Chapter 18
Jessenia watched Silaya turning on her famous smile to approach Bronze Rider G'erry.
G'erry was bred in the Fishercraft; he had been one of the Riders who had spliced the ropes for Lenner to walk on, and Jessenia had every respect for him, though she never did more than smile shyly and say 'hello' when they came into contact.
G'erry liked all the acrobats; he had marks on Roban Impressing a Brown or Bronze as well as on Jessenia Impressing. He had a sense of adventure that had drawn him to Lenner; but he also took safety seriously, something else he had liked in the daring acrobat.
G'erry did not miss much; and he disapproved of slackers. When Silaya coo'd up to him to pass the time of day, he listened until she wound down, then said,
"Listen, wench, if you start working your pretty little tush off as of now, you have a chance, maybe, of Impressing. But you need to put your back into making yourself dragonrider material instead of wasting your time fancying yourself up and chasing men. We don't need to bring in the girls for a tumble; types like you give us that any time in their Holds. Shape up and maybe I'll consider bedding you; otherwise, I'm not interested."
G'erry was nothing if not blunt; but then most fisherfolk tended to be.
Silaya burst prettily into tears, and when that left G'erry unmoved she stalked off.
oOoOo
The remaining Bronze Riders were T'ran, M'ren, K'said and S'rel who were old hands; and the recently Blooded B'gon. At fifteen turns, Silaya rejected B'gon as a child still, even though he was Weyrbred – in fact, he was C'ril's grandson – and did not even consider R'lion, the fourteen turn old smokeless weyrling of the previous clutch.
With T'ran, Silaya made the mistake of trying to seem sympathetic that his Queenrider clutchmate was under undue influence by the acrobat girl, and a shame that Holdless trash should have such claws into a Queenrider.
T'ran was born a Trader.
He had not been about to turn down sex with an attractive and willing girl; but he had his loyalty to his kin, that was more important to him than a tumble in the furs with an expensive piece of totty. There were plenty more where SHE came from!
Silaya found herself ejected forcibly from the unused junior Queen weyr where T'ran had taken her, half naked; the rest of her clothes thrown out of the cavern after her. T'ran had little in the way of tact.
Of the others, M'ren, S'rel and K'said – his arm now as good as new – flirted happily enough; and S'rel bedded her with an energy and enthusiasm that betrayed his relative inexperience, and promptly forgot her name next time she crossed his path.
Silaya never knew this was deliberate; S'rel had a cynical streak that told him never to pass up a free lunch or a free woman; and to remember always who gave him the first and to forget enthusiastically about the second. It had been advice his father had given him when he first came to the Weyr, and watching S'sher's tactical memory loss regarding importunate wenches had confirmed the wisdom of it. All the young riders respected S'sher, though many of them were nervous of his stern demeanour.
M'ren had his own agenda.
His plan was to let Silaya invite him into her circle to get him an introduction to Dessa, for M'ren had been much impressed by the smell of bad manners trick. Silaya, used to having adoring sycophants, had no such circle of friends, and after dropping heavy hints that she ignored, M'ren shrugged, dropped her, and decided on the direct approach by greeting Dessa with a dead fish handshake.
Naturally they hit it off immediately.
K'said too was not interested! K'said had assisted V'sheren while his arm healed; and he had met and liked Roban and Jessenia.
Silaya made her dislike of the acrobat girl quite plain, for she could not resist poisonous comment, and K'said, happy to talk to a pretty woman, cooled very rapidly!
The tactics had not been successful at all!
"I suppose you have to admire her tenacity and energy," commented S'sher to V'sheren.
"Pity she can't put the same tenacity and energy into her duties," the Weyrlingmaster grumbled. "I can't abide her."
"Hmmph. You may be young, but you show sense in some things," commented S'sher.
"I take after my father," said V'sheren, blandly.
S'sher bowed ironically to his son.
"You might want to talk to another of my girls," said V'sheren.
"Do I look senile enough to hanker after young girls?" growled S'sher snippily.
He was still unlined, his weatherbeaten face easily able to pass as a man in his late thirties, despite being Turned fifty some turns past.
"I said talk," said V'sheren, "are you so infected by that little tunnel snake that you see sex in everything? Anyway, Velenna would have something to say about THAT!"
V'sheren's mother was Weyrhealer and her Bronze Rider weyrmate, hot tempered and feared by many younger Riders, did NOT step out of line where his weyrmate was concerned!
"Don't even suggest that!" S'sher said in lively horror. "Last time I smiled at a girl, she threatened to operate on my nose and put it back upside-down with the new techniques she had learned from Master Oldive."
V'sheren laughed.
His mother's bark was worse than her bite; and his parents were, in fact, very close.
"Jessenia senses Thread," he said, "it's bound to be falling in clumps over Southern Telgar with the spring winds off the mountains tomorrow. She's handy with a flamethrower too, I thought she might fly with you, G'narish or C'ril at leading edge to protect at least one Bronze."
"Senses Thread, eh? Handy. Does G'narish know?"
"Yes. I wanted to get the Bronze Riders together to talk to her. She's spoken to Asreth before now – in emergency – and I fancy that though she doesn't talk to dragons, Bronzes would be able to co-ordinate through talking to her."
"Hmm, interesting. Trot her up to the meeting room after the evening meal: we'll all be there," said S'sher.
oOoOo
Jessenia was nervous; V'sheren had told her why the Bronze Riders wanted to talk to her, but they were important men, and she felled unnerved by them.
"Talk about this sense of yours," grunted S'sher.
"Well, sir, it's in part a bit like sensing weather, I guess you all know about heavy weather coming in that you feel crawling under your skin…" she looked around. "Oh dear, a sea of blank faces. My brother and I both do that so I thought some of you, at least…well, the feeling is almost physical, and when Thread is due I get the same KIND of feel, only I can tell the difference between weather and Thread. That feeling starts about eight hours before it's due, though if I concentrate, I can push back feeling it to about a day round. It gets stronger as Thread gets closer. But the HANDY part of it is being able to, well, SEE changes in my thoughts, exactly where they are, before they get there, so I can flame where the Threads are going to be by the time I've got my flamethrower aimed."
"How far away do you sense clumps?" asked G'erry, sitting forward.
Jessenia chewed her lip.
"I'm afraid you're going to think me a complete idiot: because I don't know," she said. "I only focus on what's close to, or near my kid brother when he's walking sweep next to me, because I always assumed my older brothers did it too until I found out that they don't. My grandfather does it too; and he does overwatch. I THINK I sense further away, but I've never concentrated on it as I've never had a need to do so."
The Bronze Riders exchanged looks; and Jessenia shuffled uncomfortably.
"Stand up straight, girl, and be proud of your gift!" barked S'sher, "don't you see you've used it as it needed to be used and so it can be trained further?"
"Can it, sir? I hope so, if it's that useful to the Weyr."
"If it's that useful? HAH! The chit doesn't even know her own value!" S'sher smote his head in frustration.
"Don't frighten the child, S'sher," said C'ril, mildly.
"I'm not frightened of him, sir, just sorry to have disappointed by not being precise," said Jessenia. "I have no idea what capabilities dragons and Riders have, not really, though I've learned a lot since I've been in the Weyr. V'sheren told me I have a useful ability and I want to develop that – if you think I can. He – he also says I think loud enough for dragons to pick me up easily."
"Easy way to test that," grunted C'ril, "call to our dragons."
"Please, sir, I don't know their names, except Gyarmath and Asreth, it wouldn't feel polite to shout, 'oy, Bronze dragon, you with the coppery nose' to your dragon, say, sir," said Jessenia firmly.
"Gyarmath informs me that he hears her easily when she thinks of him,"said G'narish, "that seems clear enough."
V'sheren did not report that Asreth liked Jessenia and liked her thinking at him because she liked him.
S'sher nodded.
"A fair enough test," he said. "Young woman, you must acquaint yourself with all the Bronze dragons before tomorrow midmorning: we fly a risky Fall. You will carry a flamethrower for your own protection. G'narish, will she fly with you?"
"I'd like her to fly with V'sheren as a supernumerary," said G'narish, "if you will do it, V'sheren?"
"Yes, sir; you mean, unassigned to a wing?"
"I want you just behind me, slightly below; and then Jessenia," the Weyrleader smiled, "you can see how far your sense reaches, and the Bronze dragons can read from you direct to help them direct their own Wings."
"I'd like to meet them now, please," said Jessenia.
The presence of many Riders summoning their lifemates almost hurt Jessenia's ears; and she went outside.
"Hello," she said to the half circle of curious Bronze dragons. "perhaps you can each tell me your names, so I can see what you feel like, and you can see what I feel like? One at a time please!" she said, putting futile hands to her ears, "Left to right!"
Each dragon gave his name; and her eyes widened.
"Why, of the Riders I've spoken to, each of you sounds like your Rider only rumblier!" she said.
V'sheren, at her side, chuckled.
"They say you can tell a Rider by his dragon and the other way about," he said, "though I have heard that sometimes opposites attract. Certainly Shadrath is as snippy as S'sher; and Gadenith has as, er, lively a sense of humour as M'ren does!"
"Oh, M'ren is the one walking out with Dessa, isn't he?" said Jessenia, "JUST as we'd started to break her of her puerile tricks!"
"Oh, there's no vice in M'ren," said V'sheren, "he'll help her focus on when is the right time to lark and play and when is the right time to work. He's got a sense of humour, but left his wilder starts behind him long since."
"Oh good," said Jessenia. "There's nothing like courtship to completely destroy the intellect of the couple involved."
"T-A-C-T," said V'sheren.
M'ren was laughing cheerfully.
"Well, she ain't sly," said S'sher, in a tone that damned with faint praise.
"Don't mind my father," said V'sheren.
"I don't," said Jessenia, beaming at S'sher. "He scowls a lot a bit like my granddad when his arthritis pains him."
S'sher spluttered; and V'sheren roared with laughter.
"The first weyrling I ever knew to leave you speechless, S'sher!" he said.
"Hmph!" grunted S'sher, "cheeky wench!"
Jessenia grinned at him cheerfully.
"Where do I draw flying gear and a flamethrower for tomorrow?" she asked, now all businesslike.
"You've had stuff in the making since you arrived; I'll bring it over," said V'sheren. "I didn't want you marked out as different until you girls had shaken down. Now we need you to be different; and the others know I'm harder on you and Roban than anyone else for being more experienced. Nadira will issue you with a flamethrower. You'll not mount up in your usual way with it, though, it will be too awkward."
"Then perhaps you'll pass it up, sir, so I can avoid Asreth's scars; though they are looking less painful," said Jessenia.
"He's healing slowly; like me. We'll never have full movement, but we'll fight Thread again," said V'sheren.
"Should I go through the pattern that the fighting wings will fly to give me an idea of where I'm reaching to?" asked Jessenia. "I have no idea either of what it's going to be like meeting Thread in the sky; only of mopping up the aftermath of what little gets through."
"Sensible girl," said C'ril, approvingly. "Always seize the opportunity for forewarning and intelligence. V'sheren will show you the diagrams in the teaching cavern; no need for all of us to butt in and express our forceful opinions."
"Her family all prepare well," said G'erry. "I, for one, look forward to this experiment."
Jessenia was not sure if she was looking forward to it or not!
oOoOo
V'sheren talked through the formations patiently several times over; and Jessenia walked through several patterns flown by the Bronze and Brown dragons. Her training in memorising routines came to the fore here; and V'sheren was amazed at the speed at which she picked up the formations!
"You'll do," he said, gruffly. "You'll do very well indeed."
Jessenia grinned up at him; and the Weyrlingmaster stared down at her.
"Get an early night," he said, rather brusquely. "You need to be alert tomorrow, and one hour before midnight is worth two after."
"It's not actually early," said Jessenia, dryly. "It's around our normal glow-cover time."
"Is it? shards, I'm sorry!" V'sheren ran his good hand through his short blonde hair, making it stand on end. Jessenia giggled and stood on tiptoes to smooth it down.
"You look like the seed head of a cloud-and-shadow flower, she teased.
"Cheeky wench, as S'sher says," growled V'sheren, "Go to bed!"
Jessenia grinned unrepentantly and went, catching up a basket of glows to see to undress.
oOoOo
"Wherever have you been?" Silaya demanded.
"I bet it's not to see a secret lover; the chit doesn't know what to do with a man," sneered Nilis. Nadeena had sneaked out for a night with her weyrmate or she would not have dared to be so openly rude.
"I was having a lecture to prepare me for special duties tomorrow," said Jessenia.
"Special duties? What special duties?" sneered Silaya.
"I sense Thread; they want to see if I can sense it up there," said Jessenia, reluctant to give too much information, but aware that it would come out.
"Sense Thread? Nonsense! Who can sense Thread?" scoffed Silaya.
"She can. I already know THAT," said Dessa. "M'ren says all the Bronze Riders are quite excited about the possibilities it opens up if she can fly a dragon right up front and help the front fliers. M'ren says there's a Wingleader in High Reaches who can sense Thread but they've never though to use him like they want to use Jessenia, so it's something Igen does first and can tell High Reaches for a change," she added. The rivalry was friendly; but existed!
Silaya lapsed into a sulky silence; in her mind Dessa stole M'ren from her; and that all the Bronze Riders should show an interest in Jessenia was even worse in light of their collective indifference in her, Silaya, who was not a silly child that as Nilis said did not know what to do with a man.
"Good night, all," said Jessenia, quietly.
"And good luck tomorrow!" whispered Carya as most of the others whispered their good nights.