Jurille sat back from her ledger with with a small smile of satisfaction on her lips.
The rotated Wings, not just from Benden, but from every Weyr, had settled into their new Weyrs comfortably. The junior queenriders also enjoyed the shake up, Urlyra and Pilana trading Telgar for Igen and Fort, respectively. Reema remained, having originated from Benden, and Koru, as Sageth hadn't risen yet. Jurille puzzled over that. At almost three Turns Sageth should have risen, but, as the gold hatched in the last decade of the Pass there was a good chance she would follow the mating patterns of an Interval queen.
So many new faces in the Wings meant a corresponding shuffling of people in the Lower Caverns, and Tress teased Jurille that they were going to have to retrain half of the weyrfolk. But the truth was that the reshuffling did a great deal of good. In addition to guaranteeing that the bloodlines didn't become too close, it also injected new skills and ideas. There was a delightful explosion of new dishes from the kitchen, new fashions in clothes and weaving patterns, and at every meal someone was playing or singing previously unknown music. Valtree even remarked to her that the quality of paper had improved. Some of the new arrivals even had commissions from the Hold. The next Gather was going to be exciting, Jurille mused.
Outside her weyr came a loud cheer, and she turned to see out at the commotion. A group of Weyrlings, dragonpairs from the last Hatching, cheered as a blue dragon flew low. It was a First Flight, but the size of the blue surprised Jurille before the Weyrwoman recognized him as Vaeth. More than half grown, the sleek blue was almost two months behind the rest of his clutchmates, not that one could tell from those powerful wingstrokes.
Vaeth and Char fly well together. Graesth informed her from her sunny perch.
"So they do, love, so they do." She stood to watch the rest of the First Flight. Vaeth pulled up and started climbing in altitude. Cresting the rim of volcano, Vaeth pulled in his wings tightly, falling in a spiral until the last possible moment he snapped them open again, soaring upward to wild cheers of the Weyrlings below.
"Alright you two, you've had your fun, come back down." Jurille heared the weyrlingmaster remark staring up at the soaring dragonpair.
"Oh, do let them have this moment, V'kka." She called to him. "They have worked so hard for it."
The weyrlingmaster turned, hearing her voice, and smiled at her.
"I swear on the First Egg, Jurille, I'm only trying to save Vaeth from sore wings in the morning." He explained as she walked over to join him.
"You didn't know? Vaeth has been practicing these acrobatics every night for the last three sevendays." She replied innocently. V'kka's eyes widened.
"He what?" V'kka stared up at the barrel rolling duo. "I knew something was up, I just didn't think it was coming from that pair."
"Char enlisted the help of the usual suspects," Jurille laughed as a green dragon winged up and the two dove, spiraling around each other. "And I suspect C'bay was in on it too."
High above the dragons danced on the wind. Hearts and minds synchronized, both heard and felt resentment when Mirrth at last suggested they land. Still the heady rapture remained until Vaeth touched down and Char became aware of herself and the straps holding her to the warm turquoise neck beneath her.
"Well, bluerider, I'd say you graduated to your own weyr after that little display." V'kka laughed, striding over to his students. Behind him, grinning broadly, Jurille added, "Quite the display. Don't be surprised if Valtree writes a song about it."
C'bay, still seated astride Mirrth, caught Char's eye with a concerned look.
"You did it again, didn't you?"
V'kka glanced between the two riders, alerted by C'bay's strained tone.
"Yes...Is that bad?" Char asked, fumbling with her riding straps.
"Maybe. V'kka? Is mindlock during a First Flight normal?"
Glenbe found the Masterharper standing at the window of his apartment, looking out over the main courtyard, gazing at nothing in particular.
"Catkin says you sleep very little and eat even less, " he said by way of greeting. Degal didn't look away from the window.
"She is right."
"And why is that? Despite what we feared when Redell showed his hand, we haven't seen as much as a wher whisker. It is, to quote the dragonmen, as if the whole mess went between." Glenbe caressed his blue fire lizard, sitting on his shoulder.
"I rather suspect they did. It's where they came out on the other end that worries me."
An open message tube sat on his desk, empty of it's contents.
"How is Buckset?" Glenbe probed gently.
"His recovery is slow but the Healers say his aphasia is beginning to lift." Degal finally turned away from the window. "A smattering of words is a far cry from a cure. Were it not for Farkin's sharding insistence, I would have already recalled all my harpers from this poorly executed search." He made a fist in helpless frustration, fully aware that he was admitting to one of the few Masters he trusted implicitly that he was afraid.
"Even without the LordHolder urging you, you know that would be folly." Glenbe replied steadily.
"I know." Degal rubbed his face. "I fear losing any more to Redell's cruelty."
"That is wholly understandable. And a laudable concern. But our Craft wasn't meant to hide behind stone walls, only to sing of heroes past. At some point, like every other person alive, we must get out into the wider world and chance dying, to really live."
Degal looked up at him, as if seeing the Master if Mathematics for the first time.
"When did you become a philosopher?" the Masterharper asked with a wry smile. Glenbe shrugged. "Numbers, philosophy, are they really all that different?"
The night breeze felt wonderful, after so long underground. Even in her gravid position Glanees refused to remain below ground a moment longer once the sunset. The all too short nights of summer were not to be squandered and under her, Retributionsk rumbled in agreement. Wher wings may not have been made for long distance flying, like dragons, but the wherqueen was just as eager to fly as any firelizard. Laughter welled up out of Glanees's throat as Retributionsk leapt skyward and caught an updraft. Let the Weyrs keep their day loving dragons, the night and all the stars in the sky belonged to the whers.
Abruptly, the wherqueen banked and where starlight shone before, was now filled by the massive bulk of another wher.
"What a grand night for flying!" Redell called and Glanees grinned back at him. It was so rare that both of them had the opportunity to afford a few stolen moments away from their duties - the whers wove back and forth on the night currents. After a time, Redelsk flew closer, so Glanees could hear Redell's offer.
"Would you like to see Ring Island?"
Glanees considered. She was very close to the end of her second trimester, that golden fragment of her pregnancy when betweening wouldn't cause problems. She bit her lower lip, then decided to chance it.
The cold of between gave way to warmth, heady with the tang of sea salt. For countless Turns Ring Island was uninhabited - only the smooth cut foundation of a long since disappeared building even hinted that humans once walked the beaches, but now, tiny cooking fires, allowed to burn low, dotted the half of the island above the ever swelling waves. They mimicked the constellations above, as the wher circled the island, then landed on the glittering silver sands. Redell helped Glanees dismount, then the whers were off, playing in the bioluminescent waters of the lagoon, as their mindmates walked hand in hand. For a while the Wherlord and his Lady spoke on small matters, stopping often to admire the glowing waters and frolicking whers.
"Should we make Ring Island our main Hold?" Redell asked finally, when they reached the terminus of the sandbar. Glanees leaned into him, and he wrapped an arm around her, feeling at peace for the first time in a very long time.
"I think I would like that, although, I shall have to see the Island in the light of day. I would have our child grow up, knowing both the brilliance of the night sky and the splendor of daylight."
"I can think of nothing that would be more pleasing. I found this a fair island when I was here before, shall we learn if it has remained so?" She agreed, and they fell into a contemplative silence of parents to be, dreaming of the future together, with children.
"Do you think," Redell started, as they finally turned inland, "do you think there is some way to share the day with our whers?" They walked at a leisurely pace, knowing they were the only humans awake on the island.
"The light hurts their eyes, my lord." Glanees replied without thinking, then stopped, frowning without seeing the path before her. "Wait, the light only hurts their eyes. You are thinking of the blind wher in Ista?" He had related to her a strange incident where he had encountered a blue wher born without eyes, but living quite comfortably as a pet to a fishing cot. Because the blind wher was unaffected by the sun, it was awake when it's handlers were, and sunned with cot's fair of firelizards. Redell nodded. "What if we made them some sort of eyewear, like we did the flying goggles for the Wher Wing?"
They resumed walking, discussing the idea as the sky in the east took on the first blush of the coming dawn.
