Safe home again, and taking up the reins of leadership. A holiday is always good, and if H'ric can interpret dragon speech and drum messages, at least they don't have the modern guilt-laden effect of mobile phones and emails!

2.8 - 8.8.198

Galanath and the other dragons came out of between above Benden Weyr. They had been flying in formation as they left Telgar Weyr and emerged in the same configuration, Galanath leading them, flanked by Freyanth and Deneth, brown and blue. The rest of the healed dragons followed behind, a flash of colour against the summer sky as they hovered over the Weyr.

"Show off," H'ric said to his dragon, but he had to admit they made a fine sight, and now they had been seen, people pouring out of the caverns in the bowl of the Weyr to greet them.

- this is to reassure them

Galanath winged downwards without any of the slight hesitation he had been showing, then landed neatly and flipped his wings back. He raised his great head and watched the others come down to rest, the dragons on their ledges bugling a welcome which was echoed by the cheers of the weyrfolk.

H'ric dismounted to stand by his dragon, and Jiverny came across the bowl as the dust settled from the whirling patterns the dragons had created.

"Weyrleader."

"Lady Jiverny, Weyrwoman."

They made a formal recognition for everyone to see, and then H'ric leaned forward and kissed her, and Jiverny kissed him back, to the renewed cheers of the people all around them.

- now who is the show off?

H'ric laughed and knew Haveneth had told Jiverny of the exchange. She helped him take off his riding gear, a youngster running up to collect it and dart off to take it back to H'ric's weyr.

"Hmm. Too quick on his feet! You don't give them enough to do, lady mine."

"I expect he's practicing for the Weyr Games. They start in a sevenday."

H'ric realised he had completely forgotten about the Games that were Jiverny's project. The first games had been at Turnover Festival three Turns before, but now the Weyrwoman's ambitions had widened to embrace the Holds that looked to Benden Weyr, and moved the Games to the summer months.

"I'd forgotten," H'ric said ruefully.

Jiverny laughed at him and kissed him again.

"It's all organised, and invitations sent and accepted! In the old times, so Yorus says, they held Games like this every four Turns, and they ran for two sevendays, but I've arranged this over four days. Lord Runanan is greatly interested, and has sent competitors, which is good for the weyrfolk, to get to know others outside the Weyr."

She went to greet the other riders, and B'rnel came across to greet H'ric.

"You look better for that rest! You'd started to be all skin and bone, living on your nerves as Mima would say. That's a good colour in your skin."

"Hay harvesting up in the valleys does that for you. You've stored the bales we sent?"

"We have done so, and had a note of thanks from Benden Hold that they don't need send so much forage with their tithe. And you brought goods back with you?"

"Some half cured wher-hide that needs finishing off - I know there's old riding gear in the Weyr, but it needs to be checked over and made good for the new riders."

"Yes, we have that in hand, but new wher-hide would be useful."

"I'll have something to eat and drink, and then speak to the riders."

"They'd appreciate that. And - is Galanath healed completely?"

"So he tells me. There might be less of the showy demonstrations from now on, but there again - with Galanath - you can never tell what he might do."

B'rnel laughed and thumped his shoulder and led the way to the hall where food and drink was being laid out for the returning riders.

"V'nel is back," N'rin told H'ric. "Dobreth is still very badly off - I have my doubts if they will ever be able to fly against Thread."

"I've talked to him about it, and arranged some things he can do for me, messaging and such like," H'ric replied. "We were fortunate not to lose any dragons, in that maelstrom of heat and fire. M'dor and I have planned out some new moves to be practised in thermals."

N'rin nodded and moved on, and L'rens came over to refill H'ric's goblet.

"Good red Benden," L'rens said approvingly. "Last year's vintage, and a good few barrels of it as well, in the tithe."

"What about this year? It's been so dry, is there a decent grape harvest?"

"I'm told so, but last year may turn out to be vintage. How is Galanath?"

"Flying well, and eating well," H'ric replied, and gave the same answer to most of the bronze riders, including the very new ones from Haveneth's first hatching with Galanath. He was unperturbed by their interest, which was natural if the Weyrleader's dragon appeared in the least incapacitated.

- they are not clever enough

H'ric stored that remark away as he moved around the riders, greeting the younger riders coming up through the ranks and looking to make their way in the Wings; there might be potential for a couple of new Wings over the next Turn or two.

H'ric dropped in on the children's lessons during the day. He listened to Yorus teaching the duty ballads, one child already adept at accompanying him on the drum. He listened to Brond taking them through the finer points of animal anatomy, herdbeast as well as dragon, pointing out to them what everyone on Pern knew but perhaps did not appreciate, that a lot of the creatures of this world had six limbs instead of four. He sat down with the very youngest of the children and helped some of them with their letters and numbers.

In the low evening light H'ric stood at the mouth of the hatching grounds and peered in. None of the younger queens had risen this Turn, a worrying development, but M'dor had assured him Panath was getting decidedly proddy and requiring Alissia's close attention at all times. If Haveneth's pattern was reliable, she too would be getting proddy around this time, but Galanath did not seem to think she was ready quite so soon.

"Deep thoughts, H'ric?"

He looked around as Jiverny came up to him and slipped her hand through his arm.

"Oh - just - I think it did me good to be away for a while. To appreciate this is a Weyr with life in it."

"I thought you were going to repopulate the entirety of the empty Weyrs?"

He shook his head. "Too few Turns, lady mine. Yes, I want a Wing in each, intimately acquainted with its updrafts and turbulences, and able to cover some Thread fall. But no - this is the only Weyr we have in this Interval."

"Even if all the dragons lived here, it would still not be full. Was it ever fully populated?"

"I don't know - I would expect so at the height of a Pass."

Jiverny sighed and shook her head. "It's no use fretting, as we keep telling each other. Where are we going?"

"I brought you back some presents from Telgar."

Jiverny stared at him as they climbed to his weyr.

"Presents? What sort of presents?"

H'ric brought her into his weyr, both of them acknowledging Galanath on his ledge.

"Here - I found time on my hands in the evenings - and they were long light evenings - I made you some things."

Jiverny unwrapped the delicate baskets woven from leaves, and found wooden jewellery embellished with polished stones, earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet. The polished wood was a deep reddish colour, and the stones were like sparkling quartz, but of many colours.

"Oh - H'ric - oh - it's lovely!"

"I made some toys for Jerenic as well. Little carts on wheels, things like that."

"You haven't done any of this work for a while," Jiverny said, as she allowed him to put on the jewellery and admired herself in the mirror he held up.

"No, I know. I did some thinking up there - I have to give myself time for these sorts of things, and for reading and singing and such like - or like you, I end up fretting over things I can't mend at the moment."

Jiverny put the jewellery to one side and turned to face him.

"You are doing very well," she said in a low voice, and kissed him. "And I missed you."

"I missed you as well, lady mine, but there are ways to mend that, fortunately!"

And suited action to the words.

H'ric and Jiverny dressed in their best to greet their visitors for the Games. H'ric was touched and embarrassed to find Jiverny had stitched him new shirts and a jacket for the occasion, using part of the tithed goods. Most of the riders would wear old canvas pants and jackets to work with their dragons, most of their clothes patched and mended over the Turns, but looking around, H'ric decided everyone had made an effort to wear their best.

"It looks good," Jiverny said softly as the first coaches came up through the entrance to the Weyr. Telgar's Lord Holder had accepted the offer of dragon transport, but Lord Holder Runanan was the first out of his coach, and H'ric went across to greet him. The Lord Holder stood looking around, up at the heights, the Star Stones, around at the weyrs with their dragons, the bustle of activity in the bowl.

"My word! I've heard stories - but until you see it - it's huge!"

"Thank you, my lord. Did you never go up to the abandoned Weyr at Fort?"

Runanan glanced at him and gave a little shake of the head.

"I heard what went on up there as an - initiation - as they called it," he said with a curl of his lip. "I never felt that insecure that I wanted to join their stupid secret societies. So this is indeed the first Weyr I have visited."

Jiverny was greeting the newly wed Lady Holder, detailing drudges to take the luggage to the prepared guest quarters. The coachmen also would be accommodated where the draybeasts would not have close encounters with dragons, a thing that tended to spook most animals.

"Who else are you expecting?" Lord Runanan said as he walked with H'ric. "Telgar, I suppose, riding like a giddy wherry on one of your dragons?"

H'ric laughed. "Yes, he is coming, my lord. Also Bitra and Lemos."

"That must have taken some persuading!"

H'ric shrugged. "They are part of my remit, my lord, as you are. I take care of my own."

Lord Runanan glanced at him. "As you do not for others?"

"I give everyone their due, my lord," H'ric replied evenly.

"I am glad to hear it. That was a noble deed, to help quench those wildfires. I consulted our weather records in the Hold, and the weather patterns are supposed to be disturbed as the Red Star approaches, but I see notes in the older records of earthquakes and even mountains spouting fire out in the Eastern Ocean."

"Yes. I sent riders to the visible horizon to see if there was any activity, but so far apart from plumes of smoke and steam on some of the islands, all seems quiet."

"Out over the ocean?"

"Straight flying, rather than going between, I can assure you! Not even a dragon can emerge with any certainty from between unless there's a visualisation."

"I suppose that's right. I hadn't thought of it."

"The Weyrlings start by visualising and memorising our own Star Stones, up on the rim of the Weyr, and once they're confident, they can be taken further and further afield. An experienced dragon can find most places on a clear picture from its rider."

"I'm told you draw competently yourself - do you use those drawings for the riders?"

H'ric thought about that as he brought the Lord Holder into the dining hall where klah, wine and fruit juices had been laid out for their guests.

"I don't know that I have done so, my lord. The problem would be that my view may be subjective, rather than objective. If I had some way of capturing the essence of the place as an accurate picture - "

"There must be a way to do that. I presume when men first landed they could do so, with their marvellous machinery."

"I don't know about that. My impression of reading old records and listening to stories passed down through the farming peoples is that a lot of the technology that brought men here was discarded or actively discouraged - they wanted to live a purer simpler life."

"And then Thread arrived."

"As you say, my lord, then Thread arrived. Human ingenuity surmounted that, which gives me every confidence that most problems on Pern can be surmounted by the ingenuity of the human spirit."

"Well said, Weyrleader, and I will second you on that thought. Ah - my lady - and the Weyrwoman - "

H'ric was glad to leave the probing questions the Lord Holder had, in order to greet others and make lighter small talk. The Lord Holders of Bitra and Lemos did not make such demands on their host, but H'ric could cope with their grudged acceptance of their ancestral ties to Benden Weyr. At least everyone was united in looking forward to the Games, he reflected, as he hurried to greet other guests, and the Games had a secondary purpose, to impress lands people with the normalcy of life at the Weyr, albeit with the companionship of the dragons.