It took a day or two to gather up the equipment and star charts the pair would need. Saska had not thought it would be an instant departure, and she spent the time working at Landing of which she had no memory from her own time. Sitting in the children's school hall she studied the art work which matched the murals and frescoes she recalled from her own childhood. Ancient beasts of Old Earth, and their equivalents here on Pern, subtly diverged from those on Terrvert. There, the boron content of the soil was much less, and the animals had grown in different ways. Here, the native animals were six-limbed; there they had four limbs, but most of them had a third eye, vestigial or useful.

Walking out towards the feline fence, Saska pondered on the records Kitty Ping had worked on. She could see a fire lizard fair dancing, and turned to walk towards them, seeing a gold sweeping upwards in circles on the thermals. Several other fire lizards darted after her, and Saska realised she was seeing a mating flight. Those little creatures had inspired a scientist to make much larger replicas, and those scientific records were meticulous and proven.

"But it is beautiful," she said aloud, and knew that was the difference between the upbringing of most people on Terrvert and its colonies, and this wonderful jewel of a world. Terrvert might have a blue sky and a yellow sun, although more subtly shifted towards the red, but most people had lived under domes all their lives, and adjusted their environment to suit their own particular tastes. Here, the beauty of the natural world was a given.

Saska was working with Tyron when she heard more dragons, not the bits and snatches of Ruth and the watch dragons, but a cacophony of sound.

- thread falls at Igen

- the pattern is wrong

- call for assistance

- more firestone, we must flame that down to the ground

She came to her feet with a startled shout and Tyron leaped up also.

"What is it? Something startled you? What is it?"

"Thread falls at Igen!"

"It must be out of sequence, then, it's not due there for another day. This last convulsion of the Red Star is dragging Thread out of pattern."

"That's what the dragons are saying - "

Saska clutched her head and swayed, barely aware that Tyron had caught her and seated her, thrust her head down between her knees. The voices died to a painful buzz as Tyron let her raise her head slowly.

"Oh - thank you - I can still hear them - but I can control it - "

"They said you could hear all the dragons. It must be - painful?"

"Only if I'm not expecting it," Saska said, tasting blood where she had bitten her tongue. "You said the pattern was erratic? Is that because the Red Star is swinging out of orbit? Spilling the last clumps?"

"I suppose so. But we endure - because this will be the last. My grandfather told us tales of what it was like when he was a child, when there was no Thread, in the last Interval. How people could travel without fear or hinderance."

"You can do that in a Pass, with the right knowledge," Saska pointed out, but Tyron shook his head, glancing at the door.

"I would never say it in the presence of a Lord Holder, but in the last Interval, and in this present Pass, people couldn't move around with freedom. Now we have the Charter, it's better, but my father says that it'll take more than a few Threadless years and the new things we've learned, to put away the old prejudices."

"Oh I see. Yes, I do see."

"We'll go and have something to drink, you need to rinse your mouth, I think?"

He escorted her to the kitchens and they poured fruit juice which stung but effectively stopped the bleeding. Glancing out of the window, Saska saw Ruth pop out of between and wondered where the white dragon had been all morning. Ruth took off again heading for the feeding grounds, and Lord Jaxom stood, stripping off his leathers, running his fingers through his hair, before turning to come to the kitchens.

- that was difficult, but we managed

Did you know Thread fell at Igen?

- yes, but it was not our concern

Saska poured juice for Lord Jaxom, interested to see Tyron bob a bow to the Lord Holder. Was she supposed to do that? She had no intention of doing so, this was not her world, this was not one of her leaders.

"I see that stubborn look on your face again, Saska," Lord Jaxom murmured as Tyron excused himself to go back to work.

"Just - I was wondering if you wanted me to bow like that."

"In a woman, it's called a curtsey, and I would never dream of demanding such from you. I don't actually demand it from anyone else, but it's ingrained in most people, to give a Lord Holder respect."

"I give you respect," Saska countered. "Just that I don't automatically defer to you in everything."

"And very salutary it is," he replied with a laugh. "Now then - Ruth and I have been practicing with the air tanks, with carrying two people and equipment. We think we can manage, and I've asked for panniers from Ruatha, similar to those used on pack animals. That way we don't carry so much on our persons, only your case and the masks."

"What about my own suit?"

"I understand that's going to come today, with the rest of your belongings. Tai thinks she has managed to find someone to mend it."

"That's good to hear. The star charts - you've managed to extrapolate those?"

"The Masters have been working on that, and we've a good working knowledge of how the Red Star will wane."

"In each set of 25 turns?"

"Yes. There is also an outer comet, I'm told, with an orbit of about 40 turns. If necessary, we can use that, but I don't want to rely on it."

Saska nodded and let him go back to his dragon. Food would not be a problem, she thought, because Ruth could always hunt in that future, if he needed to sustain himself. For the people on his back, there would be twelve stops of whatever length Lord Jaxom thought they needed. And then he would come back through the same twelve stages. Or would he, with a full air tank, take the whole 300 turns in one leap?

Saska washed the cups up and put them to drain, wiped the table top, and left the kitchen to go and see Ruth. The white dragon had found a convenient hollow of sand, and Lord Jaxom was standing by his head, scratching his eye ridges, and Saska paused to watch them for a while, as a fair of fire lizards appeared and began to dance over Ruth's head, and then with a collective squeak vanished as the white dragon raised his head.

"What was that about?" Saska asked.

"They bother Ruth, sometimes, with pictures of where they've been, and things they half-remember but can't articulate," Lord Jaxom replied. "He just sends them away - they'll have forgotten it by the time they pop out near their own nest sites."

"It seems so incredible that dragons were bred from those small creatures," Saska said with a shake of her head, viewing Ruth as he basked in the sunshine. "And dragons don't take any harm from the colder regions where they live?"

"Their hides protect them from between, what's a few degrees of frost to them?"

"True enough."

- going so far into the future will be cold

I know, and I'll have my suit and the leathers

- leather and fur are warm

And very comfortable as well

Saska reached and stroked Ruth's warmed hide, scratching obligingly as the dragon lifted a wing.

"I'll check you thoroughly, and take some oil with us," Lord Jaxom promised. "Any slight cuts or tears can be dangerous between, Saska."

"Then we'll check at every stop," she replied.

"Have you been working with Journeyman Tyron?"

"Yes, I have, and found him very helpful. It's been less than 50 turns since your AIVAS reactivated, and your younger people have learned so much in that time."

"And will continue to learn," Lord Jaxom said firmly. "I have no patience with those on the High Council who want to stay as we are, because they find it uncomfortable to think of the future."

"I thought the people of Pern would always look to the future, look beyond the Pass, plan for the Intervals, make sure the breeding programmes are working?"

Lord Jaxom gave an impatient snort.

"So I had hoped, when I took over as Ruatha's Lord Holder! Oh, there are forward looking people in each Holding, and in each Weyr, but sometimes I think they act from fear."

"That's very likely," Saska said, keeping her voice calm, against his rising anger, remembering the remark that he was growing like his sire, the infamous Lord Fax.

"What d'you mean?"

"Lord Holders, by their very status, must want to continue in comfort," she pointed out. "It's in the younger sons and daughters, and people in the smaller holds, that you'll find those willing to strike out into the future. The Harper Hall still has a huge role to play in that future, with songs and stories, teaching and educating."

"Yes. Is Harper Hall influential in the future?"

"As much as I know of, yes I would say so. I met a couple of harpers, and one was very interested in putting the stories and legends of Terrvert - oh bother!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, and Lord Jaxom laughed.

"It's forgotten! I promise you, I'll never mention it or write it down."

"Thank you. Yes, I will give the harper some stories to set to music."

"That colony is as old as Pern?"

"Yes, almost exactly as old. I suspect the colonising ships - like your Dawn Sisters - must have set out at nearly the same time, after the wars."

Lord Jaxom glanced up into the daylight sky as if he could see the bright sparks that were the Dawn Sisters, still in their fixed orbits.

"We'll leave Ruth to sleep," he said in a quiet voice. "Come indoors out of the sun, I can see your skin reddening a little from its power."

They turned to walk back to the buildings and Saska touched her face.

"Yes, I'm not used to it, but it's so beautiful out of doors, I can't get enough of it, sunburn or not."

"I'll send for a pot of healing cream," Lord Jaxom said with a smile. "Can't have you arriving in the future with your nose peeling!"