Chapter Twenty
Present Pass 15 – Late Fall
Delianna strolled into T'gellan's weyr, tipped a straight-backed chair and slid into it. She tossed the rolls of papers onto the center of the table. K'lomar and F'nton were seated and looked up as the rolls slid to a halt before them. "Invitations accepted from all Weyrleaders, several Northern Holds, Cove, Paradise and Landing."
The two men smiled. "Even Southern?"
"The Weyr, yes but since we received acceptance from Ruatha, Southern Hold pleads too heavy a load this season to break away." Delianna said with a slight smirk.
Both men nodded; they were relieved to be free of the politics in seating the august leaders of Pern. K'lomar had been flipping through the papers. "What are these marks?" he asked while pointing to the series of numbers and letters in the lower right corners.
"It's my way of knowing if any candidates came from their hold or craft. It's also for which rider to send at the time of hatching as well as their seating."
"Huh," breathed F'nton as he pulled one of the invitations from K'lomar's hands. "I thought T'gellan had planned for most of the candidates to come from over the saddle."
"Oh, he has and they will," she answered.
K'lomar shifted in his seat dropping the rolls of paper on the table and faced Delianna, "If you're working the invitation lists and Volkona is working to build the stands and feasting area around the hatching grounds, what is Talina working on?"
"A new hatching gown, no doubt," answered T'gellan from the door. An embarrassing silence grew as he tossed his helmet and gloves on the table. He walked the length of the room to hang his riding straps and wherhide jacket on the pegs next to his curtained sleeping chamber. When he turned back to the group, he winked. "Talina has been conscientious with Arwith and her eggs. When Monarth and I flew over only moments ago she hissed at us."
"Talina or Arwith?" quipped F'nton.
"Both!" T'gellan replied as he grabbed his towel and bathing kit. "I'll take a quick shower then I'll be back."
"Take your time Weyrleader," K'lomar said to the tall man's receding back.
Delianna rose. "I'm going to get the Weyrleader some food and klah. Want anything?"
"Klah sounds good to me. Thanks, Delianna." K'lomar replied and F'nton echoed an agreement. She smiled at both as she left the room. Both men, with appreciative smiles, watched her walk away.
"What a Weyrwoman she would have made," F'nton said wistfully as he turned back to his own papers.
"Uh-huh," K'lomar agreed. "Chance gave us Talina instead. "But you have to admit, she has been quite pleasant since the eggs were counted."
"That's not chance; that's T'gellan!" F'nton added, "The control that man has! I mean not only over a fighting wing but on that woman. Talina would be missing teeth if I had to contend with her."
"Good thing Chance made him the Weyrleader." K'lomar picked up Delianna's papers. "But it's mostly because she's been weyred next to the hatching grounds that we have peace now, especially with the landsmen."
"Perhaps, but in another sevenday or so those shells will start cracking," H'rogan added.
"And Talina will either move in here or back to her cave. We'll see if his control still holds." K'lomar replied. "Did you see on Delianna's list the count of candidates? I think these indicate gender." He pointed to the letters on rolls.
F'nton stood and leaned over to see where K'lomar was pointing. "If we're going to put girls to the green eggs then you have to have more than a handful in front of the queen egg."
K'lomar grunted. "I didn't object, not like Talina did at first. I'm not sure what I think. What do you think of putting girls to the green eggs?"
F'nton drummed his fingers on the table a few times before answering. "My wing is for it, especially the blue and brown riders. Margatta put girls to Luduth's eggs about three turns after Mirrim impressed Path at Benden. Only two impressed." He sat back into his seat, leaning back. "Those rank and file riders were still waiting for one of 'em to rise when my wing came to Eastern."
"Igen opened the last two hatchings to girls. They have four girl riders, now. Ista plans to the next time they have a clutch hardening. Telgar will be one of the last Weyrs to break that tradition. I suppose I'm glad with my 'aye' vote when T'gellan put the idea before us." K'lomar paused. He drummed his fingers along with F'nton. "Say, you impressed at Benden. Did you know the green rider Mirrim?"
"I know who she is. The first time I met her was shortly after the queens' fight at High Reaches. I think she was brought with Brekke as her nurse. I was gone from Benden by the time she impressed green Path."
K'lomar nodded. "One of my blues knows her from when she was at Southern. Bleth's rider G'nareth said she treated both him and T'gellan when Southern was still for convalescing.
"Aye, that's right!" F'nton interjected dramatically. "I was new to N'ton's wing and T'gellan was his primary Wingsecond. Brown Keth took a clump of thread right through the first membrane of his left wing and ate into B'tarth's leg. It leapt on an updraft. They popped out of between, both screaming. I still hear it!" F'nton shuddered, took a deep breath then continued. "T'gellan and Monarth appeared directly below Keth as he was starting to roll. I was sure Keth and B'tarth were going between for the last time, it was such a scream. Yeah, T'gellan was out for two months and B'tarth 'n Keth were out for a full turn."
"The famous Keth Catch, yeah. G'nareth said he was on the cot next to T'gellan the moment those two locked eyes; T'gellan and Mirrim. He asked me not too long ago when she'd be coming to Eastern. I know the two of 'em were weyremates up until his wing was picked for here." K'lomar looked curiously at F'nton.
"I guess if Monarth hadn't caught Arwith, Mirrim'd be here already. It's not likely she'd refuse to leave Benden because she was also at Southern and High Reaches.
"What does she look like? I can't get a straight answer out of G'nareth. All he talks about is her bedside wisecracks, healing hands and the beautiful green Path."
F'nton snorted. "That's all blue riders can think of, the tail of a green. I haven't seen Mirrim since, well maybe it's been almost eight turns. She's got brown hair, tall for a girl. She was filling out up top quite nicely. She could have turned out pretty. Path is a small green, amazingly agile. Wasn't she a high scorer at the Telgar games about four turns back?"
"Meh, I've never put much store in the Games." K'lomar replied while scratching the dark stubble along his scalp. "G'nareth is one of my best riders, good man going into his sixth decade and still holds his line in a threadfight."
Both men worked silently on their wing lists until Delianna returned with two drudges laden with trays. She carried a pot of steaming klah using heavy wherhide mittens. Both men stood to take the heavy pot from her. She smiled appreciatively.
As she and the drudges left, T'gellan returned, clean-shaven and hungry. The men broke for the meal which satisfied the three of them. For another few hours the riders prepared for the next day's threadfall. In order to continue the tremendous amount of work for both man and dragon, T'gellan used only half the weyr for threadfights. However, T'gellan was meticulous that all riders flew a threadfight and rotated positions as well as wings. With such a small pool of riders, the rotation helped with rest from the constant rock and dirt work as well as the regular menace of thread. Plus the rider who flew thread was awarded half the day after, free.
After T'gellan released F'nton and K'lomar, he remained at the council table. Flipping first through the wing lists then the guest invitations, he sighed heavily. Putting the lists into three piles, he peered out the window noticing the shadows of the spires reaching almost to the bay. "Dinnertime soon," he thought. He stretched his long legs under the table before rising. Rather than leave for the mess hall on the other side of the saddle, he went into his room, unsheiding a glow as he dropped the heavy curtain.
He dug under the heavier clothes in his press until he found the old hide. Gently he unwrapped the contents. The glass brown fire lizard rested on the pale yellow hide. He supposed that the brown coloring put into the glass was what made it stronger than the green or clear. That must be why it survived the hurl into the wall. He recalled how his temper got away from him that day, shaking his head.
As he held the small figure up, turning it in the light, a vein of honey gleamed off the broken part of the wing. He thought of the highlights in Mirrim's hair. The color was the same. Her hair was short now and no longer sun streaked. If she lived with him in Eastern the sun would brighten it like it was the first night she slept in his weyr. With a hefty sigh, he rewrapped the small figure and put it back under his heavier clothes. He stood and donned a tunic before exiting his room.
As he left his weyr he looked towards Monarth who was lying on his back. "Mirrim belongs with us at Eastern," he thought towards Monarth who sighed and flipped to his stomach which showered T'gellan with sand.
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Lania crept into the small weyr that was tucked into the corner of the hatching grounds. The sides were stepped so that people could ascend to the roof of the bath house. The room was triangular tapering to a point about a dragon-wing high at the center. Talina's cot was directly under it. She gingerly nudged the sleeping form. "Talina, it's time to wake. The eggs are moving."
Talina flung her arm in Lania's direction but the girl stepped back before her head could be clouted. "Five more minutes," she mumbled.
"If you want to be ready before the guests arrive then you better get up now. I have to get back to the kitchens and I'm not coming back." Lania took several more steps back to the right of the door as a flat sandal struck the wall. She grabbed it and held it as if to wield it as she crouched. "Get up, Talina. Benden Weyr is the furthest East after us; they'll arrive first. Do you want to still be abed when Lessa arrives for her first visit to Eastern?"
As if receiving a jolt, Talina bolted to a seated position. Lania flung the sandal at her head then dashed out the room. She took the steps two at a time to the Bathhouse roof then crouched behind one of the wooden benches that had been set in preparation for the hatching. Talina, the fur wrapped about her shoulders ran to almost the middle of the hatching ground shrieking for Lania to return for a beating. She stopped short. The sun had barely lifted from the eastern sea. That child had woken her at dawn. Volkona would be behind this prank. But now, fully awake she realized that she stood among the eggs. One or two gently rocked. Arwith lay within a dragonlength of her. She cradled the golden egg between her cheek and foreleg. The one eye facing Talina was open and pulsing a morning sky blue. A shot of red spun from the center of the multifaceted eye.
"My children are ready. They are impatient to break their shells and sear thread. Do you feel them?"
Caught up in the moment of her Dragon's maternal reflections, Talina approached the great eye then reached to the brow ridge, gently caressing it until the eye shone a deep blue. "I feel their restlessness through you, my dear. They will hatch then soon fill these skies."
"They will soon have riders and will no longer depend on me for guidance. Men and women will ride them in these skies." The great multi-faceted eye pulsed reds, greens and blue while Talina caressed the brow ridge.
"You instigated this furor with the first girl green rider, dear heart. Can't I change your mind?"" Talina sighed leaning against the golden head.
"Your gender was meant to ride our green daughters. It was once so, the little ones tell me. It shall be again." Arwith's foreleg reached forward and pulled her rider closer to her head in the gentlest hug a dragon could supply. "Feel my children. They want to stretch."
"Oh Arwith, you are the most magnificent dragon on Pern. I love you."
From the roof of the bathhouse, Lania watched the intimate moment shared by the great golden beast and her rider. There was something redeeming in Talina when she tended to her dragon. Lania could almost forgive her for forcing her to Southern although she wasn't sorry to have hit the Weyrwoman in the head with her own shoe. She slunk to the back of the bathhouse and took the ladder to the ground. Valta would want to know that she had been successful in waking the Weyrwoman on this most important day for the Eastern Weyr.
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As the sun rolled across the great southern and northern continents more guests arrived. The five bronze Wingleaders, assigned their Lord Holders and entourage, walked the awed spectators throughout the sprawling complex that was Eastern Weyr. The other two Queen riders entertained the visiting Weyrwomen down by the sandy bay. The day was clear. A sea breeze kept the heat and the bugs manageable.
Arwith grew fussier with each foreign queen and bronze that landed on the spires above the hatching grounds. The air was punctuated with her challenging howls. Talina was forced to beg off her entertainment duties shortly after Lessa of Benden had arrived as Ramoth was in no way intimidated by her daughter's challenges, and wanted a closer look at the open hatching grounds. Talina stayed close to Arwith, placating her with promises of hunting the plains to the west once the hatching was over.
F'lar took the opportunity of gathering all the Weyrleaders to T'gellan's council room for a quick meeting about the rapid changes at Landing. For a noon meal, people flocked to the tents set up on the sea side in front of the newly-built dragonet barracks. Most ignored the roars coming from the hatching grounds until the unmistakable hum of dragons filled the air. The commotion was barely contained as guests and Easterners converged on the grounds. Honored guests were seated atop the Bathhouse which had the best view. The candidates, all 88 of them, paraded up the back of the roof then down the twin angled steps onto the hot sand in undulating waves of white tunics. Twenty of them were female.
Arwith made a show of pawing the ground and snarling as the candidates approached her eggs. Talina had to exert control to make her move back so the candidates could advance. Later nobody could confirm with certainty whether the first egg that hatched was a green or a bronze. At first a small green snout protruded from her shell crying piteously. A stoneworker's daughter, Cana, was in front of the queen egg with six other girls when the cries made her spin around and sprint to the green egg. At the very moment that she reached the egg a bronze exploded from his shell and young Marozen, son of K'lomar called out immediately, "His name is Ceteth!"
Meanwhile Cana was caressing the head of a green crooning, "Jermith, I am yours Jermith." Tears coursed down her cheeks while her parents, stoneworkers from Telgar who came to Eastern and decided to stay, held each other crying just as earnestly as their daughter.
In all, five of the ten greens were impressed by girls. Seven blues, seven browns and five bronzes hatched and paired as well. Golden Siloth looked to Umoal, a local girl from a Keroon clan of herders that came to Eastern to domesticate the free-running herds. Sixteen of the new riders were of the people of Eastern. The feast in the late afternoon went well into the Eastern night.
By the time the shadows of the spires reached the water of Eastern's bay, Talina was beginning to feel the drain of the day. Arwith needed feeding but these western guests showed no inclination to leave. Both Delianna and Volkona had suggested she tend to Arwith but she was reluctant to go. She ached for the accolades that had been lavished upon her so thickly this day and was loathed to miss a moment of it. H'rogan and K'lomar had both offered to accompany her to the southwest plains but she declined them as well.
When T'gellan approached her, hand outstretched, she accepted it without knowing his plan. Monarth landed before them on the back of the saddle. Fluidly, he lifted her and stepped up to the neck of his dragon. She felt Monarth bunch then spring to the sky. Cradled in T'gellan's arms, she felt as secure as if she had been strapped. She was snuggling into his chest when she caught a flash of gold above her.
"I am hungry, I must hunt," Arwith said plaintively.
Talina struggled with her irritation that Arwith had summoned her mate and his rider rather than wait until the guests had left. "We would have gone soon." Talina thought, trying to mollify her golden. "It was my duty to the other Weyrwomen…"
"Weyrwomen take their queens to feed, Arwith's rider."
Hearing another dragon in her head stunned Talina into a stupor. It was mortifying to be reprimanded by Monarth's rider but for his dragon to state her primary duty, shamed her. She looked to his face. T'gellan's jaw was pulsating. His hold, that had felt so secure a moment before now conveyed his displeasure. "I am sorry, Arwith. I knew you were hungry. You have been hungry for days and you had to put up with all those other goldens in your Weyr today. Forgive me."
"What is to forgive?" Arwith replied as she dove to the plains then plucked a fat buck in her talons. Her head snaked down to bite the head of her prey off as she landed. The beast went down her gullet in two more bites.
Monarth landed on a flat rock above the plain. The surface showed evidence of several previous dragon meals. The bronze lowered his head toward the golden on the plain so that the riders could see her as well.
"Tell her to slow down, Talina. She should not gorge like that." T'gellan said quietly.
"My dear, bring your kills to the rocks or you will swallow dirt and grass along with your meat." The golden looked up at her rider then launched to the air, taking her time to select her next beast. Her quick attack had scattered the herd but soon she was flying back with a bawling cow that chocked when her forcelaw crunched down on the neck. She landed next to Monarth then proceeded to pull at her kill daintily.
Talina felt T'gellan's grip loosen. He heaved a deep sigh, "Eastern's first hatching has been successful, Weyrwoman."
"And quite satisfying too," she added. She began to relax as well. The strain of gaining her leadership then establishing it with a golden egg and successful hatching had left her body stiff. She didn't like the tiny weyr on the hatching grounds although she no longer fumed at the location.
"Aye, some satisfaction too," T'gellan echoed. Arwith sprang from her perch, sailed low over the plain then snatched a wherrie bedded in the brush which squawked loudly once then went limp. She returned with her kill to her mate and rider. The humans watched her tear at the flesh and crunch the bones then swallow all parts of the beast, even the feet. She lifted her wings and extended her neck as a rumble became a prolonged belch.
"I believe you must be sated, my love." Talina thought to Arwith.
"I am full and would like a drink of water then a swim in our bay before I curl on my couch for a sleep." Arwith replied.
Monarth lowered as T'gellan pulled Talina by the waist and set her on the rock. "Go, take Arwith upriver for a drink then Monarth will join her in a swim."
Somewhat hurt, Talina looked up into T'gellan's cold eyes. "I, I have no riding straps."
"You're not going between, woman. Not with the meal Arwith just finished! Hang on to a neckridge." Monarth suddenly dropped from their perch then soared above them turning to fly over.
Talina stepped over the bone fragments and jumbled rocks to her dragon then scrambled onto her neck. As gracefully as her mate, Arwith glided from the outcrop then lifted to warm air current. She flapped her wings a few times to gain momentum as she headed back to Eastern Weyr.
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Mnementh burst into the air above the Benden Fingerstone. Ramoth appears a split second and a full dragonlength above him. Both dragons, with their riders, spiraled into the bowl and alighted on the broad lip of their weyr. Although they left the cool evening of Eastern Weyr, Benden's fall breeze felt arctic. Lessa slipped from Ramoth's neck; she pulled the riding straps from below the dragon's chest. Absently, Lessa ran the leather through her hands only stopping when she felt a thin spot. She was examining it when F'lar walked up behind her.
Pulling her back into his chest, F'lar bent to nuzzle her ear. "Let's get into the bedchamber before we turn to ice."
She laughed huskily, "One day on Eastern's Shores and you find a lovely fall evening too cold." Her eyes did not stray from the thinning leather. Side by side, they entered the bedchamber. Instead of hanging her straps on the peg as F'lar did, she dropped them to the floor, deciding that repairs could wait until morning. F'lar had crawled into their bed as she walked into the bathing room.
"You can come one night to bed without a bath! I'm cold," F'lar complained. "Come to bed and warm me!" Lessa answered with a splash. He sprinted from the bed and into the bath. She turned with initial annoyance but smiled as he dunked under. Her hair was carefully piled atop her head, fearing to wet it before sleeping. She moved to the opposite side of the bath and rested against the edge as F'lar remerged.
Drops of water shot towards her with a shake of his head, F'lar rested at the opposite side floating his toes toward the surface. "Eastern's First Hatching was a rousing success, don't you think?"
Lessa merely smiled.
"I expected a display of pageantry from Talina but she surpassed them with talents I didn't think she possessed. She does both Benden and Eastern proud."
"Oh please, F'lar. You are annoying me."
"What do you mean," he replied sitting up. "The progress at the new weyr is exceptional. I was impressed as were the other Weyrleaders. T'gellan exceeds all my expectations."
Lessa slowly shook her head as she rose to gather some sweetsands from a bowl by the bath. "T'gellan has turned that wilderness into a functioning weyr and prosperous hold in half a turn. That is impressive but he is what I expected out of a man trained by both you and F'nor.
"What?! You give no credit to his Weyrwoman?"
She shot him a quelling look. "Talina was adequate, today."
F'lar chuckled. He knew too well that Talina, with her Ruathan airs and indolent manners, had begun irritating Lessa inside her first turn as Arwith's rider. He knew too, that his mate had 'pushed' a bit when Talina chose her lot. He also remembered that he didn't mind contributing Arwith to the new southern weyr for the peace it gave Lessa to be rid of Talina. Besides, his faith in T'gellan was proven today. Any man who could constrain the likes of Mirrim would have no problem with a personality as malleable as Talina. He liked being proven right. "Talina suits T'gellan. They are a good match as Eastern's Weyrleaders."
Lessa snorted derisively, "Please, F'lar, stop. I would have rather seen Volkona or Delianna as T'gellan's Weyrwoman. I'd go as far as to say that the two of them were the reason today's hatching seemed flawless." She didn't add her thoughts of Mirrim's suitability. She was at odds with her weyrmate regarding Path's mating flights. While F'lar believed that the problem would abate when Mirrim chose a mate among the blue and brown riders, Lessa believed the obsession, of both dragon and rider, with a green's rising was the more pressing issue. More women riding green dragons would solve that problem, not a complete change in Mirrim's character.