Chapter 4
"Where are they?!" demanded Weyrwoman Lessa. She was a small woman, but she was a force to be reckoned with. Not many people would go against her.
"We don't know, Lessa. He went 'between' but didn't appear at Southern Weyr. The fact that the dragons aren't keening, means that they are not dead, but we can't find them anywhere on Pern," said K'van, Weyrleader of Southern Weyr.
"All other weyrs have reported that their dragons cannot find them and cannot sense them either. It's like they just vanished," said T'gellan, Weryleader of Monaco Bay Weyr.
"They can't just vanish, T'gellan. They must be somewhere!"
"Or somewhen," stated F'lar, the Weyrleader of Benden and of Pern.
"They timed it?" yelled Lessa, incredulously.
"Not on purpose, Lessa. D'bor is a conscientious rider who wouldn't jeopardise his dragon for anything. I never had a problem with him. He followed my orders to the letter and never caused problems," said Benden's weyrlingmaster.
"And because we don't know when he went, we can't go get him," said F'lar.
"So we wait? Is that it?" said Lessa, getting more and more irate.
"There's nothing we CAN do, Lessa. We have to wait until he comes back from whenever he is."
"We could check the records for dragons out of time," suggested K'van.
"We can check with the Harper Hall about that too, they always keep assiduous records on everything," responded T'gellan. Both weyrleaders wanting to do something to try to find the lost rider.
"Go find out," Lessa said, waving them towards the exit. Both turned and practically ran out of the council chambers with the weyrlingmaster following them.
"We will find them Lessa," F'lar said, pulling her into a hug. Lessa fell into the arms of her weyrmate.
"He's just a weyrling, F'lar. How do we find a lost rider?" Lessa said, sadly.
"I don't know, but the dragons are not keening for a lost dragon, so that gives me heart. I won't believe they are dead until the dragons tell me they are."
"So, we wait," said Lessa, with a finality she didn't feel.
"Yes, love, we wait." They stayed like that for quite a while as Lessa calmed down.
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"Roma," Adara called. "Where's the nearest water supply?"
"A few hundred feet over there," said Roma, pointing to the southwest.
"Easy to get to?"
"Fairly, easy, though we have to lower a bucket on a rope."
"How far down is it?"
"Hmm, maybe eight or nine feet."
"Get a party together and go get some water, please."
"No problem," said Roma, heading off.
"Now we wait until the boys are done checking the stairs, Indra and Octavia come back from hunting and Roma comes back with water," said Adara, facetiously.
"So, what are we doing next?" asked Kathy, coming over to them.
"Not sure, really. Depending on what the boys find, we'll either be exploring the upper levels on this side, or waiting for the Commander to turn up in a few days."
"How long does it take to get to Polis?"
"Well, if they set off first thing in the morning, they can make camp about early evening, halfway to Polis and go on from there in the morning. Stay there overnight and then come back the next day. They'll turn up sometime four days from now."
"That's if she can get away, though, right?"
"Yep."
"So what do we do until then?"
"We explore the surrounding area. Don't forget this area hasn't been explored much by the Clans."
"Not taking a day off?"
"Thought about it, but this lot may do something stupid if they're bored. I'd rather keep them busy."
"True," said Kathy. "Mind if I go to that bookstore and find a book to read?"
"If we explore more inside, then yes you can. We'll be sorting it all out before we go back to Connor Town."
"Sweet!" Kathy walked away towards the campfire they had laid in preparation for a meal.
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Indra and Octavia when asked decided to go to Polis to appraise the Commander and Clarke about the building. Adara had asked that the dragon and his rider be kept secret for now, but knowing Indra, she would probably tell the Commander about them. After they left, Tomac, Fio and Artigas were left with the Skaikru and wanted to look inside the building. Atom and Josh led them into the complex for a look around. They would be explaining things and items to the Trikru as they went. Adara would've bet good money on all three of them finding something they wanted to keep. It would be interesting what they would pick - and what the rest of the clans would pick if they were here.
Looking around, she saw everyone working to make a camp here. They had taken down the campsite in the clearing that Cralleth and D'bor landed in and moved everything here. As there were trees only about fifty feet from the building, it was decided to put their camp in the middle between the two and sentries all day - even though Cralleth was enough to deter even the most determined of wild animals from entering their camp. As the evening meal was prepared, Roma, Harper, Bruno and Monroe were all talking about which areas to explore tomorrow while they waited on Indra and Octavia reaching Polis. Adara joined them, as did D'bor, even though he knew nothing about the environment here.
"Judging by this older map, none of the area around here looks to have been farmland, it's all urban or forest," said Adara, exasperated. "I want this creek explored a bit more. See if there is an easier route to get to the water."
"I'll take a team and explore that in the morning," said Bruno. Adara nodded.
"There's this green patch over here," said Harper. "Roma and I can take our team to see if this was farmland."
"Good. "We'll have to decide who stays here as well. With Bruno and probably Atom's team and your team out exploring, that leaves… me, Drew, Murphy, Monroe and D'bor along with Tomac, Fio and Artigas. I'd like one team member from each team to stay behind. Seven people aren't enough for sentry duty."
The others nodded.
"Now any questions about this building?"
"Can I go see it?" asked D'bor.
"If you want to. I'll take you in the morning, but it'll have to be short as the others will be leaving for their exploration trips and we'll have to stand sentry duty until they come back," said Adara.
"Can I come too?" asked Cralleth.
"Sorry, dear one, but you won't fit through the door. You can look at it through my eyes though," said D'bor, stroking his dragon's muzzle.
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Adara took D'bor into the shopping complex just after dawn. D'bor looked around and above him. He was astonished at the size of it.
"This is enormous! You could build a weyr here. These rooms here would hold full grown dragons, if you enlarged them a little bit, each one an individual weyr!" D'bor looked up to the second level. "If you put a ramp up to that second level, you could house weyrlings there, and the top level could be for the weyrfolk. This place would be an excellent weyr - with a bit of organisation and building."
"We don't have any dragons, D'bor. We'll probably turn this into a place to live for people who will inhabit this area in the future, but first, we'll clear out the good stuff and distribute them through the clans - if they want anything."
"Why not keep it for yourselves?"
"We don't live on our own lands, we are living on Trikru lands, so we will be sharing with the Trikru. The Commander of the twelve clans comes from Trikru so she may decide to share with the other clans. I'm certainly not going to try to keep it for just my people. That sort of thinking is what happened before the war. Greed was rampant. Now, we are trying to do better and not live beyond our means nor take more than we need."
"Good policy. I remember my Harper lessons about why our ancestors came to Pern. They too were trying to get away from their greedy governments."
"Maybe both our peoples have learned from the past, but now it's up to our generations to make sure that those lessons are not lost. Greed and arrogance are driving ambitions and people often think it'll never happen to them. Unfortunately, time has proven them wrong and it did happen to them."
"I know. My people too, over the turns have forgotten our ancestors and their struggle and they think they are entitled to do what they like. We've even had people who wanted to destroy the lost AIVAS facility and anything he has taught us and whatever we've made because of him. They even kidnapped Master Robinton!"
"I've only read the first book, D'bor. I'll have to get the rest of them to find out what has happened."
"Well the time I come from, there are 15 turns left before the end of the ninth pass. I won't spoil the ending for you," D'bor said, laughing.
"This is so weird, reading about Pern's past while you are here." Adara gave a bark of laughter. "Maybe we should send you back with a book about Pern!" D'bor laughed.
"Maybe Masters Sebell and Menolly would enjoy it, though I think the Weyrleaders would be apoplectic about being a book!"
"Well it could be worse, we could be a story to other people!" They both laughed at the absurdity of it all.
They carried on as Adara explained what she could of whatever they found.
"Maybe I could take something back with me that would be useful, but we don't have," said D'bor.
"But what?"
"No idea, yet."
"Let's see what we have that your people don't, shall we?"
"Lead on, Heda Adara," D'bor said with a sweeping gesture of his arm and a smirk on his face.
"Cheeky bugger," Adara whispered under her breath as she passed. D'bor just grinned harder.
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"So all these were places you could buy things?" asked D'bor after they had gone the entire length of the corridor.
"Yes," said Adara.
"Why did they build something so big and put so many of the same stalls in it?"
"Before the war, people liked to have a choice in the things they bought. Each store often had the same things in it, like clothes stores, but the price may vary, or one store may have some of the same things, but may have items other stores don't have. Some stores are what they called speciality stores and they would do things like outsize clothing or petite clothing. Outsize was clothing for a larger person, while petite was for smaller people. Other stores only carried expensive clothing, something they called 'high end' clothing. Personally I think it was just a way to part people from their money."
"So the more stores, the more money?"
"Sort of, if you sell something that sells well, you make money, but if you've invested money into something that people aren't buying, then you've lost money. Isn't that how it is in your world?" asked Adara, puzzled.
"Well, yes, I suppose it is," said D'bor. "I never really thought about it. I was a child in Benden in a small hold in the northern part of the hold. We never really went to gathers as they were too far away for us to travel. Things were provided for us. When I was 16, I was searched - the dragons and dragonriders would go out to look for potential new riders - and taken to Benden Weyr. When Ramoth's clutch hatched, I was unlucky and didn't impress in that clutch, but I stayed on and in the next one I was lucky enough to impress with Cralleth. After that, everything we needed was provided for us by the weyr. I've never actually thought about how money works."
"Up on the Ark, we didn't have money and down here, the Clans don't use it either. We all use a barter system."
"What's that?"
"It's when you exchange goods. You and the other person have to figure out how much you think your goods are worth and then the two of you haggle to come to an agreement. It's often a lengthy process because people will always want more for their products and often think their products are better than they are so try to barter for more. I mean, is a spear worth a sword? Not really. But is a sword worth six spears? It might, depending on what each person wants. It's really about how much you can get for whatever items you have, the better made an item, the more value it has."
"Does that not lead to fights?"
"Often. Sometimes they use mediators to settle it and sometimes they just fight." D'bor was thinking about that when they came upon another store. This one was called a 'sporting goods' store.
"What are sporting goods?" asked D'bor.
"No idea. We sometimes played sports on the Ark, though most of those were games that were played in a small space. We used to watch sports on our entertainment screens, but we didn't play those as they needed large areas to play in. Other than that, I have no idea what sporting means."
"Ruth - a white dragon in my world - is considered a sport because he's small," said D'bor, thinking about the word sport. "And AIVAS has several physical games in his database he calls sports. Some of them have been revived, especially soccer and baseball."
"Let's take a look," said Adara, stepping towards the door. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, flashing her hand light around. D'bor brought his up to have a look around as well.
"Guns!" Adara exclaimed. She played the light around the walls and shelves. "Handguns and rifles, knives, camoflage clothing, bright coloured vests, there's all kinds in here. What kind of sport uses guns?" Adara was perplexed.
"What are guns?"
"Weapons designed to kill," stated Adara, grimly.
"What kind of sports, indeed." D'bor wandered over to another part of the store and picked up an object that he couldn't identify, but the faded picture on the box showed multiple tiny knives coming out of the casing.
"What's this?" he asked, holding up the item in question. Adara went over to him.
"That's called a penknife or a Swiss Army knife. They have all kinds of blades and things in one handy case. I think my people could use some of these. They used to make several different types of Swiss Army knives, so there may be others around."
"Like this?" D'bor said, holding up another case. Adara took it from him and opened up the black case. She examined it closely.
"No, this is called a multitool. See here? It's got a blade, but also a screwdriver and a small pair of scissors. It has a small ruler on the handle and when it folds out, you get a pair of pliers too."
"Pliers?"
"A gripping tool," Adara explained.
"Oh," D'bor said, enlightenment showing on his face.
"Want to keep this one?" Adara asked, offering it to him. "You did say you wanted to take something small back to Pern to prove you were off Pern, didn't you." D'bor looked at her, startled.
"Really?" He asked. "I can keep this?"
"Would that prove that you were somewhere else other than on Pern?" she enquired.
"Yes, it would!"
"Good, you can keep that and you can take one of the other penknives or Swiss Army knives as a present for your weyrleader if you like."
"F'lar would like that, but I think Lessa wouldn't like to be left out of the gifts." D'bor mused.
"Okay. What do you think she would like?"
"I don't know, but something practical. Lessa doesn't really have much use for non-practical things."
"Well, let's look around and see what she would like."
They looked around the store but D'bor couldn't see anything that he thought Lessa would like. He shook his head.
"Nothing here seems right," he said.
"Well, let's move on to another store and see if there is anything there." They moved off and looked in the windows of a few other stores, including an electronics store with lots of computers and equipment in it. Adara thought about bringing Raven or Monty up for a look around. One store they came to was a bag store. They looked at each other and went in. D'bor looked at all the different types of bags, from the teeny ones - he couldn't think what it could be used for because it may hold one or two marks, but not much more than that - up to huge great bags almost as big as himself.
"Let's look around in here," D'bor said. He was fascinated by the colours and sizes of the bags as well as the many pockets some of them seem to have. He walked around the store and looked at the different materials, fastenings, staps, handles, pockets and inside the bags. Eventually he held up a bag.
"What's this called?" he asked. Adara took the bag and had a look at it. It was made of tan leather and had one long strap on it, going from side to side, but looked like a shoulder strap and a smaller handle sewn right on top of the bag itself. It had a small pocket on the front between two straps that used buckles to fasten them. There were two smaller pockets on either end of the bag and inside was divided into two larger pockets with smaller gussets sewn onto the insides of the bag to provide small pockets.
"I think this is called a satchel. You can put this over your shoulder like this," she said demonstrating the use of it hanging from one shoulder and using that hand to hold it in place. "Or you can put it across your body like this." Adara pulled the strap over her head so it lay on her left shoulder, but the bag was on her right side.
"We don't have any of these on Pern. Can I take this one for Lessa?"
"Sure, but don't you want something that cannot possibly be made on Pern? Something with material you don't yet have?"
"Can I take both?" asked D'bor, not wanting to seem greedy.
"I don't see why not?" So D'bor looked around again. He picked up one that had a lot of pockets in it and on it.
"This one has lots of pockets, so Lessa wouldn't have to dig around to find what she needs. She can wear it while flying." The bag only had one shoulder strap though.
"Hmm. What about a combination of straps and pockets?" asked Adara, holding up a backpack with lots of pockets, but also had both shoulder straps and waist straps.
"How do you wear it?"
"Here, I'll show you." She went over to D'bor and placed it on his shoulders, then fastened the waist strap. "You can adjust the shoulder and waist straps so that it fits snugly and you're sure it won't fall off. This one has a capacity of 40 litres, which I'd guess is the biggest that Lessa could carry comfortably. It may seem large on her, but it will carry quite a bit of stuff." There were multiple pockets on the outside too.
"It feels really comfortable," D'bor said.
"Just remember at the moment, it's empty. When it's full, you may find it's a little bit more unwieldy."
"I think I'd like to take this one, but does it come in red or black?" he asked. When Adara looked at him he elaborated. "Benden Weyr's colours are black and red. Our badge is a black roman numeral two on a red background."
"Well, these bags do come in different colours, but they only come on one colour - if you know what I mean. So red or black?" D'bor looked at them and chose the black one.
"That red isn't the right colour red," he explained.
"Black it is. Now the satchel can go in this bag along with your multitool and the Swiss Army knife. Anything else you would like? We need to leave in a few minutes as the other teams will be leaving soon and I'm needed for sentry duty."
"Oh, okay. Can we have a look before we leave for Pern?" he asked, earnestly.
"Sure. We do need to explore the upper levels as well," Adara said magnanimously. D'bor smiled as they left the complex to return to the sunlight.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Outside, Octavia and Indra were getting ready to leave for Polis. They would be gone for a minimum of four days. Adara had told them that if they were not back in five, then D'bor and Cralleth would try to reach their own world. Both of them nodded their understanding and Octavia hugged Adara before they set off. Tomac, Fio and Artigas would stay and help guard the campsite.
Atom and Bruno were ready to set off in search of a better way to access the water in the creek. Atom had taken some of the canvas buckets with him along with some of the rope they had found wrapped in plastic from the sporting goods store Adara and D'bor had just found. When he heard what they had found and where it was, he had run in and grabbed some stuff. Ropes, ties, backpacks and gloves. He took a quick look for other things he could use for this trip, but decided against grabbing too much. Bruno, as the team leader for this trip, moved his people off on their journey. They would be back that evening.
Harper and Roma, however, would be taking a five day trip to their intended location. They too, had a look at the goods on offer and had picked up some rope and gloves. They had also picked up some of the sleeping bags to use and one of the larger tents that sleeps ten people. It was large enough to stand upright in it and had a sort of porch area where they could store their muddy boots and coats. They had taken some of the food too and would hunt for more on the way back. Adara had admonished them to be back in five days or she'd send Cralleth to find them. Both girls laughed and promised they would. With all three teams gone, Murphy was drawing up a roster for sentry duty with Fio. They had decided to use three people on a watch and alternate every four hours. Murphy, Artigas and Monroe had volunteered to take the first shift. Adara sat down next to D'bor and ate her breakfast.
"What's next?" asked D'bor, leaning against his dragon.
"With what?" Adara asked.
"With your people. With three teams out, what are you going to do when not on duty?"
"Read. I've found some more Pern books in that second hand bookstore Murphy found on the second level. I found the next book in the series - Dragonquest - and I intend to read it before Harper's team comes back."
"And the others?"
"If they want to explore the building, they can - as long as they do it safely. We're too far from medical help if it's anything more serious than fractured ribs or cuts and scrapes. But I think that we should use this time just to relax. We've been on the go for just under a year and now I think it's a good time to just let go and do nothing too strenuous."
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Later that evening, Bruno's team came back from searching the creek.
"Well, there's still no easy access to the water, but we've rigged up a pulley system to make it easier," said Bruno. "We checked for about two miles in each direction and it still is just a creek." Bruno pulled out one of the maps of the local area that had also been found in the shopping complex.
"This is where we are, and this is where we've been getting the water from," Bruno said, pointing to a road over the creek near a place called Burnt Mills. "I think this is what's called a feeder stream. A small creek that eventually feeds into a much larger one, probably the one near Tondc."
"But that's miles away!" exclaimed Adara.
"I know, but this is the only water source around here. We'll have to send daily runs for water."
"Okay, Bruno. Thank you. Get your team fed and bedded down for the night. You're on sentry duty tomorrow."
"You bet," said Bruno turning to his team to dismiss them for the night.
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The next morning, Atom's team was first on sentry duty. Adara with Monroe and D'bor went back into the complex to check the second level, while Murphy took some others to check the stairs to the third level. Here, they found smaller stores, still mostly clothing or accessory stores with a few small item stores, a newsagents and two stationery stores - one of which held art supplies, and a jewellery store. Adara and Monroe picked up a shopping basket and filled it with pens, pencils, writing pads and other sundry goods they would take back to Connor Town.
D'bor was looking at everything with wonder. His world didn't have this much commerce in one place - well, except for gathers, but there were few and far between. He looked at some of the maps he had found, Each one was a wonder to him. He moved on to the board games he found there. Monopoly, Clue, chutes and ladders, yahtzee and others. He wondered if he could take a few back with him. Maybe a new form of entertainment could be introduced. If the kids were playing these kinds of games during threadfall, maybe it wouldn't be too bad at keeping them from being too scared.
The next store they came to was an electronics store. Computers, tablets, phones, laptops and other stuff were all here. Raven and Monty would have a field day in there. She would let them come here sometime to check things out.
D'bor came up to Adara and spoke to her.
"Cralleth needs to eat today," he said.
"How much does he need?"
"One of those animals with the multi-pointed horns?" he said.
"Deer? I'll send a hunting party out for you."
"Can he not get it himself?" he asked. "Dragons usually catch their own."
"Normally I would say yes, but at the moment, we cannot say even he would be safe from predators. There are a lot of mutated animals out there who kill people, I don't want to risk him." D'bor nodded.
"Okay," he said, with a sigh.
They left the complex with their goods and soon after, Fio and Artigas, along with a couple of the Skaikru went hunting for a deer. They were told not to dress it out as he would eat it all.
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The next day Jason came racing out of the building and straight over to Adara.
"We've found what looks like a storeroom for some of those pharmacy - medical - supplies. They're all wrapped in plastic!" Adara and Atom went running after Jason. They came to a store on the second level and looked in to see Drew, Harper and Roma checking to see what was in there.
"Anything we could use?" Adara asked, looking around.
"Yeah, most of this stuff is usable. There's stuff for wrapping around a broken limb to hold it in place, there's boxes of bandaids, bandages, suture kits, scissors, scalpels, medical implements that are probably used in surgeries, all kinds!" said Drew. Adara smiled.
"We now have to find a way to take some of it back for Abby and Jackson to use," said Blake.
"Well, we can't carry it all, we all have our own backpacks to carry." Adara thought for a minute. "Atom, go grab a few more people and go find something we could use to carry this stuff back. Maybe a small wheeled cart or something. A complex this size should have something we could use." Atom nodded before he went off to get a team together. "We won't be taking it all, but we can take some of it. If we wait until Clarke gets here, then she can tell us what we've got and what we can use," Adara said.
"Good idea," said Drew. "We'll keep looking throught this until then." Adara nodded and left.
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Two days later at the noon meal, Indra and Octavia rode back into camp with the Commander and Clarke.
"Hey, everyone," said Clarke before she stopped short and stared at the huge brown dragon lying in the clearing. "Shit, that's huge!" she almost yelled.
"What is it?" asked the Commander, her hand on her sword and looking ready to use it. Adara went up to them and made the introductions.
"Commander Lexa, Ambassador Clarke of the Skaikru, this is brown Rider D'bor and his dragon, Cralleth." The Commander looked at the dragon and Adara could see her visibly relax as she heard Cralleth talking to the Commander.
"I can hear him in my head!" she said.
"Cralleth is quite capable of communication with people when they need to, Commander," said D'bor, deferentially. Adara had told him to show the same respect to the Commander as he would to Lessa and Robinton combined.
"You ride this beast?" the Commander asked.
"My dragon is not a beast, Commander, anymore than your people are your slaves." D'bor was a bit indignant that his dragon was referred to as a beast,
"I do not mean that in a bad way, D'bor," said the Commander, but we refer to all animals in the forest over a certain size as a beast. Most of them are dangerous."
"My pardon, Commander. A rider is very touchy about how people refer to their dragons. They are a sentient species, not pack animals." The Commander nodded and reminded herself to not refer to the dragon as anything but a dragon in future.
"Hey, Clarke," said Adara. When Clarke turned around, she smiled. "This is not a sexual come on, but I found an art supply store. Interested?" Clarke laughed.
"Thank goodness you aren't Finn. I would have let Lexa run him through if he'd said that." Adara laughed.
"I know, why do you think I said it?" Clarke laughed harder.
"I'd love to see it. I think we've got time for a little tour before night."
"A little! Clarke, it's midday! How much time were you planning to have in there?"
"Okay, Okay! I was just joking!" said Clarke, with a hint of mischief in her eye.
"Yeah, right! Commander, if she's not out of there before the next watch change, pull her out please." The Commander nodded.
"Of course." Adara led the Commander and Clarke through the complex, showing them the stores they had looked at and what had been claimed by the people already there.
"Have you claimed it all, then?" asked the Commander.
"No, Commander. We've only laid claim to a few items we can use and a few for relaxing in the evenings. We know this is in Trikru territory and we assumed you would want to share this with all clans. Whatever's left, I would like to be stored here for future use - whenever it's needed." The Commander nodded once, understanding that Adara meant that they would defer to her in these matters and would not take more than they needed.
"We also found what looks like a store room full of medical supplies wrapped in plastic. It looks like most of it is usable, Commander. We would like you, Clarke, to check it out and see if any of it can be used and what to take back to Abby for her to use." Clarke nodded.
"Definately, and I'll see what we can use as well." Commander Lexa nodded.
"D'bor is taking some things back to his world with him. Proof that he was on another world and not lost 'between'."
"'Between'? That is the place Octavia described as total blackness with no sensations at all, is that right?" said Clarke.
"Yes, and very cold."
"Do you think they pose a threat, these dragonriders?" Lexa asked.
"No, Commander, I don't. The dragons are the protectors of their world and without them, their own version of a death wave would have fallen on them eight years into their colonization of that world. The dragons are revered by 99% of the population. Even the criminals on Pern believe in them. They pose no threat to us at all," Adara explained, anxious to make sure the Commander knew they were harmless to humans.
"When is he going to try to get back home?" Clarke enquired.
"Probably tomorrow. His ribs are healed and Cralleth had a meal the other day. I think once he's home, he'll eat more, but for now he's okay."
"That's fine," said Clarke. "Now, show me the arts supply store - that Finn did not find!" Adara laughed and led them up to the second level. "How is Finn, Anyway?"
"He's good. He stayed in Connor Town rather than be exiled. He's learning how to tan leathers. A smelly process, but he seems to like it. He did try it on with several teenagers there, but they soon slapped him down. Now he's taking a bit of a sabbatical from women and trying to sort himself out. He's realised that he's not God's gift to women and he's trying to respect them now. He'll get there, Clarke, he just needs time." Clarke nodded with a smile. If Finn could sort himself out, the world would be a safer place.
"By the way, how did you get here so fast? I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow."
"Oh, we have horses. Much faster," Clarke said, smiling.
Lexa was walking around the store and came across the maps that had fascinated D'bor. Lexa was equally fascinated with them - especially the globe. Adara walked up to her as Lexa was examining one.
"Like it?" she asked, pointing to the globe. The Commander nodded.
"Where are we on this… thing?" Adara spun the globe around until she came to the USA and pointed to the eastern seaboard and especially Washington DC.
"This is the area the clans inhabit, and this is Tondc."
"That's it?" asked the Commander. "I thought we had a lot of land, but this is just a small portion of this…?"
"World?" Adara supplied.
"Yes. Are the different colours to separate the countries from each other or do they have another purpose?"
"I honestly don't know, Commander. As far as I know, it's to show where one country ends and another begins, but for all I know, it could be that the lands themselves hold some meaning for the colours." Adara rummaged through the folded maps on a nearby table. "This one is of the United States of America. It should show you where most of the cities and towns were, and where the borders to each area - state - were. There may be maps of this area here too as well as maps of Washington DC and maybe of Baltimore. I think that's roughly where Polis is situated." She sorted through some more maps and handed them to the Commander.
"Thank you, Adara," said the Commander, smiling at her. Adara was in shock. The Commander had thanked her? "Clarke said it was nice to thank people for their help. She also said that I only needed to do it with the Trikru and Skaikru at first, but that it is appreciated by people."
"I do appreciate it, Commander. Thank you."
"Okay, break up this lovefest!" said Clarke, coming up to them, smiling.
"Na-ah, Clarke, I like this version of the Commander. You can't keep her all to yourself, that's greedy!" Adara said, jokingly. Clarke laughed.
"I just mellowed her out a bit, first." They all laughed at that.
"Okay, fine. Now, let's see what else we can find. There's an electronic store a couple of doors down that Raven and Monty would drool over, but there may be something in the furniture department on the first floor that you could find for your quarters."
"Like what?" asked Clarke.
"Closets, chairs, sofa's, beds, bedding, mattresses, pillows, tables, there's all kinds of stuff in there."
"Let's go. I want a decent blanket for our bed. It gets cold in winter when someone hogs them!" said Clarke. Adara barely suppressed a snort of laughter when Lexa looked at Clarke like she had just revealed her battle plans to the enemy.
"Follow me," she said, as she left the store before she burst out laughing.