This will be the last update for a while - I am going on holiday - and the time stretches will be greater from now until the end of the story. Thanks for all your comments and reviews as always.
1.9.197
C'lin circled with his bronze, both of them tipping to look at the new riders aloft for the first time. The other bronze Wingleaders were also in the air, in a tiered and staggered formation in case of accidents.
Haveneth's first clutching from Galanath's mating was ready to begin flying and training. There were enough young dragons to furnish an entire Wing, but they would be slotted into the existing Wings at first, tried out in formations, and then the Weyr would shuffle its dragons and riders and begin a new chapter.
C'lin rubbed his dragon's hide, and Vereneth sent a thought that the new dragons performed well, and were of a good size. C'lin agreed with that; there was no doubt the pairing of Galanath with Haveneth was producing good results. C'lin had fretted about the inbreeding that would inevitably result from only one Weyr being active, but the dragons seemed to be holding their size, and perhaps increasing a little. Certainly they were more agile in the air. As he thought it, he had Vereneth send a message to a young blue to go down, seeing the strain of wing muscles. The blue obediently circled and started descending, and C'lin watched it go down to land, attendants running at once to check on it. Peering over his dragon's shoulder, C'lin saw all was well, and turned his attention back to the young dragons circling in the thermals above Benden Weyr before signalling all of them down to the ground; no point overtaxing young muscles in boy or beast at this stage.
N'rin and K'mar, the Weyrlingmasters, came to meet C'lin as he dismounted. He staggered a little and held onto his harness, shaking his head to dispel dizziness, and N'rin caught his arm.
"All right, Wingleader?"
"Just a touch of dizziness. Not as young as we were, and seeing those new ones up aloft - does my heart good to see the Weyr still prospering."
"I'd like your judgement on them - you sent V'dra and Hemeth down early?"
"Thought I saw strain in the shoulders. V'dra's a big lad, could be he needs Hemeth to exercise alone for a while."
K'mar nodded, making a note of it.
"Apart from that, they should be fit to join the Wings once they've been taught how to fix their points for going between," C'lin continued. "Yes, all in all, a very satisfactory lot of boys. And Panath's youngsters coming up behind, and two more clutches as well, eh? We'll be well prepared at the end of the Interval."
He walked with the two others into the lower caverns to report to the Weyrleader who was making another of his everlasting lists. C'lin saw no need for lists, he carried everything in his head, but even he had grudgingly begun to note down a few things for the complex arrangements of flight formation.
"All right, C'lin? A good flight, I thought, for a first time?"
"Very fair."
C'lin sat down and allowed a drudge to serve him, speaking out loud, seeing G'las taking notes in the complicated shorthand system he had devised.
"So you have three Weyrs covered," C'lin said at last. "With dragons bespeaking each other, you'll be hoping to cover most of the Falls?"
"To begin with, yes. We've studied and noted, and it seems we might have a few Turns to get experienced and up to strength as much as we can before then."
C'lin nodded.
"And the tithe due, and a Gather at Benden Hold to attend?"
"Yes. It's not been such a good Turn, I'm told, but there should be grain and meat enough. L'rens took a crew up north and managed to get another cut of silage, and Lord Arun was grateful for that for his winter beasts."
C'lin nodded, not really listening; what went on with the land based peoples of this world was not his concern.
G'las went over a few points with him, and then C'lin went out to check on Vereneth and climb slowly to his Weyr, checking over the points he had made, and the new variations that had occurred to him. It would not be his fault if they were not prepared in what the Weyrwoman continued to call his aerial ballet, strange words she said she had found on an old hide that had been found with the oldest records, now being diligently copied.
C'lin relaxed on his bed, linking his hands behind his head, his thoughts idling down into relaxation and sleep.
All the occupants of the Weyr came racing out into the grounds as they heard the keening wail of the dragons. Each and every one of the dragons was up on its haunches on the ledges, wings extended, heads to the sky as they mourned.
"Who - what - Jiverny - who - "
"It's C'lin," she said in a choking voice, staring up at the empty ledge. "Verenth just went between for all time - no - he was all right - he was well - he was looking forward to more training - "
The sound of the dragons seemed to go on and on, echoing and reverberating around the bowl of the Weyr as H'ric took the stairs to C'lin's Weyr two at a time, racing recklessly, cannoning off the side walls occasionally, a part of his mind telling him he would be bruised later.
He entered C'lin's rooms and the elderly rider lay peaceful in death, a half smile on his face as if he too was journeying between for all time with his dragon who was now gone, a chill wind blowing a scurry of sand in from the ledge.
H'ric stared at the bronze rider. C'lin had always been there, since he had come to the Weyr, a fixture, and now he was gone. He turned his head as someone came in, and Sisla entered, giving a sharp moaning hiss of grief as she crossed to the bed and touched C'lin's cooling cheek.
"He said he felt a bit dizzy, this last day or so. Said he mustn't rush like the youngsters."
She sank down by the bed, crying a little, and Jiverny came in and stood looking on.
"We'll do all that's necessary, Weyrleader," she said formally. "Go down, now."
"A moment." He too crossed to the bed, and bent and touched C'lin's hand, gripping it hard.
"Farewell, faithful servant," he whispered, and then he turned to go out and deal with the grief of dragons and riders alike.