Sarla crawled out of the tunnel to find her foster mother towering over her.
"Sarla! Where have you been? Your father will be here any minute! It would serve you right if he leaves you here for making him wait. You should have been ready by now. What were you doing in there?"
"I was exploring, and I lost track of time!" Sarla said, trying to defend herself. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was talking to the new boy."
"Come on! You need a bath with all that dust on you." Dralina paused. "What new boy?"
"He said his name is Tabby. It's short for something else… he's only five, and he was out exploring!"
Dralina was still hustling Sarla along, but gave her a strange look. "Sarla, there haven't been any newcomers for some time. I never heard of one named Tabby. Was he at lessons today?"
"No… I never saw him before." Sarla stumbled, moaning.
"What's the matter with you?"
"My head hurts…"
Concerned, Dralina bent over to examine Sarla's head. "Goodness! What did you do?"
"I hit my head on the ceiling of that tunnel. Tabby startled me."
Dralina pressed her lips together. "Come on. I'll put some numbweed on that bruise." They had reached the living area. "You go take the fastest bath in your life while I get the numbweed. I've laid out some clean clothes for you. I'll be back in five minutes."
Five minutes later, Dralina was applying numbweed while Sarla struggled with the ties on the front of her new dress. "I hope Tabby's all ri – ouch! all right," Sarla said. "Oh! There must be another tunnel out through that room. He must have gone out that way."
"Come on! You don't keep a dragonrider waiting. Even if he is your father. Sarla, there aren't any boys named Tabby. What did you say his name is?"
"I think he said it was Tabollo or something like that," Sarla said, hurrying to keep up.
"Well, there isn't anyone by that name here in the main hold. Just how hard did you hit your head?"
Sarla flushed. "I was asleep for a few minutes, but I didn't dream him! He was there!"
"Sarla, no one was there. You're just making things up because you forgot to get ready in time!"
"No, I – "
"Quiet!" They had reached the door to the courtyard where M'rel and brown Graith were waiting; Sudina was offering him a mug of klah and laughing at something he had said. Tooli and Frinzie had curled up between Graith's wings. "Now, mind your manners!" They walked across the courtyard.
"Sarla! There you are! Good day to you, Dralina," M'rel said, bowing to his daughter's foster mother.
"Good day, M'rel," Dralina replied. "I'm so sorry we've kept you waiting – Sarla went off exploring in the tunnels again."
"No harm done! Did you find anything down there?" he asked Sarla.
"No, but I met a new boy – "
"Sarla, there isn't a new boy!"
"But he was there! I saw him!"
"No one was there, Sarla. I'm sorry, M'rel, but I don't like her making up stories as an excuse for being late!"
"Are you sure she's making it up?"
"I'm not! It's true!"
"She must be making it up. She says she talked to a five-turn-old boy named Tabby, and there's no one by that name living in the Hold. I just don't understand why she keeps going on about it!"
Sarla was in tears. "But I'm not making it up! He was there! He talked to me! He said his mother is dead, and he'd never seen fire lizards before! Why won't you believe me?"
She is telling the truth, Graith said to M'rel.
How do you know? M'rel was surprised that Graith was getting involved in the conversation; he would sometimes talk to Sarla but he didn't like arguments.
The fire lizards were there. They show two people in the room.
"Dralina, hold up," M'rel said. Dralina, who was still scolding Sarla, looked up in surprise.
"What?"
"I think she may be telling the truth. Graith says the fire lizards saw two people in the back room – Sarla and someone they didn't know."
"Oh!" Sudina was surprised. "Is that what they were trying to tell me? I knew they were upset but I couldn't figure out why."
She is telling the truth, Graith said again, this time so that everyone could hear. Sarla ran over to him, wiping her eyes.
"Oh, thank you, Graith! Thank you for believing me!" She threw her arms around as much of the dragon's great neck as she could reach. M'rel smothered a chuckle; Graith never knew what to think when she did something like that.
You spoke the truth. Graith sounded surprised at the reaction he had caused. Dralina's face was pale. "But that means – "
"It means you have a frightened little boy hiding somewhere in the hold," M'rel said pointedly.
"The poor thing!" exclaimed Sudina. "We'll have to search the hold. Maybe my fire lizards can find him."
"Oh, let me help!" Sarla said eagerly. "I know a lot of the old tunnels – "
"No! Absolutely not," Dralina said firmly. "You've had enough tunnels for one day, and you were late besides."
"But I hit my head! It wasn't my fault! And Tabby – "
"Come on, Sarla," M'rel said gently. "The harper will have a map of the tunnels. We were supposed to spend the day together, remember? I don't know when I'll be able to do this again."
"All right," Sarla said reluctantly. She climbed nimbly up Graith's foreleg and waited for her father to join her. Grabbing the riding straps, she gasped with delight as the big brown launched into the air. "Where are we going?" she asked in eager anticipation.
"Well, I have a little surprise for you, Sarla. Count to three and here we go!"
Sarla caught her breath as they went between. She loved riding on Graith but she hated the freezing-cold nothingness that was between.
They emerged into a startling heat, over a white beach and sparkling blue-green water. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "It's so beautiful! Where are we?"
M'rel chuckled. "We're in the Southern Continent," he called back as Graith circled to land. "I thought you'd like to go someplace warm for a change."
No sooner had they landed than Sarla had scrambled down and was running towards the water's edge. She picked up a shell and started to reach for one under the water, but then remembered that she was wearing her best dress. She trudged back to her father carrying the dry shell.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?"
"I can't go in the water in my good dress."
M'rel grinned secretively. "Why don't you see what's in here while I go and pick us some fruit?" He handed her the leather pack that had been fastened to the riding harness, and strolled off down the beach. Sarla tore open the pack. Inside were several thick towels, a large flask of fresh water, and a simple linen shift that she could wear in the water! Looking to make sure her father was really out of sight, Sarla slipped out of the heavy dress and into the light shift. She even remembered to fold her dress neatly on top of her shoes before racing back down to the water. Loud splashing soon followed.
Both moons were rising as Graith landed gently in the dark courtyard of Telgar Hold.
"Come on, Sarla, time to get down." Sarla woke up enough to slide down into her father's arms.
"Well, pet, did you enjoy your day?" An afternoon of swimming had been followed by a big dinner at Telgar Weyr.
"Oh, yes!" She was awake now. "Will you really let me come to the next Hatching?" she asked, awed at the thought.
"I'll make an extra trip just for you!" M'rel assured her. They walked together to the Hold door, where Sudina stood waiting. "Good night, Sarla."
"Good night, Father."
"Good evening, M'rel."
"Good evening, Sudina. You'd better get her to bed – she all but fell asleep on a flying dragon!"
"I did not," Sarla said sleepily. Sudina winked at M'rel.
"I'll get her to bed, now you get off to yours!"
"Good night, Graith!" Sarla called after the dragon as he took off.
Good night, came the response as the pair went between.