So another year/Turn passes - will H'ric and his dragon still be top of the pecking order?
1.7.196 - 2.8.196
H'ric stood staring up at the night sky. He had become Weyrleader at the same time in the previous Turn, and still there was no sign of the Red Star being bracketed in the Star Stones. It was bright enough now to be seen faintly by day if the sun was hidden by a storm cloud, but it grew no larger.
- Haveneth is restless
- I know. Is she due to rise?
- only she will know that, but it will be soon
- Panath has hatched her eggs, and Bedlith rose as well, this Turn. I didn't expect Amroth to fly her, he's the oldest bronze after Vereneth
- Vereneth has no heart to mate any more
H'ric heaved a sigh and shook his head; C'lin's wounds had healed, leaving fearsome scars as Sharama had warned, but C'lin's long-term weyrmate, Susali from the lower caverns, did not seem to heed them. C'lin had grown morose and silent, but he was still the best at devising the aerial ballets the dragons and their riders used as exercise, with or without firestone.
- the queens are not rising as often as I had thought.
- they know more than we do
- there will be few dragons to fight Thread
- we will be ready, but your lady comes
H'ric broke off his communion with his dragon and turned as Jiverny came out onto the ledge. She had spent all day with the baby Jerenic, as he had spent part of it. They went once or twice a week, more if they could spare the time, to be with the child, rising three months now, and a contented baby amongst a great many others born of the mating time around Havenenth's first wild flight with Galanath.
"Did you get him to sleep?" H'ric asked with a grin.
"Eventually, yes. Goodness, he was determined to be awake! That pretty shell mobile you made him fascinates him! It sends the others to sleep, he seems determined to listen to it all day and all night."
H'ric laughed and put an arm around her. He had made many little toys for their son, but at Mima's urging, and Sharama's orders, had gone down to Ista's beaches with Jiverny for a spell. H'ric knew he went between too often, as Sharama told him, but he still criss-crossed the land trying to gain support, trying to reassure the minor holders there would be enough dragons to sear Thread at the end of the Interval, trying to squeeze an extra tithe or two, hunting as well to supplement the food in the Weyr.
They had bathed and lazed and slept at Ista, Jiverny's family had made them a hut on the beach and provided a small skiff to sail the bay, and H'ric collected the beautifully shaped shells to make a mobile. They had also collected bags of sand for the Hatching grounds and the anticipated eggs of the junior queens.
"Alissia says the drudges have finally made the lower caverns at Telgar habitable."
"Good. I didn't envy them, but it's work and wages for them, I suppose."
"I wish the Lord Holders would look at it that way."
They turned to go indoors and Galanath, who had been at the other end of the ledge, shuffled his great bulk and cut off the night sky as the two riders went to their bed.
H'ric came out of his weyr in a hurry the next day at the sound of the excited bronzes bugling their challenges. He watched in awe as Haveneth, glowing, glided down to the feeding ground and chased down one and then another of the panicking herdbeasts.
- be ready
H'ric did not need his bronze's call. He was already joining the other bronze riders in the Weyrwoman's rooms. Possession of the title of Weyrleader counted for nothing at a time like this, and he found himself jostled and pushed by L'rens, whose bronze Sicceth had nearly flown Panath. Only C'lin was not present, and H'ric realised, in the last sane part of his mind, that Vereneth had not risen to challenge the other bronzes.
There was a scream of anticipation from dragon throats, and Havenenth rose from the feeding grounds, wings pumping as she circled and spiralled up above the weyr, catching a thermal that swept her out over the heated mountains. The summer had been very hot and dry, and the black volcanic rock still retained heat. H'ric/Galanath saw a flock of wherries scatter in fear, and then he/they were straining upwards, flipping a wing to drop from above, sliding under Haveneth as she banked away from Sicceth, as she turned to pick up another thermal, rising higher in the thinner colder air, and then with a strong beat of the wings he/they had picked a stronger thermal, risen, and fallen onto the still rising queen, straddling her, their necks twining together, and H'ric/Galanath were as one with the queen.