Chapter 17
The girls chatted excitedly, back in their own quarters, Carys deciding that she was certain that she felt a half-formed thought touch her.
"Loudmouth Jessenia's very quiet," said Silaya, "what's up? Scared they really ARE that big?"
"You are the drippiest drip on Pern," said Jessenia. "I was just… no, you don't have the concept of decent thought, so think what you will," she added shrugging.
V'sheren noted Jessenia's thoughtful, even preoccupied expression at their dragon anatomy class; and motioned her to stay behind.
Silaya whispered something to Nilis, and they both sniggered nastily.
V'sheren's eyes narrowed.
"Why, Silaya, if it's something funny, we'd all like to share the joke," he said.
Silaya half flushed.
"I don't have to," she said, her tone defiant more than insolent.
"That tells me that you are afraid to," said V'sheren scornfully, "which means you're afraid of being punished for a piece of slander. I think I insist on knowing what you said; I can always get Asreth to find out from your thoughts, you know!"
"That's intrusion!" said Silaya.
"Not if it's to prevent the crime – yes, I did say crime – of slander and taking away any character. You look at me, then you whisper and giggle. And so I wonder what lies you might be spreading, bringing the Weyr into disrepute for impugning a Bronze Rider," V'sheren was sensitive to the suggestion Restin had made that he was enjoying Jessenia's sexual favours; and he did not want the poisonous Holder girl spreading it!
Silaya looked relieved.
"Oh, it was nothing about YOU, Weyrlingmaster!" she said.
"She just wondered what trouble miss goody-goody was in and how badly choked off with her you were," said Nilis; who could never resist stirring.
Silaya shot her a filthy look.
V'sheren raised one of his winged eyebrows.
"Indeed. Childish gloating over another's supposed troubles; well, well, little things please little minds. Run along!"
He was much relieved. Fortunately Silaya was too shallow and childish to pick anything that could cause real harm! He had promised Fordel that he would take care of his granddaughter, and to that end he avoided being too friendly towards her most of the time, to avoid charges of favouritism, but the incident of Restin might have caused talk!
"Am I in trouble?" asked Jessenia. "I'm sorry if I was inattentive; I was trying to concentrate."
"I noticed something was troubling you; I wondered if you wanted to talk to me about it," he said, gently.
Jessenia pulled a rueful face and dashed the back of her hand across her eyes, unaccountably wet.
"Disappointment, I guess," she said.
"Disappointment?" he asked.
"I felt no tug, nor was I drawn to any of the eggs as I noticed several of the others were. I suppose it might have been because I was controlling my irritation at Silaya so tightly, that I was shutting myself off. I was so worried her nastiness would upset the little Queen!"
V'sheren smiled kindly.
"That could very well be it. There is no evidence that bad attitudes have a long lasting effect on hatchlings; else half of them would grow up half addled! It was good of you not to want to upset her."
"She was perturbed, I'm sure; and I just fought for control. Do – do you think I might find a call at the next viewing?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Most candidates have no idea if they will Impress or not. And if there is no dragon for you this time, then in my opinion it's only because she isn't shelled yet. You're a born weyrwoman; there's a dragon for you somewhere. Now don't addle your own head with worrying! You belong here, and I think you'll Impress and so does Asreth, for what it's worth, he's even quite enthusiastic to experiment with what you should contract to!"
Jessenia laughed.
"Short is good, isn't it?" she said.
"Oh yes, but there's several ways to go – J'ess, taking your nickname into account, J'enia, J'nia, J'ia – you see the poor fellow's dilemma!"
"I'd as soon not count a contraction until or unless my dragon's shell breaks," said Jessenia. "if I do, you will pick what you think is best!"
"It's cheered you up, anyway, thinking of a perplexed Bronze Dragon…don't worry! You're very young, there's plenty of turns in which to Impress; you're mature enough to know that good things come to those who wait!"
Jessenia nodded.
"Thanks, V'sheren," she said, with a swift smile.
oOoOo
Silaya and Nilis, in uneasy truce, were waiting for Jessenia.
"What did he want?" demanded Silaya.
"Oh, what does anyone want – good food, decent clothes, a place to call home, bubbly pies," said Jessenia airily.
Nilis scowled.
"What did he want with YOU?" she demanded.
Jessenia glanced over her shoulder and beckoned both of them to bend close.
Neither girl could resist.
"BOH!" shouted Jessenia, as loud as she could. Both girls squealed, covering their ears.
"Serve you right for nosiness," said Jessenia. "As if I'd tell you my business anyway!" I'm not in trouble either, so sucks to the pair of you. I got the information I needed, so I'm happy enough, which is bad news for you because I might just be cheerful enough to let my superior intellect loose at you for fun."
Silaya and Nilis both scowled; and Jessenia walked off, whistling jauntily.
oOoOo
A few days later there was the second viewing; and the egg shells were now hardening, not rubbery as they had been before.
"You could almost rap on one and call 'anyone at home'," grinned Dessa.
"Dessa! I hope you'd never do anything so daft!" gasped Jessenia, "Suppose you broke a shell – you'd kill a dragonet!"
Dessa flushed dull red.
"Oh. I – I, er, guess I didn't think of that," she said.
Jessenia was angry.
"And you a grown up lady of twenty turns!" she said scornfully. "if all you CAN think of is japes and jokes you won't Impress any more than you didn't make it to Journeyman."
Dessa's flush deepened, and she looked stricken.
Jessenia was at her side in an instant.
"I'm sorry, Dessa, that was unkind – and unfair, 'cos you're a nice girl and no side to you, I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's true, though," said Dessa, bitterly. "I – I never gave enough attention to work; I wanted to prove I was as good at having fun as any of the boys I was with in the Crafthall; I was the only girl. And it got to be a habit."
"And now you can't break the habit of being a teen-aged boy?" said Jessenia, softly.
"I guess," agreed Dessa.
Jessenia looked at her frankly.
"Do you want to break it?" she asked.
"Shards, yes!" said Dessa.
"Then the best thing is for those of us who care about you to have a word to say which means 'you're being awfully childish, Dessa', but outsiders don't have to know so they don't realise we're being intolerably rude to you," suggested Jessenia.
Dessa brightened.
"I thought you might be going to suggest you all shout at me – embarrassing, but I suppose effective for all that."
"You'll be embarrassed anyway," said Jessenia, "especially from those of us who are turns younger than you; but in a way it would be less embarrassing 'cos it would be really humiliating to get told in front of grown ups. How about 'extremely' as a word as in 'you're being extremely silly' but we don't need to say it all?"
Dessa pulled a rueful face.
"All right… I've sometimes noticed you looking disapprovingly at me; and that makes me cringe because you are just a kid… I just act without thinking, I suppose."
"Don't feel that I didn't enjoy some of your jokes – the stench of foul manners was a brilliant rebuke! But – but I think you should be above hairbrushes in Silaya's bed. That's the sort of thing Carya grew out of a turn or two ago and I expect her twin sisters, who are ten, will be doing in the Harper Hall."
"Ouch; that even makes it worse," winced Dessa. "I am usually more imaginative than that; she just annoyed me that day and I felt like rough retaliation and no time for preparation. I suppose I should turn my brain to clever rejoinders like you do, instead of silly puerile jokes. And I will try! Especially if you and the decent ones will help me," she added.
"We're here to help each other, I should think," said Jessenia. "I mean, if we all Impress, we'll all be fighting Thread together – so we need to get on! And I guess Thread won't be impressed by an apple pie bed."
"I see your point," said Dessa.
oOoOo
Meanwhile, Silaya had turned back to the Gold egg and was stroking it proprietarily.
"Huh," said Carya, joining Jessenia and Dessa, "I suppose she reckons if she strokes it hard enough she can confuse it."
"If I was the Queen it'd make me want to walk on her if it wasn't for the disadvantage of soiling my claws," said Jessenia. "she CAN'T Impress a Queen, can she? I couldn't live here happily if she was a Queenrider!"
"Shallow creature like that? come on, she's much shallower than me, and I know I'm not in with a chance," said Dessa. "In my guess, as I think it is in Nadeena's, it's between Telara and Luaysa. They both have the right attitude."
"On attitude, yes, I'd agree," said Jessenia, "but you can't feel the – the GLOW of power from them, can you?"
"What do you mean?" frowned Dessa.
"Well, you know, how you feel that people have power…it's supposed to be something Green and Blue Riders do, so that's one reason I reckon I'm in with a good chance to Impress a Green, that and sensing Thread… you don't feel it? but you have more power than they have. I've been thinking what Geetta said, and I think it will be Lailla. She has power and to spare, and she's nice too."
"A thought too insipid to my mind to handle being a Queenrider," said Dessa. "Though I grant you that Impressing a Queen might give her more character, along with the confidence to display it."
"It isn't character she lacks," said Carya, "she's quiet and gentle and romantic, but she's not a milksop. She hasn't the – the STEEL in her that I think a Queenrider needs, but she is one of the better bets. I'd not pass over Geetta either, she's got power!"
"I thought you sensed it too," said Jessenia. "I had thought that most people here would do so… Geetta's still a bit young; in her head, I mean. And she's not much older than us in the skin for that matter. Though I guess she could grow up before her Queen was grown… I guess if I am to Impress, my dragon isn't shelled yet, for I can't feel deeper for any one of these eggs more than the others… poor little Queen, she's going to drip with slime if Silaya drools over her much longer!"
Silaya had only ever seen Nilis, Lailla and Telara as serious rivals to the Gold egg, being Ranking girls. Technically she supposed Carya was Ranking; but her father had plainly betrayed his Blood, nor keeping the acrobat kin of his mistress at arm's length. And Carya was just a kid anyhow. In Silaya's mind, Telara had lost her chance at the Gold egg for being prepared to view Green eggs; and that was to the good. The Runnerhold girl's perpetual air of amused contempt towards Silaya galled the girl almost as much as Jessenia's ready tongue; and she had a sneaking fear that Telara's straightforward fearlessness gave the Keroonian girl a better chance than she, Silaya!
Silaya was a foolish girl in many respects; but she was also possessed of a degree of shrewd cunning. She knew that Benden Weyrwoman Jora had been the choice of the Bronze Riders, and that such could influence the decision of an unhatched Queen. So she had already been trying to set about using her beauty and winsome manner to win the regard of the Bronze Riders of the Weyr.
G'narish only had eyes for Nadira; and knew, besides, how many beans made five. Silaya received only distant politeness from the Weyrleader! As for S'sher, the Weyrsecond, he was several turns older than G'narish, and, certainly on the surface, more like the traditional idea of an Oldtimer. S'sher sized up Silaya quickly enough – he had seen Queen candidates come and go often enough not to – and put on his most arrogant manner at her, refusing to remember her name and making sure that he gave the impression, every time she spoke to him, that he had no recollection of her at all.
It was very frustrating; which was, from S'sher's point of view, the general idea.
Of the two other Oldtimer Bronze Riders, one was V'sheren; whom she dismissed in her own mind as being of no account through being a cripple, relegated to demeaning teaching duties. The idea that his expertise was considered an important part of teaching weyrlings and his opinion valued by G'narish would have surprised her.
The other Oldtimer was C'ril. C'ril was ageing, being of an age with T'kul, and though perhaps younger to show age than many modern Dragonriders, the older Oldtimers often seemed to age faster, perhaps on account of fighting Thread for longer than anyone reasonably might be expected to have to do. G'narish had been heard to say that he was glad that the climate at Igen Weyr was sufficiently clement for C'ril to be active still; for he was the best Wingleader. C'ril had a happy disposition; he was rarely seen without a gentle smile on his lips, but he was also a careful and thorough planner, and was fascinated by the complex patterns flown by the High Reaches Weyr! It was C'ril wo was in charge of planned enlargements to the outside of the mountain, supervising Minercrafters blasting and digging new weyrs; and it was typical of him that he had asked for instruction in the use of the blasting powders and blasting sticks, and wanted to know how they worked. Silaya did not seriously consider C'ril as a lover; he was too old. To him she acted girlishly and treated him with deference and flattery. It worked on ageing Holders often enough to play the winsome niece figure.
C'ril was unfailingly courteous; but he was a cautious man, and watched the female candidates together, because there was something about this girl that rang false in his experienced eyes and ears!
Of those Bronze Riders who had Impressed since the Weyrs came forward, G'lar was the eldest, almost a contemporary of V'sheren, from the first clutch laid in the ninth Pass. G'lar was one of those people held up as an exemplary Bronze Rider; a well developed sense of justice, resourcefulness and the boyish impulsiveness to leap in with both feet when he felt it necessary. He got on very well with High Reaches's H'llon. He was also Thera's Weyrmate; as Silaya found out when she tried to turn her charm on the handsome Bronze Rider. As a friend of H'llon, G'lar had heard stories of H'llon's naïveté; and chose to do what his High Reaches friend now did deliberately to importunate wenches. This was to turn a look of bovine impenetrability on the girl.
Thera, less patient, told Silaya to butt out as G'lar was taken; and Silaya had made the mistake of pointing out that the Queenrider did not own him just because his dragon had flown hers, smiling winningly at G'lar to show she could help him out of the clutches of this possessive woman.
"Yes it does," Thera said. "We're weyrmates. Oh was it SEX you wanted? Try a disappointed Blue Rider, candidate; they're not fussy."
Silaya had received little encouragement from the more senior Bronze Riders; now she was out to make conquests amongst the younger ones in the hopes of getting at least enough to admire her to help her quest for a Golden egg.