;-) (And if you did, why not see if you can spot some of the other plot-hints for upcoming story developments littered through the earlier chapters?)
If you're happy with interpreting M'ton's job title in a rather specific and non-Pernese way, you can take the events of these last two chapters as a nod to the story's title. Or, you can continue to see the title as referring to F'ren from Sh'vek's perspective, as the person to blame for the death of the weyrling queen 19 turns previously. Or, you can start to worry about whether I'm using it as a noun or a verb... ;-)
Just FYI, new chapters will be going up weekly during December.
Also, please comment! Please? *sadpuppyeyes* Nothing but crickets is pretty damn discouraging.