Chapter Sixteen
Talina frowned into the sea breeze. "There's only two caves and they're too low for the dragons. Are we to live cooped up like holders?"
K'lomar clucked his tongue as Volkona heaved a sigh. H'rogan turned toward Talina. "Why would dragons want stone walls with all this sun-warmed sand to wallow in?"
"And what will we do in winter?" She gestured toward S'form who had been stepping further away from her.
"This is winter right now," H'rogan replied. "Southern doesn't have seasons like the Northern Continent. He turned toward T'gellan, Delianna and F'nton. "I agree. The bay, that river, the cash lumber, farmland and feedstock a dragon hop away."
"Where is my queen to lay her eggs?" Talina gestured toward K'lomar then H'rogan.
Delianna rolled her eyes and Volkona sighed. "Sand" said one as the other said "With all this sun?"
Talina barely gave them notice. "We can't live in an open site looking at an ocean and expect eggs to harden. What if there's a queen egg?"
"I've already spoken with several smithcrafters about a hypocaust system," T'gellan interrupted while taking Talina by the arm but not looking at her. He beckoned to the rest of the riders who followed them toward P'wer.
P'wer took his cue from T'gellan's nod. "You can see, lady riders, the stakes mark the perimeter of the hatching grounds." He waved his arms in a wide arc toward the sea. We will dig out the sand from here then build up a false floor, then redeposit the sa.."
"This is ridiculous," Talina spat while yanking her arm from T'gellan's hardening grip. She looked toward Delianna and Volkona briefly, expecting their support. A hatching ground must have overhead protection!"
Igen's hatching grounds are in the open," H'rogan said with some asperity.
Talina whirled on him, scowling. She had expected his dedicated support after the amount of time she had expended upon him.
"This is the best location any of us have found yet," he added while shaking his head. "And this one will be self-sufficient. Maybe even profitable."
"That's the plan," T'gellan replied, visibly relieved that Talina's supposed hold on H'rogan was weakening. "Now, for the kitchen and mess…"
"NO!" Talina shouted. "You have control over fighting threadfalls but not the domestic decisions. "Delianna, Volkona," she stalked over to them. "Don't you agree that we make the decisions for domestic affairs?"
Volkona was the first to react in the few moments of stunned silence that followed Talina's outburst. "The queen riders usually do oversee housekeeping duties," she dissembled.
Delianna joined in, "I've thought we should have two mess halls: One for dragon riders and one for the beast herders and farmers on the other side of the saddle." The two older queen riders had flanked the slim woman destined to be their Weyrwoman. They walked away with her toward the saddle eager to finally discuss processes that would bring their respective people to Eastern.
The men sighed in relief as the three queen riders walked over the saddle. In the month since beginning the eighth weyr of Pern, all riders present knew that Arwith would rise first. The bronze riders knew their dragons would try to catch her but most were figuring that Monarth would prevail. T'gellan had worked tirelessly to secure a location, workers and finances to start a weyr. As they watched the women disappear behind the saddle, T'gellan began, "Please continue with your explanation of the hypocaust system, P'wer. Before we're ready, we'll have dragon eggs."
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Of the two low caves, Talina became adamant that the larger one would be her weyr. Although T'gellan wanted to make it a council room, he relented. All the other riders, including the steady stream of southbound wingmen, chose to build stone weyrs in the open. The dragons were content to wriggle wallows in the sandy ground. Arwith built herself a sandy bed a distance away since she was too tall to fit inside the cave and its entrance was the saddle. The vegetation on the saddle had already been beaten down to roots given its high traffic. T'gellan discovered that conceding to Talina may solve immediate conflict but they were stepping stones to bigger disagreements and angrier quarrels.
Talina declared the smaller cave sufficient for the infirmary and she was certain that one central location was more efficient despite the healers' protests. A Fort Weyr healer, Tendyr and Wendel from High Reaches were not pleased with the location but began outfitting it for the inevitable threaded dragons and riders. Even though the saddle separating the gentle slope toward the protected bay and the verdant woods and glades, was wide and relatively even, treating threaded dragons on it was going to become crowded.
Talina continued her opposition to building Weyr facilities on what the others considered the logical side of the saddle for Dragonkind. As the cash trees were cut then transported to the north for trade, Talina claimed the cleared land for more weyr facilities. The non-weyr craftspeople that had been recruited with promises of land and material were beginning to wonder whether the opportunities were worth the limits as the dragonfolk seemed to take the best tracts of land.
As stone huts were built on the bay side, more of the six wings and their folk moved south and swelled the ranks of workers for the moving of sand, stone and vegetation. Dragons naturally preferred the bay side. They worked alongside their riders to move massive quantities of raw material.
Talina reveled in the power to direct and impose her will. Secretly she had always wondered if she was worthy enough to fit the duties of Weyrwoman. She tended to mimic the gestures and mannerisms of Lessa, her mentor, rather than the lessons. Arwith, her dragon, was more aware of the duties and could be found with the other queens, moving boulders and lifting huge trunks after they had been cut and limbed.
T'gellan tried to be everywhere to keep tempers from flaring and all working toward the goal of a finished hatching ground. He knew how to delegate and all of the Bronze riders along with some of the other bronze and brown Wingseconds were responsible for the different tasks that shaped a Weyr out of wilderness. He let Talina have her way in most discussions knowing that Volkona and Delianna would actually be the ones to direct people and correct the obvious mistakes. The one argument he didn't want to have was the location of the hatching grounds. Talina was adamant that they be on the lee side of the cliffs where sand would have to be transported.
But as Arwith's color deepened and the bronzes began hovering about her, T'gellan knew they'd have to give in, hoping that Arwith would convince her rider to be rational by the time she was ready to lay her eggs.
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T'gellan woke a bit disoriented since somebody was sleeping next to him. He reached out to Monarth who responded drowsily, "I flew Arwith well; she sleeps still." He realized that he was in Talina's weyr and it must be late afternoon at Eastern. Two months to the day that he chose the volcanic cliffs above Monaco Bay for the eighth Weyr of Pern, he had become the undisputed Weyrleader, and his Weyrwoman, Talina.
He stretched onto his back feeling a slight twinge in his shoulders from the rockwork that the dragons and riders has been doing every spare moment. With his arms behind his head he stared at the cave's ceiling. It was jagged, nothing like the smooth ceilings in Benden. Given the amount of loose rock on the floors of the two caves, he wasn't sure they were stable. All dragons chose to create wallows in the open rather than shelters. His own weyr was a structure, much like the huts in Southern Weyr. Monarth had created a large sandy wallow beside it.
Talina could keep this cave; he would remain in his own weyr. When he set the walls he had purposely made it large enough to accommodate a family. Monarth's wallow was large enough for him and a small green although he had quit saying Path or her rider's name. Talina had commented on the size of both once she had agreed to establish the new weyr on this site. He grimaced at that thought. Agreement, pah! He had to let go of this perfect council room in order to achieve that concession.
Hearing noises associated with the communal dinner, T'gellan rose crawling over Talina's lithe form. She mumbled. "Sleep" and rolled into the spot he had vacated. He pulled on the light shorts and sleeveless vest that most men wore in this hot climate, annoyed when he noticed the top two clasps had been torn off. Why Talina liked to destroy clothing was a mystery to him. The lone seamstress had complained to him more than once of her requests that had little to do with establishing a new weyr. Talina had a tendency toward wastefulness. Lessa had admonished her for excessive use of her flame thrower when they were still at Benden and Volkona had complained of Talina's penchant for exhausting her flame thrower at twice the rate of her and Delianna during falls. He'd bring Talina to task soon enough.
As he stepped out of the cave he looked north toward the expanse of Monaco Bay, the ancients' jetty still looking more substantial than their efforts in stonework. What did they use? Looking up the coast the tall cliffs offered his Weyr a break from the constant ocean breezes and a few jumps to the previous turns confirmed that they held off the worst of the winter storms. He turned behind him to see the expanse of Eastern Weyr. The saddle of land gently sloped to the river. So much had been cleared.
The kitchen was inadequate and as his stomach rumbled, he again lamented that he would have to walk more than half the distance to the river to reach the open mess hall. Water was the reason it was so far from activity. Even though T'gellan had brought in drillers who quickly tapped a water source on the bay side, Talina rejected it. The stone structure they had built around the water source became a substantial bathhouse. P'wer was disappointed that the hypocaust system for which he had been responsible was used for so mundane a service as bathing until his first shower. Ista had baths. Although the water was sweeter on the big island, hot artesian water over sore shoulders removed disappointment as well as grime.
T'gellan had told P'wer to continue building the hatching grounds according to his original plans. The other two queen riders had already confided to him that their dragons would use the heated grounds when ready to drop a clutch.
As T'gellan approached the head table where the other bronze and gold riders sat, they rose as one. Their actions were repeated as the rest of the folk, dragonriders, craftspeople and drudges rose. T'gellan released them all to their meals and tasks with his first official salute as a Weyrleader. It was not as sweet a motion as he anticipated. He sat between H'rogan and K'lomar, his two perceived rivals until Monarth twined his neck with Arwith a scant four hours ago. Where there would have been celebration at another weyr, all went back to work after the bronzes escorted Talina to her weyr. Nobody was surprised that T'gellan won the right of Weyrleader. Nobody was pleased that Talina officially became their Weyrwoman.
"We fly thread on the coast from Cove to Paradise tomorrow," T'gellan began as nobody else could think what to say. "Since half the fall is over water, I want to fly half the wings so that the rest can continue working. And, we will return to the Pernese custom of restday every seventh day." A few dragons rumbled as green and blue flashes upon the cliffs reflected the weyr's favorable opinion of that last pronouncement.
"Shall I report the progress of the wings now?" K'lomar asked.
"Not tonight. We will hold the first official council in the morning at second hour. At my weyr." T'gellan added with a nod of his head. It was a poor second to Talina's cave but at least it was private.
After the tables had been cleared, people who played instruments pulled out several guitars, small drums and one mid-size harp. It reminded T'gellan that no harper had been assigned to Eastern yet. As Talina had not made an appearance so far, T'gellan escorted Delianna to the clearing to begin the dancing. He traded his partner with F'nton to dance with Volkona. He took a quick turn with Valta, the apparent headwoman. She was mother to one of the brown riders of High Reaches. Shortly after the first set, H'rogan stepped in so that T'gellan could move back to the main table. Wendel and Tendyr were waiting for him along with some of the other non-riders who belonged to Eastern.
T'gellan nodded absently as he watched the crafters queue up. He had expected this change in these people, his people, as soon as he became the undisputed Weyrleader.
Wendel began without preamble, "The riders' infirmary is not adequate."
Tendyr added "And with the injuries the bush whackers are returning with, we're going to need two separate infirmaries."
"It will require at least two more healers," Wendel added, paused then continued, "I want to make inquiries for journeymen healers trained in both human and dragon treatments but need your leave to do so." He smiled widely and T'gellan could tell that he was about to mention Mirrim's name. He thought to wait until the eggs hatched but he was pleased that were others that wanted her at Eastern too.
"Wendel!" An angry screech came from behind T'gellan. Talina, clad in a new, sleeveless, creamy gown entered into the lights. "I told you not to bother T'gellan, the Weyrleader, with your quibbles. I will not have…"
In one fluid movement T'gellan had risen and scooped the diminutive woman into his arms, twirling her a few times before covering her mouth with his in a big, sloppy kiss. The crafters backed up, some smiled while some were shocked at the display. He set her down hard grabbing hold of her hand then raising both to quiet the crowd. "Our Weyrwoman is right. Tonight is for celebration. We shall take a much needed break from our hard work. Tomorrow is soon enough to pick up our tools and continue to build our new home." T'gellan pulled Talina into his side and began walking smartly towards the musicians and dancers. "Talina, my lady, the dancing began without you. Let us go to the floor now and rectify that overlooked duty."
She sputtered at his clever move to stop her words and she fumed at his quick pace. Talina was not going to allow that green rider in her weyr and T'gellan will know of it now, if not later tonight when he returned to her weyr. But bringing up the fact that the dancing started without her, The Weyrwoman, meant she had missed her very first official act in her newly won role. By the time they were to the floor, her mood had shifted from fury to tranquility.
Until Arwith rose, she could not be certain of her position. That T'gellan was the leader didn't surprise her. She had wanted him since the first time they had met, one day before she impressed Arwith. So many at Benden had expected that scrawny, frizzy-haired Brekke to impress her beautiful golden dragon. All the women on Benden's hatching ground expected it. Even she had hesitated when Brekke was led onto the grounds until that annoying fire lizard had flown at the entire group, hissing and squawking. Talina had instinctively shifted between the fire lizard and the golden dragonet when the back of her hand briefly brushed the dragonet's head knob. Impression was not as spectacular as she had anticipated. Arwith had been trying to go to Brekke and had called her by name inside Talina's head.
"No! I am Talina. I am your rider," she had replied.
"I am Arwith, Talina," was the dragonet's reply and the bond was set. But, she wondered; was she truly worthy of a queen dragon? Worse yet, she was terrified that any rider should discover that she stole Brekke's chance to be whole again. It terrified her more than her fear of thread which she still flamed on the highest settings despite the other queenriders' displeasure.
As a golden dragon's rider, Talina was confident that T'gellan would want her. She was beautiful too; everyone told her so. And, she was Ruathan. Then that squint-eyed, top-heavy, bossy brat took his interest away from her. Now, T'gellan was undisputedly hers and she would make every other woman know; even that freak, green rider.
Talina was in her shining moment. The man she won was leading her onto the dance floor. Only a few hours before the two of them had been linked to their dragons in a furious, glorious mating flight that sealed the four of them as the first leaders of a new weyr. It was historical, like Mi'hal and Toreen. They'd be remembered forever.
With that thought sealed into her mind, she looked into T'gellan's eyes with absolute adoration. They pierced her. He held her firmly, expertly moving her through the intricate weaving of a two-partner dance. He was her perfect image of a Weyrleader, tall with striking features and a force of will to lead anybody, even her. She molded her body to his whenever they touched and she shifted herself only for him. T'gellan was inextricably hers and she belonged to him. By the end of the night thoughts of voicing her opposition to Mirrim at her Weyr were forgotten, even as he left her to her own weyr, not inviting her to come to his.