Racing on towards the end! I haven't engaged with this character as I did with others in my other stories, but I suspect that's because Saska is quite a complicated persona, and a short piece of fan fiction doesn't do her justice.
Saska laughed out loud, and Tai smiled.
"That's better! Nothing like a bit of laughter to lighten the mood."
She had poured fresh cold fruit juice, and Saska took her glass and sipped.
"So what more can you tell us about the future?" F'lessan asked. "Obviously, my fame goes before me, if you saw a portrait of me there."
"It's in here," Saska replied. "In my case. But I don't know if it's been painted yet."
"Eh? Oh I see! Best not to let me see it, then. What else do you have in there? That we can actually see and touch?"
Saska reached out and flipped open her scribbled notes.
"I like to make a written record as well as an electronic one," she said. "Here and here, I put notes about the sizes of dragons in the future. Dimensions."
F'lessan and Lord Jaxom took the notes and studied them.
"What's a year?"
"The equivalent to a turn."
"Hmm. Yes, they do seem on the small side, but that might only be in comparison with the truly huge dragons of the beginning of this Pass," F'lessan said. "We have noticed the blues and greens are getting smaller already. Benden Weyr has - oh! Great shells! Where's that?"
Saska stared at him in startlement, and into her mind came a vision of Benden World.
"Oh - drat - don't let the dragons circulate that image, will you?"
"Is that the - " F'lessan jerked a thumb overhead.
"No, it's somewhere else entirely."
She watched as a fair of fire lizards suddenly appeared, and Ruth put his head over the terrace again.
- that is a very strange place. I don't think I would like it
- there is a Weyr, but it's a dying world
- there are worlds and worlds in your mind I have never seen
Lord Jaxom stared at Saska in astonishment as several fire lizards separated from the wild ones and came to rest on the table, chittering to each other as they vied for the last of the food on the plate.
"You can speak to dragons as easily as that?"
"Yes. As I say, once I'd realised they were dragons and not a figment of my imagination. I could hear them from a long way away as well."
"Aramina could hear from a distance," Tia said thoughtfully. "But you say you are not from Pern?"
Saska explained the theory of the metasynth characteristics of both colonies, and Lord Jaxom nodded.
"That makes sense to me. But you claim you're the only one of your people to hear dragons?"
Saska played with her glass and then looked around at them.
"I suspect there might be others, since the two colonies - met - but it might be dismissed as fantasy, or illness perhaps. If I - once I get back - I'll make sure every lead is followed up."
"That makes good hearing. I think it might be best if you come to Landing and consult the AIVAS files open at present."
"You'll need more than just your say-so for that project," F'lessan warned.
"I've already contacted the Masterharper, and the Weyrleader has given it his blessing. Will Granne allow me to fly between with our guest?"
- it won't be a long flight. I will be very careful
Lord Jaxom laughed.
"I don't think I'll get a word in, if these two start talking."
"I'll try and switch off the images," Saska said ruefully. "I do have practice in doing that. I must admit - it seems foolish now I'm here - not to go to Landing."
"It's seven hours ahead of us," Tai warned. "I'd suggest going late tonight, and coming into their morning."
"Better not to do any timing," F'lessan added, and Lord Jaxom nodded.
"I wouldn't do that. Saska, you might say you feel fine, but your mind is still probably fragile from such a long trip."
Saska nodded her agreement to that, and Lord Jaxom stood up.
"I suppose I'd better go and do the pretty at Southern Hold, visit my relatives there."
"They still don't enamour themselves," F'lessan said dryly.
"I don't expect they do. I'll go after lunch - I am invited to lunch, aren't I?"
Tai laughed and shooed both men away, and Saska walked across to where Ruth still rested his head on the terrace.
"Was this built especially with dragons in mind?" she asked Tai, who had followed her.
"No, I think it was just fortuitous. Don't forget, at the beginning, there were no dragons, just fire lizards. Kenjo founded Honshu and enlarged a natural cave system. The whole planet seems to be riddled with caves and extinct volcanoes. We still get tremors here now and again."
Saska scratched Ruth's eyeridges and a small fire lizard came mincing over to her and peered up at her. She received a confusing impression of water and sand and grass and a complicated dance of small creatures.
"I think there's a fire lizard hatching somewhere," she said to Tai. "Did you get that picture?"
"Obviously not as strongly as you did! Yes, the fire lizards often tell us of wild fairs hatching their eggs."
- I could take you there
Tai shook her head.
"You want to get me in trouble, Ruth? And if Saska inadvertently impressed a fire lizard, how would it survive such a long journey, and the disorientation of the future?"
"There are fire lizards in the future," Saska assured Ruth. "I know a harper of that time who's trained his fire lizard to sing, like Menolly did."
"Master Menolly," Tai replied. "She married the Masterharper Sebell - oh - you probably know that!"
Saska flushed. "I did study the history books, and the history of men on Pern is taught in schools in my own colony worlds."
Tai studied her.
"I don't know if I'm glad or sorry to know something of the future," she said at last. "I'm pleased we go ahead, and prosper, and that Thread really is extinguished for all time, of course, but I can't image the step that led us to your colonies."
Saska had that image very firmly in the locked down section of her mind, thinking of trees and flowers and water whenever it threatened to surface. She and Tai walked down off the hot terrace to walk through the gardens for a while, and then Tai settled Saska on a shaded lounger on the terrace and told her to sleep until lunch time.
Saska was pleased to rest and doze, easing her arm in its sling to a more comfortable position, and allowing her mind to idle over the images of the garden, trying to guard against anything else. She had had practice in shutting down the voices and the images and although it made her feel stunted, she knew it was for the best at the moment.